New Releases by Walter Jon Williams

An original collection of interwoven short stories set in the Wild Cards universe, where an alien virus mutates some and grants superpowers to others, created by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Game of Thrones An alien virus ravages the world, with effects as random as a hand of cards. Those infected either draw the black queen and die, draw an ace and receive superpowers, or draw the joker and are bizarrely mutated. Croyd Crenson is the Wild Card’s greatest failure—and its greatest success. Dubbed “The Sleeper,” he randomly undergoes hibernations that can span days, weeks, or even months. After each hibernation, he awakens with a new appearance and set of powers—sometimes a joker, sometimes an ace, and sometimes a combination of both—until exhaustion claims him and his next inevitable sleep shuffles the cards anew. Ever since his initial infection in 1946, he’s awoken in a singular body—until now. His latest awakening has left him split into six different incarnations, each of them a self-contained piece of the original and each with a unique look and ability. One of them, at least, recognizes this for the disaster that it is, and tasks the clever and elusive Tesla—a joker with ace powers—to locate and gather the remaining five versions of himself before sleep claims them again and leaves Croyd permanently fractured. What follows is a journey through Croyd’s long and colorful life, through the lens of some who have encountered the world’s most unusual wild carder. And as Tesla delves deeper into the investigation, he’ll have to work fast, because not every Croyd is as amiable as the first—and they’ll do whatever it takes to survive. Featuring stories from: Christopher Rowe • Carrie Vaughn • Cherie Priest • William F. Wu • Walter Jon Williams • Stephen Leigh • Mary Anne Mohanraj • Max Gladstone • Edited by George R. R. Martin • Assisted by Melinda M. Snodgrass

As our 88th issue was coming together, I noticed that we have a pair of jungle adventure novels—the first Bomba the Jungle Boy story, as well as Tarzan and the Lost Empire. So I’m going to bill it as a “Special Jungle Warrior Issue” and just add that it’s a fun one. #88 also includes two original mysteries (Mark Thielman, N.M. Cedeño) plus a bunch of other great modern and classic stories (Fritz Leiber! Day Keene! George O. Smith!). I would have gladly bought Anna Tambour’s story for Weird Tales when I was editing WT—don’t forget to check it out. (It falls somewhere between fantasy, crime, and Rod Serling’s the Twilight Zone. And we are super happy to welcome back Acquiring Editor Cynthia Ward, who brings us the Walter Jon Williams tale this time. We look forward to many more selections from her. Here’s the complete lineup: Mysteries / Suspense / Adventure: “License to Kill,” by Mark Thielman [Michael Bracken Presents short story] “The Case of the Burgled Bushels,” by Hal Charles. [Solve-It-Yourself Mystery] “Short-Term Murder,” by N.M. Cedeño [Michael Bracken Presents short story] “Dead Men Do Tell Tales,” by Day Keene [short story] Bomba the Jungle Boy, by Roy Rockwood [novel] Science Fiction & Fantasy: “Lethe,” by Walter Jon Williams [Cynthia Ward Presents short story] “I Killed for a Lucky Strike,” by Anna Tambour [short story] “Atomic Bonanza,” by George O. Smith “Martians Keep Out!” by Fritz Leiber [short novel] Tarzan and the Lost Empire, by Edgar Rice Burroughs [novel]

LA CITTÀ E L''ABISSO (1997) Aiah, la protagonista di Metropolitan, deve difendere Constantine nell''immensa città di Caraqui, alimentata dalla possente energia del plasma. L''obiettivo di Constantine è chiaro: per liberare l''umanità dalla prigionia bisogna distruggere lo Scudo. Ma un nemico pericoloso si cela nell''ombra, capace di annientare le sue vittime dall''interno. Nominato per il premio Nebula nel 1997 e per l''Hugo nel 1998, City on Fire, che «Urania Collezione» ha presentato in due volumi, questo e Città di fuoco (n. 238), è il sequel di Metropolitan e ci riporta su Caraqui, dove si dipanano leggende, storie, sogni, geografie, maghi dai poteri immensi ed entità insondabili...

CITTÀ DI FUOCO (1997) La guerra è finita. Aiah e Constantine hanno vinto. Ma ora il Metropolita che lei stessa ha messo al potere le chiede di formare una nuova squadra per sconfiggere la Mano d''Argento e i suoi seguaci che minacciano la stabilità di Città Nuova. Nominato per il premio Nebula nel 1997 e per l''Hugo nel 1998, City on Fire, che «Urania Collezione» presenta in due volumi, questo e La città e l''abisso, di prossima uscita nella nostra collana, è il sequel di Metropolitan e ci riporta su Caraqui. È arrivato il momento di sfondare lo scudo che separa la città dallo spazio!

