The Cause series by Randall Farmer (#1-#3)
Requirements: Epub reader, 1.24 Mb
Overview: My blog title came from a desire to have an unencumbered blog, as well to have a blog title that wasn’t in the Microsoft Word dictionary. So, in honor of my title, let’s have a relaxed dally while enjoying foolish trifles.
As a preamble, I take a break from the dreary sameness of Houston to visit the beach community of Port Aransas in the off-season, to relax and to write. For the past several years, I’ve been staying in the same place, and while relaxing on the beach, I’ve gotten to wonder – what are all those tall buildings lining the beach? After a while, I got bored with calling them ‘next beach condo’, ‘next plus one beach condo’, etc., etc. Worse, some of them didn’t even look like beach condos. I didn’t do anything about it, though, until one day at home, while looking at some beach pictures, I again got the urge to name them. Name them without having to go up and down the Port Aransas roads, that is. The trick was finding pictures taken when the normal beach haze wasn’t present (that is, after a cold front has blown through) and the beaches weren’t crowded with people. I did manage to find usable pictures, though my best south-looking picture was too people-cluttered for use, so I had to use one with lower quality viewing conditions.
Genre: Science Fiction
1. The Shadow of the Progenitors
Predators don’t usually spend their time trying to save the world, but Transform Sickness was due to kill everyone within the next decade or two, and Carol Hancock liked life. Also her territory, her friends, and her car dealerships. Things would be better if her attempts to save the world were actually working, but the alliance of Major Transforms Carol leads, called The Cause, has gotten pretty much nowhere for three years.
That all changes when one of Carols’ subordinate Arms manages to find actual physical proof of one of The Cause’s wilder theories. Suddenly technical discoveries start to pile up and old assumptions begin to collapse. And the leaders of the old order don’t like the disruption at all. Old enemies become active again, old neutrals become enemies, ambitions newcomers see opportunities for power, and unknown enemies act without revealing themselves.
Carol’s old friend and lover, the Crow Gilgamesh, is caught in the chaos and forced to develop himself farther and faster than he ever imagined. Former Dr. Hank Zielinski is offered all the research he ever dreamed of, with the death of humanity the price for failure. Focus Gail Rickenbach is called to a fresh sacrifice she has no desire to make, and the Arm Stacy Keaton finds herself unexpectedly vulnerable. With the Arm dominance structure suddenly in chaos, Carol will need all her military skills as the Commander as well as every other skill she’s developed and a few she wished she had and doesn’t, in order to see The Cause through to success.
2. Love and Darkness
Carol Hancock has discovered that one her fellow Arms has been plotting against her, and the new internal divisions among the Arms further damage the Arm dominance hierarchy. In the chaos, no Arm’s position is safe, including Carol’s, especially when the leader of the Arms, Stacy Keaton, is unhappy with Carol’s major project of the last three years, the Cause. Del, a baby Arm in Keaton’s training, is even less safe, as the jostling of senior Arms threatens the lives of the young and vulnerable. She will need to grow up fast if she is to survive to be more than a pawn.
Chaos is not restricted to the Arms, as hostile senior Crows attack those they see as propagators of dangerous change, such as the dangerous changes produced by all the research results now coming from the Cause. Focus Gail Rickenbach, Crow Guru Gilgamesh and Hank Zielinski make breakthroughs with the potential to save innumerable lives, but only if they can survive to spread their discoveries.
When the hammer falls, evil will have its victory. Carol’s friends depend on her, but a predator is a bad choice to lead people out of the darkness.
3. The Forgefires of God
The Cause has fallen apart, fatally weakened by tensions between the Major Transforms, and the Arms are going to war against the corrupt first Focuses who lead the Focuses from behind the scenes. Carol Hancock, after fighting off those plotting against her and regaining her stature among the Arms, now serves the leading Arm, Stacy Keaton, as one of Keaton’s most potent weapons. Other conflicts abound, making the planned attacks more risky. The conflict between Shadow’s Crows and Chevalier’s Crows is the most disruptive, and none of the Major Transforms knows which of the many factions will ally and who will be an enemy.
The young Arm, Del, realizes she is marked for a form of enslavement that will lead to her death. As a student Arm, she has little power to work with and must rely on her wits and nerve in an attempt to find a way to survive what appears to be an impossible situation.
Focus Gail Rickenbach, who has come to her own power through the efforts of the Cause, must continue the research efforts nearly alone while attempting to preserve the lives of the people in her household. She, along with Crow Guru Gilgamesh and Hank Zielinski, will face many threats and obstacles, some coming from their allies and compatriots.
When the open war comes, new dangers, new discoveries, unexpected events and many other surprises and changes await all the North American Major Transforms and their allies.
Download Instructions:
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