New Releases by Poul Anderson

Sargasso of Lost Starships by Poul Anderson: Embark on an interstellar journey with the masterful science fiction novel "Sargasso of Lost Starships" by Poul Anderson. This gripping tale unfolds in the vastness of space, blending intricate world-building with a riveting plot that will captivate both seasoned sci-fi enthusiasts and newcomers alike. About "Sargasso of Lost Starships" by Poul Anderson: Dive into the cosmos as Poul Anderson takes you on a mind-bending adventure where lost starships become entangled in a mysterious and deadly space phenomenon known as the Sargasso. Anderson''s storytelling prowess shines as he explores the complexities of space exploration, the resilience of the human spirit, and the unpredictable nature of the universe. Poul Anderson, born in 1926, was an influential American science fiction author. Renowned for his imaginative narratives and meticulous attention to scientific detail, Anderson''s impact on the genre is profound. "Sargasso of Lost Starships" stands as a testament to his ability to weave compelling tales that transcend the boundaries of space and time.

All his life, Rikard had defied the warlords of Coper City, but even the stoutest outlaw could be outnumbered. Now Rayth offered him freedom for the death of the Chief Engineer. It seemed simple enough—until Rikard began to learn the History of Earth!

The book, Captive of the Centaurianess, has been considered important throughout the human history, and so that this work is never forgotten we have made efforts in its preservation by republishing this book in a modern format for present and future generations. This whole book has been reformatted, retyped and designed. These books are not made of scanned copies of their original work and hence the text is clear and readable.

“Readers bored with Tolkien-clone fantasies will be enthralled by the intricately detailed world and characters Anderson brings to life here.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review The Grand Master of Science Fiction delivers “a Dark Age saga based on Old Scandinavian mythology and the exploits of the legendary Danish King Hadding . . . A brilliantly accomplished yarn” (Kirkus Reviews). In a scheme arranged by the god Odin, Hadding is born to King Gram Skjoldung of Denmark but is sent to be raised by giants for his own safety. After his father is murdered, Hadding must claim his destiny. Prey to the follies of humans and gods, he rises to the challenges of war, fate, and love in a mythic adventure “episodic in character, gory in detail, fatalistic in atmosphere, and spiked with sinister, chthonic Norse magic” (Interzone). “War of the Gods struck me like a hammer-bolt out of the sky.” —Black Gate Praise for Poul Anderson “Anderson has produced more milestones in contemporary science fiction and fantasy than any one man is entitled to.” —Stephen Donaldson “One of science fiction’s most revered writers.” —USA Today “The great canvas of interstellar space comes alive under Anderson’s hand as it does under no other.” —Gordon R. Dickson “One of science fiction’s most influential and prolific writers.” —The Daily Telegraph

A must-read for any science fiction fan, The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume Two (published in two volumes, A & B) is a compilation of twenty-two of the best novellas published between 1895 and 1962. The two volumes were originally published in 1973 (Two-A) and 1974 (Two-B) after the stories were selected by a vote of the membership of the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA, now known as the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America). Volume Two-A has complete novellas by the following authors: Poul Anderson John W. Campbell, Jr. Lester del Rey Robert A. Heinlein C. M. Kornbluth Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore Eric Frank Russell Cordwainer Smith Theodore Sturgeon H. G. Wells Jack Williamson

From the multiple Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author: “A panoramic story of what happens to a world gone super intelligent” (Astounding Science Fiction). With “wonderfully logical detail . . . exciting storytelling and moving characterization” (Anthony Boucher), science fiction master Poul Anderson explores what happens when the next stage of evolution is thrust upon humanity and animals. As Earth passes out of a magnetic field that has suppressed intelligence for eons, the mental capacity for all mammals increases exponentially, radically changing the structures of society. A mentally impaired farm worker finds himself capable of more delicate and intelligent thoughts than he ever dreamed. A young boy on holiday manages to discern the foundations of calculus before breakfast. Animals that were seen as livestock and pets can now communicate clearly with their owners and one another. And an already brilliant physics researcher now uses his boundless intellect to bring humankind to the stars—even as his wife plunges into an existential crisis. For all of them, the world will never be the same . . .

