Of Destruction and Peace (110K words):
Book one is set in the not-so-distant future of Earth. The Darkin 'planted' Earth a few millennia ago, and now it's time to harvest. Good for us: they no longer eat us. Now we're just considered inferior...except we're not.
The more Alexis learns, the more she realizes how similar the two species are. Outspoken and stubborn, she ends up on the last stop for a human servant: the mines. Backbreaking labor and a shortened lifespan are only two of the many perks.
When she makes a deal with Lance, another miner with a secret, she finds a whole new universe and a whole new set of problems. If she thought mining was bad, what about fighting the entire Darkin Imperial army with only a handful of ships and no training?
Lance's Story - A hundred and sixty years before Lance met Alexis, he had another woman in his life. The President's daughter. Lance was willing to do anything to get her, including backing Paumatisch in his schemes and plans, but Janie would have none of it. She knew her father's corruption would ultimately destroy the Empire. She rebels, joining her father's enemies. With his ishtera and keptisch on one side, and his loyalty to the entire Empire on the other, Lance faces the skeletons in the closet of his own blind choices. But turning against Paumatisch now will have bigger consequences than he ever imagined.
Clone Wars (115K words):
Skip backward about 800 years. Junith makes the ultimate sacrifice for her brother, turning herself over to the Darkin's harvest in exchange for his freedom. Her promises of absolute loyalty to her new "Keeper" Pau are put to the test when she has to help sniff out the hidden cities on her own planet to ferret out more servants for the darkin. When a series of mishaps and accidents leave her bonded to the biotechnology used by the Darkin race, she suddenly has unrestricted access to use and/or change any bio-machine connected to the grid. Her ability terrifies her new Keeper, but ke's a pragmatic darkin and knows when ke has a valuable resource. Her love of tinkering means serious money for her Keeper, and a massive target for the clone armies who want the Emperor dead.
The New Empire (220K words):
Set about fifty years after Book 1, this story takes three different humans with very different lives. Earth has adjusted to the semi-regular darkin harvest, providing 'camps' to house and contain the required offering. Prisoners, lawbreakers, orphans and those with incurable diseases slowly gather for the 10-year raid.
Amelia, an orphan at the age of five, has never known life outside of the camps. She's fascinated by all things darkin and an outcast because of it. Pru, a darkin child, finds her looking at darkin fairytales in the library and the two become fast friends. Outraged, his parents move him away, but Pru's forever altered by the dark-skinned beauty and finds her years later. With their taboo relationship come many additional problems, the greatest of which is that she's still a servant. Pru can't buy her fast enough to avoid the blackmail. When he disappears, she's left alone with the question of why and a hole in her heart large enough to eat her whole.
David is a street-smart thief who stupidly tried to follow the judge's orders to reform. It backfires when an old enemy sets him up and the judge sentences him to the camps. Determined never to trust another soul, David seeks a way to rise above and become the one calling the shots. One punch too many and he finds himself enlisted in a mercenary army bound for danger even the darkin military don't want to deal with, but he also might find the one thing he's always wanted - people who will watch his back.
Jenny had never heard of the Business Internship Program, but Margo, her best friend, can't stop talking about it. When her dad pulls a few political strings and gets both girls in, they think they're set. Then Jenny begins to see signs that something's not right. The pieces slowly fall into place with classes like star-mapping, cooking with spices she's never heard of, and stories from their teachers that sound too far-fetched to be real. No one will meet her gaze and questions are met with vague answers or a change of subject. Unfortunately, finding out the truth just locks her further into the darkin's clutches.
Each life develops as the three characters grow and intertwine. The Empire is changing, human liberations, the total upheaval of the government, and other factors put these three right in the middle of the maelstrom and they'll find that they need each other and others to navigate the storm.
Other books in this series in process:
Tolvin's Tale - Watch the first Emporer take his place in history and save his entire world from destruction when he uncovers the history and technology of their ancestors. Also shows the shift from food to servants for the human herds kept by Tolvin's parents.
