New Releases by James Luceno

La déchéance d''un seul homme pourrait bien sonner le glas de la République ! Le Chancelier Valorum est le maître suprême de la galaxie. Pauvre pouvoir que le sien, ligoté qu''il est par des milliers de lois, des millions de privilèges et des milliards de complots. Dans cette république, le destin du chef est d''être détesté, contesté, voué à perdre ses fonctions et à basculer dans la mort symbolique de l''anonymat. Partout grondent les opposants au régime ; mais des forces mystérieuses agissent dans l''ombre, guettant l''instant fatal où elles apparaîtront pour tirer le meilleur parti de la crise. Valorum convoque sur la planète Eriadu une conférence de la dernière chance ; des Jedi vont sur place organiser la sécurité des délégués. Mais les dés sont pipés ; les terroristes sont prêts.

From New York Times bestselling author James Luceno comes an all-new Star Wars adventure that reveals the action and intrigue unfolding directly before Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Mired in greed and corruption, tangled in bureaucracy, the Galactic Republic is crumbling. In the outlying systems, where the Trade Federation maintains a stranglehold on shipping routes, tensions are boiling over—while back in the comfort of Coruscant, the hub of civilized space and seat of the Republic government, few senators seem inclined to investigate the problem. And those who suspect Supreme Chancellor Valorum of having a hand in the machinations are baffled—especially when Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi foil an assassination attempt on the Chancellor. With the crisis escalating, Valorum calls for an emergency trade summit. As humans and aliens gather, conspiracies sealed with large sums of money run rampant, and no one is entirely above suspicion. But the greatest threat of all remains unknown to everyone except three members of the Trade Federation who have entered into a shadowy alliance with a dark overlord. While the trio will be content with more money and fewer problems, Darth Sidious has grander, far more terrifying plans. It is a time that tests the mettle of all those who strive to hold the Republic together—none more so than the Jedi Knights, who have long been the galaxy''s best hope for preserving peace and justice. Yet despite their most valiant efforts, the meeting will explode into fiery chaos beyond everyone''s worst fears . . .

WELCOME TO VIRTUAL REALITY IN CYBERSPACE . . . WHERE EVERYTHING’S REAL–INCLUDING DEATH. Teenage misfits Marz and Tech are just two more orphaned brothers in New York, but they only live there. In the boys’realworld, the dazzling cybernetic metropolis known as Virtual Network, they are cybersleuths, genius hackers, and a cut above the best in Extreme Sports Racing. There are some who think the boys know too much, particularly since Tech jumped the Escarpment, an irregularity designed to stop the city’s corporate tentacles from reaching an uncharted cyberland outside Virtual Network control known as the Wilds. As the only one ever to make the jump–and live to talk about it, Tech alone knows the coveted code sequence that made it possible. Powerful people want that code. For Tech, the only escape is back through the Wilds. Exploring the unknown has always beenrisky, but Tech’s about to confront far worse perils than cybersabotage and hard deletes. . . .

A dazzling new short story featuring Darth Maul, merciless apprentice of evil . . . On the distant planet Dorvalla, precious ore is mined by two competing companies: InterGalactic Ore and Lommite Limited. Neither rival suspects that they are central to a sinister plot masterminded by Darth Sidious, Lord of the Sith, himself. Dispatched by Sidious on his very first solo mission, Darth Maul infiltrates Lommite Limited. There, his unique gifts of deception and subterfuge will set off an explosive chain of events that could destroy both companies, leaving them ripe for takeover by the Trade Federation. But a vengeful Lommite Limited Manager with his own thirst for retaliation against InterGal could blow Maul''s cover--and all of Sidious''s fiendishly layed plans . . . BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Star Wars: Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter.

The Chancellor has little real power... He is mired down by baseless accusations of corruption, Senator Palpatine told Queen Amidala in Episode I. Tracing the thrilling chain of events that leads up to the Republic''s current chaotic state, CLOAK OF DECEPTION follows Chancellor Valorum as he struggles with his fall from power... and the dark forces who have benefitted greatly from his weakened position. Hoping to stem the growing tide of unrest, Valorum convenes an emergency trade summit on the planet Eriadu. At his request, a group of Jedi Knights is sent to protect the delegates from possible terrorist attack. But what should have been a simple peacekeeping assignment turns out to be a mission into the heart of a political firestorm. For shadowy forces are at work, pulling the strings in a masterful bid for power that could leave the Republic reeling. And the Chancellor is only its most visible victim... One man''s fall from power could lead to the end of the Republic, and the irreversible rise of the dark side...

