Silistra Series by Janet E. Morris

One woman's mythic search for self-realization in a distant tomorrow...Her sensuality was at the core of her world, her quest beyond the civilized stars.Aristocrat. Outcast. Picara. Slave. Ruler."Engrossing characters in a marvelous adventure." - Charles N... moreOne woman's mythic search for self-realization in a distant tomorrow...Her sensuality was at the core of her world, her quest beyond the civilized stars.Aristocrat. Outcast. Picara. Slave. Ruler."Engrossing characters in a marvelous adventure." - Charles N. Brown, Locus Magazine"The amazing and erotic adventures of the most beautiful courtesan in tomorrow's universe" - Frederik Pohl FOR ADVENTUROUS READERS ONLY"Long ago the human colonists of Silistra waged a war so vicious that centuries later the planet has not recovered. Men and women alike suffer from infertility -- the deadliest legacy of that deadly war. Because the birth rate is so low, the Silistrans value above all the ability to bear children . . . and their social order is based on their fertility and sexual prowess."On a planet desperate for population, women hold the keys to power. These are the adventures of Estri, Well-Keepress of Astria and holder of the ultimate seat of control: the High Couch of Silistra." -- Jim Baen, publisher, Baen Books. "The best single example of prostitution used in fantasy is Janet Morris' Silistra series... Estri's character is most like that of Ishtar who describes herself as "'a prostitute compassionate am I'" because she "symbolizes the creative submission to the demands of instinct, to the chaos of nature ...the free woman, as opposed to the domesticated woman". Linking Estri with these lunar and water symbols is not difficult because of the moon's eternal virginity (the strength of integrity) links with her changeability (the prostitute's switching of lovers). [...] Morris strengthens the moon imagery by having Estri as a well-keepress because wells, fountains, and the moon as the orb which controls water have long been associated with fertility, [...] In a sense, she is like the moon because she is apparently eternal, never waxing or waning except in her pursuit of the quest; she is the prototypical wanderer like the moon and Ishtar. She is the eternal night symbol of the moon in opposition to the Day-Keepers [...] At her majority (her three hundredth birthday), she is given a silver-cubed hologram letter from her mother, containing a videotape of her conception by the savage bronzed barbarian god from another world. [...] If Estri's mother then acts as a bawd, willing her lineage as Well-Keepress to her daughter, then Estri's great-grandmother Astria as foundress of the Well becomes a further mother-bawd figure when she offers her prophetic advice in her letter: "Guard Astria for you may lose it, and more. Beware of one who is not as he seems. Stray not in the port city of Baniev ... less

She had the power to create planets. The sixty carved bones of the Yris-tera foretold her ancient fate. Her heritage of power took her beyond time and space and stole from her the one man she loved. Enslaved on the planet Silistra tomorrow's most beautiful courtesan unleashes the powers of the gods.

She was descended from the masters of the universe. To hold her he challenged the gods...Epic fantasy, social science fiction, allegorical fiction, anthropological fiction, post-apocalyptic fictionWind from the Abyss is the third volume in Janet Morris' classic Silistra Quartet, continuing one woman's quest for self-realization in a distant tomorrow.Aristocrat. Outcast. Picara. Slave. Ruler ....She is descended from the masters of the universe. To hold her he challenges the gods themselves... moreShe was descended from the masters of the universe. To hold her he challenged the gods...Epic fantasy, social science fiction, allegorical fiction, anthropological fiction, post-apocalyptic fictionWind from the Abyss is the third volume in Janet Morris' classic Silistra Quartet, continuing one woman's quest for self-realization in a distant tomorrow.Aristocrat. Outcast. Picara. Slave. Ruler ....She is descended from the masters of the universe. To hold her he challenges the gods themselves.This Perseid Press Author's Cut Edition is revised and expanded by the author and presented in a format designed to enhance your reading experience with covers designed for these premium editions.Wind from the Abyss begins with this note from Estri. . .Author's NoteSince, at the beginning of this tale, I did not recollect myself nor retain even the slightest glimmer of such understanding as would have led me to an awareness of the significance of the various occurrences that transpired at the Lake of Horns then, I am adding this preface, though it was no part of my initial conception, that the meaningfulness of the events described by "Khys' Estri" (as I have come to think of the shadow-self I was while the dharen held my skills and memory in abeyance) not be withheld from you as they were from me.I knew myself not: I was Estri because the girl Carth supposedly found wandering in the forest stripped of comprehension and identity chose that name. There, perhaps, lies the greatest irony of all, that I named myself anew after Estri Hadrath diet Estrazi, who in reality I had once been. And perhaps it is not irony at all, but an expression of Khys' humor, an implicit dissertation by him who structured my experiences, my very thoughts, for nearly two years, until his audacity drove him to bring together once more Sereth crill Tyris, past-Slayer, then the outlawed Ebvrasea, then arrar to the dharen himself; Chayin rendi Inekte, cahndor of Nemar, co-cahndor of the Taken Lands, chosen so of Tar-Kesa, and at that time Khys' puppet-vassal; and myself, former Well-Keepress, tiask of Nemar, and lastly becoming the chaldless outlaw who had come to judgment and endured ongoing retribution at the dharen's hands. To test his hesting, his power over owkahen, the time-coming-to-be, did Khys put us together, all three, in his Day-Keeper's city -- and from that moment onward, the Weathers of Life became fixed: siphoned into a singular future; sealed tight as a dead god in his mausoleum, whose every move brought him closer to the sum total, obliteration. So did the dharen Khys bespeak it, himself. . . . less

Estri was a god, and the daughter of Light. Chayin was a god, and the son of darkness. Sereth was hase-enor, the son of all flesh. Lovers and freinds, could they be the prophesied three who would wield the Sword of Severance, Se'Keroth, and bring light out of dark?