S. M. Stirling

S. M. Stirling's Novels of the Change are a "truly original combination of postapocalyptic sci-fi and military-oriented medieval fantasy"* about a future where mysterious Powers removed advanced technology, and humanity rebuilds society. However, this new world is not always a peaceful one.... The spirit of troubadour Prince John, the brother of Crown Princess rlaith, has fallen captive to the power of the Yellow Raja and his servant, the Pallid Mask. Prince John's motley band of friends and followers--headed by Captain Pip of Townsville and Deor Godulfson--must lead a quest through realms of shadow and dreams to rescue Prince John from a threat far worse than death. Meanwhile, across the sea, Japanese Empress Reiko and rlaith, heir to the High Kingdom of Montival, muster their kingdoms for war, making common cause with the reborn Kingdom of Hawaii. But more than weapons or even the dark magic of the sorcerers of Pyongyang threaten them; rlaith's lover, Alan Thurston, might be more than he appears. From the tropical waters off Hilo and Pearl Harbor, to the jungles and lost cities of the Ceram Sea, a game will be played where the fate of the world is at stake. *Kirkus Reviews

" A] vivid portrait of a world gone insane,"* S. M. Stirling's New York Times bestselling Novels of the Change have depicted a vivid, utterly persuasive, and absorbingly unpredictable postapocalyptic wasteland in which all modern technology has been left in ashes, forcing humankind to rebuild an unknowable new world in the wake of unimaginable--and deliberate--chaos. In The Change: Tales of Downfall and Rebirth, S. M. Stirling invites the most fertile minds in science fiction to join him in expanding his rich Emberverse canvas. Here are inventive new perspectives on the cultures, the survivors, and the battles arising across the years and across the globe following the Change--from the ruins of Sydney to the Republic of Fargo and Northern Alberta to Venetian and Greek galleys clashing in the Mediterranean. These adventures revisit beloved people and places from Stirling's fantastic universe, introduce us to new ones, and deliver endlessly fascinating challenges to conquer. *Statesman Journal (Salem, OR)

Rudi Mackenzie has won the battle that expelled the enemy from the new High Kingdom of Montival. Now he must free the people who live in the state once known as Idaho from occupation by the legions of the Church Universal and Triumphant and pursue them to their lair over the mountains. There he will finally confront the forces behind the Church--the Powers of the Void. Yet even a victory will not end the conflict forever. The Powers of the Void are malevolent and infinitely patient, and the struggle is one that involves the entire world. They threaten not only Rudi in the present, but also the future represented by his children, rlaith and John. Rudi knows this. And as his heir Princess rlaith grows up in the shadow of her famous father, she also realizes that the enemy will do anything to see that she does not live to fulfill her parents' dream....

The Empire of Man has fallen and a new Dark Age is upon the stars. With planets cut off and reduced to subsistence and ignorance, humanity has nearly forgotten its past greatness. But one battle computer has survived the Collapse. He is Center. And Center is determined to find and aid leaders who can return a star-faring republic to the galaxy. The first of these leaders is Raj Whitehall, a man born to be a general, and molded to retake civilization itself from the jaws of barbarism.Contains Books #5 and #6 (The Sword and The Chosen) in David Drake and S. M. Stirling's best selling General series.

Rudi Mackenize, now Artos the First, High King of Montival, and his allies have won several key battles against the Church Universal and Triumphant. But still the war rages on, taking countless lives, ravaging the land once known as the United States of America. Artos and his Queen, Mathilda, must unite the realms into a single kingdom to ensure a lasting peace. If the leaders of the Changed world are to accept Artos as their ruler, he will need to undertake a quest to the Lake at the Heart of the Mountains, and take part in a crowning ceremony--a ceremony binding him to his people, his ancestors, and his land. Then, once he has secured his place and allegiances, Artos can go forward, and lead his forces to the heart of the enemy's territory....

Rudi Mackenzie has traveled from the land where the sun sets to the land where it rises and back. He has found his weapon--the Sword crafted for him before he was born. He has made friends from among his enemies and found enemies where he expected friends. He has won the heart and hand of the woman he has loved his entire life.Now Rudi is Artos, the High King of Montival, and his final destiny awaits him. He must face and defeat the forces of the Church Universal and Triumphant. Everything in the present, everything in the future, depends on the outcome of the conflict.And like his father before him, Rudi knows that in winning the war he might well lose his life...

