Stewards of the Flame (The Founders of Maclairn) - Softcover

Engdahl, Sylvia

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0615314872 ISBN 13: 9780615314877

Publisher: Ad Stellae Books, 2009

Synopsis

Crime is considered illness, untreated illness is crime; ambulance crews are the only police. Dead bodies stay on "life support" forever. Can anyone gain freedom?

When burned-out starship captain Jesse Sanders is seized by a dictatorial medical regime and detained on the colony planet Undine, he has no idea that he is about to be plunged into a bewildering new life that will involve ordeals and joys beyond anything he has ever imagined, as well as the love of a woman with powers that seem superhuman. Still less does he suspect that he must soon take responsibility for the lives of people he has come to care about and the preservation of their hopes for the future of humankind.

Winner of a bronze medal in the Independent Publisher (IPPY) Book Awards, this controversial novel deals with government-imposed health care, end-of-life issues, and the so-called paranormal powers of the human mind. Despite being set in the distant future on another world, it appeals not only to science fiction readers but to others who question the dominant medical philosophy of today's society, or who value personal freedom of choice.

This is the first book of the Hidden Flame series and is followed by Promise of the Flame. They precede the Rising Flame series, consisting of Defender of the Flame and Herald of the Flame. Unlike Sylvia Engdahl’s previous novels, these two series are not Young Adult books and are not appropriate for middle-school readers.

About this title

From the Author:

My Flame series, which was originally called a trilogy, has been split into two duologies since there are now four books and the third begins a separate story set two centuries later than the preceding ones, which doesn't depend on having read either of them. Readers who disagree with the controversial view of healthcare expressed in Stewards of the Flame, or who want more science fiction action, often like it better -- yet no one wants to begin with a book labeled Number 3. So now the Hidden Flame duology consists of Book One, Stewards of the Flame and Book Two, Promise of the Flame, while the Rising Flame duology consists of Book One, Defender of the Flame and Book Two, Herald of the Flame. Please note that unlike my earlier novels, these two duologies were never issued as Young Adult books and they are not appropriate for readers below high school age.

For extensive background material on the topics dealt with by this novel please visit my website.

The cover of this book was changed in April 2015. It is not a new edition, as the book itself has not changed.

About the Author:

Sylvia Engdahl is the author of six highly acclaimed young adult science fiction novels that are also enjoyed by adults, as well as her two adult science fiction duologies The Hidden Flame (Stewards of the Flame and Promise of the Flame) and The Rising Flame (Defender of the Flame and Herald of the Flame.) She has also written two nonfiction books.

About this edition

• Publisher: Ad Stellae Books
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0615314872
• ISBN 13: 9780615314877
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 497