Search Worlds Without End

Appeared in Amazing Science Fiction Stories, November 1958, and later in slightly edited form in Ace Double F-153 (1962).

Planet Savers is the first novel set in the world of Darkover in which the Terrans of Gottman IV desperately seek a cure to a disease of epidemic proportions.

Originally appeared in Ace Double F-153 (1962).

After Lew Alton unwittingly roused the fire demon Sharra, the Sword of Aldones was the only weapon that could lay her to rest again. But only one man could wield the sword, and getting it was an even bigger problem.

As a member of the Terran Spaceforce, Jeff Kerwin returns to Darkover, where he had spent his early years in an orphanage, and searches for clues about his true identity.

Star of Danger is a work that stands as a foundation for the bestselling Darkover series, introducing many loyal fans to this wonderful, mysterious world. Two natives of Darkover are forced to combine Darkover matrix magic with Terran technology to stand against a shared enemy.

Originally appeared in Ace Double #89250 (1970).

Dan Barron was a rational and efficient member of the Terran space-force - until nightmare visions drove him from the safety of the trade city into the unmapped heart of the Darkovan mountain ranges. Into an ancient battle that would shape the destiny of more than one world.

The wild and beautiful planet of Darkover becomes the target of the World Wreckers, an intergalactic company that destroys the ecology and economy of a planet so that Terran investors can make a profit in restoring it.

A lost ship from Terran mistakenly lands on a planet with a distant red star. That planet will come to be called Darkover, in this novel that details the crucial early days of the the land readers have grown to love. Although published in 1972, "Darkover Landfall" is viewed as the first novel in the history of Darkover.

Earthmen on Darkover stayed within the shelter of their specially constructed space port. Beyond lay uncharted territory - wild, inhospitable and sinister.

But for space traveller Andrew Carr the desolate planet held an attraction he could not resist. Darkover drew him. Darkover haunted him. And it was the planet's irresistible force that lured his craft to destruction among the unexplored mountains, leaving him alone among the magical people of the ancient planet....

Kennard Alton made the choice to marry a half-Terran, half-Aldaran woman. His two sons, Lewis and Marius, as a result are unable to fit into the Six Domains of the Comyn, the renegade "Seventh Domain" of Aldaran, or the world of the Terrans. This, in turn, leads Lew to his participation in the infamous Sharra Rebellion.

Meanwhile, the orphaned Regis Hastur is caught between following his heart and going on one of the Terran starships, and doing his duty to his grandfather and his family by taking his place in the Comyn Council and marrying. In the end, Lew's desire to break away from family and tradition leaves him closer than ever to his father, even as he wishes he could blame his father for leading him into the tragedy of the Sharra Rebellion.

On the planet of Darkover, the role of women is extremely circumscribed. The women of the Domains are almost entirely ruled by their male relatives, while the women of the Dry Towns are actually chained at the wrists to prevent them from assuming any independence. One of the few ways a woman can gain a measure of freedom is to join the popularly reviled Guild of Renunciates, an organization sworn to reject the oppression--and the protection--of men.

Jaelle n'ha Melora, the daughter of a Domains noblewoman and a Dry Towner, is a Renunciate. Magdalen Lorne, who was raised on Darkover, is an Intelligence operative for the Terran Empire. When Magda's ex-husband is kidnapped by Darkovan bandits, the paths of Jaelle and Magda cross, with profound implications for both women--and both worlds.

On the planet Darkover, a Keeper--the center of a working psychic circle, the manipulator of colossal psychic forces--has traditionally been a virgin female. Callista, powerful Keeper of Arilinn Tower, has resigned her office to marry the Terran, Andrew Carr, who rescued her from her abductors in the previous book, THE SPELL SWORD.

As she struggles to throw off the years of conditioning that kept her mind and body under frighteningly rigid control, her new husband has his own battle with crippling culture shock. Meanwhile, Callista's brother-in-law Damon is conducting his own researches in an attempt to help her; his work, which suggests that a Keeper need not be virgin--nor female--could shake the very foundations of Darkovan society.