Werewolf Steve Matuchek and witch Ginny Graylock defend America in this fantasy duology from the multiple Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author. Operation Chaos: In a world where magic is real, werewolf Steve Matuchek and powerful witch Virginia Graylock are paired together in the war to stop the invading Caliphate forces from taking over America. Their mission: stop the enemy from unleashing their superweapon—a genie in a bottle. And that is only the beginning of an adventure that will take them quite literally to Hell and back . . . “Operation Chaos was one of the truly fine fantasies of the 1970s, a fantasy whose magic was so splendidly engineered that you felt it was as logical—and as likely—as our real technology.” —Harry Turtledove “A great read, from a master writer at the top of his game.” —GirlsWithGuns.org Operation Luna: Now married with three rambunctious children, Steve and Ginny once again find themselves fighting for their country as they try to stop a plot to sabotage America’s first manned mission to the moon (in an alternate history timeline, that is). But they will need help from a loyal cadre of magical allies if they hope to avert a catastrophe . . . “An enjoyable tale by a veteran writer who knows exactly what he’s doing.” —Publishers Weekly

== Special Edition for Low Vision Readers == Join in the chase, the dance of hunter and prey, the battle of wills as it plays out on Mars in this riveting thriller by science fiction great, Poul Anderson. About Super Large Print All our books are published with a font designed for maximum readability at twice the size of traditional Large Print books. You can see a sample of it at our website superlargeprint.com To view all our books available on Amazon, click the link for Super Large Print above, where it says (Author) for more information visit: superlargeprint.com KEEP ON READING!

Bold and ruthless, he was famed throughout the System as a big-game hunter. From the firedrakes of Mercury to the ice-crawlers of Pluto, he’d slain them all. But his trophy-room lacked one item; and now Riordan swore he’d bag the forbidden game that roamed the red deserts . . . a Martian!

We have said that there are many and strange shadows, memories surviving from dim pasts, in this FANTASTIC UNIVERSE of ours. Poul Anderson turns to a legend from the Northern countries, countries where even today the pagan past seems only like yesterday, and tells the story of Cappen Varra, who came to Norren a long, long time ago. “Let little Cappen go,” they shouted. “Maybe he can sing the trolls to sleep—”

Space explorers returning to an unrecognizable Earth after five millennia away find themselves caught up in a deadly political power game on a planet racing toward intergalactic war Five thousand years have passed since the interstellar spacecraft Explorer left Earth, and now Edward Langley and his two crewmates are returning home. The faster-than-light mission that took only a year for Langley, Matsumoto, and Blaustein has cost them the only world they ever knew. This future Earth is unrecognizable, its global society ruled by a benevolent, all-powerful computer and divided into a strict class structure of masters and slaves. Though war has been eradicated for generations, tensions between the powers on Earth and colonists on Centaurus over mineral mining are rapidly reaching a violent breaking point. The homecoming of three astronauts from the distant past should have no bearing on the present political situation. But the crewmembers did not come back alone—and the alien visitor who accompanied them holds the key to victory or total defeat. One of the most acclaimed of the Golden Age science fiction masters, Poul Anderson has written a provocative and enthralling tale of the future that incorporates his trademark blend of hard science, sociology, and humanism. At once thrilling and thought provoking, No World of Their Own is classic speculative fiction at its page-turning best, as only the incomparable Anderson could imagine it.

The only survivors of an annihilated human race must find one another somewhere in the cosmos and unite to destroy the alien aggressors who obliterated the Earth in this classic science fiction adventure After a three-year mission, the American starship Benjamin Franklin and its all-male crew have returned to Earth, only to discover the planet is dead, a blackened shell devoid of life. It is clear that one of a trio of alien species engineered the holocaust, but which? When the captain of the Franklin falters, engineer Carl Donnan is forced to take command of the ship. The future of what remains of the human race is in his hands. Donnan’s first priority is to escape with his crewmates; the second is to find out if there are other human survivors somewhere among the stars—unbeknownst to Donnan and the three hundred men now under his charge, the female crew of the Europa also survived the genocide—and the third is to seek vengeance, for the alien annihilators will not rest until their task is completed. If the last men and women in the galaxy do not identify and destroy their enemy, there will be no place in the universe to hide. The winner of three Nebulas, seven Hugos, and numerous other awards over the course of his illustrious career, science fiction Grand Master Poul Anderson has written a magnificent adventure of courage and survival in the wake of the unthinkable, demonstrating once again why he is considered one of the brightest literary lights to shine during the Golden Age of Asimov, Heinlein, and Bradbury.

