Greatwinter Trilogy
3 total works 3 total works planned
NO. 2 OF 3
In a fortieth-century America of ancient kingdoms with opulent courts, hereditary engineering guilds, and rigid class distinction in warfare, a centuries-old balance of power is shattered by a few dozen Australian infiltrators. Against a rich backdrop of war, chivalry, conspiracy, and a diesel-powered arms race, a dangerous secret alliance has formed. Now the unlikely trio of an airlord, an abbess, and a fugitive are joined together in a desperate race against time to stop the ultimate doomsday machine from being launched:
NO. 1 OF 3
The great Calculor of Libris was forced to watch as Overmayor Zarvora had four of its components lined up against a wall and shot for negligence. Thereafter, its calculations were free from errors, and that was just as well-for only this strangest of calculating machines and its two thousand enslaved components could save the world from a new ice age. And all the while a faint mirrorsun hangs in the night sky, warning of the cold to come. In Sean McMullen's glittering, dynamic, and exotic world two millennia from now, there is no more electricity, wind engines are leading-edge technology, librarians fight duels to settle disputes, steam power is banned by every major religion, and a mysterious siren "Call" lures people to their death. Nevertheless, the brilliant and ruthless Zarvora intends to start a war in space against inconceivably ancient nuclear battle stations. Unbeknownst to Zarvora, however, the greatest threat to humanity is neither a machine nor a force but her demented and implacable enemy Lemorel, who has resurrected an obscene and evil concept from the distant past: Total War. "Souls in the Great Machine" is the first volume of Sean McMullen's brilliant future history of the world of Greatwinter
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In Sean McMullen's glittering, dynamic world, two thousand years in the future, there is no electricity, librarians fight duels and internal combustion engines are banned by every major religion in Australica. Humarity has split into two species, and intelligent cetezoids rule the oceans. In space, Mirrorsun has begun to spin. Immense solar sails are pushing vast amounts of energy into the ancient orbital band, energy that could tear it apart - or be directed down at Earth. The hypnotic Call has ceased, and all electrical machines have been reduced to molten metal. A religious prophet has risen and is attempting to bring the entire continent of Australica under her rule. Fundamentally, unexpectedly, things are changing everywhere. As catastrophe looms and civilisation begins to crumble, the Dragon Librarians of Australica have just one means left to hold their world together: kidnap every numerate person on the continent and rebuild their out-of-date human-powered computer - the Calculor.