“Interstellar adventure has a new king, and his name is Walter Jon Williams.” —George R.R. Martin Blending fast-paced military science fiction and space opera, the third and final volume in a dynamic trilogy from the New York Times bestselling author of The Praxis, set in the universe of his popular and critically acclaimed Dread Empire’s Fall series, comes a tale of blood, courage, adventure, and battle in which the fate of an empire rests in the hands of two lovers. Shattered Victory Star-crossed lovers Gareth Martinez and Caroline Sula have decisively beaten the forces of the corrupt Zanshaa government. It seems all there’s left to do is to travel to the capital of Zanshaa to reunite the empire under the banner of the Restoration. Before they can sweep up the pieces, though, it’s revealed that any advance would spring an enemy trap. To make things worse, their opponents have more resources than Martinez and Sula could have imagined, and a superior force is now aimed at the heart of the Restoration. Shattered Love But before Martinez and Sula can contend with the gathering enemy forces, a surprising act of violence on Sula’s part threatens their relationship—and damages their trust. Hurt and confused, Martinez sends Sula into exile while he tries to recover from his broken heart. Somehow, these two lovers must repair their relationship in order to defeat this new enemy threat... especially when more than love is at stake.

Fantascienza - romanzo breve (56 pagine) - Chiuso nel corpo del suo peggiore nemico per salvare il futuro della Terra. Dopo il successo di Hardwired (I guerrieri dell’interfaccia, 1986) Walter Jon Williams ritornò qualche anno dopo, spinto dai lettori e dal suo agente, alla storia messa in risalto in un romanzo considerato tra i capolavori del cyberpunk. Dice l’autore a questo proposito: “L''idea iniziale di Hardwired non era esattamente sconosciuta nella fantascienza, cioè che le colonie spaziali della Terra avessero messo in atto una rivoluzione per ottenere l''indipendenza dal pianeta natale. Ma, a differenza di altri libri che utilizzavano questa idea, le colonie di Hardwired non cercavano la mera indipendenza politica: una volta distrutte le difese della Terra, trovarono la visione di un pianeta indifeso troppo allettante per resistere. Dominavano il loro pianeta natale ed erano unite dal desiderio di sfruttare le risorse rimanenti della Terra per migliorare le proprie economie. Alla fine di Hardwired la mente di Reno, uno dei protagonisti, era stata trapiantata nel cervello del boss dell''Orbitale, Roon, tramite il programma Black Mind. Con una riflessione attenta sulle lacune nella mia cronologia futura, ho deciso di scrivere una storia su Reno.” Solip System racconta dunque la drammatica vicenda di Reno all’interno della mente del suo più grande nemico, il mostro Albrecht Roon, responsabile di atroci crimini nei confronti dei terrestri. Con grande astuzia e coraggio dovrà portare a termine un’incredibile opera di sabotaggio, che lo vedrà affrontare difficoltà di ogni genere, tra cui lo stesso Roon, ancora vivo e folle all’interno del suo stesso cervello. Apparso come chapbook per la casa editrice amatoriale Axolotl Press nel 1989, e poi, nel settembre del 1990, sulla prestigiosa Asimov’s Science fiction Magazine, Solip:System rappresenta una sorta di seguito a I guerrieri dell’interfaccia. Con questo romanzo breve, inedito finora nel nostro paese, continuiamo a presentare il meglio di un autore tra i più vivaci e validi della fantascienza moderna. Ricordiamo inoltre che in questa stessa collana abbiamo presentato opere come Emersione, Elegia per angeli e cani, Il giorno dell’incarnazione, La Piramide Sommersa della Dinastia Tang, e Argonautica. Nato nel 1953 a Duluth nel Minnesota, Walter Jon Williams si è laureato in letteratura inglese all''università del Nuovo Messico, dove attualmente vive e lavora. Autore di una ventina di romanzi, tra cui ricordiamo Hardwired (1986), La voce del vortice (1987), Stazione Angelica (1989), Aristoi (1992), Metropolitan (1995), di sceneggiature cinematografiche e televisive e di numerosi racconti, ha vinto due volte il premio Nebula, la prima nel 2001 con il racconto Daddy''s world e, successivamente, nel 2004, con L''era del flagello (The Green Leopard Plague), pubblicato in Italia nella collana Odissea Delos. Autore eclettico e dotato, Walter Jon Williams ha attraversato varie fasi nella sua carriera. Dopo un inizio influenzato da Roger Zelazny, è poi diventato uno degli esponenti di spicco del cyberpunk degli inizi degli anni novanta con il gradevole I guerrieri dell''interfaccia (Hardwired), per poi raggiungere la piena maturità con opere come La voce del vortice, Stazione Angelica, Aristoi.