Merciless attacks by an invincible alien force have left the New Republic reeling. Dozens of worlds have succumbed to occupation or annihilation, and even the Jedi Knights have tasted defeat. In these darkest of times, the noble Chewbacca is laid to rest, having died as heroically as he lived--and a grief-stricken Han Solo is left to fit the pieces of his shattered soul back together before he loses everything: friends, family, and faith. Refusing help from Leia or Luke, Han becomes the loner he once was, seeking to escape the pain of his partner''s death in adventure . . . and revenge. When he learns that an old friend from his smuggling days is operating as a mercenary for the enemy, he sets out to expose the traitor. But Han''s investigation uncovers an even greater evil: a sinister conspiracy aimed at the very heart of the New Republic''s will and ability to fight--the Jedi. Now Han must face down his inner demons and, with the help of a new and unexpected ally, honor Chewbacca''s sacrifice in the only way that matters--by being worthy of it.

A string of smashing victories by the forces of the sinister aliens known as the Yuuzhan Vong has left New Republic resources and morale stretched to the breaking point. Leia Organa Solo, estranged from her husband, Han, oversees the evacuation of refugees on planets in the path of the merciless invaders. Luke Skywalker struggles to hold the fractious Jedi Knights together, even while one of them undertakes a bold but reckless undercover mission. Manipulating their alliance with the amoral Hutts, the Yuuzhan Vong leave a cunning trail of vital information where New Republic agents are sure to find it-information the desperate defenders cannot afford to ignore: the location of the aliens'' next target.Then Han Solo stumbles into the dark heart of a raging battle, thus beginning a furious race against time that will require every skill and trick in his arsenal towin

When a Spanish nobleman takes on a disguise to help the Mexican people gain independence from Spain, he becomes a special hero to two young brothers and to his daughter.

The elder Zorro comes out of retirement to train a new Zorro to fight the enemy Montero.

CYBERSPACE--THE REAL FINAL FRONTIER The place: New York City. The time: any day now. Tech and Marz are brothers, orphans, and misfits just about everywhere--except on the Virtual Network, where their monster gaming skills leave challengers choking on their datatrails; and their hacking expertise earns them serious cash as freelance cyber-sleuths, running down lost information and missing persons on the Web. The more extreme the cyber-sport, and the tougher the security codes, the better Tech and Marz like it. A mean game of Death Run is nothing for Tech and Marz. But almost getting killed--for real--on a routine virtual mission is a whole different deal. And that''s exactly what a shapeless, demonic cyber-thing tries to do when Tech accidentally frees a mysterious kidnap victim deep inside a government database. The run-in leaves the brothers with a ton of fried hardware and too many unanswered questions. But they''re heading into the dark and dangerous underbelly of the virtual world to do some extreme detective work--and crack what could be the motherboard of all mysteries. And this death run is no game. From the Paperback edition.

CYBERSPACE—THE REAL FINAL FRONTIER The place: New York City. The time: any day now. Tech and Marz are brothers, orphans, and misfits just about everywhere—except on the Virtual Network, where their monster gaming skills leave challengers choking on their datatrails; and their hacking expertise earns them serious cash as freelance cyber-sleuths, running down lost information and missing persons on the Web. The more extreme the cyber-sport, and the tougher the security codes, the better Tech and Marz like it. A mean game of Death Run is nothing for Tech and Marz. But almost getting killed—for real—on a routine virtual mission is a whole different deal. And that''s exactly what a shapeless, demonic cyber-thing tries to do when Tech accidentally frees a mysterious kidnap victim deep inside a government database. The run-in leaves the brothers with a ton of fried hardware and too many unanswered questions. But they''re heading into the dark and dangerous underbelly of the virtual world to do some extreme detective work—and crack what could be the motherboard of all mysteries. And this death run is no game. From the Paperback edition.

At seventeen, Indiana Jones thirsted for adventure--but what he found in World War I Paris was beyond his wildest dreams...

The President of the United States adds uncertainty to an already unstable future world when he announces to his staff that he was kidnapped by aliens, and seeks counsel from a South American shaman