Most Popular Books by Kage Baker

Nel Ventiquattresimo secolo la Dr. Zeus, Inc. (altrimenti nota come la Compagnia) offre l''immortalità fisica e la possibilità di viaggiare nel tempo: i suoi agenti continuano a scandagliare i secoli per recuperare antichi tesori d''arte e materiale genetico indispensabile alle ricerche. Mendoza, una specialista in botanica che la Compagnia ha prelevato dalla Spagna del XVI secolo, deve raccogliere alcuni esemplari di rare specie ormai estinte. Ma sul suo cammino incontrerà l''Inquisizione, un amichevole cyborg e soprattutto la sconfinata ingordigia della Compagnia, il cui vero scopo è arricchirsi a spese del passato... Partono con questo numero i nuovi "Capolavori di Urania", ristampe di testi richiestissimi dagli appassionati e ora finalmente disponibili di nuovo.

IL FIGLIO DELLA MACCHINA Mendoza, agente della Compagnia, è stata costretta a diventare un''immortale, un essere umano geneticamente modificato che può ambire all''eternità, per poi essere bandita in una prigione persa nel tempo. Ora i suoi amanti del passato, Alec, Nicholas e Bell-Fairfax, sono determinati a salvarla, ma prima devono imparare a convivere, perché i tre possiedono un unico corpo. Una volta ritrovata Mendoza, scoprono che la situazione è persino peggiore di quanto potessero immaginare, al punto da convincerli finalmente a combattere la Compagnia.

À l''âge de dix ans, monsieur Morton a été catalogué Excentrique. Mais quand la British Arean Company a eu besoin de colons pour Mars, elle n''a pas été trop regardante sur les profils psychologiques... Et par un étrange coup du sort, il va se retrouver riche, très riche... et ne sachant que faire de son argent, sur la planète rouge!

In this new story set in the world of The Anvil of the World and The House of the Stag, two teenagers join the crew of a huge river barge after their addict mother is drowned. The girl and her half-breed younger brother try to make the barge their new home. As the great boat proceeds up the long river, we see a panorama of cities and cultures, and begin to perceive patterns in the pirate attacks that happen so frequently in the river cities. Eliss, the girl, becomes a sharp-eyed spotter of obstacles in the river for the barge, and more than that, one who perceives deeply. A young boy her age, Krelan, trained as a professional assassin, has come aboard, seeking the head of a dead nobleman, so that there might be a proper burial. But the head proves as elusive as the real explanation behind the looting of cities, so he needs Eliss’s help. And then there is the massive Captain of the barge, who can perform supernatural tricks, but prefers to stay in his cabin and drink.

Mars is an old world, one that has been mapped by science fiction writers for over a century. The late Nebula and Locus Award winning writer Kage Baker was among the most skilled cartographers to render the Red Planet as full of life and love, hope and heroism. Gathered together here for the first time are all of Baker''s Mars stories, beginning with "The Empress of Mars," for which she won the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award. It was in this story that Baker first laid out her vision of our neighboring planet, with its patchwork quilt of societies based in part on the history of the British Empire. Here are Celts and colonialists side by side with adventuring Haulers who bring ice from the poles and missionaries who bring the message of their goddess from Luna. These tales are all part of an imaginatively worked out near future, where raucous frontier people intermingle with devoted terraformers in an uneasy mix overseen by Areco, Baker''s version of the British East India Company. Turn by turn, each story sets its protagonists the task of understanding and altering a world that resists change. In "The Empress of Mars," a woman gathers her family--her children along with outcast Eccentrics--and turns an unexpected windfall into the founding of a place they can be proud to call their own. "Plotters and Shooters" recounts a series of incidents in an orbital defense station involving characters who may be delightfully familiar. In the "Maelstrom," one of the Eccentrics remakes himself into a theatrical impresario, founding a theater that serves as "a cathedral to pure weirdness." Finally, in "Attlee and the Long Walk," a young child of the agricultural tunnels takes a journey through both her physical and emotional worlds, making unexpected discoveries in both. Maelstrom and Other Martian Tales stands as a testament to the gritty and glorious imagination of a writer gone too soon. These are remarkable stories by a remarkable author.

