Deathstalker Series

Owen Deathstalker, last of the infamous warrior Clan, always considered himself more of a writer than a fighter, preferring his history books to making any actual history with a sword. But books won't protect him from Her Imperial Majesty Lionstone XIV, who just Outlawed and condemned Owen to death, without any explanation, reason, or warning. No wonder she's called the Iron Bitch. Now, on the run from Imperial starcruisers, shady mercenaries, and just about everyone else in the Empire, Owen's options are limited. Though the name Deathstalker still commands respect in certain quarters, out on the Rim, Owen is lucky he can cobble together a makeshift team of castoffs, including an ex-pirate, a cyborg, and a bounty hunter. But allies won't be enough to save him. If he's to live, Owen can either run forever . . . or take down the corrupt Empire. To do that, he'll need the fabled Darkvoid Device-an artifact dating back to the first Deathstalker and perhaps the only weapon powerful enough to help this ragtag rebellion win. The time has come for Owen to finally embrace his Deathstalker heritage . . . and all the blood and death that go along with it.

A golden age doesn't last forever . . . Owen Deathstalker sacrificed everything to topple a corrupt empire and usher humanity into an age of peace and prosperity. Now Lewis Deathstalker, Owen's descendant, carries on the family name and honor as a Paragon, warriors famed for their skill and heroism who dispense the king's justice throughout the galaxy. However, two hundred years have passed since Owen and his gang of heroes disappeared into legend, and the peace that the Deathstalker bought with his life is quickly coming to an end. Amidst political uncertainty, Lewis's oldest friend, Douglas, ascends the throne and names Lewis to the archaic, and largely symbolic, role of King's Champion. But Lewis quickly finds that he has all the bad luck of his famous ancestor and that his old allies have become his enemies. Surrounded on all sides by plots and treason with the political situation spiraling out of control, Lewis is exiled from court in disgrace. Now it's the new Deathstalker's turn to save the empire with only a ragged band of allies as chaos spreads throughout the empire and threatens to end the golden age.

Lewis Deathstalker has succeeded at the impossible: he's found Owen Deathstalker, presumed dead for the last two hundred years. Owen's return strikes a crippling blow to the Empire as his military joins the rebellion. But Owen himself has a larger mission. He-and according to prophecy, he alone-must travel back in time to stop the steadily advancing Terror before the galaxy is destroyed, leaving his descendant Lewis in command of the growing rebel army. Even as Emperor Finn Durandal's empire is on the brink of annihilation from the Terror, he will do anything, no matter how evil, to retain power. Lewis is equally determined to take Finn down and restore the rightful ruler to the throne.

After the dust settles from the Great Rebellion, Owen Deathstalker and Hazel D'ark find themselves working as bounty hunters for the tentative new democratic government, chasing down war criminals from the old empire, while still struggling with the nature of their mysterious powers derived from the enigmatic Madness Maze. Their mission is to capture the most notorious villain of all, the grinning psychopath Valentine Wolfe. The Deathstalker has bloody revenge in mind, but his flamboyantly insane adversary eagerly awaits Owen's arrival, for Valentine has planned a very nasty welcome indeed. Elsewhere, Daniel Wolfe, the youngest son of the nefarious Clan of the old empire, has made his escape just before the empire fell. On a stolen ship, he watched reports come in of the end of the world he once knew. But Daniel's only concern is to find the mysterious home world of the dreaded Artificial Intelligences known as Shub. For most it would be considered suicide, but for Daniel, it is a rescue mission. Shub has his father Jacob in its clutches. Later, on the planet Golgotha, Owen Deathstalker enters into a bargain with a member of Daniel's family that will change the Deathstalker's life forever.

