The alien fleet orbited Penum IV and used colorful incinerating death rays on the planet rotating below. When the inhabitants of the globe were annihilated and everything left worth pillaging stowed on black-hulled plunder ships, the fleet moved on to the next inhabited human world, unopposed except by. The warship Preceptor, commanded by Pier Norlin, a junior officer on a ship with only a skeleton crew. The ship lacks proper armament, the crew is mismatched and fighting among themselves--and the mission is not sanctioned by the Empire. For Norlin, these are only small obstacles to be ignored. He is on a personal mission of revenge against the aliens until. Command of the Preceptor is given to the genetically enhanced superman, Pavel Pensky. Pensky is brilliant-and quite insane. Will his daring schemes bring victory against the aliens or deliver rainbow death to Norlin and the Preceptor's crew?
Robert E. Vardeman is the author of more than 100 fantasy and science fiction novels, as well as numerous westerns under various pen names (Jackson Lowry, Karl Lassiter). F&SF titles include the fantasy Dark Legacy (Magic: The Gathering tie-in) and sf novel Ruins of Power (Battletech: Mechwarrior tie-in). The reprint of his Star Frontier trilogy from Zumaya Publications was launched with Alien Death Fleet and Genetic Menace. Black Nebula will be published soon. The Infinity Plague, the first book of the Biowarriors series, recently has been published for the Kindle.
Fantasy work included the novelization of Sony Playstation videogame God of War 1 (co-authored with Matt Stover) and the forthcoming God of War 2. All nine titles in the Swords of Raemllyn series will be published in Kindle format. Look for the fantasy pirate short story, "The Coins of Darkun," in the collection Pirates of the Blue Kingdoms.
In addition to short stories for the Kindle, his collection Stories from Desert Bob's Reptile Ranch covers almost thirty years of writing.
Editorial work includes Career Guide to Your Job in Hell and the spectacular anthology, co-edited with Joan Spici Saberhagen, Golden Reflections.
Vardeman is a longtime resident of Albuquerque, New Mexico, graduating from the University of New Mexico with a B.S. in physics and a M.S. in materials engineering. He worked for Sandia National Laboratories in the Solid State Physics Research Department before becoming a full time writer.
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