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Sturgeon Award nominated short story. It originally appeared on Sci Fiction, January 28, 2004. The story can also be found in the anthologies Year's Best SF 10 (2005), edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer and The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Second Annual Collection (2005), edited by Gardner Dozois. It is included in the collection Greetings (2005).

Hugo Award nominated novelette. It originally appeared in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, February 1989. The story can also be found in the anthology What Might Have Been? Volume 1: Alternate Empires (1989), edited by Gregory Benford and Martin H. Greenberg. It is included in the collection Live! from Planet Earth (2005).

After the King presents an outstanding collection of new fantasy stories by an extraordinary assemblage of some of the very best writers to ever continue the tradition Tolkien began with The Lord of the Rings.

Contents:

• Introduction - (1992) - essay by Jane Yolen
• Reave the Just - (1992) - novelette by Stephen R. Donaldson
• Troll Bridge - (1992) - shortstory by Terry Pratchett
• A Long Night's Vigil at the Temple - (1992) - novelette by Robert Silverberg
• The Dragon of Tollin - (1992) - shortstory by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
• Faith - (1992) - novelette by Poul Anderson and Karen Anderson
• In the Season of the Dressing of the Wells - (1992) - novella by John Brunner
• The Fellowship of the Dragon - (1992) - novelette by Patricia A. McKillip
• The Decoy Duck - (1992) - novelette by Harry Turtledove
• Nine Threads of Gold - (1992) - novelette by Andre Norton
• The Conjure Man - (1992) - shortstory by Charles de Lint
• The Halfling House - (1992) - novelette by Dennis L. McKiernan
• Silver or Gold - (1992) - novelette by Emma Bull
• Up the Side of the Air - (1992) - novelette by Karen Haber
• The Naga - (1992) - shortstory by Peter S. Beagle
• Revolt of the Sugar Plum Fairies - (1992) - shortstory by Mike Resnick
• Winter's King - (1992) - shortstory by Jane Yolen
• Götterdämmerung - (1992) - shortstory by Barry N. Malzberg
• Down the River Road - (1992) - novella by Gregory Benford
• Death and the Lady - (1992) - novelette by Judith Tarr

Sir Mary de Courcy is the current knightly Champion of the Winchester Lists - a world renowned player in the VR game of Chivalry. As Mary Craven, she had been in graduate school working for her MBA when she won the grand prize in the school raffle - a surgical plug implant. Once hardwired into the system, Mary discovered Chivalry, and whatever plans she had for a career in business vanished like smoke. Now she made her living in the Lists, fighting joust after joust, earning the monetary and virtual rewards which came with winning.

But when Mary defeated the mysterious Grey Knight of the Sea in single combat, and won the virtual manor of St. Chad's on Wye, she found out that Chivalry was not all fun and games. For St. Chad's was far more than just a manor house, and someone was willing to kill Mary and anyone around her to recover it...

This novelette originally appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, June 1993, and was reprinted in Clarkesworld Magazine, #79 April 2013. It can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Science Fiction: Eleventh Annual Collection (1994), The Good New Stuff: Adventure SF in the Grand Tradition (1999), and Best of the Best: 20 Years of the Year's Best Science Fiction (2005), all edited by Gardner Dozois. The story is included in the collection The Dragons of Springplace (1999).

Read the full story for free at Clarkesworld.

THE GALACTIC MEDAL OF HONOR was the most important, the most coveted award of all time. It was given only to a handful of the bravest and most self-sacraficing of those defending earth from the mysterious alien invaders that had appeared fifty years before. It was almost always given posthumously.

The Bearer of this medal became the idol of all mankind, would never want for any necessity or luxury -- would never want for anything.

Everyone on Earth sought that medal.... One man was going to cheat to win it -- and live to regret it.

Sixty young trainees of the Planetary Survey Service disappear, along with their instructors and ship, as unknown aliens with advanced weaponry attack the settlement of New Finland.

A powerful fantasy novel in its own right, set in an expansive and complex fantasy universe, The Price of Blood and Honor brings to a grand climax the tale, begun in The Well-Favored Man and A Sorcerer and a Gentleman, of the kingdoms of Landuc, Noroison, and Phesaotois. The bitter, centuries-old feud between Emperor Avril and his wizardly brother, Prospero, has broken into open warfare, and events and armies are unstoppably on the move. In the midst of all this, Prospero's two grown children - staunch, unworldly Freia, and her urbanely sorcerous half-brother, Dewar - find themselves thrust into the very heart of the action. The Price of Blood and Honor is a rich, complex, and splendidly high-handed work, full of epic tragedies and comedies of manners, wars and romances, primal acts of creation, gritty military details, intricate espionage capers, talking animals, mythic beasts, ducks, and a great deal more besides, in the story that is the climax and completion of this series.

In the riveting sequel to Nightblade's Vengeance, the nightblades must choose a side, and the Kingdom will either rise again... or shatter into pieces.

With the realm on the brink of war, the once-celebrated blades have become an easy target for the rage of its devastated citizens. The nightblade warrior Asa's lifelong quest for vengeance is over, but now she finds herself on the run from the people she sought to protect. As Asa forges a new course of action in an uncertain world, her path crosses with that of a young noblewoman.

Mari knows that great opportunity lies in the heart of chaos. If the Kingdom is to rise again, Mari will need support, and she can think of no group better than the nightblades. But the nightblades have been betrayed before, and gaining their trust will not be easy.

Mari wants to save the Kingdom. Asa wants to save the people. Both are willing to risk everything. But do their quests make them allies... or enemies?

Table of Contents:

• Lost Legion - [Bethany Martins 1] - novelette by S. M. Stirling
• Camelot - novelette by Shariann Lewitt
• The Legacy of Leonidas - novella by Andrew Keith
• Ploughshare - novella by Todd McCaffrey
• Ghosts - short story by Barry N. Malzberg and Mike Resnick
• The Ghost of Resartus - novelette by Christopher Stasheff
• Operation Desert Fox - novelette by Larry Dixon and Mercedes Lackey
• As Our Strength Lessens - short story by David Drake

The Thirteen Orphans and their allies have opened the ninth gate into the Lands Born from Smoke and Sacrifice... and discover that the Lands have been altered almost beyond recognition, transformed by magic into an apparently uninhabited world where land shifts beneath one's feet and fire burns blue. Investigating, the Orphans learn that the Center of the world is sealed behind nearly-impassable barriers composed of each of the five elements of Chinese myth. Combining ancient and modern magics, a scouting party penetrates the barriers, only to be captured and given over to tortures designed to separate the Orphans from their magical abilities.

On Earth, Pearl Bright, the Tiger, is attacked--is this treachery by our world's magical traditions or has one of the Orphans betrayed her? Brenda Morris learns of the Orphans' dangers when it is nearly too late--but along with the sidhe, who are drawn to her Irish heritage, Brenda risks her life to help rescue those trapped in the Lands.

A story of betrayal and redemption, of bravery in the face of terror, and of loyalty and hatred that reach beyond the grave, Five Odd Honors continues Jane Lindskold's stunning Breaking the Wall series.

In the aftermath of a vicious battle between darkness and light, the city of Elantra has emerged victorious. But Shadows continue to haunt every corner of its streets...

Elantra stands strong, but countless numbers of Hawks, the city's staunchest protectors, were lost in the brutal attack. Humans, Barrani, Aerians, Leontines--none of the races emerged unscathed from the defense of the city. Homes were lost, families were scattered...and the outcast Barrani Lord Nightshade is missing from his castle in the fiefs.

