New Releases by Elizabeth Moon

"Filled with fast-paced action and well-conceived characters.”—Booklist Kylara Vatta is the only daughter in a family full of sons, and her father’s only child to buck tradition by choosing a military career instead of joining the family business. For Ky, it’s no contest: Even running the prestigious Vatta Transport Ltd. shipping concern can’t hold a candle to shipping out as an officer aboard an interstellar cruiser. It’s adventure, not commerce, that stirs her soul. And despite her family’s misgivings, there can be no doubt that a Vatta in the service will prove a valuable asset. But with a single error in judgment, it all comes crumbling down. Expelled from the Academy in disgrace–and returning home to her humiliated family, a storm of high-profile media coverage, and the gaping void of her own future–Ky is ready to face the inevitable onslaught of anger, disappointment, even pity. But soon after opportunity’s door slams shut, Ky finds herself with a ticket to ride– and a shot at redemption–as captain of a Vatta Transport ship. It’s a simple assignment: escorting one of the Vatta fleet’s oldest ships on its final voyage . . . to the scrapyard. But keeping it simple has never been Ky’s style. And even though her father has provided a crew of seasoned veterans to baby-sit the fledgling captain on her maiden milk run, they can’t stop Ky from turning the routine mission into a risky venture–in the name of turning a profit for Vatta Transport, of course. By snapping up a lucrative delivery contract defaulted on by a rival company, and using part of the proceeds to upgrade her condemned vehicle, Ky aims to prove she’s got more going for her than just her family’s famous name. But business will soon have to take a backseat to bravery, when Ky’s change of plans sails her and the crew straight into the middle of a colonial war. For all her commercial savvy, it’s her military training and born-soldier’s instincts that Ky will need to call on in the face of deadly combat, dangerous mercenaries, and violent mutiny. . . . “Compelling . . . a superior novel . . . Trading in Danger [has] originality and intelligence.”—SciFi

TODAY''S TOP WRITERS OF FANTASY WITH ALL-NEW ADVENTURES SET IN THEIR MOST POPULAR SERIES You are cordially invited to explore the many worlds of modern fantasy, with an array of the field''s brightest stars as your guides. Masters of Fantasy presents a glittering roster of today''s most popular fantasy writers, offering brand new adventures set in their most popular series. David Weber, author of the NY Times best-selling Honor Harrington series, is equally a master of fantasy in his popular Bahzell series, including the just-released Wind Rider''s Oath.Mercedes Lackey is among the most popular of today''s fantasy writers and her Valdemar novels are best sellers.Mickey Zucker Reichert is author of the best-selling Bifrost Guardians and Books of Barakhai series.David Drake is known for his best-selling Hammer''s Slammers series and the equally popular Lord of the Isles fantasy series (Tor).Andre Norton''s Witch World novels have enthralled readers for four decades.Elizabeth Moon''s Paksenarrion series are among the decade''s most popular fantasy novels.Alan Dean Foster is known for his top-selling space adventures, his movie novelizations, and his fantasy adventure novels. Also on board are such stars as Hugo and Nebula winner Michael Resnick, New York Times best-selling author Robert Asprin and his popular "Myth" series collaborator Jody Lynn Nye, and more. This feast of fantasy adventure will be a must-buy for all fantasy fans. At the publisher''s request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).

Finalist for the Hugo Award • “Ofelia—tough, kind, wise and unwise, fond of food, tired of foolish people—is one of the most probable heroines science fiction has ever known.”—Ursula K. Le Guin For forty years, Colony 3245.12 has been Ofelia’s home. On this planet far away in space and time from the world of her youth, she has lived and loved, weathered the death of her husband, raised her one surviving child, lovingly tended her garden, and grown placidly old. And it is here that she fully expects to finish out her days—until the shifting corporate fortunes of the Sims Bancorp Company dictates that Colony 3245.12 is to be disbanded, its residents shipped off, deep in cryo-sleep, to somewhere new and strange and not of their choosing. But while her fellow colonists grudgingly anticipate a difficult readjustment on some distant world, Ofelia savors the promise of a golden opportunity. Not starting over in the hurly-burly of a new community . . . but closing out her life in blissful solitude, in the place she has no intention of leaving. A population of one. With everything she needs to sustain her, and her independent spirit to buoy her, Ofelia actually does start life over–for the first time on her own terms: free of the demands, the judgments, and the petty tyrannies of others. But when a reconnaissance ship returns to her idyllic domain, and its crew is mysteriously slaughtered, Ofelia realizes she is not the sole inhabitant of her paradise after all. And, when the inevitable time of first contact finally arrives, she will find her life changed yet again—in ways she could never have imagined. . . . “Pure satisfaction from cover to cover.”—Anne McCaffrey

Fleet officer Heris Serrano loses her meaning of life when a lying superior forces her to resign. She becomes "Captain" of an interstellar luxury yacht owned by rich old Cecelia, who has more brains than admirals Heris had known. Soon, Heris will have the chance to rejoin her beloved space navy--if she can stop an invading armada. Targeted print ads/.

Science-fiction. The continuing saga of a dictatorial family in space. They are the Familias Regnant and they must handle a riot on a prison planet, a controversy over rejuvenating drugs with nasty side effects, and the murder of one of their members

Quand la colonie n° 3245-12 est transférée sur une autre planète, Ofélia décide de rester. Cette vie solitaire lui convient : enfin libre, à soixante-dix ans ! Mais bientôt, de nouveaux colons débarquent. Et sont immédiatement massacrés. C''est ainsi qu''Ofélia découvre que ce monde qu''elle croyait désert est habité par d''étranges créatures. Malgré sa peur, elle les accueille et réussit à apprivoiser ces extraterrestres bâtisseurs de nids. Ce sont en fait des êtres pacifiques, qui n''ont tué que pour protéger leur progéniture. Entre la vieille femme et les "hommes-oiseaux", un dialogue s''instaure, sans que les mots soient nécessaires. Les Terriens, cependant, n''ont pas l''intention de les laisser vivre en paix et envoient sur place un bataillon d''experts. Méfiance à l''égard de la "différence", sagesse des anciens, maladresse des jeunes qui croient tout savoir, pouvoir de l''intuition par rapport à la science acquise : une fiction qui ressemble étrangement à la réalité...

The fate of the galaxy is placed in the hands of Lunzie, who discovers the true nature of a new friend; Fordeliton, who is dying of a mysterious poison; Dupaynil, who is exiled; and Aygar, who tries to prove himself. At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).

A collection of short stories set in the world of "The Deed of Paksenarrion" trilogy

Gird, an aggressive peasant, teaches his people that they can fight against oppression and win, setting the stage for Paks, the righteous paladin who follows in his foosteps

Paksenarrion¾Paks for short¾was somebody special. Never could she have followed her father's orders and married the pig farmer down the road. Better a soldier's life than a pig farmer's wife, and so, though she knew that she could never go home again, Paks ran away to be a soldier. And so began an adventure destined to transform a simple Sheepfarmer's Daughter into a hero fit to be chosen by the gods. Oath of Gold is the climactic final volume of the epic that Judith Tarr calls "the first work of high heroic fantasy I've seen that has taken the work of Tolkien, assimilated it totally and deeply and absolutely, and produced something altogether new and yet incontestably based on the master... [Moon's] military knowledge is impressive, her picture of life in a mercenary company most convincing. I'm deeply impressed." At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).

Paksenarrion--Paks, for short--refuses her father's orders to marry the pig farmer down the road and is off to join the army. And so her adventure begins--the adventure that transforms her into a hero remembered in songs, chosen by the gods to restore a lost ruler to his throne.