Events & Publishing Calendar
July 2018
Upcoming Releases
Monster Hunter Memoirs: Saints
The No-Holds-Barred Final Entry in the Monster Hunter Memoirs Series from New York Times best-selling authors Larry Correia and John Ringo.
"This is New Orleans." That mantra had rung in Chad Gardenier's ears since his first day working in the Big Easy. Everything was different in New Orleans. The food. The climate. The monsters. Even the shadowy and reprehensible MCB was different. But that's just the beginning.
The real reason New Orleans is so different is a larval Great Old One growing day by day in power and just about ready to pop. If Chad can't convince "the powers that be" to get involved not only New Orleans but the entire world is going to fall under the power of the nastiest of nasties.
Now on the outs with the U.S. Government and in exile from his usual job of saving the world, Chad must rally the forces of light against the coming darkness. The problem is one guy with a sword and a sub-gun isn't going to solve this one.
Fortunately, Chad's made a few friends over the years. And the Fey hate Old Ones as much as God's people, and they're not about to give up this world without a fight.
If the Saints don't come marching in on this one . . . there won't be a Final Battle. There will be a final massacre.
Now, where'd he put that number for the ditzy fey princess . . . ?
Tide of Battle
Collected short fiction from multiple best seller Michael Z. Williamson. After a brutal car crash, a disabled young man beats all odds to pursue his dream of crewing the first starship. Outnumbered and outgunned, a Freehold warship must use guile, expert maneuvering and sheer courage to survive a pursuing UN fleet. Meanwhile, other Freeholders resort to terrifying psyops to destroy their invaders' morale. A family learns that their patriarch isn't as crazy as they thought when a zombie uprising actually happens. A young girl must use her knowledge of elementals and spirit beings to protect a king who is unaware of the threats against him. In an alternate Bronze Age, the descendants of dinosaurs fight with sentient felinoids for territory and survival. Humans reduced to cowering in caves find a most unlikely weapon against their alien invaders.
With cutting satire on classic poetry and modern movies, a no-holds-barred lambast of several beloved firearms and their fan clubs, Williamson concludes with more of his Inappropriate Cocktail recipes, frequently both delicious and outrageously snarky, commemorating celebrities, events and cultural memes.
The Complete Psychotechnic League, Volume 3
After World War III has ravaged the globe and toppled once-great nations, a new science offers hope for the future: Psychodynamics, the ability to influence government and popular opinion. Led by the Psychotechnic Institute, humanity denounces its violent ways, once and for all. Peace reigns on Earth. Humankind shakes off the tyranny of gravity and ventures out into the galaxy. But no sooner is utopia realized than the cycle of war and destruction begins anew.
The final of three volumes collecting all of multiple Hugo- and Nebula-Award winning author Poul Anderson's massive future history magnum opus. Includes short stories previously uncollected in a Psychotechnic League volume!
The Day After Gettysburg
After a terrible setback at Gettysburg, General Robert E. Lee does not retreat across the Potomac and his ultimate surrender at Appomattox. Instead, he turns the tables on Union General George Meade with a vicious counterattack that sets the Union Army on its heels.
While Lee sets across Pennsylvania in a dazzling war of maneuver, a crazed actor closes in on President Abraham Lincoln. Standing in his way is Major Steve Thorne, a thoughtful lawyer-turned-soldier fighting for the Union and his own self-respect, and Cassandra Baird, a young woman whose courage is only surpassed by her determination to teach emancipated slaves to read and write, and so ensure their freedom.
Opposing them is Colonel Corey Wade, a brave Confederate officer who is just as determined to fight to the death for his honor and that of his state. And, in the end, the fate of a nation may come down to a freed slave named Hadrian, a man with an iron resolve never to return to bondage.
The time has come to strike a blow for liberty—or go down swinging!
The Gods of Sagittarius
Russ Tabor is one of the top security specialists in the galaxy. Much against his will, he finds himself assigned to provide protection for Rupert Medawar Narayan Shenoy—“Lord Shenoy,” as he likes to style himself—who is probably the human race’s most brilliant savant. Shenoy has become convinced that the race of ancient aliens known as the Old Ones possessed powers unknown to any modern intelligent species. He believes they had harnessed forces which may well have been actual magic, giving the Old Ones the stature of gods.