Take a journey through the Age of Heroes . . . After falling in love with the king's intended, Lewis Deathstalker is now exiled, an outlaw from the empire he faithfully served for so long. With Lewis out of the way, former Paragon Finn Durandal has led a silent coup to wrest control from the king and set himself up as the power behind the throne. But Durandal is not the Empire's biggest threat. The Terror that Owen Deathstalker prophesied nearly 200 years ago is almost upon them, and Owen is supposedly the only one who can save civilization from unspeakable horrors. Lewis, unwilling to believe that the galaxy's savior is dead, sets off to the darkest reaches of the Galaxy to find his lost ancestor. Lewis intends to retrace Owen's footsteps and overturn every possible lead. But with Finn in control of the empire's massive forces, he is outmanned and outgunned at every turn. Lewis must stay one step ahead of Finn's ever-expanding reach if he has any hope of discovering Owen's fate.

The armies of Shub have come to the planet Loki and the over-extended parliament of the New Republic can only send the legendary hero Jack Random and his loose cannon companion Ruby Journey to do their damnedest with the powers they've acquired from the Madness Maze. But when they get to the mining planet, they find the colony engaged in a civil war, with the representative government in the hands of unsavory profiteers who are at war with justifiably aggrieved rebel forces, who have unjustifiably aligned themselves with the rogue AIs of Shub. In an empire of technological wonders, an old human affliction has reared its ugly head, and the Empire's scientists can do nothing about it but quarantine the afflicted on the jungle planet Lachrymae Christi. Mother Superior Beatrice has taken on the holy mission of ministering to the poor victims. It's a brutally difficult task, but when the Hadenmen come to claim the planet as their own, Saint Bea's pleas for help can only be answered by Owen Deathstalker and his unique squad of fighters. There's something else to deal with, too, a mysterious life form indigenous to the planet. And by the time the conflict resolves, Owen may have lost forever the one he holds most dear.

Fate had made Owen Deathstalker a rebel hero in an empire choked by tyranny. Embracing his warrior lineage for the sake of freedom, he stoked the flames of revolution, gathering the forces that one day must strike against Imperial authority. That day has come. With his valiant compatriots Hazel d'Ark and Jack Random, Owen must now bring the uprising to a fiery conclusion. From the rebel strongholds of Mistworld and Virimonde to the Empire's mighty heart on the planet of Golgotha, the fate of humanity now depends on a clash of arms across light-years of space. But Deathstalker's desperate cause will need more than an army of courageous fighters to succeed-for the cunning Empress has some evil surprises to unleash . . .

Owen Deathstalker-outlawed, with a price on his head and the blood of a mighty warrior lineage in his veins-had no choice but to embrace a dangerous destiny. With nothing to lose, only he had the courage to take up arms against Queen Lionstone XIV. Now as he gathers his unlikely allies-the legendary washed-up hero Jack Random, the beautiful pirate Hazel d'Arc, the original Deathstalker long since presumed dead, and the alien Hadenmen whose purposes no human can discern-the eyes of the downtrodden are upon him while the freedom of a galaxy hangs in the balance . . .

Owen Deathstalker defends his honor in this thriller in New York Times bestselling author Simon R. Green's epic science fiction series. Owen Deathstalker became a hero after the great rebellion against the tyranny of Lionstone XIV. But he and his compatriots have no chance to enjoy their victory before they are launched into conflict again-this time among factions quarreling over who will replace the deposed Empress. Owen and Hazel d'Ark attempt to escape the ensuing chaos only to discover that Humanity has problems more pressing than political squabbles as they encounter an even greater threat-an encroaching invasion fleet of alien origin . . .

Owen Deathstalker was compelled to make a questionable decision when he reawakened the cyborg army of Hadenmen from suspended animation to enlist their aid in the Great Rebellion. Now he must face the consequences, for the Hadenmen have begun to act on their own agenda. The augmented race have ensnared a planet's population to facilitate the next stage in mankind's evolution, and recreate all humanity in their own likeness. Finlay Campbell was a hero of the Great Rebellion, but now he's a man adrift, a warrior without a clear enemy to fight. In an earlier guise, his true identity unknown to all but a select few, he unwittingly killed the brother of Julian Skye, the man who would later become his best friend. But Finlay's not the only one with secrets. His true love Evangeline has never told him the full extent of her twisted father's depredations. These and other dark revelations have been dormant until now, when the web of deceit begins to unravel, with devastating consequences for the guilty and innocent alike.