Humans and their genetically altered descendants struggle to find their place in a universe controlled by a benevolent artificial intelligence in this brilliant classic of future speculation On a far-future Earth, a linked system of artificial intelligences called the cybercosm runs the planet and the universe far more efficiently than any flesh and blood ruler ever could, in essence rendering the human race obsolete. On the Earth’s moon, genetically engineered Lunarians carrying the DNA of Dagney Beynac—a descendant of the legendary Anton Guthrie, founder of the powerful and visionary Fireball Enterprises—struggle to preserve their lives, their freedom, and their satellite’s resources in the face of threats posed by encroaching humans and controlling machines. Over a span of five centuries, tensions have increased in the wake of the political and technological revolutions that reshaped their universe. And suddenly radical change is in the offing once more, as a secret kept hidden since the earliest days of Lunar colonization is about to be revealed—one that could effectively shut down the cybercosm and plunge the universe into chaos. Poul Anderson advances the worlds-shattering circumstances he so brilliantly introduced in Harvest of Stars, creating a vision of the future that is at once astonishing, provocative, and troubling. A true science fiction classic, The Stars Are Also Fire explores deep questions about the nature, complexity, and worth of humankind in an unforgettable novel considered by many to be Anderson’s masterpiece.

From an award-winning author: A novel of the fierce Norse warrior who would become the lusty and powerful Viking king Harald Hardrede. At seventeen, Harald Sigurdharson—one day to be called Hardrede—tastes the bitter nectar of blood and battle for the first time, and from that day forward he will forever crave the intoxicating brew of war. Though he knows it is his destiny to conquer and to rule, he is still young and the throne he covets is beyond his grasp. In the meantime, the wide world beckons. Setting out from Norway after a great series of mercenary adventures in Sweden and Russia, the now towering seven-foot-tall Harald arrives at Constantinople on the Golden Horn. In the heart of an empire choking on its own intrigues and excesses, as a member of the Varangian Guard—the foreign warriors entrusted with the safety of the Byzantine emperor—and a tireless suitor to an enticing beauty from a powerful clan, Harald carves out his legend in flesh, bone, and blood. But his true path stretches to the other side of the world, for he must ultimately return to Norway, his homeland, to claim his royal birthright. A winner of multiple awards including the Hugo and Nebula, author Poul Anderson begins an epic trilogy of historical fiction with this novel, bringing to life the eleventh-century conqueror who was known as the last Viking.

The giant Norse warrior-king Harald Hardrede strives to forge a mighty empire by conquering the North in the second volume of the epic Last Viking Trilogy He is a savior to the hordes of loyal Norsemen who would gladly give their lives battling at his side and a dreaded scourge to anyone who resists his dreams of empire. Now, Harald Hardrede—who, legend has it, has never been defeated in battle or sport—has returned to Norway, the land of his birth, after years of serving foreign rulers in faraway realms. The lessons of Constantinople are not lost on the giant Viking warrior, as he sets out to unite the northlands under his sole rule and create an empire to rival the great powers of Europe. Harald’s task will not come easily and will demand great sacrifice, for the resisting Danes love their current king, and the proud people of the Throndheimsfjord would rather die than relinquish their cherished independence. But the fabled “Lightning of the North” will not be deterred, for he is determined to carve his place in history—or die in the process. Multiple-award-winning author Poul Anderson’s thrilling three-volume series, the Last Viking Trilogy draws from Norse legend and lore to prove he is as adept at epic historical fiction as he is at science fiction and fantasy. Norway’s most glorious hero comes alive in The Road of the Sea Horse, a magnificent tale of war, adventure, bloodlust, and loyalty.

