Showing results by author "Marion Zimmer-Bradley" in All Categories

A posthumous recipient of the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement, Marion Zimmer Bradley reinvented - and rejuvenated - the King Arthur mythos with her extraordinary Mists of Avalon series. In this epic work, Bradley follows the arc of the timeless tale from the perspective of its previously marginalized female characters: Celtic priestess Morgaine, Gwenhwyfar, and High Priestess Viviane.

She was Eilan, the daughter of a Druidic warleader and gifted with visions. In a land struggling to survive both Roman conquerors and her own people's enemies, surely fate had marked her to become a priestess of the Forest House. But first Eilan had chosen a different, forbidden path - to love Gaius, a soldier of mixed blood among the legions sent to subdue her country. So she must hide a terrible secret when she is anointed as the new High Priestess.

Romilly was an independent tomboy from a noble family, contrary to the social demands of Darkovan women. That was bad enough, but when Romilly’s father arranged her marriage to a nobleman she found repulsive, she rebelled. Disguising herself as a boy, she fled into the deep forests. Living off the land was not nearly as difficult for Romilly as for most people, for she possessed a rare and highly treasured gift — telepathic communication with hawk and horse.

The colony ship from Earth had been on its way to the Coronis colony — a flourishing mining settlement — where crews of engineers and technicians had been working for 10 years preparing the planet for settlement and studying its ecology. But disaster had struck.

During the lawless Ages of Chaos, when the ruling families of Darkover ruthlessly inbred their laran-gifted offspring to gain powerful talents, a baby was born to the lord of Aldaran. This child, born on a dark and thunder-filled night, was possessed of a terrifying and uncontrolled talent: Dorilys, heiress to her father’s domain, could unwittingly call forth lightning, even while still a fretful child.

The Darkovans are descendants of a long-lost Terran colony ship and distrust the Terrans, who have taken up residence on their planet, fearing these strangers intend to disrupt the Darkover society. Many Terrans do feel that the people of Darkover should abandon their “backward” culture and join the Terran Empire.

Leonie Hastur has a high degree of laran, the telepathic power of the Comyn caste, and wants to be Keeper of Arilinn Tower, which will give her as much power as her twin brother Lorill, Heir to Hastur. But she has a premonition that something strange and disturbing will come from the sky and change their world forever. She is correct. Ysaye Barnett loves life on shipboard and would happily stay right there, with her beloved computers, forever.

The cross-currents of two cultures, one male-dominated, one egalitarian, combined with the human problems of two who switched allegiances, brings into focus all the deepest questions of love and marriage, justice and injustice.

The heroine, Zadieyek of Gyre has been captured and sold as a slave, who has amnesia and remembers nothing of her life before the trip across the desert with the slavers - and, due to a head injury, remembers mercifully little of that. But she does know that she would rather fight in the arena than be a harlot for the men who do…While she remains a slave, she’s quite different from the typical 'slave girl' - she grows and develops, always searching for her memory and her past, convinced that this is not how her life is supposed to be. And, of course, she's right.

After the flaming final days of the Ages of Chaos, when the Keeper known as Varzil the Good struggled to bring peace to the warring Hundred Kingdoms through a law called the Compact, there were still those who fought against him for their own ends. And Bard Di Asturian, the outlaw known as The Wolf of the Kilghard Hills, would go to any extreme to bring all those near him under his brutal sway.

In Darkover’s dim past, before the tumultuous Ages of Chaos, small kingdoms still vied for power. But with the rise of psychic abilities called laran, unscrupulous leaders turned to half-trained sorcerers for an advantage. One such struggle arose between the realms of Hastur and its ambitious neighbor, Carcosse. Leora Hastur is still a child when her laran awakens, and the resulting crisis almost claims her life. Her beloved older sister, Neave, and her father’s small circle of telepathic workers manage to save her, but nothing can shield her from the horrors of the impending war.

While only women can command the power of the matrix and the secret sciences which keep Darkover from Terran hands, in most respects they are still chattels. But the Free Amazons are considered equal to men, and it is they who provide the key to the Terran-Darkover dilemma.

Haunted by mysterious images of hooded figures, Magdalen Lorne, chief Terran operative on Darkover, pursues a quest not only to the frozen ends of the physical world but also to the perilous limits of the spiritual world. And there she is tested by the evil sorcery of the Dark Sisterhood.

Nobody alive knew how the feud between Storn and Hammerfell had begun, but that didn't stop the fighting. When Storn's men burned Hammerfell's castle, his infant twin sons were separated, and each grew up thinking himself the rightful Duke of Hammerfell. Conn, raised in the mountains by his father's paxman, continued to fight the Storns. Alastair grew up with his mother in Thendara and planned to marry his cousin, Floria. But when Conn came to Thendara to seek King Aiden's help, and the twins encountered each other, it changed all their lives.

Callista leaves the Keepers to marry Andrew Carr, and her twin sister, Ellemir, marries Damon Ridenow, creating a shared four-way bond. But the Keepers have tampered with Callista’s channels, and the foursome must navigate a tangled web of love, time travel, and prophetic dreams to challenge all the old traditions as they fight for a future of their choosing.

In the heart of the Terran colony on Darkover, a deadly outbreak of Trailmens Fever threatens to wipe out the population. Time is running out, and the only chance for survival lies in developing a serum‚Aîif they can secure the cooperation of the enigmatic native Trailmen and the brilliant yet troubled parasitologist Dr. Jay Allison, who grapples with his own split personality. Will they unite in time to save the colony? (Introduction by Mark Nelson)

Once hailed as the top Terran Intelligence agent on the enigmatic planet of Wolf, Race Cargill has faced death countless times among the planets strange half-human and non-human inhabitants. His daring missions brought him fame and glory, but all that changed six long years ago. Now confined to a mundane desk job at Terran Headquarters, Cargills life has become a monotonous routine, a far cry from his thrilling past. However, when THE DOOR THROUGH SPACE unexpectedly swings open, old rivalries reignite, and a dangerous plot threatens the very foundation of the Terran Empire.

Young Bart Steele is grappling with the death of his father when a mysterious stranger enters his life, warning him that danger lurks around every corner. Handing Bart a ticket to board a Lhari star cruiser bound for an unknown destination, he embarks on an extraordinary journey filled with adventure and discovery. Unbeknownst to him, this voyage will change everything. Join Bart in this captivating tale from sci-fi legend Marion Zimmer Bradley, as narrated by Mark Nelson.

From Marion Zimmer Bradley, acclaimed author of The Mists of Avalon: Race Cargill, Terran Secret Service officer assigned to the planet Wolf, is running for his life. A blood feud with Rakhal, his one-time mentor, best friend, and brother-in-law, means Race must flee the intricate nonhuman society on Wolf, but Rakhal's kidnapping of Race's niece changes the game.

Jeff Kerwin spent the first decade of his life in the Spacemen’s Orphanage in the Terran Trade City on Darkover. Yet he never felt that he belonged. When Jeff is shipped back to Earth at the age of 12, he becomes haunted by dreams of the world surrounding the Terran oasis that had once been his. He is convinced that only on Darkover can he discover his true identity.