Deborah J. Ross

A gripping new fantasy novel set in Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover universe. Darkover, a Lost Colony far out on the galactic rim, a world of telepaths, nonhumans, and warlords ... a world about to discover the terrible destructive power of weapons of the mind ... Traumatized by psychic warfare as a child, a young woman with extraordinary psychic talents negotiates a treacherous path, risking unforeseen dangers to create a haven where she and others can use their skills for good. In Darkover's dim past, before the tumultuous Ages of Chaos, small kingdoms still vied for power with sword and spear. 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. Leora's younger sister perishes in the firestorm of laran-fueled destruction when Lord Carcosse and his sorcerer attack their home. Scarred and deeply traumatized, Leora is sent to a faraway Tower for healing. In the process, she grows to womanhood and develops her extraordinary Gifts, wanting nothing more than to live and work among fellow telepaths. But war is brewing once more ... To prevent another catastrophe, Lord Hastur brokers an alliance, with marriage to Leora as part of the treaty. Rather than see others suffer as she has, Leora reluctantly agrees. As she and Neave travel to the wedding, one calamity follows another, from a flash flood to an attack by nonhuman catmen ... and capture by ruthless Dry Towns slavers. To save her sister and their fellow captives, Leora must call forth a previously unknown Gift and summon the gods themselves to her cause. Arilinn is the new, long-awaited adventure in the beloved Darkover series. It's perfect for both devoted fans and those new to the world of the Bloody Sun.

A gripping new fantasy novel set in Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover universe.Darkover, a Lost Colony far out on the galactic rim, a world of telepaths, nonhumans, and warlords ... a world about to discover the terrible destructive power of weapons of the mind ...Traumatized by psychic warfare as a child, a young woman with extraordinary psychic talents negotiates a treacherous path, risking unforeseen dangers to create a haven where she and others can use their skills for good.In Darkover's dim past, before the tumultuous Ages of Chaos, small kingdoms still vied for power with sword and spear. 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. Leora's younger sister perishes in the firestorm of laran-fueled destruction when Lord Carcosse and his sorcerer attack their home. Scarred and deeply traumatized, Leora is sent to a faraway Tower for healing. In the process, she grows to womanhood and develops her extraordinary Gifts, wanting nothing more than to live and work among fellow telepaths. But war is brewing once more ...To prevent another catastrophe, Lord Hastur brokers an alliance, with marriage to Leora as part of the treaty. Rather than see others suffer as she has, Leora reluctantly agrees. As she and Neave travel to the wedding, one calamity follows another, from a flash flood to an attack by nonhuman catmen ... and capture by ruthless Dry Towns slavers. To save her sister and their fellow captives, Leora must call forth a previously unknown Gift and summon the gods themselves to her cause.Arilinn is the new, long-awaited adventure in the beloved Darkover series. It's perfect for both devoted fans and those new to the world of the Bloody Sun.

Terran child psychologist Bryn Haslund has her hands full, treating the traumatized young victims of the interplanetary Star Alliance. She's tried to stay out of politics, leaving that to her charismatic statesman father, Ernst. Despite her best efforts to remain neutral, she gets caught in the crackdown of a protest-turned-riot. Then Ernst delivers a robotic speech in support of the Alliance's tyrannical leader and goes missing. With the Alliance's secret police hot on her heels, Bryn finally locates her father in the research labs on Alpha, only to find that a mind-control device has been implanted in his brain. Searching for a way to disable the device, she discovers the records of a remote, almost-forgotten planet where telepathic powers have been developed to an extraordinary degree...Darkover, a Lost Colony world circling a dim red star far out on the galactic rim. In the desperate hope that natural telepathy can disable the mechanical device and free her father's mind, she hustles him onboard a smuggler's ship. When they try to land on Darkover, however, powerful winds knock their shuttle off-course, and it crashes in a rugged, glaciated mountain range. As the shuttle spins out of control, Bryn cries out for help... ...and someone answers her telepathic plea. Darkover poses its own dangers, from ice avalanches to bandits to gigantic carnivorous birds. Moreover, the planet has a complicated, often contentious history with Terra. When the Terrans rediscovered Darkover after millennia of isolation, the aristocratic Comyn struggled to maintain their unique culture, often at a terrible price. Using their extraordinary psychic abilities called laran, they forced the Terrans to honor Darkover's independence. The vicious interstellar wars waged by the Star Alliance eventually forced the Terrans to withdraw. Two generations later, smugglers, pirates, and rebels still use Darkover as a hidden base, threatening to drag the Comyn into their own battles. So far, Darkover's leaders have managed to avoid becoming a battleground for a larger conflict. Now Bryn and her father threaten to break that precarious isolation. To make matters worse, the mind-control device seems to be tightening its hold over Ernst, the Darkovans have their own agenda, and Bryn's newly awakened psychic powers just might turn out to be lethal. Can Bryn convince Darkover's telepaths to help, when they are deeply suspicious of Terrans and would rather remain forgotten? What are these strange new powers she's developing? And can she restore Ernst's mind before the Alliance enforcers track them down?