“For all of you who need some great fantasy to read while you''re waiting for The Winds of Winter...try Quillifer, by Walter Jon Williams. WJW is always fun, but this might be his best yet, a delight from start to finish, witty, colorful, exciting and amusing by turns, exquisitely written.” —George R. R. Martin, author of the Song of Ice and Fire series “Chock full of derring-do, blood and thunder, swashbuckling, and other good stuff.” —Paul di Filippo, Locus “You have risen as far as you can, and from this point, you may only fall. The matter is inevitable, and I need not intervene.” Quillifer’s archenemy, the beautiful and vengeful goddess Orlanda, predicts his inescapable fall from power, and Quillifer has to admit that she may be right. Quillifer has risen high at court. The butcher’s son is now a lord, and now is the confidential agent of the state, the caretaker of the kingdom’s secrets, and the secret lover of the young and brilliant Queen Floria. He finds himself surrounded by perils. The nobles are at odds with one another, but united in despising Quillifer. Someone has brought deadly poison into court, and Quillifer fears the Queen may be the intended victim. Another assassination plot is aimed at Quillifer himself, and an enemy nation has landed troops intending to topple Floria by force. Quillifer must solve every mystery, meet every danger, and discover every secret in order to guard himself and his love, Floria, from the dangers that beset them. Lord Quillifer marks the anticipated return of Walter Jon Williams, a New York Times bestselling author and multiple award-winning fantasy author.

Fantascienza - racconto lungo (53 pagine) - Il suo scopo era proteggere l''isola di Santorini dai ladri temporali di reperti antichi, e lo avrebbe fatto a ogni costo. Da Walter Jon Williams una intricata storia di viaggi nel tempo dal ritmo incalzante. Tremilaseicento anni fa l''isola di Santorini, nell''arcipelago greco dell''Egeo, esplose. Fu una delle più grandi eruzioni vulcaniche registrate nella storia, e fu probabilmente una delle cause del declino della grande civiltà minoica di Creta. Quello che gli storici non sanno è che in quei giorni, su quell''isola, venne combattuta una battaglia senza esclusione di colpi tra un criminale temporale e il suo cacciatore. Walter Jon Williams, uno degli autori più raffinati dell''ultima parte del ventesimo secolo, costruisce magistralmente un puzzle temporale ricco di colpi di scena. Nato nel 1953 a Duluth nel Minnesota, Walter Jon Williams si è laureato in letteratura inglese all''università del Nuovo Messico, dove attualmente vive e lavora. Autore di una ventina di romanzi, tra cui ricordiamo Hardwired (1986), La voce del vortice (1987), Stazione Angelica (1989), Aristoi (1992), Metropolitan (1995), di sceneggiature cinematografiche e televisive e di numerosi racconti, ha vinto due volte il premio Nebula, la prima nel 2001 con il racconto Daddy''s world e, successivamente, nel 2004, con L''era del flagello (The Green Leopard Plague), pubblicato in Italia nella collana Odissea Delos. Autore eclettico e dotato, Walter Jon Williams ha attraversato varie fasi nella sua carriera. Dopo un inizio influenzato da Roger Zelazny, è poi diventato uno degli esponenti di spicco del cyberpunk degli inizi degli anni novanta con il gradevole I guerrieri dell''interfaccia (Hardwired), per poi raggiungere la piena maturità con opere come La voce del vortice, Stazione Angelica, Aristoi. Questo Elegia per angeli e cani, del 1990, è uno splendido omaggio a Roger Zelazny. Scritto in origine come seguito del classico The Graveyard Heart di Zelazny, rappresenta uno dei momenti più alti della carriera di WJW, sia per lo stile lirico ed evocativo sia per la magnifica narrazione di un vicino futuro dove, ai drammi della normale umanità, si contrappone la vita spensierata di un gruppo di ricchi aristocratici che vivono in un mondo fatato, alternando decenni di ibernazione a momenti di feste sfarzose.

