Bold Dark Worlds

In a story of two bold, dark worlds based on Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, the future shows striking similarities to today's age of imperialism, classism, and capitalistic expansion where racism is commonplace, slavery exists, and a minority holds absolute power. But instead of a Belgium company during the late 1880s on the Congo River in Africa, this is Earth's Great Third Republic and Mars's colonies in the year 2126.It's been over ninety years since the Great Conflict of 2041 and the rise of the Great Third Republic, and Earth finds itself cut into two social classes: those who own everything and those who are owned. For the patricians, advances in medical science and gene therapy help their bodies express ideal health and beauty in the form of pale skin, blue eyes, blond hair, and long life. For those who are non-Caucasian, it's a difficult existence of servitude for many and slavery for more. While plebs and surfers form the professional and merchant layer of a caste system, slavery remains a prominent form of property. And now, Earth's elite want to take their way of life to the new frontier: Mars.However, all societies have a sunrise and sunset. In Endless Fall of Night, Cassandra IX, patrician and first-class citizen, is exposed to a traumatic experience-a child lost for thirty minutes in the Delta Exchange-that later has her questioning the established social order. Willard Bennett, former captain of the Jefferson Davis, once charged with ensuring Cassandra IX's deliverance to the Martian insurrectionists, finds himself in a no-win scenario in Heavy Weight of Darkness. In the background is David Montgomery Strong, who, when bullied as a child, receives a "cure" that leads to him living in Earth's Dark Zone as a teen and, eventually, his own command on Mars in Deadly Going Dark. Finally, confronted with duty and blind ambition, Executive Officer Robert Lee takes on the challenge of capturing Cassandra IX in a bid to secure his captaincy and uphold his family's legacy in Hunting Armed Men.