NEBULA AWARD FINALIST and sequel to national bestseller, Nebula Award
finalist, and Compton Crook Award winner Fire with Fire. Science
fiction adventure on a grand scale.
When reluctant interstellar diplomat and intelligence operative Caine
Riordan returns from humanity's first encounter with alien races, sudden
war clouds burst. With Earth's fleet shattered by a sneak attack and its
survivors fighting for their lives, Caine must rely upon both his first
contact and weaponry skills to contend with the non-humanoid enemy. And
when the technologically-superior attackers sweep aside the solar
system's last defenses, and traitorous corporations invite the invaders
to land 'security forces, ' humanity fights back with its best weapons:
cunning, inventiveness, and guts.
But as Earth hurtles towards a final trial by fire that is certain to
scar its collective memory, Caine discovers that there may also be large
and disturbing gaps in that memory. Clues point to a much earlier
inter-species apocalypse, buried in humanity's own prehistory. Which
raises a terrifying possibility: what if the aliens' invasion of Earth
is not one of conquest, but preemption? And what if their harrowing
memories of a long-past cataclysmic war makes them willing to do
anything to keep it from reigniting?
Even if that means exterminating the human race.
About Trial by Fire:
"Gannon's whiz-bang second Tales of the Terran Republic interstellar
adventure delivers on the promise of the first (Fire with Fire). . . .
The charm of Caines harrowing adventure lies in Gannons attention to
detail, which keeps the layers of political intrigue and military action
from getting too dense. The dozens of key characters, multiple theaters
of operations, and various alien cultures all receive the appropriate
amount of attention. The satisfying resolution is enhanced by the
promise of more excitement to come in this fascinating far-future
universe."--Publishers Weekly Starred Review
" . . . offers the type of hard science-fiction those familiar with the
John Campbell era of Analog Science Fiction will remember.Gannon
throws his readers into an action-packed adventure. A sequel to Fire
With Fire, it is a nonstop tale filled with military science-fiction
action." --Daily News of Galveston County
"[A] white-knuckle adventure . . . with real stakes, and sets up the
next challenge for the newly named Terran Republic. Gannon is making it
easy for me to meet my goal of reading more military SF this
year."--Fantasy Literature Review
About Compton Crook award winner for best first novel, Fire with
Fire:
"Chuck Gannon is one of those marvelous finds--someone as comfortable
with characters as he is with technology, and equally adept at providing
those characters with problems to solve. Imaginative, fun, and not
afraid to step on the occasional toe or gore the occasional sacred cow,
his stories do not disappoint."--David Weber
"If we meet strong aliens out there, will we suffer the fate of the
Aztecs and Incas, or find the agility to survive? Gannon fizzes with
ideas about the dangerous politics of first contact."--David Brin
"The plot is intriguing and then some. Well-developed and
self-consistent; intelligent readers are going to like it."--Jerry
Pournelle
"[T]he intersecting plot threads, action and well-conceived science
kept those pages turning."--SF Crowsnest
About Starfire series hit, Extremis, coauthored by Charles E.
Gannon:
"Vivid. . . Battle sequences mingle with thought-provoking exegesis . .
."-Publishers Weekly
"It's a grand, fun series of battles and campaigns, worthy of anything
Dale Brown or Larry Bond ever wrote." -Analog
About Charles E. Gannon:
"[A] strong [writer of] . . . military SF. . .[much] action going
on in his work, with a lot of physics behind it. There is a real sense
of the urgency of war and the sacrifices it demands." -Locus
