In the first novel, "A Trace of Memory," a drifter named Legion is hired by a millionaire who claims to be centuries old, but has nearly complete amnesia. He can only remember that "something "is hunting for him, and Legion's job is to protect him. The job turns out to be more than Legion bargained for when he finds himself and his employer on a prehistoric starship hurtling into the unknown. In "Planet Run," Laumer joins forces with SF legend Gordon R. Dickson in a novel of two ancient heroes who are going to trade the rest of their lives for one sweet year, and the chance to solve the secret of the last unexplored planet in this sector of the galaxy. Plus four short novels of exciting interstellar action and adventure. With an introduction by Joel Rosenberg, author of the best-selling "Guardians of the Flame" series.Contents:A Trace of Memory was first published as a serialized story in Amazing magazine (July–September 1962) and then reissued as a novel by Berkley in 1963. Planet Run was first published in 1967 by Doubleday. "The Choice" was first published in Analog in July, 1969. "Three Blind Mice" was first published in The Many Worlds of Science Fiction (Ben Bova, ed.), E.P. Dutton, 1971. "Mind Out of Time" was first published as "The Mind Out of Time" in The Farthest Reaches (Joseph Elder, ed.), Trident 1968. "Message to an Alien" was first published in Analog in June, 1970.

    And in The Forgotton Planet a ship is marooned on a planet whose ecology has gone wild.

    But even if the lost home world can be found, there may be no place for humans on it anymore. The once-lowly creatures who are now the sole inhabitants, and which mankind dominated in ages past, have been raised to a high level of intelligence and the future they plan is not one with any room for the former rulers of the planet. This future saga is here assembled for the first time, as well as several bonus short novels in a huge volume of highly original space adventure.

    After the Galactic Empire crumbled, the Vegan Confederacy was too weak to survive, yet it prospered because of its secret weapon--telepathy. Not all of the Agents of Vega were human, but all were the most powerful telepaths in the Galaxy.Contains:1 "That was an epiphany...." by Mercedes Lackey9 Agent of Vega84 The Illusionists149 The Second Night of Summer184 The Truth About Cushgar233 The Custodians281 Gone Fishing338 The Beacon to Elsewhere422 The End of the Line467 Watch the Sky495 Greenface532 Rogue Psi

    The a body with two holes in its neck and no blood left turned up at his back door, and he found himself dealing with the kind of information that can get a man killed, or worse, much worse.Being chased by things out of myth and nightmare, Jason has only two weapons: his best friend, and his won quick wits.In a battle against darkness, the brightest weapon is the light of reason.

    Just in time because human war created the galaxy's newest star and Venus was all that was left of humanity. The lessons of Earth weren't completely missed. Venus's domed cities (the land areas were considered too dangerous to settle) made plenty of war, but their warfare was limited, civilized, and conducted by professional mercenary companies. Cities who stepped outside of the rules of war could be quickly nuked — a strong incentive toward cooperation. Of course, even 'civilized' warfare is still warfare and mankind's efforts were largely squandered in an entire world that is overrun with mutating and dangerous descendants of the species brought in by Earth's terraformers.In two linked novellas, author David Drake explores the mercenaries who carry on the wars. In the first, Surface Action, Johnnie Gordon joins his mercenary-uncle Dan Cooke in an attempt to overcome a conspiracy of mercenary companies to preserve their way of life — by preventing Johnnie's father from bringing about a peaceful union of Venus domed cities. With only Dan's mercenary company to protect the young alliance and with multiple opponents lining up, Johnnie's mercenary experience seems doomed. And that's before Dan comes up with a crazy idea involving a cross-country cutting out operation.In The Jungle, two junior officers face their own failings after their boat is damaged. Each perceives the other as embodying all of the characteristics that they know they are missing themselves — and each uses the other's example for inspiration, subtly living up to the other's misconceptions. But survival is only a part of the requirement. Because the Venus domed cities have themselves reached a critical situation. Somehow, men must reclaim the land while they still have the chance.In Seas of Venus, David Drake sees the romance of war, but he doesn't let it seduce him. Even distant warfare conducted by professional mercenaries has its costs — including the creation of a self-perpetuating and self-dooming system. The first story, Surface Action, is straightforward, with a twist ending. The Jungle is a continual twist as Drake gives us a deeper insight into the characters and into the world and society which spawned them. The non-linear time flow is occasionally confusing, but the storytelling works.Seas of Venus, especially The Jungle, is military SF at its best. And Drake's story of a true-life voyage to the jungle of Belize is a nice bonus.

