Pandora S Gambit

THREE SIDES TO EVERY WAR… In 3069, the extremist Word of Blake group attacked the capital of the Free Worlds League and declared its leader, Captain-General Thomas Marik, to be a fraud. House Marik fell into disgrace, and after eight centuries, the Free Worlds League shattered. Three captains-general now vie to reunite the realm: • Anson Marik of the Marik-Stewart Commonwealth prides himself on possessing Marik blood, and seeks to rule on its strength. • Lester Cameron-Jones of the Regulan Fiefs knows the Marik bloodline is defunct; only a new royal house can resurrect the League. • Jessica Marik of the Oriente Protectorate is on a mission to redeem her father's name: the false Thomas Marik, and the very man who helped destroy the League. The world of Marik becomes a battleground as the three contenders prove they will go to any lengths to further their causes. But only Jessica Marik appears to remember that the Free Worlds League was forged not through military might alone, but also through alliances of trust. They will all find the price for their ambitions is higher than they could ever have imagined. Who will be willing to pay to achieve their dream?

Cops and Robbers to Magic and Monsters. The world just got a lot more complicated for Detective Ray Bradley. The streets of Miami are flooded with a mysterious drug that has the populace seeing monsters. Ray Bradley is the undercover narcotics detective assigned to work the case. However, things quickly get out of hand when a secretive DEA agent shows up with the credentials to take over. Ray soon finds himself immersed in a world he no longer understands. A world of myth and legend. A world of Elves and Orcs. But, what's more odd than that. It seems they've been here the entire time, living among us. Heralded as Miami Vice meets Lord of the Rings, The Pandora Gambit is a low magic, low fantasy, epic, set in modern day. Dust off your blazer and grab a cocktail. The Pandora Gambit is going to take you for a ride!

On 25 October 3069, the extremist Word of Blake attacked the capital world of the Free Worlds League and declared the League’s leader, Captain-General Thomas Marik, a fraud. House Marik fell into disgrace and, after eight centuries of existence, the Free Worlds League shattered. Three captains-general now vie to reunite the realm:Anson Marik of the Marik-Stewart Commonwealth prides himself on possessing Marik blood and seeks to rule on its strength. Lester Cameron-Jones of the Regulan Fiefs knows the Marik bloodline is defunct; only a new royal house can resurrect the League. Jessica Marik of the Oriente Protectorate is on a mission to redeem her father’s name: the false Thomas Marik, the man who helped destroy the League. They will all find the price for their ambitions is higher than they could ever have imagined. Who will be willing to pay?

More information to be announced soon on this forthcoming title from Penguin USA.

KNIVES IN THE DARK… Captain-General Jessica Marik is holding the reborn Free Worlds League together by the might of her indomitable will, and has managed to keep all of the interstellar nation’s foes at bay. But even the strongest and most inspiring leaders have chinks in their armor. After a personal tragedy, Jessica vanishes from the public eye, leaving no hand on the tiller of the fractious nation as multiple hostile neighbors drag them into open warfare. Beset on all sides, the League must navigate the flames of war with no direction from the top, leaving Warden-General Nikol Marik, Jessica’s youngest child, in control of the League’s military forces at a time when the nation needs her mother’s leadership the most. Nikol steps up to the challenge, however, as this is the moment she has been preparing for her entire life. But forces in the shadows seek to capitalize on the chaos and bring the Free Worlds League to its knees from within. The threat of coups and assassins sets the League on edge as Nikol strives to maintain the unity her mother had fought so hard to achieve, even if it means putting herself in danger. But she is not alone. At her right hand stands General Wilburn Kirkland, commander of the Ducal Guard, Jessica’s personal bodyguard regiment. Together they must discover who the League’s true enemies are, and hunt them to the ends of the Inner Sphere if necessary...

SOMETHING LURKS IN THE SHADOWS… During the chaos of the Word of Blake’s Jihad, the MechWarriors of the Federated Suns will go to any lengths to defend their nation from the Blakists’ unholy terror—including making deals with the devil. But that devil might just be a literal one: an all-black Marauder, hidden for several decades, that carries an aura of dread that infects everyone who encounters it. Many blame it for causing unexplained disappearances, technical failures, and even madness. But what is the so-called Dark One? Is it merely a ghost story told to scare pirates on the edge of the Periphery, or does something truly evil live beneath its cold, blackened armor? This anthology collects the first three of Lance Scarinci’s stories about the Dark One, along with a brand-new fourth story exclusive to this volume.

A HERD DIVIDED… For the entirety of its existence, Clan Hell’s Horses has been underestimated by its fellow Clans. The inclusion of tanks and infantry alongside their BattleMech forces has often unfairly forced the Horses into lopsided alliances with other Clans. As competing Clans race headlong to conquer Terra, the birthplace of humanity, the Horses must focus on survival rather than the glory of conquest. But many Horses want more, and they refuse to be shouldered aside as Clans Jade Falcon and Wolf reap the rewards of their campaign toward Terra. Star Captain Peter Cobb, a controversial rising star and military scholar, sees a new trail for the Hell’s Horses to blaze. This path would put the Clan on a fiery trajectory to earn the victories and respect they rightfully deserve, and push the Clan toward a prosperous future. But few embrace his controversial ideas and, divided by distrust and ambition, the leadership of his Clan lacks the will to ensure that the Hell’s Horses will be strong enough to survive the tumultuous conflicts ahead. Caught between the bloody agendas of two rival Khans—a political maneuverer and a bellicose warmonger—Peter must find a way to restore the soul of the Hell’s Horses without sullying his honor, or risk dooming his entire Clan to extinction in the face of a rising power unlike any the Inner Sphere has ever seen…