Welcome to Black Cat Weekly #39. It’s hard to believe BCW is 39! As with every magazine, our goals include not just entertaining our readers, but making every issue better than the last. I finally feel like we’re on top of production methods, and the contents keep offering a selection of great stories for every reader’s taste. (If you can’t find something you love here, I’d be very surprised.) From classic pulp fiction to modern SF and mysteries (not to mention our ventures into adventure fiction and westerns), we cover all the bases. Here''s the lineup: Mysteries / Suspense / Adventure: “Last Seen Heading East” by Joseph S. Walker [Michael Bracken Presents short story] “A Little Boy Is Missing,” by Saul Golubcow [short story] “A Secret Admirer,” by Hal Charles [solve-it-yourself mystery] “A Close Shave,” by Art Taylor [Barb Goffman Presents short story] The Case of Angus Blair, by Hulbert Footner [novel] The Affair in Death Valley, by Clifford Knight [novel] Science Fiction & Fantasy: “The Last Ride of German Freddie,” by Walter Jon Williams [Cynthia Ward Presents short story] “The Rat Aloft,” by John Gregory Betancourt [short story] “A Question of Salvage,” by Malcolm Jameson [novella] “The Secret of Kralitz,” by Henry Kuttner [short story] “The Monster-God of Mamurth,” by Edmond Hamilton [short story]

Sci-fi román, jenž svým významem náleží ke zlatému fondu žánru science fiction a je jedním z vrcholných děl kyberpunku. Zemi ovládají orbitální mocnosti a její znesvářené národy mohou jen bezmocně přihlížet, jak jsou drancovány zbytky jejího bohatství. Ve špinavých neony osvícených ulicích se lidská spodina živí, jak se jen dá, aby si vydělala na vytouženou letenku z gravitační studny. Avšak kdyby se zločinecké i povstalecké podsvětí spojilo, rovnováha moci by se mohla nečekaně vychýlit. Vypukla by válka, v níž by se střetla augmentovaná komanda na zemi, piloti deltaplánů vysoko ve vzduchu a geniální hackeři v nervovém rozhraní. Román Hardware je jedním z vrcholných děl kyberpunku a jako takový mimo jiné posloužil i jako prvotní inspirace ke vzniku RPG hry Cyberpunk a následně tak i k počítačové hry Cyberpunk 2077. Nakladatelská anotace. Kráceno.

A Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy ISSUE 50: May 2021 Lezli Robyn, Editor Martin Shoemaker, Assistant Editor Taylor Morris, Copyeditor Shahid Mahmud, Publisher Stories by Mike Resnick, The Winner Twins, Todd McCaffrey, Laurie Tom, David Farland, Ian Cai Mercer, C. Stuart Hardwick, Jack McDevitt, Walter Jon Williams, Cheng Jingbo Serialization: Over the Wine Dark Sea by Harry Turtledove Columns by: Gregory Benford, L. Penelope Recommended Books: Richard Chwedyk Galaxy''s Edge is a bi-monthly magazine published by Phoenix Pick, the science fiction and fantasy imprint of Arc Manor, an award winning independent press based in Maryland. Each issue of the magazine has a mix of new and old stories, a serialization of a novel, columns by L. Penelope and Gregory Benford, and book recommendations by Richard Chwydyk.

"Space opera the way it ought to be . . . Bujold and Weber, bend the knee; interstellar adventure has a new king, and his name is Walter Jon Williams."—George R. R. Martin Following The Accidental War, the second book of a brand-new series set in the Praxis—an epic mix of space opera and military science fiction, from a grand master of science fiction, Walter Jon Williams. The Praxis, the empire of now extinct Shaa, has again fallen into civil war, with desperate and outnumbered humans battling several alien species for survival. Leading the human forces are star-crossed lovers Gareth Martinez and Caroline Sula, who must find a way to overcome their own thorny personal history to defeat the aliens and assure humanity’s survival. But even if the human fleet is victorious, the divisions fracturing the empire may be too wide to repair, as battles between politicians, the military, and fanatics who want to kill every alien threaten to further tear the empire apart. While Martinez and Sula believe they have the talent and tactics to defeat an overwhelming enemy, what will prevent their fellow humans from destroying themselves?

