A Note on the Arrangement by Eduard Pech
The Edge of the Knife by H. Beam Piper
For Professor Edward Chalmers, history isn’s something you study—it’s something you experience before it even happens.
While his colleagues at Blanley College are preoccupied with the past, Chalmers is haunted by a “memory” of things yet to come: the launch of secret rockets, the rise of new empires, and the shifting borders of a world not yet formed. To his students, he is a brilliant eccentric; to his administration, he is a liability; and to the skeptics, he is simply losing his grip on reality.
But when a high-profile political assassination occurs exactly as Chalmers described it in his lectures, the “slips of the tongue” become something far more dangerous. Suddenly, the professor is no longer just a man fighting for tenure; he is the center of a global storm involving parapsychologists, international media, and shadowy intelligence agencies.
Omnilingual by H. Beam Piper
Dust storms swirl across the crimson plains of Mars, burying the ghosts of a lost civilization. Martha Dane is part of an expedition tasked with unearthing its secrets, a city frozen in time for fifty thousand years. But amidst the crumbling ruins and alien artifacts, a deeper challenge looms: to understand the language of those who vanished.
She meticulously catalogs every symbol, every inscription, driven by a desperate hope that a single word might unlock the story of this forgotten people. Yet, with each passing day, doubt creeps in. Surrounded by colleagues who believe the task is futile, Martha clings to the belief that meaning isn’t lost with time, only hidden.
As discoveries are made, a sense of urgency builds. Can they find the key before the city yields its last secrets to the relentless red dust? Or will the story of Mars remain forever silent, a haunting echo across the vastness of space and time?
This is a tale of perseverance in the face of impossible odds, and a poignant testament to the enduring human need to connect with those who came before.
Naudsonce by H. Beam Piper
The mission was supposed to be simple: find a world capable of sustaining life, establish a treaty, and secure a future for the Terran colonies. For Paul Meillard and his joint Space Navy-Colonial Office expedition, the planet Svantovit seemed like the ultimate prize: a lush, Earth-like paradise ripe for the making.
But the inhabitants of Svantovit are not like us.
As the contact team attempts to bridge the gap between species, they encounter a barrier far more profound than mere vocabulary. Through the eyes of linguists, psychologists, and marines, Naudsonce explores the terrifying realization that communication isn’t just about meaning; it’s about perception. When the expedition discovers that the natives don’t hear sound, but rather feel it as a physical, tactile sensation, the mission shifts from diplomacy to a desperate struggle for survival.
Oomphel in the Sky by H. Beam Piper
On the planet Kwannon, the arrival of the “Last Hot Time” is no mere metaphor, but a terrifying biological and planetary certainty. As the planet approaches its orbital periastron, the intense radiation from its twin stars threatens to scorch the very life from the landscape. For the native Kwann people, the signs are unmistakable: the arrival of the Terran colonists and their “oomphel”—the miraculous, world-altering magic of human technology—is the final omen of the end of days.
Miles Gilbert is a man caught between two worlds. As a news editor for Kwannon Planetwide News, he has mastered the art of extraterrestrial sociography, navigating the delicate tension between the Terran military, the profit-driven plantation owners, and the native shoonoo, the powerful, amulet-clad magicians who hold the hearts of the people. As villages burn and civil unrest threatens to ignite a planetary inferno, Miles embarks on a desperate psychological gamble.
A Slave is a Slave by H. Beam Piper
The conquest of Aditya was unexpectedly easy. There were no great battles, no desperate last stands—only the sudden, overwhelming presence of the Imperial Navy. But as Commodore Shatrak and Prince Trevannion move to secure the new territory, they realize that conquering a planet is much simpler than governing its soul.
Caught between the cold pragmatism of military rule and the idealistic zeal of the young Count Erskyll, the Imperial delegation finds themselves navigating a labyrinth of ancient traditions and bizarre social structures. In a land where even the weapons are hollow shells and the leaders communicate only through their servants, the true challenge isn’t defeating an enemy—it’s understanding a people who view the very concept of liberty as a threat to their existence.
Ministry of Disturbance by H. Beam Piper
For centuries, the Empire has known only stability. From the glittering spires of Asgard to the furthest reaches of the thousand inhabited worlds, there has been no war, no expansion, and no progress. It is a golden age of “historyless tranquility,” where the greatest threats to the throne are nothing more than absurd assassination plots involving poisoned robots and hidden firearms in viewscreens.
But for Emperor Paul XXII, this era of perfection feels more like a slow death by petrifaction.
As the boundaries of known physics begin to shatter with the discovery of particles that defy the speed of light, a new kind of energy is surging through the galaxy. Student riots, political coups, and calculated civil unrest are tearing at the edges of the Imperial peace. Behind the scenes, brilliant and ruthless players like the Minister of Security, Yorn Travann, are orchestrating “great and frightening changes,” using chaos as a tool to dismantle the old bureaucracy and force the Empire into a new, uncertain era of growth.
In Ministry of Disturbance, the line between protector and provocateur vanishes. As the Emperor navigates a web of high-stakes political maneuvering and scientific upheaval, he must face a harrowing truth: for an empire to truly live, it must first learn how to survive the storm.
