Some of these stories have been available elsewhere over the past few months, while others are new for this collection. The spectacular tales of space adventure you'll find within its pages are: "Dead Men Don't Get Paid" Undead detective, Dan Deadman, has a problem. He has a number of them, in fact. He's missing an arm. He needs money to repair his broken window. Someone has opened a portal to the hell-like Malwhere in a nightclub, filling the place with slavering flesh-eating monsters. Fortunately, Dan's diminutive house guest, Artur, has a plan to help him fix at least one of these problems, but like everything else in Dan's afterlife, nothing quite works out the way it should. A brand new Dan Deadman Space Detective adventure, set in the aftermath of "Dial D for Deadman". Space Team: The Holiday Special Die Hard meets The Nativity in Space! It's Space Christmas Eve, and all through the space station not a creature was stirring except a load of evil space pirates who're trying to kidnap a very special newborn baby so it can be eaten by their pirate king. They hadn't counted on Cal Carver and the Space Team, though, who happen to be on the station for some much needed R & R. Originally published in December 2016 as a standalone short story. The Last Bounty Once the baddest bounty hunter in the galaxy, all Konto Garr wants these days is a quiet family life with the woman he loves, and the respect of Deenia, the step-daughter who hates his guts. But when Deenia is taken hostage, Konto must employ all his skills to mount a death-defying rescue mission. With a terrorist-filled station between him and the hostages, and an infuriatingly upbeat boy from Deenia’s class for company, Konto's talents will be stretched to their limit as he goes after the most important bounty of his life—his daughter. Originally published as part of the comedy scifi anthology, "Pew Pew - Sex, Guns, Spaceships... Oh My!" Death Comes to Carverville - A Tobey Maguire Mystery Former Hollywood actor, Tobey Maguire, now spends his days as an imaginary construct inside the subconscious of Space Team's Cal Carver, only ever called upon when Cal is knocked unconscious. But when a murderer starts to stalk the corridors of Cal's mind, Tobey Maguire - accompanied by a wise-cracking racist squirrel only he can see or hear - must turn detective and unmask the killer before the imaginary inhabitants of Cal's head are picked off one by one, leaving Cal completely brain dead. The first ever solo Tobey Maguire adventure, written just for this collection. Nun Shall Pass Former Nun, Ronda Sallas, is on a mission to save her son, Narp, from himself. And also from some evil Xandrie gangsters who have tricked him into helping them steal a weapon of mass destruction. Mostly from them, actually. Fortunately, Ronda's time at the convent has left her more than capable to deal with a few dozen gangsters, but when an Anti-Nun strips her of her precognition powers, things suddenly become more difficult. First published in "The Expanding Universe - Volume 2" anthology. Splurt Home Alone An all-new short solo adventure starring everyone's favorite adorable green blob, Splurt.

    By the age of fourteen, she has spent her entire life training as a "Ranger," ready for the day when she will be among the first humans ever to set foot on an alien world & build a new civilization.When Dandelion suffers an emergency toward the end of its journey, Amber & her fellow young rangers are evacuated & land on the planet Newhome years ahead of schedule. While the adults left behind on Dandelion slow the ship & turn it around to come back---in eight years---Amber & her friends must build lives for themselves amid revelations that will change Humankind's destiny forever.Meanwhile, aboard the ship, secrets that were buried over three hundred years ago finally come to light...

    Trapped on an alien world. Struggling to survive. The mission was supposed to be easy. Travel to an alien world on the far side of the galaxy, do some recon, go home. But the operation proved tougher than expected. A whole lot tougher. Eric and the Bolt Eaters have been taken prisoner by a former member of their platoon, a Mind Refurb who has sold out Earth to the aliens. Normally, Eric and the platoon members wouldn't stand for such a blatant act of betrayal. It's just too bad they're all restrained aboard an otherworldly transport and scheduled for immediate disassembly. Some days it really sucks to be a human-machine hybrid.

    More than 1,100 pages of epic space opera action and adventure with unique heroes and twists that you won’t see coming. Over 1.5 Million Page Reads and counting! From book one: No-one comes in peace. Every being in the galaxy wants something, and is willing to take it by force. The Hedalt were no different. They came from the distant reaches of the galaxy to wage war. Their fleet wanted to take Earth for its prize, but we were ready. We were stronger. For years, we fought them, ship-to-ship, until we scattered their forces and drove them back. Pursuing the Hedalt fleet to their home world, we delivered the decisive blow. We nuked their planet and wiped them out for good. Or so we thought. For decades, Earth Fleet sent out Deep Space Recon missions to scour the galaxy and clean up the remnants of the Hedalt Empire. Eventually, we found only ghosts – empty outposts and long-dead colonies. But, close to the edge of known space, I – Captain Taylor Ray – and my crew are about to make a discovery that will change everything. The war isn’t over. The war has yet to begin. The series includes: The Contingency The Way Station Gambit Rise of Nimrod Fleet Earth’s Last War