Off Russ and Shenoy go to find the secret. Meanwhile, Occo, a member of the alien race known as the Nac Zhe Anglan, returns to her religious creed’s home cloister to find that it has been completely destroyed—and by means which suggest that the Old Ones were the perpetrators. Yet the Old Ones, those ancient and inimical gods of the galaxy, were thought to have perished eons before.
Occo is not a savant of any kind. She is a shaman castigant, a warrior of her creed. Her purpose now is to seek revenge, not to uncover the secrets of the Old Ones. But she cannot do the one without first doing the other. So, she and her familiar Bresk set ought to track down those long‑gone deities.
Now human adventures and an alien shaman are on a collision course with the truth: despite their many differences, only if they unite their forces do they stand any chance of surviving the coming encounter with the gods of Sagittarius.
Upcoming Events
Dave Seeley, Timothy Zahn
Convention Appearance
San Diego Comic Con
Jody Lynn Nye
Convention Appearance
Raleigh Supercon
Michael Z. Williamson
Convention Appearance
Pennsic 47
August 2018
Upcoming Releases
Alternate Routes
A New Novel From Award-Winning Master of Fantasy and Science Fiction Tim Powers. A modern ghost story as only Tim Powers can write it.
Something weird is happening to the Los Angeles freeways—phantom cars, lanes from nowhere, and sometimes unmarked offramps that give glimpses of a desolate desert highway—and Sebastian Vickery, disgraced ex-Secret Service agent, is a driver for a covert supernatural-evasion car service. But another government agency is using and perhaps causing the freeway anomalies, and their chief is determined to have Vickery killed because of something he learned years ago at a halted Presidential motorcade.
Reluctantly aided by Ingrid Castine, a member of that agency, and a homeless Mexican boy, and a woman who makes her living costumed as Supergirl on the sidewalk in front of the Chinese Theater, Vickery learns what legendary hell it is that the desert highway leads to—and when Castine deliberately drives into it to save him from capture, he must enter it himself to get her out.
Alternate Routes is a fast-paced supernatural adventure story that sweeps from the sun-blinded streets and labyrinthine freeways of Los Angeles to a horrifying other world out of Greek mythology, and Vickery and Castine must learn to abandon old loyalties and learn loyalty to each other in order to survive as the world goes mad around them.
Avalanche: Book Five of the Secret World Chronicle
Ultima Thule has been destroyed—but somehow the Thulians mounted an even bigger force to destroy Metis. The Metisians that escaped the carnage and destruction of their secret city now must somehow find somewhere safe to go—without getting snapped up by various world governments. And now the Thulians have changed their tactics to “blitz guerilla warfare,” sending wave after wave of their ships and troops to attack vulnerable targets all over Earth, with no clue for ECHO as to where these things are coming from.
John Murdock and The Seraphym have become a force of nature, but they can’t be everywhere at once, and if they were regarded with suspicion before, now they are regarded by ECHO’s allies with fear as well.
You could say “things can’t get worse.”
You would be wrong.
Red Djinni’s past is about to catch up with him.
So is Victoria Victrix’s.
Worlds II
WELCOME TO THE MANY WORLDS OF BEST-SELLING AUTHOR ERIC FLINT
Known for his New York Times best-selling alternate history novels, Flint is equally a master of shorter forms, and this second large volume gathers more of Flint’s shorter works. Including several stories and a short novel set in Flint’s celebrated Ring of Fire alternate history series. A commemorative novelette set in Poul Anderson’s Operation Chaos universe. A story with Dave Freer, set in his and Flint’s popular Rats, Bats and Vats series. Several humorous short stories addressing Biblical literalism. A long novella in a Martian steampunk setting. And another long novella set in David Weber’s best-selling Honor Harrington universe.
In addition to the fiction, Eric Flint has written an overall introduction, plus an introduction for each story, telling how it came to be written, making this an irresistible book for the many thousands of Eric Flint fans.
The Outposter
A classic of science fiction from SF legend Gordon R. Dickson, winner of three Hugo awards, a Nebula award, and an inductee into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame.