Diana Vertue, known in an earlier life as the terrifying esper Jenny Psycho, had been a hard-core terrorist and a saint of the uber-esper Mater Mundi, but she'd outgrown both those roles. Now it's time for a psychic showdown with the Mater Mundi herself. In another part of the galaxy, Ruby Journey delivers Parliament's offer of a reprieve from Jack Random's persecution as an outlaw, as long as he joins in a desperate plan to save the Empire from the decimating forces of Shub, approaching humanity's homeworld with genocide on their artificial minds. As the relentless forces of the monstrous Recreated descend upon humanity, Owen Deathstalker and Hazel D'ark return to the Wolfling World, home of the Madness Maze. The Maze was thought to be destroyed, but has miraculously reappeared, and perhaps holds the key to humanity's survival. But in order to seize that last desperate chance, Owen must face startling revelations, challenge an old ally, and defy the prophecy of his own death by embracing his destiny.

Owen Deathstalker has a prophecy to fulfill. Just as the espers foretold, Owen tumbled an empire and witnessed the end of everything he believed in . . . all that's left to do is die. But Owen has a few more scores he'd like to settle before his borrowed time is up. The Empire is besieged by nanotechnology plagues and AI invasions, while mysterious and horrific beings, known as "the Recreated," descend from the Darkvoid. But right now, Owen's only concern is rescuing Hazel d'Ark from the vicious Blood Runners who abducted her. He's already lost so much to become the leader and warrior he never wanted to be; he'll be damned if he loses Hazel too. So one more time, Owen Deathstalker will step up and be the hero-for Hazel, and then for Humanity. One more time, he'll call upon the gifts of the Deathstalker Clan to fulfill his destiny and face death. All while knowing that every "one more time" could be his last.

Two hundred years after the events chronicled in Deathstalker Destiny, it is a Golden Age for the Human Empire. Lewis Deathstalker is a remote descendant of the legendary Owen and foremost among the Paragons, an elite force of noble warriors in service to a benevolent constitutional monarchy. The new monarch Douglas Campbell, grandson of Robert and Constance, and his reluctant Champion Lewis Deathstalker find themselves in deep and treacherous waters on Campbell's first day in Parliament. However, the king's Head of Protocol, Anne Barclay, and his betrothed, the beautiful opera star Jesamine Flowers, have him prepared well. That is, until the political battlefield becomes a literal one. An assassination attempt will call some of Douglas's most cherished relationships into question. Elsewhere, the Empire's greatest Paragon begins assembling his network of treachery, designed to destroy everything Douglas Campbell holds dear.

The Blood Runners are an ancient culture, possessors of occult knowledge and power. Isolated in the forbidden Obeah system, they conduct horrific experiments exploring the nature of suffering, death and immortality. And the person Owen Deathstalker cares for most has fallen into their aberrant clutches. But Owen's Madness Maze-given powers appear to have abandoned him after the exhausting battle of Lachrymae Christi. In a stolen starship, the Deathstalker races against time on a desperate mission that is equal parts rescue and suicide. After their questionable resolution of the crisis on the planet Loki, Jack Random and Ruby Journey return to Golgotha and are summoned to an angry Parliament. When they arrive, they find the war against humanity going badly for the Empire on all fronts. And now, the dreaded Recreated have come from beyond the unknown territory of the Darkvoid. But the first order of business for Jack Random is to deal with the evil he sees within the Empire itself, in a vicious strike that will brand him a monster in the eyes of many, including the one he holds most dear.

In the royal inner circle, the immovable wills of Lewis Deathstalker, the King's Champion, and Jesamine Flowers, the King's betrothed, labor in vain against the most irresistible force they've ever known. Or so they think. In fulfillment of Owen Deathstalker's warning of 200 years earlier, a nightmarish alien entity has intruded into Human space, a creature that devours planets and suns, and shrugs off any defense humanity hurls against it. King Douglas and Parliament grapple over what can be done, fixing on a desperate plan, a Quest that will engage most of the Paragons of The Empire. In preparation for this vital mission, Lewis Deathstalker consults with the Artificial Intelligences of Shub, who have some disturbing revelations for the King's Champion. And the time and place chosen to announce the great Quest to the public will be the eagerly anticipated Parade of Paragons, coincidentally the scene of treacherous Finn Durandal's prearranged Esper attack.