Uller Uprising by H. Beam Piper
In the far reaches of the galaxy, biology has taken a path far removed from the carbon-based evolution of Earth. On the planet Uller, forests are made of petrified wood and quartz; predators move with heavy, silicon-armored limbs, thriving in temperatures that would freeze a human heart solid. Nearby, on the lethal world of Niflheim, the very air is a cocktail of fluorine; a landscape so hostile that a single breath is a death sentence, and even the most advanced technology dissolves in minutes.
But for the Terran colonists of the Uller Company, the true danger isn’t the extreme seasons or the deadly chemistry of the stars. It is the rising tide of rebellion. Caught in the crossfire is Dr. Paula Quinton, a sociographer tasked with studying alien cultures, now forced to navigate a landscape of blood, acid rain, and political assassination.
Four-Day Planet by H. Beam Piper
In a solar system where the year lasts only four days, life is defined by extremes. For the twenty thousand colonists of Port Sandor, existence is a grueling cycle of blistering heat under a relentless sun and bone-chilling darkness that threatens to freeze the very air. Here, on the edge of the galaxy, there is no law but the strength of one’s own hand, and no currency more precious than tallow-wax.
Seventeen-year-old Walter Boyd is a cub reporter for the Port Sandor Times, accustomed to the grit and grime of frontier journalism. He’s used to tracking monster hunters, documenting political scandals, and dodging the heavy-handed tactics of local racketeers. But when a famous Terran author arrives on a routine supply ship, Walt realizes the real story isn’t in the headlines ... it’s hidden in the shadows.
The Return by H. Beam Piper, John J. McGuire
Two centuries after the nuclear fires turned America into a wasteland of radioactive slag and untamed forests, the remnants of humanity cling to the edges of existence.
For scientists Altamont and Loudons, the mission is simple: scavenge the ruins of the Old World and bring its lost knowledge back to the light. Flying through the skeletal remains of Pittsburgh, they hunt for a singular holy grail: a cache of microfilmed books buried deep within the wreckage of the Carnegie Library. It is a desperate quest to reclaim the technological foundations of civilization before they are lost to time forever.
But in the shadows of the Steel City, they find something far more complex than mere debris. They encounter The Toon: a fortified community descended from an ancient army platoon, surviving amid the chaos through grit, steel, and a burgeoning religion centered on a slain and risen god.
Graveyard of Dreams by H. Beam Piper
Poictesme was once a jewel of the Gartner Trisystem, but the end of the System States War has left it a landscape of salvage and silence. To the elders of Litchfield, the planet is a place of memory; a place to mourn the lost glory of the Federation. To the young, it is a graveyard of dreams, filled with the dust of empty fountains and the rusted hulls of abandoned starships.
When Conn Maxwell returns home, he finds a community obsessed with a phantom: the “Brain,” a legendary positronic super-mind that promises salvation. But as Conn looks upon the decaying beauty of his home, he realizes that the greatest danger isn’t the poverty or the decay; it is the weight of a beautiful lie.
A hauntingly alluring tale of post-war reconstruction and generational conflict, Graveyard of Dreams explores the tension between the comfort of nostalgia and the brutal necessity of progress.
The Cosmic Computer by H. Beam Piper
Conn Maxwell is home, but he’s a stranger in his own skin. Returning to Poictesme after years on Terra, he finds a landscape of beautiful decay, where the glory of the System States War has been replaced by poverty and piracy.
The local populace is obsessed with a phantom: Merlin, a legendary strategic computer that could bring prosperity back to the stars. To his community, Merlin is a savior; to Conn, Merlin is a myth. Yet, looking at the crumbling infrastructure and the desperate faces of his kin, Conn sees an opportunity. Alongside his father, he embarks on a high-stakes gamble: using the legend of the machine to fund a grander, more dangerous scheme of salvage and exploration.
Space Viking by H. Beam Piper
The wedding of Lord Lucas Trask and Lady Elaine Karvall was meant to be a beginning, a union of two great houses that would secure a future of peace for the Sword-Worlds. But in a single, bloody moment of madness, that future was incinerated.
When the unstable Andray Dunnan descended upon the ceremony with a submachine gun in hand, he left behind more than just carnage and a stolen starship. He left Lucas Trask a hollow shell of a man, standing amid the ruins of his happiness. With his bride dead and his heart shattered, the former baron has nothing left to lose ... and everything to avenge.
Driven by a singular, burning purpose, Lucas abandons his titles and his lands to embrace a calling he once despised: the life of a Space Viking. To find Dunnan in the lawless, sprawling reaches of the Old Federation, he must trade his nobility for steel and his peace for piracy.
The Keeper by H. Beam Piper
On a world gripped by the eternal frost of the “Ice-Father,” Raud is a man out of time. As the last of his lineage, he holds a sacred charge: to guard the Crown, an ancient, jewel-encrusted treasure passed down through generations of Keepers. To the local villagers, it is a myth; to the high-tech travelers from the distant Empire, it is the ultimate archaeological prize: a fragment of “Terra,” the long-forgotten cradle of humanity.
But when a web of greed and betrayal leads to a brutal theft, Raud’s duty transforms into a desperate, bloodstained pursuit. Armed with only a heavy rifle, an ice-staff, and his loyal hounds, Raud must track the thieves across treacherous glaciers and through lethal mountain passes.
In a landscape where primitive survival clashes with advanced energy weapons, Raud will learn that reclaiming the past comes at a devastating cost. To save the Crown, he may have to sacrifice everything he has left, including the only companions he has ever known.