WordFire Press

“December 2, 1943. Today I was assigned to the Senate staff of the United Press and moved into the Senate Press Gallery; I hope to stay. Nothing could be a better break for a newspaperman and nothing could please me more. It is exactly what I wanted.”—Allen Drury, from A Senate Journal Allen Drury is perhaps the greatest political novelist of the 20th century. His masterpiece Advise and Consent won the Pulitzer Prize and became one of the best-selling novels of the century. His other works, such as Decision, A Shade of Difference, A God Against the Gods, and That Summer showcase human politics from an intimate scale to a grand panorama. In his seminal years, a young and idealistic Allen Drury was assigned as a reporter to the U.S. Senate for three years that were some of the most turbulent in our history. He was there as an eyewitness to World War II, FDR’s New Deal, vicious political in-fighting, attempts to pack the Supreme Court, and bitter partisan divides in the face of global war. Drury’s astute observations, insights, and perspectives bring history and politics to life in this truly remarkable account, which has great relevance to today’s headlines. “a panorama of 20th century US history.”—Paul Moreno, from his Foreword

The final volume of The Journeys of McGill Feighan, an award-winning space opera series by Kevin O'Donnell Jr.  It was supposed to be a fun weekend on Rehma, a planet of nestlings and birdsong. Instead, McGill Feighan encounters a mutant virus and repeated assaults by galactic goons who have wanted him dead since he was four days old. And McGill isn’t any closer to finding the Far Being. So he sets out with the assistance of the crimson-crested Dr. Th’hweet to put things right on Rehma. It’s going to take an alien wing and a prayer…

They say girls can’t be gunslingers. Beth’s gonna prove ’em wrong. Even if she has to fight a dragon to do it. It won't be easy to prove her worth while working as a hotel chambermaid in Golden City, Colorado. The famous battle that defeated the giants was fought 13 years ago. The trolls remain confined east of the Mississippi. No one's spotted a harpy since 1875. But Beth trained with legends: the ghost of Calamity Jane gave her the gun, Wild Bill Hickok taught her to shoot. And at sixteen, she’s ready to make a name of her own. So when strange assailants murder a visiting Arapaho Indian shaman, Beth straps on her Colt .45. Without waiting for help, she must find the killers, defeat their dragon, and prevent the destruction of the Western world.

Everything of beauty must have at least one flaw in it. Otherwise people do not realize how beautiful it truly is.Mrs. Ross is an expatriate American who has found a quiet life in the small Mexican village of San Juan, a place where she can be content, a place where no one knows the secrets of her shadowy past life. Until an ambitious American painter takes up residence in San Juan, attempting to depict—and expose—everything about the sleepy Mexican town. But he may have underestimated the lengths a seemingly harmless old woman will go to protect her secrets.A Thorn in the Bush is one of four previously unpublished short novels written by famed Dune author Frank Herbert. Early in his career Herbert moved his family to Mexico where he struggled to survive as a writer. This novel came from those life-changing experiences.

Earth has become a library planet for thousands of years, a bastion of both useful and useless knowledge—esoterica of all types, history, science, politics—gathered by teams of “pack rats” who scour the galaxy for any scrap of information. Knowledge is power, knowledge is wealth, and knowledge can be a weapon. As powerful dictators come and go over the course of history, the cadre of dedicated librarians is sworn to obey the lawful government . . . and use their wits to protect the treasure trove of knowledge they have collected over the millennia.

A never-before-published novel by Frank Herbert, author of the international bestseller DUNE. EMASI—Each Man A Separate Individual! That is the rallying cry of the Seps, the Separatists engaged in a class war against the upper tiers of a society driven entirely by opinion polls. Those who score high in the polls, the High-Opps, live in plush apartments, with comfortable jobs, every possible convenience. But those who happen to be low-opped, find themselves crowded in Warrens, with harsh lives and brutal conditions. Daniel Movius, Ex-Senior Liaitor, rides high in the opinion polls until he becomes a casualty, brushed aside by a very powerful man. Low-opped and abandoned, Movius finds himself fighting for survival in the city’s underworld. There, the opinion of the masses is clear: It is time for a revolution against the corrupt super-privileged. And every revolution needs a leader.

One of Frank Herbert’s lost, never-before-published novels written before Dune. Angels’ Fall is a gripping thriller set in the South American jungles. After a plane crash deep in the Amazon, freelance pilot Jeb Logan has to keep himself and his passengers alive in a gruelling trip downriver. Adrift in the wreckage of the plane with Jeb are a beautiful singer, her young son, and a ruthless murderer clinging to the last thread of sanity. With supplies running out and nature itself turning against them, this small desperate group struggles to survive against the jungle—and each other.

