Kevin J. Anderson

The X-Files: Ground Zero

by Kevin J. Anderson. 

Dr. Gregory, a renowned nuclear weapons researcher, is not only dead—he's been charred to a radioactive cinder.

Since this is a death on Federal property, Mulder and Scully are hastily called in. As FBI agents who specialize in unexplained phenomena, they are the investigators of The X-Files, strange and inexplicable cases which are also mysteries that the FBI doesn't want solved.

When a second victim, completely unrelated to nuclear science or Dr. Gregory is obliterated in the New Mexico desert, and then a third dies the same way in Washington, DC, Mulder and Scully begin to focus on the frightening dimension of their task. The bizarre deaths cannot be a coincidence. And as they work to uncover the secret unifying element that unites these deaths, it becomes clear that this twisted puzzle has fatal consequences for the entire world.

Star Wars: Jedi Academy Trilogy

• Jedi Search

• Dark Apprentice

• Champions of the Force

by Kevin J. Anderson. 

Seven years after the founding of the New Republic, Princess Leia Organa Solo is Minister of State and has borne three Jedi children -- the twins, Jacen and Jaina, and baby Anakin. Han Solo is an official envoy for the new government, travelling the galaxy on diplomatic missions. And Luke has been given leave to seek out candidates for a Jedi Academy that will not only herald a renaissance of the Jedi Knights but also provide future champions of the Force to protect the New Republic.

Yet the peaceful and benign reign of the Republic is far from secure....

Though the Empire was finally vanquished, remnants of the Imperial forces are scattered throughout the galaxy. Die-hard loyalists, they're intent on waging a brutal guerrilla war against the New Republic.

Among the most dangerous is Imperial Admiral Daala, who has added the ultimate weapon to her fleet of Star Destroyers. More powerful than the Death Star, the Sun Crusher, a small ship, is capable of annihilating an entire solar system by triggering its sun to supernova.

To make matters worse, there are those from Han's bad old days still anxious to avenge the past. And, as Luke will soon discover, even the most promising Jedi recruit can be unwisely tempted by the dark side of the Force.....

The X-Files: Ruins

by Kevin J. Anderson. 

Meet Mulder and Scully, FBI: the agency maverick and the female agent assigned to keep him in line. Their job is to investigate the eerie unsolved mysteries the bureau wants handled quietly but quickly, before the public finds out what's really out there...and panics - the cases filed under "X".

In this ambitious and exciting X-Files adventure, Mulder and Scully fly to the Yucatán jungle to investigate a missing team of archaeologists. 

Their exploration leads to a strange electronic signal coming from beneath ancient ruins - a signal aimed upward, at the stars

The X-Files: Antibodies

by Kevin J. Anderson. 

When a disease-ravaged body is found in the smouldering ruins of the federally funded DyMar genetic research lab, Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully fear that a deadly man-made plague is on the loose. As the FBI agents investigating the "X-Files" - cases the bureau has deemed unsolvable - Mulder and Scully pursue the truth wherever it leads, even into the labyrinthine corridors of the FBI ... and beyond.

Racing to contain the lethal virus before it can spread, Mulder and Scully make a chilling discovery. Before his death, Dr. David Kennessy, a hotshot cancer researcher at DyMar, had been experimenting with a promising but highly dangerous technology: microscopic bio-machines that can cure any disease, heal any wound. In theory, this research could be a miracle cure, perhaps even a doorway to immortality. It was also the only way Dr. Kennessy could save his leukemia-stricken son.

But when a second corpse turns up, savagely mutilated from within, it's anything but theoretical. Could machines created to cure have learned to kill? Scrambling for answers, Mulder and Scully are opposed at every step by faceless enemies with all the resources of the government - even perhaps of their own agency - at their command. Enemies who will stop at nothing to ensure that the secret of immortality falls in the right hands - their hands.

House Atreides: Prelude to Dune: Book 01

by Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson. 

10,154 of the Imperial Calendar, and for four decades the planet Arrakis - called Dune by its inhabitants - has been ruled by the Harkonnen family. But the seeds of change have been sown. 

On Arrakis, an idealistic young planetologist, Pardot Kynes, goes out into the desert to learn the secrets of its giant sandworms and the priceless Spice they create. And on another planet, Caledon, young Leto Atreides is nearly ready to become Duke. 