S. M. Stirling--the New York Times bestselling author of the Novels of the Change--continues his "exciting new Urban Fantasy trilogy"* in which the fate of humanity rests in the bloody hands of those who are far from human... Adrian Breze has long defied his pure-bred Shadowspawn heritage as part of an ancient race of shapeshifters who once reigned supreme. But when his ruthless sister Adrienne kidnapped his human lover Ellen, he emerged from seclusion to rescue her. Before her defeat, Adrienne revealed that the Council of Shadows was marshalling its strength to rule the world once again. To stop them, Adrian and Ellen must ally with the Brotherhood, a resistance group dedicated to breaking the Council's hold on humankind.In the coming confrontation, Adrian must fight not only the members of the Council but also his own nature...and, he will come to suspect, traitors within the Brotherhood itself...

"S. M. Stirling provides another fabulous postapocalyptic thriller to his Change saga." - Alternative Worlds Rudi Mackenzie traveled to Nantucket, where he found and took up the Sword of the Lady and, with it, his destiny. His return journey to the area known as Montival, in the Pacific Northwest, is a treacherous one since he and his companions must cross three thousand miles, making both allies and adversaries along the way. When he reaches his destination, he will face the legions of the Prophet. To achieve victory, Rudi must assemble a coalition of those who were his enemies just months before, then forge them into an army that will rescue his homeland and tear the heart out of the Church Universal and Triumphant once and for all. Only then will Rudi be able to come to terms with how the Sword has changed him--as well as the world--and assume his place as Artos, High King of Montival...

From S. M. Stirling, the "master of speculative fiction" (Library Journal) and the author of the New York Times bestselling Novels of the Change, comes a new vision, as a man battles the dark forces of the world--including those in his own blood... Aeons ago, Homo nocturnus ruled the Earth. Possessing extraordinary powers, they were the source of all manner of myths and legends. Though their numbers have been greatly reduced, they exist still--though not as purebreds. Adrian Br z is one such being. Wealthy and reclusive, he is more Shadowspawn than human. He rebelled against his own kind, choosing to live as an ordinary man, fighting against his darker nature. But Adrian's sister is determined to bring back the reign of the Shadowspawn, and now she has struck him at his weakest point by kidnapping his human lover, Ellen. To save Ellen--and perhaps all of humanity--Adrian must rejoin a battle he swore he would never fight again.

When the Fleet is challenged by an alien armada from the other side of the galaxy, the Fleet constructs the Stephen Hawking, an enormous mobile base for thousands of soldiers and warships... and the overstressed crew prepares for a direct assault by a deadly insectoid race. But the pressures of combat and close quarters have taken their toll, threatening to turn the crew to the enemy's prime advantage.

"This new novel of the Change is quite probably the finest by an author who has been growing in skill and imagination for more than twenty-five years." - Booklist (Starred Review) Rudi Mackenzie has journeyed long and far across the land that was once the United States of America, seeking the shore where the sun rises, hoping to find the source of the world-altering event that has come to be known as the Change. His quest ends in Nantucket, an island overrun with forest, inhabited by a mere two hundred people, who claim to have been transported there from out of time. Only one odd stone house remains standing. Within it, Rudi finds a beautifully made sword seemingly waiting for him. And once he takes it up, nothing for Rudi--or for the world that he knows--will ever be the same...

"Vivid...Stirling eloquently describes a devastated, mystical world that will appeal to fans of traditional fantasy as well as postapocalyptic SF." - Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) Rudi Mackenzie--son and heir of the High Priestess Juniper Mackenzie and the Bear Lord Michael Havel--continues his trek across the land that was once the United States of America. His destination: Nantucket, where he hopes to learn the truth behind the Change, which rendered technology across the globe inoperable. During his travels, Rudi forges ties with new allies in the continuing war against the Prophet. Presiding over his flock, the Prophet teaches his followers that God has punished humanity by destroying technological civilization, and that they must continue to destroy any technology they come across--along with those who dare use it. But one fanatical officer in the Sword of the Prophet has an even greater mission: to stop Rudi from reaching Nantucket by any means necessary.