For more than six decades, readers have fallen in love with Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover, a "Lost Colony" world of telepaths, swordsmen, intelligent alien races, and long-buried mysteries. From the glacier-shrouded Hellers Mountains to the arid Dry Towns, the ancient realms of the Ages of Chaos, and the star-faring Terran Federation, Darkover is brimming with adventure, intrigue, and romance. Editor Deborah J. Ross proudly presents this all-original collection in the finest spirit of Darkovan tales for your reading delight.Evey Brett + Barb Caffrey + Margaret L. Carter and Leslie Roy Carter + Lillian Csernica + India and Rosemary Edghill + Leslie Fish + Shariann Lewitt + Marella Sands + Deborah Millitello + Diana L. Paxson + Rhondi Salsitz

Poised on the brink of war, the people of the planet Bandar are stunned by the arrival of a disabled Terran space ship. But the Terrans are even less prepared to understand the politics, gender fluidity, or mob reflexes of the natives. The Terran captain uses increasing force as the only way to ensure desperately needed repairs. Hoping to bring enlightened human values to the natives, a young scientist's intervention leads to disaster. After a vicious assault, a pregnant native becomes radicalized. A failed poet sees the Terran occupation as a way to gain the recognition he craves. A widow whose farm is bombed using Terran weaponry journeys to the capital in search of help and ends up facing a firing squad. And a reporter becomes the voice of the resistance, determined to take back his world from the invaders...As violence escalates, the fate of both peoples rests with those who have suffered the most. Can they find a way to forgiveness . . . and peace?Lambda Literary Award Finalist James Tiptree, Jr. Award 2014 Long List

In 1985, Deborah J. Ross sold her first Darkover short story to Marion Zimmer Bradley's Free Amazons of Darkover. "Midwife" relates the adventures of a young woman who inadvertently becomes the surrogate mother of a banshee chick -- a smelly, sightless, carnivorous bird. Bradley featured Ross's short stories - dramatic, bittersweet, romantic, and humorous - in subsequent anthologies, and often cited Ross's turnabout-twist story, "The Death of Brendon Ensolare," as one of her favorites. Eventually the two collaborated on novel-length works set in the world of the Bloody Sun. Following Bradley's death in 1999, Ross has continued the series, including The Fall of Neskaya, The Children of Kings, and Thunderlord, as well as editing six more Darkover anthologies. For the first time, here are all of Ross's Darkover short stories, some of them previously unpublished, now collected in one volume....A pair of City Guards cadets invent an imaginary recruit in order to avoid their chores, and then must face the consequences... In the Ages of Chaos, a young wizard must rely on his uncertain powers to survive a haunted Tower... When the new lord of a captured castle is found murdered, the all-too-obvious suspect is an Aldaran assassin... Only the legendary Keeper could save her circle under the onslaught of forbidden weapons, but the results would cripple generations of women to come... ...and in the title story, written as a birthday gift, Ross sends Marion Zimmer Bradley herself to Darkover to solve a crisis in "A Heat Wave in the Hellers"...

Strongholds of rock . . . fortresses of the spirit . . . a planet set apart . . . A castle high in snow-covered mountains beneath a ruddy sun, a place at once romantic and bleak, alien and richly nostalgic . . . a heart besieged and then re-awakened . . . secrets locked away by stone and spell . . . the last refuge of desperate folk . . . Towers where laran-Gifted circles work their magic . . . and Darkover itself, a world apart, yet under repeated assault by those who would exploit its natural resources, including its unique telepathic Gifts . . . Citadels can be psychic, emotional, and cultural as well as military, and the wonderfully imaginative contributors to this volume have taken the basic idea and spun out stories in different and often unexpected directions. This volume contains stories by Robin Wayne Bailey, Jane M. H. Bigelow, Barb Caffrey, Evey Brett, Lillian Csernica, Leslie Fish, Rebecca Fox, Steven Harper, Shariann Lewitt, Diana L. Paxson, Robin Rowland, and Marella Sands.

From lands distant or nearby, familiar or utterly strange, historical or imaginary, from ancient times to the Belle poque comes a treasury of luscious, elegant, romantic fantasy. Come with us on a journey through time and across boundaries, inspired by the longings of the heart and the courage residing in even the meekest person. Your guides will be stellar authors such as Harry Turtledove, Doranna Durgin, Lawrence Watt-Evans, India Edghill, and Dave Smeds.This volume contains stories by Robin Wayne Bailey, Doranna Durgin, India Edghill, Steven Harper, Anne Leonard, Shariann Lewitt, Pat MacEwen, Gillian Polack, Marella Sands, Dave Smeds, Adam Stemple, Harry Turtledove, Lawrence Watt-Evans, and Julia H. West.

A cup of inspiration, a dash of understanding, and a generous serving of wisdom for writers new and old. From the desk of writer and editor Deborah J. Ross comes a collection of warm, insightful essays on the writing life: including getting started, negotiating with the Idea Fairy and creating memorable characters, writing queries, surviving bad reviews, dealing with life's interruptions, confronting creative jealousy, and nourishing yourself and your creative muse. Contains space for personal notes.

