The United Nations Human Genome Protection Act has outlawed all genetic enhancements of human offspring, and the old contenders for world domination, the United States and China, have allied themselves to destroy all conscious nonhuman operating units in every outpost of civilization. Set in such a world, Human Sister is the story of a prodigy, Sara Jensen, the granddaughter of Professor Severn Jensen, one of the world's leading experts on conscious artificial intelligences, who, with his wife, raises and homeschools Sara on their beautiful California vineyard. Sara's family also includes a secret fourth member-her illegal bioroid brother, Michael, whom she helps raise and who was made by her grandfather in part from Sara's neurons and other cells and who is capable of accessing her thoughts and affections. Amidst a dangerous and darkening outer world, Sara discovers that she also must contend with the secrets and deceptions of those she loves-her grandfather, her boyfriend, and Michael-and she learns that even the best of intentions diligently pursued often have unintended, and tragic, consequences.

    Created in a lab and brutalized, betrayed and hated by humans, Ryder yearns for freedom. Outside, a group of human genetic purists want him dead.When Katie Marsh, a brilliant young geneticist, discovers his secret, she must fight to protect Ryder, gain his trust...and convince him to save humanity before the purists destroy them both.** Originally titled The Venom of Vipers **

    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 duology and is followed by Promise of the Flame. They precede the Rising Flame trilogy, consisting of Defender of the Flame, herald of the Flame, and Envoy of the Flame. Unlike Sylvia Engdahl's previous novels, these are not Young Adult books and are not appropriate for readers below high school age.