Search Worlds Without End

PUSHING THE ENVELOPE

In West Berlin. Amy Brecker, an American intelligence officer, takes a chance on a walk-in informant who says the Soviets are going to cripple America's spacebased defense program.

Fram a Soviet silo on the Sea of Japan, a single missle rises. A hotline communique from Moscoe insists that a mistake has been made; the Soviets are doing everything in their power to abort the "test" flight.

Deep inside Cheyenne Mountain at the Aerospace Defense Command Center, all eyes watch its trajectory: a collision course with America's manned space lab.

If the U.S. choses to intercept and destroy the Russian missile, the attempt must not end in failure... the future of America's entire space-based defense hangs in the balance. Only one U.S. anti-satellite weapon can foil the opening gambit of what might be a Soviet Furst Strike - and only my Brecker and her "hot stick" pilot have enough of the Roght Stuff to use MEDUSA.

Sgt. "Det" Cox has just spent three years under psych observation on Earth; now that he's out-system, he isn't about to tell anyone he's seeing aliens again. Paige Barnett has lost everything, even her name, because she knows too much about the rebellion spreading throughout the Earth-Space mining colonies.

Together Cox and Barnett stumble upon the mystery at the revolution's heart and learn why the rebels are willing to die for it.

Is their discovery mankind's worst threat or greatest gift? The authorities are willing to destroy whole planets to keep the revolution's secret from reaching Earth... What's to stop them from destroying two people?

A terrorist attack and incompetency at the highest levels of the US government spark a nuclear exchange between the US and Russia. When the US falls silent, only Marc Beck of the State Department's intelligence service has a workable plan to help his country. With Israeli counter-terrorism experts and Christine Patrick, an American foreign correspondent posted to Tel Aviv, Beck begins a desperate mission to get anti-radiation serum to the US survivors and take one last, wild chance that could save America from the consequences of The Forty-Minute War.

In an alternate world that appears to be Hell, Homer, the ancient Greek poet, is commanded by the Devil to write a chronicle of Hell.

Heaven lays down the law and Hell gets more hellish as the greatest shared universe of all time makes its malevolent return. Souls you hate to love and souls you love to hate reunite for Lawyers in Hell, in twenty-two infernal tales from the underworlds, where Injustice must be served.

Contents:

• Interview with the Devil - short fiction by Chris Morris and Janet Morris
• Tribe of Hell - novelette by Janet Morris
• The Rapture Elevator - short story by Michael H. Hanson [as by Michael Hanson]
• Out of Court Settlement - novelette by C. J. Cherryh
• Revolutionary Justice - novelette by Leo Champion
• Tale of a Tail - novelette by Nancy Asire
• And Injustice for All - short story by Jason Cordova
• Measure of a Man - novelette by Deborah Koren
• The Adjudication of Hetty Green - short story by Allan Gilbreath
• Plains of Hell - novelette by Bruce Durham
• The Register - short story by Michael H. Hanson
• Island out of Time - novella by Richard Groller
• Appellate Angel - short story by Edward McKeown
• With Enemies Like These - novelette by David L. Burkhead
• The Dark Arts - short story by Kimberly Richardson
• Heads You Lose - novelette by Michael Z. Williamson
• Check and Mate - short story by Bradley H. Sinor
• Disclaimer - novelette by John Manning
• Orientation Day - short story by Sarah Hulcy
• Remember, Remember, Hell in November - novelette by Larry Atchley, Jr.
• Theo Khthonios - novelette by Scott Oden
• Erra and the Seven - short story by Chris Morris

ROGUES IN HELL... The war heats up, Satan antes up, and rogues go adventuring as Hell's landlord faces off with Heaven's auditors.