Young Rudi Mackenzie has grown up knowing that he will one day assume leadership over the Western Oregon survivors of the technological disaster called the Change. But a prophecy made at his birth spoke of an even greater destiny--a destiny that is about to be fulfilled. A mysterious traveler has arrived in the Willamette Valley. He brings news from the East, from Nantucket Island, long rumored to be the source of the Change. He has been sent on a mission to bring back with him the Sword of the Lady from the sunset oceans. As son of the High Priestess, Rudi is the Sword of the Lady. Now, guided by the traveler, he sets out on a quest across the Changed land that was once America. But between Rudi and his destiny lies the Valley of Paradise...and the cult of a madman determined to stop him.

"A major work by an authentic master of alternate history." - Booklist (Starred Review) In the tenth year of the Change, the survivors in western Oregon live in a world without technology. Michael Havel's Bearkillers hold the lands west of Salem in peace and order. To the east, the Clan Mackenzie flourishes under the leadership of Juniper Mackenzie, bard and High Priestess. Together, they have held Norman Arminger--the warlord of Portland--at bay. With his dark fantasies of a neofeudal empire, Arminger rules much of the Pacific Northwest, spreading fear with his knights, castles, and holy inquisition. Even more dangerous, and perhaps Arminger's most powerful weapon of all, is his ruthlessly cunning consort, Lady Sandra. These factions haven't met in battle because Arminger's daughter has fallen into Clan Mackenzie's hands. But Lady Sandra has a plan to retrieve her--even if it means plunging the entire region into open warfare...

Ten years after all of Earth's technology had been rendered useless by the Change, two thriving communities in Oregon's Willamette Valley are confronted by a dangerous new challenge when the totalitarian Protectorate prepares to seek control over their priceless farmland. Reprint.

S. M. Stirling presents his first Novel of the Change, the start of the New York Times bestselling postapocalyptic saga set in a world where all technology has been rendered useless. The Change occurred when an electrical storm centered over the island of Nantucket produced a blinding white flash that rendered all electronic devices and fuels inoperable--and plunged the world into a dark age humanity was unprepared to face... Michael Pound was flying over Idaho en route to the holiday home of his passengers when the plane's engines inexplicably died, forcing a less than perfect landing in the wilderness. And as Michael leads his charges to safety, he begins to realize that the engine failure was not an isolated incident. Juniper McKenzie was singing and playing guitar in a pub when her small Oregon town was thrust into darkness. Now, taking refuge in her family's cabin with her daughter and a growing circle of friends, Juniper is determined to create a farming community to benefit the survivors of this crisis. But even as people band together to help one another, others are building armies for conquest...

The discovery of an alternate nation through a secret portal provokes John Rolfe to establish power in this kingdom of "New Virginia," but sixty years later in 2009, the land runs the risk of being overtaken. Reprint.

On an alternate Earth irrevocably transformed by a violent spray of comets in the 1870s, the planet is controlled by two superpowers--the British Empire and Russia--who appear to be heading for a deadly showdown, unless superspy Captain Alfred King can stop it. Reprint.

Harry Turtledove hailed Island in the Sea of Time as "one of the best time travel/alternative history stories I've ever read," and Jane Lindskold called Against the Tide of Years "another exciting and explosive tale." Now the adventures of the Nantucket islanders lost in the time of the Bronze Age continues with On the Oceans of Eternity. Ten years ago, the twentieth century and the Bronze Age were tossed together by a mysterious Event. In the decade since, the Republic of Nantucket has worked hard to create a new future for itself, using the technological know-how retained from modern times to explore and improve conditions for the inhabitants of the past. Some of these peoples have become allies. Some have turned instead to the renegade Coast Guard officer William Walker. And for ten years, the two sides have tested each other, feinting and parrying, to decide who will be the ones to lead this brave new world into the future. Now the official battle lines have been drawn. And only one side can emerge the victor...

The sequel to "The City Who Fought", in which Joat, one of the youngest commercial ship owners in space, is commissioned to transport a deadly "breakout disease" by Belazair of the Kolnari.