That led many people to underestimate the Nildoror and their obviously more fearsome commensals, the Sulidoror.But aliens should never be judged by human standards, as the Company learned to its cost when Holman's World, now once again known as Belzagor, was given back to the natives and the Company sent packing. Now Edmund Gunderson, once head of the Company's operation on this world, has come back across the galaxy to settle old scores with the Nildoror. If he can even get them to acknowledge his existence. Cover Artist: Gene Szafran

    Pull up a chair, grab a glass of your favorite, and listen to the stories spun by time travelers, cybernetic aliens, telepaths...and a bunch of regular folks on a mission to save the world, one customer at a time.Callahan's Crosstime Saloon contains the following stories, virtually all of which were published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact: * "The Guy With the Eyes" * "The Time-Traveler" * "The Centipede's Dilemma" * "Two Heads Are Better Than One" * "The Law Of Conservation of Pain" * "Just Dessert" * "A Voice is Heard in Ramah..." * "Unnatural Causes" * "The Wonderful Conspiracy"

      Many decades before George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones, Grand Master Fritz Leiber ruled the sword-and-sorcery universe. These three short story collections chronicle the unconventional adventures of Leiber’s endearing antiheroes: barbarian Fafhrd and former wizard’s apprentice, the Gray Mouser.  Swords and Deviltry: Fafhrd, a handsome barbarian of the Steppes, is seduced by a beautiful prostitute and her equally intoxicating city, while the Gray Mouser, a slum rat wizard-in-training, is tempted by the dark arts. The two men meet on a night of multiple thieveries and an enduring partnership is born.  Swords Against Death: Rogue swordsmen and devoted companions Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser pursue ill-gotten fortunes within the confines of Lankhmar. They cross paths with two wizards, Sheelba of the Eyeless Face and Ningauble of the Seven Eyes, and a most violent clash ensues. Eventually, following further adventures, the two antiheroes end up as indentured swordsman servants to their former foes.  Swords in the Mist: A cloud of concentrated hatred and lean times in Lankhmar compels Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser to temporarily depart the most corrupt metropolis in all of Nehwon as they seek adventure in the realm of the Sea-King—and on a different world entirely.   This must-read collection of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser short stories features multiple Hugo and Nebula Award–nominated tales, and includes the acclaimed novella Ill Met in Lankhmar.

    But someone else is waiting in the shadows, someone that the Fratery want to see dead even more than they do Ravenor. As daemonhosts battle in the skies and the air fills with gunfire and rain, Ravenor meets with an old friend, summoned by a simple message: Thorn Wishes Talon.ABOUT THORN WISHES TALONSet between Ravenor and Ravenor Returned, ‘Thorn Wishes Talon’ sees the return of a face from the Inquisitor’s past. The story previously appeared in the Ravenor Omnibus.

    Ordered to destroy the comet, he instead discovers that it is actually the shell of a derelict space probe - a wreck with just enough power to emit a single electronic signal...2034: Then a reply is heard. Searching for the source of this signal that comes from outside the solar system, Nigel discovers the existence of a sentient ship. When the new vessel begins to communicate directly with him, the astronaut learns of the horrors that await humanity. For the ship was created by an alien race that has spent billions and billions of years searching for intelligent life...to annihilate it.In the Ocean of Night is a 1977 hard science fiction novel by Gregory Benford. It is the first novel in his Galactic Center Saga. It was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1977. It was first published as a novelette in the May/June 1972 edition of Worlds of If Science Fiction.

    For the first time in one volume: every word Bruce Sterling has ever written on the Shapers-Mechanists Universe.In the last decade, Sterling has emerged a pioneer of crucial, cutting-edge science fiction. Now Ace Books is proud to offer Sterling's stunning world of the Schismatrix--where Shaper revolutionaries struggle against aristocratic Mechanists for ultimate control of man's destiny. This volume includes the classic full-length novel, Schismatrix, plus thousands of words of mind-bending short fiction.

    Suddenly deadly spores are falling like silver threads from the sky, destroying everyone and everything they touch. Pern is in mortal danger. The only thing that can stop the Thread is the fire from Pern’s flying dragons. Now, the colonists must join forces with the dragons to burn the Thread before the parasite devours any and all organic life–and turns lush Pern into a barren wasteland.On Dragonwings traces the story of the early generations on Pern. From the colonists who first created the fire-breathing dragons for protection, through the rise of the dragonriders, these three novels set readers on a daring quest to protect a beautiful and extraordinary planet.

