Chung Kuo Books
The Year is 2190. China has once again become a world unto itself and this time its only boundary is space . . . The world is City Earth, ruled by the Seven, China's new kings. Beautiful, controlled, sensual, this high-tech society is rushing toward war between the forces of West and East, between the rebels who hunger for change and the overlords who demand stability, between the very powers of darkness and light. It will be an era of violent conflagration destined to expose the basest elements of human nature . . . and the highest dreams. An epic that draws us into an alternative world so real, so complete that we become denizens of the new Middle Kingdom, touched by longings we never imagined. . . driven by forces as ancient as man's first breath. Not since Asminov's Foundation books and Herbert's Dune has there been such a majestic and powerful vision of a believable other world. . . seductive, chilling, unforgettable!
The seventh installment in a masterpiece of a series, perfect for fans of George R. R. Martin and Frank Herbert The year is 2207 and Chung Kuo's perfect stasis is falling apart. The Seven's dominance is threatened by a series of terrorist attacks as the War of Two Directions intensifies. Howard DeVore, the Seven's greatest enemy, is masterminding the atrocities—but how can they hunt down a man who seems to be invulnerable? Kim Ward, the Clay-born scientific genius, is attacked by a group of deadly assassins bent on destroying his work. And a group of rich young American rebels intend to create change—at any price.
A towering world-city covers almost every acre of every continent. Seven high-tech fiefdoms, ruled by seven lords united in unimaginable power. But now the wheel is broken. the Seven are divided at last. Armed rebellion has broken out in Chung Kuo's few remaining open spaces; on the vast grain farms, within the chilly Mars colony... and along the proud spine of the mountain chains, where hardy guerrillas scoff at the gunships of the T'ang. In desperation, the Seven plot their final solution in secret council, a gambit that could ensure peace... at a terrible price. An epic that drives us into an alternative world so real that we become true denizens of the new Middle Kingdom, touched by tomorrow's longings... driven by forces as ancient as man's first breath.
The spellbinding saga of the future continues in the year 2211. The Seven T'ang, the ruling dictatorship of the solar system, is weakened by the birth of a special child, and the forces of rebellion and change are spreading from the mega-cities of Earth to a secretive, planet-wide conspiracy on Mars. For generations the T'ang have controlled with mind manipulation and teams of black-clad assassins. But the human urge for freedom cannot be stilled by murder or seduction. Now, as a mad, blood-thirsty ruler plots a coup from within the T'ang, Hans Ebert, his famous face obscured forever behind a mask, begins a new fight for power and love on the red soil of Mars. Revolution may finally free the long-shackled masses, or it may spread unimaginable destruction sufficient to level a world--and the hopes of all worlds to come. The Chung Kuo series brings future centuries to life, portraying men and women caught between great powers fighting for dominance...and yearning for ageless passions for all that life holds dear.
Chung Kuo VI: White Moon, Red Dragon sees the reign of the Seven T'ang in a time of great, bloody upheaval. The rebel leader DeVore, thought dead by his enemies, has returned and is readying a terrifying flotilla to fight against the T'ang, the dictators of Earth. On Mars, another rebel, the long-exiled Hans Ebert, is formulating an audacious plan to bring a lost African tribe home again, and on Earth, the continental mega-cities of the T'ang begin to crumble as war ripples across the planet. It is a time of endings and beginnings, when the last of the T'ang, Li Yuan, will make a terrifying alliance...when chaos will strike in the form of human-looking androids programmed to kill...and when Emily Ascher, a woman dedicated to liberty for the billions the T'ang have kept in chains, will see her vision blossom in blood red.
In the spring of 2232, hopes for a more humane world become manifest in the red-roofed houses of "China on the Rhine." There, Emily Ascher, once a freedom fighter, lives as Mama Em, mother to the orphans of a war-devastated land. But unto the people of Chung Kuo, two children will be born: "Coffin Filler," a baby girl smothered and thrown away but not yet dead, and baby boy Josef, delivered into a hostile land, yet determined to fight for his life. They are part of a new generation who will see more death than any who have gone before. While peace seems to reign, the puppet master of an army of giant androids plans one final, absolute destruction. And while the great T'ang, the dictators of Earth, are gone, the mega corporation GenSyn remains. And soon its pleasure drug called "Golden Dreams" will make Chung Kuo a funeral pyre for golden corpses--until the only escape lies in sending the survivors toward new stars. . . or joining Emily Ascher in a battle for liberty and a new Earth.
The final novel of the Chung Kuo Series - a science fiction masterpiece. "The Great Experiement had failed. The Ten Thousand Year Empire of the Han has lasted less than two centuries and now not a single stack remains of the great city of ice that once covered the habitable earth. Europe is DeVore's, America is a brutal dictatorship, while the rest of the globe groans beneath the rule of callous warlords. Li Yuan, once the most powerful man on earth, is now an exile in America. Banished to an endless round of tours and banquets, he unexpectedly finds a new role - one that will once more tie him to the destiny of Chung Kuo. and then there is Kim Ward, the Star-Seeker, the spider in the web. Will he leave Chung Kuo to its fate? Or will he turn his great fleet around and return to fight one final battle -- winner take all?" The Marriage of the Living Dark is the eighth and final novel in the Chung Kuo series, most of which have been translated into many languages. David Wingrove lives in North London with his wife and four daughters.