Yet as the chaos surrounding the battle begins to wane, Private Kaylin Neya's duties must resume, despite her grief. Called in to investigate a triple murder in a quiet part of town, Kaylin and her companions are soon embroiled in a case that is anything but routine. Evidence of the deadly Shadows that still threaten the city leads to hints of ancient, forgotten magics...and everything can be traced directly to Ravellon, the heart of the Shadows and the darkness they contain.

But it is there that Lord Nightshade will be found--if he still survives.

Jame is one of the last of the Kencyrath line, born to battle a world-destroying Lord of Darkness and resuscitate her ancestral heritage. Jame's youth was spent hard and low in a desert wasteland. Now she has discovered her past and her heritage as Highborn - and, with it, the power to call souls out of their bodies and slay the occasional god or two (as well as to resurrect them).

First, though, Jame must survive the politics and dangers of haunted Tentir College, a school for warriors where she's a student. At Tentir, Jame saves a young protÉgÉ from possession by a powerful, evil soul in search of a body, while combating jealous students who see her as a danger to their ambition for power and want her expelled - and blinded and dead, in the bargain! Then, just as graduation approaches, Jame's exemption from the sacred laws of the tribe of her youth expires and she is expected to wed immediately, plus take on a family. To make matters worse, she's challenged to a mounted combat duel to decide who is Tentir 'top gun' - a competition she must win to graduation. It's trial by fire, as Jame moves closer to a magnificent destiny she both fears - and knows she must face.

Omnibus Edition of Shards of Honor and Barrayar

Shards of Honor is the novel in which Lois McMaster Bujold introduced the SF world to Barrayar and Aral Vorkosigan, Beta Colony and Cordelia Naismith. From this beginning the author has created a multi-generational saga spanning time as well as space. Bujold is generally recognized as the current exemplar of the character-based SF adventure story.

The assassination of the emperor disrupts the carefully crafted balance of power in an empire that blends humans and other sentient species. Who will give up the peace first in a move toward domination? The blow falls on the paradise world of Palaccio, a green and blue planet of fair winds and playtime for humans, which most other species avoid as "Stink World." When the war breaks out, the man who must devise a defense is the least likely to succeed, Taddeuz Bertingas, a public relations functionary who never took basic military service. He finds himself the point man in an interspecies coalition to save the last remnants of empire.

The survivors of postnuclear America struggle against the free fall into anarchy and barbarism. Hot lead keeps people sharp, but it's the fire within that keeps them alive. Ryan Cawdor and his band roam Deathlands searching for somewhere to call home. Until then, it's survival at all cost.

New Hampshire is rich with big game, more than enough to feed Ryan and his hungry companions. But claims to a fallen elk get ugly and Ryan is forced to chill another hunter, the self-proclaimed king of the Granite Highlands, over the meat. Soon the hunters become the hunted as the dead man's widow gives chase, armed with predark tanks and heavy artillery. As the kill zone widens across cannibal-ridden lava fields, Ryan and his group search for leverage in the merciless landscape.

A strange, shrouded figure appears in Dunwall, seeming to possess powers once wielded by the assassin known as Daud. Faced with the possibility that their deadliest foe has returned, Emily and Corvo plunge headlong into a life-and-death race against time. If they fail to learn the truth about this mysterious enemy, the result could be destruction on an unimaginable scale.

As Empress Emily Kaldwin flees Dunwall after the coup by Delilah Copperspoon and Duke Luca Abele of Serkonos, a lone figure watches, the Mark of the Outsider burning on his hand.

Daud--legendary assassin--has returned to Dunwall, a city in turmoil. He is seeking a mythical weapon, said to have the power to kill the Outsider, and will go to any lengths to find it. But there are those who are watching his every move. Travelling the Isles to complete his mission, Daud will soon discover that old enemies have been waiting for him, and new enemies are easy to make...

The official new novel set in the world of Dishonored, the award-winning video game.

Billie Lurk has acheived the impossible: the Outsider has fallen. But now the Void is unbalanced, and the fate of the world is at stake.

From Tyvia to Serkonos, mysterious rifts in the fabric of reality have appeared--portals into the Void, with the potential to tear the world apart. Billie's search for the source of their instability sends her far from Dunwall, to a city cut in half by a rift, and to a kingdom recovering from civil war, where an uneasy truce reigns. A former assassin, smuggler, and bounty hunter, Billie's a born survivor, and she's the only one who can set things right--but to do so she must confront her own past, with world-altering results.

Written for serial publication in 1822 under the pseudonym Horace de Saint-Aubin, this Faustian tale by Balzac has never before been available in English. More than a long-lost curiosity by an important writer, The Centenarian is also a seminal work of early science fiction, crucial to understanding both the development of the genre and the craft of this great author.

Beringheld, a 400-year-old "mad scientist," discovered the fluid necessary to human life, but he must extract the vital fluid of others to enlarge his own powers.

Balzac intertwines the mythic and the modern in ways that would prove enormously influential to science fiction. Like Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, this novel bridges the gap that separates alchemy and magic from the practice and problems of science. It is also crucial to an understanding of Balzac's oeuvre, as it anticipates significant themes of power, knowledge, and secrecy.

This Wesleyan edition features notes, appendices, and a critical introduction.

John Christian Falkenberg, a young captain in the CoDominium marines, leads his troops to the planet Arrarat, where there's a violent rebellion.

Petty criminal Zara Cole has a painful past that's made her stronger than most, which is why she chose life in New Detroit instead moving with her family to Mars. In her eyes, living inside a dome isn't much better than a prison cell.

Still, when Zara commits a crime that has her running scared, jail might be exactly where she's headed. Instead Zara is recruited into the Honors, an elite team of humans selected by the Leviathan--a race of sentient alien ships--to explore the outer reaches of the universe as their passengers.

Zara seizes the chance to flee Earth's dangers, but when she meets Nadim, the alien ship she's assigned, Zara starts to feel at home for the first time. But nothing could have prepared her for the dark, ominous truths that lurk behind the alluring glitter of starlight.

Savvy criminal turned skilled Leviathan pilot Zara Cole finds new friends and clashes with bitter enemies in the second book of this action-packed series from New York Times bestselling authors Rachel Caine and Ann Aguirre that's perfect for fans of The 100 and The Fifth Wave.

Zara Cole was a thief back on Earth, but she's been recently upgraded to intergalactic fugitive. On the run after a bloody battle in a covert war that she never expected to be fighting, Zara, her co-pilot Beatriz, and their Leviathan ship Nadim barely escaped the carnage with their lives.

Now Zara and her crew of Honors need a safe haven, far from the creatures who want to annihilate them. But they'll have to settle for the Sliver: a wild, dangerous warren of alien criminals. The secrets of the Sliver may have the power to turn the tide of the war they left behind--but in the wrong direction.

Soon Zara will have to make a choice: run from the ultimate evil--or stand and fight.

Quick-thinking Leviathan pilot Zara Cole must stop a planet-eating monster or lose everyone she loves in the finale of this acclaimed trilogy.

Space renegade Zara Cole may have finally met her match. Lifekiller--a creature that can devour entire planets--is spreading terror throughout the universe, and it seems nothing can stand in the monstrous godking's way.

