Darkover Series

A follow-up to The Ages of Chaos omnibus, Thunderlord is a brand-new novel of the genre-bending Darkover universe, expanded by Marion Zimmer Bradley’s collaborator Deborah J. Ross. 

Far in Darkover’s past, the Ages of Chaos were a time of constant warfare, when immensely powerful psychic weapons ravaged the land and slaughtered entire armies. Perhaps none was more dangerous and unpredictable than the mental Gift to sense–and control–thunderstorms. When the realm of Aldaran and their Scathfell cousins came to blows, that Gift turned the tide of battle, and Aldaran prevailed.

A generation later, the heir to Scathfell, Gwynn, has grown up in the shadow of that conflict, his life shaped by the loss of his entire family. Now he plots his revenge for his family’s humiliating defeat by seeking to marry a woman who carries the storm control Gift, so that his sons will be able to wield the terrible power of storms against Aldaran. 

Since childhood, Kyria has been able to sense approaching storms. She had never expected to marry a rich man; independent and athletic, she defied tradition by donning her brother’s castoff clothing and trapping small game to keep her family from starvation. When Gwynn’s emissary arrives with a marriage proposal that will secure her family’s financial future, she agrees. Along with her younger sister as her companion, she sets out for Scathfell, where she will be formally wed. 

During their passage through rugged mountains, a blizzard drives them to seek shelter in a traveler’s hut, where they meet Edric, the young heir to Aldaran. 

Edric has inherited the storm control, but he has never dared to use it. His whole life, he has been warned against the consequences, not just to his enemies but to everyone he loves. Now, disguised as an ordinary traveler, he journeys home after years of study, disciplining himself to control his powers.

When he meets Kyria, he senses the presence of the same storm power, but unschooled and dormant. They know each other only as Edric and Kyria–for under shelter truth, all identities are concealed–and are drawn to one another. 

Thus begins the saga of two kingdoms, divided by bitter history and present-day suspicions, one armed with devastating power and the other determined to overcome it, no matter what the price. Can their love and resourcefulness overcome even the overwhelming power of a Thunderlord?

An exciting fantasy adventure set in Marion Zimmer Bradley’s popular world of Darkover

Court life for Prince Gareth Elhalyn, grandson of the legendary Regis Hastur, has become unbearable. In a desperate attempt to escape, Gareth appeals to his powerful grandmother, Linnea, and with her blessing, disguises himself and travels to the barbarous, warlike Dry Towns where no one will recognize a prince. In the Dry Towns, Gareth overhears rumors of deadly, illegal Terran blasters and stumbles upon a terrible reality no one could have suspected.
 
Meanwhile, Linnea has never ceased to search for her lost daughter, Kierestelli, whom she and Regis were forced to send into hiding with the native chieri. Almost by chance, Linnea reconnects along the telepathic relays with Kierestelli, now called Silvana of Nevarsin Tower. Silvana, convinced that her parents abandoned her, rejects her mother’s overture and returns to her hidden home among the chieri. But the chieri once roamed the stars themselves, and they have no forgotten the terror of warfare in space—lessons that they pass on to Silvana.
 
Unknown to the ruling Comyn, danger now fills the skies above Darkover, and Silvana holds half the key to protecting their world. Gareth holds the other half, if he can only stay alive long enough to discover where that key is….

A gripping fantasy novel set in Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Darkover universe.

Regis Hastur was the heir to the most powerful domain on Darkover. When his grandfather died, he would inherit the title Hastur of Hastur, Regent of Darkover—king in everything but name. But ironically, this mantle was the last thing Regis had ever wanted. For he dreamed of a different kind of life—a life with the freedom to live and love like an ordinary man, without the expectations and responsibilities of his position.

Yet even Regis recognized Darkover’s desperate need for strong, rational leadership—leadership only he had been trained to provide. But now that his time was at hand, was Regis willing to make the personal sacrifices necessary to lead his world? Or would he turn away from his destiny and finally make his real dreams come true? For on his grandfather’s deathbed Regis learns that he has a brother—an older half-brother who could finally relieve Regis of the burden of title he had never wanted…. Would Regis finally let himself be free to be the man he had always dreamed of being?

The long-awaited continuation to Marion Zimmer Bradley’s popular science fiction Darkover saga

After generations of struggle to protect the unique native culture of Darkover from the ambitions of the ruthless Terran Federation, the Terrans have finally been forced to abandon Darkover due to interstellar civil war.
 
As Lew Alton—returned home to the world of his birth after decades spent in exile as the Darkovan representative to the Terran Senate—wrestles with the dark shadows from his past, his daughter Marguerida’s psychic Gifts warn her of impending danger. But danger to whom? Her husband Mikhail, as powerful head of the Hastur Doman is her most obvious worry, for many would stand to gain from his demise.
 
Meanwhile, unknown to Marguerida, her son, Domenic, searches for his place in a world of shifting loyalties, torn by love for two very different women, and troubled by his destiny as the heir to Hastur.
 
But while Darkover’s powerful rulers face their personal demons, desperate refugees flood the streets of Thendara, Darkover’s capital city, for in the mountains an ancient menace is once again on the rise—a power against which neither sword nor the psychic sorcery of Darkover can prevail.

An omnibus volume of two of Marion Zimmer Bradley’s classic, long-unavailable Darkover novels, including the first Darkover novel ever written!

To Save a World includes The World Wreckers and the Planet Savers, plus the short story “The Waterfall.”

The Planet Savers:

Originally published in Amazing Stories in December 1958, The Planet Savers was the very firs Darkover novel to see print. It was here readers were first introduced to the now legendary world of Cottman IV, at a time when the Terrans are desperately seeking a cure to a disease of epidemic proportions that threatens the lives of Terrans and Darkovans alike.
 