    Their objective is classified, marked only by coordinates leading them into a deserted city at the heart of the fighting. From the beginning, everything possible goes wrong. A missile strike rocks the carrier mid-launch, and only a fraction of the unit reaches the surface alive.Outmanned, outgunned, and scattered, with a hard deadline to orbital bombardment looming, it is up to Drop Commander Tyco Hale to rally his troops and reach their objective. But what they find, hidden deep in the tunneled passages under the city, will change everything about what he fights for and what he believes in. With the unit in tatters and loyalties divided, the choice he makes in the dark will seal all of their fates - and much more besides.

    Only Tekla cares enough to search for her over the years. As Ka Li survives fierce predators and scarce resources she leaves behind a series of signal cairns to help Tekla find her.Skipping forward 60,000 years, Helen Ryland, a mid-twentieth century archaeologist, unearths one of Ka Li's surviving signal cairns and realizes she has found trace of people who populated the Americas even before the Clovis culture. Helen's detective work tracking Ka Li's timeless signals across the Alaskan wilderness now intertwines with Ka Li's story. As Helen solves the puzzle of the signal cairns she finds universal fame and suffers devastating misfortune. In the end Helen discovers that science in isolation cannot answer all of her questions, for Tekla's devotion to Ka Li had not died even though six hundred centuries had passed.

     In the near future, humanity builds a colony on Europa, one of the moons of Jupiter. They tunnel into the ice to explore the dark oceans beneath the moon's surface, searching for signs of extraterrestrial life. What they find will change them forever, setting humanity on a path to the stars. But the old conflicts and hatreds of Earth are not so easily escaped. Will human colonists on distant planets and moons create a paradise or a horrifying dystopia?

    Resigned to spending the rest of his days as a latter day Robinson Crusoe, the Captain is shocked to find the remains of uninhabited alien exploration base on the planet. This soon becomes a desperate fight for survival for the Captain, but also an exhilarating journey, full of adventure and new discoveries.

    Her dream job as the lead botanist on Niri was worth traveling across the galaxy, but she’s not going to miss out on the trappings of her favorite holiday. Not to mention she misses everyone back home. Everyone except her ex, of course. She’ll do everything she can to avoid seeing him again but running into him around town is inevitable.Verrik is tired of the monotony of his day-to-day life on Niri. He works long days as an electrician to try to get ahead and save what money he can. One day he hopes to be able to support a family of his own but as an orphan, his opportunities are limited. The one good thing that comes from his current job is meeting the unique, curvy little botanist from Earth.She’s headed back to Earth for the holidays. He’s ready for his own adventure. Her suggestion to be her fake alien boyfriend is unconventional, but the payment is too good to pass up. When the lines between fantasy and reality begin to blur, they find themselves navigating unexplored territory.Can a Niri Alien and Earth female find a way to make a relationship work for real?Alien Boyfriend for Christmas is a standalone sci-fi romance full of steam with no cheating, no cliffhanger and a happily ever after guaranteed!

    He chooses the military. For the first time, he thinks he has a shot at a better life. But survival is not guaranteed. Leading an elite team of mech operators, he is deployed to a frozen planet called Ferrous where dangerous relics of a past war lurk beneath the ice and savage creatures prowl the barren wastelands. Scientists on Ferrous are chasing rumors of godlike technologies buried in the ruins of a long-extinct civilization. When Shaw and his team are assigned to protect the researchers, they face an unexpected, merciless new enemy desperate to stop them. An ancient secret has been awakened on Ferrous. The deadly race to claim this terrifying power has only just begun.

