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BattleTech Universe
BattleTech: The Proliferation Cycle
In the 25th century, humankind is locked in a seemingly endless cycle of warfare as each of the Great Houses seeks to expand their holdings at the cost of the others. But in 2438, the Terran Hegemony perfects a battle system unlike anything seen in combat before—the Mackie, the very first BattleMech. With it, the Hegemony quickly reigns supreme on the battlefield.
The Mackie’s arrival sets off a desperate arms race among the Great Houses, each desperate to possess the BattleMech’s secrets. Some houses will use military force to steal them, others resort to stealthy espionage teams to infiltrate highly secured BattleMech facilities. Still other Houses will use diplomacy, or even corporate espionage to get their hands on the coveted plans or the men and women who can build a BattleMech.
Now, collected for the first time, stories by celebrated BattleTech authors Ilsa J. Bick, Herbert A. Beas II, Christoffer Trossen, Randall N. Bills, Chris Hartford and Jason M. Hardy, Jason Schmetzer, and Blaine Lee Pardoe—who wrote a brand-new novella about the creation of the Coyotl, the first OmniMech—tell how BattleMechs were invented in one complete volume.
Welcome to The Proliferation Cycle.
The Mackie’s arrival sets off a desperate arms race among the Great Houses, each desperate to possess the BattleMech’s secrets. Some houses will use military force to steal them, others resort to stealthy espionage teams to infiltrate highly secured BattleMech facilities. Still other Houses will use diplomacy, or even corporate espionage to get their hands on the coveted plans or the men and women who can build a BattleMech.
Now, collected for the first time, stories by celebrated BattleTech authors Ilsa J. Bick, Herbert A. Beas II, Christoffer Trossen, Randall N. Bills, Chris Hartford and Jason M. Hardy, Jason Schmetzer, and Blaine Lee Pardoe—who wrote a brand-new novella about the creation of the Coyotl, the first OmniMech—tell how BattleMechs were invented in one complete volume.
Welcome to The Proliferation Cycle.
- GenresScience Fiction
398 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 12, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 14, 2021
For those who enjoy Battletech fiction this is a lovely mix of stories. For those not aware of the Battletech Universe might be a bit harder to get into.
August 28, 2026
One the the better Battletech story collections. Lots of variety and some lore. If you choose to read Battletech, you could do worse.
Break-Away: Nice lore on the first mech, but story itself is not great; the writing is not strong by Battletech standards (for which I ask little).
Prometheus Unbound: Great little commando raid, some nice character conflict and some big player cameos. Strong entry.
Nothing Ventured: High level spy work and politicking by the Feddies in Lyran space. Its well done.
Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight: Its OK. Its very Draconis Combine, for better and for worse, but its too focused on so-so one shot characters and not enough on the plot & action; possibly the problem is its the same as Prometheus Unbound, but worse- though its not bad or anything.
A Dish Served Cold: Corporate espionage, viewed from those on the wrong end of it. This works pretty well, giving a more human side to a very dry set of scheming. Good entry.
The Spider Dances: The best entry in the series. Very Capellan. A lot of twists and turns, furious pacing and never loses interest for a moment.
The Trickster: Well, I guess it has some reasonable lore but its just not very good as a story.
Break-Away: Nice lore on the first mech, but story itself is not great; the writing is not strong by Battletech standards (for which I ask little).
Prometheus Unbound: Great little commando raid, some nice character conflict and some big player cameos. Strong entry.
Nothing Ventured: High level spy work and politicking by the Feddies in Lyran space. Its well done.
Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight: Its OK. Its very Draconis Combine, for better and for worse, but its too focused on so-so one shot characters and not enough on the plot & action; possibly the problem is its the same as Prometheus Unbound, but worse- though its not bad or anything.
A Dish Served Cold: Corporate espionage, viewed from those on the wrong end of it. This works pretty well, giving a more human side to a very dry set of scheming. Good entry.
The Spider Dances: The best entry in the series. Very Capellan. A lot of twists and turns, furious pacing and never loses interest for a moment.
The Trickster: Well, I guess it has some reasonable lore but its just not very good as a story.
June 28, 2023
I really enjoyed this collection of stories. There was not very much Mech to Mech or even solo mech action due to the setting, but it was still great. This group of stories were great additions to the Battletech spy and special ops lot. Many of the stories were very well written with vivid descriptions that presented a strong mental picture.
There were no weak stories in this volume.
There were no weak stories in this volume.
August 12, 2022
Great collection of short stories
Great collection of short stories that brings life to the early years of the battlemech story , I know a number of people thinking up different scenarios for both table top and RPG games . So much fun to be had .
Great collection of short stories that brings life to the early years of the battlemech story , I know a number of people thinking up different scenarios for both table top and RPG games . So much fun to be had .
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews