Lion's Roar — Steven Mohan Jr.

Solaris VII is the Game World, a planet of spectacle and intrigue entirely devoted to ferocious gladiatorial combat. Except on Solaris, the gladiators aren't people -- they're BattleMechs, thirty-foot high, walking engines of war.

David Singh is a down-on-his-luck 'Mech pilot with just enough skill and raw guts to attract all the wrong kind of attention. Singh's dream is to become a championship fighter in the games. He's an underdog, but his flamboyant fighting style gives him a solid chance of making the jump. But he'll have to watch his step.

Because on Solaris the most dangerous contests take place outside the coliseum.

Steven Mohan, Jr. has professionally published more a half million words of military science fiction including the BattleTech novel A BONFIRE OF WORLDS. He has sold original fiction to markets as diverse as INTERZONE, POLYPHONY, and PARADOX, as well as several DAW original anthologies. His short stories have won honorable mention in THE YEAR'S BEST SCIENCE FICTION and THE YEAR'S BEST FANTASY AND HORROR and he has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize.