Captain Pausert, master of the old pirate chaser Venture has finally found his niche. Unlucky in love and unsuccessful in business on his home planet, he seems to have a knack for selling job lot cargoes around the fringes of the Empire. In fact, he's so far ahead of the game that he even finds time for the occasional heroic act. Like rescuing three poor child slaves from their abusive masters. And then discovers he's broke again, wanted by the authorities and at odds with the most malevolent force in all of space. For Pausert hasn't rescued any ordinary put upon juvenile slaves but three of the legendary witches of Karres complete with awesome psi powers...
NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED . . . Captain Pausert thought his luck had finally turned¾but he did not yet realize it was a turn for the worse. On second thought, make that a turn for the disastrous*. Unlucky in love, unsuccessful in business, he thought he had finally made good with his battered starship Venture, cruising around the fringes of the Empire and successfully selling off odd-ball cargoes which no one else had been able to sell. He was all set to return home, where his true love was faithfully waiting for him ... he hoped. But then he made the fatal mistake of freeing three slave children from their masters (who were suspiciously eager to part with them). They were just trying to be helpful, but those three adorable little girls quickly made Pausert the mortal enemy of his fiancee, his home planet, the Empire, warlike Sirians, psychopathic Uldanians, the dread pirate chieftain Laes Yango¾and even the Worm World, the darkest threat to mankind in all of space. And all because those harmless-looking little girls were in fact three of the notorious and universally feared Witches of Karres. A rollicking novel from the master of space adventure. At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).
NEW ENTRY IN THE WITCHES OF KARRES SERIES BY NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLING AUTHOR ERIC FLINT & DAVE FREER Captain Pausert just can’t catch a break! First, he became the mortal enemy of his fiancée, his home planet, the Empire—and even the Worm World, the darkest threat to mankind in all of space. All because he helped rescue three slave children from their masters. Of course, these three young women were the universally feared Witches of Karres—but how was he to know that?! And after he defeated the Worm World (with the help of the witches, of course), the Empress herself had sent him on a secret mission to stop a nanite plague that was raging across the galaxy. But an enemy had somehow convinced the Imperial Fleet that he was actually a wanted criminal, so after a battle leaving his ship in urgent need of repairs, Pausert and the witches of Karres joined an interstellar traveling circus in order to save the galaxy. Now Pausert and the witches of Karres roam the spaceways again, this time dealing with a slaver-culture that somehow makes slaves happy to be in servitude, and a quest for a long-lost alien pet, during which the youngest witch, The Leewit, begins to come to her full powers as a healer—and of course generates chaos in her wake. For Pausert, it’s all in a day’s work. But would it be too much to ask for a vacation? At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management). About the Witches of Karres series: "This sequel [to The Witches of Karres] does honor to the original. . . a rolilicking ride. . . a rousing conclusion. . . "—Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine Fans of humorous science fiction will enjoy this outing.”—School Library Journal on The Wizard of Karres About All the Plagues of Hell by Eric Flint & Dave Freer: “. . . a compelling tale of political, military, and magical conflict . . .”—Booklist About Eric Flint: “A master of the genre.”—Booklist “An SF author of particular note . . . one who can entertain and edify in equal, and major, measure.” —Publishers Weekly About Dave Freer: “Dave Freer always delivers compelling, fast-moving and addictive fantasy adventures.”—Garth Nix
After eliminating the Worm World threat and outwitting a deadly gang of space pirates, Captain Pausert embarks on a mission for the Empress Haile to stop a nanite plague before it can devastate entire worlds.
