THE EMPIRE NEEDS A REFORMER The Sintaran Empire rules three hundred trillion subjects on 150,000 planets. Two trillion of them are government employees. Ruling over this vast bureaucracy is the Imperial Council. It’s only check: The Empress, whose every decree is binding law. The uneasy balance of power between the Council and the Throne is eroding. The corruption of the bureaucracy has reached staggering proportions when a true reformer ascends to the Throne. She has a long-term plan to reform the Empire. What remains to be seen is whether the new Empress and her young allies can succeed, and at what cost.

THE REFORMS MUST CONTINUE At the age of twenty-seven, Deanna Dunham Garrity has become the Empress of Sintar, absolute ruler of 150,000 worlds and their 300 trillion inhabitants. She would continue the reforms of her predecessor, but the Imperial Council stands in her way. How intractable will the Council be? How hard are they willing to push back to maintain their graft and corruption? Will the confrontation turn violent? And if it does, will the new Empress and her loyalists be able to prevail against the Council? And what of the Empire? Can even the sweeping Sintaran Empire survive the confrontation? INTERVIEW WITH RICH WEYAND How long did it take to write Usurper? About 55 days. Normally, I can write a novel in a month or so, averaging 2000 to 2500 words per day. I only averaged 1400 words a day on Usurper, because it has a lot of moving parts and because I didn't take a month off after completing it. I sort of took my time writing it instead. What's the basic plotline? Deanna becomes Empress of Sintar at age 27. We followed her in the first book, how she was cured of this terrible disease by Imperial medicine, how she got a scholarship to university, and how she became the Empress' assistant in trying to reform the corrupt bureaucracy. She feels she owes, literally, her whole life to the Empire, and she is determined to do right by it. This book follows her efforts to continue and step up her predecessor's reforms, against the plotting and machinations of the bureaucracy. Does the confrontation between Throne and Council turn violent? Yes, and that's all I'll say about it. Major spoilers are possible. Is there anything controversial in Usurper? We would find their justice system strange. They have police, and courts, and rights of evidence, trial by jury, and all the rest, just as most Western countries do. That is the system of low justice. But the sovereign, in this case the Empress, also has a system of high justice. She can find anyone guilty of crimes against the Throne. She is judge, jury, and executioner. That is likely to be strange for someone raised on Western values. What about the cover? That’s another incredible original artwork by Aaron Griffin, an exceptional young artist in the UK I found via the net. It depicts Deanna—now the Empress Ilithyia II—on the day of her coronation. The storm clouds gathering behind her are emblematic of the coming conflict. What comes next in EMPIRE? The Throne strikes back against the Council. The Throne must prevail for the Empire to survive.

