Having foiled Commander Collinar's plot to enslave the Earth, Master Pilot Forrorrois is reassigned by the Dramudam to covertly protect her non-spacefaring world from further disruption of its natural technological development. She assumes the cover of her former life as Danica Jolan and returns to her family. In order to keep her mission a secret, Forrorrois allows everyone to believe that she had runaway at age fifteen. But, she soon realizes that she can't erase the pain that her unexplained disappearance caused her family for the past four years. Her unwillingness to talk about her absence drives a wedge between her and her family. Forrorrois' only ally is Jack Stern, a colonel at the nearby air force base and lead investigator for the Observable Classification Unit (OCU). As a friend of her family, Jack attempts to heal the rift between the Jolans' and their daughter. This is a difficult task since he too is keeping her secret from them-as well as from the U.S. Air Force. Forrorrois' struggle for normalcy is quickly dashed when she's faced with a new threat: a terrorist cell focused on stealing the plans for the DoD project her father is working on. Can Forrorrois find a way to protect her family without revealing her secret to them, the FBI or the US military?

The living human brain has finally been mapped, and there is software in development that can read and write to living minds. Psychiatric psychologist Natalie Armstrong sees in this an opportunity to help people with depression and other mental disorders. The military sees it as an opportunity for good old-fashioned mind control. FBI agent Jude Westhorpe, on the trail of a cold war criminal with his fingers in every imaginable pie, and Natalie are thrown together after Jude's sister is nearly killed in what appears to be a test of mind-control software. Jude seeks Natalie out for answers, and they wind up working together in a race to keep the technology out of hands that will abuse its more sinister possibilities. Robson's take on the problems associated with anything that can rewrite a human personality is a complex one, and also a solidly written, entertaining story. Regina Schroeder Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

In a desert world ruled by men, Rifkind has always been one apart. A chieftain's daughter, she learned to wield a sword while all other women were bound by tribal custom to children and the cooking fire. But when her clan was massacred, she set forth on a quest for her destiny in savage lands ruled by magic and the sword.For a while she had thought that she had found a home. She practiced the healing arts and raised her son. But now she has once again heard a personal call to arms, a call to leave behind the safety of her home. She will once again take up the way of the sword, the way of sorcery. And this time she is not alone.

YA? Mystery and folklore are skillfully blended in this contemporary Appalachian tale. Driving the plot are "Harm" (Hiram) Sorley, an aging prisoner suffering from recent memory loss, who receives a spiritual message to escape from prison and return home to North Carolina; history grad student Jeremy Cobb, who wants to hike the trail used by Katie Wyler in the late 1700s when she escaped from Indians who held her captive; and members of the sheriff's department who search for both of these men. Strong females also figure prominently in this title, not the least of whom is Katie Wyler, dead over 200 years, whose spectral image helps several characters. Assisting Sheriff Arrowwood is his newest deputy, Martha Ayers, who's determined to prove she can rise above the lot of dispatcher. When all these folks converge beside a burning trailer home, more than one mystery is solved. McCrumb's rich use of dialect, accompanied by both physical description of and folklore about the mountains, combine to produce an evocative, haunting story. This novel defies stereotypical mystery elements, offering instead a complete melange of character study, plot, and setting.? Pam Spencer, Chapel Square Media Center, Fairfax County, VA Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Two books: The Steerswomen and Outskirter's Secret

If you ask, she will answer. If she asks, you must reply. A steerswoman will speak only the truth to you, as long as she knows it—and you must do the same for her. And so, across the centuries, the Steerswomen— questioning, searching, investigating—have slowly learned more and more about the world through which they wander. All knowledge the Steerswomen possess is given freely to those who ask. But there is one kind of knowledge that has always been denied them: Magic.

When the steerswoman Rowan discovers a small, lovely blue jewel of obviously magical origin, her innocent questions lead to secret after startling secret, each more dangerous than the last—and suddenly Rowan must flee or fight for her life. Or worse, she must lie.

With every wizard in the world searching for her, Rowan finds unexpected assistance. A chance-met traveler turned friend, Bel is a warrior-poet, an Outskirter, and a member of a barbaric and violent people. Or, so it would seem.

For Bel, unknowing, possesses secrets of her own: secrets embedded in her culture, in her people, in the very soil of her homeland. From the Inland Sea to the deadly Outskirts, surrounded by danger and deceit, Rowan and Bel uncover more and more of the wizards’ hidden knowledge. As the new truths accumulate, they edge closer to the single truth that lies at the center, the most unexpected secret of them all. . . .

Kirstein's wonderful third novel (after The Steerswoman's Road and The Outskirter's Secret) cleverly combines elements of both SF (problems of language and alien first contact) and fantasy (wizards, demons and magic) while highlighting human foibles. In the author's quasi-medieval world, steerswomen (and steersmen), who serve as guides and explorers in that world, are obliged to answer any question truthfully. Rowan, the steerswoman whose previous exploits took her to the wild and dangerous Outskirts, returns to the Inner Lands only to find that they're no longer safe. She needs detailed information quickly from the Annex in the town of Alemeth, but the Annex is in complete disarray. Though a competent steerswoman, Rowan puts off some of the townsfolk by her unorthodox methods and her awkwardness. A steersman and former friend she runs into behaves oddly, giving answers to her questions that are skimpy at best and dangerously close to misdirection at worst. When she offends some powerful wizards, the story really takes off. Kirstein's striking portrait of an innovative woman who is scientist, judge, historian and adventurer makes for a good, thought-provoking read. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.