Zara's street smarts may not be enough when their enemy could be anywhere, destroying civilizations and picking his teeth with the bones.

With human enemies, alien creatures, and mechanical stalkers on her tail, it's down to the wire for Zara to save the galaxy--and the people she calls home--before the godking consumes them all.

The ultimate guide and companion to the New York Times best-selling Honor Harrington series.

A new short Honorverse novel, plus a compendium of tech, specs, and history to accompany the blockbuster series.

An all-new David Weber Honorverse short novel, I Will Build a House of Steel, chronicling the early days of the Manticoran Star Kingdom and the reign of King Roger.

Have you ever finished the latest Honor Harrington novel from David Weber and wished you could linger in Weber's Honorverse just a bit longer? Now you can with this treasure trove of tech, specs, and insights on David Weber's mega best-selling Honor Harrington series. Orbital characteristics of key planets, regimental order of the Royal Navy, backstory on the history and drama of the Star Kingdom's birth and early days--you'll find it all here, thoughtfully arranged by the Bureau 9 Weber research group, and overseen by David Weber himself.

The Basilisk System was a place to sweep incompetents, fools, and failures under the rug . . . or to punish officers with enemies in high places.

Commander Honor Harrington has enemies, and she's about to make more of them--because the people out to get her have made one mistake: They've made her mad.

On the planet Grayson to participate in diplomatic talks between the Kingdom of Manticore and the Republic of Haven, Honor Harrington discovers that she is stuck on a fiercely patriarchal, misogynist planet.

Banking on a short, victorious war to replenish their depleted treasury, the ruling class of the People's Republic of Haven do not count on coming up against Captain Honor Harrington and the Royal Manticoran Navy.

After boldly defeating the People's Republic of Haven, the Royal Manticoran Navy stands victorious, but a new political crisis and an old enemy once vanquished bring a new challenge for Honor Harrington.

Struggling to deal with her lover's murder and a forced retirement, Captain Honor Harrington assumes the role of Steadholder on the planet Grayson, but a threatening uprising calls her back into duty as head of the Grayson Navy.

Offered a chance to recover her commission as an officer in the Royal Manticoran Navy, Captain Honor Harrington must assume command of a ""squadron"" of jury-rigged armed merchantmen to stop the pirates who are plundering the Star Kingdom's commercial trade.

Outnumbered and outgunned, Honor Harrington has just two options: see the people under her command slaughtered in hopeless battle or surrender them--and herself--to the Peeps.

For eight years, Commodore Honor Harrington was in the forefront of the battle between the Star Kingdom of Manticore and the powerful People's Republic of Haven. Then she was captured and publicly executed. But Honor is far from dead, what's more, she's going home and taking her people with her.

Proclaimed a dead woman by the People's Republic of Haven, Honor Harrington has escaped her prison with half a million others and will tip the balance in favor of the Allies.

No one wanted another war. Thomas Theisman didn't. Baron High Ridge didn't. His Imperial Majesty Gustav didn't. Honor Harrington didn't. The Andermani Emperor has plans for Silesia. And the Prime Minister of Manticore is happy with the war he has. Unfortunately, what they want doesn't matter.

What price victory?

The war with the Republic of Haven has resumed . . . disastrously for the Star Kingdom of Manticore.

Admiral Lady Dame Honor Harrington, Steadholder and Duchess Harrington, the single victorious Allied commander of the opening phase of the new war, has been recalled from the Sidemore System to command Eighth Fleet. Everyone knows Eighth Fleet is the Alliance's primary offensive command, which makes it the natural assignment for the woman the media calls "the Salamander."

But what most of the public DOESN'T know is that not only are the Star Kingdom and its Allies badly outnumbered by the Republic's new fleet, but that the odds are going to get steadily worse. Eighth Fleet's job is to somehow prevent those odds from crushing the Alliance before the Star Kingdom can regain its strategic balance. It's a job which won't be done cheaply.

Honor Harrington must meet her formidable responsibilities with inferior forces even as she copes with tumultuous changes in her personal and public life. The alternative to victory is total defeat, yet this time the COST of victory will be agonizingly high.

The Star Kingdom of Manticore and the Republic of Haven have been enemies for Honor Harrington's entire life, and she has paid a price for the victories she's achieved in that conflict. And now the unstoppable juggernaut of the mighty Solarian League is on a collision course with Manticore. The millions who have already died may have been only a foretaste of the billions of casualties just over the horizon, and Honor sees it coming.

She's prepared to do anything, risk anything, to stop it, and she has a plan that may finally bring an end to the Havenite Wars and give even the Solarian League pause. But there are things not even Honor knows about. There are forces in play, hidden enemies in motion, all converging on the Star Kingdom of Manticore to crush the very life out of it, and Honor's worst nightmares fall short of the oncoming reality.

But Manticore's enemies may not have thought of everything after all. Because if everything Honor Harrington loves is going down to destruction, it won't be going alone.

Peril and strife strike on a double front for Honor Harrington and company. After a brutal attack on the Manticoran home system, Honor Harrington and the Star Kingdom she serves battle back against a new, technologically powerful, and utterly nefarious enemy. And as if that weren't task enough, Honor must also face down a centuries-old nemesis in the crumbling, but still mighty, Solarian League.

The war between the People's Republic of Haven and the Star Kingdom is finally won and peace established, but grave danger looms -- for there is a plan well on its way to completion designed to enslave the entire human species. Behind that plan lies the shadowy organization known as the Mesan Alignment.

Task number one for Honor is to defend against another devastating Mesan strike -- a strike that may well spell the doom of the Star Kingdom in one fell blow. It is time to shut down and secure the wormhole network that is the source of the Star Kingdom's wealth and power -- but also its greatest vulnerability. Yet this is an act that the Earth-based Solarian League inevitably will take as a declaration of war.

The thunder of battle rolls as the Solarian League directs its massive power against the Star Kingdom. And once again, Honor Harrington is thrust into a desperate battle that she must win if she is to survive to take the fight to the real enemy of galactic freedom -- the insidious puppetmasters of war who lurk behind the Mesan Alignment!

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.

"It is our duty to pay for our liberty with our own blood. The freedom that we shall win through our sacrifice and exertions, we shall be able to preserve with our own strength."--Subhas Chandra Bose

Lieutenant Brandy Bolgeo has come home from the Battle of Hancock station wounded in both body and spirit. She will need months to regenerate her lost leg, but how long will it take to heal her heart?

She's come home to find that her wounds, her ship's brutal damage, the deaths of so many friends, were the fault of an arrogant, aristocratic coward who broke and ran in the face of the enemy. Who left her ship to pay the price for his craven desertion under fire. And whose powerful political allies are determined to protect and preserve him at any price.

They have held hostage the declaration of war until Lord Pavel Young escaped the consequences of his cowardice. They didn't care what it cost the Navy. They didn't care what it cost the entire Star Kingdom of Manticore. Their tactics have cost the Royal Navy the priceless initiative as revolution and military purges wrack the People's Republic of Haven, and that lost window of opportunity will cost the Star Kingdom seventeen years of bloody warfare and hundreds of thousands of deaths.

Now Young is free to seek vengeance on the people he feels have "wronged" him. People like Paul Tankersley and Honor Harrington. Paid duelists, smear tactics, hired assassins in public restaurants... nothing is beneath Pavel Young. But Captain Harrington can look after herself, and Pavel Young is about to face the fury of the woman the newsies call the "Salamander." Yet who will save the Star Kingdom from the repercussions of his actions?