In the shocking conclusion of Deathstalker Return, King Douglas is brought to trial before his treacherous former Champion, and the Paragon Emma Steel seeks the aid of Finn Durandal's fellow conspirator. Elsewhere, the quest of Lewis Deathstalker and his weary band of renegades has finally brought them to the legendary planet Haden, home of the mysterious Madness Maze. Surprising developments there and an unexpected visitor strongly compel Lewis to risk his life and sanity by entering the Madness Maze to learn the truth about his legendary ancestor. Before the dust settles, there will be unforeseen betrayal, the death of a hero, and a stunning revelation about the force behind the planet-consuming Terror.

Finn Durandal's traitorous scheme is all coming together, as Parliament becomes the bloody scene of Finn's carefully orchestrated civil unrest. But King Douglas begins to see betrayal much closer at hand, and the pain of it may leave him a shattered man. Lewis Deathstalker's struggle to hold honor above his own needs is put aside momentarily, as the riot on Parliament's doorstep puts him in a battle to the death with Finn's brutal assassin Rose Constantine, undefeated gladiator of the Arena. Emma Steel is the new Paragon of Humanity's home world of Logres. Her investigations lead her into direct conflict with the sinister Church Militant, as she risks her life to rescue a fleeing informant from their lethal clutches.

Lewis Deathstalker and his beloved Jesamine Flowers are fugitives from the Empire, and fate has assembled a bizarre company of companions for them. Brett Random, a scoundrel claiming to be descended from Owen Deathstalker's comrades Jack Random and Ruby Journey, Rose Constantine, a psychopathic female gladiator from the Arenas, and Saturday, an eight-foot tall reptilian alien, have attached themselves to the reluctant rebels, who have determined to carry out their own quest to find the long-lost Owen Deathstalker, deemed the only one who can save humanity from the coming Terror. With the Empire hot on their heels, their mission brings them to the forbidden planet Unseeli, home of the mysterious winged Ashrai, as well as another legendary figure from Owen's time. As the treachery of his official Champion and chief advisor becomes increasingly apparent, King Douglas continues to play the broken man, while surreptitiously preparing some form of retaliation.

On the Empire's home world of Logres, King Douglas deals with the beautiful Treasure Mackenzie's seduction attempts while Finn Durandal, with Parliaments' approval, wages war on the esper city of New Hope. The quest of Lewis Deathstalker and his companions takes them to the fiercely hostile planet Shandrakor, in search of the lost Deathstalker Standing and the answers it may hold, but first Lewis's people will have to contend with the indigenous population, the horrific results of human scientists' genetic experimentation. The last thing Lewis expects is to encounter one of the legendary Madness Maze survivors. Surrounded by traitors, King Douglas plays the role of the broken man while searching for an opportunity to retaliate. Unfortunately, in a conflict with his appointed bride-to-be, Douglas plays right into treacherous Finn Durandal's hands.

Following the end of their quest to find the legendary Owen Deathstalker, Lewis and his group of Madness Maze survivors take the new rebel fleet in search of allies. On the Empire's home world, the exiled King Douglas begins to marshal his own forces amidst the outcasts of the Rookery, enlisting a number of unlikely elements to his cause. And the mightiest Deathstalker of them all plunges into the timestream to confront the relentless mad hunger of the being called the Terror.

In the Grand Finale of the epic Deathstalker saga, Lewis Deathstalker and his beloved Jesamine are compelled to embrace the full might of their extraordinary new powers. The Empire and rebel forces must forge an uneasy alliance to battle a common enemy: the demonic Uber-espers, a conflict which leads to a startling revelation as to their origin. The deposed King Douglas finally confronts the usurper Finn Durandal face to face. And Owen Deathstalker's quest to halt the onslaught of the monstrous Terror reaches its dramatic conclusion.