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Hugh Cook, author of the ten-volume Chronicles of an Age of Darkness series, tries his hand at developing something new in a world which has, in large measure, outworn many of the materials with which it has long amused itself. |
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West of Heaven East of Hell North of Paradise Read 3 x first three chapters free |
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Atlanta Ignalina Jubiladilia, an ambitious young female lawyer in a world which is hospitable neither to women nor to their ambitions, faces three problems in this book. First, this boy. Is she going to marry him? Second, her grandfather, in danger of being exposed as a pedophile. True, he was a pedophile. But he was caught, put on trial and punished. Should Atlanta seek to defend him now that the years-old sealed court records are in danger of being exposed to public view? She is disgusted by his crimes, but he is her grandfather. And she is a lawyer, and believe in the rule of law. Third, the rumors about her family's adaptive skins, organisms which can meld themselves with human flesh to enable normative humans to breathe underwater. Is it true that some of the skins have gone rogue and have started killing people? Atlanta's first and foremost loyalty is to her family. But she cannot conceal the truth, if the skins have become dangerous. Finally, she has no option but to put her life on the line and try one of the skins for herself, something she would never normally do because she, with her water lung, is perfectly capable of breathing underwater without any such assistance. This book is part of a trilogy but is a self-contained novel in its own right, complete with a beginning, a middle and an end. |
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In this book the family Jubiladilia suffers through two unwise experiments inflicted upon their powerless country by foreign interventionists. The interventionists, intent on forcing popular democracy upon the archipelago of Chalakanesia, coerce the federal state of Islam Demaxus to hold presidential elections. Heineman Yakaskam Jubiladilia, a candidate in the elections, gets bruised up against the realities of this new-fangled "democracy" stuff, including the outing of a lurid family secret and the first-ever election riot in the city of Lexis. Additionally, by making unwise experiments which relate to their flawed airship techology, experiments which have the potential to catastrophically destabilize local reality, the foreigners are putting the Jubiladilias and their entire community in danger of destruction. As the book opens, we see the diving skills of the Jubiladilias brought into play as they strive to rescue survivors from an airship (in this case, very definitely a heavier-than-air ship) which has crashed and has sunk in local waters. Though no great diver, Heineman finds himself forced to join his family's diving tradition. Reluctantly. But, in the end, heroically. This book is part of a trilogy but is a self-contained novel in its own right, complete with a beginning, a middle and an end. |
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Having become president of the archipelago of Chalakanesia, victory in the election in the federal state of Islam Demaxus having given him mastery of the whole archipelago, Heineman finds himself up against three dangers. One danger is the assassins who, early in the book, take a shot at kiling Heineman, and almost succeed. A second danger is the possible return of his political rival, Vignis Vo Gorkindachina, who has officially been declared dead, but who, increasingly, seems to be alive and kicking. The third danger is Heineman's own limitations. Placed under pressure, he catastrophically miscalculates, going into dictator mode. By the time he's done, a bunch of dead journalists illegally imprisoned and now dead is only a part of his problem. As Heineman works out his destiny we see part of the Gorkindachina story. Having been shunted through time and space, Gorkindachina has to grapple with two problems. First, how is he going to deal with the fact that he is legally dead? Second, how is he going to displace Heineman Jubiladilia from the presidential palace? By rights he should do that because he, Gorkindachina, is the candidate who won the popular vote in the presidential elections. This book is part of a trilogy but is a self-contained novel in its own right, complete with a beginning, a middle and an end. |
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Fantasy Trilogy |
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The promise of this trilogy is to deliver something different. This is not your standard production line product, another book straight off the assembly line, complete with the familiar array of wizards, warriors, magic elves, flying carpets, dwarves, swords, battle axes and all the rest of that stuff.
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The Oceans of Light trilogy is not available via amazon.com. Other books by Hugh Cook can be purchased as a PDF download on lulu.com, these books including ARC OF LIGHT, CANCER PATIENT, BAMBOO HORSES, TO FIND AND WAKE THE DREAMER, THE WORDSMITHS AND THE WARGUILD, THE WORSHIPPERS AND THE WAY, THE WITCHLORD AND THE WEAPONMASTER, THE SUCCUBUS AND OTHER STORIES and the literary miscellany THIS IS A PICTURE OF YOUR GOD. Almost all this content falls into the "mature" spectrum. The mature content is invisible unless you certify yourself as being seventeen or over. To see the mature content (1) sign up to make a free log-in identity then log in; (2) go to "MY ACCOUNT"; (3) click on "manage content access level"; (4) assuming you are 17 or older, choose "Mature" as the consent level, and save that preference. Returning to lulu.com/hughcook you discover that a number of books which were previously invisible are now visible, such as THE SUCCUBUS AND OTHER STORIES, samples of which are available to read free online. |
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