These stories by S.M. Stirling, William R. Forstchen, Christopher Stasheff, Shirley Meier, Todd Johnson and more tell of the faithful and tireless protectors of the human race: the Bolos.Contains:ANCESTRAL VOICES S. M. StirlingSIR KENDRICK'S LADY S. N. LewittYOU'RE IT Shirley MeierSHARED EXPERIENCE Christopher StasheffTHE MURPHOSENSOR BOMB Karen WehrsteinLEGACY Todd JohnsonENDINGS William Forstchen

    Almost. Nearly. A sufficiently determined enemy armed with nearly limitless firepower and willing to sustain terrible losses could destroy a Bolo. But even a terminally damaged Bolo is still an opponent to reckon with, and as long as a Bolo's artificial intelligence retains a flicker of consciousness, its indomitable drive to defend the human race against all enemies will propel it forward. Bolos can be destroyed--but they never surrender!

    Two new powerhouses of science fiction, David Weber and Linda Evans, continue the amplified history of the Bolo, the nearly indestructible tank/artificial intelligence that changed the shape of the galaxy.Contains:The Farmer's WifeLittle Red HenLittle Dog GoneMiles to GoA Brief Technical History of the BoloA Brief Design History of the BoloGeneral Armament Notes

    The future of war, and the fate of man, lies with one machine: the Bolo. With plated armor, a laser cannon, an electronic brain, and wheels, it defends humanity from aliens that threaten the entire species. Now comes the amplified history of the Bolo in stories by David Drake, S.M. Stirling, Mercedes Lackey and others. Cover art by Paul Alexander.Contents:Lost Legion [Bethany Martins • 1] / novelette by S. M. StirlingCamelot / novelette by Shariann Lewitt [as by S. N. Lewitt]The Legacy of Leonidas / novella by Andrew Keith [as by J. Andrew Keith]Ploughshare / novella by Todd McCaffrey [as by Todd Johnson]Ghosts / short story by Mike Resnick and Barry N. MalzbergThe Ghost of Resartus / novelette by Christopher StasheffOperation Desert Fox [Bolo] / novelette by Mercedes Lackey and Larry DixonAs Our Strength Lessens [Bolo] / short story by David DrakeBased on the fighting machine created by Keith Laumer. .

    An alien migration fleet -- 14,000 starships strong -- searches the stars for a new home, its homeworld forever lost. When they finally find planets that can support them, all they have to do is eradicate the pesky human natives, a task they assume is easily within their powers. But Earth's Commonwealth of Worlds isn't about to give up so easily -- even if it has to create and train something it hasn't had for centuries: soldiers!

    That was no handicap to the merchant princes, who came to Earth for soldiers and returned to the stars with the best the planet had to offer: the legionaries of the Roman Empire!

    Lacking carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, or even dirt, they were the poorest people in the universe. But when they combined virtual reality with tank warfare, giving their warriors a close symbiosis with their intelligent tanks, neither war nor the galaxy would ever be the same. Not to mention sex . . .

    Officially listed as dead, for the past forty years she has lived a life of aliases, random lovers and targeted assassinations. This has led her to become the top in her profession, undefeatable, invulnerable. And in the process, she has lost her soul. Now she, and the man she loves, must battle to reclaim it. But Cally will find that leaving her dark world of shadow identities, murder-for-hire, and deadly secrets will be more difficult than any of the many lethal operations she carried out in the past. Her employers think she knows too much to live, and the scores of enemies she has made still have her at the top of their hit lists. The real question is, will she win her soul only to lose her life?

    Rats with human speech, but with rat priorities: sex, food and strong drink. And the bats were revolutionaries planning to throw off the human yoke -- with high explosive. Then there was the girl they'd rescued. Rich. Beautiful. With a passionate crush on her "heroic" rescuer. Her entourage was a screwball Alien tutor, and a cyber-uplifted lemurlike pet galago with delusions of being the world's greatest lover. Of course things only got worse. Seven rats, five bats, a galago, two humans, a sea-urchin-like alien and an elderly vineyard tractor without brakes...against several million inimical aliens. He was going to die. Mind you, not dying could be even more terrible. That girl might get him.

