Free Download | The Sunrise Lands | S. M. Stirling

A generation has passed since The Change that rendered technology inoperable around the world, and western Oregon has finally achieved a degree of peace. 

But a new threat has risen in Paradise Valley, Wyoming. A man known as The Prophet presides over the Church Universal and Triumphant, teaching his followers to continue God's work by destroying the remnants of technological civilization they encounter-and those who dare use them.

Rudi Mackenzie, son and heir of the mystic Juniper, must journey with seven friends across a continent in chaos to the Sunrise Lands to solve the riddle of what destroyed a civilization. 

And as the friends journey farther into the interior, enemies may be within their own band as well as outside it.

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Free Download | A Taint in the Blood | S. M. Stirling Novel

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I have been a fan of S.M. Stirling for quite some time now. His "Island on the Sea of Time" series was both engaging and ground breaking. But, it was with "Dies the Fire", the beginning of the phenomenal "Emberverse" series and the "Emberverse II" series, starting with "The Sunrise Lands" that S.M. Stirling demonstrated amazing talent for plot development and sophisticated interpersonal relationships. Along the way Stirling hit superb alternate history single home runs such as "Conquistador" and "The Peshawar Lancers". But, given that, I approached this new book with apprehension. As a rule I do not appreciate vampire stories. With the phenomenal sensation of the "Twilight" books and films, a vampire story was not very attractive. But, having read Stirling's other works I was game, bought a copy, and took it with me on a hurried trip out of state. I ended up reading it in a motel room and went through it like a good chain saw through balsa. The characters are brilliantly developed and nuanced (one of the very nastiest female villains ever), dialog that is believable and action like liquid fire. What made the book work for me was that, for the first time, I had encountered a vampire trope that made sense. These Shadowspawn are not demonic creatures of myth and legend, but a rare combination of genetic mutation. The "Power" used by these creatures can be accessed by anyone who has sufficient genetic predisposition. These genetic factors can become accentuated when Shadowspawn bloodlines intertwine. The twins, Adrian and Adrienne Brézé are more Shadowspawn than human, and phenomenally powerful. Adrienne is ambitiously evil, sexually sadistic, and is trying to bring about a brutal holocaust for much of humanity. Adrian is her opposite, who does not prey on humans, has fought against his sister (and still carries the scars), and has now retired to live quietly. But, the woman who is the love of his life has been kidnapped by his vicious sister and he must come down from his mountain and once again face Adrienne to save her, and in the process save mankind. S.M. Stirling has once again provided us with a whole new world where nothing is what it seems, and powerful and fantastic forces strive with passion, wit and style.

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Free Download | Against the Tide of Years | S. M. Stirling Novels

In Stirling's bestselling Island in the Sea of Time, modern Nantucket found itself trapped in the Bronze Age. In the sequel, Against the Tide of Years, the renegade William Walker forges a dangerous alliance with the ancient Greek kings Agamemnon and Odysseus; Commodore Marian Alston faces terrible sea storms and cannon-armed Phoenician ships in an anachronistic Age of Sail; and the outnumbered Nantucketers race Walker to make contact with the Babylonian Empire. Of course this ambitious, action-packed series is perfect for time-travel, alternate-history, and military-SF fans. But epic-fantasy readers, Burroughs and Haggard fans desiring a modern update of the lost-civilization adventure novel, and anyone who ever read Patrick O'Brian for the terrific sea-battles will enjoy it as well.

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