Catherine Asaro
Catherine
Asaro was born in Oakland, California and grew up in El Cerrito, just
north of Berkeley. She received her PhD in Chemical Physics and MA in Physics,
both from Harvard, and a BS with Highest Honors in Chemistry from UCLA. Among
the places she has done research are the University of Toronto, Ontario,
the Max Planck Institut für Astrophysik in Germany, and the Harvard-Smithsonian
Center for Astrophysics. Her research involves using quantum theory to describe
the behavior of atoms and molecules. In addition to her novels,she has
published scientific papers in journals such as Physical Review Letters
and the Journal of Chemical Physics. Catherine was a physics professor until1990,
when she established Molecudyne Research, which she currently runs.
A former ballerina, she has performed with ballets and in musicals onboth coasts and in Ohio, and founded the Mainly Jazz Dance program at Harvard,which became an undergraduate organization after she graduated. She now teaches at the Caryl Maxwell Classical Ballet Maryland. Her husband is John Kendall Cannizzo, an astrophysicistat NASA. They have one daughter.
The Skolian Empire
A rivalry between the Skolian and Trader empires escalates into all-out war that threatens to bring every Skolian citizen into slavery or result in the destruction of both sides.
A tale of politics, love, and war, the story of a young girl from Earth taken into the future and made the focus of a murderous plot to bring down the empire.
Kelwin, heir to the throne of the Skolian empire, crashlands his disabled space craft onto a world ruled by women. They detain him, to prevent their world being absorbed by the empire. He will escape eventually, but the consequences of Kelwin's stay will have altered the galactic empire forever.
The Radiant Seas continues the story of Sauscony and Jaibriol, each the heir to an interstellar empire, as their lives become entangled again in the machinations of the Skolian Empire. They are beginning to pick up what's left of their lives, in exile on a deserted planet with their children, when the fate of much of the known universe comes to rest on the shoulders of their fragile young family. Interstellar war erupts, and Jaibriol is snatched away to be the unwilling ruler of the Highton Aristos. Sauscony must fight her way at the head of an invading space fleet to rescue him from his own empire - without revealing that they are married. And with much of interstellar civilization poised on the brink of destruction, it is the devotion of these two lovers, their sacrifices and their heroism, that might just found a new order. That, and the existence of their teenage son, who is the genetic heir to a legacy of pain he must rise above.
The Quantum Rose is the story of Kamoj Argali, the young ruler of an impoverished province on a backward planet. To keep her people from starving, she has agreed to marry Jax Ironbridge, ruler of the prosperous neighboring province. But before they can wed, Kamoj is forced into marriage with a mysteriousstranger from a distant planet, throwing her world into utter chaos.
Kelric returns to Skolian space, only to find the Empire in control of the Allied forces of Earth. With little more than the clothes on his back, he is forced to take work on a merchant vessel, and ends up being sold into slavery.
Separated for decades by circumstance and political machinations, the Ruby Dynasty, hereditary rulers of Skolia, struggle to bring together the tattered remnants of their family in the shadow of a disastrous interstellar war. Too many have died, others are presumed lost, yet Dyhianna, the Ruby Pharoah, must move quickly if they are to reassume their rightful place as rulers of the Skokian empire.
At the age of seventeen the young nobleman named Jaibriol Qox becomes ruler of a vast galactic empire - and loses everything he has ever valued.Born of a clandestine liaison between a renegade daughter of the Skolian Imperialate and a scion of the genetically engineered Eubian Traders, Jai Qox grew up in exile, unaware of the powers that coursed through his noble blood. In the waning days of the bloody Radiance War that ravaged the galaxy, Jai was captured and returned to the Traders to play a role as a puppet Emperor in their scheme to consolidate their domination of space.Now Jai must walk a razor's edge, to seize the power that is his by birthright without succumbing to its dark seduction and wield it for the good of all, and to avert a conflagration that threatens to engulf a thousand worlds.
Skyfall goes back to the beginning, to the rebirth of Skolia, showing how a chance meeting on a backwater planet forged a vast interstellar empire. Eldrinson, a provincial ruler on a primitive planet, is plagued by inner demons. But when he meets Roca, a beautiful and mysterious woman from the stars, he whisks her away to his mountain retreat, inadvertently starting a great interstellar war, and birthing the next generation of rulers for the Skolian Empire.
Two men, two empires. Jaibriol ruled the Eubian Concord: over two trillion people across more than a thousand worlds and habitats. Kelric ruled the Skolian Imperialate. War had come before-ten years ago, Jaibriol had lost his parents in the final battle of the Radiance War between the Concord and the Imperialate-and it might come again, devastating vast swathes of the galaxy. Neither Jaibriol nor Kelric wanted war, but neither was complete master of his realm. And each hid a secret that, if revealed, might be his downfall. Jaibriol was a secret psion, with telepathic abilities, and to be a psion in the Eubian Concord was to be a contemptible slave, eventually to be tortured for the pleasure of the slave's owner. Kelric, years ago, had disappeared for nearly two decades. He had been a prisoner and slave on the planet Coban, part of neither empire, until he had managed to escape. And if the Skolian Imperialate knew of his captivity, there would be demands for vengeance, ravaging Coban-and killing the wife and children Kelric had left behind when he escaped. Neither man knew how much longer he could keep his secret-nor how much longer they could hold back the threat of a war that could incinerate hundreds of inhabited worlds.
