Post by SAMURAI36 on Sept 15, 2005 7:59:12 GMT -5
STEVEN BARNES
Steven Barnes , the author of fifteen novels and as many teleplays, has been nominated for both the Hugo and Cable Ace awards. Mr. Barnes lives in Washington with his wife, author Tananarive Due (another celebrated author), and their daughter.
Lion's Blood: A Novel of Slavery and Freedom in an Alternate America
Steven Barnes has outdone himself with Lion's Blood. In this alternate history of the South, he has switched not only the slave and master races but also the religion of the land. In telling this story, he explores the ramifications of slavery through the eyes of two young boys as they grow up -- Aidan O'Dere, who was taken from his home in Ireland and sold into slavery, and Kai, the youngest son of slavemaster Wikil Abu Ali.
The story takes place in Bilalistan (what we call the United States of America) during the early 1800s. But this country is divided; the native people have moved out to the west, and the rest of the country is split between the Aztecs, the Zulus, and the Arabs. As frictions between all these groups increase, war breaks out, and the lives of the two young boys are forever changed.
Although they are master and slave, both Kai and Aidan find themselves depending on one another when things go awry. The lessons they learn are both sobering and hopeful. (L.H.)
FROM THE PUBLISHER
LION'S BLOOD deals with an alternate history universe in which Africa colonized the Americas, bringing European slaves here. The history of this world stretches back to 400 B.C., when Socrates refused to drink the hemlock that killed him, escaping Athens to Egypt, where he opened a school of philosophy. The novel takes place in approximately 1850 AD, and involves two main families: one of Islamic African aristocrats, the other of Druidic Irish slaves. It is a combination of Gone with the Wind and Roots, seen through a dark glass. Two young men, one of each genetic line, must deal with their world and each other.
Author Biography: Steven Barnes, author of 15 novels and as many teleplays, has been nominated for Hugo and Cable Ace Awards, and lives in Longview, Washington, with his novelist wife, Tananarive Due, and his daughter Nicki.
Zulu Heart: A Novel of Slavery and Freedom in an Alternate America
Imagine a 19th-century America colonized by Islamic Africans instead of Christian Europeans. Imagine an Old South dominated by African culture and tradition where European slaves work the fields and dream of freedom. Welcome to Steven Barnes's alternate history of the New World. Zulu Heart, the sequel to Barnes's critically acclaimed Lion's Blood, continues the story of two unlikely friends -- African nobleman Kai ibn Rashid and Aidan O'Dere, a former Irish slave -- who are traveling very different life paths. While Kai is trying to keep his southern estate, Dar Kush, out of a war between the world powers Egypt and Abyssinia as well as a civil war between New World colonies, Aidan is simply trying to stay alive -- and escape from bondage.
As tensions increase between world powers, it becomes evident that war is going to erupt in the New World. Egyptian ships are quietly massing in the harbors of New Djibouti, and after an attempt is made on Kai's life, he cannot trust anyone -- not even lifelong friends and his new Zulu wife. Aidan, struggling to make a life as a free man in the north, is called once again by his ex-master and best friend to help in a desperate scheme to stop the imminent bloodshed. But in order to achieve this, Aidan must again become a slave…
Fans of alternate American history novels like Harry Harrison's Stars and Stripes trilogy and Harry Turtledove's Great War series should enjoy this insightful, complex saga of speculative fiction. Paul Goat Allen
FROM THE PUBLISHER
"The year is 1294 - to Christians, 1877. Egypt's Pharaoh threatens war against Ethiopia's Empress and plans to embroil the New World in his cause. While the Northern colonists are subjects of the Pharaoh, Southern revolutionaries are loyal to the Empress." "Caught in the center of the storm is Kai ibn Rashid, married to the Empress's niece and lord of a vast Southern estate. A senator who only wants peace, Kai is opposed to the Pharaoh's war - a position that may cost him dearly, for assassins have targeted his family. Meanwhile, the New World's other major power, the unpredictable Zulu nation, has pressed Kai to accept their princess, the exquisite niece of Shaka Zulu, as his second wife. Tantalized by her beauty, Kai also fears that the princess is a spy with lethal plans." "Now in desperate need of help, Kai summons a childhood friend, the freed slave Aidan O'Dere, to go on a deadly mission. Aidan's reward is information to save his long-lost sister, Nessa, and safe passage home. Yet to succeed, Aidan must willingly submit himself to the greatest degradation he has ever known - the cruel yoke of slavery." With war looming and betrayal threatening on every side, failure will mean execution for Kai and Aidan. But will success cost even more? For by challenging the will of the Pharaoh, Kai could be signing his family's death warrants. And by aiding the South, Aidan could be keeping millions of whites in bondage.
Firedance
ANNOTATION
The third book in Barnes' series about Aubry Knight, set in a future Los Angeles, which has nearly been destroyed by an earthquake, where bio-engineering has given humanity the ability to create supermen. When an enemy attacks Aubry's child, the streetfighter is drawn inexorably toward New Africa, toward the mysteries of his own past, and into danger.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Streetfighter, fugitive, hero...Aubry Knight is now a powerful man with powerful friends. And someone wants to kill him.
Their opening shot is the death of one of Aubry's dearest friends. Their next attack is on Aubry's child. Knight is drawn inexorably toward New Africa, toward the mysteries of his own past, and toward the future that may taken him far from Los Angeles and the only life he's ever known.
To win this battle, and save his family, Aubry Knight must defeat himself.