A time traveler stumbles upon a horrific plot to alter the future in this adventure from “one of science fiction’s most revered writers” (USA Today). Born with a strange genetic mutation, Jack Havig can travel backward and forward in time at will. His unique gift enables him to visit ancient Rome, the Byzantine Empire, and the Wild West. He’s even seen the far future, when the ecology-minded Maurai Federation dominates a world nearly obliterated by nuclear war. Jack undertakes these voyages with one objective in mind: to find others who share his remarkable abilities. In the shadow of the Crucifixion, Jack finally achieves his goal. But a terrible darkness clouds his admission into the secretive, time-traveling organization called Eyrie when the group’s true intentions become clear. For Eyrie’s plans include an unthinkable genocide designed to irrevocably alter the destiny of humankind—and Jack is the only one who can stop it. But he won’t be able to do it alone. The prolific and remarkable Poul Anderson dazzles once again with a humanistic science fiction adventure that races across the boundaries of time. Lightning-paced and marvelously inventive, There Will Be Time is an unforgettable journey through the ages from one of the greats of twentieth-century science fiction. This ebook includes the bonus stories “Progress” and “Windmill.”

An intergalactic privateer resolves to rescue a human space colony taken captive by alien aggressors An outpost located at the edge of the galaxy, New Europe has been overrun by the Aleriona, a hostile alien race that resents humanity’s incursion into deep space. Fearing a wider war, the World Federation on Earth is hesitant to respond to the outrage, especially since the invaders claim the colonists have already been killed. But ex–navy captain Gunnar Heim refuses to believe there’s no one left—and he’s convinced that what happened to New Europe is only the beginning of the Aleriona’s intergalactic aggression. The cowardly Terran government refusing to act, Gunnar takes matters into his own hands. Assembling a crew of able volunteers, he prepares to pilot the spaceship Star Fox and confront a relentless foe light years from Earth. Nominated for the Nebula Award, The Star Fox is a magnificent space opera adventure that confirms Poul Anderson’s standing as one of the premier science fiction authors of the twentieth century—not only a contemporary of such luminaries as Asimov, Heinlein, Herbert, and Clarke, but every bit their equal.

Transported to a medieval realm of magic and myth, a World War II resistance fighter undertakes a perilous quest in this classic fantasy adventure. Holger Carlsen is a rational man of science. A Danish engineer working with the Resistance to defeat the Nazis, he is wounded during an engagement with the enemy and awakens in an unfamiliar parallel universe where the forces of Law are locked in eternal combat with the forces of Chaos. Against a medieval backdrop, brave knights must take up arms against magical creatures of myth and faerie, battling dragons, trolls, werewolves, and giants. Though Holger has no recollection of this world, he discovers he is already well-known throughout the lands, a hero revered as a Champion of Law. He finds weaponry and armor awaiting him—precisely fitted to his form—and a shield with three hearts and three lions emblazoned upon it. As he journeys through a realm filled with wonders in search of the key to his past, Holger will call upon the scientific knowledge of his home dimension, the destinies of both worlds hanging in the balance. Before Thomas Covenant, Roger Zelazny’s Amber, and J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, the great Poul Anderson introduced readers to the Middle World and the legendary hero Ogier the Dane. Inventive and exciting, Three Hearts and Three Lions is a foray into fantasy that employs touches of science fiction from an award-winning master of the speculative.

On a post-nuclear Earth, visionaries who dream of reaching for the stars attempt to revive the forbidden technology that destroyed their world. “One of science fiction’s most influential and prolific writers.” —The Daily Telegraph Centuries ago, humankind was nearly destroyed in a nuclear apocalypse. Many generations have passed since that terrible time, and the remnants of civilization have re-formed into separate, vastly different societies. The dominant culture of a widely diminished Earth, the ecologically sensitive Maurai hold fast to their belief that “non-green” science is an unacceptable evil. But the reborn dream of space flight harbored by a forward-thinking few could herald the revival of the nuclear technology that once ravaged the planet and its people—and the powerful Maurai Federation will take every step necessary, no matter how drastic, to prevent doomsday from dawning again. An enthralling work of speculative fiction from a winner of the Nebula and Hugo Awards, Orion Shall Rise is a feat of world-building and a sobering view of tomorrow by one of the twentieth century’s most revered science fiction masters. Poul Anderson’s monumental tale combines science, anthropology, philosophy, and global politics with breathtaking action and adventure, offering an ingeniously unique and provocative vision of humankind’s all-too-possible destiny. This ebook includes the bonus story “The Sky People.” Praise for Poul Anderson “Anderson has produced more milestones in contemporary science fiction and fantasy than any one man is entitled to.” —Stephen Donaldson “Anderson, far more than many newer science fiction writers, takes the trouble to envision a genuinely strange, complex future for mankind.” —The Washington Post