    And in spite of their more advanced weapons, the Centrans weren't sure just who had conquered who.

    Reprint.

    Midshipwoman Harrington" by David Weber: Before she saved the galaxy, she was "Ms. Midshipwoman Harrington," and then an encounter with "pirates" who were more than they seemed began Honor Harrington's Brilliant Career. "Choosing Sides" by David Drake: Lieutenant Huber stepped off the starship into an ambush--but Slammers aren't supposed to get ambushed. Huber can save his career if he survives a suicide mission. "The Island" by Eric Flint: Think General Belisarius was tough? Meet the wife of one of his officers. She is determined to reach her wounded husband--going over the broken bodies of the enemy if necessary.

    Neal Anson Clemons, brilliant physicist and martial arts expert, was born at the very moment that men first landed on the moon, and his dream had always been to find a way to travel to the stars. And now he and his team have achieved a breakthrough, both in building a warp drive, and finding a new energy source powerful enough to make the drive more than an interesting theoretical concept. With the help of a beautiful Air Force Major and astronaut, Tabitha Ames, the US Government has funded the project, including assembly in orbit of the first faster-than-light probe. Unfortunately, forces working behind the scenes have much darker dreams, and they do not hesitate to blow up a space shuttle, attempt to kill Neal and Tabitha, and use the stolen warp technology to start what they expect to be a short victorious war with the United States. But Neal has ideas for using warp drive completely unsuspected by America's enemies, and repelling the all-out attack is only the beginning of a titanic struggle to reach the stars.

    Genellan -- the sole refuge for a ship's crew and a detachment of spacer marines, abandoned by a fleet fleeing from alien attackers. Now winter is coming, and the savage bear people are returning, bent on destroying every human -- but not before stealing the secret of hyperlight drive, the key to interstellar flight . . . .

    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!

    The bestselling saga of Falkenberg's legion, complete in one huge volume, this contains stories that were originally published in four parts as "Falkenberg's Legion, Prince of Mercenaries, Go Tell the Spartans" and "Prince of Sparta."

    Known for his New York Times best-selling alternate history novels, Flint is equally a master of shorter forms, and this large volume gathers the best of Flint's shorter works. This generous selection includes: several stories and short novels set in Flint's celebrated Ring of Fire alternate history series; two stories from Flint's Joe's World humorous fantasy series; a story with Dave Freer, set in their popular rats, bats and vats series; a short novel set in Flint and David Drake's Belisarius series; and several shared-universe stories set in David Drake's Foreign Legions universe, and a story set in David Weber's best-selling Honor Harrington universe.In addition to the fiction, Eric Flint has written an overall introduction, plus an introduction for each story, telling how it came to be written, which will make this an irresistible book for the thousands of Eric Flint fans.

    The Seventh Volume of the Complete Technic Civilization Saga.             Sir Dominic Flandry is now an Admiral, but takes little joy in his new rank. He sees the rot in the Terran Empire on every hand and knows that the Long Night will inevitably fall upon the galaxy. His consolation is that measures he has taken while doing what he can to postpone the Empire’s final collapse may shorten the coming galactic dark age and hasten the rise of a new interstellar civilization. In the meantime, he’ll enjoy the comforts of a decadent civilization—and he’ll always be ready for one more battle against the Empire’s enemies.             This concluding volume of the Technic Civilization saga, one of the milestones of modern science fiction includes two full-length novels: A Stone in Heaven—When the daughter of Flandry’s mentor asks for help, he intervenes, and finds he must thwart a would-be dictator’s plans to seize control of the Empire.The Game of Empire—The Merseians, alien enemies of the Empire, have put into motion an insidious plan to bring the Terran Empire down. Flandry’s daughter, Diana, and her feline-like alien friend have discovered the conspiracy, but can they stop it in time?            Plus three novellas and a novelette set in the time of the Long Night and the renaissance of civilization which followed it, concluding one of the grandest adventure sagas in science fiction.