Product Description
At first, expecting her new job to be easy, Jade Darcy is oblivious to the religious strife wracking the world of Restappa. Jade and Megan Cafferty, her employer, discover that the Restappans are in the process of electing a new religious leader. During this process, the candidates hatch plots against anyone they see as a danger to their victory. Each one of them will go to any extreme, even murder, to assure his election as Restappa's religious leader. Jade and Megan are pegged as threats that must be eliminated. And Jade has the difficult task of restoring order to Restappa as well as protecting her own life. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Classic SF adventure with great female lead
Both this novel and "Jade Darcy and the Affair of Honor" are keepers for life. I'm actually on my 2nd set because I made the mistake of lending them to a (former) friend and she "lost" them. If you can find a used copy, buy it. If not, these are well worth the money and the authors should be supported given the quality of this work.

Jade Darcy is a "CARC," which is a computer-enhanced soldier with a computer in her spine. She suffers a traumatic betrayal by her sergeant and goes AWOL, all in the the past. She is in hiding on Cablans working as a glorified bouncer in a multi-species eatery. She has rigid rules about getting close to humans, and has fled as far out into space as she can to avoid contact with humans. She's paranoid, with good cause. In the first book, we learn about her past and what she's doing and why she's doing it.She meets Megan Cafferty, a rich and powerful businesswoman, and becomes friends with her. In this novel, she and Megan go to an extremely exclusive gathering on the planet Restappa to witness the naming of the heir to the Empire. Jade was invited because a Restappan Furgato Monk that met her at the eatery on Cablans invited her. He has the hots for Jade, so there are some sexual overtones, but they're critical to the story and to Jade's rehumanization. This is a complex story with interesting backstories and a fascinating world and alien culture, presented with an action-packed, kung fu-movie-meets-science-fiction flair. The "Zen" part comes into the story because the alien Jade knows is from a fringe religious sect that believes all is illusion and are well known for being skilled thieves (ownership is a common illusion). They are fascinated with Jade because of her martial art abilities and because she is skilled in trading traditional Zen riddles (she's part Japanese and was greatly influenced by her traditional Japanese grandfather).

Interstellar travel in this universe is only possible by using the services of the Greest, an alien superbeing from a different dimension who abuses its power and is unpredictable and frightening (except to Jade, who is trying to find a way to make it angry). There's a definite play on the classic SF "Flatland" by Edwin Abbott. I particularly enjoy the way the Greest always appears differently whenever Jade meets with it.

Sadly, this series came to an end when the author's split. Stephen Goldin has a website and you can probably reach him through it if you want more info. Maybe a grass roots effort would get more Jade Darcy stories written, since she's not quite rehumanized.

This would make an excellent movie with little or no changes!

Another great adventure for the cyber-merc, Jade Darcy!
I've read and re-read both this and its prequel "Jade Darcy & The Affair of Honor" more times than I can count. Jade, who could be considered the descendant of the Cyberpunk era, puts in another awesomeperformance among the Furgatos. Stephen and Mary have filled the pages witha mosaic of colorful characters for Jade to play off of or knock headswith. A *definite read for the SF adventure buff in search of something alittle different. =)

Excellent science fiction adventure story
Jade Darcy is a cyborg: a human being with a computer at the base of her spine that gives her inhuman reflexes and trained to do one thing: Kill!

Now the war is over and she has to learn how to be a humna being again.

With the most likable set of aliens and one of the best backgrounds I can ever remember,this is a book you hate to see end.

I have read this book at least five times and always reach the end of it with joy and regret. I have kept my eye out for more in this series but have never found any.

If you like this book,you may also like David Weber's "Path of the Fury" which is similar in premise but much more military in tone and plot.

Jade Darcy - one of the most memorable characters
Jade Darcy is one of the most memorable characters in SciFi. Somewhat reminiscent of Heinlein's Friday (high praise as I'm an RAH fan) - I've continued to hope for another in this series for the last 7 years. Maybe this year...

