Showing results by author "Fred Saberhagen" in All Categories

Five hundred years have passed since the combined fleets of humanity met and broke the berserker armada at Stone Place. But though the human victory was total, one of the killer machines (weaponless, its star drive a ruin) managed to limp to a secret sanctuary on a planet called Hunter's World. Over the years, a new cult has arisen there, a cult dedicated to Death as the only and ultimate Good.

Long ago, the gods forged Twelve Swords of Power and threw them on the gameboard of life for greedy mortals to scramble over. Too late, the gods learned that they had forged too well; the Swords could kill the gods themselves. Now, ages later, the Swords are back in human hands, as powerful as ever. Vilkata the Dark King returns from exile seeking revenge on those who defeated him. His first goal is the vault in which is enemy Prince Mark has placed the remaining Swords; with these in hand, none can oppose his rule.

Wayfinder, the Sword of Wisdom, finds its way into the hands of a simple vine-grower in search of the perfect wife. Mark searches desperately for Woundhealer, the Sword that will cure his Princess. The evil wizard Wood would have Woundhealer and Wayfinder. For what purpose? At what price? Yambu and Zoltan continue their pilgrimage, hoping to encounter Yambu’s one-time husband, the enigmatic Emperor. Quests and battles. Magic and wit. All here as Wayfinder leads you to adventure.

Now the great Mindsword is in play. Murat of Culm with the help of Coinspinner has located the Blade. Knowing Mindsword brings blind devotion to whoever wields it, Murat plans to keep the Sword sheathed until he can gift it to the beautiful Princess Kristin of Tasavalta to win her free affections and to make reparation for a grave past transgression. The power of the Sword and the intentions of the Murat’s son and advisors make for twists and turns in Murat’s once honorable plan.

The gods forged the Twelve Swords of Power; now the gods have been destroyed by their own handiwork. The Swords are loose in the world, falling into the hands of human beings, changing human lives for good and ill. Young Kasimir was the custodian of Stonecutter, the sword which can hew mountains and split diamonds with equal ease - until he discovers Stonecutter has been stolen.

A sci-fi epic of vengeance in the vein of Moby Dick and The Searchers. If you like those stories, and enjoy moviegoing experiences like The Matrix and The Terminator, this is a must-listen for you!

Our wars were behind us. Mankind was moving out from the planet of its birth. New worlds were settled, and with the wealth of the galaxy at hand, poverty was eliminated. Then, out of a clear summer sky, came the first berserker attack. This collection of short stories continues the ongoing saga of the berserker wars with “The Machinery of Lies”, “Masque of the Red Shift”, “In the Temple of Mars”, “Brother Berserker”, and “Smasher.”

First, strange odors . . . and nightmares that stretch across Time. Images of a hideous machine dragging Indians, colonials, slaves to an ancient mound . . . then a hellish light pulses from a hidden room . . . and suddenly Dan Post is trapped, his mind sane, but his body possessed by a galactic probe programmed to collect - Specimens. Human specimens. Now, with no hands, no voice, locked in the ultimate prison, Dan must battle an immortal alien machine, even as it forces him to kidnap its final victims....

This novel brings to life a most unique world and brings together a number of characters from a multitude of different generations as a result of a mysterious physical phenomenon that annually captures visitors to the planet and makes them prisoners in time. A fascinating story that has few parallels.

Before George Lucas's Death Star, before Star Trek's Doomsday Machine, came the Berserkers, intelligent, space-faring killing machines whose sole purpose is to destroy all life. The Berserkers have developed a new trick: Berserker units that can pass for human-created androids. They're gambling on the advantage this gives them and massing for an all-out attack on human-held space.

Emiliano Nowell was a world-class genetic engineer. He was also a wealthy and idealistic man with the time and money necessary to follow his dreams. In secret laboratories far from Earth he used his powers to create 100 genetically perfect children...an enlightened cadre Nowell hoped would lead humanity out of that maze of war, famine, torture, and death called history. But the Golden People proved to be more intelligent than even he believed possible.

For centuries two meg-powers from the future have been waging war for control of timelines of history. Alan Norlund, a WWII airman vet, is promised a lifesaving cure for his granddaughter, if he will undertake a mission 50 years back in time to the 1933 Chicago World's Fair. Hitler with his "angels" from the opposing power would like to take over our timeline and 1933 Chicago may be just the place to start.

On the Twin World planets, Plenipotentiary Gregor is determined to serve his government - even if it means executing innocent Huvean hostages, invaders from another planet - and even though Gregor's own granddaughter, Luon, is in love with a Huvean. But now the Berserkers are threatening the Twin Worlds, capturing the planets' president and reprogramming his brain to suit their violent agenda. And only the Huveans, in a desperate reprieve, can save the Twin Worlds' populace from annihilation.

In a sector of the Galaxy occupied by Earth-descended people, one Berserker computer has suddenly and mysteriously developed a tactical strategy unlike anything the human opposition has seen before. Shiva, like the Hindu god of destruction after which it was named, annihilates entire colonies with the help of its fiendish subordinates. Commander Claire Normandy struggles to prepare for Shiva's attacks, while Pilot Harry Silver realizes that he must deal with his own demons in order to help her.

Prince Murat of Culm possesses Coinspinner, the Sword of Chance which brings untold good fortune to its owner. Can Coinspinner aid Murat in his efforts to acquire Woundhealer, the Sword of healing Murat’s ruler desperately needs? Or through lack of wit and Coinspinner’s propensity to whimsically change owners will Murat find himself caught up in different quest? Prince Adrian, away at a school for magic, is assigned a test of his abilities. More challenges than a school trial await him.

Long ago, the gods forged Twelve Swords of Power and threw them on the gameboard of life to watch men scramble. But they had forged too well: The Swords could kill the gods themselves. Now the gods gone, the Swords are scattered across the land, some held by those of good heart...others by those whose purposes are evil...and one, Sightblinder, is held by Arnfinn, a young country boy who knows nothing of the Tale of Swords or of Sightblinder's power; to make the viewer see that which he most desires - or most fears.

Long, long ago, the Gods forged Twelve Swords of Power, each with a unique and deadly quality. They forged too well, for the swords could kill the Gods themselves. Then the swords were lost, scattered across the land; and many are they, both good and evil, who are desperate to find them again. This story is of Farslayer, the sword that can kill from across an entire world. The game is fierce; the prize is the sword.

In post-Arthurian England, 10-year old Amby and the troupe of traveling players he belongs to are on the run from a conqueror. He has been gifted with second-sight, and when the troupe stumbles upon an unoccupied castle he is the only one in the group who senses the power that lies within the stone building. In the near future, the Fisher King, Mordred and Morgan le Fay seek to gain control of Dr. Elaine Brusen’s hypostater, a machine capable of altering fundamental reality.

It drove men mad...but each in a different way. In one the effect was total, utter addiction. In another, a compulsion to absolute obedience. In a third, idealistic monomania. In a fourth, unending, all-consuming lust. Of all the enigmas surrounding the planet Kappa, none was more inscrutable than that mysterious liquid central to all the native rites.There was, in fact, only one certainty about it: Now that it threatened to contaminate the worlds of Earth, its source would have to be destroyed.

In a world where zero population growth is strictly enforced and sexual permissiveness is the chief means of control, a young woman's decision to bear her third child makes her the target of concerted oppression.