But he is getting old and the hate that he has carried in his heart since a group of dragon-soldiers killed his family is beginning to fade. When he kills the royal prince dragon, the king decides the only retribution is genocide of the human race. Bitterwood is forced to enter the Free City, the grand trap designed to eradicate mankind, with thousands of others. Can he lead from within, or can a select few dragons unite to stop the king's madness from becoming reality. Full of rich characters and drama, this is an amazingly astute vision of our own culture by way of a feudal kingdom where dragons rule, and humans are used as workers or pets.

    Dickson's future history of humankind and its ultimate destiny. Now one of its central novels return to print in a two-volume corrected edition.In The Final Encyclopedia the human race is split into three Splinter cultures: the Friendlies, fanatic in their faith; the truth-seeking Exotics; and the warrior Dorsai. But now humanity is threatened by the power-hungry Others, whose triumph would end all human progress.Raised to a destiny as humanity's champion, Hal Mayne must journey deep within his soul to gather the strength he needs to face his ultimate opponent: Bleys Ahrens, the shadowy, powerful leader of the Others. On Hal's success depends nothing less than the future of the human race...A towering landmark of future history, The Final Encyclopedia is a novel every SF fan needs to own.

    A Discworld picture book.At six o'clock every day, without fail, with no excuses, Sam Vimes must go home to read 'The World of Poo', with all the appropriate noises, to his little boy.A picturebook that picks up a story from 'Snuff!', the brand new Discworld novel.

    and a shocking discovery...will change humanity forever.In the near future, a new ice age has begun.Humanity stands on the brink of extinction.Desperate for answers, scientists send probes into the solar system to take readings. Near Mars, a probe spots a mysterious object drifting toward the Sun. Is it the cause of the ice age? Or could it be our only hope of survival?With time running out, NASA launches an international mission to make contact with the object. But it isn’t what anyone thought. In the dark of space, alone, the team makes a shocking discovery that will change the course of human history—and possibly end it.

    In return for the promise of the King to send help to the Winterlands, Aversin agreed to attempt the nearly impossible feat again.With them, to guard them on the haunted trip south, went Jenny Waynest, a half-taught sorceress and mother of Aversin's sons.But at the decadent Court, nothing was as expected. Rebellion threatened the land. Zyerne, a sorceress of seemingly unlimited power, held the King under an evil spell, and he refused to see them. Meantime, the dragon fed well on the knights who had challenged him.In the end, Aversin, Jenny, and Gareth had to steal away at night to challenge Morkeleb, largest and wisest of dragons......but that was only the beginning of the perils they must face.

    When a planet's religious sects fall victim to a serial killer, an Interfed agent must immerse himself in a world of stark spirituality to save the lives of two extraordinary women...

    Beyond the Forest lie the mountains of the Snowy Dark and a cold so bitter and a night so profound that no man has ever crossed it. The Oldest among the Family recount legends of a world where light came from the sky, where men and women made boats that could cross the stars. These ships brought us here, the Oldest say—and the Family must only wait for the travelers to return. But young John Redlantern will break the laws of Eden, shatter the Family and change history. He will abandon the old ways, venture into the Dark…and discover the truth about their world.Already remarkably acclaimed in the UK, Dark Eden is science fiction as literature; part parable, part powerful coming-of-age story, set in a truly original alien world of dark, sinister beauty--rendered in prose that is at once strikingly simple and stunningly inventive.

    3) • (1968) • essay by Roger Zelazny 9 • The Cloud-Sculptors of Coral D • [Vermilion Sands] • (1967) • shortstory by J. G. Ballard 27 • Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes • (1967) • novelette by Harlan Ellison 49 • Mirror of Ice • (1967) • shortstory by Gary Wright 60 • Aye, and Gomorrah • (1967) • shortstory by Samuel R. Delany (aka Aye, and Gomorrah . . .) 71 • Gonna Roll the Bones • (1967) • novelette by Fritz Leiber 95 • Behold the Man • (1966) • novella by Michael Moorcock 146 • Weyr Search • [Dragonriders of Pern] • (1967) • novella by Anne McCaffrey 204 • Afterword (Nebula Award Stories No. 3) • (1968) • essay by Roger Zelazny 206 • Nebula Awards 1967 • essay by uncredited 206 • Roll of Honour (Nebula Award Stories No. 3) • essay by uncredited 206 • 1966 Nebula Awards • essay by uncredited 207 • 1965 Nebula Awards • essay by uncredited

    So what does one do in the intervening centuries? Lythande has to earn a living, after all. Music and magic are saleable skills—sometimes both together. There's a magic lute....The allure of a mermaid's song...a temperamental music-loving dragon...magical artifacts that will allow no one to turn them from their appointed destinations...an unexpectedly dangerous small child—Lythande's life is full of challenges, of which the biggest is never allowing the Secret that preserves each Adept’s power to be revealed, on pain of total loss of magic... oh, and death.

    Continue on this magnificent journey and be entranced by a saga of strange lands and peoples, of prophecy and strife set against the background of a seven-thousand-year war of men, Kings, and Gods. The quest may be nearing its end, but the danger continues. After discovering a shocking secret about himself he never could have imagined—all in pursuit of the legendary Orb—Garion and his fellow adventurers must escape a crumbling enemy fortress and flee across a vast desert filled with ruthless soldiers whose only aim is to destroy them. But even when the quest is complete, Garion’s destiny is far from fulfilled. For the evil God Torak is about to awaken and seek dominion. Somehow, Garion has to face the God, to kill or be killed. On the outcome of this dread duel rests the future of the world. But how can one man destroy an immortal God?“Fabulous . . . Eddings has a marvelous storyteller style . . . exceedingly well portrayed and complex people. . . . More! More! More!”—ANNE MCCAFFREY

    Think you know the story of the O.K. Corral? Think again, as five-time Hugo winner Mike Resnick takes on his first steampunk western tale, and the West will never be the same.

    A widower of high intelligence, he presides over an empire called Acacia, after the idyllic island from which he rules. He dotes on his four children and hides from them the dark realities of traffic in drugs and human lives on which their prosperity depends. He hopes that he might change this, but powerful forces stand in his way. And then a deadly assassin sent from a race called the Mein, exiled long ago to an ice-locked stronghold in the frozen north, strikes at Leodan in the heart of Acacia while they unleash surprise attacks across the empire. On his deathbed, Leodan puts into play a plan to allow his children to escape, each to their separate destiny. And so his children begin a quest to avenge their father's death and restore the Acacian empire — this time on the basis of universal freedom.