This classic from science fiction’s Golden Age envisions a primitive future where only the forbidden technology of the past can save an endangered tribe from violent extinction Five centuries into the future, America is no longer what it used to be. Many generations after the old civilization was consumed in a nuclear firestorm, the few survivors have returned to a simple, agrarian lifestyle and eschew the malevolent “magic” of science that brought about “the Doom.” When the Dalesmen of the Alleghenies are threatened by the hostile Lann descending from the North, their chieftain’s son, Carl, is dispatched to the blasted ruins of an ancient city to trade for metal and weapons. However, something extraordinary awaits him in this feared and forbidden place: a time capsule from the twentieth century containing the essential scientific and technological information of a lost society. Carl knows his discovery can help rescue the Dalesmen’s homes and farms. But the law is unbending in this age of superstition—and if the chieftain’s son returns this forbidden knowledge to his people, the tribal Doctors will surely put him to death. One of Poul Anderson’s earliest science fiction masterworks, Vault of the Ages is at once a riveting tale of adventure and a deeply human story of duty and destiny offering a stunning vision of an all-too-possible future.

In this classic science fiction adventure, a fiery doomsday threatens an alien world—and the human colonists who have made it their home. Firetime is coming to Ishtar. This once-in-a-millennium event occurs when one of the planet’s three suns encroaches on Ishtar’s surface, to disastrous effect. The nightmare rapidly approaching, barbaric tribes have declared war on their more civilized brethren in hopes of avoiding a natural extermination. Standing between the opposing forces are the colonists who settled on Ishtar after abandoning their home planet, Earth. But in this time of chaos and destruction, there is little the humans can do to aid their Ishtarian allies in the desperate fight for survival. The Terran powers, engaged in their own terrible conflict with a hostile alien race, will offer no help to the endangered planet. With a fiery doomsday on the way, the humans can do nothing but watch and wait—and pray for a miracle that will forestall the inevitable apocalypse. A stunning work of speculative invention from one of the all-time masters of science fiction and fantasy, Poul Anderson’s classic Fire Time is a richly imagined tale of war, alien contact, and environmental catastrophe that brilliantly questions the concepts of right and wrong, good and evil, and heroism and villainy.

Courageous space explorers embark on a mission to make contact with alien races light years away, while the Earth they leave behind ages twelve hundred centuries It’s the most exciting discovery since humankind first began watching the skies: SETI scientists detect starship “trails” in a galaxy many light years from Earth, and at long last the dream of human-to-alien contact is attainable. But the courageous crew of starfarers assembled to take on the monumental endeavor must sacrifice the only lives they’ve ever known and the people they love; the Earth will have aged many thousands of years when—and if—they are finally able to return. Still, their hunger for knowledge of the universe and the extraterrestrial races that inhabit it is too great to deny, and the Envoy rockets off into the vast unknown. It’s a perilous mission that will profoundly change everyone it touches—even as the passing millennia transform the Earth in ways no one could ever have imagined. Of all the science fiction extrapolators to emerge in the twentieth century, none were more visionary and few as prolific as the great Poul Anderson. Starfarers, his ingeniously imagined space exploration adventure, still stands tall among the most intelligent, enthralling, and unforgettable science fiction novels ever written. This ebook includes the bonus stories “Ghetto” and “The Horn of Time the Hunter.”