The Council Revolt has started. The Council has struck at the Throne. As the Council plots to place their own candidate on the Throne, a single survivor is dragged out of the fires burning in the Imperial Residence. Hoping to take advantage of the capital’s chaos, enemies internal and external move against the Empire. With enemies without and within, can the new ruler hope to save the Sintaran Empire? INTERVIEW WITH RICH WEYAND Some readers were upset at you about the ending to the second book of EMPIRE. Yes, but it was inevitable. The Council would not subside, would not buckle under to the Throne. In fact, they were elevating even looser cannons into their midst to carry the fight to the Throne. And yet, the Throne had to let them strike first, to keep clean hands in the matter. There was only one way that was going to come out. This was planned from the start as a five-book series, right? At least. Five books were rough-plotted before I started. As it shook out, the first three books form a trilogy, the first EMPIRE trilogy. As such, the second book doesn’t have a happy ending, which is pretty typical of trilogies. There is at least one more trilogy in the EMPIRE universe. The main character of this book is Robert Allen Dunham? Bobby Dunham. Yes. EMPIRE was always the story of Bobby Dunham, from my very earliest plotting, for reasons that will become abundantly clear in the next trilogy. But if you look back to book 1, to the very beginning of the book, the first person you meet of that next generation is Bobby, out hunting at age fourteen. He is the hero of the series. And he takes the reign name Trajan? Yes. Trajan was the second of Rome’s so-called Five Good Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius. Trajan was the best of them, the best emperor Rome ever had, and perhaps the best emperor anyone ever had, anywhere. Like Bobby, he was a commoner and a military man, and instituted reforms and kept the peace, even as he suppressed border wars by the simple expedient of winning them. He is Bobby’s role model. How long did this book take to write? Thirty-three days, for 80,000 words. That’s about 2500 words per day average, which is a pretty comfortable pace for me. I write just about every day. I can have 5500 word days and 500 word days. It depends on how clear the plot right in front of me is. If it’s clear, I write about as fast as I can type, until I hit a spot where I can’t see what happens next. Then I go stare out the window. So you do make it up as you go along? Yes, absolutely. I often have no clue—or only a vague idea—of what is beyond the piece I’m writing at the moment. I had no idea that Amanda Peters existed until I was a quarter of the way into this book. She just came around the corner of the lane in the gardens one day, singing and dancing. It makes it fun and exciting for me to write, and I hope it also makes it fun and exciting to read. The cover continues your use of artist drawings for this series. Yes. Aaron Griffin is the artist once again. He’s a tremendously talented artist in the UK. I signed him for the whole series. What’s next in EMPIRE? The first book of the second trilogy, tentatively titled Warlord. This one won’t be out in a month, though. I don’t see it in my head yet, beyond the gross plot points. I have to think through a lot of military technology, not so I can describe it, but I have to know how it works or I can’t write about it. I can’t plot around it. Any hints about Warlord? Let’s just say that not everyone is happy about how well the Sintaran Empire is doing under its new management, and leave it at that.

THE EMPIRE’S NEW NAVYThe Emperor Trajan is building a powerful new navy for the Sintaran Empire. Remotely piloted warships can accelerate faster than humans can withstand, and ships spend so much time in hyperspace, a single crew can man multiple ships, solving the perennial manpower problem. But even with the help of a genius young team of design engineers, there’s a lot of work to do to even get to the point of building new ships. It will take years, years the Emperor may not have. Someone’s causing trouble, and war is coming. Will the Empire’s new navy be ready in time? THIS IS THE FOURTH BOOK OF EMPIRE

INTERSTELLAR WAR!Their resentment of Sintar’s success fanned by the Democracy of Planets, the Alliance has voted to wage war on Sintar. They are mustering their fleets and gathering their strength to take on the Imperial Navy. Over three million warships are gathering to deliver the blow that will bring the Empire to its knees, with seven million additional warships in reserve. But Emperor Trajan, aware of their war vote, can see them mustering their ships in the Empire’s top-secret hyperspace map. And he has no intention of waiting for their declaration of war. The Empire brings up its new navy, seven million new-design warships, plus eight million of the deadly little picket ships. Can the Empire prevail in this clash of titans?

