5 Apr 2026
HVT-044 Challenges
At the time of recording, this is the latest (and pretty recent) addition to the collection of anthologies within the Honorverse. David Weber and his co-authors have produced a work in this book that is powerful. Even though one of your hosts was under the weather when we recorded (as you’ll hear), we enjoyed what we read. We can’t wait to hear what you, our traveling companions thought as well.“ Challenges” is the eighth volume in the Worlds of Honor anthologies, published in November 2025. For those of you who aren’t caught up (at this point) with this latest of books, spoilers abound if you chose to listen before reading. You’ve been warned! This latest installment brings us another five short stories from a total of six authors: Marisa Wolf, Jane Lindskold, Jacob Holo, Thomas Pope, David Allen Butler, and of course, David Weber. As with the previous anthology, there are a few new faces mixed in with some true favorites!
The title comes from where this collection takes us: back to the earlier years of the Star Kingdom, to include the plague years, and therefore to some of the challenges that the Star Kingdom face.
An important note: David Weber uses the stories in this book to help fix some continuity issues that emerged over the many novels that have brought us the amazing Honorverse. There’s a note at the beginning of the book that explains this, so please don’t skip over it—what’s contained in this note is important.
As originally published by Baen, “Challenges” arrived as a 272-page hardcover in November 2025.
The first story in the book is One Controllable Step, by Marisa Wolf.
The constantly mutating virus that has hit Manticore hard has just been declared a plague and has jumped from Manticore to Sphynx. A team of scientists have arrived from Beowulf to do what they can to help turn things around before the young Star Kingdom fades into history with the possible deaths of all. We’ve heard about this plague many times over the years; this story gives us some of the details about the efforts to save lives and to save the Kingdom.
Your hosts gave this story three ‘thumbs-up”.
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The second story, Deadly Delusions was written by Jane Lindskold.
In this very cool story, we see some of the early work being done by the company BioNeering, specifically work being done by Dr. Mariel Ubel. The featured point of view for the story are retired Sheriff’s Deputy Arvin Erhart and a treecat named True Stalker, but there are a few other important character perspectives, too. All this is happening around the time young Stephanie Harrington is about 11 years old—around the age we first meet her and she bonds with her treecat.
We gave this story three “thumbs-up”, as well.
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The Great Condiment Caper was the third story, written by Jacob Holo, with Thomas Pope.
While we’re back in the early years of the Star Kingdom, we get the chance to check in on the young Ensign Edward “Eddie” Saganami. A freshly minted junior officer, he’s serving onboard Manticore’s first completely home built destroyer, the Ad Astra as an engineering officer. When a palate of precious cargo goes missing, young Ensign Saganami is given the responsibility to solve the crime. The story is light-hearted and fun, although contained within are some wonderful lessons about officership, and some of the little things that actually impact a crew’s morale in addition to the direct impact of a ship’s commander, XO and the other senior leaders onboard. In this case, the little thing at the center of the story: Dempsy’s Sweet and Spicy BBQ Sauce. For real!
Your hosts scored this one with another unanimous three “thumbs-up” as well!
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XO was the fourth story in the anthology, written by Daniel Allen Butler.
We find ourselves onboard the HMS Ulysses as a medical incident removes the ship’s captain from command, and the XO, Lieutenant Commander Ellen D’Orville finds herself in command while they take the captain to the nearest medical facility. Upon arrival, LCDR D’Orville learns she will remain in command, and take the ship and crew on its next mission to conduct an intelligence mission as a part of Operation Long Winter. They are to remain undetected as they operate in another star nation’s space. Enter Manpower and slavers operating in the same volume of space. At the heart of the problem is the matter of dealing with genetic slavers. Obligated to act against these slaver pirates, but also to remain silent, LCDR faces a very real moral dilemma as she has to decide to break silence (and violate her orders) to address the slave ship or remain silent and neglect the competing moral obligation to act against the slavers. Both are required by Manticoran law. No matter what she does, she’ll have done the right AND the wrong thing, both of which will always come with consequences.
No specific dates are given in the story, but we know that these events also happen during Operation Long Winter, presumably putting us in the same timeframe that Ensign Saganami was onboard the Ad Astra.
This incredible story received unanimous thumbs-up from your three hosts, with two of the three declaring this was their favorite story within the anthology.
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As with the previous anthology, the fifth and final story was written by the man himself, Mr. David Weber, titled Crystal Singer’s Song.
A very interesting story occurs from 1496 to 1551, when an SFS Ranger named Aldona is flying supplies to a remote location on newly developing Sphynx. She encounters severe weather and crash lands on an uncharted island as a result.Surviving the crash, she sets herself up to survive, hoping once the storms pass, she’ll be able to make contact with the rest of the world, or perhaps be found during a search and rescue mission. Time passes, the hope of rescue diminishes, and she names the island “Castaway Island”. She also meets her neighbors: a treecat clan that was previously displaced and effectively lost on the island and referred to as “The Lost Nest Clan”. While a bonding never occurs, this becomes what was possibly the first and longest, continuous contact between a human and a treecat clan. Keep in mind, (if memory serves) Stephanie Harrington was born in 1507, meaning at the time of her birth, Aldona had been stranded and in friendly contact with the Lost Nest Clan for 11 years. It was obviously a bit longer before young Stephanie makes first contact and bonds with Lionheart. What a story and cool piece of previously unknown treecat-human history.
The story ends on a bittersweet note. Aldona is never rescued and dies on Castaway Island, old and happy. The main story, however, is bracketed by a visit made by a treecat named Crystal Singer to Honor Harrington in 1926. The story we’ve read is the story Crystal Singer relays to Honor. Even better, the significance of the story is much bigger than just treecat-human history.Crystal Singer reveals who SFS Ranger Aldona was: Aldona Zivonik, Karl Zivonik’s (Stephanie’s husband’s) aunt.
The story garnered another three thumbs-up from your hosts!
The overall rating for the anthology was a 5 out of 5 from each of us. We also shared our thoughts about the new authors we haven’t seen contribute to the Honorverse before. Be sure to listen in to hear what we said, and be sure to let us know your thoughts as well.
Next time we’re going to discuss “House of Steel” by David Weber and Bureau Nine. House of Steel contains a short novel from the early days of the Star Kingdom. It focuses on a biography of Roger Wynton III, his ascension to the Throne of Manticore, how he prepares Elizabeth for her reign, as well as the early days of the war with the People's Republic of Haven. Also included in this volume is an Honorverse Companion that covers a great deal of detailed information to aid in the understanding of the universe we all enjoy and love.
Special note: This is JP. I mentioned during the show that I thought the US Space Force motto is “Ad Astra”.Nope! I goofed that up. It’s “Semper Supra”. I stand corrected and apologise to our US Space Force friends and fans out there!
We truly appreciate all of you who take the time to hear our thoughts about these books. More importantly, we appreciate you as participants in the adventure, at times contributing your thoughts on social media and comments to us. Please keep those likes and comments coming, and if you’re enjoying the podcast, it’s never too late to invite others to join us.
You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net (http://honorverse.net/), and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com (mailto:TheBabylonProjectPodcast@gmail.com). We look forward to hearing from you.
Now, let’s be about it!