    WILLIAMSON. Featuring all-new stories by Larry Correia, Michael Z. Williamson, Brad R. Torgersen, Mike Massa, Kacey Ezell, and more! When the UN invaded the Freehold of Grainne, the intent was simple: Force a noncompliant star nation back into the collective. What the politicians hadn't accounted for was that the Freehold had spent 200 years as the haven for every independent, rebellious, self-reliant adventurer in human space. Its military are scattered remnants, its bases smoking ruins, its cities occupied. But Grainne and its space habitats have resources beyond measure. Retired intelligence agents, disabled veterans, animal handlers, petty smugglers, half-lame computer specialists, research scientists, planetary engineers, all have one goal in mind: Make the invaders suffer for their presumption. This isn't just resistance. It's vengeance. Stories by: Larry Correia Michael Z. Williamson Brad R. Torgersen Mike Massa Kacey Ezell Robert E. Hampson Aaron Haskins John F. Holmes Marisa Wolf Justin Watson Jason Cordova Jamie Ibson Jessica Schlenker Christopher Dinote Rob Reed Chris Smith Jaime DiNote Philip Wohlrab At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management). Praise for Forged in Blood: “The anthology celebrates soldiers and their tools. . . . Most of all, it celebrates warriors and the stuff that makes them so—the mettle more than the metal.”—Tangent "Fans of combat science fiction will find this collection irresistible…an entertaining and engaging book."—The Daily News of Galveston County About Michael Z. Williamson: “A fast-paced, compulsive read . . . will appeal to fans of John Ringo, David Drake, Lois McMaster Bujold, and David Weber.”—Kliatt “Williamson's military expertise is impressive.”—SF Reviews Novels of Michael Z. Williamson's Freehold Universe: Freehold series Freehold The Weapon The Rogue Contact with Chaos Angeleyes Freehold: Forged in Blood Ripple Creek series Better to Beg Forgiveness . . . Do Unto Others . . . When Diplomacy Fails . . . Standalone A Long Time Until Now Michael Z. Williamson is retired military, having served twenty-five years in the U.S. Army and the U.S. Air Force. He was deployed for Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Desert Fox. Williamson is a state-ranked competitive shooter in combat rifle and combat pistol. He has consulted on military matters, weapons and disaster preparedness for Discovery Channel and Outdoor Channel productions and is Editor-at-Large for Survivalblog, with 300,000 weekly readers. In addition, Williamson tests and reviews firearms and gear for manufacturers. Williamson’s books set in his Freehold Universe include Freehold, The Weapon, The Rogue, Better to Beg Forgiveness . . ., Do Unto Others . . ., and When Diplomacy Fails . . .. He is also the author of time travel novel A Long Time Until Now, as well as The Hero—the latter written in collaboration with New York Times best-selling author John Ringo. Williamson was born in England, raised in Liverpool and Toronto, Canada, and now resides in Indianapolis with his children.

    He gets to meet interesting people, enjoy all the comforts and safety of the PAC, and also do just a wee bit of shady dealing on the side. It's a nice life.Unfortunately, the alliance is falling apart. When he's tasked with a critical mission that only a trader can pull off, he has no choice but to accept, in order to preserve the PAC and maintain his cushy existence.He'll have to broker a deal with a reptilian species that is notoriously difficult to interact with. To accomplish that, he'll also need to resurrect some of the criminal skills he left behind over a decade ago.Worse, he needs the help of both his former best friend and his worst enemy, who is also his ex-wife.She's the reason he went legit. Well, mostly legit.Nagali is a ruthless, chaotic, pleasure-seeking pirate. As much as she likes lying and cheating, she likes torturing Cabot even more. She's also beautiful, brilliant, and hard to resist.There's a reason he hasn't seen her since his fortune-hunting privateer days. Enjoy a fun adventure with delightful characters, unique species, and lots of heart.Books in the Dragonfire Station universe in written order: Each series stands alone and need not be read in written order. Dragonfire Station Book 1: Translucid Dragonfire Station Book 2: Fragments Dragonfire Station Book 3: Coalescence (series complete) Intersections: Dragonfire Station Short Stories Mercenary Warfare Book 1: Selling Out Mercenary Warfare Book 2: Blood Money Mercenary Warfare Book 3: Hell to Pay Mercenary Warfare Book 4: Calculated Risk Mercenary Warfare Book 5: Going for Broke (series complete) Chains of Command Book 1: New Blood Chains of Command Book 2: Blood and Bone Chains of Command Book 3: Cut to the Bone Chains of Command Book 4: Out for Blood(series complete)

    After returning from a campaign in the Third Afghan War, Major Thomas Waller and the Royal Newfoundland Regiment are assigned to escort two mysterious ladies into the unknown lands of the new world. With the help of an American drifter named Smith, Waller and his men must face daunting hordes of 'savages' that roam the steppes of the alien planet, and help to uncover the ladies' secrets - and the secrets of the new world itself. A dangerous mission awaits on the Grasslands...

     But when the ex-diplomat and the Blade Witch's current annoyance insinuates his way into her journey home, and an orphan AI attempts to pick her storm cloud pocket, and bandits appear from a hypnofield, well, the Blade Witch may find that her blades can't solve every problem in the universe. Nah. It's time to carve up the galaxy! *** Blade Witch is a science fiction holiday novella.

    So begins the story of Sonia MacTaggert. An engineer by education with dreams of actually earning a living as one, she is stuck in a dead-end maintenance job servicing the engines of starships that put into port at Tammuz. When she finally lands an engineering position on the starship Night Searcher, she finds herself thrust into the unfamiliar world of interstellar exploration on a ship with a classified mission. Has her quest for a new life and career gotten Sonia more than she bargained for? The voyage of the Night Searcher tests not only the technical savvy of the fledgling engineer, but her character and leadership, as she's faced with challenges she could never have seen coming.