In a wild and battle-scarred galaxy, assassins, pirates, smugglers, and cutthroats of every description roam at will, fearing only the professional bounty hunters-amoral adventurers who track down the scum of the universe...for a fee. When Darth Vader seeks to strike at the heart of the Rebellion by targeting Han Solo and the Millennium Falcon, he calls upon six of the most successful-and feared-hunters, including the merciless Boba Fett. They all have two things in common: lust for profit and contempt for life... Featuring original stories by Kevin J. Anderson, M. Shayne Bell, Daniel Keys Moran, Kathy Tyers and Dave Wolverton.
He's the most feared and successful bounty hunter in the galaxy. He is Boba Fett, and even the most hardened criminals tremble at his name. Now he faces the deadliest challenge of his infamous career--an all-out war against his most dangerous enemies. As the Rebellion gathers force, Prince Xizor proposes a cunning plan to the Emperor and Darth Vader: smash the power of the Bounty Hunters Guild by turning its members against each other. Only the strongest and most ruthless will survive, and they can be used against the Rebellion. It's a job for the fiercely independent Boba Fett, who jumps at the chance to destroy his rivals. But Fett soon realizes the game is rigged, as he finds himself the target of murderous factions, criminal conspiracies, and the evil at the Empire's dark heart. Boba Fett has always finished first. And in this game, anything less is death.
In the dusty heat of twin-sunned Tatooine lives the wealthiest gangster in a hundred worlds, master of a vast crime empire and keeper of a vicious, flesh-eating monster for entertainment (and disposal of his enemies). Bloated and sinister, Jabba the Hutt might have made a good joke -- if he weren't so dangerous. A cast of soldiers, spies, assassins, scoundrels, bounty hunters, and pleasure seekers have come to his palace, and every visitor to Jabba's grand abode has a story. Some of them may even live to tell it. . . . Featuring original stories by: Kevin J. Anderson, M. Shayne Bell, John Gregory Betancourt, Mark Budz and Marina Fitch, A.C. Crispin, Dan'l Danehy-Oakes, George Alec Effinger, Kenneth C. Flint, Esther Friesner, Barbara Hambly, Daryl F. Mallett, J.D. Montgomery, Judy and Gar Reeves-Stevens, Jennifer Roberson, Kathy Tyers, Deborah Wheeler, Dave Wolverton, William F. Wu, Timothy Zahn.
Culled from the pages of the Star Wars Adventure Journal, one of the most popular Star Wars magazines in the field today, comes this exciting new short-story collection. Here are stories from such award-winning and New York Times bestselling authors as Timothy Zahn, Michael A. Stackpole and Kathy Tyers as well as exciting newcomers, including Erin Endom, Laurie Burns, and Patricia A. Jackson. From the desperate flight of a civilian mail courier carrying vital Rebel intelligence through an Imperial blockade, to a suicidal commando raid on an impregnable Imperial prison, to a Corellian smuggler mysteriously hired by an actor turned Jedi Knight turned Imperial assassin for one final transformation, these tales capture all the high adventure, imaginative genius, and nonstop action that are the hallmarks of the Star Wars saga. What's more, the centerpiece of this magnificent collection is the short novel Side Trip, the first-ever collaboration between Timothy Zahn and Michael A. Stackpole, in which a freighter smuggling arms for the Rebels is commandeered by an Imperial Star Destroyer led by a mysterious helmeted figure who claims to be the notorious bounty hunter Jodo Kast. It is all part of a devious plan that includes Hal and Corran Horn, who are working undercover to nail the infamous Corellian warlord Zekka Thyne. But one slip-up can get them all killed. Collected for the first time, Star Wars(r): Tales from the Empire is one book no fan will want to be without. (r), TM and (c) 1997 Lucasfilm Ltd. All rights reserved. Used under authorization.
In a wild and battle-scarred galaxy, assassins, pirates, smugglers, and cutthroats of every description roam at will, fearing only the professional bounty hunters-amoral adventurers who track down the scum of the universe...for a fee. When Darth Vader seeks to strike at the heart of the Rebellion by targeting Han Solo and the Millennium Falcon, he calls upon six of the most successful-and feared-hunters, including the merciless Boba Fett. They all have two things in common: lust for profit and contempt for life... Featuring original stories by Kevin J. Anderson, M. Shayne Bell, Daniel Keys Moran, Kathy Tyers and Dave Wolverton. Features a bonus section following the novel that includes a primer on the Star Wars expanded universe, and over half a dozen excerpts from some of the most popular Star Wars books of the last thirty years!