Del was a rock singer. He was also the renegade son of the
Ruby Dynasty, which made his career choice less than respectable, and gave
him more to worry about than getting gigs and not getting cheated by recording
companies, club owners, or his agent. For one thing, the Ruby Dynasty ruled
the Skolian Imperialate, an interstellar Empire, which had recently had a
war with another empire, the Eubian Concord. For another, Del was singing
on Earth, which was part of a third interstellar civilization, and one which
had an uneasy relationship with the Imperialate. Del undeniably had talent,
and was rapidly rising from an unknown fringe artist to stardom. But, with
his life entangled in the politics of three interstellar civilizations, whether
he wanted that or not, talent might not be enough. And that factor might
have much more effect than his music on the lives of trillions of people
on the thousands of inhabited worlds across the galaxy.
Triad
Schism Louis Royo |
The Final Key Luis Royo |
Now, Eube senses an opportunity, for strife has riven the first family of the Skolian Empire. Sauscony, the daughter of Roca and Eldrinson, is ready to seek her fortune as an officer-in-training in the Skolian military. When her father forbids her to undertake such a dangerous path, a wedge is formed as Soz chooses duty over family. Eube hopes to make this permanent, a divide that will leave the Skolian Empire ripe for conquest. And they're willing to kill anyone to make it happen.
The Skolian Empire comes under all-out assault from its nemesis, the Euban Concord, who have undermined the Empire via subterfuge and assassination, leaving it ripe for conquest. The Skolian Empire's only hope? A young woman barely out of her teens who hasn't even complete her training as a cadet.
Aronsdale/The
Lost Continent
Catherine's story, Moonglow is a brief window of the events in The Charmed Sphere, told from the perspective of Iris, rather than Chime.
In a world where kings married for magic, Iris Larkspur was required to wed the prince - despite the spell that kept him deaf, mute and blind. Healing her bridegroom would take a power greater than any she'd ever known - one only two bonded hearts could provide!
What was the use of being a powerful mage if you couldn't learn the spells?
Once Chime had been the most promising mage in the land, feted and celebrated for her potential and future role in the kingdom. The Iris, he young competitor, made a stunning leap in skill and turned Chime's world upside down.
Now no longer the most powerful, no longer promised to a prince — and still unable to harness her magic properly — Chime was set adrift. As was the new king's cousin — and former heir — Lord Muller. Yet when the neighboring kingdom threatened war, Muller and Chime were tasked with uncovering the plot. Both were flawed, yet unwilling to accept a lesser destiny than they had once known. Could this quest be the opportunity for redemption — or would it lead them to their deaths?
One generation after war had nearly destroyed three nations, evil was returning. The promise of peace rested on Mel Dawnfield's noble vow: to marry Cobalt the Dark - heir to a family of legendary cruelty. With only her uncontrolled spells to guide her, isolated in Cobalt's home in the Misted Cliffs, knowing poisoned blood ran through her husband's veins, Mel struggled to embrace her unexplored mage powers and unveil the light in her shadowy new world - including the radiance hidden in her husband's soul. For her enemies were gathering strength, and they would soon unleash the darkest of evils in the name of war.
High in the Misted Cliffs lives a magic unlike any other.
With no teacher to guide her, no mentor to discourage her from the impossible, Mel Dawnfield pushed her magic to its limits -- and surpassed them. Only to find that her powers aren't enough to halt burgeoning rebellion within her husband's fledgling realm -- or a plot devised to strike at the very heart of Mel's family.
Mel's mage strength has become greater than any power ever known, but dare she forge her spells into weapons to protect her people, her husband? For her magic might transform the brutality of war into the birth pangs of a peaceful empire . . . unless it proves the death blow to her world.
Deep in the sun-drenched desert, priestess Ginger-Sun carries the power of shape mages. And whispers abound: Is she descended from the beloved Sunset Goddess, or are her nighttime rituals filled with wickedness? Ginger herself is uncertain, until a stranger is left for dead at her feet.
Thence her magic begins to burn.
Fate makes Ginger the stranger's wife and therefore a target for those who would murder this man to crown another—and force her magic into twisted ferocity. For unless Ginger masters her dark powers, violence will rein in Taka Mal—and in her soul.
For centuries the women of Aronsdale have lived freely among the green and misted valleys. Creatures of exotic beauty and sensuality, they possess powerful skills of enchantment.and young Allegro is no different. But her life - and Aronsdale's independence - is threatened when Jazid nomads invade, carrying Allegro into the desert as a prized trophy.or worse.
Until an unexpected ally falls under her spell. From the moment feared Jazid warrior Markus Onyx sees the alluring beauty, he knows he has found his queen.
But even the promise of love cannot quell Allegro's determination to save her homeland. Summoning her powers, she casts herself north - out of passion's grip - and into the dark heart of conflict..
Sunrise
Alley
Sunrise Alley Alan Pollack |
Alpha Alan Pollack |
Charon was the most ruthless-and brilliant-criminal of the twenty-first century, a practitioner of illegal robotics and android research. He is dead now, and General Thomas Wharington believes his team of experts has deleted all the electronic copies the megalomaniacal inventor created of himself.
However, one major problem remains: Alpha, the only android survivor of Charon's cybernetic empire. Outwardly indistinguishable from a human woman, Alpha has superhuman strength and speed, and perhaps even more deadly capabilities still unknown. Thomas's superiors want her dismantled and studied, but to Thomas it feels like murder. He stalls for time, a move that could prove disastrous. Alpha escapes from an escape-proof compound, kidnaps Thomas, and takes him to one of Charon's hidden installations. Charon might be dead, but Alpha continues to carry out her late master's orders, and she refuses to elaborate on what those orders entail. Her behavior is becoming more human-or so it seems. Is she developing emotions and a conscience, or is she just learning to counterfeit them as a means of carrying out her enigmatic orders? And do those orders include Thomas's death sentence?