Sword and Sorceress 33Women of Wisdom and Power... For over two decades, the late Marion Zimmer Bradley, best-selling and beloved author, discovered and nurtured a new generation of authors. The roster of contributors over the years includes Mercedes Lackey, Laurell K. Hamilton, Charles de Lint, Diana L. Paxson, Emma Bull, Jennifer Roberson, and countless others. The original stories featured here include such stellar authors as Dave Smeds, Jane Lindskold, Deborah J. Ross, Pauline J. Alama, and exciting newcomers whose voices are sure to be heard again. Enter a wondrous universe... Marion Zimmer Bradley's Sword and Sorceress Volume 33 includes stories by Pauline J. Alama, Evey Brett, Lorie Calkins, Margaret L. Carter, Alisa Cohen, Jessie Eaker, M P Ericson, Jane Lindskold, Jennifer Linnaea, Melissa Mead, Catherine Mintz, Deirdre M. Murphy, T.R. North, Deborah J. Ross, L.S. Patton, Marella Sands, Jonathan Shipley, and Dave Smeds.

A magical pearl turns a young girl into warrior without pity... A dragon bound to an amulet of amber seeks the aid of a forest wizard... A bitter, crippled fairy plots revenge on her captors... A vampire stalks back alleys, seeking to turn the tables on those who prey on women...The hapless apprentice to a sorceress gets her wish fulfilled... The Arabian Nights meets Hamlet, with a feminine twist. Acclaimed fantasy writer Deborah J. Ross brings you a potpourri of dragons and toads, horses and thieves, mothers and daughters, and lovers and villains, with an occasional salamander.

Darkover's position on the galactic arm renders it strategically important, a crossroads in space. It's also a place where cultures meet and clash, where strangers encounter one another, and where lives are forever transformed. Whether the tale features a literal branching of the road, a fateful decision, a twist of fate, or a life-changing realization, the theme of "crossroads" echoes through these pages. Here assumptions are challenged, dangers braved, and hidden truths revealed. Add a touch of Darkover's special romance, a bit of humor here and there, and the result is a thrilling journey, no matter which road you follow. This volume includes stories by Robin Wayne Bailey, Jane M. H. Bigelow, Evey Brett, Rosemary & India Edghill, Leslie Fish, Rebecca Fox, Gabrielle Harbowy, Shariann Lewitt, Pat MacEwen, Deborah Millitello, Diana L. Paxson, Jenna Rhodes, Robin Rowland & Deborah J. Ross, and Marella Sands.

"The combination of love and blades is a match to be enjoyed in many highly diverse ways." - SF Revue A decade ago, readers thrilled to the debut of a new series of elegant, romantic fantasy stories. Best-selling author Jacqueline Carey hailed the first Lace and Blade as "a banquet of adventure, intrigue, and romance." Publisher's Weekly wrote, "Readers will be left starry-eyed and hoping for the series to continue." Now those hopes are fulfilled in this new volume, brimming with tales that enchant and delight. Here are stories of love and betrayal, of alchemy and swordplay, of lovers lost and found, of dreams denied and fulfilled -- from the secret heirs of Alexander the Great to a bard who sings traumatized dragons back to sanity to an African girls' cricket team to an American patriot on the eve of the Revolutionary War, from the rooftops of Victorian Paris to 17th Century India to imaginary but no less vivid lands and characters who will whisper to you of sweet, sweet dreams long after the final page is turned. This volume includes stories by Robin Wayne Bailey, Carol Berg, Marie Brennan, Doranna Durgin, India Edghill, Rosemary Edghill, Heather Rose Jones, Pat MacEwen, Diana L. Paxson, Marella Sands, Dave Smeds, Judith Tarr, and Lawrence Watt-Evans.

Marion Zimmer Bradley's beloved world of Darkover encompasses many realms, from glacier-shrouded mountains to arid wastelands, from ancient kingdoms to space-faring empires. Now this all-new anthology welcomes old friends and new fans to explore these landscapes of time and place, history and imagination. Darkover's psychic gifts known as laran bestow the ability to reach across the stars, meld with another's mind, and experience past and possible futures. These talents are not limited to Darkover's human inhabitants, for the planet is also home to nonhuman races, many with powerful mental abilities of their own. In these stories, a swordsman on the track of an assassin forges a telepathic bond with a great owl...a shapeshifter from Earth discovers kinship with a Darkovan catman...a boy from the desert Dry Towns displays a deadly form of weather-control...rescuers make their way across blizzard-cloaked mountains, afoot or on skis...and an intrepid young woman challenges the male establishment in her dream of becoming a judge. Robin Wayne Bailey + Jane M. H. Bigelow + Barb Caffrey + Margaret L. Carter & Leslie Roy Carter + Rosemary Edghill & Rebecca Fox+ Leslie Fish + Shariann Lewitt + Deborah Millitello + Ty Nolan + Diana L. Paxson + Marella Sands + Michael Spence