Nightmarish female warriors with blue skin, fangs, and razor sharp talons, the Kreelans have technology that is millennia beyond that of the Confederation, yet they seek out close combat with sword and claw, fighting and dying to honor their god-like Empress. Captured and enslaved, Reza must live like his enemies in a grand experiment to see if humans have souls, and if one may be the key to unlocking an ages old curse upon the Kreelan race. Enduring the brutal conditions of Kreelan life, Reza and a young warrior named Esah-Zhurah find themselves bound together by fate and a prophecy foretold millennia before they were born.

    All of that changes, though, when Lee leads a team of old friends to virtual glory as the first-ever group to beat Mako Assault, a revolutionary new game that has emerged from nowhere to take the Internet by storm. As a reward for their achievement, the group is flown to meet the game’s mysterious designer and assist in developing the follow-on game Mako 2.0. But what they find when they get there is more than they’d expected…much more. Mako’s intent was never to entertain its players. It was to train them.An epic sci-fi thrill-ride of action, suspense, laughter, and romance, Mako is the story of five ordinary people who will have to rise to the challenge of extraordinary events, driven only by their faith in each other. If they can’t, the game will become very real to more than just themselves—the Earth itself may ultimately be at stake.

    She resigns - big mistake! Donna is now on the hit list of one of the most notorious men in the corporate US. He's without morals and doesn't accept the word 'no'.Sir Richard, Donna's new employer showers her with luxury and makes her an offer she can't refuse. Now, once she's signed the contract, he asks her to use her medical expertise to commit murder. Donna probably would have walked away, but she'd been swept off her feet.Richard sides against her; Donna feels hurt and betrayed. She turns to her new friend for help. Donna's life is turned upside down. Two letters and two secrets steer her future. Donna must make a life changing choice. Once made, there's no going back. Was it the right choice?Death strikes! The infirmary's doctor is ordered to give his patient a mystery drug. He's told the drug is either a cure or a curse. Will he stand by his Hippocratic Oath or follow orders?Donna wakes from a deep coma with part of her memory gone. She starts to remember, but parts of her past don’t add up. She remembers being married to Richard but can’t remember why. Was she in love with him? She has flashes of two different lives. In one she’s happy. In the other she’s trapped. Which one is real?

    Book One of a new Series (Year's Best Military and Adventure SF), featuring the best stories of the year from the top magazine and online venues with a military and adventure science fiction theme. With an introduction by best-selling military science fiction author David Drake and selected by editor David Afsharirad from the top short story markets in the field, here are the most thrilling, pulse-pounding, and thought-provoking stories of the past year. Stories of future military men and women, space opera on a grand scale, and edge-of-your-seat adventure tales in the pulp tradition, from giants of the genre to brilliant up-and-comers.Contents: Preface (The Year's Best Military SF & Space Opera) • essay by David Afsharirad Excitement! Adventure! Science Fiction! • essay by David Drake Codename: Delphi [The Red] (2014) / short story by Linda Nagata Persephone Descending (2014) / novelette by Derek Kunsken The End of the Silk Road (2014) / novelette by David D. Levine Picket Ship (2014) / novelette by Brad R.Torgersen Decaying Orbit (2014) / short story by Robert R. Chase Morrigan in the Sunglare (2014) / short story by Seth Dickinson Light and Shadow (2014) / short story by Linda Nagata Icarus at Noon (2014) / short story by Eric Leif Davin Soft Casualty [Freehold Short Fiction] (2014) / short story by Michael Z. Williamson Palm Strike's Last Case (2014) / novelette by Charlie Jane Anders Brood (2013) / novelette by Stephen Gaskell Stealing Arturo (2014) / novelette by William Ledbetter Rules of Engagement (2014) / novelette by Matthew Johnson Ten Rules for Being an Intergalactic Smuggler (the Successful Kind) (2014) / novelette by Holly Black War Dog (2014) / short story by Mike Barretta [as by Michael Barretta].

    The wizards of Erchanen have been searching all the worlds to find a hero, and Vixen the Slayer is the last name on their list.The Warmother, imprisoned a thousand years before by Ginnas the Warkiller, has broken free of her ancient chains. If a hero can't be found somewhere in all the universes to fight for them, the people of Erchanen are toast. But is it Glory they're looking for... or Vixen?It all seemed to be a perfectly straightforward misunderstanding when Belegir was explaining it in Glory's dressing room. The reality—if you could call it that—isn't just fighting for her life. Faced with a challenge like that, what can a girl do but pick up her magic sword and her stuffed elephant and give her trademark battle cry:"Hi-yi-yi-yi! Come, Camrado! Evil wakes!"At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (DRM Rights Management).Can be found online at Baen Free Library

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

    . .

    When his turn comes to try to break through the traps protecting a spaceship it seems his day to die has come. The ship, and others like it, have already claimed the lives of hundreds of prisoners.Instead he manages to avoid the traps and gain access to the ship with two other prisoners, beginning a frantic flight to freedom. Soon Jess finds himself loose in a brutal universe ruled by the Empire and riddled with pirates, slave traders and worse. Can Jess manage to learn the rules of the universe and the capabilities of the ship he has stolen in time to stay alive?

    What he finds is beyond imagining. It unleashes a mystery older than recorded time, rewrites human history, and promises to change the planet’s future. It must be suppressed.The most powerful forces in the world align against him, and a deadly competition for the artifact ensues. Capturing Gaines is not enough--everyone who has seen the artifact must be killed. His only hope is to stay alive long enough to decode the Cosega Sequence. Dig far enough into the past . . . you may just discover the future.

    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."

