The Overdogs had the toughest assignment in the Galaxy. Their manual of instructions weighed two pounds, but the basic policy was simple:

1)    Stop war.

2)    Stop any war in the inhabited Galaxy without favoring either side, or allowing either side to win.

3)    Stop any war in the inhabited Galaxy without allowing bloodshed unless absolutely necessary.

4)    It had better not be absolutely necessary.

The Terra-like planet of Wh’Gralb looked like a routine job for the Overdogs—until one Overdog agent got trapped and found he had to mastermind the war he had sworn to stop!

Laia Kodorko stumbled through the streets of the town with her eyes wide open and her hands held before her. She stumbled forward, never blinking, her hands moving in flat arcs.

Her face wasn’t remotely human,- it was absolutely motionless, absolutely passionless. Something stared out of it at me. It wasn’t anything I’d ever imagined before.

Nobody said anything for a moment. She stopped and just watched me—whatever she was.

I said: “Who are you?”

Her voice was flat and lifeless. “We are here. We have always been here. We cannot be resisted.”

“What do you want?” I asked.

“We want every human on the planet to leave immediately, forever. All who stay will die.”

That’s when the fighting started.

Cub IV was a beautiful planet - it had a reputation as being one of the most peaceful and favorable planets for human colonization-but it wasn’t. There was an alien intelligence on Cub IV, a malicious intelligence that wouldn't rest until every human had been eliminated.

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It was a death trap…and Gerald Knave found himself the job of saving what was left of the human colony, keeping himself alive in the process. He would have all his survival skills and more, to perform that miracle

“No one can really understand, this early. From the outside…but we’ll have a chance to improve our knowledge now.” Sure the technicians were watching, the other side of the fade-wall, he made a hand signal. Five seconds passed.

The room went black, went soundless. The world…Changed.

His identity card may read Gerald Knave: Survivor, but to his countless followers, he’s that wisecracking, adventure-loving space traveler who tickles the funny bone, while sending your imagination reeling into the far future. Gathered for the first time in one volume, the seven stories you’ll discover here offer some of Knaves most recent —and most thrilling—escapades to date.

Consider “Love in Bloom,” where our man Knave, with the help of a possibly deranged chemist, gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “Make love not war”…“The Samaritan Rule,” where a distant civilization points up the possibility of a Samaritan being too good…and “The Wheelbarrow Thief,” where the ultimate survivor volunteers for an assignment on a faraway planet —it’s not exactly a suicide mission, but it’s no piece of cake either.

With loads of fast action, electrifying suspense, and uproarious fun, Knave and the Game is a collection fans old and new can’t afford to pass up!

Best known for his creation of the inimitable Gerald Knave, Laurence M. Janifer is the author of many short stories and novels, including You Sane Men. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.