Just when you thought the alien space monsters were defeated,
here they come again. Only the crew of the good ship
Vorpal Blade can save us now.

Manxome Foe-ARC

Advance Reader Copy
Unproofed

Startling Innovations.
Cool Space Ships.
Evil Alien Butt Blasted to Smithereens!

Outpost Attack!

Gateway HD 36951 lies in ruins. All survivors slaughtered. A single, truncated message sent back to Earth. Something very bad indeed is afoot, and the A.S.S. Vorpal Blade (read: nuclear submarine converted to warp-drive space ship) is sent to investigate. But the ferocious, voracious enemy Dreen wait for no man (or other carbon-based lifeform), and the Blade and her crew are soon the only hope for an alien species pushed to the brink of extinction. Turn back and abandon a new ally or face a heavily-armed Dreen destroyer head on?

For the Blade's rough-and-ready crew, it's no contest. And now, with an infusion of technical know-how from humanity's new ally, chaos itself has become a weapon!

New York Times and USA Today multiple best-seller
John Ringo joins with NASA and DOD consultant
Travis S. Taylor — author of Warp Speed and The Quantum Connection

"If Tom Clancy were writing SF, it would read much like John Ringo."
— Philadelphia Weekly Press on New York Times multiple best-seller John Ringo.

"[T]his thoroughly enjoyable ride should appeal to techno-thriller fans as well as to military SF buffs."
— Publishers Weekly on John Ringo and Travis S. Taylor's Into the Looking Glass.

Cover Art by Kurt Miller

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, February 2008

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

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN-13: 978-A1-4165-5521-6
ISBN-10: A1-4165-5521-8

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

DEDICATION

For the loved ones that wait at vigil with
hope that their beloveds will return safely.

And especially to those whose beloveds
have given the ultimate sacrifice.

As always:
For Captain Tamara Long, USAF
Born: 12 May 1979
Died: 23 March 2003, Afghanistan
You fly with the angels now.

Baen Books by John Ringo

Into the Looking Glass
The Vorpal Blade with Travis S. Taylor
Manxome Foe with Travis S. Taylor
Von Neumann's War with Travis S. Taylor

The Legacy of the Aldenata Series

A Hymn Before Battle
Gust Front
When the Devil Dances
Hell's Faire
The Hero with Michael Z. Williamson
Cally's War with Julie Cochrane
Watch on the Rhine with Tom Kratman
Yellow Eyes with Tom Kratman
Sister Time with Julie Cochrane

The Council Wars Series

There Will Be Dragons
Emerald Sea
Against the Tide
East of the Sun, West of the Moon

The Paladin of Shadows Series

Ghost
Kildar
Choosers of the Slain
Unto the Breach
A Deeper Blue

Princess of Wands
The Road to Damascus with Linda Evans

with David Weber:

March Upcountry
March to the Sea
March to the Stars
We Few

Baen Books by Travis S. Taylor

Warp Speed
The Quantum Connection
One Day on Mars

Just when you thought the alien space monsters were defeated, here they come again. Only the crew of the good ship Vorpal Blade can save us now.