Written by some of today’s leading science fiction writers, these tales sweep us into a world where the only laws are cunning, force, and power—and only the bravest, craziest, and deadliest dare to tread. Here mercs and smugglers, gangsters and warriors fight toe to toe, side by side, and behind each other’s backs in the backwaters of a universe ripped apart by war. On Zelos II a man and a woman are held prisoner in a dark cell, each fighting in their own way for survival at the hands of Imperial captors—and a chance for escape that could cost one of them their life. On the tortured landscape of Ryloth, Fenig Nabon awaits a ship of women warriors to complete a dangerous deal: the smuggling of a troupe of dancers to the homeworld of the Hutts—only to get more than she bargained for. And in a stunning novella written especially for this collection by Hugo Award–winning, New York Times bestselling author Timothy Zahn and Michael A. Stackpole, Senator Garm Bel Iblis, believed dead at the hands of an Imperial assassin, teams up with Hal Horn in a duel against the Empire’s most dangerous agent. At stake are the plans for a terrifying new weapon called the Death Star—and the fate of both the Empire and the New Republic. Including these stories of intergalactic derring-do: “Interlude at Darkknell” by Timothy Zahn and Michael A. Stackpole “Jade Solitaire” by Timothy Zahn “Gathering Shadows” by Kathy Burdette “Hutt and Seek” by Chris Cassidy and Tish Pahl “The Longest Fall” by Patricia A. Jackson “Conflict of Interest” by Laurie Burns “No Disintegrations, Please” by Paul Danner “Day of the Sepulchral Night” by Jean Rabe “Uhl Eharl Khoehng” by Patricia A. Jackson “The Last Hand” by Paul Danner “Simple Tricks” by Chris Cassidy and Tish Pahl
Culled from the pages of the Star Wars Adventure Journal, one of the most popular Star Wars magazines in the field today, comes this exciting new short-story collection. Here are stories from such award-winning and New York Times bestselling authors as Timothy Zahn, Michael A. Stackpole and Kathy Tyers as well as exciting newcomers, including Erin Endom, Laurie Burns, and Patricia A. Jackson. From the desperate flight of a civilian mail courier carrying vital Rebel intelligence through an Imperial blockade, to a suicidal commando raid on an impregnable Imperial prison, to a Corellian smuggler mysteriously hired by an actor turned Jedi Knight turned Imperial assassin for one final transformation, these tales capture all the high adventure, imaginative genius, and nonstop action that are the hallmarks of the Star Wars saga. What's more, the centerpiece of this magnificent collection is the short novel Side Trip, the first-ever collaboration between Timothy Zahn and Michael A. Stackpole, in which a freighter smuggling arms for the Rebels is commandeered by an Imperial Star Destroyer led by a mysterious helmeted figure who claims to be the notorious bounty hunter Jodo Kast. It is all part of a devious plan that includes Hal and Corran Horn, who are working undercover to nail the infamous Corellian warlord Zekka Thyne. But one slip-up can get them all killed. Collected for the first time, Star Wars(r): Tales from the Empire is one book no fan will want to be without. Features a bonus section following the novel that includes a primer on the Star Wars expanded universe, and over half a dozen excerpts from some of the most popular Star Wars books of the last thirty years! (r), TM and (c) 1997 Lucasfilm Ltd. All rights reserved. Used under authorization.
Never before has the incendiary mix of action, politics, and intrigue that has become Timothy Zahn’s trademark, been mmore evident that in this new Star Wars epic. On the heels of the stunning events chronicled in Star Wars: A New Hope, the newly minted heroes of the Rebellion–fledgling Jedi Luke Skywalker, smuggler turned reluctant freedom-fighter Han Solo, and Princess Leia Organa, a bold leader with a world to avenge–must face the harsh realities of the cataclysmic conflict into which they have so bravely plunged. From this point forward, legends will grow, treachery will abound, and lives will be irrevocably altered, in the long, hard fight to counter the fist of tyranny and restore hope to a galaxy too long in darkness. The destruction of the Death Star by the Rebel Alliance was a decisive blow against the Empire, but Palpatine and his monstrous enforcer, Darth Vader, are no less of a threat. The brutal extermination of Alderaan not only demonstrated the magnitude of their murderous power, but served as a chilling testament to their resolve to crush the Rebel uprising. Standing against them, Skywalker, Solo, and the Princess remain uncertain opponents. Luke is gifted and brave, but unschooled in the power he possesses. Han has doubts about waging someone else’s war–and his contentiousness is one more burden for Leia to bear as she struggles to help keep the Rebellion alive. The three have been sent to mediate a dispute between Rebel Alliance factions in Shelsha Sector–agitating matters by forcing Han to deal not only with pirates, but with his more dreaded enemy, politics. At the same time, Mara Jade–all of eighteen and years away from her fateful meeting with Luke–is serving her evil master, Palpatine, well in her role as the Emperor’s Hand: tracking suspected treachery in the Empire to what may be high places–while trying to stay out of Darth Vader’s way. But the Rebels will prove to be only one of the Empire’s concerns. For Imperial Stormtrooper Daric LaRone, his faith in the Empire shaken by the wanton destruction of Alderaan, will commit a sudden and violent act of defiance, and take four other enforcers with him, in a desperate bid to elude their masters’ wrath. Each of these fateful actions, whether sanctioned, secret, or scandalous, will expose brutality and corruption, spur upheavals destined to shake the Empire to its core, and shape momentous events yet to come. Features a bonus section following the novel that includes a primer on the Star Wars expanded universe, and over half a dozen excerpts from some of the most popular Star Wars books of the last thirty years!