ANOTHER INTERSTELLAR WAR!The Empire has won the war against the Alliance. But at the close of that war, an invasion fleet from the Democracy of Planets sought to annex Jasmine. So Jasmine annexed to Sintar, and Sintar destroyed that fleet, causing resentment that is driving the Democracy of Planets to go to war with Sintar. The Democracy of Planets is a much more deadly enemy than the Alliance. They have a new navy, too, with powerful new warships, and are much more of a military challenge. The Emperor’s strategy from the Sintar-Alliance war won’t work on the DP. Will the Emperor’s new strategy work? And if he wins the war, how will he ever win the peace? THE STUNNING CONCLUSION TO EMPIRE INTERVIEW WITH RICH WEYAND It sounds like the Democracy of Planets government gets sucked into a war they don’t want in EMPIRE: Conqueror. That’s right. The leadership doesn’t want a war, but they’ve been manipulating public opinion against Sintar for years. When the fleet sent to annex Jasmine is destroyed in EMPIRE: Warlord, it inflames their public opinion, and they have no choice but to proceed to war. This sounds like a tougher war than the one in EMPIRE: Warlord. Yes and no. The Alliance was a real threat to Sintar. Their strategy was good—to occupy portions of the Empire and force a peace on their terms—but their tactics were bad. In particular, they didn't know the Empire could see their forces mustering and already knew about the war vote. The Democracy of Planets is a different challenge. They have some structural weaknesses in their military posture. But it won't be enough to win the war. The Emperor has to fight the war in such a way as to win the peace. That's actually a tougher challenge. The Empress and the Co-Consul are there to help, though. Yes, and so is Saaret’s wife Suzanne. She’s the ‘everyman’ inserted into their councils. She has given me, since EMPIRE: Tyrant, a touchstone for the Emperor’s policies, as well as a person for the reader to use to learn what was going on. I see the new ideas group is back as well. They’ve been there all along, together with the business ideas group and the new ideas review group, as the Consulting function in Imperial administration. But you’re right, they’re explicitly back in EMPIRE: Conqueror, to research how to win the peace long term. They’re critical in advising the Emperor how to ensure the peace. What is the cover scene this time? It’s one of the confrontations between a main Sintar formation of thirty-two thousand ships and a main DP formation of twenty thousand ships. It’s more of a tactical display because the ships wouldn’t be anywhere near that close in a real confrontation. But the perspective did allow James Lewis-Vines, the artist, to showcase the difference between the new-design Sintaran warships and the new-design DP warships. How long did EMPIRE: Conqueror take to write? Thirty-seven days, so five to six weeks, pretty par for the course for an EMPIRE book. More interesting is that I finished the day before the first anniversary of starting EMPIRE: Reformer, so I wrote all six books in a single year. You have an Author’s Afterword at the end of EMPIRE: Conqueror. Yes, I wanted to talk to the reader a bit about the story, about how I write, and about my themes. In particular, I wanted to tell the reader the starting premise of the whole series. There’s a big reveal there.

All Nick Ashton ever wanted to be was a good cop Dominick Ashton is a rookie cop in the headquarters of Her Majesty's Imperial Police. Unfortunately, in an Empire full of corruption, treason, and upheaval, that's one of the most corrupt organizations of them all. But Ashton is a straight shooter. Can he do the job he's trained to do without perverting his honor, or will crooked cops take him out instead? And what will happen when he's called upon to solve a case for the Empress herself? AN INTERVIEW WITH STEPHANIE OSBORN Imperial Police runs parallel to Usurper and Tyrant? Yes. Dominick Ashton has always dreamed of being a detective. He graduates the Imperial Police Academy late in the reign of Ilithyia I, only to find that IPD Headquarters is corrupt. The Imperial Police Trilogy parallels the first six main-plot EMPIRE books, and the end of the trilogy will lead into the next main-plot EMPIRE book. This is another trilogy? Yes. The EMPIRE series is all trilogies. It allows for more story development and more epic story arcs. In this case, it follows Nick Ashton through his entire career in the Imperial Police, with the changes in the Empire as backdrop to the story. This is your second outing in one of Rich Weyand's universes. You seem to enjoy working with him. He and I get along great. He's easy to work with, a great writer, and comes up with some really cool universes and characters. I like his writing in general, and the stories get me caught up in them. It’s fun for me to write in them. We both have science backgrounds, we're politically compatible, we both write fast, and we're both pantsers - we don't use outlines. So I don't have to give him an outline for approval. We plotstorm, where we come up with the basic plot concept for the story arc, then he turns me loose. I try to double-check with him before making any big decisions, though. But the really cool thing is, HE LETS ME USE HIS MAIN CHARACTERS! A lot of authors don't let you do that if you're writing in their universe, but Rich does. That means these aren't just side stories, these are part of the big picture, just told from the parallel perspective of a different character. Nick Ashton is the protagonist of this trilogy, yes, but he does interact with the main characters of Rich's trilogies - Bobby, Dee, Amanda, and Saaret. That makes it even more special. So Rich has a light editorial touch? He seems like the sort of person who might be more controlling. Nah. He knows I recognize my responsibility in writing in his universe. I'm honored he trusts me with that responsibility. He doesn't interfere at all. Quite the opposite - every few days I'm bugging him about some idea that I've had, wanting to make sure I remember this or that correctly, or "where is X in the timeline/books?" I want to make sure I am as true to the universe and the characters and HIS vision as I can possibly be. He's drawn me maps from scratch based on what's in his head, hunted up photos to depict what something looks like, all kinds of stuff like that. And then he lets me write it as I see it happening. How long did it take to write Imperial Police? This book is heavily intertwined with the previous books, particularly Usurper & Tyrant. I realized partway into it that I was thinking about the book wrong. It didn't have tension, didn't have drama, because I was thinking about what had come before—so I had to go back and rethink it. I rewrote some stuff, and came at my plot concept from a different angle. And then it worked. So that added about a month extra, at least a week of which was just thinking. So all told, about three months. Is there an EMPIRE trilogy after the Imperial Police trilogy? Rich is writing The Legacy of Trajan trilogy. After that, he and I are talking about two more trilogies!