A young man from the twentieth century is recruited to fight in a war that rages throughout time in this classic science fiction adventure from a multiple Hugo and Nebula Award–winning master. College student, ex-marine, and martial artist Malcolm Lockridge is in prison awaiting his trial for murder when he receives an unexpected visit from an extraordinarily beautiful woman named Storm. Claiming to be a representative of the Wardens, a political faction from two thousand years in the future, Storm offers the astonished young man a proposition: freedom in return for his assistance in recovering an unspecified lost treasure. But it is not long before Malcolm realizes that, in truth, he’s been recruited as a soldier in the Wardens’ ongoing war against their rivals, the Rangers. And this war is different from any that has ever been fought, because the battlefield is not a place but time itself. Traveling backward and forward through corridors connecting historical epochs separated by thousands of years, Malcolm is soon embroiled in a furious conflict between the forces of good and minions of evil. But the deeper he is pulled into this devastating time war, the clearer Malcolm’s ultimate role in humankind’s destiny becomes, causing the troubled young soldier from the twentieth century to question whether he’s been chosen to fight on the side of good or evil . . . and if such a distinction even exists.

Four explorers from different backgrounds are marooned in space—and must unite to escape their floating prison—in this novel by a Nebula Award winner. In the twenty-third century, when humankind has spread itself throughout the cosmos, with many intergalactic colonies teetering on the brink of open revolt against the hated ruling Protectorate, a team of four is transported by a miraculous technology onto the deep-space vessel Southern Cross. Hailing from vastly different backgrounds, philosophies, and worlds, Ryerson, Nakamura, Sverdlov, and Maclaren have been entrusted to explore a long-dead star located light-years beyond where humanity has previously traveled. But venturing too close to the target proves disastrous when the black sun’s magnetic field permanently obliterates their only means of returning home. Suddenly, four strangers, two hailing from a privileged Earth and two from oppressed galactic colonies, must put aside their differences and work together to somehow find a way out of an impossible situation before time runs out, or die together at the farthest edge of a cold and merciless universe. A remarkably thoughtful and profoundly moving novel of survival in the darkest reaches of outer space, The Enemy Stars is a work of great power and insight by multiple Hugo and Nebula Award winner Poul Anderson, one of the legendary greats of golden-age science fiction.

A mesmerizing tale of adventure and romance: An anomaly of time transports a twentieth-century man backward through history toward the greatest catastrophe the world has ever known Looking out over the Pacific Ocean from the deck of a luxury cruise liner, American architect Duncan Reid is suddenly caught up in an inexplicable event—and when he awakens he is somewhere . . . different. Duncan has inadvertently fallen victim to a fatally malfunctioning time machine from the future, along with three equally startled companions from vastly different epochs and civilizations, and now he stands with them on the rocky Mediterranean coast of Egypt in the year 4000 BCE. With the aid of miraculous technology supplied by the dying time machine, the displaced four are able to communicate and share their stories, the most startling being the tale told by the one woman among them, the bewitching Erissa. Only decades removed from her actual time, she claims to be a priestess from Atlantis who views Duncan as a god, and she represents perhaps their only hope of returning to their rightful eras. But to do so will entail immersing themselves in the savage turmoil of an ancient world and placing themselves in harm’s way on the eve of the most terrible devastation in human history. A true giant of twentieth-century fantasy and science fiction, multiple Hugo and Nebula Award winner Poul Anderson astounds once more with a powerful adventure through history and legend that set a towering standard for time travel fiction.