The great epic of Darkover did not begin with the Terrans' arrival. For in those years, the power of the matrix was first learned--and misused in a power struggle that could have made Darkover a duplicate of Terra.

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.

The most dangerous matrix on all Darkover was the legendary Sharra. Embodied in the image of a chained woman, wreathed in flames, it was the last remaining weapon of the Age of Chaos that had almost destroyed civilization on the planet of the Bloody Sun. The Sharra had been exiled off-planet among the far stars of the Terran Empire in the custody of Lew Alton... until he found himself called back to his homeworld to contest his rights.

But once the Sharra was back, the flaming image spread far and wide---and set in motion events that were to change the land, the domains, and the future 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 Iaran that conferred mastery over hawk and horse.

A romantic fantasy set in a futuristic society divided by two cultures, one male dominated and one egalitarian, where the roles of male and female, love and marriage and justice and injustice are brought sharply into focus.

Part of the multi-volume DARKOVER series, CITY OF SORCERY is the third novel to feature Darkovan Renunciate Jaelle and the Terran Intelligence Agent Magda.

Seven years after the events of THENDARA HOUSE, Jaelle and Magda have acknowledged their profound bond by taking the oath of freemates. They are leading a quiet, fairly uneventful life until they receive evidence that the legendary Dark Sisterhood--a community of wise, psychic women, who observe and manipulate the fates of the people of Darkover--may actually exist. It is said that if anyone manages to reach their ancient, practically inaccessible city, she will get the answers to her most profound questions and have her heart's desire realized.

Jaelle and Magda organize an expedition of Terran and Darkovan women to find this mysterious city of wisdom. But it is no simple journey. The women will find themselves tested by the harsh environment; the unreliable locals they meet along the way; a sinister cabal that has set itself against the Sisterhood; and, most devastatingly, their own doubts and fears.

During the age of The Hundred Kingdoms, a feud between the Hammerfell and Storn leads to the murder of the duke of Hammerfell, the flight of the duchess and her twin sons, Alastair and Conn, and the separation of the twins, an event that could lead to a new beginning -- or destruction.

Leonie Hastur, a powerful telepath and daughter of one of the most powerful ruling clans of Darkover, becomes disturbed by a premonition that something is about to happen that will forever change her world.

Haunted by childhood memories of a strange silver man and a woman in flames, Margaret Alton returns to Darkover, the planet of her birth, where her memories lead her into a trap set centuries before her birth.

After spending her youth in the Terran Empire, Margaret Alton returns to Darkover, the planet of her birth. There she discovers she has the Alton Gift--forced rapport and compulsion--one of the strongest and most dangerous of the inherited "Laran" gifts of the telepathic Comyn--the ruling families of Darkover. And even as she struggles to control her newfound powers, Margaret finds herself falling in love with the Regent to the royal Elhalyn Domain, a man she has been forbidden to marry, for their alliance would irrevocably alter the power balance of their planet!

Traitor's Sun continues the epic saga of Darkover, the award-winning series by Marion Zimmer Bradley. Her most brilliant and popular creation, the Darkover books take readers to a planet torn by rebellion--and struggling for freedom...

Regis Hastur, lord of the most powerful of the seven domains of Darkover, learns that the Terran Federation's operatives are pressuring Darkover to give up its closed world status and become a full member of this intergalactic empire. But Regis knows that if Darkover joins the Federation his beloved home planet will become nothing more than a military hub, sapped of its resources and cultural heritage. Still there are those among Darkover's ruling families who are tempted by the promise of increased technology that membership in the Federation would bring.

Meanwhile, Regis learns that he has an older illegitimate brother, Rinaldo. But his joy in finding his sibling is short-lived, as Regis's enemies try to force him to abdicate leadership of Darkover in favor of his older brother. They hope to manipulate Rinaldo into agreeing to join the Federation. But unbeknownst to anyone, Rinaldo has a plan of his own...

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?