Most Popular Books by Kage Baker

The Anvil of the World is the tale of Smith and his feud-prone people, the Children of the Sun. Smith, formerly a successful assassin, is trying to retire, hoping to live an honest life in obscurity in spite of all those who have sworn to kill him. But when he agrees to be the master of a caravan from traveling from the inland city of Troon to Salesh by the sea, trouble follows. As always, Baker''s approach is charmingly distinctive. Smith''s adventure is certainly the only fantasy featuring a white-uniformed nurse, gourmet cuisine, one hundred and forty-four glass butterflies, and a steamboat.

“. . . An astonishing and thoroughly satisfying installment. What''s more, Baker''s overall concept and rationale, flawlessly sustained through five books, grows ever more spellbinding and impressive." —Kirkus Reviews “Baker’s trademark mix of serious speculation and black humor informs this solid addition to her time-travel series.” —Publishers Weekly The Company created immortals to preserve cultural artifacts, extinct animals, and lost treasures from the annals of human history for their enduring cultural value, and more importantly, for a profit. But what happens when an immortal despises the very people who created that which he is programmed to save? Executive Facilitator General Labienus’s career took off in ancient Sumeria, where he was worshiped as a god and learned contempt for his mortal worshippers. Since then, he’s had time to contemplate how best to attain power within the Company for his own purposes. From Labienus’s subversion of the ADONAI black project to his machinations in San Francisco before the Great Quake, from chocolate wars in Amsterdam to a monastery in Ireland where the Fair Folk might just be a forgotten branch of the human race, Labienus’s schemes thread through the Company’s history, and as the immortals get closer to the Silence of 2355, the time to unravel them may be running out . . .

In this rollicking novel of action, planetary romance, and high adventure, a determined Mary Griffith opens the only place to buy a beer on Mars'' Tharsis Bulge and soon becomes the center of a terraforming company''s machinations, its downfall, and the founding of a new world.

This is the third novel in what has become one of the most popular series in contemporary SF, now back in print from Tor. In the 24th century, the Company preserves works of art and extinct forms of life, for profit, of course. It recruits orphans from the past, renders them all but immortal, and trains them to serve the Company, Dr. Zeus. One of these is Mendoza the botanist. The death of her lover has been followed by centuries of heartbreak. She spends a period of time in early twentieth century Hollywood in the days of D.W. Griffith, and then Mendoza is in the midst of the Civil War, and runs into a man that looks disturbingly similar to her lost love. She is about to find love again, and be in more trouble than she could ever have imagined. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Facilitator Joseph has outlasted entire civilizations during his twenty-thousand years of service to Dr. Zeus, the twenty-fourth century Company that created immortal operatives like him to preserve history and culture. The year is 1699 and Joseph is now in Alta California, to imitate an ancient Native-American Coyote god, and save the native Chumash from the white Europeans.He has the help of the Botanist Mendoza, who hasn''t gotten over the death of her lover Nicholas, in Elizabethan England. Lately though, Joseph has started to have a few doubts about The Company. There are whispers about the year 2355, about operatives that suddenly go missing. Time is running out for Joseph, which is ironic considering he''s immortal, but no one ever said that it was easy being a god. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

In the second novel of Mendoza''s adventures, the 16th century girl is saved from the Spanish Inquisition only to be transformed into a 24th century cyborg (a partly artificial person). The time is now the 1860s, and Mendoza, who has never recovered from losing her lover to martyrdom in the 1540s, is in California being a botanist and living with other immortals. Suddenly a man who is her lover''s exact double appears - an English spy intent on stealing California from the Americans while they are fighting their civil war.

Mendoza is a Preserver for The Dr. Zeus Company, living in the past to collect species for the future. But when she kills six people in California in 1863, The Company makes her disappear. Joseph, a senior Preserver, loves Mendoza as the daughter he never had. Drunk on chocolate and fueled by rage, he''s determined to find her however long it takes. Being an indestructible, immortal cyborg gives him an unlimited well of patience. What begins as a rescue mission uncovers a conspiracy stretching across fifty centuries of recorded history. Behind it lie genocide, graveyards filled with Company agents, and the roots of the ominous Silence that falls across the world in 2355. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

A collection of seven short stories set in the universe of the Company chronicles the history and adventures of the organization and its operatives, including Mendoza, Lewis, and Joseph.

From Metropolis to the pre-technicolor Oz, this fantastical retrospective takes readers through the wildest frontiers of silent films. Glorious landscapes are explored from Tarzan’s jungle and Dr. Frankenstein’s laboratory to the Adventures of Prince Achmed and 20,000 Leagues under the Sea. Highlighting the earliest and cheesiest special effects, Kage Baker reviews 49 cinematic odysseys with acerbic wit and historical acumen. Contrasting the tour de forces with the utter train wrecks of the silver screen, these sci-fi movies are affectionately viewed, giving special recognition to the flimsy plots, terrifying fiends, and the best and worst directors that inspired generations of fans and filmmakers alike.

Nine-year-old Emma is lost at sea in a terrible storm. She awakens on a desolate island, frightened and lonely. Yet brave, quick-witted Emma will not be alone for long, as the ghost of a bellboy appears with the tragic tale of the Grand Wenlocke. More than a century ago, a brilliant inventor built a splendid Victorian resort, the Grand Wenlocke. The hotel was powered by a Difference Engine, a miraculous device that could slow down time (making your vacation just as long as you’d like). But just before it was scheduled to open, the Grand Wenlocke mysteriously sank under the sand. Now the storm that brought Emma to the island has awakened the hotel, perfectly preserved and as incredible as ever. While exploring the magical hotel, Emma encounters a kind-hearted cook and her faithful little dog, a seemingly fearsome pirate captain, and the imperious young heir to the Wenlocke fortune (should it ever be recovered). Adventure, friendship, peril, and perhaps even treasure—all these and more await Emma at the hotel under the sand.

It''s 1672 in Port Royal, Jamaica. John James, London bricklayer''s apprentice turned pirate, is returning from the sack of Panama with his share of the loot (a lousy 200 pieces of eight) and a resolve to go back to bricklaying, since piracy pays so badly. First, though, he has a duty: he must deliver a letter to a lady.

Before the Riders came to their remote valley, the Yendri led a tranquil pastoral life. Gard, taken as a slave by powerful mages, has found subtle ways to earn his freedom, and becomes lord and commander of a demon army.

This is the Kage Baker novel everyone has been waiting for: the conclusion to the story of Mendoza and The Company. In The Sons of Heaven, the forces gathering to seize power finally move on the Company. The immortal Lewis wakes to find himself blinded, crippled, and left with no weapons but his voice, his memory, and the friendship of one extraordinary little girl. Edward Alton Bell-Fairfax, resurrected Victorian superman, plans for world domination. The immortal Mendoza makes a desperate bargain to delay him. Enforcer Budu, assisted by Joseph, enlists an unexpected ally in his plans to free his old warriors and bring judgment on his former masters. Executive Facilitator Suleyman uses his intelligence operation to uncover the secret of Alpha-Omega, vital to the mortals'' survival. The mortal masters of the Company, terrified of a coup, invest in a plan they believe will terminate their immortal servants. And they awaken a powerful AI whom they call Dr Zeus. This web of a story is filled with great climaxes, wonderful surprises, and gripping characters many readers have grown to love or hate. It''s a triumph of SF!

In a direct sequel to "The Life of the World to Come," Mendoza is banished to a prison lost in time, where rebellious immortals are "dealt with." Her past lovers Alec, Nicholas, and Bell-Fairfax are determined to rescue her, but first they must learn how to live together, because all three happen to be sharing Alecs body.