The Earth is overcrowded. Chosen by lottery, people are shunted off to the far-flung planetary colonies. But winning this lottery is no prize, for the colonist are largely ignored by the people of Earth, considered disposable. Left to defend for themselves, the colonist are plagued by low supplies and are forced to eke out a hardscrabble existence. Worse, they face an ever-looming threat from without: the alien Meda V'Dans, who routinely attack without provocation.
Fortnately, the colonists have the Outposters to protect them. One such Outposter is Mark Ten Roos, a young man with a score to settle against the Meda V'Dans . . . and the will to bring a corrupt system to its knees.
The Gathering Edge
A series milestone as we welcome the twentieth amazing entry in the nationally best-selling Liaden Universe® series.
The luck runs rough around Theo Waitley. Not only are people trying to kill her and capture the self-aware intelligent ship Bechimo to whom Theo is bonded, they’re also trying to arrest her crew members, and throw the dignity of an important passenger, the duly-constituted norbear ambassador Hevelin, into question.
No wonder Theo and her crew felt the need of a break, and retired to what Bechimo refers to as "safe space." Unfortunately, safe space may not be so safe, anymore. It seems that things are leaking through from another universe, and another time. In fact, whole spaceships are coming through. One of those ships is a blasted battleship seemingly fleeing a long-lost war. What’s more, its crew may be members of Theo’s ancient ancestral line—her relatives. It’s certain that they are in dire need of help. Theo has a choice to make. It seems that Bechimo’s “safe space” is about to become deadly perilous.
Red Vengeance
U.S Army Sergeant Randy Knox is sixteen, and already a seasoned veteran. He is an alien killing prodigy who has eradicated more of the invading Creepers than anyone can keep track of. But Randy is also a high school student struggling with geometry. And he is a young man whose heart is being pulled in two directions by two very different girls. One, Abby Monroe, a straightforward warrior. The other, Serena Coulson, dangerous and mysterious.
Randy, with the help of Serena’s strange brother, alien interpreter Buddy Coulson, has convinced a Creeper base to surrender. After a decade of conflict, misery, and the death of millions of humans, it finally seems that the war may come to an end. But then the surrender effort turns into a bloody ambush. More disturbing, Buddy and Serena Coulson arrive, having escaped torture and interrogation at the hands of a C.I.A. operative. It begins to dawn on Randy that, as much as he doesn’t want to believe it, the powers-that-be may not want the war to be over.
Now, as Randy’s hodge-podge military unit makes a desperate stand at a remote outpost, young Sergeant Randy Knox learns just how far he will go to protect those he loves—and what it takes to save humanity from total alien domination.
Upcoming Events
Larry Correia, Bill Fawcett, Eric Flint, Mercedes Lackey, Jim Minz, Jody Lynn Nye
Convention Appearance
GenCon
David B. Coe, Wil McCarthy, Christopher Ruocchio, Mark L. Van Name
Convention Appearance
WorldCon
Timothy Zahn
Convention Appearance
Michigan Comic Con
Michael Z. Williamson
Author Appearance
Indy 1500 Gun & Knife Show
David Afsharirad, David Boop, D.J. Butler, David B. Coe, Dan Dos Santos, Kacey Ezell, Bill Fawcett, Eric Flint, Esther Friesner, Charles E. Gannon, Walter H. Hunt, Les Johnson, Don Maitz, Cody Martin, Mike Massa, Jim Minz, Larry Niven, Jody Lynn Nye, Gary Poole, Tim Powers, Gray Rinehart, John Ringo, Christopher Ruocchio, Christopher Smith, Michael Z. Williamson, Toni Weisskopf, Timothy Zahn
Convention Appearance
DragonCon
September 2018
Upcoming Releases
Target Rich Environment
Larry Correia, the New York Times best-selling author of the wildly popular Monster Hunter International and Grimnoir Chronicles series of no-holds-barred urban fantasy and the Dead Six trilogy of military adventure novels, now sets his sights on the short story form.
Together for the first time, fourteen action-packed tales of demons, monster, vampires, and cosmic horrors too terrible to name—and the men and women who take them all down. Oh, and toss in an interdimensional insurance salesman for good measure.
You’ll also find: An elven princess from the pages of Monster Hunter International on a mission to redeem her people. A samurai pirate with a blood vendetta against an extremely large sea beast. And a magic-wielding P.I. who walks the mean streets of Detroit.