Isis - Political refugee Isis and her family crashland on a farming world on the edge of the Empire. These humans know nothing of the darkin and would slaughter them if they did. After spending two hundred years of her life as an unshed child, Isis is ready for change. This world really is holding her back. An accidental encounter with darkin harvesters coming to check on the croplands her on a prison ship, and as her disguise wears off, she has only one choice: Run. Luckily, she also has an ally; another hidden refugee, Jum, who is bound and determined to take back the Empire and return his family's royal line to their rightful place. All they need to do is get rid of the President, and that's where her skills at hiding come into play.
Skip backward about 800 years. Junith makes the ultimate sacrifice for her brother, turning herself over to the Darkin's harvest in exchange for his freedom. Her promises of absolute loyalty to her new "Keeper" Pau are put to the test when she has to help sniff out the hidden cities on her own planet to ferret out more servants for the darkin. When a series of mishaps and accidents leave her bonded to the biotechnology used by the Darkin race, she suddenly has unrestricted access to use and/or change any bio-machine connected to the grid. Her ability terrifies her new Keeper, but ke's a pragmatic darkin and knows when ke has a valuable resource. Her love of tinkering means serious money for her Keeper, and a massive target for the clone armies who want the Emperor dead.
The New Empire (220K words):
Set about fifty years after Book 1, this story takes three different humans with very different lives. Earth has adjusted to the semi-regular darkin harvest, providing 'camps' to house and contain the required offering. Prisoners, lawbreakers, orphans and those with incurable diseases slowly gather for the 10-year raid.
Amelia, an orphan at the age of five, has never known life outside of the camps. She's fascinated by all things darkin and an outcast because of it. Pru, a darkin child, finds her looking at darkin fairytales in the library and the two become fast friends. Outraged, his parents move him away, but Pru's forever altered by the dark-skinned beauty and finds her years later. With their taboo relationship come many additional problems, the greatest of which is that she's still a servant. Pru can't buy her fast enough to avoid the blackmail. When he disappears, she's left alone with the question of why and a hole in her heart large enough to eat her whole.
David is a street-smart thief who stupidly tried to follow the judge's orders to reform. It backfires when an old enemy sets him up and the judge sentences him to the camps. Determined never to trust another soul, David seeks a way to rise above and become the one calling the shots. One punch too many and he finds himself enlisted in a mercenary army bound for danger even the darkin military don't want to deal with, but he also might find the one thing he's always wanted - people who will watch his back.
Jenny had never heard of the Business Internship Program, but Margo, her best friend, can't stop talking about it. When her dad pulls a few political strings and gets both girls in, they think they're set. Then Jenny begins to see signs that something's not right. The pieces slowly fall into place with classes like star-mapping, cooking with spices she's never heard of, and stories from their teachers that sound too far-fetched to be real. No one will meet her gaze and questions are met with vague answers or a change of subject. Unfortunately, finding out the truth just locks her further into the darkin's clutches.
Each life develops as the three characters grow and intertwine. The Empire is changing, human liberations, the total upheaval of the government, and other factors put these three right in the middle of the maelstrom and they'll find that they need each other and others to navigate the storm.
Other books in this series in process:
Tolvin's Tale - Watch the first Emporer take his place in history and save his entire world from destruction when he uncovers the history and technology of their ancestors. Also shows the shift from food to servants for the human herds kept by Tolvin's parents.
Isis - Political refugee Isis and her family crashland on a farming world on the edge of the Empire. These humans know nothing of the darkin and would slaughter them if they did. After spending two hundred years of her life as an unshed child, Isis is ready for change. This world really is holding her back. An accidental encounter with darkin harvesters coming to check on the croplands her on a prison ship, and as her disguise wears off, she has only one choice: Run. Luckily, she also has an ally; another hidden refugee, Jum, who is bound and determined to take back the Empire and return his family's royal line to their rightful place. All they need to do is get rid of the President, and that's where her skills at hiding come into play.
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