Women and men like Brandy Bolgeo are about to pay the toll for the Star Kingdom of Manticore's honor.

Dr. Janet Watson knows firsthand the horrifying cost of a divided nation. While treating broken soldiers on the battlefields of the New Civil War, a sniper's bullet shattered her arm and ended her career. Honorably discharged and struggling with the semi-functional mechanical arm that replaced the limb she lost, she returns to the nation's capital, a bleak, edgy city in the throes of a fraught presidential election. Homeless and jobless, Watson is uncertain of the future when she meets another black and queer woman, Sara Holmes, a mysterious yet playfully challenging covert agent who offers the doctor a place to stay.

Watson's readjustment to civilian life is complicated by the infuriating antics of her strange new roommate. But the tensions between them dissolve when Watson discovers that soldiers from the New Civil War have begun dying one by one -- and that the deaths may be the tip of something far more dangerous, involving the pharmaceutical industry and even the looming election. Joining forces, Watson and Holmes embark on a thrilling investigation to solve the mystery--and secure justice for these fallen soldiers.

The Emperor is Dead.

The Steel Throne, seat of imperial power in Rokugan, sits empty. Ambition wars with justice and deception with truth as the emperor's heirs seek to gain the favor of the Clans. The fate of the Empire walks the edge of a blade, and before all is lost, the Lady of hte Sword must step forward to restore honor to a land in need.

Sixteen-year-old Priscilla Delacroix was declared legally dead by her mother, High Priestess of the Goddess. Banished to survive on her own, Priscilla has roamed the galaxy for ten years as an outcast--to become a woman of extraordinary skill....

An experienced officer assigned to the Liaden vessel Doxflon, she's been abandoned yet again. Betrayed by her captain and shipmates, she's left to fend for herself on a distant planet. But Priscilla is not alone. Starship captain Shan yos'Galen is about to join Priscilla's crusade for revenge. He has his own score to settle with the enemy. But confronting the sinister crew will be far easier--and safer--than confronting the demons of Priscilla's own mysterious past.

One is a heartless, bloodthirsty killer. The other is a vampire.

College freshman, Amanda Colt knows few people and wants to know fewer still. She enjoys fencing and prefers facing a challenge every once in a while. She is beautiful, smart, and possibly the most interesting person on campus.

Then she finds tall, intense Marco Catalano in her fencing class. With a mind like a computer and manners of a medieval knight, he scares most people - but not Amanda. They both have secrets, for they are both monsters.

As they draw closer, they must find the line between how much they can trust each other, and how much they can care for each other. Each carries a secret that can destroy the other. But they must come to grips with their personal drama soon because a darkness rises around them. Bodies keep turning up all over New York, and an army of vampires closes in on all sides.

They have only one hope - each other.

Galcen has fallen. The Space Force is broken and scattered. the planets of the former Republic are rushing to make peace with the victorious Mages.

All that remains is mopping up. Minor details. A privateer or two, a few Adepts who remain alive and on the run, and the hereditary ruler of a lifeless planet.

Beka Rosselin-Metadi, the last Domina of Lost Entibor, possesses little more than a famous name and a famous ship. With them she must salvage what she can from the wreckage of the Republic. Her enemies are too many to count, her friends too few to make a difference. She can trust no one except herself, her crew--and the family she ran away from years before.

Beka has resources few suspect: a hidden base, a long forgotten oath, and a dead man's legacy. But she has problems as well; for in a universe gone mad, neither friends nor enemies are all that they may seem.

A play that began in treachery and blood five hundred years before has reached its final act. A broken galaxy will be sundered forever, or else made whole.

The Terran Union is engaged in a vast interstellar war against the Krag, ruthless aliens intent on exterminating humankind. In 2315, the wily Max Robichaux is given command of the USS Cumberland, a destroyer with state-of-the-art capabilities but a combat record so bad, she's known as the "Cumberland Gap."

Capt. Robichaux's first mission: to take his warship to the Free Corridor, where the Krag have secretly been buying strategic materials, and to seize or destroy any ships carrying enemy cargo. Far from the fleet and under enforced radio silence, Max relies only on his determination and guile... and the support and friendship of his chief medical officer, the brilliant Dr. Sahin.

Because even as he deals with the ship's onboard problems and the stress of carrying out her risky assignment, Max and the doctor discover that the Cumberland and her misfit crew are all that stands in the way of a deadly Krag attack that threatens to end the war--and humanity--once and for all.

A far-future story in the tradition of "ships of wood, men of iron" novels, To Honor You Call Us and the Man of War series combines the adventure of exploration, the excitement of war, and the dangers of the unknown through the eyes of a ship and her crew.

In 2315, the Earth Union is losing a thirty-year-long war with the Krag Hegemony.

Having encountered the Krag before, Space Commander Max Robicheaux now faces daunting challenges aboard the USS Cumberland: the dangers from the enemy without... and clashes with crew and superiors within.

Meanwhile, Doctor Sahin receives a coded message summoning him to a secret meeting that aims to forge an alliance that could change the balance of power in Known Space. But first, he must circumvent the fighter ships and heavily armed troops of the traitorous emir bent on killing him before he reaches the negotiating table.

Both men must call upon their developing skills and growing friendship to bear the burden of carrying between the Krag Hegemony and the Earth Union a fateful ultimatum and the shocking answer--an answer that could spell eternal slavery, or even extinction, for all humankind.

Jorian, ex-king of Xylar, has had enough adventures to last a lifetime. But when his brother Kerin, youngest son of Evor the Clockmaker, commits an indescretion with Adeliza, a neighbor's daughter, he is packed off on a hasty quest to uncover the secret of an advanced clock escapement for the family firm. A pragmatic, cautious sort, he preps for his journey with a crash course from his experienced brother in useful skills -- swordsmanship and foreign tongues, of course, but also lying and burglary. He is hampered and sometimes aided by the sprite Belinka, commissioned by the calculating Adeliza to ensure Kerin's faithfulness.

Kerin's goal takes him east across the Inner Sea, the Sea of Sikhon and the Eastern Ocean to the empire of Kuromon, where he is promised the secret in return for a magical fan lost centuries before. It has the property of making whatever it is waved at disappear without a trace. Along the way he must contend with a treacherous sea captain and his suspicious navigator, the duplicitous sorcerer Pwana, and the pirate crew of Malgo, who has a grudge against Kerin's family.

A more pleasant complication is Nogiri, a princess of the island empire of Salimor, whom Kerin has liberated (much to the displeasure of Belinka) from the pirates. Kerin returns her to Salimor only to lose her to the nefarious designs of Pwana, and a dire fate from which she can only be preserved by a daring rescue -- on roller skates!

Finally Kuromon is reached and negotiations are concluded satisfactorily, but only at the cost of an unexpected regime change by fan...

It's been almost a year since October "Toby" Daye averted a war, gave up a county, and suffered personal losses that have left her wishing for a good day's sleep. She's tried to focus on her responsibilities—training Quentin, upholding her position as Sylvester's knight, and paying the bills—but she can't help feeling like her world is crumbling around her, and her increasingly reckless behavior is beginning to worry even her staunchest supporters.