Fantascienza - racconto lungo (26 pagine) - Da un maestro delle ucronie una divertente variazione sul mito del grande Elvis Presley Il ragazzo sa di avere avuto un fratello che era proprio come lui, se non per il fatto che è un angelo. Erano gemelli – gemelli identici, infatti i loro alluci avevano le stesse impronte digitali – e il più vecchio visse mentre il più giovane era nato morto. La madre del ragazzo dice che questo fatto lo rende speciale, che persino prima di nascere aveva reso suo fratello un angelo. Inizia così (in realtà c’è un breve brano introduttivo prima), con queste frasi toccanti e intriganti, uno dei migliori racconti di storia alternativa di Walter Jon Williams, che sarà poi ripreso anche nella classica raccolta annuale fatta da Gardner Dozois dei migliori titoli apparsi nell’anno precedente (si era nel 1994). Williams è sempre stato un amante del “what if”, delle infinite possibilità offerte dalle ucronie alla fantasia degli autori di fantascienza. Stavolta ci presenta un ritratto umano e affascinante di un Elvis Presley assai diverso da quello che abbiamo conosciuto.... Apparso sulla prestigiosa antologia Alternate Outlaws, curata dal compianto Mike Resnick, Elvis il Rosso è uno dei nuovi racconti di Walter Jon Williams che abbiamo acquisito e che pubblicheremo in questa collana, dopo Emersione, Elegia per angeli e cani e Il giorno dell’incarnazione, La Piramide Sommersa della Dinastia Tang, Argonautica. Nato nel 1953 a Duluth nel Minnesota, Walter Jon Williams si è laureato in letteratura inglese all''università del Nuovo Messico, dove attualmente vive e lavora. Autore di una ventina di romanzi, tra cui ricordiamo Hardwired (1986), La voce del vortice (1987), Stazione Angelica (1989), Aristoi (1992), Metropolitan (1995), di sceneggiature cinematografiche e televisive e di numerosi racconti, ha vinto due volte il premio Nebula, la prima nel 2001 con il racconto Daddy''s world e, successivamente, nel 2004, con L''era del flagello (The Green Leopard Plague), pubblicato in Italia nella collana Odissea Delos. Autore eclettico e dotato, Walter Jon Williams ha attraversato varie fasi nella sua carriera. Dopo un inizio influenzato da Roger Zelazny, è poi diventato uno degli esponenti di spicco del cyberpunk degli inizi degli anni novanta con il gradevole I guerrieri dell''interfaccia (Hardwired), per poi raggiungere la piena maturità con opere come La voce del vortice, Stazione Angelica, Aristoi.

“Williams knows exactly what to do with Quillifer, and it''s hugely entertaining.” —Locus “Walter Jon Williams is always fun, but this may be his best yet, a delight from start to finish, witty, colorful, exciting and amusing by turns, exquisitely written.” —George R. R. Martin “Chock full of derring-do, blood and thunder, swashbuckling, and other good stuff evocative of Rafael Sabatini, Sir Walter Scott, and the penny-bloods.” —Paul Di Filippo, author of The Big Get-Even Quillifer—now a member of the nobility—finds himself further immersed in court politics as the outcast princess Floria is suddenly in a position of power with a rebellion stoked by a certain brilliant tactician, in this thrilling sequel to Quillifer. Rogue. Joker. Lover. Reluctant conspirator. The ambitious young Quillifer was been knighted for services to the crown, but was then banished from court by a queen who finds him obnoxious. Now, after a two-year voyage to improve his fortunes, Quillifer returns to court and is plunged immediately into a maelstrom of intrigue that triggers duels, plots, amours, and rollicking adventure. Bounding back and forth from the high councils of state to the warm bed of his mistress, Quillifer must exert every ounce of seductive charm and low cunning in order to survive. Queen Berlauda’s foreign husband brings war in his wake, along with a clutch of officials who enforce the royal will with violence, torture, and judicial murder. A dragon menaces the realm, and political conspiracy threatens the life of Quillifer’s young patroness, Princess Floria. It’s the traditional job of a knight to fight dragons and rescue princesses, but Quillifer is hardly a traditional knight, and he brings to the job an array of unorthodox skills that dazzles his swarm of rivals, seduces their wives, and threatens the realm. But there’s a greater menace to Quillifer than deadly political intrigue, for once again he finds himself hunted by the cruel, beautiful, and vengeful goddess Orlanda.