Journey back to the origins of Monster Hunter International in “Bubba Shackleford’s Professional Monster Hunters.” Uncover the origin of one of Dead Six’s central characters in “Sweothi City.” And celebrate the holidays with the Grimnoir Chronicle’s own Jake Sullivan in “Detroit Christmas.”
Discover why it always pays to hire the very best when it comes to fighting a war when Correia takes on David Drake’s genre-defining Hammer’s Slammers series. And find out just how much damage a vampire can do when he was a Green Beret before he became one of the undead as Correia tackles Jonathan Maberry’s V Wars universe.
Includes three stories never before in print! “Murder on the Orient Elite” and “The Adventures of Tom Strange, Interdimensional Insurance Salesman” have previously only been available in audio format (narrated by Adam Baldwin of Firefly fame). And “Blood on the Water” makes its first appearance.
Her Majesty's American
THE UNION JACK TAKES TO SPACE! All-new alternate history science fiction from New York Times best-selling author Steve White.
In an alternate future where the British empire never crumbled, the space ships of Her Majesty’s Navy work to keep the spaceways safe. Commander Robert Rogers of the Royal Space Navy is a defense intelligence officer known for his unconventional ways. Rogers is American born-and-raised, a loyal citizen of the Viceroyalty of North America. He’s a descendant of the founder of the highly effective, pro-British Rogers’ Rangers during the Colonial unpleasantries of 1776, and he’s inherited his ancestor’s intelligence and drive in spades.
But there are those among the stars who are not so happy being subjects of the British Empire. In the Tau Ceti system, a cauldron of trouble brews as a terrorist faction of the rebellious Sons of Arnold attacks the empire from within, and warships of the theocratic Caliphate enter the system, prepared to do their worst to destroy the hated empire head on. Yet standing against the coming anarchy and tyranny is one intrepid spy prepared to risk all for queen and empire:
COMMANDER ROBERT ROGERS, HER MAJESTY’S AMERICAN
Sheepfarmer's Daughter
The Deed of Paksennarion - Book I
Paksenarrion—Paks, for short—refuses her father's orders to marry the pig farmer down the road and is off to join the army. And so her adventure begins—the adventure that transforms her into a hero remembered in songs, chosen by the gods to restore a lost ruler to his throne.
For more information on the UK editions of Elizabeth Moon titles, visit
www.orbitbooks.net
Tinker
Move Over, Buffy! Tinker Not Only Kicks
Supernatural Butt—
She's a Techie Genius, Too!
Inventor, girl genius Tinker lives in a near-future Pittsburgh which now exists mostly in the land of the elves. She runs her salvage business, pays her taxes, and tries to keep the local ambient level of magic down with gadgets of her own design. When a pack of wargs chase an Elven noble into her scrap yard, life as she knows it takes a serious detour. Tinker finds herself taking on the Elven court, the NSA, the Elven Interdimensional Agency, technology smugglers and a college-minded Xenobiologist as she tries to stay focused on what's really important – her first date. Armed with an intelligence the size of a planet, steel toed boots, and a junk yard dog attitude, Tinker is ready to kick butt to get her first kiss.
Wen Spencer
"Each and every character is fascinating, extraordinarily well-developed, and gets right under your skin. . . . A terrific, memorable story." —Julie E. Czerneda, author of In the Company of Others
"Spencer takes her readers on a fast-paced journey into disbelief. [Her] timing is impeccable and the denouement stunning." —Romantic Times (four-star review)
"This novel [Alien Taste] is keeper-shelf material." —BookBrowser
"Wonderfully inventive . . . a fun protagonist." —Locus
The Alexander Inheritance
Twice before, mysterious cosmic catastrophes have sent portions of the Earth across space and back in time—first, with the Grantville Disaster in West Virginia, and then again with a maximum security prison in southern Illinois.
Now, the planet is struck with yet another such cataclysm, whose direct impact falls upon the Queen of the Sea, a cruise ship in the Caribbean. When the convulsions subside, the crew and passengers of the ship discover that they have arrived in a new and frightening world.
They are in the Mediterranean now, not the Caribbean. Still worse, they discover that the disaster has sent them more than two thousand years back in time. Following the advice of an historian among the passengers, Marie Easley, they sail to Egypt—or, at least, where they hope Egypt will be.
