League of Peoples Series by James Alan Gardner
League of Peoples #1
League of Peoples #2
Commitment Hour lop-2
James Alan Gardner
Commitment Hour is a science fiction novel by James Alan Gardner, published in 1998. The novel is set in Gardner's "League of Peoples's" futuristic universe, and plays out in the small, isolated village of Tober Cove. Set on post-apocalyptic Earth, Tober Cove most resembles a rural, seventeenth century fishing village, with one exception: every year, everyone below the age of 21 changes gender. At the age of twenty-one, the people of the village must "commit" to being male, female or both in the form of a Hermaphrodite (a 'Neut'), forever. Commitment Hour follows the day leading up to the main character's hour of commitment (Wikipedia).
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League of Peoples #2
Commitment Hour
James Alan Gardner
In the twenty-fifth century, Tober Cove is a wonderful place to be. With most of Earth's population long since departed for other planets, and with them the technology that makes such a journey possible, life here is simple and serene--especially for Fullin, a gifted musician whose talent commands many times the wages of a farmer or fisherman. But Fullin is twenty years old. And at that age, each person in Tober Cove must make the most important decision in life. Ominous winds of change swirl toward Fullin's idyllic existence, carrying dark secrets that will upend his beliefs, alter his view of reality and threaten his very life. But for the boy himself, there is no more room for indecision. The time has come to take an irrevocable stand and seal his fate forever. The hour of commitment is here.From the author of Expendable, a major new voice in imaginative fiction, here is a spellbinding adventure which dares to pose critical questions about the human condition and answer them.In the twenty-fifth century, Tober Cove is a wonderful place to be. With most of Earth's population long since departed for other planets, and with them the technology that makes such a journey possible, life here is simple and serene--especially for Fullin, a gifted musician whose talent commands many times the wages of a farmer of fisherman. But Fullin is twenty years old. And at that age, each person in Tober Cove must make the most important decision in life. Ominous winds of change swirl toward Fullin's idyllic existence, carrying dark secrets that will upend his beliefs, alter his view of reality, and threaten his very life. But for the boy himself, there is no more room for indecision. The time has come to take an irrevocable stand and seal his fate forever. The hour commitment is here.
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League of Peoples #3
Vigilant lop-3
James Alan Gardner
Two species lived in peaceful coexistence on the planet Demoth until a deadly plague wiped out millions of the winged Ooloms while leaving humans untouched, helpless to do more than ease the suffering of their alien friends and neighbors. Faye Smallwood saw the horror firsthand, caring for the plague victims in her father’s hospital. She was there when he discovered the cure that made him famous. She was also there when a freak accident killed him. Desperate to escape her past, Faye joins the Vigil, a band of fiercely independent monitors charged with rooting out government corruption. To help in this struggle, her mind is linked to the powerful datasphere that regulates the planet… and suddenly, she receives a cryptic vision promising peace and healing. Instead, Faye becomes the target of unknown assassins in a sinister conspiracy that threatens to unleash a new and more deadly outbreak. For humans and Ooloms were not the first species to inhabit Demoth. Somewhere in the ruins of long-abandoned settlements, something was left behind: an alien technology of unimaginable potential to build — or destroy. Enemy agents will stop at nothing to find it. Some of Faye's own people will kill to uncover its secret. With no one else to trust, she turns to the one person who can help unravel the mystery: Festina Ramos — explorer, outcast, ever-vigilant champion of those whom society deems expendable.
