H. Beam Piper is one of science fiction's most enigmatic writers. In 1946 Piper appeared seemingly from out of nowhere, already at the top of his form. He published a number of memorable short stories in the premier science fiction magazine of the time, Astounding Science Fiction, under legendary editor John W. Campbell. Piper quickly became friends with many of the top writers of the day, including Lester Del Rey, Fletcher Pratt, Robert Heinlein and L. Sprague de Camp. Piper also successfully made the turn from promising short story writer to major novelist, authoring Four-Day Planet, Cosmic Computer, Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen and Little Fuzzy, which was nominated for a Hugo award. Even those who counted Piper among their friends knew very little about the man or his life as a railroad yard bull in Altoona, Pennsylvania. This biography illuminates H. Beam Piper, both the writer and the man, and answers lingering questions about his death. Appendices include a number of Piper's personal papers, a complete bibliography of Piper's works, and an essay on Piper's Terro-Human Future History series.

RAINBOW RUN is a novel of the far future, detailing a world where the normal rules have been turned over, and upside down. When one of its denizens awakens from a stupor, he discovers he's in the Rainbow Room, a triangular room filled with pitfalls where the first misstep will be the last. He quickly discovers that his memory has been stripped away, and he's left with no knowledge of himself or the world he finds himself inhabiting. With the help of Errox, a mysterious and malevolent stranger, who names him Rathe, he manages to escape the Color Wheel, only to discover that the danger outside in the urbodes is omnipresent and difficult to evade. Everywhere Rathe turns, everyone he meets is only interested in using him for their own advancement in the war of shades. In a world where the color of your wristlock determines your fate, Rathe is a lost soul desperately trying to learn the rules of a game that has no rules. Meanwhile, Rathe is on a quest to find out his true identity and why he was brainwiped. The answers are everywhere and nowhere. Most of the people he meets are so busy playing the Color Game they have little or awareness of the larger world they inhabit. In this world, only those wearing the rainbow wristlocks have universal access and immortality. Not only does he have to figure out who he is, but how to survive in the midst of growing chaos....

War World: Jihad is the third volume in a grand reissue of the War World anthologies presenting Haven's history in a chronological fashion. Jihad is a trade hardcover and includes seven new stories, a short novel and one previously published yarn. The CoDominium is fraying apart at the seams, and to save itself the Soviet/American coalition is exporting Earth's problems to the outer worlds, including exiling millions of Earth's fanatic Muslims on Haven. Nor is this volatile situation helped when off-worlders from Levant arrive to support the rebels with military advisors and advanced weaponry. When Dire Lake dries up, famine and pestilence arrive with a vengeance. The Faithful believe that this is a sign from Allah: the time has arrived to overthrow the corrupt CoDominium lackeys and their Company sponsors in the Northern Steppes. So the Mahdi declares a Jihad and warfare breaks out with only a thin blue line between the jihadists and what remains of civilization on Haven. In a last-ditch attempt to save the Haven colony, Admiral Lermontov sends in the 42nd Marines. Will the Marines arrive in time? And if they do, can they stop the jihadists and save the overwhelmed CoDominium Marine garrison at Fort Camerone? Or will they be undone by the Brotherhood and other off-world powers seeking the dissolution of the CoDominium?