Black Projects, White Knights is a collection of short stories written by Kage Baker

Kage Baker

Kage Baker was an American science fiction and fantasy writer.- Biography :Baker was born in Hollywood, California and lived there and in Pismo Beach most of her life. Before becoming a professional writer she spent many years in theater, including teaching Elizabethan English as a second language...

 and published by small-press science fiction publisher Golden Gryphon Press

Golden Gryphon Press

Golden Gryphon Press is an independent publishing company, specializing in science fiction, fantasy, dark fantasy and cross-genre novels. It was founded in 1996 by Jim Turner, former editor at Arkham House, and is currently run by his brother Gary and his wife, Geri Turner.The company has...

, assembling various short stories set in the universe of The Company

Dr. Zeus Inc.

Dr. Zeus Inc., also known simply as The Company, is a fictional entity in a series of time travel science fiction stories by Kage Baker....

 series, which comprises the bulk of her published fiction. Almost all of the stories contained within this volume have been published previously in the pages of Asimov's Science Fiction

Asimov's Science Fiction

Asimov's Science Fiction is an American science fiction magazine which publishes science fiction and fantasy and perpetuates the name of author and biochemist Isaac Asimov...

, with the remainder being previously unpublished. Note: not all of the Company stories extant at the time of publishing were collected into this volume.

Contents

The stories in this volume are:

• Introduction: The Hounds of Zeus: A brief introduction to the world of The Company.
• Noble Mold: Mendoza and Joseph attempt to secure a special plant from a Native American family living in 19th century Mission California.
• Smart Alec: On the origins of the mysteriously talented Alec Checkerfield.
• Facts Relating to the Arrest of Dr. Kalugin: Vasilii Kalugin has a bad week in the company of a very old Company operative.
• Old Flat Top: A young Cro-Magnon
  Cro-Magnon
  The Cro-Magnon were the first early modern humans of the European Upper Paleolithic. The earliest known remains of Cro-Magnon-like humans are radiometrically dated to 35,000 years before present....
  
   learns some facts about how his valley came to be settled from the Enforcer Joshua.
• The Dust Enclosed Here: A simulacrum of William Shakespeare
  William Shakespeare
  William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
  
   encounters Alec Checkerfield and comes out of the experience changed.
• The Literary Agent: Robert Louis Stevenson
  Robert Louis Stevenson
  Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....
  
   hallucinates a strangely contemporary encounter with a Mephistophelean figure who helps him rediscover his inspiration.
• Lemuria Will Rise: Mendoza encounters an eccentric hermit in 19th century Pismo Beach.
• The Wreck of the Gladstone: Victor and Kalugin have to recover Company property from a wreck off the coast of Los Angeles without damaging the local mortals too badly.
• Monster Story: Young Alec Checkerfield goes to take his exams.
• Hanuman: Mendoza gets hit on by an augmented australopithecine
  Australopithecus
  Australopithecus is a genus of hominids that is now extinct. From the evidence gathered by palaeontologists and archaeologists, it appears that the Australopithecus genus evolved in eastern Africa around 4 million years ago before spreading throughout the continent and eventually becoming extinct...
  
   with a story to tell about his tragic upbringing.
• Studio Dick Drowns Near Malibu: Joseph goes to shed one mortal identity and assume a new one, but first he has to resolve a complication.
• The Likely Lad: Alec Checkerfield and his amoral pet artificial intelligence take to the high seas.
• The Queen in Yellow: Literature Preservation Specialist Lewis is given a job on a dig in Egypt for which he is poorly suited.
• The Hotel at Harlan's Landing: A storm on the coast of California during the Great Depression where Company secrets are revealed, and more questions posed.

The story "Smart Alec" was later incorporated into the novel The Life of the World to Come

The Life of the World to Come

The Life of the World to Come is the fifth installment in the series of science fiction time travel novels by Kage Baker concerning the exploits of The Company.-Plot introduction:...

.

The story "The Literary Agent" runs counter to other Company stories in that it shows Joseph using a time travel capsule as a routine tool. The basis for much of the backstory is that the time travel technology is too expensive and risky for this.

Other notable elements

In "Monster Story", Alec Checkerfield "helps" another boy to answer the test questions, resulting in that boy being committed to a "special" school for those with deviant psychological profiles. In a later story a character, who is apparently that boy grown up, leads the Company's Adonai project, which results in the birth of Alec Checkerfield.