Darkover

For Jeff Kerwin, Darkover meant home, the home he had left as a child, the home he had longed for through the many years. Yet, he was to be terribly disappointed when he finally returned. First he learned that there were not records of any kind of either his birth or childhood on Darkover. And then, after he renounced his Terran allegiance and joined the natives attempting to free Darkover from Earth's control, the Darkovans accused him of being a spy. Someone was betraying them. Had Jeff been conditioned on Earth for just that purpose? Jeff Kerwin began to wonder just who, and what, he really was.

A novel from the Darkover series, about a man on his first mission to the planet. What he encounters when he leaves the space station is to determine the fate of every Terran stranded there.

A member of the Terran Spaceforce finds himself drawn into the unmapped heart of the Darkovan mountain ranges, away from the trade city into an ancient battle that is to shape the destiny of more than one world.

A classic novel in the bestselling Darkover series. For three quarters of a century, Darkover has resisted the Terran Empire's efforts in colonization and industrialization. But the leader of Planetary Investments Unlimited (known as Worldwreckers, Inc.) has decided to take on this assignment herself ... for long ago, she had called Darkover home.

Darkover, planet of wonder, world of mystery, has been a favorite of science fiction readers for many years. For it is a truly alien sphere--a world of strange intelligences, of brooding skies beneath a ruddy sun, and of powers unknown to Earth. In this novel, Marion Zimmer Bradley tells of the original coming of the Earthmen, of the days when Darkover knew not humanity. This is the full-bodied novel of what happened when a colonial starship crash-landed on that uncharted planet to encounter for the first time in human existence the impact of the Ghost Wind, the psychic currents that were native only to that world, and the price that every Earthling must pay before Darkover could claim him for itself

Although Darkover was a world inhabited by humans as well as semi-humans, it was primarily forbidden ground to the Terran traders. Most of the planet's wild terrain was unexplored...and many of its peoples seclusive and secretive. But for Andrew Carr there was an attraction he could not evade. Darkover drew him, Darkover haunted him--and when his mapping plane crashed in unknown heights, Darkover prepared to destroy him. Until the planet's magic asserted itself--and his destiny began to unfold along lines predicted only by phantoms and wonder workers of the kind Terran science could never acknowledge.

THE HERITAGE OF HASTUR, longest and most intricate of the Darkover books, is a brilliant epic of the pivotal event in the strange love-hate relationship between the Terran worlds and the semi-alien offspring of forgotten peoples. This is the novel of the Hastur tradition and of the showdown between those who would bargain away their world for the glories of star-borne science and those who would preserve the special "matrix" power that was at once the prize and the burden of ruddy-sunned Darkover. A Note From the Author: To the faithful followers of the chronicles of Darkover, whose greatest delight seems to be discovering even the most minute inconsistencies from book to book: This book tells a story which a great many of the friends of Darkover have asked me to tell - the story of the early life of Regis Hastur, and of the Sharra rising, and of Lew Alton's first encounter with Marjorie Scott and the man who called himself Kadarin. The faithful followers mentioned above will discover a very few minute inconsistencies between the account herein, and the story as Lew Alton told it later. I make no apologies for these. The only explanation I can make is that in the years which elapsed between the events in this book, and the later novel dealing with the final destruction of the Sharra matrix, Lew's memories of these events may have altered his perceptions. Or, as I myself believe, the telepaths of the Arilinn Tower may have mercifully blurred his memories, to save his reason. MARION ZIMMER BRADLEY

The women of Darkover are treated like slaves, despite the fact that they alone can control the power of the matrix, but the Free Amazons provide a key to the future

A Darkover series volume, by the author of The Mists of Avalon, presents four challengers to the planet's sacred traditions--ruling caste member Damon, his betrothed, Earthman Andrew, and Andrew's betrothed, a Keeper of the Sacred Tower.

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.

What forces would operate if there were two objects that were absolutely identical in form and substance? This problem has occupied both workers in magic and the scientists of physics and psychology. It is the pivot of Marion Zimmer Bradley's novel of Darkover during the final flaming days of the Ages of Chaos. This is the story of the era when the planet of the Bloody Sun was divided into a hundred warring kingdoms and civilization teetered on the edge of oblivion. It is the story of Bard di Asturien, ambitious soldier-outlaw, and of his opponent, Varzil the Good, who struggled to establish the Compact. And it is also the story of a man from distant Terra named Paul Harrell who was the exact duplicate of Varzil's enemy. Two to Conquer is a novel of social forces in combat, of the use and misuse of science, of war, of rape, and of witchcraft.

After the Age of Chaos had almost destroyed civilization on the planet of the Bloody Sun, even the Sharra had been exiled, but now the Sharra had returned, embodied in the image of a chained woman wreathed in flames, an image which could change the history of Darkover forever.

She had rejected her noble birthright and embraced the freedom only a man could claim. She was Romilly who lived among the beasts of hill and forest and communicated with them, who tried humanity and turned it down for its evils and jealousies. She had the MacAran Gift, the rare Laran that conferred mastery over hawk and horse.

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.

Haunted by mysterious images of hooded figures, Magdalen Lorne, chief Terran operative on Darkover, pursues a quest not only to the frozen ends of the physical world but also to the perilous limits of the spiritual world. And there she is tested by the evil sorcery of the Dark Sisterhood.

In the era of The Hundred Kingdoms, a time of war and unrest, a legendary friendship is forged between king and keeper which will lead to a new destiny for Darkover.

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?

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 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?

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?

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.

The books that started Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover series, this audiobook combines the 1958 novella PLANET SAVERS and the 1962 novella THE SWORD OF ALDONES into the only one-volume treatment authorized by the Marion Zimmer Bradley Trust.