Strong heroines, an interesting fantasy culture, lots of fun
Jade D'Arcy is a fascinating heroine.Both her strengths and her weaknesses are believeable, making her a very identifiable character.At the same time, she is also larger-than-life, giving us the rare opportunity to identify strongly with a super-heroine.I have re-read this book a dozen times, and I still am brought to tears when Jade's "rehumanization" reaches the point where she can acknowledge the love Megan, her sometime employer and only human friend, feels for her ... Read more

Product Description
Theodore Sturgeon called THE BUSINESS OF BEING A WRITER "the second best reference book a writer can have,after the dictionary." Harlan Ellison said, "It may not make you a better writer, but it will keep you from being a poorer one." Isaac Asimov said, "Read [this book]. It will tell you everything clearly and interrestingly."

Published in 1982, before the widespread use of personal computers, the Internet, and electronic publishing, the book concentrated on writing and selling to the print media--books and magazines. Updated excerpts are now being reprinted on various topics--still focused on those primary areas, but still applicable to the current-day writer.

This excerpt discusses finances, work habits, pen names, and other points a writer should consider seriously beforestarting a career in writing. ... Read more

Product Description
Peter Stone predicted the economic collapse of Western civilization, but that's small comfort as he's forced to wander through a harsh world trying, like so many others, just to survive. By chance, he encounters some people with a higher plan. Now all they have to do is make it back to their base alive ... Read more

Product Description
The threat of evil has become dangerously real in Parsina. The magic urn containing the demon Aeshma has been stolen. The urn must be recovered because he who frees Aeshma will have many demons to do his bidding. Only Jafar, the storyteller, Selima, his daughter, and Prince Ahmad, an exile, can save Parsina. They will set out on a mesmerizing quest where they will see enchanted beasts and types of magic never before seen. In this awe-inspiring adventure, they must battle the demons and restore order in Parsina. ... Read more

Product Description
The released Aeshma continues to plague Parsina with death and slavery. In Ravan, the holy city, the evil ruler, Shammara, plots a blasphemous union to strengthen evil's hold over Parsina. Jafar, Selima, and Prince Ahmad must continue to venture across the land and find the rest of the pieces of the Crystal of Oromasd to destroy the calamity that surrounds Parsina. ... Read more

Product Description
THE LAST GHOST AND OTHER STORIES is the first comprehensive collection of Stephen Goldin's short fiction. Some of the stories have been reprinted before, such as the Nebula Award finalist story "The Last Ghost" and the oft-anthologized "Sweet Dreams, Melissa." Others will be less familiar to the reader, such as "But As A Soldier, For His Country," (later expanded into the novel THE ETERNITY BRIGADE) and "Portrait of the Artist As a Young God." The collection also contains the never-before-published story "Haunted Houses." As a special treat, all five of the fantasy classic "Angel in Black" stories, long out-of-print, have been assembled in one place for the first time. The stories in this book stories run the gamut from humor to pathos, and demonstrate the evolution of one of the most prolific writers in the science fiction field. Enjoy! ... Read more

Product Description
Theodore Sturgeon called THE BUSINESS OF BEING A WRITER "the second best reference book a writer can have,after the dictionary." Harlan Ellison said, "It may not make you a better writer, but it will keep you from being a poorer one." Isaac Asimov said, "Read [this book]. It will tell you everything clearly and interrestingly."

Published in 1982, before the widespread use of personal computers, the Internet, and electronic publishing, the book concentrated on writing and selling to the print media--books and magazines. Updated excerpts are now being reprinted on various topics--still focused on those primary areas, but still applicable to the current-day writer.

This excerpt discusses the different kinds of rights available an author can license, as well as the basic ins and outs of copyright law in the United States. ... Read more

Product Description
Book 1 of Agents of ISIS.

Welcome to the first great space opera decalogy of the twenty-first century!

With humanity scattered throughout the galaxy on hundreds of worlds, the Empire is the only force for order across the stars. Without it, interstellar conflicts would bring chaos and billions of deaths.

But the tsar has been in a coma for five years now, and his grand-niece, the only apparent heir, is only 14 years old. In this hour of crisis, the task of preserving the Empire falls to two untrained--but far from unskilled--agents of the Imperial Special Investigation Service. Can they make a difference against the vast forces arrayed against them? ... Read more

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Classic science fiction action-adventure. Book #10 in the "Family d'Alembert" series. ... Read more

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Scavenger Hunt is a romantic, sexy space adventure about a race across the galaxy. Life itself is on the line as the crew of the Honey B, the galaxy's most hedonistic space yacht, travel from planet to planet searching for exotic treasures and trying to beat their competitors to the finish line. ... Read more

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Hawker was a good soldier--so good, in fact, that the Army asked him and his buddies to sign on for an extended hitch. What they couldn't know was that the extension would last forever. Century after century, war after war, Hawker and his comrades were resurrected over and over to fight on alien planets with ever more advanced weapons. The reasons for the wars were incomprehensible, but that didn't matter. All that counted was the fighting itself.From incarnation through incarnation, one goal remained in Hawker's mind. Somewhere, somehow, there had to be a way out of the loop. And he was determined to find it.This is a modern revision of a classic science fiction novel. ... Read more

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Book 7 of Agents of ISIS.

