Jerry Pournelle Books

After losing three significant battles to the humans, the Kzin begin to wonder if their combative diplomatic style is working, and they decide to reevaluate their strategy

Exploring the timeless conflict between freedom and tyranny, this volume features two complete novels by bestselling author Pournelle. "Birth of Fire" delves into the challenges faced by those fighting for liberty, while "King David's Spaceship" presents a gripping narrative of adventure and resilience in a galactic setting. Together, these stories offer a compelling examination of the human spirit's quest for autonomy in the face of oppression.

A modern soldier finds himself abducted by aliens and thrust into a world populated by warriors from various historical eras, including medieval knights and Roman soldiers. His primary challenge is to navigate this perilous environment and ensure his survival. This volume features three best-selling works by Jerry Pournelle, showcasing his unique blend of science fiction and military adventure.

For the first few years, Rick Galloway and his band of mercenaries were doing well just to survive. They'd been swept off a hilltop in Africa by a flying saucer, and deposited on an alien world where the other inhabitants were human - but from various and unfriendly periods of history, all collected by flying saucer raids. Rick has faced facts: This place is going to be home, permanently. To create a society safe for themselves and the families they are gradually building, they need to do more than just survive. The must convince the others that a unified, peaceful society is better than a collection of warring tribes. Force would not be Rick's chosen method of persuasion,but on a planet where the other dominant culture is one brought straight from ancient Rome, force may be the only way.

Contents * xi • Introduction (Nebula Award Stories 16) • (1982) • essay by Jerry Pournelle * 1 • Grotto of the Dancing Deer • (1980) • shortstory by Clifford D. Simak * 22 • Why Is There So Little Science in Literature? • (1982) • essay by Gregory Benford * 31 • Ginungagap • (1980) • novelette by Michael Swanwick * 65 • Unicorn Tapestry • (1980) • novella by Suzy McKee Charnas * 124 • 1980: Whatever Weirdness Lingers • (1982) • essay by Michael Glyer * 137 • Rautavaara's Case • (1980) • shortstory by Philip K. Dick * 149 • 1980: The Year in Fantastic Films • (1982) • essay by Bill Warren * 168 • The Ugly Chickens • (1980) • novelette by Howard Waldrop * 192 • What Did 1980 Mean? • (1982) • essay by Algis Budrys * 210 • Secrets of the Heart • (1980) • shortstory by Charles L. Grant * 220 • Nebula Awards • essay by uncredited * 225 • Hugo Awards • essay by uncredited

"NO REST FOR THE WEARY! Rick Galloway's still not sure what inspired him to volunteer to fight Cubans in Angola, and he certainly never expected to end his African adventure shanghaied by a flying saucer when his CIA superiors cut him and his men adrift as the Cubans overran their final position. He didn't expect to end up on the planet Tran, God only knew how many light-years from Earth, raising drugs for an alien cartel under the auspices-more or less-of a galactic civilization administered and run by a slave class of humans for their alien masters, either. But he did. And since then, he's survived mutinies, civil wars, battles against Byzantine "Romans," medieval knights, and Mongol raiders on a world where catastrophic "climate change" races unchecked through a 600-year cycle. Along the way he's found love, lost it, found it again, and become a great noble . . . all the while knowing his alien "employers" will probably nuke his people back into the Stone Age when they're done. He's managed his impossible balancing act for 13 years. He's lost people he cared about, been forced to do things he's hated, and tried along the way to make life better for the people trapped on Tran with him, and he's tired. So tired. But now, everything has changed . . . again. New Starmen have arrived on Tran, with dangerous gifts and star weapons of their own. Everything Rick Galloway thought he knew about his mission on Tran is about to be turned on its head. And everyone expects him to fix it"-- Provided by publisher

Records the reactions of people awaiting a comet which they fear will crack the earth and cause a new ice age.

The people of Tep's Town are desperate. Monstrous invaders have emerged from the desert, and people are being slaughtered. Danger on the roads means no trade. No trade means that Tep's Town itself will die. The fire god Yangin-Atep has retreated into myth, leaving the town's residents unprotected for the first time in its history - and they now face an army of fearsome birds with blades for wings, consumed by an inexorable lust for blood. Lord Sandry and his beloved, Burning Tower, must travel far beyond the walls of their home to discover the origin of these terror birds. They enter a world where magic is still strong - and someone or something has been waiting to destroy them ...

In the year 3016, the Second Empire of Man spans hundreds of star systems, thanks to the faster-than-light Alderson Drive. No other intelligent beings have ever been encountered, not until a light sail probe enters a human system carrying a dead alien. The probe is traced to the Mote, an isolated star in a thick dust cloud, and an expedition is dispatched. In the Mote the humans find an ancient civilization--at least one million years old--that has always been bottled up in their cloistered solar system for lack of a star drive. The Moties are welcoming and kind, yet rather evasive about certain aspects of their society. It seems the Moties have a dark problem, one they've been unable to solve in over a million years

High tech war -- and how to avoid itThe answer is simple: you would have peace? Then prepare for war. This wisdom is as old as armies. Yet after a few generations, the peace that was paid for with soldiers' blood comes to seem the normal thing, the ordinary thing, and the guardians of peace come to be the symbol of it's opposite.That is the theme of the second volume in this series: in the future as in the past, you must _guard_ your peace, or there will be war.In times of danger, survival isn't easy. It takes intelligence, strategy-- and a certain ruthlessness on the part of leaders who know that public safety depends on public strength.Every society will have it's wars. Thus every society must have it's army -- or be prepared to surrender to one.