Showing results by author "Fred Saberhagen" in All Categories

Tom Scheffler knew that this great-uncle, Montgomery Chapel, had made his fortune by selling ancient Egyptian artifacts that were finer than those in any museum. Scheffler also knew that -- fifty years later -- Chapel was still afraid of some man, some entity, known only as Pilgrim.

Long ago, the gods forged 12 Swords of Power and threw them on the gameboard of life for greedy mortals to scramble over. Too late, the gods learned that they had forged too well; the Swords could kill the gods themselves. Now, ages later, the Swords are back in human hands, as powerful as ever. Vilkata the Dark King returns from exile seeking revenge on those who defeated him. His first goal is the vault in which his enemy Prince Mark has placed the remaining Swords; with these in hand, none can oppose his rule. Only one untested warrior stands in his way: 14-year-old Prince Stephen, with Shieldbreaker in hand.

It drove men mad...but each in a different way. In one the effect was total, utter addiction. In another, a compulsion to absolute obedience. In a third, idealistic monomania. In a fourth, unending, all-consuming lust. Of all the enigmas surrounding the planet Kappa, none was more inscrutable than that mysterious liquid central to all the native rites.There was, in fact, only one certainty about it: Now that it threatened to contaminate the worlds of Earth, its source would have to be destroyed.

He was once called Dracula, but in Chicago in our day he is known as Matthew Maule. John Southerland, like the rest of the Southerland family, calls him Uncle Matthew. After all he's an Old Friend of the Family and he has risked his un-life more than once to protect the Southerlands. But with Matthew rendered comatose by a fiendish plot from beyond time, the Southerlands must rise to his defense - and battle 500 years’ worth of Dracula's enemies.

First, strange odors . . . and nightmares that stretch across Time. Images of a hideous machine dragging Indians, colonials, slaves to an ancient mound . . . then a hellish light pulses from a hidden room . . . and suddenly Dan Post is trapped, his mind sane, but his body possessed by a galactic probe programmed to collect - Specimens. Human specimens. Now, with no hands, no voice, locked in the ultimate prison, Dan must battle an immortal alien machine, even as it forces him to kidnap its final victims....

Harry Silver has already had a lifetime of trouble from ordinary Berserkers, the automated killing machines programmed an age ago to denude the galaxy of life. And now one of these machines has gone rogue - and kidnapped his own family. What worse devilry will a deviant killing machine attempt? How will he stop it? And even if he can, will he ever see his family alive again?

In 1792, Phillip Radcliffe becomes caught up in the Terror of the French Revolution and unwittingly saves the life of Prince Vlad Dracula, the most honorable of the Nosferatu, bringing down the eternal vengeance of the Prince's evil brother on himself and his descendants.

The immortal Count Dracula - Vlad Tepes, Prince of Wallachia - hunts the murderous art thieves who have stolen the portrait of his lost love. But the thieves are after more than art. From the Master Vampire they would steal the very secrets of life - and death!

In post-Arthurian England, 10-year old Amby and the troupe of traveling players he belongs to are on the run from a conqueror. He has been gifted with second-sight, and when the troupe stumbles upon an unoccupied castle he is the only one in the group who senses the power that lies within the stone building. In the near future, the Fisher King, Mordred and Morgan le Fay seek to gain control of Dr. Elaine Brusen’s hypostater, a machine capable of altering fundamental reality.

The Bram Stoker Award-Winning saga continues… Matthew Maule has seen many horrific things in his 500 years as one of the most powerful vampires in the world. But even his formidable talents cannot predict the unthinkable acts about to occur within his own home. When the vampire Dickon and his human partner appear in the middle of the night frightened for their lives, Matthew offers them protection. They carry with them a small Egyptian statue of great value and many secrets.

A classic time-travel story. The settlers and tourists on Azlaroc are trapped in an ageless void during Veilfall, when shimmering rays of pure energy fall on the planet and create a time pocket from which there is no escape.

When two ancient, ruthless beings, locked in a struggle for the ultimate magic weapon, bring their blood feud to New York, Vlad Tepes races to hide the coveted weapon.

On the Twin World planets, Plenipotentiary Gregor is determined to serve his government - even if it means executing innocent Huvean hostages, invaders from another planet - and even though Gregor's own granddaughter, Luon, is in love with a Huvean. But now the Berserkers are threatening the Twin Worlds, capturing the planets' president and reprogramming his brain to suit their violent agenda. And only the Huveans, in a desperate reprieve, can save the Twin Worlds' populace from annihilation.

Prince Murat of Culm possesses Coinspinner, the Sword of Chance which brings untold good fortune to its owner. Can Coinspinner aid Murat in his efforts to acquire Woundhealer, the Sword of healing Murat’s ruler desperately needs? Or through lack of wit and Coinspinner’s propensity to whimsically change owners will Murat find himself caught up in different quest? Prince Adrian, away at a school for magic, is assigned a test of his abilities. More challenges than a school trial await him.

Emiliano Nowell was a world-class genetic engineer. He was also a wealthy and idealistic man with the time and money necessary to follow his dreams. In secret laboratories far from Earth he used his powers to create 100 genetically perfect children...an enlightened cadre Nowell hoped would lead humanity out of that maze of war, famine, torture, and death called history. But the Golden People proved to be more intelligent than even he believed possible.

For centuries two meg-powers from the future have been waging war for control of timelines of history. Alan Norlund, a WWII airman vet, is promised a lifesaving cure for his granddaughter, if he will undertake a mission 50 years back in time to the 1933 Chicago World's Fair. Hitler with his "angels" from the opposing power would like to take over our timeline and 1933 Chicago may be just the place to start.

Lightening and thunder flashed over Bavaria as, in his private laboratory, Victor Frankenstein struggled to bring to life a creature constructed from pieces of the dead - only to find himself confronted by an inhuman monster beyond his control. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, as well as countless horror movies, has made the legend of Frankenstein and his monster famous throughout the world. But what really happened on that dark and stormy night - and in the terrible months that followed? Now, in his own words, the monster reveals the true story of his strange existence.

Long, long ago, the Gods forged Twelve Swords of Power, each with a unique and deadly quality. They forged too well, for the swords could kill the Gods themselves. Then the swords were lost, scattered across the land; and many are they, both good and evil, who are desperate to find them again. This story is of Farslayer, the sword that can kill from across an entire world. The game is fierce; the prize is the sword.

Bram Stoker portrayed Dracula as a terrifying creature of the night: heartless, soulless, preying on the pure and innocent. Fred Saberhagen, bestselling coauthor of the official movie tie-in for Bram Stoker's Dracula, shows another side to Dracula as the vampire is summoned by Dr. Watson to rescue Sherlock Holmes.

Long, long ago, two alien races fought a war of extinction. All that is left of either of them are the berserkers: vast, thinking, spacefaring, killer machines whose sole purpose is to destroy all living things. For the first time in all of their history, they have met a life-form that has a chance of stopping them. In the cold reaches of space, the berserkers seize a floating laboratory full of human germ-plasm being stored for retrieval and growth in a future colonization project. The ship contains millions of human lives - but why are they not destroying them?