“With each story, Baker effectively places her characters within the tides of history and emotion.” —Publishers Weekly Do you want a jewel worn by Cleopatra, an original Shakespeare folio, or the combined genes of Socrates and Marilyn Monroe? Dr. Zeus can make your dreams come true. The Company, a powerful corporate entity in the twenty-fourth century, has discovered a nearly foolproof recipe for success: immortal employees and time travel. It specializes in retrieving extraordinary treasures out of the past, gathered by cybernetically enhanced workers who pass as ordinary people. Or at least they try to pass . . . One rule at Dr. Zeus Incorporated must not be broken: Recorded history cannot be changed. But avoiding the attention of mortals while stealing from them? It’s definitely not in the Company manual. History awaits, although not quite the one you remember.

"In this enchanting, if melancholy, story collection from Hugo- and Nebula Award-nominee Baker, the supernatural matter-of-factly touches the shabby lives of people in small, isolated towns, providing resolution and revelation . . ." —Publsihers Weekly Kage Baker, celebrated creator of the Company novels and the standout collection Mother Aegypt, now brings together pirates, primates, eldritch horrors, maritime ghosts, and much more in Dark Mondays. This captivating new collection of fantastic short fiction is sure to cement her reputation as one of the most original storytellers working in the fantasy and speculative fiction genres today. Whether spinning tales of the mysterious young woman and the dreadful pirate captain Henry Morgan in the original novella “The Maid on the Shore,”or the tiny California beach community assaulted by Lovecraftian terrors in “Calamari Curls,” or the girl menaced by a haunting photograph and a trio of aspiring vampires at the heart of “Portrait, With Flames,” Kage Baker distinguishes herself throughout Dark Mondays as a storyteller extraordinaire, crafting intricately woven plots, compelling characters, and captivating settings filled with convincing detail. As likely to shock and surprise as it is to fill you with a sense of weird wonder and delight, Dark Mondays will entrance you with its inventive prose, astound you with its action, and seduce you with its style. Dark Mondays features five never-before-published stories, including the forty-one-thousand-word pirate novel, “The Maid on the Shore,” which chronicles the lesser known aspects of Captain Henry Morgan’s infamous sacking of Panama City.

XXIVe siècle. Une compagnie toute-puissante, Dr. Zeus Inc., a découvert le voyage dans le temps. Son but: envoyer des agents immortels dans le passé à la recherche d''un patrimoine culturel anéanti et oublié. Joseph, tout juste remis de sa dernière mission dans l''Angleterre du XVIe, est envoyé en pleine jungle maya où vivent les Indiens Chumash. On est en 1699 et les conquistadores ne vont pas tarder à débarquer. Dr. Zeus souhaite préserver le mode de vie et les rites de ces autochtones. Joseph prend alors l''apparence du Coyote Céleste, l''un de leurs dieux préférés. Un dieu malin qui aura du mal à convaincre toute une tribu de s''exiler dans le futur! Une deuxième aventure des agents immortels de la " Compagnie ", aussi drôle et originale que la première et dans laquelle les sauvages ne sont pas ceux que l''on croit. "Ce livre est un plaisir à lire, et profondément lié aux caprices de notre époque. " Pascal J. Thomas -Bifrost

"Like a brisk October wind, these 13 stories blow clear and cold, bringing with them unusual landscapes, brilliant colors, multilayered shadows, and haunting characters. They challenge from the first page with insights and concepts sure to win inquiring, thoughtful, imaginative minds . . . Listen closely, and perhaps you will hear the collective sigh of delight from intelligent lovers of fantasy the world over. A book to savor." —Paula Luedtke, Booklist A short story collection from Kage Baker, including an original novella set in her ongoing series of The Company, "Mother Aegypt."

This book includes the concluding novels of Kage Baker''s "Company" series and brings all the counterplots to a head in a final showdown.