Grantville Gazette XVII now available
 The Last Centurion
Centurions were the guardians of Rome. At the height of the Roman Republic there were over five thousand qualified Roman Centurions in the Legions. To be a Centurion required that, in a mostly illiterate society, one be able to read and write clearly, to be able to convey and create orders, to be capable of not only performing every skill of a Roman soldier but teach every skill of a Roman soldier.
Becoming a Centurion required intense physical ability, courage beyond the norm, years of sacrifice and a total devotion to the philosophy which was Rome. When Rome fell to barbarian invaders, there were less than five hundred qualified Centurions. Not because Rome had fewer people but because it had fewer willing to make the sacrifices. And the last Centurions left their shields in the heather and took a barbarian bride . . .
We are . . . The Last Centurions.
And this Rome SHALL NOT FALL!
http://www.thelastcenturion.com/
 Ratha's Courage
"Screeching in pain and terror, the rogues backed off, but they didn't flee like the Un-Named raiders did. Something seemed to force them back into the fray, making them ignore their fright and their agony to attack again.
The flame-bearers' attack faltered as eyes met eyes and the enemy's ability to withstand the Red Tongue was passed quickly among the Named. Firekeepers . . .
Above the commotion, Ratha heard an agonizing shriek, so raw that she didn't recognize the voice.
She whirled, thinking one of the Named had been mortally struck. Instead she saw Bira, not in the battle but on the edge. Her ears were back, her mouth was open, but the sound from her throat wasn't a battle cry but a horrified scream.
"They're killing the cubs!" Bira paused only long enough to gather breath and shriek again, even louder. "They're attacking the nursery! They're killing the cubs!"
 Venus of Dreams
Iris Angharads, a determined, independent woman, sets herself one massive goal: to make the poison-filled atmosphere of Venus hospitable to humans. She works day and night to realize her dream, with only one person sharing her passion, Liang Chen. It seems impossible to make Venus, with its intolerable air and waterless environment, into a paradise, but Iris succeeds. And in doing so, she also creates a powerful dynasty, beginning with her first born, Benzi Liangharad.
 Dirty Tricks
In these eleven short stories by speculative fiction master George Alec Effinger, New York's populace must deal with the realities of a bipolar existence; patients' brains are cut to tiny pieces in a clinical search for the medical definition of bliss; a little child's natural fear of the dark is exploded into new mind-bending phobias and a cartoon favorite pays a personal visit to an aging, aching fan. Humor, sheer audacity, and an eclectic array of human fears and expectations placed against each other all make this collection a perfect representation of Effinger's unique voice. He is a truly remarkable talent and one not to be missed.
 Space Opera Noir
from the Master!
Half Tarzan. Half Bogie from The Big Sleep (for which Leigh Brackett wrote the screenplay, along with that guy William Faulkner). After his parents died when he was an infant, Eric John Stark was raised by savage aliens on the Mercurian terminator. Whatever veneer of civilization Stark possesses is thin indeed.
But that's a good thing. For the universe Stark inhabits is a tough place all around—a cosmos where Mars and the planet Skaith make late-'30s Casablanca look like a gated retirement community! Stark is a hard man for hard-boiled times. He's literally noir, too—burned a permanent-midnight-black during his youth under Mercury's harsh sky.
This is wonder-filled, wonderful stuff. It's ERB meets Raymond Chandler—although Brackett truly is in a class by herself . Cynical motives. Politically seething, highly-complex worlds. Clandestine, desperate plots to throw off foreign masters—or just to make a buck off the general suffering of others.
And one man who survives everything bad life can throw at him—and emerges a hero.
Eric John Stark.
You won't regret this journey into Leigh Brackett's master-work. By the way, not only did Brackett co-write the screenplay for The Empire Strikes Back, did you notice that the film was dedicated to her when it came out shortly after her death? Clearly this is a story-teller who has had a world-shaping influence on modern times. Tap it at the source.
With a new introduction by Algis Budrys, a legend himself, and exciting new art by Doug Chaffee, the first of our two Leigh Brackett mega-volumes will feature the Stark novels set on the planet Skaith, starting with The Ginger Star, followed by The Hounds of Skaith and concluding with Reavers of Skaith. The entire "Eric John Stark" saga—including Edmond Hamilton's stories, and the one true collaboration between Edmond Hamilton and Leigh Brackett—will be released February 15, 2008, and will be available in the reader-friendly, unencrypted formats Webscriptions is known for. For the next three months, the Eric John Stark" compilation will go for $20. Then the e-volume dissolves and we offer the individual ebook titles for $4 each.
No shipping fees. No dead tree crumble. Eric John Stark would appreciate this deal—and he isn't easily impressed.
Coming next to Webscriptions: The "Solar System" mega-volume, completing Brackett's legendary saga. And on tap after that? The far-future "Star King" saga of Edmond Hamilton, who was none other than Leigh Brackett's husband and some-time collaborator!
 Prisoners of the Jurassic!
A modern maximum-security prison is thrown back to the Mesozoic. But dinosaurs are the least of guard captain Mark Stephens' problems: his tough-as-nails inmates are revolting and a time-displaced band of murderous conquistadors is on the attack. Time to lay down the law, antediluvian epoch or not!
A new era dawns as alternate history master Eric Flint teams with Marilyn Kosmatka to produce a series set in a Jurassic suddenly teeming with that very dangerous descendant from the future—human beings!
"[R]eads like a Tom Clancy techno-thriller set in the age of the Medicis."
— Publishers Weekly on Eric Flint and Andrew Dennis' New York Times best-seller, 1634: The Galileo Affair.
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