The blood feud between House Atreides and House Harkonnen is about to begin. Drawing on notes, outlines and correspondence Frank Herbert left behind at his death, House Atreides is a breathtaking story of war, treachery, decadence and steadfastness in the face of overwhelming odds

House Harkonnen: Prelude to Dune: Book 02

by Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson. 

At last, Shaddam sits on the Golden Lion Throne, his precarious position as ruler of the Known Universe dependent on producing a male heir. But his leadership is further threatened by the ambitious Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, whose insatiable thirst for dominance leads him to plot against some of the most powerful forces in the Imperium, hoping to elevate his own ruthless House to unprecedented heights of power. His primary targets: House Atreides and the mysterious Bene Gesserit Sisterhood. The Sisterhood are unaware of this threat as they prepare to culminate the work of centuries in the creation of a god-child who will sweep away emperors, houses, and history itself in a terrifying new order of religious tyranny.

The desert world Dune, the machine world IX, and countless other conquered planets groan under the numbing slavery of cruel new masters determined to exploit their resources - most notably the addictive spice melange found only on Dune. But small bands of renegades begin to fight back, lighting the spark of freedom against overwhelming odds. New, unexpected heroes arise, young and resourceful Liet-Kynes on Dune, wily and patient C'tair on IX, and the unyielding Gurney Halleck in Giedi Prime, driven to vengeance against his Harkonnen overlords.

For Leto Atreides, grown complacent and comfortable as ruler of his House, it is a time of momentous choice: between love and honour, friendship and duty, safety and destiny. Leto has finally produced an heir to House Atreides, Victor, and will make whatever choices necessary to protect the young boy and ensure his legacy as Duke. Ultimately, however, for House Atreides there is just one choice - strive for greatness or crushed.

House Corrino: Prelude to Dune: Book 03

by Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson. 

Fearful of losing his precarious hold on the Golden Lion Throne, Shaddam IV, Emperor of a Million Worlds, has devised a radical scheme to develop an alternative to melange, the addictive spice that binds the Imperium together and that can be found only on the desert world of Dune.

In subterranean labs on the machine planet Ix, cruel Tleilaxu overlords use slaves and prisoners as part of a horrific plan to manufacture a synthetic form of melange known as amal. If amal can supplant the spice from Dune, it will give Shaddam what he seeks: absolute power.

But Duke Leto Atreides, grief-stricken yet unbowed by the tragic death of his son Victor, determined to restore the honour and prestige of his House, has his own plans for Ix.

He will free the Ixians from their oppressive conquerors and restore his friend Prince Rhombur, injured scion of the disgraced House Vernius, to his rightful place as Ixian ruler. It is a bold and risky venture, for House Atreides has limited military resources and many ruthless enemies, including the sadistic Baron Harkonnen, despotic master of Dune.

Meanwhile, Duke Leto’s consort, the beautiful Lady Jessica, obeying the orders of her superiors in the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood, has conceived a child that the Sisterhood intends to be the penultimate step in the creation of an all-powerful being. Yet what the Sisterhood doesn’t know is that the child Jessica is carrying is not the girl they are expecting, but a boy.

Jessica’s act of disobedience is an act of love — her attempt to provide her Duke with a male heir to House Atreides — but an act that, when discovered, could kill both mother and baby.

Like the Bene Gesserit, Shaddam Corrino is also concerned with making a plan for the future — securing his legacy. Blinded by his need for power, the Emperor will launch a plot against Dune, the only natural source of true spice. If he succeeds, his madness will result in a cataclysmic tragedy not even he foresees: the end of space travel, the Imperium, and civilization itself.

With Duke Leto and other renegades and revolutionaries fighting to stem the tide of darkness that threatens to engulf their universe, the stage is set for a showdown unlike any seen before.

The Butlerian Jihad: Legends of Dune: Book 01

by Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson. 

One hundred and ten centuries from now, humanity has spread across space. And all-powerful machines rule the humans who were once their masters.