“Space opera the way it ought to be [...] Bujold and Weber, bend the knee; interstellar adventure has a new king, and his name is Walter Jon Williams.” -- George R.R. Martin The first book in the completed Dread Empire''s Fall trilogy, followed by The Sundering and Conventions of War. All will must bend to the perfect truth of The Praxis For millennia, the Shaa have subjugated the universe, forcing the myriad sentient races to bow to their joyless tyranny. But the Shaa will soon be no more. The dread empire is in its rapidly fading twilight, and with its impending fall comes the promise of a new galactic order . . . and bloody chaos. A young Terran naval officer marked by his lowly birth, Lt. Gareth Martinez is the first to recognize the insidious plot of the Naxid -- the powerful, warlike insectoid society that was enslaved before all others -- to replace the masters’ despotic rule with their own. Barely escaping a swarming surprise attack, Martinez and Caroline Sula, a pilot whose beautiful face conceals a deadly secret, are now the last hope for freedom for every being who ever languished in Shaa chains -- as the interstellar battle begins against a merciless foe whose only perfect truth is annihilation.

Blending fast-paced military science fiction and space opera, the first volume in a dynamic trilogy from the New York Times bestselling author of The Praxis, set in the universe of his popular and critically acclaimed Dread Empire’s Fall series—a tale of blood, courage, adventure and battle in which the fate of an empire rests in the hands of a cadre of desperate exiles. It’s been seven years since the end of the Naxid War. Sidelined for their unorthodox tactics by a rigid, tradition-bound military establishment, Captain Gareth Martinez and Captain the Lady Sula are stewing in exile, frustrated and impatient to exercise the effective and lethal skills they were born to use in fighting the enemy. Yet after the ramshackle empire left by the Shaa conquerors is shaken by a series of hammer blows that threaten the foundations of the commonwealth, the result is a war that no one planned, no one expected, and no one knows how to end. Now, Martinez, Sula, and their confederate Nikki Severin must escape the clutches of their enemies, rally the disorganized elements of the fleet, and somehow restore the fragile peace—or face annihilation at the hands of a vastly superior force.

"Interstellar adventure has a new king" --George R.R. Martin This special edition of Investments also contains the story "The Stickpin," never before seen in print and unavailable anywhere else. Investments finds Gareth Martinez unable to find a meaningful post due to the hostility of his superiors. He''s accepted a meaningless post as Inspector General of Chee, a newly-settled world. Intending nothing more than a pleasant vacation with his family, he first stumbles across a murderous conspiracy, and then learns he must battle a literal cosmic menace that threatens to wipe out all life on the planet. In "The Stickpin," set in the Naxid War, Caroline Sula leads the resistance against the Naxid occupiers, and shows how a pleasant afternoon stroll can have deadly consequences to the enemy.

Fantascienza - romanzo (122 pagine) - Uno splendido romanzo ucronico ambientato durante la Guerra di Secessione americana Jase Miller è un mercenario della Guerra Civile Americana al soldo degli Stati Confederati. Assieme alla sua ciurma improvvisata, apparentemente alle dipendenze dei capi militari della Marina Confederata, Jase riesce a impadronirsi di una corazzata praticamente invincibile e, sfuggendo a battaglie e imboscate delle navi yankee sui corsi d’acqua del sud, a mettersi alla ricerca di un misterioso tesoro in soldoni d’oro di una banca del Sud, custodito da un’affascinante e bella ereditiera dagli strani poteri... Argonautica, teoricamente un’ucronia ambientata nel sud degli Stati Uniti ai tempi appunto della Guerra Civile (un periodo storico che ha sempre affascinato e colpito gli scrittori americani), è in realtà un pezzo di bravura, una incredibile riscrittura del mito di Giasone e Medea, e del Vello d’Oro. Un’opera, quasi un romanzo per la sua lunghezza, che solo un autore come Walter Jon Williams poteva concepire, un autore capace di passare nel corso della sua carriera, con eccezionale bravura, dalle suggestione intime e poetiche di opere riecheggianti i capolavori di Roger Zelazny alle tematiche hard e violente del cyberpunk, giungendo infine a una sintesi perfetta dei valori tecnologici e di quelli umanistici che rimane tipica della migliore fantascienza moderna. Apparso sulla prestigiosa Asimov’s Science fiction Magazine nel 1999, Argonautica è il quinto romanzo breve di Walter Jon Williams che pubblichiamo in questa collana, dopo Emersione, Elegia per angeli e cani, Il giorno dell’incarnazione e La Piramide Sommersa della Dinastia Tang. Nato nel 1953 a Duluth nel Minnesota, Walter Jon Williams si è laureato in letteratura inglese all''università del Nuovo Messico, dove attualmente vive e lavora. Autore di una ventina di romanzi, tra cui ricordiamo Hardwired (1986), La voce del vortice (1987), Stazione Angelica (1989), Aristoi (1992), Metropolitan (1995), di sceneggiature cinematografiche e televisive e di numerosi racconti, ha vinto due volte il premio Nebula, la prima nel 2001 con il racconto Daddy''s world e, successivamente, nel 2004, con L''era del flagello (The Green Leopard Plague), pubblicato in Italia nella collana Odissea Delos. Autore eclettico e dotato, Walter Jon Williams ha attraversato varie fasi nella sua carriera. Dopo un inizio influenzato da Roger Zelazny, è poi diventato uno degli esponenti di spicco del cyberpunk degli inizi degli anni novanta con il gradevole I guerrieri dell''interfaccia (Hardwired), per poi raggiungere la piena maturità con opere come La voce del vortice, Stazione Angelica, Aristoi.