Contents:

• Babe in Hell - short story by Chris Morris and Janet Morris
• Which Way I Fly is Hell - novelette by Janet Morris
• Downtown Run - novelette by Nancy Asire
• Madly Meeting Logically - novelette by Michael Armstrong
• Library Redux - short story by Sarah Hulcy
• A Hatful of Dynamite - novelette by Deborah Koren
• Colony - short story by Bruce Durham
• Searcher - novelette by Edward McKeown
• The Miraculous Roadside Attraction - short story by Jack William Finley
• BDA - novelette by Richard Groller
• Hell Road Truckers - novelette by Michael H. Hanson
• If Necessary - short story by Bradley H. Sinor
• Pursued by the Tauwu - short story by Shirley Meier
• Ragnarok & Roll - novelette by Larry Atchley, Jr.
• Scent of a Weapon - novelette by Bill Snider
• Showdown at Brimstone Arsenal - novelette by John Manning
• The Place of Fear - novelette by David L. Burkhead
• Chasing the Key - short story by H. David Blalock
• A Hard Day at the Office - short story by Michael Z. Williamson
• An Unholy Grail - novelette by Julie Cochrane
• Battle of Tartaros - novelette by Chris Morris

Seven million years on the New Hell Sinday Times bestseller list... The damned are revolting! The underworld explodes with excitement as Satan himself rebels against forces from on high. Or does he? Dreams are dashed and strongholds topple as the greatest shared universe of all times convulses with mystery and mayhem.

Shakespeare and Marlowe begin a new play to please the Devil.... Satan and Samael plot to expose the unrepentant damned... Before Napoleon's eyes, Caesar's villa explodes in chaos... Goethe finds out that hell is all around him... Isadora Duncan forgets that dreams can be hell... Hell's librarian throws a bash and the damned party down... and down... and down... All over the netherworlds, worse comes to worst as Hell's Most Unwanted try assaulting heaven's gates and raise more hell than they bargained for....

Contents:

• Fools in Hell - short story by Chris Morris and Janet Morris
• Alms for Oblivion - short story by Janet Morris
• The Unholy Hole - novelette by Nancy Asire
• Essence Helliance - novelette by Yelle Hughes
• Barefoot, on Brimstone - short story by Sara M. Harvey
• Ophie and the Undertaker - short story by Shebat Legion
• Just Dessert - novelette by John Manning
• Hell, I Must Be Going - short story by Michael A. Ventrella
• Blood and Ash - short story by Thomas Barczak [as by Tom Barczak]
• Hellexandria the Great - short story by Sarah Hulcy
• The Knife-Edged Bridge - novelette by David L. Burkhead
• The Wager - short story by Deborah Koren
• More Light! - novelette by Bettina S. Meister
• In the Shadow of Paradise - novelette by Jason Cordova
• Zero Sum Game - novelette by Richard Groller
• And the Truth Shall Set You Free - short story by Jack William Finley
• The ITTT - short story by Michael H. Hanson
• Siegfried's Blade - [Die Nibelungen] - short story by Petra Jorns
• Stairway to Heaven - novelette by Edward McKeown [as by Ed McKeown]
• Knocking on Heaven's Gates - novelette by Larry Atchley, Jr.
• Hell Bent - short story by Janet Morris

The best, the worst, and ugliest bards in perdition vie for Satan's favor as poets slam one another, Satan's Fallen Angels smirk up their sleeves, and the illiterati have their day. Find out why the damned deserve their fates as Hell's hacks sink to new poetical depths!

Shakespeare and Marlowe write a new play for Satan and find out that in hell you can't always save your skin. The first Bible writer drafts a deal with the Devil. Attila the Hun learns his punishment's just begun. Mary Shelley and Victor Frankenstein make a monstrous mistake. Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp get their unjust deserts. Hell's Undertaker goes on holiday. The Damned Poets Society slams away. A nameless soul shows Dorothy Parker that fame is a bitch.

In the underworlds, injustice always reigns: Join us and our damnedest poets for the crookedest poetry festival in perdition where language comes to die and no rhyme goes unpunished.

