Sword & Planet

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NEW STORIES IN THE GRAND SPACE FANTASY TRADITION!

SCIENCE FICTION FANTASY IS IT TOO MUCH TO ASK FOR BOTH

The distant futurelike the distant pastis a place of myths, of legends, and of great heroes. Cyborg knights battle extraterrestrial demons to rescue a peaceful village. A young girl unlocks an ancient power to protect her world from offworld colonists. Here are stories not where magic is science, but with magic and science. Not knights and castles, but knights and starships. Wizards and ray guns. Swords and planets.

In D.J. Butlers Power and Prestige, a pair of two-bit mercenaries are hired to solve a murder in a labyrinth beneath a crumbling city at the end of time. A young knight must face down an alien menace and awaken the power within in R.R. Virdis A Knight Luminary, and in Saving the Emperor Simon R. Green takes us deep into the Imperial City of Virimonde . . . and offers a glimpse at how the Deathstalker clan rose to power and fame.

Enjoy tales from Tim Akers, Jessica Cluess, L.J. Hachmeister, Susan R. Matthews, T.C. McCarthy, Jody Lynn Nye, and Tom Toner; a new world from Warhammer 40,000 author Peter Fehervari; and a new chapter in the Sun Eater saga from Christopher Ruocchio.

Contributors:
Tim Akers
D.J. Butler
Jessica Cluess
Peter Fehervari
Simon R. Green
L.J. Hachmeister
Susan R. Matthews
T.C. McCarthy
Jody Lynn Nye
Christopher Ruocchio
Tom Toner
R.R. Virdi

AboutSword &Planet:
"...the wide mix of stories, and the surprising places they go make this anthology a particular joy from start to finish... ofers a glimpse into everything that made stories like these a popular standby since the pulp era, with enough creativity, variety and talent showcased to prove that there's still plenty of life in the century-old genre... I recommend it heartily."Analog

"Sword & Planet breathes new life into a genre that many understandably felt was left moldering in the grave. Its old-school wonder with twenty-first century polish - whats not to like" Warped Factor

AboutStar Destroyers, coedited by Christopher Ruocchio:
. . . spectacular space battles and alien contacts . . . themes of military ethics, the uses of artificial intelligence, and the limits of the capacity of the human mind. . . . it is the human interactions and decisions that ultimately drive the stories. . . . will appeal to fans of military and hard science fiction and any readers fascinated by the possibilities of space travel.Booklist

. . . stories of giant spaceships at war, at peace, and in the often-gray areas between. . . . a worthy addition to a long tradition of ship-based fiction, and its authors portray captains, arcane astrogators, and civilian child passengers with equal depth. Its recommended for fans of military SF and space adventure.Publishers Weekly

. . . youd probably expect some tight, action-filled space opera stories of giant space battles . . . and theres some of that. But there are also espionage stories, rescue missions, political conflicts, alternate histories, even a few humorous tales. . . . each author took the premise in a different direction . . . if I had to identify one common feature to all the stories, it would be that theyre all fun. . . . Like it says, big ships blowing things up. Whats not to likeAnalog

Author Bio

Christopher Ruocchio is the author ofThe Sun Eater, a space opera fantasy series, as well as the Assistant Editor at Baen Books, where he has edited several anthologies. He is a graduate of North Carolina State University, where he studied English Rhetoric and the Classics. Christopher has been writing since he was eight and sold his first novel,Empire of Silence,at twenty-two. To date, his books have been published in five languages.

Christopher lives in Raleigh, North Carolina with his wife, Jenna.

Tim Akers grew up in rural North Carolina, the last in a long line of Scottish bankers, newspaper editors, and tourist-trapbarons. He moved to Chicago to pursue his passion for apocalyptic winters, tornadic summers, and traffic. He stayed for the hot dogs.

D.J. (Dave) Butler grew up in swamps, deserts, and mountains. After messing around for years with the practice of law, he finally got serious and turned to his lifelong passion of storytelling. He now writes adventure stories for readers of all ages, plays guitar, and spends as much time as he can with his family. He is the author of City of the Saints, Rock Band Fights Evil, Space Eldritch, and Crecheling from Wordfire Press, and from Baen: Witchy Eye, Witchy Winter, Witchy Kingdom, and Serpent Daughter; The Cunning Man and The Jupiter Knife with coauthor Aaron Michael Ritchey; In the Palace of Shadow and Joy as well as Between Princesses and Other Jobs;Abbott in Darkness; and withM.A. Rothman, Time Trials.

Simon R. Greenis theNew York Timesbest-selling author of more than sixty science fiction, fantasy, and mystery novels. Green sold his first book in 1988 and the very next year was commissioned to write the best-selling novelizationof the Kevin Costner filmRobin Hood: Prince of Thieves.From there he went on to write many more series of books, including Deathstalker, Nightside, Secret History, Forest Kingdom, and the Ishmael Jones mysteries. His books have sold more than 3.8 million copies worldwide and have been translated into more than a dozen different languages.

T.C. McCarthyis an award-winning and critically acclaimed Southern author whose short fiction has appeared inPer Contra: The International Journal of the Arts,Literature and Ideas, Story Quarterly,andNature. His debut science fiction trilogy,Germline, Exogene,andChimera,were released in 2011 and 2012 to critical acclaim. In addition to being an author, T.C. is a PhDscientist, a Fulbright Fellow, and a Howard Hughes Biomedical Research Scholarwho served as a weapons expert in the CIA during Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. He has neither been fired onnor fired a shot in anger, but is a recognized expert in future warfare who has been invited multiple times by USSOCOM to speak on the topic of future warfare.