It began in the Time of Tyrants when ambitious men and women used high-powered computers to seize control of the heart of the Old Empire including Earth itself. The tyrants translated their brains into mobile mechanical bodies and created a new race, the immortal man-machine hybrids called Cymeks. Then the Cymeks' world-controlling planetary computers - each known as Omnius - seized control from their overlords and a thousand years of brutal rule by the thinking machines began.

But their world faces disaster. Impatient with human beings' endless disobedience and the Cymeks' continual plotting to regain their power, Omnius has decided that it no longer needs them. Only victory can save the human race from extermination.

The Machine Crusade: Legends of Dune: Book 02

by Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson. 

The fearsome Cymeks, led by Agamemnon, hatch new plots to regain their lost power from Omnius... as their numbers dwindle and time begins to run out. 

The fighters of Ginaz, led by Jool Noret, forge themselves into an elite warrior class, a weapon against the machine-dominated worlds. 

Aurelius Venport and Norma Cenva are on the verge of the most important discovery in human history - a way to "fold" space and travel instantaneously to any place in the galaxy.

And on the faraway, nearly worthless planet of Arrakis, Selim Wormrider and his band of outlaws take the first steps to making themselves the feared fighters who will change the course of history: the Fremen.

Hidden Empire: The Saga of Seven Suns: Book 01

by Kevin J. Anderson. 

In our galaxy's distant future, humans are one of three known intelligent races. Having had the ability to navigate star travel for only a few centuries, we are considered "the new kids on the block" in a long-established universe. The second intelligent race is the Ildirans, who are ruled by their Mage-Imperator; and the third race, the Klikiss, seems to have vanished and left behind a world full of artifacts and remarkable technology, which humans are now beginning to find and utilize.

One such piece of technology is a device that has the power to turn a gaseous and useless supergiant planet into a small sun, thereby creating a new solar system in which humans can live. But when the device is tried for the first time, it awakens the wrath of a previously unsuspected fourth race, the Hydrogues -- and a galaxy-spanning war that threatens all life begins.

The Battle of Corrin: Legends of Dune: Book 03

by Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson. 

The universal computer mind Omnius has retreated to its last stronghold, where it plots a devastating new strategy that could undo the victories of the Butlerian Jihad. 

The surviving Titans are creating new lieutenants to do their will when at last they return to attack the human beings they once ruled. 

In the years of peace, too many of mankind have forgotten that their machine enemies never sleep. But some have forgotten nothing - and learned from their triumphs. The brilliant military commander Vorian Atreides, son of a Titan, has the gift of long life from his terrifying father and knows the machines' minds better than any man alive. Norma Cenva, the genius inventor of humanity's best defences, dreams of new discoveries that will make man invincible. And on the windswept desert planet Arrakis, the power that can give them victory waits.

Hunters Of Dune: Dune Chronicles: Book 07

by Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson. 

At the end of Chapterhouse: Dune--Frank Herbert's final novel--a ship carrying the ghola of Duncan Idaho, Sheeana (a young woman who can control sandworms), and a crew of various refugees escapes into the uncharted galaxy, fleeing from the monstrous Honored Matres, dark counterparts to the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood. The nearly invincible Honored Matres have swarmed into the known universe, driven from their home by a terrifying, mysterious Enemy. As designed by the creative genius of Frank Herbert, the primary story of Hunters and Sandworms is the exotic odyssey of Duncan's no-ship as it is forced to elude the diabolical traps set by the ferocious, unknown Enemy. To strengthen their forces, the fugitives have used genetic technology from Scytale, the last Tleilaxu Master, to revive key figures from Dune's past--including Paul Muad'Dib and his beloved Chani, Lady Jessica, Stilgar, Thufir Hawat, and even Dr. Wellington Yueh. Each of these characters will use their special talents to meet the challenges thrown at them.

Failure is unthinkable--not only is their survival at stake, but they hold the fate of the entire human race in their hands.

A Forest Of Stars: The Saga of Seven Suns: Book 02

by Kevin J. Anderson. 

It has been five years since humanity's heady expansion among the stars came to an abrupt, and violent, halt. 