To make matters worse, Toby's just been asked to find another missing child…only this time it's the changeling daughter of her fellow knight, Etienne, who didn't even know he was a father until the girl went missing. Her name is Chelsea. She's a teleporter, like her father. She's also the kind of changeling the old stories warn about, the ones with all the strength and none of the control. She's opening doors that were never meant to be opened, releasing dangers that were sealed away centuries before—and there's a good chance she could destroy Faerie if she isn't stopped.

Now Toby must find Chelsea before time runs out, racing against an unknown deadline and through unknown worlds as she and her allies try to avert disaster. But danger is also stirring in the Court of Cats, and Tybalt may need Toby's help with the biggest challenge he's ever faced.

Toby thought the last year was bad. She has no idea.

Devi Morris has a lot of problems. And not the fun, easy-to-shoot kind either.

After a mysterious attack left her short several memories and one partner, she's determined to keep her head down, do her job, and get on with her life. But even though Devi's not actually looking for it -- trouble keeps finding her. She sees things no one else can, the black stain on her hands is growing, and she is entangled with the cook she's supposed to hate.

But when a deadly crisis exposes far more of the truth than she bargained for, Devi discovers there's worse fates than being shot, and sometimes the only people you can trust are the ones who want you dead.

Two years after Reisil's arrival, Kodu Riik is decimated by plague and famine. And now a race of sorcerers is trying to take over. Reisil's power is feared by the nobility, others wish to exploit her, and her fellow ahalad-kaaslane begin to doubt her loyalty, as her healing magic fails to stem the rising plague. But Reisil will discover that although she has lost her power to heal, she now possesses a surging new ability-to destroy.

The Posleen War Rages On -- Undercover!

Clan O'Neal Battles for the Right--And With Each Other!

The Indowy "Bane Sidhe" conspiracy has grown strong, and the cunning and resourceful Darhel--tacit rulers of the Galactic Federation--have decided that the time has come to wipe that threat from the stars forever. What the Darhel don't know is that humans have joined the rebellion--led by thief and assassin extraordinaire, Cally O'Neal. Now Cally is set to destroy a web of alien deceit millennia in the making. Only one obstacle lies in her path: the renowned warrior who stood tall and saved Earth from utter destruction during its first invasion by alien hordes--a legend who also happens to be Cally's father!

Contents:

• 1 - Ancient Blood - [Star Trek: Day of Honor - 1] - (1997) - novel by Diane Carey
• 255 - Armageddon Sky - [Star Trek: Day of Honor - 2] - (1997) - novel by Julia Ecklar and Karen Rose Cercone [as by L. A. Graf ]
• 445 - Her Klingon Soul - [Star Trek: Day of Honor - 3] - (1997) - novel by Michael Jan Friedman
• 631 - Treaty's Law - [Star Trek: Day of Honor - 4] - (1997) - novel by Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith
• 833 - Day of Honor: The Television Episode - [Star Trek: Voyager] - (1997) - novel by Michael Jan Friedman
• 1009 - Day of Honor: Honor Bound - [Star Trek Deep Space Nine Young Adult - 11] - (1997) - novel by Diana G. Gallagher

To true Klingon warriors, no occasion is more sacred than the Day of Honor, when they pay homage to all that makes them Klingon. But honor demands its price.... Worf finds his honor tested when he goes undercover to infiltrate a planetary criminal network. How can he root out the corruption on Sindikash without resorting to deceit and treachery himself? Worf's dilemma is shared by his son Alexander, who searches for the true meaning of honor in his own human heritage. Along with his son, Worf must confront deadly danger -- and the inner struggles of his Klingon soul.

All Klingons revere the Day of Honor, their most sacred holiday, but the true nature of honor can be a matter worth fighting over... Dispatched on a secret mission to investigate the raids, Commander Worf of Deep Space Nine and the crew of the Defiant find themselves trapped on a an alien world threatened by global cataclysm-- trapped along with Klingons who were exiled to this world for their loyalty to Worf's dishonored family. Worf must find a way to save the Klingons whose honor bade them to keep their pledges to the House of Mogh despite the orders of the Emperor, and to prevent a bloody massacre that will forever stain the honor of the Klingon Empire!

Even light-years from the Klingon Empire, the Day of Honor remains an occasion of great importance. And sometimes honor is found in the most unexpected places... B'Elanna Torres has never cared for the Day of Honor. Ashamed of her Klingon heritage, she regards the holiday as an unwanted reminder of all she has struggled to repress. Besides, something awful always seems to happen to her then. Her bad luck seems to be running true to form when she and Harry Kim are captured by alien slavers. Imprisoned by the enigmatic Risatti, force to mine for deadly radioactive ore, Torres will need all of her strength and cunning to survive -- and her honor as well.

The Day of Honor is celebrated throughout the Klingon Empire. But every tradition had to being somewhere... Signi Beta is an M-class planet ideal for farming. The Federation wants Signi Beta, but the Klingon Empire has the stronger claim. Captain Kirk hates to lose the planet, especially to his old adversary, Commander Kor. Their mutual antagonism turns into an uneasy alliance, however, when yet another alien fleet attacks both the Klingons and the "U.S.S. Enterprise." Now Kirk and Kor must rely on each other's honor -- or none of them may survive to wage their war again.

B'Elanna Torres has no intention of celebrating the Day of Honor. A day of glory for others of Klingon heritage, the day for Torres has always been a dark one, for reasons that stretch back to childhood memories she has tried to forget. This Day of Honor is no better. Trouble with the warp engines has crippled the "U.S.S. Voyager" just as it confronts a deadly threat. Torres and Tom Paris must put their lives on the line to restore the engines. With time running out, Torres has one last chance to accept the great loss she once suffered and reveal the true feelings she has buried for years.

Captain Klag of the I.K.S. Gorkon -- the newest inductee into the Order -- has given his word to the Children of San-Tarah that the Klingon Empire will leave them in peace. But Klag's old rival General Talak has ordered him to go back on his word and aid Talak in conquering the San-Tarah's world. Now Klag must stand against his fellow Klingons -- but will even his fellow members of the Order of the Bat'leth, not to mention his own crew, follow him into disobedience? Or will they betray him to Talak?

The crew of the Gorkon faces its greatest trial in a glorious adventure that will be remembered in song and story throughout the Empire!

There is no occasion more sacred to the Klingons than the Day of Honor. And to the Klingon youth, honor is a lesson heard-learned and harder-earned. The hunter instinct is taking over Alexander, driving him to violence when he can't control his emerging Klingon traits. He's in trouble at school when his father, Worf, gives his word as a Starfleet officer that Alexander's behavior will change. But it takes a frightening confession from Worf before Alexander understands that he must learn to control himself or lose everything he loves. A Klingon is honor-bound to keep his word, at any cost. And Alexander is about to pay the price as he faces disgrace and dishonor for challenging his bullying classmates with character instead of force.

The Starship Enterprise NX-01 is humanity's flagship -- the first vessel to begin a systematic exploration of what lies beyond the fringes of known space. Led by Captain Jonathan Archer, eighty of Starfleet's best and brightest set forth to pave humanity's way among the stars. Tempered by a year's worth of exploration, they are a disciplined, cohesive unit. But now one of their number has fallen.

Bad enough that Ensign Alana Hart is dead. Worse still that she died while attempting to sabotage the Enterprise -- and at the hands of Lieutenant Malcolm Reed, the ship's armory officer and her nominal superior. Even as questions swirl around Hart's death, Archer, Reed, and the rest of the Enterprise crew find themselves caught squarely in the middle of another tense situation- a brutal war of terror between two civilizations.

