Paul Watkins

Halifax had been in French Africa for five years, doing whatever foolhardy, dangerous thing Serailler ordered him to do. It was some time before he finally snapped, but when he did, he opened the throttle, eased back the stick, and lifted straight and high into a dream.

Although Paul Wedekind has created a new life for himself as a peaceful fisherman on the coast of Rhode Island, he is afflicted by memories of his violent past. As an idealistic and patriotic young man, he enlisted in the East German army, only to be recruited by the omnipotent Stasi for an ambiguous intelligence-gathering role. Paul is sent to the far reaches of windswept Afghanistan, where he and his childhood friend are imprisoned and brutally tortured by the Mujahadin. Years later, living quietly in a New England fishing town, Paul sees his buried history return with shocking power. The Berlin Wall's collapse has left him vulnerable, uncertain of his role. A tight-lipped woman, Suleika, becomes his boat captain, fishing partner, confidante - and eventually his lover. As exiles, the two struggle to protect the secrets that have led them to one another; but both find that the past must be confronted if it is to be escaped.

"Twenty-third century Earth, ravaged by climate change, looks backwards to the holy ideal of a pre-industrial Eden. Political power has been grabbed by a few powerful families and their green saints. Millions of people are imprisoned in teeming cities; millions more labour on Pharaonic projects to rebuild ruined ecosystems." "On the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, the Outers, descendants of refugees from Earth's repressive regimes, have constructed a wild variety of self-sufficient cities and settlements: scientific utopias crammed with exuberant creations of the genetic arts; the last outposts of every kind of democratic tradition." "The fragile detente between the Outer cities and the dynasties of Earth is threatened by the ambitions of the rising generation of Outers, who want to break free of their cosy, inward-looking pocket paradises, colonise the rest of the Solar System, and drive human evolution in a hundred new directions. On Earth, many demand pre-emptive action against the Outers before it's too late; others want to exploit the talents of their scientists and gene wizards. Amid campaigns for peace and reconciliation, political machinations, crude displays of military might, and espionage by cunningly wrought agents, the two branches of humanity edge towards war ..." "From the prison cities of Earth to the scrupulously realised landscapes of the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, The Quiet War is an exotic, fast-paced space opera that turns on a single question: who decides what it means to be human?"--BOOK JACKET.

And so it came to pass... Through science, faith and force of will, the Harmonics carved out for themselves a society that they conceived of as perfect. Diverse peoples held together by respect for each other and the prospect of swift punishment if they disobeyed their laws. Fertile land that embraced a variety of climates and seasons. Angels to guard the mortals, mystics to guard the forbidden knowledge and Jehovah to watch over them all... Generations later, the armed starship Jehovah still looms over the planet of Samaria, programmed to unleash its arsenal if peace is not sustained. But an age of corruption has come to the land, threatening that peace and placing the Samarians in grave danger. Their hope lies in the crowning of a new archangel. The oracles have chosen the angel Gabriel and further decreed that he must first wed a mortal woman named Rachel. It is his destiny and hers. Gabriel is certain she will greet the news of her bethrothal with enthusiasm and a devotion to duty equal to his own. Rachel has other ideas...