Sure enough, Egypt is there—ruled over by Ptolemy, the founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty and one of Alexander the Great’s chief generals.
Alexander the Great, it turns out, died just two years ago. The western world has just entered what would become known as the Hellenistic Period of history, during which time Greek civilization would spread around the Mediterranean and beyond. But the first fifty years of the Hellenistic Period was the Age of Diadochi—the Time of the Successors—when Alexander’s empire would collapse into chaos. By the time the Successors finished their strife, every single member of Alexander’s dynasty would be murdered and only three of the generals who began that civil war would still be alive.
That is the new world in which the Queen of the Sea finds itself. Can Marie Easley and Captain Lars Flodden guide the crew and passengers through this cataclysm? Fortunately, they have some help: a young Norwegian ship’s officer who forms an attachment to Alexander’s widow; a French officer who is a champion pistol marksman; a canny Congressman from Utah—and, most of all, many people of the time who are drawn to a vision of the better world of the future.
Straight Outta Tombstone
Come visit the Old West, the land where gang initiations, ride-by shootings and territory disputes got their start. But these tales aren’t the ones your grandpappy spun around a campfire, unless he spoke of soul-sucking ghosts, steam-powered demons and wayward aliens.
Here then are seventeen stories that breathe new life in the Old West. Among them: Larry Correia explores the roots of his best-selling Monster Hunter International series in "Bubba Shackleford’s Professional Monster Killers." Jim Butcher reveals the origin of one of the Dresden Files' most popular characters in "Fistful of Warlock." And Kevin J. Anderson's Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I., finds himself in a showdown in "High Midnight." Plus stories from Alan Dean Foster, Sarah A. Hoyt, Jody Lynn Nye, Michael A. Stackpole, and many more.
This is a new Old West and you’ll be lucky to get outta town alive!
Contributors:
David Boop
Larry Correia
Jody Lynn Nye
Sam Knight
Robert E. Vardeman
Phil Foglio
Nicole Kurtz
Michael A. Stackpole
Bryan Thomas Schmidt & Ken Scholes
Maurice Broaddus
Sarah A. Hoyt
Alan Dean Foster
David Lee Summers
Kevin J. Anderson
Naomi Brett Rourke
Peter J. Wacks
Jim Butcher
Upcoming Events
D.J. Butler, Larry Correia, Mercedes Lackey
Convention Appearance
Salt Lake City FanX
Mark L. Van Name
Convention Appearance
Bouchercon
Catherine Asaro, Charles E. Gannon
Convention Appearance
Capclave
October 2018
Upcoming Releases
Uncompromising Honor
FIRST NEW HONOR HARRINGTON NOVEL IN FIVE YEARS! New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal and international bestselling phenomenon David Weber delivers book #19 in the multiple New York Times best-selling Honor Harrington series, the first new Honor Harrington novel since 2013's Shadow of Freedom.
HONOR'S FINISHING WHAT SHE STARTED
The Solarian League's navy counts its superdreadnoughts by the thousands. Not even its own government knows how enormous its economy truly is. And for hundreds of years, the League has borne the banner of human civilization, been the ideal to which humanity aspires in its diaspora across the galaxy.
But the bureaucrats known as the "Mandarins," who rule today's League, are not the men and women who founded it so long ago. They are corrupt, venal, accountable to no one . . . and they've decided the upstart Star Kingdom of Manticore must be destroyed.
Honor Harrington has worn the Star Kingdom's uniform for half a century and served her monarch and her people well. In the course of those years, the woman the newsies call the Salamander has grown from a tactically brilliant but politically naïve junior officer to supreme fleet command and a seat on the highest military and political councils of the Grand Alliance.
Very few people know war the way Honor Harrington does. Very few have lost as many men and women, as many friends, as much family, as she has. Yet despite that, hers has been a voice of caution. She knows the Mandarins and the Solarian League Navy are growing increasingly desperate as the truth of their technological inferiority sinks home, but she also knows the sheer size of the League. And she knows how its citizens will react if the Grand Alliance takes the war to the League, attacks its star systems, destroys its infrastructure . . . kills its civilians. Today's victory, bought on those terms, can only guarantee a future war of revenge against a resurgent Solarian League and its navy.