But in the Eris Alpha system, nothing -- and no one -- are what they seem. And before the secret behind Ensign Hart's demise is exposed, Reed will be forced to confront death one more time.

An enemy so intractable that it cannot be reasoned with. The entire race thinks with one mind and strives toward one purpose: to add our biological distinctiveness to their own and wipe out individuality, to make every living thing Borg.

In over two centuries, the Federation has never encountered a greater threat. Twice Starfleet assembled and threw countless starships to stand against them. The Borg were stopped, the price paid in blood. Humanity breathed a sigh of relief, assuming it was safe. And with the destruction of the transwarp conduits, the Federation believed that the killing blow had finally been struck against the Borg.

Driven to the point of extinction, the Borg continue to fight for their very existence, for their culture. They will not be denied. They must not be stopped. The old rules and assumptions regarding how the Collective should act have been dismissed. Now the Borg kill first, assimilate later.

When the Enterprise manages to thwart them once again, the Borg turn inward. The dark places that even the drones never realized existed are turned outward against the enemy they have never been able to defeat. What is revealed is the thing that no one believed the Borg could do.

A series of vicious attacks by the enigmatic M'Dok Empire has devastated the planet Tenara -- bringing the U.S.S Enterprise and another Federation starship, the Centurion, to the planet's aid. The Centurion's captain is Lucius Sejanus -- a powerful, magnetic man who favors taking a far stronger stance against the M'Dok than Captain Picard. And as the conflict escalates, Sejanus's instincts seem to be correct... for it appears only extreme measures can stop the murderous raids on Tenara.

Now the people of Tenara must decide which pathe they will follow -- the way of peace, or the road to war. But unknown to any one of the Centurion's officers has made that decision for them -- and plans to provoke a full-scale war between the Federation and the M'Dok Empire!

Isolated for centuries, the exotic Dragon Empire is finally ready to join the United Federation of Planets. But first the emperor's eldest son must marry the only daughter of his oldest enemy, bringing to an end decades of civil war. Without the wedding, there can be no peace -- and no treaty with the Federation. As honored guests of the Dragon Empire, Captain Picard and the crew of the "Starship Enterprise" TM must ensure that the royal wedding occurs on schedule, despite the Empire's complicated and difficult codes of honor. And Dr. Beverly Crusher finds her loyalties torn when she wins the confidence of the unusually reluctant bride-to-be. More than just a treaty is at stake, for a vicious race of alien conquerors will stop at nothing, from assassination to invasion, to keep the Empire out of the Federation. Picard must use all his skills to save the Empire, and preserve the Dragon's Honor.

Captain Kirk ventures into the depths of a remote jungle planet to save hostages held by the Klingon Empire. But the Klingons are determined not to give up the prisoners, even if it means obliterating every las one - and anyone who attempts to save them! The crew of the U.S.S Enterprise arrive on a Klingon planet and soon discover that crew of the U.S.S Gagarin, which was viciously attacked by Klingons ten years ago, have been held prisoner there ever since.

With the assistance of the brave and honourable Koloth - the Klingon captain from the viewer-favourite episode, 'The Trouble with Tribbles' - Captain Kirk sets out on an heroic mission to rescue them. During his time on the planet he discovers the secrets behind many Klingon mysteries... mysteries that Star Trek fans have been waiting to find out...

The second book in the best-selling ERRAND OF FURY trilogy finds tensions between the Federation and the Klingon Empire are escalating, and an all-out war may be inevitable. On board the Starship Enterprise, Captain James T. Kirk faces new upgrades to his ship's defensive systems and the ongoing diplomatic crisis may reach a breaking point and ignite the powder keg that has been building between the Klingons and the Federation.

At last, the United Federation of Planets and the Romulan Star Empire have agreed to meet on neutral ground to attempt to resolve the tangle of intrigue and conspiracy that began with the hijacking of the U.S.S. Intrepid many years ago -- but the meeting may be as dangerous as the war they hope to avoid.

As a show of good faith, the crew of the legendary Starship Enterprise has been ordered to attend the talks. In their informal charge is Romulan renegade Ael, the wanted fugitive who, with Kirk, served as a catalyst of the current troubles. Kirk must represent the interests of the Federation first and foremost, but the best approach to an agreement remains muddled in the ever-shifting Romulan order.

And the visiting Romulan party is as fractious and divided as their troubled world. Among the Romulan nobles in attendance are the hero and popular Senator Arrhae, who secretly helped rescue Dr. Leonard McCoy from a Romulan execution, and the very men and women who put McCoy on trial for treason -- and tried to carry out the sentence.
As Kirk and crew attempt to renegotiate a delicate peace, and Romulans attempt to restore their tarnished honor, it becomes increasingly apparent that their only course of action is to prepare for war.

When the Empire threatens the galaxy's new hope, will Han, Luke, and Leia become its last chance?

When the mission is to extract a high-level rebel spy from the very heart of the Empire, Leia Organa knows the best man for the job is Han Solo-something the princess and the smuggler can finally agree on. After all, for a guy who broke into an Imperial cell block and helped destroy the Death Star, the assignment sounds simple enough.

But when Han locates the brash rebel agent, Scarlet Hark, she's determined to stay behind enemy lines. A pirate plans to sell a cache of stolen secrets that the Empire would destroy entire worlds to protect-including the planet where Leia is currently meeting with rebel sympathizers. Scarlet wants to track down the thief and steal the bounty herself, and Han has no choice but to go along if he's to keep everyone involved from getting themselves killed. From teeming city streets to a lethal jungle to a trap-filled alien temple, Han, Chewbacca, Leia, and their daring new comrade confront one ambush, double cross, and firestorm after another as they try to keep crucial intel out of Imperial hands.

But even with the crack support of Luke Skywalker's x-wing squadron, the Alliance heroes may be hopelessly outgunned in their final battle for the highest of stakes: the power to liberate the galaxy from tyranny or ensure the Empire's reign of darkness forever.

No one gets left behind...

Five years after Major Henry Boyd and his team, SG-10, were trapped on the edge of a black hole, Colonel Jack O'Neill discovers a device that could bring them home.

But it's owned by the Kinahhi, an advanced and paranoid people, besieged by a ruthless foe. Unwilling to share the technology, the Kinahhi are pursuing their own agenda in the negotiations with Earth's diplomatic delegation.

Maneuvering through a maze of tyranny, terrorism and deceit, Dr Daniel Jackson, Major Samantha Carter and Teal'c unravel a startling truth -- a revelation that throws the team into chaos and forces O'Neill to face a nightmare he is determined to forget.

Resolved to rescue Boyd, O'Neill marches back into the hell he swore never to revisit. Only this time, he's taking SG-1 with him...

Paying the price...

In the action-packed sequel to A Matter of Honor, SG-1 embark on a desperate mission to save SG-10 from the edge of a black hole. But the price of heroism may be more than they can pay...

Returning to Stargate Command, Colonel Jack O'Neill and his team find more has changed in their absence than they had expected. Nonetheless, O'Neill is determined to face the consequences of their unauthorized activities, only to discover the penalty is far worse than anything he could have imagined.

With the fate of Colonel O'Neill and Major Samantha Carter unknown, and the very survival of the SGC threatened, Dr. Daniel Jackson and Teal'c mount a rescue mission to free their team-mates and reclaim the SGC.