The emergence of the Hydrogues, an immensely powerful alien race dwelling within gas-giant planets, has placed the scattered colonies of the Terran Hanseatic League in jeopardy. With space travel heavily curtailed, and supplies of fuel dwindling, young King Peter and Chairman Basil Wenceslas, the harsh power behind the throne, have no choice but to impose strict rationing. But the Hydrogues are not the only enemies of humanity. The scheming Mage-Imperator, leader of the ancient Ildiran Empire, attempts to forge tangled alliances among all combatants in order to protect his failing civilization. 

The mysterious Klikiss robots, only remnants of an extinct race, continue to work their sinister plans while pretending to be friends and advisors to the Hanseatic League, whose ancient alien weapon accidentally triggered the Hydrogue conflict -- have vanished on the abandoned world of Rheindic Co. Rlinda Kett and Davlin Lotze, sent to investigate the disappearance, soon realise that the Colicos' discoveries may lead to an incredible new way to travel between worlds... or to the awakening of enemies even more fearsome than the Hydrogues. Something of inestimable power must have been required to destroy the Klikiss race. Will humanity be next?

Horizon Storms: The Saga of Seven Suns: Book 03

by Kevin J. Anderson. 

The titanic war between the elemental alien hydrogues and faeros continues to sweep across the Spiral Arm, extinguishing suns and destroying planets. Chairman Wenceslas and King Peter must now unify the human race with iron-fisted policies in a final bid to stand together -- or face total annihilation.

But disparate civilizations are forging new alliances that threaten the old order. The Roamer and Theron clans will not yield their independence, and the new Mage-Imperator Jora'h now faces a threat that no other Ildiran leader has ever seen -- a civil war that could break apart the entire Empire.

Sandworms of Dune: Dune Chronicles: Book 08

by Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson. 

As the no-ship Ithaca flees through space, the heroes of HUNTERS OF DUNE finally meet the Enemy who followed the violent fanatics, the Honored Matres, back to their universe.

The thinking machines vanquished by Serena Butler's jihad were not destroyed, only driven into exile - and now, tens of thousands of years later, they are back. Can the resurrected heroes on board the Ithaca save our race from annihilation?

Paul Of Dune: Heroes of Dune: Book 01

by Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson. 

The Muad'Dib's jihad is in full swing. 

His warrior legions march from victory to victory. But beneath the joy of victory, there are dangerous undercurrents. Paul, like nearly every great conqueror, has enemies--those who would betray him to steal the awesome power he commands. . . .

And Paul himself begins to have doubts: Is the jihad getting out of his control? Has he created anarchy? Has he been betrayed by those he loves and trusts the most? And most of all, he wonders: Am I going mad?

The Winds of Dune: Heroes of Dune: Book 02

by Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson. 

Paul has walked off into the sand, blind, and is presumed dead. 

Jessica and Gurney are on Caladan; Alia is trying to hold the Imperial government together with Duncan; Mohiam is dead at the hands of Stilgar and Irulan is imprisoned. 

Paul's former friend, Bronso of Ix, now seems to be leading opposition to the House of Atreides. 

Scattered Suns: The Saga of Seven Suns: Book 04

by Kevin J. Anderson. 

The destructive hydrogues continue their war against humans and the fiery entities, the faeros - a struggle that kills planets and extinguishes whole stars. Newly crowned Mage-Imperator Jora'h, the leader of the ancient and vast Ildiran Empire, struggles with new knowledge he has learned: an ancient bargain and long-standing treachery that may finally bring peace with the hydrogues . . . though it could mean the extermination of the human race.

In the Terran Hanseatic League, Chairman Basil Wenceslas continues his red-herring war against the Roamer clans, eager to achieve a decisive victory, even against a supposed enemy that poses no threat. Their homes destroyed, the wandering Roamers scatter into hiding, trying to keep their culture and government intact, even when faced with enemies from all sides.

Cesca Peroni, leader of the Roamers, finds herself stranded on a small icy outpost where miners have uncovered a hibernating army of alien Klikiss robots. Once released, these robots trigger another dark and ancient plot, one that could lead to a massacre across all human-inhabited planets . . .

Of Fire and Night: The Saga of Seven Suns: Book 05

by Kevin J. Anderson. 

After many years of hardship and bravery, the human race faces its greatest challenge. The sweeping war between titanic races -- a conflict that has obliterated planets, extinguished entire stars, exterminated whole races -- is reaching its end game. Allies become betrayers, strangers become fast friends, and enemies clash in a struggle that will rock the galaxy.

