Persecution sends these genetically altered people fleeing to their sanctuary world, but a shipboard disaster exposes High Commander Brennen Caldwell to fatal radiation. Medical student Meris Cariole ends up stranded, an unwelcome outsider, at a sanctuary she never meant to invade. On another world, wrongfully imprisoned Sentinel Jorah Caldwell receives a supernatural visitor. For generations, the Sentinel kindred has anticipated Boh-Dabar, the prophesied Word to Come. The visitor hails Jorah as Boh-Dabar. Can he believe the news? Meanwhile, a mysterious stranger arrives at the sanctuary world, also claiming to be Boh-Dabar. Brennen and Firebird Caldwell, Meris, and Jorah are caught in a tangle of interstellar incidents that threaten the Sentinel kindred's very existence. And no one-anywhere-has anticipated the events that will shake the interstellar Federacy. In the "Firebird" alternate universe, humankind has gone to the stars. The messianic bloodline has been genetically altered, and instantaneous communication links the settled worlds. Still, God's character has not changed, nor have his promises failed. Daystar brings the saga to a conclusion that rocks the galaxies.

    Afraid of being thrown into an isolation chamber, Michael goes home, but quickly falls violently ill. By the time he recovers and returns to work scary things are happening. Everyone who has come into contact with that patient is being systematically killed. On the run, he accidentally infects a woman living in the shadows of the underworld. She becomes ill as well, but survives. Then they begin feeling younger-and younger. Why would the government want to suppress something like this? After barely escaping federal gunmen, the two of them set out to discover what kind of infection they are harboring even though it might mean the end of their freedom.

    But with no blood, guts, or glory, boredom began to set in and strategy lost its edge. Something was needed to bring fresh excitement to an old, old game. And so the past was mined for the greatest warriors and generals history had to offer: Napoleon, Alexander, the 47 Ronin, assassins from ancient Persia—all brilliant at either combat or at tactics and strategy.It was just a game—until mock war turned real on an unimaginable scale, and only those legendary warriors could turn the tide.

    Clarke, Nancy Kress, Lawrence Watt-Evans, George Zebrowski, Philip K. Dick, and many more! Included are:OUT OF ALL THEM BRIGHT STARS, by Nancy KressTHE HANGING STRANGER, by Philip K. DickWALKING JOHN AND BIRD, by Neal AsherTHE SYMPHONIC ABDUCTION, by Hannes BokTHE NINE BILLION NAMES OF GOD, by Arthur C. ClarkeHILLARY ORBITS VENUS, by Pamela SargentMAYBE JUST A LITTLE ONE, by Reginald BretnorTHE ULTROOM ERROR, by Jerry SohlREMEMBRANCE OF THINGS TO COME, by Lawrence Watt-EvansTHE ASTRONAUT FROM WYOMING, by Adam-Troy Castro & Jerry OltionPRIDE, by Mary A. TurzilloCAT AND MOUSE, by Ralph WilliamsTHE RECORD, by Forrest J Ackerman and Ray BradburyTHE NEW REALITY, by Reginald BretnorWHAT HATH ME? by Henry KuttnerBRIDGE OF SILENCE, by George ZebrowskiSUN’S UP, by A.A. Jackson IV and Howard WaldropCONSIGNMENT, by Alan E. NourseTHE SYNDIC, by C.M. KornbluthAFTER BONESTELL, by Jay LakeTHE JEWELS OF APTOR, by Samuel R. DelanyTHE MISSISSIPPI SAUCER, by Frank Belknap LongMEMBERSHIP DRIVE, by Murray F. YacoCANCER WORLD, by Harry Warner, Jr.EGOCENTRIC ORBIT, by John CoryAnd don't forget to search this ebook store for more entries in the Megapack series, covering everything from science fiction and fantasy to horror, westerns, pulp fiction, adventure, ghost stories, and much, much more!

