Follows the life of Ender Wiggin's comrade Bean, from his escape from the mean streets of Rotterdam, to his student days at the Battle School, and to his role as Ender's right hand ally, strategist, and friend in the epic struggle to save Earth from alien

Carla La Penautier, a French countess, seeks passage to Malta from Sicily in a quest to find the son taken from her twelve years ago following his birth, in a historical novel set in 1565 during the last great medieval conflict between East and West, aided in her quest by soldier of fortune Mattias Tannhauser. Reprint.