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League of Peoples #3
Vigilant
James Alan Gardner
Two species lived in peaceful coexistence on the planet Demoth until a deadly plague wiped out millions of the winged Ooloms while leaving humans untouched, helpless to do more than ease the suffering of their alien friends and neighbors. Faye Smallwood saw the horror firsthand, caring for the plague victims in her fahter's hospital. She was there when he discovered the cure that made him famous. She was also there when a freak accident killed him.Desperate to escape her past, Faye joins the Vigil, a band of fiercely independent monitors charged with rooting out government corruption. To help in this struggle, her mind is linked to the powerful datasphere that regulates the planet...and suddenly, she receives a cryptic vision promising peace and healing. Instead, Faye becomes the target of unknown assassins in a sinister conspiracy that threatens to unleash a new and more deadly outbreak.For humans and Ooloms were not the first species to inhabit Demoth. Somewhere in the ruins of long-abandoned settlements, something was left behind: an alien technology of unimaginable potential to build--or destroy. Enemy agents will stop at nothing to find it. Some of Faye's own people will kill to uncover its secret. With no one else to trust, she turns to the one person who can help unravel the mystery: Festina Ramos--explorer, outcast, ever-vigilant champion of those whom society deems expendable.**
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League of Peoples #4
Hunted lop-4
James Alan Gardner
Edward York is an illegal clone, genetically engineered for perfection — but something went wrong. His twin sister, Ambassador Samantha York, is a gorgeous genius, but the physically perfect Edward is condemned by his faulty brain to service in the human Navy’s Outward Fleet Explorer Corps, a collection of misfits who call themselves the Expendables, and with good reason. After Edward fails to save his sister’s life on the war-torn planet Troyen, he is sent away on a Navy starship in which all other crew and passengers die in the same instant, leaving Edward alone — and trapped with unknown, destructive nanotechnology. If that isn’t trouble enough, his fate is mysteriously tied to that of Troyen’s native race, the Mandasar, in a complex interstellar web of conspiracy and treachery. And his only allies may be five young Mandasar; a human-alien symbiont with motives of her own; and the most infamous Expendable in the Corps, the hated Admiral Festina Ramos. In addition to Hunted , James Alan Gardner has written two previous novels featuring Festina Ramos, Expendable and Vigilant ; his novel Commitment Hour is set in the same universe.
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League of Peoples #5
Ascending lop-5
James Alan Gardner
Oar is the last of her kind — a resident of the so-called "planet of no return," once the Admiralty’s dumping ground for undesirables and those who had become expendable. Oar’s transparent body is indestructible. Yet the mind it houses grows weary and will soon surrender to the catatonic torpor that has already claimed the others of her genetically altered human race. But Oar cannot sleep, not yet. There are powerful forces seeking her destruction for reasons unknown. There are old allies who need her assistance and a true history that must be revealed. There is much Oar must accomplish before the "apathetic hibernation" overcomes her, though time is decidedly her enemy. Together with her friend, Admiral Festina Ramos, she must find her final destiny… and in a vast and volatile universe, destiny is never a sure thing.
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League of Peoples #6
Trapped lop-6
James Alan Gardner
Life under the thumb of the Spark Lords — the League's Earthly representatives — is dull but comfortable for Philemon Abu Dhubhai and the other teachers at a third-rate private school for second-rate rich kids. But all that changes when a female student is found murdered by an unknown alien organism, and her boyfriend, the prime suspect, goes missing. Suddenly an unofficial homicide investigation has snared Philemon and five other "misfits" — plus one of the planet's most powerful criminals, the mother of the murdered girl — trapping them all in a web of terrifying conspiracy that could involve the Spark Lords… and even the League of Peoples itself. For all is perilously not what it seems, on Earth and in the heavens. But then again, neither are Phil and his compatriots…
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League of Peoples #6
Trapped
James Alan Gardner
Life under the thumb of the Spark Lords -- the League's Earthly representatives -- is dull but comfortable for Philemon Abu Dhubhai and the other teachers at a third-rate private school for second-rate rich kids. But all that changes when a female student is found murdered by an unknown alien organism, and her boyfriend, the prime suspect, goes missing. Suddenly an unofficial homicide investigation has snared Philemon and five other "misfits" -- plus one of the planet's most powerful criminals, the mother of the murdered girl -- trapping them all in a web of terrifying conspiracy that could involve the Spark Lords ... and even the League of Peoples itself. For all is perilously not what it seems, on Earth and in the heavens. But then again, neither are Phil and his compatriots ...**
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League of Peoples #7
Radiant lop-7
James Alan Gardner
The protagonist of this Explorer Corps adventure is Ugly Screaming Stink-Girl. The name is supposed to bring her luck, but since she is quickly contaminated by a red fungus known as the Balrog, one has to wonder. Then she, Admiral Festina Ramos, and a slightly mad fellow named Tut are assigned to a rescue mission on the planet Muta. There, an entire expedition from the unit has been turned into gas clouds that give out electromagnetic pulses, and it looks as if this is the result of a deadly defense mechanism left behind by an alien race. It takes ingenuity and suffering to discover the mystery behind the pulses. The sheer complexity of Gardner’s characters and inventions will make the book daunting to a good many, but his ingenuity and wit will keep a good many others reading voraciously.
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