Yet returning to the Kinahhi homeworld, they learn a startling truth about its ancient foe. And uncover a horrifying secret...

On the run from her former employer, Tess knows that she's vulnerable on her own amongst the Elder Races. That's why she decides to audition to become the human attendant of a powerful Vampyre of the Nightkind demesne. But while her position affords her the safety she seeks, her protector turns out to be more than she bargained for.

The right-hand man of the Nightkind King, Xavier del Torro is both terrifying and alluring. While his true nature frightens Tess, she can't ignore the appeal of his innate sense of integrity and self-restraint. Thrown into Xavier's world, Tess must quickly learn to navigate the dangers--both to her life and to her heart. But the biggest threat comes from her own past...

Table of Contents:

• 1 - Of War and Codes and Honor - [The Harriers] - novella by Gordon R. Dickson and Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
• 121 - Into the Hot and Moist - [The Harriers] - novella by Steve Perry
• 181 - Tonight We Improvise - [The Harriers] - novella by Shariann Lewitt

Unhonored is the second book in the intriguing gothic novel in the Nightbirds series from the partnerships of New York Times best selling author Tracy Hickman and Laura Hickman. This gothic fantasy series begins with Unwept.

Ellis Harkington is trapped in limbo between life and death, struggling to escape the domination of an evil force masquerading as her friend, Merrick. Only Ellis has ever escaped him, and now that she has discovered the truth, he wants to make sure she can never escape again.

Merrick's dark power has turned the seaside town of Gamin, Maine, into a place of nightmares. The town is transformed into a decaying succession of infinite rooms, bottomless stairwells, and boundless corridors filled with never-ending masquerades, balls, and banquets. Each pageant is about the life Ellis lived before her return--each revelation more terrifying than the last.

Ellis is desperate to find her missing cousin and leave, but there is no exit from the House of Dreams except, perhaps, through a séance to contact the living.

Devlin of Duncaer is the Chosen One, champion of the Kingdom of Jorsk. A simple metalsmith and farmer turned warrior, he has become the most unlikely of heroes to the conquerors of his own people, the Caerfolk. Yet there is a growing faction of Jorskians who believe that if he were truly anointed as Chosen One by the Gods, then the immortals would have given him the Sword of Light as proof of his calling.

Missing for generations, the sword is more myth than reality. But Devlin knows where to find it. Lost in battle after the Jorskians' brutal massacre of Caerfolk, it has remained in Duncaer, a souvenir of one of the land's darkest days.

Feeling more than ever a pawn of fate—and a plaything of the Gods who drive him—Devlin must return to the land of his birth, back to the people who have denounced him. For he is bound by an oath he has no choice but to obey...a promise he may have to die to keep.

Freedom is on the march as the rebellion against the Kurian Occupation of Earth takes the offensive. David Valentine has recruited an ad hoc company of former Quisling soldiers to put them through a trial by fire with a successful raid against an enemy armory. Now they're ready to join forces with a guerrilla army planning to establish a new freehold in the Appalachian Mountains.

Valentine knows that a permanent outpost near the East Coast would provide a strategic victory over the Kurians--and he believes that only his old friend and ally Ahn-Kha could possibly be leading the guerrillas on such a daring endeavor. But nothing could prepare Valentine's fighters for what awaits them at the end of their journey.

Sebin, a young tiger spirit from the Juhwang Clan, wants nothing more than to join the Thousand World Space Forces and, like their Uncle Hwan, captain a battle cruiser someday. But when Sebin's acceptance letter finally arrives, it's accompanied by the shocking news that Hwan has been declared a traitor. Apparently, the captain abandoned his duty to steal a magical artifact, the Dragon Pearl, and his whereabouts are still unknown. Sebin hopes to help clear their hero's name and restore honour to the clan.

Nothing goes according to plan, however. As soon as Sebin arrives for orientation, they are met by a special investigator named Yi and his assistant, a girl named Min. Yi informs Sebin that they must immediately report to the ship Haetae and await further instructions. Sebin finds this highly unusual, but soon all protocol is forgotten when there's an explosion on the ship, the crew is knocked out, and the communication system goes down. It's up to Sebin, three other cadets, and Yi and Min to determine who is sabotaging the battlecruiser. When Sebin is suddenly accused of collaborating with the enemy, the cadet realizes that Min is the most dangerous foe of all...

Captain John Farragut and the crew of the U.S.S. Merrimack face their greatest challenge as Caesar Romulus declares war on the United States of America with a direct attack on Earth. The Merrimack retaliates with an assault on the Roman capital world of Palatine, and in the midst of the chaos, the Hive descends on Earth. With the battle raging, Farragut finds himself in the middle of a final deadly showdown.

A former captain in the Army of Karse, Alberich has long hidden his unique psychic talents for fear of retaliation by the Sunpriests, but when his gifts are revealed and he is forced by his conscience to take a perilous stand, he is rescued from certain death by one of the magical Companion horses and chosen to serve the queen of Valdemar, Karse's archenemy.

Tarma witnessed her clan's murder and, swearing vengeance, became a master warrior. Kethry fled her forced "marriage" and became an adept--pledging her power to the greatest good. When Kethry obtains a magical sword which draws her to others in need, the two vow to avenge the wrongs done to womanhood.

Evil had cast its shadow over the kingdom of Rethwellan. When Idra, leader of the Sunhawks mercenaries, failed to return from a journey to her home, Tarma and Kethry, warrior and mage, set out in search of their vanished leader.

This exciting new anthology includes a new novella featuring Mercedes Lackey's most popular heroines, Tarma (one of the sword-sworn and most feared of all warriors) and Kethry (who wields magic and weapons for the greater good), whose fates are suddenly bound together in blood by the powers that control their destinies. Also included in the unique volume is the complete collection of Lackey's short stories about these two brave sisters as they answer the call of their destinies with sword and sorcery!

This is the first anthology of stories set in the Honorverse. The stories in the anthologies serve to introduce characters, provide deeper, more complete backstory and flesh out the universe of the main series. David Weber, author of the mainline Honor Harrington series, serves as editor for the anthologies, maintaining fidelity to the series' canons.

Table of Contents:

"A Beautiful Friendship" by David Weber: The story of the first meeting between humans (Stephanie Harrington) and treecats (Climbs Quickly). This story was later expanded to a full length young adult novel, published in 2011.

"A Grand Tour" by David Drake: A story with few links to any other in the Honorverse setting. Careful reading may reveal similarities to the first novel in his RCN Series, in the characters, style, and attitude. Both were published in 1998. Indeed Drake confirms that "A Grand Tour" is the conceptual antecedent of With the Lightnings.

"A Whiff of Grapeshot" by S. M. Stirling: This story serves as background to the "Leveler Uprising" mentioned in the early chapters of In Enemy Hands. A radical Havenite faction stages an uprising against the rule of the Committee of Public Safety, wreaking havoc in the Havenite capital city of Nouveau Paris. With the Committee's security forces in complete disarray following an attack on its information network, the only forces able to intervene and restore order are Navy ships under the command of Admiral Esther McQueen, even though the Admiral is not precisely a supporter of the Committee and has an agenda of her own.

"The Universe of Honor Harrington" by David Weber: A "deep background" essay covering such diverse topics as the physics of space travel, the mechanics space colonization and politics of various "star nations", such as Manticore, Haven and the Solarian League.