    They’re wrong.Commander Noa Sato plans a peaceful leave on her home planet Luddeccea ... but winds up interrogated and imprisoned for her involvement in the Archangel Project. A project she knows nothing about.Professor James Sinclair wakes in the snow, not remembering the past twenty four hours, or knowing why he is being pursued. The only thing he knows is that he has to find Commander Sato, a woman he’s never met.A military officer from the colonies and a civilian from Old Earth, they couldn’t have less in common. But they have to work together to save the lives of millions—and their own.Every step of the way they are haunted by the final words of a secret transmission:The archangel is down.

    He is employed by Freeground station as a port traffic controller, a job he took after completing a tour in the military. His only real joy in life is his participation in true-to-life military simulations with a cadre of friends who come together regularly to defeat challenges made to test the brightest military cadets and officers alike. These restricted scenarios stand as an addictive preoccupation that is so enticing that they ignore the potential repercussions of breaking in to participate. When someone betrays their identities to the Freeground Fleet Admiralty, Jonas and his friends are faced with a far greater challenge: to venture out into the more populated regions of the galaxy to acquire technology and knowledge. They are tasked with laying the groundwork for the Freeground Nation in their efforts to reconnect with the rest of humanity, and to secure the armaments they might need to defend themselves from encroaching enemies. Spinward Fringe Broadcast 0: Origins is a collected trilogy that chronicles the early adventures of an ambitious crew. Their leader, Jonas Valent, has the least to lose and everything to gain as he tells the tale of his first tour as Captain of a ship tasked with making allies and discovering new technologies for the good of his people. This simple mission becomes more complicated as the crew ventures further into the settled fringes of the galaxy. This trilogy spawned the best selling Spinward Fringe eBook series. This is where it all began, when one man was challenged to aspire for more than an idle life. A Space Opera Adventure enjoyed across the globe by all ages.

    Genetically engineered and trained for war, they lack the knowledge and experience needed to live among a civilian population.Getting involved in the illegal arms trade offers the promise of working with something they know-- weapons. When the profits from their efforts run wild, they soon find out acquiring wealth so easily comes at a high cost. Will their mistakes bring a return of the Great War?Typical review for this series:Amazon Customer: Enjoyable new adventure."Great characters in a new universe! Awesome read and I can't wait for more. Bring up the Arms! Thank you."ARMS is set in the future where Earth was nearing an apocalyptic event. Two competing colony ships were built, taking five million inhabitants each through a wormhole to a pair of newly discovered planets. The planets were settled and not long after the colonies looked to the surrounding star systems for ownership and expansion, which led to a centuries long war between them. A truce was declared after the aggressor side began to lose ground.Tawnish Freely and Harris Gruberg are genetically engineered Biomarines. Their lives have been dedicated to fighting the war. They find themselves struggling to find work among a population that fears them. Work is found only by delving into the delivery of illegal arms to the outer colonies. Things go awry when they discover their illicit dealings may just be the catalyst that brings back the Great War.

    It should be a time for celebration, but not for fighter pilot Captain Alisa Marchenko. After barely surviving a crash in the final battle for freedom, she's stranded on a dustball of a planet, billions of miles from her young daughter. She has no money or resources, and there are no transports heading to Perun, her former home and the last imperial stronghold.But she has a plan.Steal a dilapidated and malfunctioning freighter from a junkyard full of lawless savages. Slightly suicidal, but she believes she can do it. Her plan, however, does not account for the elite cyborg soldier squatting in the freighter, intending to use it for his own purposes. As an imperial soldier, he has no love for Alliance pilots. In fact, he's quite fond of killing them.Alisa has more problems than she can count, but she can't let cyborgs, savages, or ancient malfunctioning ships stand in her way. If she does, she’ll never see her daughter again.

    In a matter of days, great fleets of military and civilian ships depart for the single greatest expedition since the colonisation of Alpha Centauri. Into this great adventure travel two heroes of the war, retired Marines Spartan and Teresa Morato, and their son Jack. Now senior members of an elite private military corporation, they are at the heart of the Alliance bold new plan. Their discovery of buried machines, as well as derelict spacecraft in the first system encountered triggers events that will see the Alliance embroiled in a military conflict like no other. Discoveries of a dead people who have been wiped out by an unknown enemy sends a shudder through the many worlds of the Alliance.The Alliance must make a decision. Either they will have to abandon the riches they have found or they will have to fight for it. In the past the citizens of Centauri have fought themselves for money, fame, power and religion. Now they must unify their many disparate factions including the Zealots and biomechanical warriors known as the Jötnar, if they are to survive in this new world.The 15-book Star Crusades series includes:STAR CRUSADES NEXUSLegions of Orion (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 1)Machine Gods (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 2)Heroes of Helios (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 3)The Great Betrayal (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 4)Prophecy of Fire (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 5)Call to Arms (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 6)Battle for Helios (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 7)Wrath of the Gods (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 8) ETA Q1 2014The Black Rift (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 9) ETA Q3 2014STAR CRUSADES UPRISINGSiege of Titan (Star Crusades Uprising, Book 1)Tears of Kerberos (Star Crusades Uprising, Book 2)Fires of Prometheus (Star Crusades Uprising, Book 3)Battle for Proxima (Star Crusades Uprising, Book 4)Fall of Terra Nova (Star Crusades Uprising, Book 5)Slaves of Hyperion (Star Crusades Uprising, Book 6)These titles are also available as combined trilogies including:STAR CRUSADES NEXUS: THE FIRST TRILOGYSTAR CRUSADES NEXUS: THE SECOND TRILOGYSTAR CRUSADES NEXUS: THE THIRD TRILOGY ETA Q3 2014STAR CRUSADES UPRISING: THE FIRST TRILOGYSTAR CRUSADES UPRISING: THE SECOND TRILOGY For more information visit the official Star Crusades website. Keyword Starcrusader.