Contents:

• Words - short story by Chris Morris
• Seven Against Hell - short story by Chris Morris and Janet Morris
• Reunion - novelette by Nancy Asire
• Hell-hounds - short story by Bruce Durham
• The Kid with No Name - short story by Jack William Finley
• All Hell to Pay - short story by Deborah Koren
• Poetic Injustice - short story by Larry Atchley, Jr.
• When You Gaze Into An Abyss - short story by Matthew Kirshenblatt
• Pride and Penance - short story by Thomas Barczak [as by Tom Barczak]
• Grand Slam - novelette by pdmac
• Undertaker's Holiday - short story by Joe Bonadonna and Shebat Legion
• Red Tail's Corner - short story by Yelle Hughes
• Faust III - short story by Richard Groller
• Tapestry of Sorrows and Sighs - short story by Bill Snider
• Haiku d'Etat - short story by Beth W. Patterson
• A Mother's Heart - short story by Bill Barnhill
• We the Furious - novelette by Joe Bonadonna
• Damned Poets Society - short story by Michael H. Hanson
• All We Need of Hell - short story by Michael Armstrong [as by Michael A. Armstrong]
• Dress Rehearsal - short story by Janet Morris

Damned souls wail as plagues wreak havoc, doctors up their fees, snake-oil salesmen make a killing, and Satan turns his hit-man loose. Be there when Erra, the Babylonian plague god, and his seven personified weapons, spread terror throughout the underverse! Rookie authors write prescriptions for perdition, while veteran hellions diagnose the damned: Deborah Koren, Andrew P. Weston, Janet Morris, Joe Bonadonna, Matthew Kirshenblatt, Chris Morris, Michael H. Hanson, Rob Hinkle, Jack William Finley, Bill Snider, Richard Groller, Paul Freeman, Nancy Asire.

Victor Frankenstein and Quasimodo develop a vaccine -- with diabolical results... Satan looses Daemon Grim, the Devil's personal hit man, and damned souls cower... Bat Masterson finds himself caught between plague victims and Wyatt Earp... Judas learns you can't teach an old dog new sins... Calamity Jane and her Sinchester carbine defend hell's last uninfected outpost... Nietzsche and Lilith, Adam's first wife, face the Beast and come to fiendish accord... Doc Holliday tries one last gambit, and unleashes all hell's fury... And there's worse to come, even an excerpt from bestselling author Andrew P. Weston's forthcoming Heroes in Hell novel! If you think life is tough, try the afterlife, where the doctor is always wrong, sinners never win, misery runs amok, and all hell's damned get their just deserts -- eternally.

Contents:

• The Wager - short fiction by Chris Morris and Janet Morris
• The Cure - short fiction by Chris Morris
• Grim - short fiction by Andrew P. Weston
• The Right Man for the Job - short fiction by Deborah Koren
• Memory - short fiction by Nancy Asire
• What Price Oblivion? - short fiction by R. E. Hinkle
• In the Shadowlands - short fiction by Richard Groller
• Let Us Kill the Spirit of Gravity - short fiction by Matthew Kirshenblatt
• Pavlovian Slip - short fiction by Bill Snider
• Hell On a Technicality - short fiction by Joe Bonadonna
• Convalescence - short fiction by Michael H. Hanson
• Hell Noon - short fiction by Paul Freeman
• The Judas Book - short fiction by Jack William Finley
• Writer's Block - short fiction by Janet Morris
• A Moment of Clarity - short fiction by Andrew P. Weston

Only fools fall in love, and hell is filled with fools. Our damned lovers include: Christopher Marlowe and Will Shakespeare, Napoleon and Wellington, Orpheus and Eurydice, Hatshepsut and Senenmut, Abelard and Heloise, Helen and Penelope, Saint Teresa and Satan's Reaper, Madge Kendall and the Elephant Man, and more... -- all of whom pay a hellish price for indulging their affections. Shakespeare said "To be wise and love exceeds man's might," and in Lovers in Hell, the damned in hell exceed all bounds as they search for their true loves, punish the perfidious, and avoid getting caught up in Satan's snares. In ten stories of misery and madness, hell's most loveless seek to slake the thirst that can never be quenched, and find true love amid the lies of ages.

