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War Games


CoverLET THE GAMES BEGIN!

War is a serious business—or is it? Christopher Anvil turns his sardonic outlook loose on the subject and considers what might happen if:

• Someone devised a computer war game so realistic and addictive that the people in charge of battle on both sides didn't have the time or inclination to start a real war.

• Another device gave every homeowner the power to block off his property from any incursion, even by nuclear weapons.

• A secret organization pulls the plug on an impending war by causing the commanders on both sides to be unable even to think of any of the words they need to order their forces into action.

• And, in a full-length novel, The Steel, the Mist and the Blazing Sun, the devastation after World War III has not put an end to war—not as long as men survive who still want to conquer and dominate; nor as long as others will fight, not just to survive, but to defend freedom.

The many faces of war, examined by a master of science fiction adventure with a wryly humorous twist.

Cover Art by Alan Pollack


ORDER Hardcover
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

First printing, December 2008

Distributed by Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data 
Anvil, Christopher.
War games / by Christopher Anvil ; edited by Eric Flint.
p. cm.
ISBN 1-4165-5602-8
1. Science fiction, American. 2. War stories, American.
I. Flint, Eric. II. Title.
PS3551.N9W37 2008
813'.54—dc22
2008032555

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-5602-2
ISBN-10: 1-4165-5602-8

Copyright© 2008 by Christopher Anvil

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.

A Baen Books Original
Baen publishing Enterprises
P.O. Box 1403
Riverdale, NY 10471
http://www.baen.com

Electronic version by WebWrights
http://www.webscription.net


Acknowledgments

 
"Truce By Boomerang" was first published in Astounding, December 1957.
 
"A Rose By Other Name . . ." was first published in Astounding, January 1960.
 
"The New Member" was first published in Galaxy, April 1967.
 
"Babel II" was first published in Analog, August 1967.
 
"The Trojan Bombardment" was first published in Galaxy, February 1967.
 
"Problem of Command" was first published in Analog, November 1963.
 
"Uncalculated Risk" was first published in Analog, March 1962.
 
"Torch" was first published in Astounding, April 1957.
 
"Devise and Conquer" was first published in Galaxy, April 1966.
 
"War Games" was first published in Analog, October 1963.
 
"Sorcerer's Apprentice" was first published in Analog, September 1962.
 
"The Spy in the Maze" was first published under the title "The Problem Solver and the Spy," in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, December 1965.
 
"The Murder Trap" was first published in The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Magazine, January 1967.
 
"Gadget vs. Trend" was first published in Analog, October 1962.
 
"Top Line" was first published in Analog, February 1982.
 
"Ideological Defeat" was first published in Analog, September 1972.
 
The Steel, the Mist, and the Blazing Sun was first published in 1980 by Ace Books.
 
"Philosopher's Stone" was first published in Analog, January 1963.

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