For years, the alien Klikiss robots have pretended to be humanity's friends, but their seeming "help" has allowed them to plant an insidious Trojan Horse throughout the Earth Defence Forces, and the sudden rebellion of Earth's own companies leaves millions dead and the Terran Hanseatic League defenceless. In a desperate attempt to save his own race, the Ildiran Mage-Imperator Jora'h is forced into a devil's bargain with the evil hydrogues, which will require him to ambush and destroy what remains of the human race. But the gypsy Roamer clans and the green priests of the towering worldforest -- scattered stepchildren of humanity -- have found innovative ways to fight, as well as strange allies of incomprehensible power.

As the climactic battle is engaged, the Ildiran Solar Navy, the Earth Defence Forces, the Roamers, green priests, Klikiss robots, and hydrogue warglobes collide in a fury that will destroy many and change the landscape of the Spiral Arm forever.

Metal Swarm: The Saga of Seven Suns: Book 06

by Kevin J. Anderson. 

The alien hydrogues have been defeated, driven back into the cores of their gas-giant planets by an alliance of the Earth Defence Forces, the ancient Ildiran Empire, the gypsy-like Roamer clans and gigantic living 'treeships'. The various factions try to recover - but the deep-seated wounds may prove fatal.

The Hansa's brutal Chairman Basil Wenceslas struggles to crush any resistance even as King Peter breaks away to form his own new Confederation among the green priests on Theroc, the Roamer clans and an ever-growing number of colonies who have declared their independence. Like jackals smelling wounded prey, swarms of ancient black robots built by the lost insectoid Klikiss race continue their depredations on helpless worlds with stolen Earth battleships. A race of terrifying fiery elementals, the faeros, has joined with an Ildiran madman to declare war against all life. And the original, voracious Klikiss race - long thought to be extinct - have returned, intent on conquering their former worlds and willing to annihilate anyone who happens to be in the way.

The Ashes of Worlds: The Saga of Seven Suns: Book 07

by Kevin J. Anderson. 

The allied factions of humanity, along with the waning Ildiran Empire and the powerful water elementals and sentient trees, have defeated the near-invincible alien race of the hydrogues, driving them back into the depths of gas-giant planets. But before peace can heal the wounds between the races, two ancient enemies return: the capricious fiery elementals, the faeros, who mean to burn all those who fought alongside their mortal enemies. And the lost hive race of the Klikiss, who intend to reclaim all the worlds they inhabited 10,000 years earlier, worlds that are now home to many human colonies. Meanwhile, the leader of the Terran Hanseatic League, Chairman Basil Wenceslas, intends to pull all of humanity's unruly stepchildren into his iron grip - even if it means he has to hold the Ildiran Mage-Imperator hostage, risking renewed war with an entire alien civilization.

Veiled Alliances: The Saga of Seven Suns: Prequel

by Kevin J. Anderson. 

Based on the legendary science-fiction series The Saga Of Seven Suns,Veiled Alliancesis a revelatory prequel, in which long-term fanswill discover the origin of the green priests on Theroc, the first Roamer skymining operations on a gas-giant planet, the discovery of the Klikiss robots entombed in an abandoned alien city, the initial Ildiran expedition to Earth, the rescue of the generation ship Burtonand the tragedy that led to sinister breeding experiments.

In this volume the human race begins its expansion into outer space, only to discover that for centuries a multitude of other races has already been interacting on a cosmic scale. Eleven exploratory ships carrying humans escaping a degenerating Earth are discovered by a more advanced space-faring civilization, the Ildaran Empire. The empire helps the refugees - by now the several-generations-later offspring of the original voyagers - settle suitable planets and sends diplomats with a few of them to Earth to establish trade and diplomatic relations.

Meanwhile, both Terran and Ildaran authorities bring hidden agendas to their first-contact discussions, and asEarth attempts to become a player in this new arena, its ambassadors are thrust into a foreign world of alien life forms, backstabbing politics, bitter feuds, and a deadly struggle to become the supreme force in the universe.

The Dark Between the Stars: The Saga of Shadows: Book 01

by Kevin J. Anderson. 

