Black Projects, White Knights

"Baker is the best thing to happen to modern science fiction since Connie Willis or Dan Simmons." - Dallas Morning News It's Not All Black And White! Is it possible to interfere with History in a moral way, especially if profit is the primary motivation for doing so? In fact, is it possible to sustain any ethical standards at all when handed what amounts to unlimited power? These and other shadowy questions are raised in Black Projects, White Knights, Kage Baker's Unofficial History of Dr. Zeus, Inc.—known to its employees simply as the Company. This collection brings together fourteen Company stories in one volume for the first time. Three of these stories have never seen publication until now—and one, "The Queen in Yellow," was written exclusively for this collection. Follow the secret activities of the Company's field agents—once Human, now centuries-old time-traveling immortal cyborgs: Botanist Mendoza's search for the rare hallucinogenic Black Elysium grape in 1844 Spanish-held Santa Barbara, California ("Noble Mold"); Facilitator Joseph's dreamlike solicitation of the ill-of-health Robert Louis Stevenson in 1879 ("The Literary Agent"); Marine Salvage Specialist Kalugin's recovery of an invaluable Eugene Delacroix painting from a sunken yacht off the coast of Los Angeles in 1894 ("The Wreck of the Gladstone"); and Literature Preservationist Lewis's retrieval of priceless literary artifacts, in 1914 Egypt, from the mummy case of Princess Sit-Hathor-Yunet ("The Queen in Yellow"). This collection also includes the first four Alec Checkerfield stories—and the alert reader should be able to piece together the mystery of Alec's life: Who created this little superman, and to what purpose? With a new author introduction, "The Hounds of Zeus," in which access to the Company, and the Company's files, is revealed. Praise for the author's fourth Company novel, The Graveyard Game: "By turns hilarious, terrifying, sad, and provocative, and always utterly intriguing." - Kirkus Reviews