     WELCOME TO THE SLAB. A vast orbiting slum where rats grow big, sweat falls in rain and the gene-spliced come in all shapes and sizes. Slab City Blues - There's a stranger on the Slab, a stranger with very sharp claws and a penchant for killing assassins. Finding him is the job of Inspector Alex McLeod, detective, disfigured war veteran and reluctant widower. Some days are worse than others on the Slab but today is going to be a gem. A Song for Madame Choi - An old enemy embroils Inspector Alex McLeod in the hunt for a kidnapped girl. With no leads he finds himself reluctantly seeking help from drug dealer and fellow war veteran Madame Choi. But can he really trust her? A Hymn to Gods Long Dead - Inspector Alex McLeod, recently suspended for excessive force and nurturing a growing addiction to bourbon, has been reduced to tending bar when an improbably beautiful vampire comes to him with a bizarre theory: there’s a killer on the Slab, a killer with a liking for recreating ancient myth, in bloody and spectacular fashion. But who exactly is this vampire, and how does she know so much? And what kind of killer can walk through security systems without a trace, leaving deadly traps for those hunting him? The Ballad of Bad Jack - The Asteroid Belt, home to mining corporations and those who prefer to live beyond the heavily policed habitats of Earth orbit – the perfect hunting ground for Bad Jack, captain of the Dead Reckoning and the most feared pirate in the solar system. About to embark upon the biggest job of his career, Jack finds himself in need of a specialist, but is unaware his latest recruit has a new face, a new name and an agenda of his own. Chief Inspector Alex McLeod has been reset to war mode, and things are about to get very ugly. The fourth story in the Slab City Blues series, The Ballad of Bad Jack is an all-action future-crime thriller from the best-selling author of the Raven’s Shadow trilogy. An Aria for Ragnarok - Alex McLeod has a score to settle. Back on the Slab and newly promoted to head of Special Homicide, Alex decides it’s time to finally bring down Mr Mac - his longest-standing enemy and the most powerful criminal kingpin in the Confederation of Autonomous Orbiting States. But, before the hunt can begin he finds himself lumbered with the inconvenient and spectacularly bloody murder of a famous industrialist. A swift but violent resolution to the case raises more questions than it answers and Alex’s inability to tolerate a mystery soon uncovers a far greater threat than he has ever faced before. Ragnarok is coming. To stop it, Alex must call on the help of both friends and foes, as well as placing himself in an alien and hostile environment: it’s time for a return visit to Planet Earth.

    There would never be another departure like it.And aboard one of the ships was Manuel Tetuan, a young Moroccan orphan shanghaied from a Franciscan monastery. “Black Air” is the multiple award nominated and World Fantasy Award-winning novelette of Manuel’s beatific innocence, of his compassion in the face of war, and of the miracles that enabled him to survive the tragedy of the doomed Armada.Robinson’s extraordinary range of interests is demonstrated in haunting stories of: tourists looting the beautiful, sunken ruins of Venice; an amoral future sleuth who, with her bumbling Watson, must find the forger of Monets on a planet of wealthy esthetes; three friends, one brain-damaged, who confront eternity and subtle magic in the snowbound Sierras; a repertoire company of hypnotically trained, surgically altered actors, and an unknown psychopath whose murders mock the scripts of Elizabethan and Jacobean drama; the historic effects of the Second World War’s last traitor, the pilot who deliberately fails to A-bomb Hiroshima; impoverished Uranian miners who seek fame in an interplanetary music competition by reviving an ancient, lost form—Dixieland Jazz; and a dilapidated Arizona grill-souvenir shop that becomes the focus of a drifter’s encounters with Time and destiny.

    

    Instead, she found a city in revolt, and now both sides are after her to control the alien gifts engineered into her DNA. Her only ally is an offworld investigator trying to get to the bottom of the explosive mix of on-planet and alien politics... but his secrets are even deadlier than her own. From the back alleys of the souk to the depths of alien ruins, they're now in a desperate fight to stop the revolution before everything is lost!