Is it paranoia if they really are out to get you? Cleaning up the Imperial Police on Sintar turns out to be harder than Nick Ashton thought, when surviving members of the "old guard" infiltrate Headquarters and conspire to kill him and Director Carter in order to take over. But is one of their trusted number part of the conspiracy? Who can they trust? Meanwhile, tensions are rising between other star nations and the Sintaran Empire, and the focal point is Imperial City. Can Ashton and the others eliminate the conspirators before they're eliminated? And can they do it in time to aid the Emperor?

If you can't stand the heat.... All hell is breaking loose between the Sintaran Empire and the other space nations. Which means Imperial City is a hotbed of the espionage, intrigue and machinations spanning most of human space. Nick Ashton is the guy where the buck stops. But can he and his team prevent the other star nations from making off with state secrets? And who's targeting the Throne?

There are some jobs too subtle, too sensitive, or too dangerous for the bureaucracy. The Empress Amanda has a solution: a secret espionage network that reports to the Emperor Trajan alone. And they have just the man to set it up. Nick Ashton gets his most difficult assignment yet—Section Six! Its first mission: Wingard Sector, where someone is interfering with the Emperor's plans. There's another word for that: Treason!

Forty years ago, the Emperor Trajan committed to supporting the Western colonies and not interfering in their politics. But when some colonies fall into tyranny, must he support despotism without intervening? Officially, yes. Unofficially, not so much. The Empress Amanda and Dieter Stauss conspire to overthrow the tyrannies, sending in a mechanized brigade of retired Imperial Marines. Brigadier General Ann Turley (IM, ret) has to figure out how to sneak an armored invasion force onto Julian, overturn the government, and not just kill everyone who gets in her way. For an Imperial Marine, that's a tough assignment. But Section Six sends Paul Gulliver, and he has his own ideas.

WHAT’S UP WITH DALNIMIR? Reports coming out of Dalnimir are troubling. People opposed to the current planetary and provincial governor are getting mugged, they're getting arrested, some of them are even getting murdered in jail. It's three months' spacing to get from Julian to Dalnimir Province, in the Earth Sector, on the other side of the Empire. But Ann Turley and Paul Gulliver could use the time out of sight to let their notoriety fade a bit after the Julian Uprising. But can even Section Six's most successful team figure out who is at fault and set things right? More to the point, can they survive the attempt? INTERVIEW WITH RICH WEYAND So what's up in Empire 14? There are reports coming out of Dalnimir, a provincial capital in the Earth sector, that political opposition is being actively suppressed by the planetary governor. Planetary governors in the former Democracy of Planets are elected, and the opposition politicians and press to the current governor are having a run of bad luck. Like getting mugged, being jailed on minor offenses and then getting shivved in jail, that sort of thing. And Section Six is involved? Yes. Ann Turley and Paul Gulliver are a team after the Julian Uprising, and they go to Dalnimir to find out what's going on. It's four or five thousand light years away - it's all the way across the Empire - so it takes them three months to get there, but they need the time to fade from the news anyway. They're in disguise this time? Yes, they are using aliases and have disguised themselves a bit to avoid being linked to the Julian revolution in EMPIRE 13. He's posing as a university professor investigating crime and justice, and she's going as an investigative reporter looking into corruption. So they get made right away as trouble. Oh, yes. To get the rats to show up, they diguise themselves as cheese. What's on the cover? That's not a tank. No, it's an armored personnel carrier. The Imperial Marines get involved as mounted infantry, and an APC is their ride to work. What does Dalnimir mean? It's a corruption for the Russian dal'niy mir, which means 'far world.' It's only two hundred light-years from Earth, but back when it was first settled, that was a long ways, and the trip was full of risks. The planet has no axial tilt, however, so you can grow three crops a year, which was a big attraction.

