The Spectre General

500 years after the Galactic Empire's collapse, the 427th Light Maintenance Battalion of the Imperial Space Marines stubbornly hold onto their mission, training to repair starships that never come. Their equipment gradually wears out and to all outward appearance, they seem to be primitive savages, living by hunting and farming. When a coup removes Colonel Marcus Harris, commander of the maintenance battalion, in favor of his executive officer, the colonel and a loyal second lieutenant, Kurt Dixon, are jailed. When Dixon escapes, he hides in a battle suit to avoid detection. He accidentally activates it and is propelled into outer space. There, he is rescued by a scout of the new Galactic Protectorate...a ramshackle, barely-functioning organization whose leaders are fighting amongst themselves. The Galactic Protectorate, despite its name, has lost most of the technical expertise to do even routine maintenance on their own equipment. Both sides have something the other needs. But can they possibly work together? And if they do, will it be war -- or the start of a new Galactic Empire? Theodore Cogswell's classic science fiction novella is available in ebook form for the first time in more than a decade!

Theodore Rose Cogswell (1918 - 1987) was an American science fiction author. His first published story, "The Spectre General" in the magazine ASTOUNDING (June 1952), was a humorous tale in which a long-forgotten maintenance brigade of the Imperial Space Marines holds the promise of reinvigorating a declining Galactic empire. It's a classic and was selected by the Science Fiction Writers of America as one of the greatest SF stories of all time. This volume (a reissue of Cogswell's 1968 collection, THE THIRD EYE) presents 16 of his classic stories and is the first of what should eventually be three Cogswell Megapacks, presenting his complete short stories. Included are: NO GUN TO THE VICTOR MR. HOSKIN'S HEEL THE CABBAGE PATCH LIMITING FACTOR DISASSEMBLY LINE A SPUDGET FOR THWILBERT TRAINING DEVICE IMPACT WITH THE DEVIL MACHINE RECORD ONE TO A CUSTOMER THE MAN WHO KNEW GRODNICK LOVER BOY THE OTHER CHEEK MINIMUM SENTENCE THE SHORT COUNT CONVENTIONAL ENDING If you enjoy this book, search your favorite ebook store for "Wildside Press Megapack" to see the more than 100 other entries in the series, covering science fiction, modern authors, mysteries, westerns, classics, adventure stories, and much, much more! (Sort by publication date to see the most recent releases.)

"Abbott offers a fruitful new way to read science fiction, one that also greatly enriches our understanding of western history and its impact on our collective imagination. Detailing the overlap of science fiction and western fiction - especially relating to their mutual interest in and concerns about frontier expansionism - he reveals an unsuspected common ground that informs the writings of both camps." "Reviewing the work of many Hugo and Nebula Award winners, as well as drawing upon popular film and television series (like the Buck Rogers serials), Abbott's study journeys across the far reaches of science fiction's universe."

The Spectre of Comparisons contains important theoretical and historical considerations about the nature of nationalism & the prospects for the Left in the so-called New World Disorder.

Aiming to connect a number of divergent perspectives on the current state of Afghanistan, this book outlines the country's past and present instability and how this impacts and is conceptualised by its neighbours as well as by international heavyweights such as Russia, China and the United States. Given Afghanistan's extensive cross-border ethnic, linguistic, sectarian and cultural ties with its neighbours – whatever transpires in the war-torn country is bound to have regional and global security implications. This study focuses on the current formal and informal defensive policies the states of Central Asia may or may not have in place in the event of the Afghan situation deteriorating further or the Taliban-led insurgency substantially widening their influence. The book also considers the positions and policy responses of three influential actors in the region: Russia, China and the United States. It assesses the convergence of interests between these great powers in stabilising Afghanistan, and their divergence of geopolitical objectives in the region. With President Donald Trump unpredictably upheaving American policy in Afghanistan, an assertive Russia continuing to expand its influence across Central Asia and China seeking to have a wider economic and security role in the region, this book offers a timely assessment of an internationally-important topic.

This study of Babeuf as a political thinker, based on an analysis of his extensive writings, and on scholarship unavailable in English, shows him to be a major precursor of the modern revolutionary socialist tradition. The first part traces Babeuf's political evolution in the context of the French Revolution; the second examines his changing reputation among subsequent historians. The final section assesses the originality of his thought, showing him to be neither a Jacobin nor a Utopian.

They were raised for war - just not this war. Talaren Solus was brought up amidst his father's worries over a looming war of succession, trained from his youth in single combat and battlefield strategy. Rania Amoran is the last of a storied order of mystical warriors, driven by a need for vengeance that she believes beyond her reach. Meeting at Valeran's annual Harvest Tournament, an immediate and irresistible bond of friendship forms between the two. When the ruler of a neighboring nation unearths long-buried secrets of the forbidden art of necromancy, Talaren and Rania are drawn into a desperate struggle to preserve the North from his dark ambitions. Taking up arms in defense of their homeland, together they will have to confront the horrifying truth that against a foe who commands death itself, victory can prove nearly as debilitating as defeat.