Honor knows the Grand Alliance must find a victory that doesn't require incursions deep into Solarian space, doesn't leave a legacy of bottomless hatred, and the strategy she supports has been working.
The League is sliding towards inglorious defeat as it steadily loses ground in the Protectorates and the Verge. As its central government teeters towards bankruptcy and even some of its core systems opt to secede in the face of the Mandarins' corruption. As the Solarian Navy finally realizes it cannot face an Alliance battle fleet and win.
But the Mandarins have embraced a desperate new strategy, and in pursuit of that strategy, the SLN has committed atrocities such as the galaxy has not known in a thousand years. The League have violated its own Eridani Edict against mass civilian casualties, violated the Deneb Accords prohibition on war crimes.
And they have finally killed too many of the people Honor Harrington loves.
Hers is the voice of caution and compromise no longer, and the galaxy is about to see something it has never imagined.
The Salamander is coming for the Solarian League, and Hell is coming in her wake.
Earthquake Weather
Supernatural Adventure from a Master of Modern Fantasy
The magical King of the West has been killed in California, and his assassin is one of the multiple personalities in the head of Janis Cordelia Plumtree—but which one?
One of them is a streetwise pickpocket. Another is dead, and can only speak in quotes from Shakespeare. And another seems to be the unquiet ghost of her father. And there are many others.
Sid Cochran is a one-time winemaker who blames his wife's suicide on the wine-god Dionysus, and believes that Dionysus is now pursuing him.
Cochran and Plumtree escape together from a mental hospital in Los Angeles, and—pursued by ghosts, gangsters, and a crazy psychiatrist—set out for San Francisco and the wine country to try to restore the dead King of the West to life.
But the god Dionysus himself is a player in this perilous game—and not on their side.
Black Triumph
The conclusion to Brendan DuBois's Dark Victory alien-invasion trilogy. Best-selling and award-winning author Brendan DuBois proves that even in the most desperate of times, there are still men and women alive who will take up weapons to defend what is theirs.
More than ten years ago, the alien Creepers arrived in Earth’s orbit and started a war that was a slaughter for humanity. Nuclear weapons detonated in the atmosphere destroyed all electronic devices, asteroids dropped into oceans and lakes swamped cities with artificial tsunamis, and the nearly invulnerable Creepers arrived on Earth, going forth from their dome bases to attack civilians and military units at will.
Sixteen-year-old Randy Knox, a newly minted lieutenant in the U.S. Army, has been fighting the Creepers since he was twelve. He has seen friends, family members and fellow soldiers killed by the Creepers, and he is tired of war. At one point, it seemed the war was over when the aliens’ orbital battle station had been destroyed.
But a second Creeper orbital battle station has arrived.
The war no longer seems to be over, and while returning to his home unit, Randy’s convoy is ambushed. Separated from his fellow soldiers and his K-9 companion Thor, Randy faces the ultimate horror of every American serviceman: to become a prisoner of war of the aliens.
The Monster Hunter Files
For well over a century, Monster Hunter International has kept the world safe from supernatural threats small and large—and in some cases very, very large. Now, join us as MHI opens their archives for the first time. From experienced Hunters on their toughest cases, to total newbies' initial encounters with the supernatural, The Monster Hunter Files reveals the secret history of the world's most elite monster fighting force.
Discover what happened when Agent Franks took on the Nazis in World War Two. Uncover how the Vatican’s Combat Exorcists deal with Old Ones in Mexico. And find out exactly what takes place in a turf war between trailer park elves and gnomes. From the most powerful of mystical beings to MHI’s humble janitor, see the world of professional monster hunting like never before.
Featuring seventeen all new tales based on Larry Correia’s best-selling series, from New York Times best-selling authors Jim Butcher, John Ringo, Jessica Day George, Jonathan Maberry, Faith Hunter, and many more.
Contributors:
Larry Correia
Jim Butcher
Mike Kupari
Jessica Day George
John C. Wright
Maurice Broaddus
Brad R. Torgersen
Faith Hunter
Jody Lynn Nye
Quincy J. Allen
Alex Shvartsman
Kim May
Steve Diamond
John Ringo
Bryan Thomas Schmidt & Julie C. Frost
Sarah A. Hoyt
Jonathan Maberry
Forged in Blood
WARRIORS AND SOLDIERS TIED TOGETHER THROUGHOUT TIME AND SPACE.
