The inhuman Rulers of the galaxy sent three fleets to learn what had happened to the world located by Captain North and the Survey Team he led. Neither a soul nor a message returned. The fourth time, the Rulers sent a single man: Nils Hansen.Commissioner Hansen had a mind that saw the shortest path to each task's completion and a ruthless determination to do what the task required. The cost - to himself and whoever happened to be in the way - didn't matter. Hanson's Special Units h...

With a veteran's eye for the harsh and gritty details of war, David Drake depicts a futuristic analog of tank combat in his Hammer's Slammers fiction. The Slammers are neither cartoon heroes nor propaganda villains; rather they are competent professionals engaged in a deadly business. The inevitable conflicts between policy, necessity, and human nature make Drake's Slammers fiction instantly identifiable and utterly compelling. This is the first of a three volume set presenting for the fir...

THE SAGA OF THE SLAMMERS BEGINS!COLONEL ALOIS HAMMER: He welded five thousand individual killers into a weapon more deadly than any other in the human universe. When a planetary government faces unfriendly natives, guerrilla insurgents, or ruthless terrorists, they do the only thing that might save them— they hire Hammer's Slammers, the toughest, meanest bunch of mercs who ever wrecked a world for pay. Known throughout the galaxy for their cold, ruthless ferocity, the men of Colone...

A Friendship Forged in Hell!Daniel Leary is a lieutenant in the Republic of Cinnabar Navy with no money and no prospects since he quarreled with his ruthless, politically powerful father.Adele Mundy is a scholar with no money and no prospects since her family was massacred for conspiring against the Government of Cinnabar.Kostroma is a wealthy planet which depends on diplomacy to stay independent in a galaxy whose two great powers, Cinnabar and the ...

THE FLEET—In the far reaches of space they are mankind’s last line of defense against hostile alien forces.THEY ARE PLEDGED TO PROTECT US ALLMankind has taken one step too far and exploring the galaxy-and has run up against the Khalia, vicious weasel-like carnivores whose culture is totally different from our own. They see other sentient beings as prey—AS MEAT! They take no prisoners. Ever. Just the occasional slave who will never see his h...

They were the toughest fighters in the galaxy-until they got used up.The mission: redemption-or death,The troops were walking dead already,so there wasn't much of a downside.Major Arthur Farrell and the troops of Strike Force Company C41 had seen too much war with the alien Kalendru. They had too many screaming memories to be fit for combat again, but they were far too dangerous to themselves and others to be returned to civilian life.The bureau...

In this epic historical fantasy saga debut by the author of the Lord of the Isles, four young people must face dangerous magic to save the world."Drake . . . vividly recreates the attitudes of patrician Romans in this fantasy tale. . . . Fans of fantasy and historical fiction will enjoy." — Publishers WeeklyIn this novel of magical menace to the survival of all humanity, David Drake introduces a new fantasy world, Carce, bas...

TO FIGHT OR DIE AMONG THE FARTHEST STARS ...It’s 2237 . . . and the Far Stars War has begun.Isolated by the light years that lie between them and Earth’s established colonies, the pioneers on the outskirts of the galaxy suddenly face a merciless enemy–the Guerin. An alien warrior race of unsurpassed cruelty, they are bent on the total destruction of every other space-faring race that might challenge them for dominance. Before human and allied alien authorit...

THE MOST COLORFUL MYTHFROM SCIENCE FICTION'SGOLDEN AGE IS REBORN INSEAS OF VENUSEarth is a dead cinder beyond the dense clouds. On a terraformed Venus the land is ruled by savage plants and the even more savage beasts that prey on them, while monsters out of nightmare swim though the globe-girdling seas. Mankind huddles in domed underwater Keeps, living a purposeless static existence—dedicated to pleasure but destined for oblivion later if not sooner.On...

Here are weird stories set in the present, along with alternative histories filled with gritty realism and exacting detail as well as an assortment of horrors and monsters. Most of all, here are the tough heroes who throughout time master their own fears and face the very real terrors that haunt existence. Sometimes these heroes win a partial victory. Sometimes it’s enough to go down fighting.Before Drake was a best-selling author of military science fiction, he was a prolific writ...

FIVE YEARS AFTERTHE AMERICAN REVOLUTION,MAGIC IS LOOSE IN THE BACKWOODSThe forces of evil are poised to prey on the folk of the hamlets and hollows: witches, demons, and red-handed men—but first they'll have to overcome Old Nathan the Wizard.He doesn't claim much for his magical powers, but they're real enough for what they are—and besides, he hasn't forgotten how to use his long flintlock rifle ....Enter the gritty, realistic world of Old Nathan

Now with a new Afterword by David DrakeFIVE YEARS AFTERTHE AMERICAN REVOLUTION,MAGIC IS LOOSE IN THE BACKWOODSThe forces of evil are poised to prey on the folk of the hamlets and hollows: witches, demons, and red-handed men—but first they'll have to overcome Old Nathan the Wizard.He doesn't claim much for his magical powers, but they're real enough for what they are—and besides, he hasn't forgotten how to use his long flintlock rifle ....