    

    Its goal to augment humans into cyborg fighting machines; mechanized warriors sent to hold the front lines against an enemy that was storming a hundred worlds.Yet few wished to undergo the brutal process, and so criminals were used, their minds enslaved by control chips and obedience enforced through Discipline.The Genevians spent their mechs against the Nietzscheans with little care, eventually struggling to find enough bodies to convert into fighting machines. Quotas were set in the courts, prosecutors and judges paid off to ensure that even the most benign offenses would see the perpetrator end up in a mech factory, rights and mind stripped as much as body.Rika is one such victim.Forged into a second generation scout mech, she is sent to the front lines where she serves with distinction, crushing countless enemies beneath her clawed feet.But, despite giving everything she had, Genevia still loses the war, and Rika is abandoned.Now she slings cargo on Dekar, little more than a human loading machine, struggling to keep ahead of the slow breakdown of her mechanized body.Until someone makes her an offer she cannot refuse. An offer that will see her rejoin the fight—whether she wants to or not. Rika will have to summon a strength she never knew she had to bring about the victory that she once thought was lost.Get Rika’s Marauders today and follow the ultimate rags-to-riches story, where one woman rises up and saves not only herself, but her people.This omnibus volume contains all 7 books in the Rika’s Marauders series, as well as two novellas: Rika Mechanized and Rika Crucible.

    There are 12 pieces in all here, ranging from those first published in places like Interzone and Pulphouse to a two-page poem taken from the pages of Asimov's. Although many readers may be familiar with Hand's longer works, such as Glimmering or Waking the Moon, here she shows that she's a master of short fiction as well. Her stylish prose and keen insights make for some wonderful stories. --Craig E. EnglerContents:Last Summer at Mars Hill (1994)The Erl-King (1993)Justice (1993)Dionysus Dendrites (1993) poemThe Have-Nots (1992)In the Month of Athyr (1992)Engels Unaware (1992)The Bacchae (1991)Snow on Sugar Mountain (1991)On the Town Route (1989)The Boy in the Tree (1989)Prince of Flowers (1988)

    Feist. This bundle includes the complete Conclave of Shadows.The bundle includes: Talon of the Silver Hawk (1), King of Foxes (2), Exile’s Return(3).Evil has come to a distant land high among the snow-capped mountains of Midkemia.Among the Orosini tribe, every boy must undergo the traditional manhood ritual in order to understand his place in the universe and discover his manhood name. Kielianapuna must survive on the remote mountain peak of Shatana Higo until the gods grant him his vision. But Kieli has already waited for four days and nights, and now he is cold, lonely, despairing, and very, very tired…When he is woken by the terrifying sensation of sharp claws piercing his skin and finds a rare silver hawk upon his arm, it is such a disorientating moment that he is not sure whether it has even happened, or whether it was a vision.Returning to his home, nameless and still a child, Kieli stumbles upon devastation. His village is being burned, his people slaughtered. Although it means certain death, Kieli throws himself into the battle…Against all the odds, he survives, alone of all the Orosini, who have been cut down where they stand: every last man, woman and child.A distant voice echoes in his mind: Rise up and be a talon for your people…The visitation of the bird on Shatana Higo was indeed his naming vision. He is a boy called Kielianapuna no more. Now he is Talon of the Silver Hawk, a man who must avenge the murder of his people, whatever that may take…

    Inquisitor Eisenhorn investigates, and finds that the trail laid by this unassuming servant of the Imperium leads to unexpected places and a dangerous showdown.

    collected in Spiritwalk

    Striking out into the stars, he searches for any signs of his lost Iron Hands brethren, hoping to bring them back to Terra to aid in the final defence of the Palace. The question remains – just who has survived the slaughter on Isstvan V, and what yet remains of them?A Horus Heresy short story by John French.