Andrea Cort

Two stories from the early years of Andrea Cort, later the heroine of the Philip K. Dick Award-winning novel, Emissaries from the Dead. "The Coward's Option": On the hostile home-world of the Caith, Andrea Cort has been assigned the case of a murderer who's been condemned to a horrible death. All legal options have been exhausted, but the Caith offer a rarely-used alternative to execution, one that purports to ensure that the accused will never break the law again. Alas, it's not so much another chance at life, but deliverance into a hell far worse than mere death… "Tasha's Fail-Safe": Once, she and Andrea Cort hated each other. Now, the victim of a savage assassination attempt by a traitor to the Confederacy, she lies in an unresponsive state, the identity of her assailant locked inside her head. Can Andrea penetrate a vital secret she never even knew existed? Other Andrea Cort stories available from JABberwocky: With Unclean Hands Unseen Demons

Vlhan. Where a race of incredibly intelligent, and sometimes unpredictably dangerous, aliens yearly perform a dance where tens of thousands of their kind die, all in pursuit of a mysterious purpose vital not only to their own survival but also to that of the human race. But something has gone wrong... Andrea Cort. Genius. Misanthrope. War Criminal. Solver of Crimes. She has traveled to Vlhan with her lovers, the linked pair known as the Porrinyards. Now, against the backdrop of a sudden and bloody war, she must not only find a missing girl, not only prevent a catastrophe that might spell the end of the human race...but also make a decision that will change her own future beyond imagining. Previous stories about the Vlhani have been nominated for two Nebulas and one Hugo. The Andrea Cort stories have been also been Nebula-nominated, and the first novel, EMISSARIES FROM THE DEAD, won the Philip K. Dick Award. Now Andrea Cort arrives on Vlhan for the confrontation that will change everything!

Andrea Cort. Genius. War Criminal. Crime-Solver. An emergency summons brings Andrea and her partners, Oscin and Skye Porrinyard, to an isolated research station, where a brilliant scientist lies brutally murdered. Who committed the crime is no mystery. But it may be impossible to prosecute, because the culprit has arranged a strange transformation for himself, and may no longer be the same person who committed the crime. For Andrea, who has recently begun planning the next stage in her own personal evolution, the issue cuts straight to the atrocities of her own past…and the question that might destroy her: can she escape the guilt that has always pursued her? This collection is set in the award-winning Andrea Cort series, featuring the titular novella "Hiding Place," as well as the short stories "Among the Tchi" and "Down, Please: The Only Recorded Adventure of Lars Fouton, Captain's Lift Operator on the Starship Magnificent."