Charles Sheffield

Young troublemakers on Earth are deported to planets in space. On Solferino, a group of such youths takes on greedy corporations which are exploiting local intelligent beings.

"Set about 20 years later in Chan Dalton's career than the events of The Mind Pool (1993), this hard-science adventure finds humanity still quarantined by the nonhuman sapients of the Stellar Authority for having killed other intelligent life-forms. But a Stellar Authority ship is missing in the distant Geyser Swirl, and humans are the best candidates for finding and rescuing it. Under retired General Dag Korin's command, Dalton tracks down most of his old colleagues and sets off in a recycled warship. Meanwhile, a human expedition is already deep in the swirl, on a planet it has named Limbo. By the time Dalton's company arrives, nearly everyone on Limbo needs to be rescued from the militaristic Malacostracans, who have occupied it because of its strategic location at the nexus of links to many alternative universes. The yarn's tight plotting, economical but vivid characterization, and abundance of ideas argue that Sheffield continues to be an authentic sf master."--Booklist.

Jeff Kopal is heir to a powerful military family. He's got everything going for him. Except one thing: Jeff is a total screw-ups. His family has had it. So when Jeff blows off his naval entrance exams he figures his future is basically kaput. Instead, he is being sent by the navy into deep space to deal with rebellious cyborgs. How did that happen? Jeff will have to find out before it's too late. Otherwise, He may become the pawn in someone else's dangerous-and very deadly-game.

The job was supposed to be dead easy—hand-deliver some legal papers to billionaire philanthropist Harry Van Dorn's extravagant yacht, get his signature and be done. But Manhattan lawyer Genevieve Spenser soon realizes she's in the wrong place at the wrong time, and that the publicly benevolent playboy has a sick, vicious side. As he tries to make her his plaything for the evening, eager to use and abuse her until he discards her with the rest of his victims, Genevieve must keep her wits if she intends to survive the night.But there's someone else on the ship who knows the true depths of Van Dorn's evil. Peter Jensen is far more than the unassuming personal assistant he pretends to be—he's a secret operative who will stop at nothing to ensure Harry's deadly Rule of Seven terror campaign dies with him. But Genevieve's presence has thrown a wrench into his plans, and now he must decide whether to risk his mission to keep her alive, or allow her to become collateral damage....

White Creatures - short story by Gregory Benford The Singing Diamond - short story by Robert L. Forward Publish and Perish - short story by Paul J. Nahin Skystalk - novelette by Charles Sheffield The Universal Library - short story by Kurd Lasswitz (trans. of Die Universalbibliothek 1904) Long Shot - short story by Vernor Vinge Blackmail - short story by Fred Hoyle Jeannette's Hands - short story by R. S. Richardson [as by Philip Latham] The Warm Space - novelette by David Brin The Wind from the Sun - novelette by Arthur C. Clarke Industrial Accident - novelette by G. Harry Stine [as by Lee Correy] Choice - short story by John R. Pierce The Winnowing - short story by Isaac Asimov Dr. Snow Maiden - short story by Larry Eisenberg On the Fourth Planet - short story by J. F. Bone Learning Theory - short story by James McConnell [as by James V. McConnell] Love Is the Plan the Plan Is Death - short story by James Tiptree, Jr. Transfusion - novelette by Chad Oliver In the Beginning - short story by Morton Klass Modulation in All Things - short story by Suzette Haden Elgin The Bones of Charlemagne - novelette by Mario Pei [as by Mario A. Pei]

From the back cover of Ace paperback May 1984: Rob Merlin was the best engineer who had ever lived. That was why Darius Regulo, "The King of Space," had to have Rob for the most spectacular construction project in the history of the human race... Thus begins a breakthrough novel, written by the President of the American Astronautical Society about an idea whose time has come: a shimmering bridge between earth and space, a ladder that mankind will climb to the stars? Fantasy? The concept has been in the literature of physics for nearly two decades, but only a writer with the scientific background of Charles Sheffield could bring the idea to life.

The significantly revised version of Brother to Dragons appeared in 1979, twenty-six years after the original. It is, Warren wrote, "in some important senses, a new work." Told in the distinct voices of characters long dead and now gathered at an unspecified place and time, the poem recalls events leading to and resulting from the 1811 murder of a young slave by Thomas Jefferson's nephew. "R.P.W." is the narrator of the versified tale, whose poignant ending brings not only reconciliation among the ghostly figures but healing for Warren's persona as well.

With more than six million copies of her books in print, Phoebe Conn is renowned for her stories of breathtaking adventure and passionate romance. Now she combines fast-paced danger with incredibly steamy romance in this futuristic tale. One of the most beautiful and talented pilots in the galaxy falls into a forbidden but lasting love with her academy flight instructor.