The third and final volume of The Seven-Petaled Shield series! For Shannivar, warrior of the Azkhantia Steppe, the future is grim. She faces twin threats: the mighty Gelon empire, ruthessly conquering independent nations like her own, and the malevolent entity of Fire and Ice, unleashed from its prison in the Far North. And she must face them alone. After meeting Zevaron, an exiled prince in search of aid from Azkhantia, Shannivar and Zevaron had traveled together and fallen in love. But their journey to the north to investigate dangerous omens failed when Zevaron was enthralled by the monstrous Fire and Ice. Now Zevaron's hatred for Gelon, the empire that destroyed his kingdom and killed his mother, threatens to consume not only him, but all the living world.

After a widowed queen, the guardian of the magical Seven-Petaled Shield, is separated for her son, her son believes her to be dead and vows chaotic vengeance, but only his mother and a nomadic horsewoman can heal his heart and prevent him from descending into pure evil. First in a new trilogy.

A sequel to The Seven-Petaled Shield finds fierce warrior woman Shannivar joining forces with Zevaron, the heir to the magical Seven-Petaled Shield, to battle monstrous stone-drakes from the far northern regions who serve a legendary, evil embodiment of chaos.

The king is dead, long live the prince, but not for long if his stepmother the Queen Regent has anything to say about it. So he appeals to the one person he can trust, his father’s best swordswoman and the king’s secret lover. Venise wants nothing more than to bury herself in her grief at the king’s death, but her conscience will not allow her to abandon the young man who is so like his father. The only question is whether the two of them can stand against the Queen Regent’s black magic.

First-rate world-building from a writer gifted with soaring imagination and good old-fashioned Sense of Wonder. — C.J. Cherryh A romantic and intellectually sexy gender discussion wrapped up in a compelling novel. — J. M. Frey, Lambda Literary Award reviews 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. 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… 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”…

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 blessings, disguises himself and travels to the barbarous, warlike dry towns where no one will recognize a prince. 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.