Nebula and World Fantasy Award Finalist: A fantastic tale of intrigue, love, war, magic, and swashbuckling adventure set in an alternate universe where fairies mingle freely with Englishmen and all of Shakespeare’s fictional characters are real Welcome to an alternate civil-war-torn seventeenth-century England—a world where Hamlet once brooded and Othello jealously raged. Here faeries and sprites gambol in English woods, railroads race across the landscape while manned balloons float above the countryside, and the most respected historian of all is one William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon. The year is 1644, and the war between the Roundheads and the Cavaliers rages. When Rupert, nephew of King Charles I, is taken captive by Cromwell’s troops and imprisoned in a Puritan home, he is immediately smitten with the beautiful Jennifer Alayne, his captor’s niece. Escaping with the help of his newfound beloved and the loyal trooper Will Fairweather, Rupert leads Jennifer deep into the forest, where the faerie folk who dwell there have a vested interest in the outcome of the great and bloody conflict. Though the lovers must soon part—with the prince undertaking a dangerous mission for his magical benefactors that could turn the tide of war—Rupert and his lady love will be forever joined by the rings presented to them by King Oberon and Queen Titania. And despite the strange, twisting pathways and turbulent seas they are destined to encounter, they will always be able to find each other again . . . as long as their love remains true. Nominated for the World Fantasy Award and winner of the Mythopoeic Award, Poul Anderson’s A Midsummer Tempest is a titanic achievement—a delightful alternate-history fantasy that brings the fictional worlds of Shakespeare’s plays to breathtaking life with style, wit, and unparalleled imagination.

A spaceship engineer held captive by would-be revolutionaries plots a daring escape in a rocket constructed of odds and ends and powered by beer in this hilarious romp from a master of golden-age speculative fiction The last thing the crew of the Mercury Girl expected to find on the terraformed worldlet known as Grendel was a band of Irish revolutionaries. As far as the ship’s engineer, Knud Axel Syrup, is concerned, being taken prisoner by the more-than-slightly-nutty Shamrock League Irredentist Expeditionary Force could be a lot worse. At least there’s plenty of cold brew available to keep him occupied . . . and more than a little tipsy. But these crazed Fenians are spoiling for a fight, and the last thing Syrup needs is to get caught in the middle of a war between the Shamrocks and their sworn rivals, the Anglians. Luckily Syrup has a plan. With the help of a somewhat-ditzy dancer named Emily and an alien in six-legged lederhosen, he intends to pull off a daring escape from the miniplanet in a spaceship constructed of pretzel boxes, old bicycle parts, and anything else he finds lying around, trusting their liftoff to the considerable propulsive power of beer. Multiple award winner Poul Anderson is one of science fiction’s most respected maestros, and here he displays another side of his creative genius with his tongue planted firmly in his cheek. Hilarious, outrageous, and delightfully imaginative, The Makeshift Rocket is a wonderfully wild and wacky romp through a very different cosmos with one of the genre’s best pilots at the controls.

The last of the merfolk scour Earth for a new home to call their own The underwater city of Liri has thrived off the coast of Denmark for generations. But now, as Europe’s medieval age comes to a close, the efforts of zealous priests and the destructive ringing of church bells are causing the city to crumble. An ageless people who thrived apart from the cruelty of human existence on land, the merfolk are poetic speakers, loving and loyal, nearly impervious to death but with one great deficiency: They lack souls. Their numbers dwindling, the merpeople scatter. Some abandon their home for the coast of Dalmatia in the Adriatic Sea, while others—the half-human, half-seaborn children of the great merfolk king Vanimen—decide to scout alien territory on land for adventure, treasure, and clues to their lost human heritage.

In book two of the King of Ys series, Gratillonius adjusts to his new role as sovereign of Ys as threats from all sides begin closing in As the Roman Empire loses its grip on its far-flung territories, the mystical kingdom of Ys in western Gaul is in great danger of slipping into oblivion. Suffocated for years by the rule of a tyrant king, Ys’s last hope arrived in the form of a Roman emissary, Gratillonius, who defeated the sitting king to take the throne himself. Now Gratillonius must grapple with the kingdom’s political strife and religious tensions while balancing his responsibilities to the Gallicenae, nine wide-ranging witches who have become his wives. Though Rome seeks to spread Christianity, and Gratillonius stands firm in his worship of Mithras, the Ysans hold to an entirely different religion in service of pagan deities who must be obeyed lest grave consequences descend on the fragile kingdom. Gallicenae is the second book in Poul and Karen Anderson’s King of Ys series, which continues with Dahut.

The Sensitive Man is one of science fiction scribe Poul Anderson''s novels about the Psychotechnic Institute and its members, many of whom possess extraordinary extrasensory powers. In this installment, prominent member Michael Tighe has been snatched by a power-hungry politician who is part of a fascist group called the Actionists. Will Tighe''s friends and family be able to rescue him in time?