MEET TELZEY AMBERDON -SHE'S NOBODY'S TOY Telzey Amberdon was only in her teens when she discovered that she was a telepath. Not only a telepath, but a xenotelepath, able to communicate mentally not just with humans, but with alien intelligences. And she turned out to be one of the most powerful telepaths in the history of the galactic civilization called the Hub. First she had to deal with an alien race that humans hadn't realized were intelligent, and who were about to eliminate those troublesome humans who thought they were colonizing an uninhabited world. Then, she had to fend off the secret psi agents of the Psychological Corps who took a dim view of any telepath, let alone one with Telzey's powers, operating outside of their control. Next, she stumbled across a telepathic serial killer, who used an unstoppable predator, under his mental control, to hunt and kill his victims-and Telzey was to be the catch of the day. It was fortunate for the human race that she survived, since she next found herself in the middle of a secret war between two hidden races of genetically engineered humans. They called it the "Lion Game," and they made the mistake of thinking that in this clash of predators, Telzey was just a harmless kitten. But when the dust settled, Telzey would be the only one purring.... At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management). "Take my advice and buy TWO copies of this book! You'll want to lend it to friends and (trust me on this: I have years of experience to back up the observation) once people get their hands on a Schmitz book, they don't let go!" ¾Janet Kagan, Hugo-Winner and author of Uhura's Song
Ape Man, Space Man Earth's colonists have spread throughout the cosmos, and have almost divided into two separate species. One is the Swimmers, who have adapted to living in zero-gravity, and regard themselves as the next step in evolution, and those who prefer to live on the surface of a planet as little better than apes. The latter group, the Walkers, are not about to say farewell to the planets they grew up on, and think the Swimmers are not so much advanced as deranged. Crowell, born a Swimmer but now a Walker by choice, is caught in the middle as the two sides seem headed for war. Then he discovers the true cause of the altercation: a hidden alien race moving behind the scenes to provoke a war so that they can pick up the pieces after the two sides have obliterated each other. And if Crowell cannot head off the war and convince both sides of the existence of the real enemy, both branches of the human race may be headed for untimely extinction. This full-length novel and much more, fill a huge volume from the master of science fiction adventure. At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management). "Much has been made of the 'sense of wonder' that science fiction evokes, and believe me, there was nothing to evoke that sense quite like the worlds of James Schmitz. . . . Thank you, James Schmitz, wherever you are. And thank you, Eric Flint and Jim Baen, for bringing his Right Stuff back again." ¾Mercedes Lackey "Take my advice and buy TWO copies of this book! You'll want to lend it to friends and (trust me on this: I have years of experience to back up the observation) once people get their hands on a Schmitz book, they don't let go!" ¾ Janet Kagan, Hugo-winner and author of Uhura's Song
Espionage and Intrigue in the Far Reaches of the Galaxy from the Creator of Telzey Amberdon and Trigger Argee The Galaxy was not a nice neighborhood, and most would have laid bets that the Vegan Confederacy was too small and weak to survive, let along prosper. But prosper it did, to the bewilderment of observers, who didn't know about the Vegans' secret weapon. Once, the Galactic Empire had spanned the stars and when it crumbled and fell, star systems were isolated, some barely surviving, many becoming tyrannical feifdoms, others turning to piracy, and all of them often at war with each other. The Confederacy didn't have huge space armadas, and millions of troops to protect itself and re-civilize its neighbors, but it did have the Zone agents. Few outside the top echelons of the Confederacy even knew that they existed, and even fewer had an inkling of how the agents time and again could appear on the spot just when a push in the right place could stop a war, topple a despot, or thwart an invasion of unfriendly aliens. Their numbers were pitifully few, and they had to patrol vast stretches of space. They were helped by their ships, bristling with hidden armament and piloted by robot brains of high intelligence. But their main weapon was that the minds of their opponents were open books to them. Not all of the Agents of Vega were human, but they were the most powerful telepaths the Galaxy had ever known . . . At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management). "Take my advice and buy TWO copies of this book! You'll want to lend it to friends and (trust me on this: I have years of experience to back up the observation) once people get their hands on a Schmitz book, they don't let go!" - Janet Kagan, Hugo-Winner and author of Uhura's Song "Wonderfully fresh imagination." -The Horn Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Now a major motion picture directed by Steven Spielberg. “Enchanting . . . Willy Wonka meets The Matrix.”—USA Today • “As one adventure leads expertly to the next, time simply evaporates.”—Entertainment Weekly A world at stake. A quest for the ultimate prize. Are you ready? In the year 2045, reality is an ugly place. The only time Wade Watts really feels alive is when he’s jacked into the OASIS, a vast virtual world where most of humanity spends their days. When the eccentric creator of the OASIS dies, he leaves behind a series of fiendish puzzles, based on his obsession with the pop culture of decades past. Whoever is first to solve them will inherit his vast fortune—and control of the OASIS itself. Then Wade cracks the first clue. Suddenly he’s beset by rivals who’ll kill to take this prize. The race is on—and the only way to survive is to win. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Entertainment Weekly • San Francisco Chronicle • Village Voice • Chicago Sun-Times • iO9 • The AV Club “Delightful . . . the grown-up’s Harry Potter.”—HuffPost “An addictive read . . . part intergalactic scavenger hunt, part romance, and all heart.”—CNN “A most excellent ride . . . Cline stuffs his novel with a cornucopia of pop culture, as if to wink to the reader.”—Boston Globe “Ridiculously fun and large-hearted . . . Cline is that rare writer who can translate his own dorky enthusiasms into prose that’s both hilarious and compassionate.”—NPR “[A] fantastic page-turner . . . starts out like a simple bit of fun and winds up feeling like a rich and plausible picture of future friendships in a world not too distant from our own.”—iO9
For every science fiction fan, Pringle has compiled descriptions, reviews, and ratings of more than 3,000 science fiction books. Includes a unique rating system, brief statements and reviews by critics, and a guide to sequels, related titles, and film versions.
