After the first flowering of the Terran Empire, which has grown increasingly decadent and corrupt, other civilizations in the galaxy threaten to take over the Terran's worlds. In this scenario steps the debonair, tough and pessimistic Dominic Flandry, half-Hans Solo, half-James Bond and a hero for the ages!

SUMMARY: The Polesotechnic League of star traders was prospering, and Nicholas Van Rijn, its most flamboyant member, was prospering most of all as commerce flowed between the stars. But not all League members played fair when trading, nor did some of the non-human races of the galaxy object to dirty tricks. Van Rijn could not be everywhere, and relied on his representatives, foremost among them his young protege, David Falkayn, and the members of David's trader team: Adzel, a large dragon-likr being who practiced Buddhism, and Chee-Lan, a brilliant but hot-tempered felinesque extraterrestrial. This is the second volume in the first complete edition of Poul Anderson's Technic Civilization saga. And, after the three volumes chronicling the Polesotechnic League's rise and fall will come more volumes, telling of the rise of the Terran Empire and the adventures of Poul Anderson's other legendary character, Captain Sir Dominic Flandry.

The first of three volumes collecting ALL of the Psychotechnic League future history stories, from multiple Hugo- and Nebula-award-winning author Poul Anderson. After World War III ravages the globe, humanity, led by the Psychotechnic Institute, bands together to create peace on Earth and to spread that peace throughout the solar system and beyond. But soon the cycle of war and destruction begins anew. Includes short stories never before collected in a Psychotechnic League volume. FROM THE ASHES OF WORLD WAR III World War III has ravaged the globe. Once great nations have been brought to their knees. Now, a new science offers hope for the future: Psychodynamics, the ability to influence government and popular opinion. Led by the Psychotechnic Institute, humanity denounces its violent ways, once and for all. While peace reigns on Earth, humankind ventures out into the Solar System—and to the stars beyond. But soon the cycle of war and destruction begins anew. The first of three volumes collecting all of multiple Hugo- and Nebula-Award winning author Poul Anderson's massive future history magnum opus. Includes short stories previously uncollected in a Psychotechnic League volume! About Poul Anderson: "One of science fiction's authentic geniuses."–Chicago Sun-Times “Anderson fuses elegiac prose and a sweeping vision of man’s technological future…”–Booklist   “One of science fiction’s giants.”–Arthur C. Clarke **

WAS THE DEMONIC ENTITY WHO RULED THE ISLAND TRULY SATANIC, OR MERELY A MALEVOLENT ALIEN? On an isolated island, seven people with a desperate need for money play a game conceived by an intelligence of perfect evil. The rules are simple: each player will perform an act; each of the others must duplicate it, or be eliminated. All that the players have in common is their desperation. One is a mercenary soldier with a taste for proving his manhood through self-torture. Another is a porno-starlet. A third is a perfectly ordinary mother whose seven-year-old's life depends on a million-dollar medical treatment... Each of the seven thinks he or she will do anything... all but one of them are wrong.

The virtual persona of a long-dead visionary entrepreneur threatens to incite a revolution from space that could topple Earth's powerful and repressive religious-technological dictatorship in this ingenious science fiction classic In the future, individual freedom is a thing of the past. North America is a police state controlled by the Avantist government, a despotic, techno-religious ruling order that promises an impending transcendence for the oppressed. Space, however, remains free, thanks to Anson Guthrie's powerful Fireball Corporation. Guthrie's corporeal self died many generations ago, but his essence lives on, preserved forever in a computerized state that enables him to inspire his loyal employees and adherents to keep reaching for the farthest stars. But now the totalitarian enemy, led by sadistic secret policeman Enrique Sayre, has gained possession of a Guthrie download, intending to subvert it to the Avantist cause, thereby breaking Fireball's hold on...