Robert Allen Dunham IV, the Emperor Trajan, is dead. Daniel Whittier Parnell, the Heir to the Throne, is three weeks’ spacing away. In the interregnum, renegade sector governors advance their own candidate for the Throne, Provence Sector Governor Jerome Goulet. The Galactic Empire hovers on the brink of civil war. Amanda Peters comes up with a daring plan to save the Empire, while putting the proper Heir on the Throne. Ann Turley, Paul Gulliver, Marie Louise Bouchard and Dieter Stauss conspire with Peters to carry out her plan, under the very nose of the would-be Emperor. Once more, the fate of the Empire hangs on Amanda’s insight and cunning in her most high-stakes move of all!

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE EMPIRE? The Galactic Empire is in a century-long period of decline. Emperor Augustus VI knows it. Ninety years old, he's seen it happen during his lifetime. He wants to stop it. His problem: none of his advisers sees it, and every measure he takes to stop it fails. Historian James Ardmore sees it, too. Researching it has been his life's work. He submits his three-volume analysis for publication, but it's banned by Imperial censors. Gail Burke sees it up close and personal. An Imperial Marine officer, she's been court-martialed for following Imperial regulations. Now she awaits the outcome of an appeal on the charges. Together can they rescue the Empire from collapse? INTERVIEW WITH RICH WEYAND When does this story occur? The blurb says the Empire is in a century-long decline. EMPIRE: Renewal takes place in the middle of the fourth century of the Galactic Era, about three hundred years after Emperor Trajan died. EMPIRE: Succession left the Empire in good shape, with a good ruler, and measures in place to protect the Throne. Three centuries later, the wheels have started to come off. So what happened? As will often happen in good times, people forgot what got them there. Why some traditions were the way they were. They forgot the lessons of the past and stopped doing the things that had made them successful. The end result of that is decline. Sounds depressing. Oh, it is. Which is why I didn't write a book about the decline. I pick up the story when an Emperor who sees what's going on decides to do something about it. To stop the decline. That's where we pick up our story for this trilogy. The blurb mentions the Emperor, the Historian, and the Marine. I take it that's the Marine on the cover? Yes. Captain Gail Anne Burke. She's one of the main characters of the story. Young, beautiful, intelligent, and devoted to the Empire. She plays a critical role. It looks like you have another new cover artist. Yes, Rotwang Studio, which is Luca Oleastri and his partner. They're based in Italy. I've got him doing all three covers for the Renewal Trilogy. And that's a scene from the book? Oh, yes. Captain Burke ends up being in the right place at the right time to cause a little mayhem.

IMPERIAL ASSASSINATION! Mere hours after the coronation, Gail Anne Burke - the Empress Arsinoe - is struck down and lay dying. The attack was by the unlikeliest and most unexpected of methods. Tracking down the method is the first order of business. But who is responsible? The enemies of the Throne, now bent on reform, are almost too numerous to count. The sector governors, estranged from the Throne and unwilling to give up their power. The old nobilities of the Alliance nations, yearning for royal status once more. And the hidden enemy, the subtle enemy, the enemy behind the scenes: the plutocratic families of the old Democracy of Planets. Wealthy, powerful, and bent on bringing down the Empire that defeated them three centuries before.

A DEADLY NEW PLOT AGAINST THE THRONE! Two assassination attempts against the Throne have failed spectacularly in the last five years. One by Sector Governor Piotr Shubin and the other by the plutocratic ruling families of the old Democracy of Planets. All that has resulted from the families' failed attempt to assassinate Empress Arsinoe is the families' spies being caught, the families' allies being recruited to the Throne, and much of the families' wealth being confiscated. So the plutocratic ruling families of the old Democracy of Planets hatch a new, simpler plan to overthrow the Empire. Nuke Imperial City! Troy Donahue and Travis Geary race to find and disable the nuke, while the Emperor and Empress contemplate a draconian final solution to the plutocrat families.