Frank Herbert will forever be known as the “author of Dune,” the science fiction masterpiece that made his career and made his name. But he was an exceptionally diverse author who wrote in numerous genres. Even at the beginning of his writing career, Frank Herbert wrote whatever inspired him, irrespective of genre, market, or audience tastes.After the success of his first novel The Dragon in the Sea (1955), Herbert wrote numerous novels and short stories that failed to find a market. He persevered until finally, seven years later, he wrote the most unpublishable novel of all, Dune—which, once it finally found a home with an obscure publisher, finally made Frank Herbert a household name synonymous with science fiction.This volume collects four of those complete, never-before-published novels written before Dune: High-Opp, a dystopian science fiction novel; Angels’ Fall, a jungle survival adventure; A Game of Authors, a Cold War thriller; and A Thorn in the Bush, a mainstream novel based on some of Herbert’s experiences in Mexico.

In pursuit of a scoop, American journalist Hal Garson follows up on a mysterious, desperate letter that points to the whereabouts of legendary author Antone Luac, who vanished without a trace in Mexico years ago. The celebrated writer's disappearance is an enduring mystery, and Garson senses this story will make his career. Despite warnings, he travels to isolated Ciudad Brockman and begins asking questions…too many questions, which place him in the crossfire of a local crime lord, a Communist insurgent group, and finally to the imprisoned writer—and his beautiful daughter—who may not want to be found.

Prequel to Frank Herbert & Bill Ransom’s Pandora Sequence.The starship Earthling, filled with thousands of hybernating colonists en route to a new world at Tau Ceti, is stranded beyond the solar system when the ship’s three Organic Mental Cores—disembodied human brains that control the vessel’s functions—go insane. An emergency skeleton crew sees only one chance for survival: to create an artificial consciousness in the Earthling’s primary computer, which could guide them to their destination . . . or could destroy the human race.This is Frank Herbert’s classic novel that begins the epic Pandora Sequence, which also includes The Jesus Incident, The Lazarus Effect, and The Ascension Factor.

Even the author of DUNE—the best-selling science fiction novel of all time—had trouble getting published. At first.Frank Herbert wanted to be a writer, and though today his name is practically synonymous with world-building and epic science fiction, Herbert didn’t start out with a particular genre in mind. He wrote mainstream stories, mysteries, thrillers, mens’ adventure pieces, humorous slice-of-life tales. And, yes, some science fiction.For the first time, this collection presents 13 completed short stories that Frank Herbert never published in his lifetime. These tales show a great breadth of talent and imagination. Readers can now appreciate the writing of one of the field’s masters in a kaleidoscope of new stories.

Ever since the Big Uneasy unleashed vampires, werewolves, and other undead denizens on the world, it’s been hell being a detective—especially for zombie PI Dan Chambeaux. Taking on the creepiest of cases in the Unnatural Quarter with a human lawyer for a partner and a ghost for a girlfriend, Chambeaux redefines “dead on arrival.” But just because he was murdered doesn’t mean he’d leave his clients in the lurch. Besides, zombies are so good at lurching.Now he’s back from the dead and back in business—with a caseload that’s downright unnatural. A resurrected mummy is suing the museum that put him on display. Two witches, victims of a curse gone terribly wrong, seek restitution from a publisher for not using “spell check” on its magical tomes. And he’s got to figure out a very personal question: who killed him?For Dan Chambeaux, it’s all in a day’s work. (Still, does everybody have to call him “Shamble”?) Funny, fresh, and irresistible, this cadaverous caper puts the PI in RIP … with a vengeance.

Set sail on the high seas with this collection of 21 unforgettable short stories featuring dashing rogues, daring rebels, and wily pirates searching for treasures of all kinds, including a forgotten journal, a heavenly sword, a young girl’s lucky sock, and even the Fountain of Youth. Some pirates are familiar—complete with parrots, peg legs, and eye patches—but most are unique: a twelve-year-old computer hacker, a heroic rabbit on an unusual quest, a clump of cancer cells, and an alien setting sail among the stars. X Marks the Spot: An Anthology of Treasure and Theft is about those men and women who live on the fringes of society, who are beholden to no man, no law, and who always have one eye on the horizon. So grab your map and set your headings. There are adventures to be had, mateys, and treasures to be found. This anthology is the fifth volume produced by the alumni of the Superstars Writing Seminars, and all royalties benefit the Don Hodge Memorial Scholarship Fund.

This collection brings together the underwater epic fantasy Oshenerth as well as 28 incredible short stories from The Taste of Different Dimensions and The Flavors of Other Worlds. These include a legend from a Pacific island, a legend from beneath a Pacific island, and stories of fighting giant bugs, defeating an interstellar empire without firing a shot, scientific idiot savants toying with the universe, and how the robots will really win the robot apocalypse.