The Art of War and Other Stories -- Timothy Zahn

<p><b>Escape to far-off planets with ten science fiction stories from the #1 <i>New York Times-</i>bestselling author of the <i>Star Wars</i> Thrawn trilogy. <p/> Contains two original stories: "The Needs of the Many" and "Challenge Accepted"</b> <p/> Hugo Award-winning author Timothy Zahn presents an original collection of science fiction adventure stories. Some of the works here were previously printed in publications such as <i>The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction</i> and <i>Analog</i>, <i></i>or in themed collections, but have never appeared together until now . . . <p/><b>The Shadow Stories</b></p><p> In "The Shadows of Evening," a seasoned warrior named Turek has dedicated his life to defending colonists from mysterious and debilitating Shadows on a hostile planet. Zahn elaborates Turek's story with two sequels, and now concludes the saga with the original story, "The Needs of the Many." <p/><b>The Hive Mind Stories</b></p><p> Two Hive Mind starcraft observe Earth from afar and from a superior viewpoint in "The Challenge." They believe that self-destructive competition among humans will prevent this so-called fragmented race from achieving the technological level required to reach the stars. In two sequels, Zahn explores what would happen if humans found a different way to the heavens. Now, with the original story "Challenge Accepted," he brings the series to a climactic end. <p/> Two more stories round out the collection. In "Star Song," humans find a unique way