Plasma ist Leben und Tod Plasma ist die geheimnisvolle Energie, die durch den Untergrund der erdumspannenden Stadt strömt. Es ist die magische Kraft, die alles in Bewegung hält und die mit lebenden Organismen interagiert. Wer diese Kraft meistert, kann ebenso heilen wie töten. Plasma ist deswegen die Quelle der politischen Macht auf dem Planeten. Als Aiah, eine farbige Außenseiterin im Polizeidienst, in den Ruinen eines unterirdischen Terminals eine offenbar unendliche Plasmaquelle entdeckt, weiß sie, dass sie finanziell ausgesorgt hat. Aber sie weiß auch, dass sie fortan ein verdammt gefährliches Leben führen wird ...

Ein unmöglicher Mordfall In Atocha, New Mexico, gelten noch die alten Werte. Jeder kennt jeden, und Polizeichef Loren Hawn kennt sie alle seit vielen Jahren. Als ein Regierungsinstitut, in dem geheime Experimente auf dem Gebiet der Kernforschung durchgeführt werden sollen, seine Arbeit aufnimmt, passieren merkwürdige Dinge, die Hawn zunehmend Ärger bereiten. Und als ein alter Bekannter von Kugeln durchsiebt auf ihn zu taumelt und ihn um Hilfe bittet, bevor er tot zusammenbricht, versteht er die Welt nicht mehr – denn dieser Mann ist vor zwanzig Jahren bei einem Unfall ums Leben gekommen. Die Sicherheitsbehörden des Instituts erweisen sich alles andere als kooperativ – im Gegenteil: sie hetzen Hawn den Teufel auf den Hals ...

THIS IS NOT A GAME is a novel built around the coolest phenomenon in the world. That phenomenon is known as the Alternate Reality Game, or ARG. It''s big, and it''s getting bigger. It''s immersive and massively interactive, and it''s spreading through the Internet at the speed of light. To the player, the Alternate Reality Game has no boundaries. You can be standing in a parking lot, or a shopping center. A pay phone near you will ring, and on the other end will be someone demanding information. You''d better have the information handy. ARGs combine video, text adventure, radio plays, audio, animation, improvisational theater, graphics, and story into an immersive experience. Now, one of science fiction''s most acclaimed writers, Walter Jon Williams, brings this extraordinary phenomenon to life in a pulse-pounding thriller. This is not a game. This is a novel that will blow your mind.

“Walter Jon Williams is a visionary of tremendous power and originality . . . He kills every damn time.” --Junot Díaz, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Game designer Dagmar Shaw is skilled at creating vast online entertainments with millions of players. But Dagmar is haunted by her past, and by memories of a burning city, and of the friends who died as a bloody vengeance plot played to its conclusion around her. Dagmar is an expert at manipulating the online players known as the Group Mind. But when an acquaintance appears with the plan to manipulate an entire Middle Eastern country, to stage a revolution and make the people think it was all their own idea, Dagmar is both appalled and intrigued. Can she crash the Deep State? And can she do it without creating another bloodbath? This is no longer a game. The bullets, the tanks, and the spies are real, and so is the danger as Dagmar plunges into the task of gaming an entire state. When it first appeared, Deep State gained a modest amount of infamy as the novel that predicted the Arab Spring, and appeared the very week the Egyptians occupied Tahrir Square. “And since this is an intrigue thriller, there are undercurrents and deceptions and hidden agendas and secret loyalties and unexpected betrayals, deeper states of operation and deeper games being played for higher (or lower) stakes. Dagmar faces not only the normal perils of an elaborate and delicate con, but those of the deep state of international politics, where you don’t know who has been bought or intimidated, who might be a plant, who has a history that will blow up at the worst possible moment.” --Russel Letson, Locus “Williams has crafted a slick, intelligent techno-thriller that never allows the melodramatic storyline to swamp the cast of sympathetic characters.” --Eric Brown, the Guardian “Both prescient and utterly of the moment, featuring an ingeniously concocted and elaborated plot and a compelling cast of characters, Deep State is a success on every level . . . if ever one of Williams’ books had crossover potential . . . this is it. ” . . . The biggest plot coupon of all . . . is really the card on which the whole hand turns, and Williams does not blow the trick. On the contrary, he weaves this bit of scientific or pseudo-scientific legerdemain very deftly into the warp and weft of his plot, giving the novel that satisfies both logically and emotionally. Like his doughty heroine, Williams is absolutely at the top of his game here.” ---Paul Witcover, Locus

