A collection that includes the Nebula Award-winning titular novella and "Light and Shadow," the story that begins the Saga of the Skolian Empire series. In "The Spacetime Pool," recent MIT grad Janelle Aulair is hiking through the Great Smoky Mountains when a man appears out of nowhere to request her help. Shaken by his impossible appearance, she steps away--and falls through a portal onto a beach in another universe. That's when Dominick, the man who waylaid Janelle, reveals she is part of a prophecy. It foretells a bizarre future: if Dominick marries Janelle, he'll depose his twin brother and become Emperor of the land. If Dominick doesn't marry her, his brother--a brutal tyrant who will do anything to keep his throne--will murder him. Janelle finds herself caught in a conflict that could destroy the realm. If that's not mind-blowing enough, she discovers books that prove this civilization achieved interstellar travel five centuries ago. Yet now they're living in a culture that doesn't have electricity, riding two-horned creatures that definitely aren't horses, and sword-fighting. To find her way home, Janelle must figure out what happened between then and now . . . The Spacetime Pool also includes Catherine Asaro's first-ever published story, "Light and Shadow," featuring Kelric, a popular character from the Saga of the Skolian Empire series, and an illustrated essay on the math in her fiction titled "A Poetry of Angles and Dreams." Praise for Catherine Asaro "Readers seeking the harmonious meld of hard SF's rigor and human chemistry's heat should read Catherine Asaro's fiction." --SciFi Weekly

INFINITE STARS

This is the definitive collection of original short stories by many of today s finest authors, writing brand new adventures set in their most famous series. Herein lie canonical tales of the Honorverse, the Lost Fleet, Dune, Vatta s War, Ender Wiggin, the Legion of the Damned, the Imperium, and more.

Also included are past masterpieces by authors whose works defined the genre. Nebula and Hugo Award winners, New York Times bestsellers, and Science Fiction Grand Masters these authors take us to the farthest regions of space.

The modern masters of space opera and military science fiction, with 14 brand new stories set in their most famous universes exclusive to this volume!

"Powerful characterization and intriguing scientific concepts . . . an elegant subtlety and a far-reaching sense of destiny that carries [Asaro] to the highest rank of master storyteller." --Romantic Times Reeling from a battle, pilot Kelric Valdoria crash-lands his Jag starfighter on Coba, the closest safe planet he can find after a Trader squad cripples his ship. Although the military of Kelric's people have given Coba Restricted status, Kelric sees no reason for such draconian measures to isolate the seemingly benign world. While recovering, the dashing Kelric becomes the target of affection for high-powered women in Coba's matriarchal society, including Deha Dahl, an Estate Manager, and young Ixpar Karn, the chosen successor of the Minister. Distracted by their flirtations, Kelric doesn't at first realize the Restricted status of the planet was their own choice--and that they can't risk letting him go. However, Kelric's internal biomech system is failing, causing his brain to malfunction. His only hope is to escape. But when his attempt fails, ending in the death of a guard, he must face a trial that could mean his execution, unless he can win the trust of the people who both covet and fear him . . . "Well-written, entertaining, classic science fiction fun." --The Plain Dealer "Impossible to put down." --L. E. Modesitt, Jr., New York Times-bestselling author "A smoothly absorbing space opera that mixes high-tech gimmickry with galactic politics and plenty of romance." --Publishers Weekly

The first book in the Skolian Empire saga by the Nebula Award-winning author. "Fast, smart, speculative . . . another stellar debut." --Los Angeles Daily News Soz Valdoria, a bioengineered fighter pilot--and first in line for the military command of her people--has found refuge with her squad on the sanctuary planet of Delos. It offers a respite from the war that rages between her Skolian people and their enemies, the Traders. Looking for rest and relaxation, they must still be on their guard for the Trader soldiers who also visit the sanctuary. In a bar, they confront the worst of the worst: an Aristo from the Trader ruling caste, seemingly on the prowl for a "provider" he can use for his barbaric impulses. His presence takes Soz back to her days as a prisoner of war, when she became the plaything of a sadistic and soulless Aristo. And yet something is off about this Aristo. Unable to ignore her instincts, Soz searches the city until she finds him in a secured mansion. Breaching its fortifications and eluding its guards, she discovers a devastating truth: this man is no true Aristo. He is a genetic anomaly like Soz, one of the few people who can handle the massive neurological demands of the psibernet, the technological marvel that gives the Skolians their only advantage over the Traders. This false Aristo, this sheep in a wolf's clothing, is heir to the Trader throne. The emperor created him for one reason--to take control of the Skolian network and conquer Soz's people. But Soz has never felt such a connection as she does to this Trader heir. It may prove her--and the universe's--undoing . . . "This is one of the best SF first novels in years." --Booklist

"New York Times" bestselling authors Mary Jo Putney, Jo Beverley, and Lois McMaster Bujold join forces with award-winning authors Catherine Asaro, Jennifer Roberson, and Deb Stover in this all-new anthology of original stories proving that love can conquer all...even the boundaries of time and space.
From sixteenth-century Britain to the farthest reaches of outer space, from medieval adventures to tales of inter-galactic love, here is a compilation that explores the wonderfully kinetic forces that lovers share-forces too great to resist...