Caught in the middle of a titanic struggle between two alien superpowers, the factions of humanity and their allies, the Ildirans, are under siege. Can they resolve their differences to fight a common threat?
For the leader of the Roamers, survival means extending a helping hand to others, while the chairman of the Terran Hansa plans to use a new, untested alien weapon regardless of the consequences. And for the new Ildiran Mage-Imperator, survival involves throwing off the choking traditions of the Empire - even if it might trigger a civil war.
As old intrigues and dark secrets come to light, a man who is believed to be long dead returns with an ally who may save mankind. But this new fragile hope will be threatened by a fresh betrayal - the most bitter and brutal of them all...
KEVIN J. ANDERSON has over fifteen million books in print in 27 languages. Anderson’s original work has appeared on numerous “Best of the Year” lists and the final ballots for the Nebula and Bram Stoker Award. In 1998, he set the Guinness World Record for “Largest Single-Author Book Signing.” He has written many popular Star Wars and X-Files novels, and numerous bestselling comics.
An avid hiker, he dictates most of his fiction into a microcassette recorder while out exploring the wilderness. He has climbed all 54 peaks over 14,000 ft in the Colorado Rockies. Research for his novels has taken him to the deserts of Morocco and the cloud forests of Ecuador, Inca ruins in the Andes and Maya temples in the Yucatan, inside the Cheyenne Mountain NORAD complex, NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building at Cape Canaveral, a Minuteman III missile silo and its underground control bunker, onto the deck of the aircraft carrier Nimitz, onto the floor of the Pacific Stock Exchange, inside a plutonium plant at Los Alamos, and behind the scenes at FBI Headquarters in Washington, DC. He also, occasionally, stays home and works on his manuscripts.
