Frank Carlson Library

When space pilots dance, they move... readers asked the questions: What happens when Korval moves to Surebleak? What happens when Pat Rin and Val Con get together? What happens when Aunt Kareen tries to bring the Code to the frontier? Answers to some of these perplexing questions can be found in "Lord of the Dance," an original Liaden Universe® story appearing for the first time in With Stars Underfoot. Series readers will recognize most of the...

Are you feeling lucky? Mar Tyn eys'Ornstahl is a lucky man. His very presence can determine the fall of a card, the spin of a wheel, or whether the bread will rise or fall. In fact, Mar Tyn eys'Ornstahl isn't merely lucky. Mar Tyn is a Luck; a focal point for the elemental force of random event. While most people think that there is good luck and bad, Mar Tyn knows better. Luck is Luck; only the aftermath of Luck's presence can be found to be good...

A faction of renegade priestesses is seeking to circumvent the Dyan City High Priestess to outlaw "hedge magicians." Their reason is that such "bogus magic" confuses the simple, and diverts awe and respect that ought to be reserved for the true magic worked by priestesses in the name of the Goddess. Meanwhile, Master Magician Lute arrives in Dyan City on Beltane Eve, driven there by the will of the Goddess. Is he a sacrifice? Or is he the Hammer...

Meanwhile, on another side of the Universe. . .Meet Gem ser'Edreth, a wizard with electronics and a freelance thief. Deliberately solitary, unencumbered by family or friends, he immerses himself in his profession, rising to a pinnacle of skill so exalted that the planetary crime boss seeks him out with a commission to steal. Refusing the commission, of course, is his first mistake.Gem's hidden past proves an unexpected liability and his plants to...

Included in this volume is "Veil of the Dancer," in which a scholar with three daughters properly marries off the two eldest, while teaching the youngest, Inas, how to read and thereby endangering them all. Also included is "Quiet Knives," which finds Captain Rolanni with time on her hands time to fulfill a promise she made years ago to a man who may no longer be a friend."Put plainly and simply, I like the Liaden books. . .for a whole slew of reasons....

When Ceola's bar-partner sister finds interest in the business waning, even leaving for days on end without warning, the tavernista needs help and she needs it fast. But along with the bar her sister has abandoned a young lover known to his friends as Shadow... and whoever else he is, he's not one to permit a good thing to die. A Scout to his core, young Shadow introduces Ceola to Jasper, and to other possibilities she never knew existed, in "Shadow...

Together again for the first time! Three stories set in the Liaden Universe®, featuring characters who may not embrace honor fully. Included are: Excerpt from Two Lives, Dark Secrets, and Revolutionists. All three stories have been previously published.

In early 2018, the writing team of Lee and Miller threw away the first 70,000 words of a Liaden novel. They weren't bad words; merely, they weren't the right words. The book that rose from the ashes of this failed draft, Accepting the Lance, was published by Baen Books. Some of the 70,000 words of failed draft found their way into that novel, but about 44,000--didn't. They were still perfectly good words, and strung together, they presented an interesting...

Contains two shorter works set in Lee and Miller's Liaden Universe®. Short story "A Visit to the Galaxy Ballroom," which first appeared on the Baen Books website; original novelette "Ambient Conditions;" and an authors' foreword. "Galaxy Ballroom" explores the rift that has opened in the Scouts subsequent to Korval's removal to the planet Surebleak, and the consequences of loyalty. "Ambient Conditions" details a dark time in Liaden history, and looks...