This is the second anthology of stories set in the Honorverse. The stories in the anthologies serve to introduce characters, provide deeper, more complete backstory and flesh out the universe of the main series. David Weber, author of the mainline Honor Harrington series, serves as editor for the anthologies, maintaining fidelity to the series' canons.

Table of Contents:

"The Stray": this novella by Linda Evans looks at life among the treecats, before Honor.

"What Price Dreams?": this novella by David Weber reveals a chapter in the history of the telepathic treecats when a young human who bonded with a treecat was a Very Important Person -- specifically, she was a Manticoran crown princess and the heir to the throne of the empire.

"Queen's Gambit": this novella by Jane Lindskold tells how Honor's monarch, Elizabeth III, had to learn the hard way what monarchy is all about.

"The Hard Way Home": this novella by David Weber tells how young Honor Harrington and her treecat Nimitz faced the impossible task of rescuing the victims of an avalanche in a sub-zero blizzard.

"Deck Load Strike": this novelette by Roland J. Green offers a hard-hitting account of what happened when Manticore and the People's Republic of Haven went eyeball-to-eyeball over a strategically vital planet.

This is the third anthology of stories set in the Honorverse. The stories in the anthologies serve to introduce characters, provide deeper, more complete backstory and flesh out the universe of the main series. David Weber, author of the mainline Honor Harrington series, serves as editor for the anthologies, maintaining fidelity to the series' canons.

Table of Contents

"Ms. Midshipwoman Harrington": this novella by David Weber shows that it's a big universe, and Honor's actions affect a lot of lives, not all of them human. And their actions affect her -- a lesson "Ms. Midshipwoman Harrington" learns years before rising to command rank, when a desperate battle against "pirates" who aren't quite what they seem begins her brilliant career.

"Changer of Worlds": in this novelette by David Weber, a secret that the alien treecats have kept from their human friends for hundreds of years is about to come out... and completely change the relationship between the two species forever.

"From the Highlands": in this novella by Eric Flint, Honor can't be everywhere, so when the People's Republic of Haven tries to stage a political assassination on Earth, Anton Zilwicki -- husband of one of the Star Kingdom's most revered military martyrs, and father of a young woman who is clearly a chip off the old block -- steps into the breach... and takes the opportunity to settle some old scores along the way.

"Nightfall": in this novella by David Weber Esther McQueen and Oscar Saint-Just square off for their final confrontation in Noveau Paris in "Nightfall."

This is the fourth anthology of stories set in the Honorverse. The stories in the anthologies serve to introduce characters, provide deeper, more complete backstory and flesh out the universe of the main series. David Weber, author of the mainline Honor Harrington series, serves as editor for the anthologies, maintaining fidelity to the series' canons.

Table of Contents:

"Promised Land": this novella by Jane Lindskold gives us the story of a prince on the brink of maturity and an extraordinary young Grayson woman named Judith--a victim of Masadan brutality, who confronts insurmountable odds in a desperate effort to lead her sisters to freedom-- or--death among the stars.

"With One Stone": this novella by Timothy Zahn is a story of the heavy cruiser HMS Fearless; a brilliant young tactical officer on temporarily detached duty; Solarian con men; secret weapons that aren't quite what they seem to be; naval spies, spooks, and dirty tricks; courage and honor; and a surprising glimpse into one of Admiral Sonja Hemphill's most crucial technological innovations.

"A Ship Named Francis": this shortstory by John Ringo and Victor Mitchell answers the question of what an explosively expanding navy does with the personnel who can't quite cut the mustard.

"Let's Go to Prague": in this novella by John Ringo, the Peep planet of Prague and its brutally repressive StateSec regime will never be the same again after the unscheduled, unofficial, and thoroughly catastrophic visit by a pair of Manticoran Marines with a most peculiar taste in their holiday destinations.

"Fanatic": this novella by Eric Flint tells us the story of an idealistic young StateSec officer who finds himself in the right place at the right time following the fall of Oscar Saint-Just. Young Victor Cachat could influence the loyalty of an entire sector... if he's only lucky enough to manage to stay alive long enough to try.

"The Service of the Sword": this novella by David Weber gives us the tale of the first Grayson midshipwoman on her "snotty cruise" at a time when internal tensions threaten the entire future of the Manticoran Alliance and people are about to rediscover the Fact that the Peeps are far from the only predators hiding in the stars.

This is the fifth anthology of stories set in the Honorverse. The stories in the anthologies serve to introduce characters, provide deeper, more complete backstory and flesh out the universe of the main series. David Weber, author of the mainline Honor Harrington series, serves as editor for the anthologies, maintaining fidelity to the series' canons.

Table of Contents:

"Ruthless": this shortfiction by Jane Lindskold continues the story of Michael, Judith and Ruth which started in "Promised Land". While speaking to a woman from Human Services outside her apartment, Judith Newland's daughter disappears -- taken hostage to be used as leverage against Prince Michael Winston.

"An Act of War": this shortfiction by Timothy Zahn is a sequel to "With One Stone" from Service of the Sword. Charles Dozewah, aka Charles Navarre, is on the People's Republic of Haven to arrange a sale of something that could help with the war against Manticore. Before he can complete the deal, Charles is arrested by State Security. As always when Charles is involved, everything isn't as it seems.

"Let's Dance!": this shortfiction by David Weber features a mob of space pirates who make the fatal mistake of taking on a young Manticorean Royal Navy commander who goes by the name Harrington.

"An Introduction to Modern Starship Armor Design": essay by Andy Presby

Appendix: Armor Design Figures - interior artwork by William H. Edwards and Thomas Pope and Thomas Marrone

This is the sixth anthology of stories set in the Honorverse. The stories in the anthologies serve to introduce characters, provide deeper, more complete backstory and flesh out the universe of the main series. David Weber, author of the mainline Honor Harrington series, serves as editor for the anthologies, maintaining fidelity to the series' canons.

Table of Contents:

"By the Book": this novella by Charles E. Gannon opens with young lieutenant Lee Strong leading a rescue for a ship captured by space pirates. After the gripping opening action, the lieutenant plays detective in treacherous politics at the space station where he delivers the rescued ship.

"A Call to Arms": this novella by Timothy Zahn begins with a hiring interview for a mercenary admiral. The story then takes us to a Royal Manticoran Navy ship running simulated space battles.

"Beauty and the Beast": this novella by David Weber features newly promoted lieutenant Alfred Harrington pursuing a medical education on Beowulf, where mutual attraction flares with fellow student Allison Chou. Villains strike, and the action gets tight.

"The Best Laid Plans": in this novelette by David Weber, a 12-year-old Honor Harrington's simple hike turns into a dangerous adventure and an encounter with a tree cat.

"Obligated Service": this novella by Joelle Presby features a young midshipwoman from the patriarchial planet Grayson, and the hardships she endures as a young officer after completing her training at Saganami Island Academy.

The hottest military science fiction series of all time continues. The mission: to boldly explore David Weber's Honorverse; to deliver all the action, courage, derring-do, and pulse-pounding excitement of space naval adventure with tales set in a world touched by the greatness of one epic heroine--Honor Harrington.

Table of Contents:

• 1 - Traitor - novella by Thomas Pope and Timothy Zahn
• 73 - Deception on Gryphon - novelette by Jane Lindskold
• 113 - The Silesian Command - novella by Jan Kotouc
• 179 - If Wishes Were Space Cutters - novella by Joelle Presby
• 243 - First Victory - novella by David Weber