Terror stalks the campus of a Minnesota university, where two professors working on classified military research have been brutally murdered. Student Karen Butler fears for her life after her adviser is killed, realizing she's the only one left with detailed knowledge of a new nerve gas defense system plus a terrible nanotech weapon. Karen and her boyfriend, Jack Nelson, a member of the elite military group Eagle Squad, play a dangerous game with an enemy who claims the secrets belong to them. As the pressure mounts, the pair are terrorized by an implacable foe that means to kill them, once it has what it wants. New York Times bestselling author Steve Perry says: "Murder and mayhem and assorted skullduggery skulk through Glass's latest novel, Eagle Squad, and he lays it out with his usual entertaining style and offhand expertise. Jack Nelson and Karen Butler find themselves in the middle of something they don't understand, though as it becomes more clear to them, they realize just how dangerous their lives have become. A first-rate thriller from Jim Glass "

In the tradition of the old Ace Doubles (flip the book over to read the second title), here is the twenty-fourth Wildside Double: TOUCHES OF WONDER AND TERROR: Tales of Dark Fantasy and Science Fiction, by James C. Glass. Here are eight stories of science fiction and fantasy to stir your emotions, amuse you, or give you a night of uneasy sleep. There are fun-loving aliens on tour, a vision quest in the Badlands of North Dakots, a protocol hostess with a most unusual employer, and a cursed knife blade uncovered by children. A space traveler is seduced by a musical, cosmic voice, and a film critic discovers true realism. A warrior learns what valor really is, and a woman climbing a dangerous mountain is aided by a strange being from the past. Great reading from a master wordsmith VOYAGES IN MIND AND SPACE: Stories of Mystery and Fantasy, by James C. Glass. Here are six long stories of mystery, fantasy, and science fiction to entertain you, and a rare poem by the author. A woman and her daughter discover there is more to death than biology, a young student bullied at school finds power in a poster, and a hog farmer begins a journey to his destiny in a rainstorm. A grandson finds himself in danger for suspecting that his grandmother is doing a "bad thing" in her basement. A creature from mythology is reunited with her lover from a distant past, and an astronaut dreams of a love unbounded by space or time. Great reading from a master storyteller

The time: the 1840s. The place: California during the gold rush.

As the white settlers begin penetrating the remote mountain canyons, they discover an ancient race, the Tenanken, who date back at least sixty thousand years. Some members retain the genetic memories of their distant past, while others project mystical visions of comfort and joy. All flee the coming of the white man, and appear to be doomed to extinction.

Only the genius Pegre finds a possible solution: integrate and intermarry with their distant white "cousins," the Hinchai, and form a new entity. He's aided by the girl Baela, whose emerging mental powers only appear every hundred generations -- and opposed by the cruel Tenanken warrior, Hidaig, who supports traditional values, and is willing to kill anyone who opposes him.

Can the ancient and modern be merged and preserved? Or will the special genetic heritage of the Tenanken be lost forever?

JAMES C. GLASS, a retired physics and astronomy professor, sold his first story in 1988, and was the Grand Prize Winner of the Writers of the Future contest in 1990. Since then, he has published six science fiction novels and a short story collection. He lives and works in Washington and California.

NSA agent Eric Price is sent to Sedona, Arizona to investigate strange activities at a secret underground base. A new type of stealth aircraft is being tested there, he discovers. But there's something odd about the set-up, and Eric must investigate further. With the help of the beautiful Nataly, he begins to penetrate the mystery of the Sedona Conspiracy, and discovers that it has extraterrestrial origins. But more than one alien race is involved, and suddenly Eric and Nataly find themselves caught between two warring species--one of which may be their own An exciting science fiction thriller in the grand tradition

A new collection of seventeen science fiction and horror stories by a well-known SF novelist, including four published for the first time. New York Times bestselling author Steve Perry notes in his introduction: "He tends to grab you with the first line and not let go until the last line, and it's an interesting ride all the way through. I do believe Glass has a winner here."

Rubion Federation ship HMS Belsus visits a three-hundred-year-old colony planet, and discovers a society near revolution against the rule of a "transfigured being" known as Toth. Commander Michael Queal's crew and ship are immediately threatened by Toth and his followers, including a host of strange bioengineered creatures unique to the planet.

Only a banished people on a remote island are willing to aid Queal in his fight to bring freedom to the colony, and allow him to survive the wrath of a monstrous, unbalanced dictator. But help sometimes comes from unexpected directions!

The Shanji Trilogy, which began with Shanji and Empress of Light, comes to its stunning conclusion with this tale of three generations of Creators. Kati, the light-wielding genetic changeling who saved her planet and became its empress, is now threatened with assassination. Yesui, Kati’s daughter who came to control mass as well as light, faces revolution and learns the uses of diplomacy. And Bao and Shaan, Yesui’s twin daughters, take the lineage to its limit. Leaving their universe behind, they spin forth a radiant new creation.

Kati used the light of creation to win a war, and now, as empress, she must forge new alliances with former enemies. When her daughter, Yesui, is born with powers exceeding her own, Kati discovers that raising a super-being is no simple task. Yesui, a willful prankster, enjoys torturing her baby brother, Mengjai, who also turns out to be much more than he seems. But Yesui is the true Empress of Light and is later called upon to save a dying gaseous planet by adding mass to its core. There she falls in love with a gentle empath and must help in resisting a coup that endangers his family. Along the way, she discovers beings with powers even greater than her own, and learns that death is only a transformation to something new. 

On the planet Shanji, a ruthless emperor rules a subjugated people. Kati, raised by the lower caste Tumatsin, is taken captive by the emperor’s troops, and then saved by the Searchers, who see her as the promised Empress of Light, whose psychic powers can control the hot light of creation. But those powers can destroy a planet or star, and could be beyond everyone’s control. Kati must decide how to use her abilities when there is a planetary invasion from afar, led by a mighty empress whom she thought of as a friend and teacher. Kati must take charge of her own destiny, not only for herself, but also for Shanji and its neighboring worlds. Born with the heritage of two races, she must rise to rule them both.