A mythic tale of space travelers marooned on a planet engulfed in the flames of war and of the immortal hero who endeavors to save them in the name of love In a far-future era, death is virtually no more, banished except in the case of severe, violent trauma, enabling mankind to spend what were once entire lifetimes exploring the farthest reaches of the vast universe. When the interstellar vessel Meteor is dispatched to investigate a distant orb circling a giant red sun, an error in calculations sends the ship crashing into a different world altogether, casting its surviving crew into the heart of a savage, planetwide war of primitive alien tribes. With no means of escape and hostiles on every side, the situation appears hopeless for Captain Felip Argens. But for the mission's true leader—crewman, adventurer, and ship's bard Hugh Valland—impossible is not an option. If necessary, he will alter destiny to end the terrible conflict and bring his...

The planet Ishtar has three suns: Bel, the “real” sun, the Life Giver. Ea, the Companion who warms the Ishtaran summers. Anu, the Demon Star. Mostly Anu is so far away that it is just a light in the Ishtaran sky. But once every thousand years it comes close. It is then that the barbarians must flee their scorched lands, and civilizations fall. The natives call this Fire Time. Always before, its coming had meant the death of a civilization. But this time, the humans are here, and they have brought with them their magical technology. This time things could have been different. Too bad that the humans are suddenly faced with a war of their own, their own Fire Time . Nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1975.

On an Earth that barely survived a nuclear holocaust, visionaries who dream of reaching for the stars attempt to revive the forbidden technology that once destroyed their world Centuries ago, humankind was nearly destroyed in a nuclear apocalypse. Many generations have passed since that terrible time, and the remnants of civilization have re-formed into separate, vastly different societies. The dominant culture of a widely diminished Earth, the ecologically sensitive Maurai hold fast to their belief that "non-green" science is an unacceptable evil. But the reborn dream of space flight harbored by a forward-thinking few could herald the revival of the nuclear technology that once ravaged the planet and its people—and the powerful Maurai Federation will take every step necessary, no matter how drastic, to prevent doomsday from dawning again. An enthralling work of speculative fiction, Poul Anderson's Orion Shall Rise is a feat of...

A would-be artist is ensnared in a desperate conspiracy, born on the Earth's moon, to break free of the artificial intelligence controlling the universe Many centuries in the future, no great destiny for humankind exists on Earth. The Lunarians, genetically engineered human adaptations bred to survive on the moon, have spread out toward the stars. But not even their colony on distant Proserpina is free from the suffocating influence of the Teramind, the vast network of intelligent machines that preserves order and logic in the universe. In his search for inspiration, poet and pilot Jesse Nichol discovers a new purpose when he reunites with his former lover, the mesmerizing Lunarian Falaire. Coerced into criminal hijacking, Jesse suddenly finds himself part of a bold anti-artificial intelligence conspiracy that could ultimately spell disaster, for nothing escapes the Teramind, especially humanity's desperate pursuit of freedom. And when human and machine are...

Hear then of a time when the Lochlannach first came a viking into Eire, of a time when the gentle Christos was new-come to the land and an elder magic flickered still – and once in a great while, under just the right conditions and with a very special curse, might flare up into full life again.

IN SAVAGE FURY From the golden city of Venice to bloody Gallipoli, from the barbaric stretches of northern Europe to the smoldering earth of Byzantium, plundering hordes of every description hacked and tore at the once-mighty Roman Empire. The giant of the world was faltering, bleeding from a thousand wounds as it tried to hold its snarling enemies at bay. These were days of savagery and splendor, when wanton fury fed men's souls and only the powerful endured. For Lucas Greco, the warrior rogue whose sword had become a legend in every language, the horror and cruelty of war were like daggers in his flesh, goading him from battle to battle and woman to woman in a desperate effort to wrench beauty and meaning from a chaotic world. Then, scarred by war and love, he found in the arms of a pagan slave the promise of peace-and the deadliest challenge of his life!

Parts of this book were published as separate short stories in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction: “Time Patrol” May 1955; “Delenda est” Dec 1955; “Brave To Be A King” Aug 1959; “The Only Game in Town” Jan 1960; “Gibraltar Falls” Oct 1975. Guardians of Time collection was first published in Oct 1962; “Gibraltar Falls” was added to it in Oct 1981 edition.