This science fiction novel explores the solar systems of Core, Tharcaniah, Karphaxi, and Shagra.

Best known for her beloved Deryni series, Katherine Kurtz rockets into new territory in this breathtaking science fiction murder mystery. The interstellar cruiser Valkyrie has been ordered to take an unexpected detour from its normal route to pick up a strange and valuable cargo. Capt. George Lutobo cannot disobey the commands of his emperor, but the idea of bringing four huge, blue-furred lionlike creatures onboard a luxury vessel makes the captain uneasy. Nor does he trust the big cats’ escorts, husband and wife scientists Mather Seton and Wallis Hamilton. Though these magnificent felines possess remarkable psychic abilities and are worshipped as deities on their home planet—and, for that reason, are essential components of the diplomatic negotiations between worlds—they are nevertheless frighteningly dangerous beasts, powerfully built, with razor-sharp claws and teeth. Soon after the creatures’ arrival, the discovery of a dead passenger, ripped to pieces and clutching a clump of blue fur, seems to justify Captain Lutobo’s fears. The killings continue, each as savage as the last, though Seton and Hamilton insist that the great felines could never have escaped from their cages. But the dark mystery only deepens when one of the imprisoned cats is murdered—the manner of its death impossible to fathom—and one terrible truth becomes frighteningly clear: No one and no thing is safe any longer aboard the Valkyrie. Thrilling, surprising, and marvelously inventive, Katherine Kurtz’s The Legacy of Lehr is an exciting science fiction adventure that displays a daringly different side of the acclaimed fantasist best known for her popular Deryni and Knights Templar fantasy series.

Traces the progress and regress of the world's civilizations over the past thousand years and shows how the capacity of one people to influence another has shifted geographically.

Around the world disaster vulnerability is on the rise. The incidence and intensity of disasters have increased in recent decades with lives being shattered and resources being destroyed across broad geographic regions each year. As it swept across the Honduran landscape, the exceptional size, power and duration of Hurricane Mitch abruptly and brutally altered the already diminished economic, social, and environmental conditions of the population. In the aftermath of the disaster a group of seven socio-environmental scientists set out to investigate the root causes of the heightened vulnerability that characterized pre-Mitch Honduras, the impact of the catastrophe on the local society, and the subsequent recovery efforts. Edited by Marisa O. Ensor, this volume presents the findings of their investigation. The Legacy of Hurricane Mitch offers a comprehensive analysis of the immediate and long-term consequences of Hurricane Mitch in Honduras. Based on longitudinal ethnographic fieldwork and environmental assessments, this volume illustrates the importance of adopting an approach to disaster research and practice that places ÒnaturalÓ trigger events within their political, cultural, and socio-economic contexts. The contributors make a compelling case against post-disaster recovery efforts that limit themselves to alleviating the symptoms, rather than confronting the root causes of the vulnerability that prefigured the disaster.