Maxima Library

Dominic Flandry, ein Fähnrich im Dienst der terranischen Flotte, wird zur Schlüsselfigur im Ringen der beiden kosmischen Großmächte Terra und Merseia.

Der junge Flandry erhält eine Information aus dem Geheimarchiv Merseias zugespielt. Er enträtselt die Botschaft und erfährt, daß ein Planet, auf dem zwei verschiedenartige Völker beheimatet sind, von der Vernichtung bedroht ist — und daß die terranische Flotte in eine Falle gelockt werden soll. Während Freund und Feind Flandry durch das All hetzen, handelt der Fähnrich auf eigene Faust, um das Unheil abzuwenden.

Poul Anderson hat bereits mehrere Flandry-Romane geschrieben — sie erschienen in TERRA oder in der Reihe der TERRA-Sonderbände — hier legt der bekannte SF-Autor aus den USA sein neuestes Werk vor, das den Beginn der Karriere des „Spions im All“ zum Inhalt hat.

After the first flowering of the Terran Empire, which has grown increasingly decadent and corrupt, other civilizations in the galaxy threaten to take over the Terran's worlds. In this scenario steps the debonair, tough and pessimistic Dominic Flandry, half-Hans Solo, half-James Bond and a hero for the ages!

Bribed to explore a supposedly barren moon, Lt. Flandry finds it swarming with a hideous race of killers, controlled by a deranged computer brain!

Dominic Flandry gets sent to put down a rebellion against the Terran Empire. His investigation reveals that the rebellion is morally justified: an evil governor had engaged in mass murder against innocents. However, Dominic Flandry cannot stand by while the good-intentioned rebels throw the empire into chaos; neither can he allow the governor to bring his vile plans to fruition. To complicate things, Flandry falls in love with the rebel leader’s wife.

Aeneas is the powder keg of the universe, a frontier planet where rebellion is a way of life—and death. Smarting under the thumb of the Terran Empire after an almost successful war against Imperial rule, the Aeneans are swept up in a fanatical religious movement that promises the return of the Elder Race.

Parts of this book were published before 1965 as separate titles. 1. Tiger by the Tail (1951) 2. The Warriors from Nowhere (1954) 3. Honorable Enemies (1951) 4. Hunters of the SkyCave, also known as A Handful of Stars and We Claim these Stars (1960) Flandry, here a captain, undergoes a series of adventures: He is abducted by the Scothians, an alien race hoping to invade the Terran Empire; rescues the Emperor’s kidnapped granddaughter; meets Aycharaych, his nemesis in league with the Merseians; and investigates a previously unencountered alien race that has invaded the distant colonial world of Vixen.

A collection of three Flandry tales:

: Captain Flandry follows a dying man's clue to the watery provincial world of Nyanza, where a rebellion against the Empire may be brewing.

: Flandry ventures to the remote colonial world of Altai, whose human inhabitants haven't been in contact with the Terran Empire for centuries, and discovers that they are cutting a Faustian deal with the Merseians.

: Flandry, of his own volition, decides to investigate the remote and isolated world of Unan Besar, to see exactly why it is they have had no contact with the Empire in over 300 years

First published in 1965.

Dominic Flandry, troubleshooter for the decaying Terran Empire, returns to the spaceways and becomes tangled up in the well-laid plans of his lifelong enemy, Aycharaych.

The inevitable Long Night of Interstellar barbarism is approaching, and Dominic, who devoted his life to keeping the galactic peace decides that others must take up the challenge of courting danger on strange planets. Enter Diana—illegitmate—but the true daughter of Dominic.

In A Stone in Heaven, Dominic Flandry finds friendship, maybe even love, after many years of being totally alone. After A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows, Flandry’s life stood in ruins. His Emperor, unbeknownst to him at the time, was dead; his sons were incompetent. His love was dead; his son was dead; he didn’t believe in his job any longer, and he’d taken out his biggest adversary. So, what was left? This book shows the answer: plenty. The younger son of Hans Molitor now holds the throne in his incompetent grasp, and worse, does not like Flandry. So, although Flandry is now a Vice-Admiral and commands much respect, he isn’t thrown too many assignments. On the other hand, he is able to make his own schedule, so when Miriam Abrams, daughter of mentor Max Abrams (his superior in Ensign Flandry), manages to get to him to point out a major problem on Ramnau, he leaves. Once again, he finds intrigue and lots of it, problems, and pain. But unlike A Knight of Ghost and Shadows, Flandry this time finds more while he’s solving the mystery. He and Abrams reach an understanding, and more or less pair off by the end of the book. He also helps solve her problem, take out a would-be Emperor candidate, and rehabilitate his image with Emperor Gerhardt (the younger son of Hans Molitor) in the process, so it’s definitely not a wasted trip.

Everything that lives contains within itself the seeds of its own destruction. It was the fate of the Assyrians and the Hittites, the Greeks and the Romans, the British and the Americans. And so it was for the Polesotechnic League and the Terran Empire. Conception, birth, growth, aging, death: This is the law of life, true for nations, worlds and stellar empires no less than for organisms. For the greatest and the smallest it is the same, differing on it in this: the greater the heights conquered, the greater the fall, the longer and darker the night that follows… The stories contained herein were first published as follows: “The Star Plunderer,” Planet Stories, 1952. “Outpost of Empire,” Galaxy, 1967. “A Tragedy of Errors” Galaxy, 1967. “The Sharing of Flesh,” Galaxy, 1968. Won Hugo and nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novelette in 1969. “Starfog,” Analog, 1967.