From the distant past to the far future, those who carry the sword rack up commendations for bravery. They are men and women who, like the swords they carry, have been forged in blood. These are their stories.
In medieval Japan, a surly ronin is called upon to defend a village against a thieving tax collector who soon finds out it's not wise to anger an old, tired man. In the ugliest fighting in the Pacific Theater, an American sergeant and a Japanese lieutenant must face each other, and themselves. A former US Marine chooses sides with outnumbered Indonesian refugees against an invading army from Java. When her lover is stolen by death, a sergeant fighting on a far-flung world vows vengeance that will become legendary. And, when a planet fragments in violent chaos, seven Freeholders volunteer to help protect another nation's embassy against a horde.
Featuring all-new stories by Michael Z. Williamson, Larry Correia, Tom Kratman, Tony Daniel, Micahel Massa, Peter Grant, John F. Holmes, and many more.
Contributors:
Zachary Hill
Larry Correia
Michael Massa
John F. Holmes
Rob Reed
Dale Flowers
Tom Kratman
Leo Champion
Peter Grant
Christopher L. Smith
Jason Cordova
Tony Daniel
Kacey Ezell
Michael Z. Williamson
The Gates of Tagmeth
Destruction is in Jame Knorth’s nature. Literally. She is the avatar a god known as That-Which-Destroys, the god of chaos and ruin. Yet Jame is also a noblewoman within an ancient race, and the designated heir of her twin brother Torisen Knorth, High Lord of the Kencyrath. Jame’s people are fleeing, world by world, from a terrible enemy that has pursued them through a multitude of universes. Its name is Perimal Darkling.
Obeying instructions from her brother, Jame sets out with a force of Southron warriors to reestablish the long-fallen castle keep of Tagmeth. By Jame’s side is Lyra, a devious Kencyrath noble girl who is determined not to be forced into a marriage with a man she despises. Jame’s old friends Mark and Brier Iron-thorn stand with her, as well: Marc, steward and organizer of Jame’s household and Brier, the only captain under her command wholly sworn to support Jame no matter the cost. Jame finds more allies in the forest surrounding the ancient keep where the wild people of the woodlands, the Merikit, hold court. And Jame’s adopted mother, Gran Cyd, matriarch and queen of the Merikit, may once again provide the voice of calm that Jame requires to survive her own tempestuous nature.
Jame sets about establishing Tagmeth as an outpost against the gathering power of Perimal Darkling. But Tagmeth hides a secret, a gateway to a mystery that may save this world from eternal darkness—or plunge it to destruction and ruin all the sooner. It is up to Jame to find her way through Perimal Darkling’s traps, and to come to terms with the god of pandemonium and destruction within her who grows stronger every day. If she succeeds it may be that Perimal Darkling can finally be defeated after eons of fear and flight. And if she fails, yet another world will fall to darkness forever.
Upcoming Events
Michael Z. Williamson
Convention Appearance
Archon 42
Dave Seeley, Toni Weisskopf
Convention Appearance
IX (illuxcon)
Wil McCarthy, Tim Powers
Convention Appearance
MileHiCon
Timothy Zahn
Convention Appearance
Necronomicon
November 2018
Upcoming Releases
Hokas Pokas!
They're Baaaack!
When a human thinks he's Napoleon Bonaparte, it's time to get out a straitjacket. But when a Hoka thinks he's Napoleon Bonaparte, you'd better believe it! Particularly since there'll be hundreds of other Hokas around who know for a fact that they're the French army, man amis, even if they're on another planet light years away from Earth, and the forces they're facing aren't the British but very nasty warlike aliens who by all reason should be expected to make mincemeat out of the Hokas.
But when it comes to Hokas, reason does not compute.
These friendly, fuzzy aliens who resemble large Teddy bears have a very vivid imagination and have never quite grasped the difference between human fiction and reality, or (in the present case), between past history and the much later and rather different present. Always bet on the Hokas. Even when a young lad and his Hoka tutor find themselves stuck on a planet where they seem to be scheduled to fulfill an ancient (and lethal) prophecy that neither of them had ever heard of until now, Hokas as usual find that reality is merely optional and the good guys - and bears - always win, quicker than you can say
". . . the funniest s-f ever written."
