It is the distant future. The world known as Virga is a fullerene balloon three thousand kilometers in diameter, filled with air, water, and floating chunks of rock. The humans who live in this vast environment must build their own fusion suns and "towns" —enormous wood and rope wheels that are spun for centripetal gravity.This complex and fascinating world is the setting for the novels of Virga, Karl Schroeder's interstellar far-future space habitat sealed off from contamination by the rest of the inhabited universe. These books have set a high standard for hard SF adventure in the last decade, and now the first two novels, Sun of Suns and Queen of Candesce, are brought out for the first time in one trade paper omnibus.At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

Young Jordan Mason, on the terraformed planet Venus, has visions. Kidnapped by Calandria May - a human from offworld sent to investigate the AIs (dubbed the Winds) of Ventus - Jordan is desperate to find the meaning of his visions, desperate enough to risk calling down the Winds that destroy technology to protect the created environment. As a result, Jordan escapes from Calandria and sets out to discover his destiny on his own. Calandria and others, both human and AI, search for Jordan, who holds the key to catastrophe or salvation. Ventus is an epic journey across a fascinating planet with a big mystery - why have the Winds fallen silent?

It is the distant future. The world known as Virga is a fullerene balloon three thousand kilometers in diameter, filled with air, water, and aimlessly floating chunks of rock. The humans who live in this vast environment must build their own fusion suns and “towns” that are in the shape of enormous wood and rope wheels that are spun for gravity. Young, fit, bitter, and friendless, Hayden Griffin is a very dangerous man. He's come to the city of Rush in the nation of Slipstream with one thing in mind: to take murderous revenge for the deaths of his parents six years ago. His target is Admiral Chaison Fanning, head of the fleet of Slipstream, which conquered Hayden's nation of Aerie years ago. And the fact that Hayden's spent his adolescence living with pirates doesn't bode well for Fanning's chances . . .

Venera Fanning was last seen falling into nothingness at the end of Sun of Suns . Now, in Queen of Candesce , Venera finds herself plunging through the air among the artificial worlds of Virga, far from home and her husband, who may or may not be alive. Landing in the ancient nation of Spyre, Venera encounters new enemies and new friends (or at least convenient allies). She must quickly learn who she can trust, and who she can manipulate in order to survive. Survival isn't her only goal; with the powerful Key of Candesce in her hands, she can control the fate of the entire world of Virga, yet something even more pressing is driving her—the all consuming need for revenge.

Karl Schroeder is one of the new stars of hard SF. His novels, Ventus and Permanence , have established him as a new force in the field. Now he extends his reach into Larry Niven territory, returning to the same distant future in which Ventus was set, but employing a broader canvas, to tell the story of Teven Coronal, a ringworld with a huge multiplicity of human civilizations. Brilliant but troubled Livia Kodaly is Teven's only hope against invaders both human and superhuman who would destroy its fragile ecologies and human diversity. Filled with action, ideas, and intellectual energy, Lady of Mazes is the hard SF novel of the year.

Young Rue Cassels of the Cycler Compact- a civilisation based around remote brown dwarf stars — is running for her life from her bullying brother, Jentry. Fleeing in a single person spacecraft, she spots a distant, approaching object, and stakes a legal claim to it. It is not the valuable comet she has hoped for, but something even more wonderful, a billion year-old alien starship. Permanence is the story of Rue's quest to visit and claim this ship and its treasures, set against a backdrop of interstellar intrigue and warring empires.