Fred Saberhagen – författare

In the distant future, society has crumbled. Dark forces now rule the land, keeping all humans under their oppressive thumbs.In the darkness of the shadows and whispered on the winds, there is talk of a rebellion. In the swamps, a small band has formed. Determined to regain their freedom, the rebellion, heavily outnumbered, plans to overthrow an army of thousands . . . with the help of one incredible weapon.It is only a legend, a story left over from the Old World before magic and the wizards came to the land. A weapon of technology. It is the mystical Elephant, and whoever masters it holds the key to freedom, or defeat.One young man, determined to avenge the death of his family, sets out to join the rebellion and find Elephant. What he discovers will change everything.At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Five hundred years have passed since the combined fleets of humanity met and broke the berserker armada at Stone Place. But though the human victory was total, one of the killer machines—weaponless, its star drive a ruin—managed to limp to a secret sanctuary on a planet called Hunter''s World. Over the years since then, a new cult has arisen there: a cult dedicated to Death as the only and ultimate good.

For Hunter''s World has become Berserker''s Planet.

To defeat the ultimate weapon, you must become one...

Once, mankind feared the berserkers, killer machines determined to eradicate all life in the universe. But the Berserker Wars are over and the threat of the sentient doomsday devices is over.

Or is it?

The berserkers are back, stronger and more unstoppable than before. And one strange child, half human and half machine, may be humanity’s only hope—or its final destroyer.

The Empress of the Eight Worlds has been assassinated. Prince Harivarman, exiled on the Templar Radiant, suspects that he will be the next victim. Help is scarce: Anne Blenheim, the fortress’ clear-eyed, fair commander, is favorably disposed toward the Prince, but her first responsibility is to the Templar High Command. And Chen Shizuoka, a Templar recruit sympathetic to Harivarman’s cause, is being stalked by planetary security forces. When Prince Harivarman discovers an operable Berserker—one of the asteroid-sized, spacefaring war machines that once destroyed their makers and all other life in their path—his first instinct is to turn it in. But then he finds an ancient code that will either allow him to control the dreaded machine or lead him—and everyone else on the Templar Radiant—to certain death.

Our wars were behind us. Mankind was moving out from the planet of its birth. New worlds were settled, and with the wealth of the galaxy at hand, poverty was eliminated. Then out of a clear summer sky came the first berserker attack.

The great battles began—between life and nonlife, between freethinking humanity and the preprogrammed killing machines we came to call berserkers. And some of those battles would be waged with lies.

This collection of short stories continues the ongoing saga of the berserker wars with “The Machinery of Lies,” “Masque of the Red Shift,” “In the Temple of Mars,” “Brother Berserker,” and “Smasher.”

In a sector of the Galaxy occupied by Earth-descended people, one Berserker computer has suddenly and mysteriously developed a tactical strategy unlike anything the human opposition has seen before. Shiva, like the Hindu god of destruction after which it was named, annihilates entire colonies with the help of its fiendish subordinates.

Commander Claire Normandy struggles to prepare for Shiva''s attacks, while Pilot Harry Silver realizes that he must deal with his own demons in order to help her. When a decision is made to destroy the destroyer, neither side is prepared for the incredible risks that emerge as the attack becomes imminent. Can either side face the possibility that something wholly unexpected and eerily familiar lies gnarled within the steel?

The great blue Berserker''s destruction of the human colony Shubra was swift and merciless. And when it was over, Niles Domingo''s daughter lay among the dead. Now Niles Domingo is a man with a mission: vengeance at any cost.

With one small ship, Niles sets out against the great Berserker called Leviathan, tracking it through the interstellar mists of the Milkpail Nebula. He is sure he is ready for anything, but nothing can prepare him for the astonishing discoveries that lie between him and his vengeance.

ROGUE: (1) A deceitful, double-dealing evildoer. (2) A fierce elephant or stamodont that has been banished from the herd. (3) Having a peculiarly malevolent or unstable nature. (4) No longer loyal, affiliated, or recognized, and hence not governable or accountable. Erring, apostate. (Galactic Dictionary of the Common Tongue)

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. But 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?

Master storyteller Fred Saberhagen continues his bestselling Berserker series, detailing humanity’s war with the dreaded juggernaut-like machines programmed to destroy all life in the galaxy.

On the Twin World planets, Prairie and Timber, 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.

There had been a battle, and the Berserker met some terrible opponents, taking an awful wound. The cavity reached through level after level of machinery, deck after deck of armor, stopped only by the last inner defenses of the buried, unliving heart. The Berserker survived and crushed its enemy.

When Hemphill saw the blasted cavity, he felt a shrinking fear, stunned by the realization of just what it means to fight the Berserker. Hemphill, his pistol ready, his right arm instinctively around Maria, had a bomb and two hundred feet of cord tied around his left arm when he recognized the Berserker''s great scar for what it was. The damned thing had survived a level of attempted destruction that rendered the bomb under his arm only a pathetic toy.

This is the beginning of the war against the berserkers, with machines poised to destroy all life in the galaxy. The only thing standing in their way is the descendants of Earth.

Before George Lucas'' Death Star and before Star Trek''s Doomsday Machine came the Berserkers, intelligent, space-faring killing machines whose sole purpose is to destroy all life. The Berserkers have developed a new trick: Berserker units that can pass for human-created androids. They''re gambling on the advantage this gives them and massing for an all-out attack on human-held space.

But the humans have developed a trick of their own. They''ve cracked the Berserkers'' basic codes and know what their battle plans are. Both sides are betting everything they have. For one of them, it will be the beginning of the end.

Now you can enjoy Fred Saberhagen''s classic trilogy unbroken: the complete saga of The Broken Lands, The Black Mountains, and Ardneh''s World.

In the distant future, society has crumbled. Dark forces rule the land, oppressing all human life. But whispered in the shadows is a rumor of rebellion. Deep in the swamps, a small band of rebels has congregated, determined to win back their freedom. Greatly outnumbered by their foes, they are organized around one incredible weapon of technology: the mystical Elephant. It is only a legend, a story left over from the Old World before magic and the wizards came to the land. But whoever masters the Elephant holds the key to their world''s freedom—or defeat.

When one young man, determined to avenge the death of his family, sets out to find Elephant, what he discovers will change everything.