    But the Kzinti learned the hard way that the reason humanity had given up war was that they were so very, very good at it. Thus began the Man-Kzin Wars.Contents:1 · Introduction · Larry Niven · in * 5 · The Warriors · Larry Niven · ss If Feb ’66 27 · Iron [Part 1 of 2] · Poul Anderson · n. Far Frontiers Vol. VII, ed. Jerry Pournelle & Jim Baen, Baen, 1986 116 · Iron [Part 2 of 2] · Poul Anderson · n. New Destinies, Vol. 1, ed. Jim Baen, Baen, 1987 179 · Cathouse · Dean Ing · na New Destinies, Vol. III, ed. Jim Baen, Baen, 1988

    The sole legacy of that war was the weapon that ended it: the death machines, the BERSERKERS. Guided by self-aware computers more intelligent than any human, these world-sized battlecraft carved a swath of death through the galaxy--until they arrived at the outskirts of the fledgling Empire of Man.These are the stories of the frail creatures who must meet this monstrous and implacable enemy--and who, by fighting it to a standstill, become the saviors of all living things.

    But as the Skins invade bucolic Thallspring, Z-B's strategy is about to go awry, all because of: Sgt. Lawrence Newton, a dreamer whose twenty years as a Skin have destroyed his hopes and desires; Denise Ebourn, a school teacher and resistance leader whose guerrilla tactics rival those of Che Guevara and George Washington and Simon Roderick, the director who serves Z-B with a dedication that not even he himself can understand. Grimly determined to steal, or protect, a mysterious treasure, the three players engage in a private war that will explode into unimaginable quests for personal grace...or galactic domination

    Therefore making friends with the Dilbians and establishing a human presence there is of the utmost importance, which may be a problem, since the bearlike Dilbians stand some nine feet tall, and have a high regard for physical prowess. They're not impressed by human technology, either. A real man, er, bear doesn't need machines to do his work for him.But Dilbians "are" impressed by sharp thinking, and some have expressed a grudging admiration for the logical (and usually sneaky) mental maneuvers that the human "shorties" have used to get themselves out of desperate jams. Just maybe that old human craftiness will win over the Dilbians to the human side. If not, we lose a nexus, and the Dilbians will learn just how unbearable Hemnoids can be....

    Lobo: An AI-enhanced Predator-Class Assault Vehicle, a mobile fortress equipped for any environment from the seabed to interstellar space. TWO WOLVES IN A GALAXY OF LARGER PREDATORSJon Moore wanted only to relax on the pristine planet of Macken--but Macken was the secret battleground of two megacorporations, both determined to control the local jump gate and the riches of an undeveloped world. Moore was too valuable a tool not to be used, whether or not he was willing. What the corporations didn't realize was that Moore had a mind of his own and a conscience that wouldn't let him quit until he'd righted the wrong they'd tricked him into making. And Moore had Lobo--or just possibly Lobo had Jon Moore, because this Assault Vehicle had a mind of its own. . . .Finding allies and enemies among terrorist groups and elite mercenaries, gun-runners and the only kind of government possible on a frontier short on rules and long on riches, Jon and Lobo fight to a climax with a corporate army that can't afford to leave any witnesses. Exotic settings, fast action, real tech, mechanically-enhanced animals--and a beautiful woman who's as deadly as a cobra!"One Jump Ahead: " the first novel in the Jon & Lobo series

    The military sci-fi classic in a striking new packageFelix is an Earth soldier, encased in special body armor designed to withstand Earth's most implacable enemy-a bioengineered, insectoid alien horde. But Felix is also equipped with internal mechanisms that enable him, and his fellow soldiers, to survive battle situations that would destroy a man's mind.This is a remarkable novel of the horror, the courage, and the aftermath of combat--and how the strength of the human spirit can be the greatest armor of all.