This is shortlisted for The Arthur C. Clarke Award. Nyx is a bel dame, a bounty hunter paid to collect the heads of deserters - by almost any means necessary. 'Almost' proved to be the problem. Cast out and imprisoned for breaking one rule too many, Nyx and her crew of mercenaries are all about the money. But when a dubious government deal with an alien emissary goes awry, her name is at the top of the list for a covert recovery. While the centuries-long war rages on only one thing is certain: the world's best chance for peace rests in the hands of its most ruthless killers...

This is a stunning follow-up to The Arthur C. Clarke Award. It is shortlisted. God's war. No matter where you go, the Bel Dames will find you Nyx used to be an assassin, part of the sisterhood of the Bel Dames. Now she's babysitting diplomats to make ends meet and longs for the days when killing was a lot more honorable. So, when her former 'sisters' lead a coup against the government, she's the perfect choice to stop them. In a rotten nation of giant bugs and renegade shape shifters, Nyx must forge unlikely allies and rekindle old acquaintances if she is to survive. Otherwise, this time, the...

After years in exile, Nyxnissa so Dasheem is back in service to the bel dames, a sisterhood of elite government assassins tasked with eliminating deserters and traitors. The end of a centuries-long holy war has flooded the streets of Nasheen with unemployed soldiers whose frustrations have brought the nation to the brink of civil war.

When the dark star of the cataclysm ascends, one empire will rise and many will perish.