Changelings - Tapa dura

With three acclaimed novels - "Powers That Be", "Power Lines" and "Power Play" - bestselling authors - Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough launched a thought-provoking science fiction saga that told the story of a sentient planet, Petaybee. The planet and its inhabitants, led by Yana Maddock and Sean Shongili, fought off the mercenary designs of a powerful interstellar corporation determined to exploit the icy world's natural resources. In "Changelings", the first of a new series of novels, Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough return to Petaybee. Yana and Sean are now the parents of twins, Ronan Born for Water Shongili and Murel Monster Slayer Shongili. Born on Petyabee, their destiny is deeply intertwined with the sentient planet that is their home. For Ronan and Murel are more than human. Like their father, each can transform into a seal and converse telepathically with the planet's creatures - such as the friendly otter whose life they save one day from a pack of ravenous wolves. But the twins' bravery has unforeseen results when a visiting scientist witnesses their startling metamorphosis and becomes obsessed with their capture. To protect their children, Sean and Yana send them to stay with a powerful family friend on an orbiting space station. But no one realizes how curious Ronan and Murel are to discover the origins of their shape-shifting talent - and that their search for knowledge will place them squarely in the path of peril. Meanwhile, Petaybee is changing - and much faster than an ordinary planet's natural evolution. It appears that portions of the sea are heating up and a landmass is suddenly rising from the depths. To investigate the startling occurrence, Sean heads out to the open water in his seal form. Bur the newly unstable region holds untold mysteries - and the potential for disaster.

Anne McCaffrey, the Hugo award winning author of the bestselling Dragonriders of Pern novels, is one of science fiction's most popular authors. She lives in a house of her own design, Dragonhold-Underhill, in County Wicklow, Ireland. Visit the author's website at www.annemccaffrey.net Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, winner of the Nebula Award for her novel The Healer's War, is the author of numerous fantasy novels. She has co-authored eight other novels with Anne McCaffrey. She lives on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State.