Space pirates harass interstellar shipping On the frozen world of Gulag--where, for centuries, the Empire's worst traitors have been exiled--dangerous plots are hatching.

Time is running out for agents of the Imperial Special Investigation Service to save the Empire from the most serious revolt in its centuries-long history. ... Read more

Product Description
Hundreds of human bodies have been placed in coffins in a military warehouse. But they are not dead, merely frozen in a cryogenic process meant to preserve an army of men to be restored to life if ever they are needed. The Earth they arise to inhabit is a world completely different from any they have known or imagined. Their only task is to fight and kill in the wars that plague the planet. They are not treated as men, but as fighting machines to be endlessly duplicated and used up. By having had their genetic patterns programmed into a computer, they are doomed to live over and over again, as part of an army that will not die and cannot escape. Yet one man is determined to break the pattern and free himself, truly believing that there must be a way out...of eternity. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Great story
One of the first books I ever read.It was a gripping story then and it still is now.The struggle of a disenchanted solder who is tired of fighting war after war is a great read.You will not be disappointed.

More than anything, I love a good story.
Get ready to be sucked in. If you've never read a book from start to finish in one sitting...prepare yourself.Wildly imaginative, the story will sweep you up and hurtle you headlong into another universe.The gripping plot and well written characters drive this story from our near future to a time thousands of years from now.Goldin flings us wildly into an inconceivable far-future world. Yet, somehow the story maintains a firm grasp on the realm of the possible.Buy this book and keep it.You'll be reading it again in a year or two.I guarantee it.

A Provactive Thriller
I read this book when I was very young, and checked it out of the library every year after that. Recently when I moved to Los Angeles, I searched high and low and eventually came across a mint-condition book.

Re-reading the book is always an experience. The experiences Hawk goes through, the people he meets, and the sight of seeing his first clone, strike a powerful chord in today's society.Long before the cloning of the sheep, this book was indeed well ahead of its time.

The Eternity Brigade
The first book I ever read, that I went cover to cover with out putting down.A book well ahead of it's time in both it's ideas of future warfare, and our society of the future.A well thought out storyline that take usfrom a certainly plauable near-future.To a far distant one, that remainsfresh and insightful today as it did when first published.A must for alltrue sci-fi fans. ... Read more

Product Description
Space pirates harass interstellar shipping. On the frozen world of Gulag--where, for centuries, the Empire's worst traitors have been exiled--dangerous plots are hatching.Time is running out for agents of the Imperial Special Investigation Service to save the Empire from the most serious revolt in its centuries-long history. ... Read more

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Wesley Stoneham thought he could get away with murderinghis wife by blaming the crime on a hippie commune. What he didn'trealize was that there was a witness: an alien creature exploringEarth by means of astral projection. Now the alien faces two toughquestions: Should he violate his world's laws by getting involved inan alien problem? And even if he does, how can he possibly communicatewhat he saw? ... Read more

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As the empire of evil sweeps across the land, the fate of Parsina rests on Jafar al-Sharif, the storyteller impersonating a wizard, and the exiled Prince Ahmad from the holy city of Ravan. But peril continues to dog their footsteps on the way to Mount Denavan and the final piece of the Crystal of Oromasd. They must confront the dangers of a mysterious island, the City of Faces, and the dragon demon who guards the fourth piece of the crystal. And even these threats pale before the betrayal by a trusted member of their company -- while within the heart of the dark enemy, Aeshma, king of the daevas, plots treachery against his own master to unleash an unimaginable tide of evil to engulf the world and destroy mankind. TREACHERY OF THE DEMON KING is the long-awaited conclusion to Stephen Goldin's Parsina Saga, a sweeping epic across an Arabian Nights world of imagination and wonder. ... Read more