Contents:

• Love in the Afterlife, Part I; or, Never Doubt I Love - serial by Chris Morris and Janet Morris (book publication as Love in the Afterlife)
• Love Interrupted - novelette by Nancy Asire
• Lovers Sans Phalli - novelette by S. E. Lindberg
• Love in the Afterlife, Part II; or, Fume of Sighs - serial by Chris Morris and Janet Morris (book publication as Love in the Afterlife)
• Calamity - novelette by Michael E. Dellert
• Love Triangle - novelette by Michael H. Hanson
• A Hand of Four Queens - novelette by A. L. Butcher
• The Devil's Trull - novelette by Andrew P. Weston
• Withering Blights - novelette by Joe Bonadonna
• Love in the Afterlife, Part III; or, Wrath of Love - serial by Chris Morris and Janet Morris (book publication as Love in the Afterlife)
• Hell Gate (excerpt) - short fiction by Andrew P. Weston

The Sacred Band of Stepsons is a fictional ancient cavalry unit created by Janet Morris and based on the historical Sacred Band of Thebes, an elite strike force of paired lovers and friends that flourished during the fourth century BCE in ancient Greece, where sexuality was a behavior, not an identity.

The Sacred Band of Stepsons series of fantasy novels and stories take place in a myth-like milieu that mixes historical places such as Nisibis, Mygdonia and Chaeronea; warriors such as Theagenes (commander of the Theban Sacred Band at Chaeronea); gods such as Enlil, Maat and Harmonia; philosophers such as Heraclitus and Thales; cavalry tactics and customs such as homosexuality in the militaries of ancient Greece with those that exist only in fantasy. The exploits of the Stepsons are chronicled in eleven short stories and eight novels (as of 2010). In a fantasy context, this series explores the difficulties facing war-fighters in personal relationships and the enduring questions surrounding the military's historical mixing of homosexuals and heterosexuals in combat.

Is this the Lemuria of antiquity, or of times to come? Once you've ridden the storm clouds of heaven from the edge of time, anything is possible.

Demonic hordes threaten to destroy the very fabric of time itself. The fate of all humanity rests on the shoulders of Tempus the Black, Favorite of the Storm God. But even this hero of legend will encounter a challenge he has never faced before... present-day New York City.

Tempus, immortal hero, avatar of the Storm God, ruler of the City at the Edge of Time, joins with his partner Nikko to reunite the Secret Band for a mission of vengeance that will takes them to the farthest reaches of time and space - and back home again.

Threshold is a space habitat between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter with a population of a quarter million. Run by a latter-day United Nations, one of its duties is to keep humans off of Earth, now a preserve.

Thousands of Muslim pilgrims from other systems are not pleased at being kept from Mecca. Their leader's daughter decides to experience Threshold's decadent (to her) society with the heir to a powerful exploration corporation, who is also smuggling illegal life forms into the habitat, thus threatening the stability of a conference on the rights of nonhuman races and ALIs - Artificial Living Individuals which the Muslims treat as they do their women: like property.

Captain Joseph South, on a test flight through interstellar spongespace, is translated 500 years into our future to arrive at Threshold just as all this is occurring. He has strange memories of a fly-by of system X-3, which match up with visions from an artifact brought to Threshold by a prospector.

This second novel of the Threshold trilogy has broken new ground - a military science fiction thriller on the high-tech cutting edge. Trust Territory returns to the grand hotel in space, where an alien force proposes an alliance to the humans.

In the grand conclusion to the high-tech Threshold trilogy, test pilot Joe South returns from a prolonged visit with The Unity - a wiser, older coalition of lifeforms. But the "benevolent" aliens have a perplexing request that will pit human political factions against each other.