“Walter Jon Williams is a visionary of tremendous power and originality . . . He kills every damn time.” --Junot Díaz, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Dagmar Shaw is back in Hollywood, with a plan to lasso a series of emerging technologies into a revolutionary new form of entertainment. Sean Makin is a washed-up child actor clinging to life on reality television, until Dagmar offers him the chance to be a star. Sean’s past, however, holds the darkest of secrets, and now it looks as if that secret threatens to break loose in a new cycle of violence and murder. Sean’s determined to succeed, even if the path to stardom is splashed with blood. But the ultimate secret is Dagmar’s, and Sean has to decide how much to pay in order to find out what’s on the other side of the fourth wall. “ . . . the blending of mystery-thriller, SF, and traditional Hollywood-story elements is hugely successful. It’s one of those ambitious, genre-bending books in which you keep seeing, as you read, ways the story could fall apart under its own weight—but it never does. Surely the best of the Dagmar Shaw series and one of the author’s finest novels.” --Booklist (starred review) “This is an ambitious novel, blending elements of science fiction, thriller and Hollywood epic into one wildly inventive narrative. It’s the kind of genre-bender that you can spend a lot of time trying to describe, or you can simply say: go read it, right now.” --David Pitt, Winnipeg Free Press

“Walter Jon Williams is always fun, but this may be his best yet, a delight from start to finish, witty, colorful, exciting and amusing by turns, exquisitely written.” —George R. R. Martin From New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Walter Jon Williams comes an adventurous epic fantasy about a man who is forced to leave his comfortable life and find his fortune among goddesses, pirates, war, and dragons. Rogue. Joker. Lover. Reluctant soldier. Quillifer is a young man, serially in love and studying law, when a family tragedy throws him into the world to seek his fortune. A charmer rather than a fighter, he soon finds himself embroiled with a bandit gang, caught up in vicious court intrigues, and the plaything of an angry, beautiful, and very jealous goddess. While he struggles to establish himself in the capital, the country finds itself pitched into a civil war, and Quillifer, a unwilling soldier at best, finds himself caught up in the action, and able to tip the scales of fortune. Quillifer, with its engaging hero and his exploits with lovers, brawlers, warriors, and privateers, is a book that bursts with life. It’s the first volume in a new epic fantasy by bestselling and award-winning author Walter Jon Williams.

New York Times-Bestselling, Nebula Award–Winning Author: “One of the great space opera series of all time continues . . . [a] masterful writer.” —James Patrick Kelly, Hugo Award–winning author of The First Law of Thermodynamics Having offended her superiors by winning a battle without permission, Caroline Sula has been posted to the planet Earth, a dismal backwater where careers go to die. But Sula has always been fascinated by Earth history, and she plans to reward herself with a long, happy vacation amid the ancient monuments of humanity’s home world. Sula may be an Earth history buff, but there are aspects of her own history she doesn’t want known. Exposure is threatened when an old acquaintance turns up unexpectedly. Someone seems to be forging evidence that would send her to prison. And that’s all before someone tries to kill her . . . If she’s going to survive, Sula has no choice but to make some history of her own. “Well-drawn characters, and excellent wordsmithing . . . It feels like Williams is having a great time with Impersonations.” —Locus “Readers will savor this intriguing glimpse into the life of a woman who struggles with her own identity and the price of her action.” —Publishers Weekly “Interstellar adventure has a new king.” —George R.R. Martin

Unable to find a meaningful posting due to the hostility of his superiors, Captain Lord Gareth Martinez has accepted a meaningless post as Inspector General of Chee, a newly-settled world. Intending nothing more than a pleasant vacation with his family, he first stumbles across a murderous conspiracy, and then learns he must battle a literal cosmic menace that threatens to wipe out all life on the planet