Ring of Lightning (Dance of the Rings) - Softcover

Fancher, Jane S.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0886776538 ISBN 13: 9780886776534

Publisher: DAW, 1995

Synopsis

Three brothers, caught in a web of lies and corruption, must overcome a lifetime of misconceptions and distrust to find the united strength needed to save their City.
    A land of myth and magic...and ruled by the power company.
    Rhomatum: a powerful city-state built around the massive, energy-producing Rhomatum Node.
    Mauritum: a node city second only to Rhomatum herself.
    Khoratum: an exceedingly attitudinal satellite of Rhomatum---with notions of autonomy.

    The Rhomandi Family are the descendants of Rhomatum's founding father, and heirs to the Ley Tower which controls the node's life-giving energy. Anheliaa Rhomandi, the despotic Ringmaster of Rhomatum, a woman of legendary Talent, is aging rapidly and is desperate for an heir to the unprecedented web of power she has created.
    Her nephews, Deymorin, Mikhyel and Nikaenor, three singularly unTalented young men, brothers torn apart by mistrust, jealousy and polarized political views---are not the Masters she has in mind.
    Mauritum senses weakness in her long-time rival and sees an opportunity to add Rhomatum---and all Rhomatum's satellite nodes---to her already glittering crown.
    All she must do is wait for Anheliaa to die.
    But Anheliaa has plans for her precious heir, plans that involve her three nephews---will they or nil they. Those plans will set them all, brothers, cities...and the ley itself...on a collision course with destiny. Whether or not any of them survive depends on whether or not Deymio, Khyel and Nikki can set aside their differences and become the brothers nature intended them to be.

About this title

About the Author

Back in an era when she was frequently the only female in her classes, Jane S. Fancher intended to be an Astronomer. To reach this lofty goal, she majored in Math, Physics, Astronomy . . . and minored in Anthropology. Naturally, all this education culminated in drawing Graphic Novels and writing Science Fiction and Fantasy---which she's been doing full time since the 1980's.
     She's also raised and trained horses, flown planes and built a 4000 gallon koi pond (with waterfall) with a mantis tiller and lots of rock picked up from roadsides throughout the country. At age 51, she took up a new hobby: figure skating.
     In 2009, with fellow authors C.J. Cherryh and Lynn Abbey, she embarked on a journey into the brave new world of ebook publishing with the creation of Closed Circle Publications, a source for backlist and new works by these three authors.

From the Back Cover

"Today I looked into the Rings and saw a new and better world...."
Those heretical words marked the beginning of a new era, not just for Darius Rhomandi and those who followed where he led, but for the entire civilized world. For when this young priest breached the sanctity of Mauritum's Ring Tower, defying the tyrannical ruling priesthood which used Ring magic to channel the leythium power upon which Mauritum was founded, he discovered another source of leythium at least as rich as Maruritum's own.
Three hundred years later, Rhomatum, the democratic city Darius founded, has become the most powerful ley-city in the world, but is itself plagued by political unrest and threatened by Mauritum, it's ancient enemy. And three brothers, heirs to the ruling Rhomandi family yet torn apart by mistrust, jealousy and polarized political views, must overcome their personal differences. For only if they unite can they hope to wrest control of Rhomatum away from their despotic great-aunt, who, through the superior strength of her Talent, single-handedly controls the magical power of the leythium Rings that mean life for the city and all its dwellers.

Edition details

• Publisher: DAW
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0886776538
• ISBN 13: 9780886776534
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 576