The Tranquility Wars

From theNew York Timesbestselling novelist Gentry Lee, author ofBright MessengersandDouble Full Moon Night, as well as co-author with Arthur C. Clarke of theRamaseries, comes a thrilling new novel of suspense, love, and adventure set against a grand galactic backdrop. Here is the story of a young student, a dangerous love affair, and an explosive conflict to establish control over humanity. The Tranquility Wars For young Hunter Blake, the future is bright indeed. He has been awarded the exclusive Covington Fellowship, named for the totalitarian ruler of the FISC (Federation of Independent Space Colonies), bringing with it fame, a generous stipend, and assured success in his chosen profession. In addition, after years of separation he has been reunited with the one woman he ever loved, the beautiful and enthralling Tehani Wilawa. She has come back into his life, offering her love with one proviso--that he accept her profession as the most beautiful paid escort in the FISC's most famous pleasure palace, Sybaris. But as tension mounts between the FISC and its neighbor and rival, the UDSC (United Democratic Space Colonies), bands of renegade space pirates begin to take advantage of the growing hostilities between the two contending federations--raiding, looting, kidnapping, and building their ranks from the disaffected of both space powers.And when Hunter and Tehani are kidnapped by a pirate band, the aptly named Utopians, they find themselves forced to choose between the enticing ideals of their captors and the rigid conformity and shallow satisfactions of life in the FISC. They suddenly find themselves questioning "truths" they've accepted all their lives. Are these space pirates really the avatars of a new freedom, as they claim--or simply criminals? To answer, Hunter and Tehani must quickly learn the razor-thin difference between freedom and anarchy, obedience and slavery, pleasure and indulgence. But of even greater consequence, Hunter finds his reputation unexpectedly compromised when he becomes an outlaw in his old world as a result of his activities with the space pirates. Separated from Tehani by his own acts of revolution, Hunter faces a countdown with destiny itself as events spiral toward a crucial climax that will explode in the Tranquility Wars.

Gentry Lee is chief engineer on Project Galileo, director of science analysis and mission planning for NASA's Viking mission to Mars.