    It can be read in ten minutes. Please don't purchase this expecting a novel for your dollar.This story was written in a small cafe on the corner of Bleeker and Grove in New York City on Tuesday, May 27th. The idea came to me yesterday while walking across the Brooklyn Bridge. I saw the locks on several of the small cables on the bridge. I remembered my time in both London and Paris, taking pictures of all the love locks on bridges there. And I thought about all the couples those locks represent. I wondered how many are still together.Maybe this story isn't worth your dollar. If I could price a work on Amazon for less, I would. It is what it is. I hope this will be the first of many short pieces that I write and publish in a single day while recording what I'm thinking and where I am when I write them. For those who take the plunge, I hope you get your money's worth. Thank you for all of your support.-Hugh

    Three individuals obtain the control of three strange silver boxes of extraordinary power that, if combined, could unlock the secrets of the universe, and each owner battles private demons in their quest to unite the boxes.

    John HarrisonHunting mother/ Sage WalkerMount Olympus/ Ben Bova Border guards/ Greg Egan Scherzo with tyrannosaur/ Michael SwanwickA hero of the empire/ Robert SilverbergHow we lost the moon, a true story/ Frank W. Allen & Paul J. McAuleyPhallicide/ Charles Sheffield Daddy's world/ Walter Jon WilliamsA Martian romance/ Kim Stanley RobinsonThe sky-green blues/ Tanith LeeExchange rate/ Hal ClementEverywhere/ Geoff Ryman Hothouse flowers/ Mike Resnick Evermore/ Sean Williams Of scorned women & causal loops/ Robert GrossbachSon observe the time/ Kage BakerHonorable mentions: 1999

    There is no better anthology that captures the birth of science fiction as a literary field.Published in 1973 to honor stories that had come before the institution of the Nebula Awards, The Science Fiction Hall of Fame introduced tens of thousands of young readers to the wonders of science fiction and was a favorite of libraries across the country.Eleven more classic novellas by the most honored authors of science fiction. Companion to Volume IIA.Introduction · Ben BovaThe Martian Way · Isaac Asimov · na Galaxy Nov ’52 Earthman, Come Home [Okie] · James Blish · nv Astounding Nov ’53 Rogue Moon · Algis Budrys · na F&SF Dec ’60 The Specter General · Theodore R. Cogswell · na Astounding Jun ’52 The Machine Stops · E. M. Forster · nv Oxford and Cambridge Review Nov ’09 The Midas Plague · Frederik Pohl · na Galaxy Apr ’54 The Witches of Karres · James H. Schmitz · nv Astounding Dec ’49 E for Effort · T. L. Sherred · nv Astounding May ’47 In Hiding · Wilmar H. Shiras · nv Astounding Nov ’48 The Big Front Yard · Clifford D. Simak · na Astounding Oct ’58 The Moon Moth · Jack Vance · na Galaxy Aug ’61

    FoxMars Is Heaven! / Ray Bradbury; artwork by Herman VestalPreview of Peril / A. Bertram Chandler; artwork by Alden McWilliamsAgainst the Stone Beasts / James Blish; artwork by DonelBrooklyn Project / William Tenn; artwork by Herman VestalSynthetic Hero / Erik Fennel; artwork by Herman VestalValkyrie from the Void / Basil WellsCartoon: "Here we are the masters!" ; Cartoon: "Er---any trees on the moon?" / artwork by E. P.

    Irritated at being labeled a flatlander, Elephant decides visit the most unusual system in the galaxy ... with Beowulf piloting his ship, of course- Nebula Award(R) Nominee

    The Planet Savers, the first Darkover novel, introduces the reader to the now legendary world of Cottman IV. The Winds of Darkover, also an early novel in the series, reveals the awesome and terrifying powers of the infamous Sharra Matrix.

    Clinging to its skin are the zones, a series of semi-autonomous city-states, each of which enjoys a different—and rigidly enforced—level of technology. Horsetown is pre-industrial; in Neon Heights they have television and electric trains . . .Following an infiltration mission that went tragically wrong, Quillon has been living incognito, working as a pathologist in the district morgue. But when a near-dead angel drops onto his dissecting table, Quillon's world is wrenched apart one more time, for the angel is a winged posthuman from Spearpoint's Celestial Levels—and with the dying body comes bad news.If Quillon is to save his life, he must leave his home and journey into the cold and hostile lands beyond Spearpoint's base, starting an exile that will take him further than he could ever imagine. But there is far more at stake than just Quillon's own survival, for the limiting technologies of the zones are determined not by governments or police, but by the very nature of reality—and reality itself is showing worrying signs of instability . . .Terminal World is a snarling, drooling, crazy-eyed mongrel of a book: equal parts steampunk, western, planetary romance, and far-future SF.