For every forty-eight years, Trailmen’s fever, a childhood illness among this native and venerable race, becomes pandemic, decimating the human population of this rustic planet. Now, one brave Terran doctor must join a Darkovan expedition into the wild mountainous terrain of the Trailmen in a desperate attempt to create a vaccine and eradicate this terrible plague once and for all.
 
The World Wreckers:

Planetary Investments Unlimited—that was the company’s official name, but unofficially it was known as Worldwreckers, Inc. For a fee, its agent would infiltrate any world unwilling to give up its independence, and do enough damage that the natives would be forced to allow Terran investors to step in and salvage their planet. And now, once again, its agents were at work.
 
In the 78 years since the planet Cottman IV—called Darkover by its natives—was rediscovered by the Terran Empire, all efforts to colonize and industrialize this exotic world had failed.
 
And the person in charge of Worldwreckers, Inc.—a centuries-old being who appeared to be a woman—had decided to take on this particular assignment herself. After all, she had special insight into this world, for long ago—lifetimes ago—she had called Darkover home….

This omnibus features two classic, long-unavailable Darkover novels-Darkover Landfall and Two to Conquer-in one volume for the first time.

An omnibus volume of three classic, long-unavailable Darkover novels–Star of Danger, The Bloody Sun, and Winds of Darkover–tell of two men of mixed Darkovan ancestry, who must choose where their true allegiances lie.

These two classic Darkover novels tell the epic tale of four people who challenged the ancient laws of the matrix towers.

Return to the genre-bending world of Darkover, to a trilogy that follows the thrilling story of two Free Amazon women

In the three novels which comprise THE SAGA OF THE RENUNCIATES, Marion Zimmer Bradley tells the masterful tale of two valiant women who face and try to break the invisible chains of custom, convention, habit and expectation with which society binds women, and women bind themselves.

Magdalen Lorne is a Terran woman born and reared on Darkover. She thinks herself the perfect Terran undercover Intelligence agent, and disguises herself as a Free Amazon to enable her to fulfill a mission to free a Terran man from kidnappers. But when she herself is captured by a band of real Renunciates, she discovers they have a harsh punishment for any pretenders: she must swear the Oath of the Free Amazons, relinquish her former life, and become a Renunciate in reality.

Jaelle has been raised in the harsh patriarchal environment of the Dry Towns. Her mother Mellora is a Comyn woman who has been kidnapped in order to breed laran-gifted offspring for her barbarian “husband.” But when a desperate, pregnant Mellora dies in childbirth following a daring escape aided by a band of Renunciates, the still young Jaelle is adopted into the Guild, and becomes the Free Amazon Jaelle n’ha Mellora, a woman who has never known kindness from a man.

Together Magda, now known as Margali n’ha Tsabet, and her Guild-sister Jaelle will follow a twisting course neither could have predicted. A course which will lead them to question every aspect of themselves and of their two so-different societies. And one which will eventually set them on a life-threatening journey not only to the frozen ends of the physical world, but to the perilous limits of the spiritual overworld as well.

The Ages of Chaos includes Stormqueen! and Hawkmistress!, two acclaimed novels by Marion Zimmer Bradley and part of the expansive, genre-bending Darkover series.
 
Set during the lawless Ages of Chaos, when the ruling families of the Seven Domains of Darkover ruthlessly inbred their psychic offspring to gain powerful and fearsome talents, two young women are born with “wild” psychic gifts. These stories—Stormqueen! and Hawkmistress!, one tragic and one triumphant—combine to give the reader a vivid and poignant picture of a devastating time period in the history of this fantastic world.
 
Stormqueen!
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. Fearful for his daughter’s life and the safety of his domain, Lord Aldaran sent to a tower for help. But even the powers of a trained monitor and a Hastur lord might not be enough to save this painfully afflicted and deadly young woman.
 
Hawkmistress!
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. But Romilly soon discovered her newfound freedom was far from complete. Pulled into the maelstrom of a civil war, could Romilly find her true role in life without sacrificing her ideals?

The Heritage of Hastur:
Nominated for a Hugo Award, and described as “Bradley’s best [Darkover] novel” by Lous, THE HERITAGE OF HASTUR is a brilliant epic of the pivotal events in the love-hate relationship between the Terran worlds and the semi-alien off-spring of the forgotten colonists who peopled Darkover. This is the complex and compelling tale of the early life of Regis Hastur, Darkover’s greatest monarch. But HERITAGE also spins the terrifying and heartbreaking story of those who sought to control the deadly Sharra Matrix and tells how Lew Alton met and lost his greatest love, Marjorie Scott. This is the unforgettable showdown between these Darkovan lords who would bargain away their world for the glories of Terran science and those who would preserve the special matrix powers that are at once the prize and burden of Darkover.
 
Sharra’s Exile:
The most dangerous magical implement on all of Darkover was the infamous, legendary Sharra Matrix. Embodying the image of a chained woman wreathed in flames, it was the last remaining weapon of the Ages of Chaos—an era of uncontrolled laran warfare which had almost destroyed all life on Darkover. The Sharra Matrix had been exiled offworld to one of the far-flung planets of the Terran Empire, in the protective custody of one who had suffered gravely from its use: Comyn Lord Lew Alton.
 
But when Lew was called back to Darkover to contend for his rights, he had no choice but to bring this dangerous matrix back with him, and once the Sharra Matrix was black, her flaming image spread far and wide, setting motion events which would change the lands, the seven Domains, and the entire future forever.