[The Rising Flame 01] • Defender of the Flame

Starship pilot Terry Radnor is elated to be among those chosen to defend the secret colony Maclairn against enemies who pose a threat to the spread of paranormal human mind powers. He commits himself wholly to the goal of that world, not guessing how far his effort to protect it will take him from everything else he cares about--his promising career as a Fleet officer, contact with people who share his newly-discovered psi capability, his wife and unborn child. Torn away against his will after learning a secret too deep for its disclosure to be risked, he is forced into exile from all that has previously mattered to him, and must build a new risk-laden life far from Maclairn, grounded without hope of fulfilling his earlier pledge. Yet a mysterious and extraordinary destiny has been predicted for Terry, and fate leads him to an even stranger one than anybody could have imagined.

This is the first book in the Rising Flame trilogy, but is complete in itself and can be read alone. Set two centuries later in tme than the Hidden Flame duology--consisting of Stewards of the Flame and Promise of the Flame, which tell of the founding of Maclairn--it is an independent and quite different story that in no way depends on having read them. Please note that unlike Engdahl'e YA novels, all five of these are adult novels and contain some material unsuitable for middle-school readers.