-A Reader's Guide to Science Fiction
"You aren't apt to find a more gleeful book of S-F."
—The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
"I'll bet you can't read just one."
—Philadelphia Weekly Press
The Spark
In the time of the Ancients the universe was united—but that was so far in the past that not even memory remains, only the broken artifacts that a few Makers can reshape into their original uses. What survives is shattered into enclaves—some tiny, some ruined, some wild.
Into the gaps between settlements, and onto the Road that connects all human reality and the reality that is not human and may never have been human, have crept monsters. Some creatures are men, twisted into inhuman evil; some of them are alien to Mankind—
And there are things which are hostile to all life, things which will raven and kill until they are stopped.
A Leader has arisen, welding the scattered human settlements together in peace and safety and smashing the enemies of order with an iron fist. In his capital, Dun Add, the Leader provides law and justice. In the universe beyond, his Champions advance—and enforce—the return of civilization.
Pal, a youth from the sticks, has come to Dun Add to become a Champion. Pal is a bit of a Maker, and in his rural home he's been able to think of himself as a warrior because he can wield the weapons of the Ancient civilization.
Pal has no idea of what he's really getting into in Dun Add. On the other hand, the Leader and Dun Add have no real idea of what might be inside this hayseed with high hopes.
THE SPARK: A story of hope and violence and courage. And especially, a story of determination.
Agent of Change
A Liaden Universe® Novel
"LEE AND MILLER STRIKE SPACE OPERA GOLD."
—Robin Wayne Bailey
Once a brilliant First-in Scout, Val Con yos'Phelium was "recruited" by the mysterious Liaden Department of Interior and brainwashed into an Agent of Change—a ruthless covert operative who kills without remorse.
Fleeing the scene of his latest murderous mission, he finds himself saving the life of ex-mercenary Miri Robertson, a tough Terran on the run from a team of interplanetary assassins. Thrown together by circumstances, Val Con and Miri struggle to elude their enemies and stay alive without slaying each other—or surrendering to the unexpected passion that flares between them.
"I was mesmerized, auued, and totally entertained. I am hooked by the Liaden world. Brauo!"
—Mary Balogh
"Full of action, exotic characters, plenty of plot, and even a touch of romance. OUTSTANDING."
—Booklist
"You may never care about a cast of characters more or await their return with more anticipation."
—SF Site
Upcoming Events
Catherine Asaro, David Drake, Charles E. Gannon, Tom Kidd (Guest of Honor), Jim Minz, Mark L. Van Name
Convention Appearance
World Fantasy Con 2018
Michael Z. Williamson
Author Appearance
Indy 1500 Gun & Knife Show
Timothy Zahn
Convention Appearance
SupaNova
Jody Lynn Nye
Convention Appearance
WindyCon
Toni Weisskopf
Convention Appearance
Contraflow
Tim Powers
Convention Appearance
LosCon
December 2018
Upcoming Releases
Iron Angels
A bizarre kidnapping case leads FBI Special Agent Jasper Wilde into the mysterious world of a strange religious cult and even stranger criminals. At the scene of the kidnapping itself, a frightening apparition is seen. Then, a hideously-mutilated corpse is found nearby. Something wicked has come to the nornal-seeming Chicago suburbs.
It doesn’t take long before the FBI agents realize that something truly extraordinary is unfolding in northwest Indiana—and that, whatever it is, the area’s huge steel industry is somehow at the center.
Jasper is joined by Supervisory Special Agent Temple Black. Black has recently been put in charge of a new unit, the Scientific Anomalies Group, created to analyze and handle peculiar cases which might be on the periphery of national security.
Another cult is discovered, although this one seems to be opposed to the criminal activities taking place. Further investigation, however, just produces more in the way of mystery. The agents consult with scientists and theologians, but no one has any idea what might be producing the situation.
Until, finally, the cults erupt in open warfare. As the FBI agents race to intervene and finally put a stop to the horrors, they come to understand and accept that something very ancient and very evil has surfaced in the world—or, perhaps, something that is very, very alien.