The Dark Between the Stars is space opera on a grand scale. 

Twenty years after the elemental conflict that nearly tore apart the cosmos in The Saga of Seven Suns, a new threat emerges from the darkness, and the human race must set aside its own inner conflicts to rebuild their alliance with the Ildiran Empire for the survival of the galaxy.

Blood of the Cosmos: The Saga of Shadows: Book 02

by Kevin J. Anderson. 

As the second book of the trilogy opens, the humans and Ildirans having narrowly escaped annihilation at the hands of the Shana Rei and their robot allies in Book One, are desperate to find a way to combat the black cloud of antimatter of the Shana Rei. 

The mysterious, alien Gardeners, who had helped them previously turn out to be a disaster in disguise and because of them, the world tree forests are again in danger. This opens up a second front in this galactic war. Believing they have found a way to stop their dreaded enemies, a new weapon is tested, but it's a horrible failure, throwing the human race and its allies to the brink of extinction.

Eternity’s Mind: The Saga of Shadows: Book 03

by Kevin J. Anderson. 

The desperate war with the Shana Rei seems lost. All across the transportal network, space is tearing apart, the links between the gateways are breaking down, the fabric of space unraveling, and entire sections of the Spiral Arm are becoming galactic dead zones.

The Shana Rei have infiltrated the transportal network, and desperate populations have to cut themselves off, shutting down their portals, often their only connection with the rest of the Spiral Arm.

In desperation, humans and Ildirans turn to the most unlikely allies, the unpredictable faeros.

Whistling Past the Graveyard: The Saga of Shadows: Prequel

by Kevin J. Anderson. 

Nine years have passed since the end of the titanic Elemental War, and the human race is still picking up the pieces. The Terran Hanseatic League has become the Confederation, and King Peter and Queen Estarra work to heal wounds among the factions of humanity, as well as with the alien Ildiran Empire.

Trade Minister Rlinda Kett seeks to reestablish contact with lost human colonies that have vanished in the chaos, and she travels to a planet called Happiness, site of an isolated neo-Amish colony where the treacherous Prince Daniel was exiled. As a civil war brews among the Roamer clans over the old ways versus new business methods, some brave clans venture back to skymining again, harvesting the restless clouds of huge gas giant planets—where the threat of the devastating hydrogue aliens always looms…

Sisterhood of Dune: The Great Schools of Dune: Book 01

by Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson. 

It is 83 years after the last of the thinking machines were destroyed in the Battle of Corrin, after Faykan Butler established himself as the first Emperor of a new imperium. War hero Vorian Atreides has turned his back on Salusa Secundus, flying off to parts unknown. Abulurd Harkonnen, convicted of cowardice, was sent away to live on gloomy Lankiveil, and his descendants continue to blame Vor for the downfall of their fortunes.

Raquella Berto-Anirul has formed the Bene Gesserit School as the first Reverend Mother. Descendants of Aurelius Venport and Norma Cenva have built a powerful transportation company using mutated Navigators who fly "spacefolder ships".

Gilbertus Albans has established a school on bucolic Lampadas teaching humans to become Mentats. Even so, decades after the defeat of the thinking machines, anti-technology fervor continues to sweep across the human-settled planets, with powerful fanatical groups imposing violent purges…

Mentats of Dune: The Great Schools of Dune: Book 02

by Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson. 

Gilbertus Albans has founded the Mentat School, a place where humans can learn the efficient techniques of thinking machines. But Gilbertus walks an uneasy line between his own convictions and compromises in order to survive the Butlerian fanatics, led by the madman Manford Torondo and his Swordmaster Anari Idaho.

Mother Superior Raquella attempts to rebuild her Sisterhood School on Wallach IX, with her most talented and ambitious student, Valya Harkonnen . . . who also has another goal-to exact revenge on Vorian Atreides, the legendary hero of the Jihad, whom she blames for her family's downfall.

Meanwhile, Josef Venport conducts his own war against the Butlerians. VenHold Spacing Fleet controls nearly all commerce thanks to the superior mutated Navigators that Venport has created, and he places a ruthless embargo on any planet that accepts Manford Torondo's anti-technology pledge, hoping to starve them into submission. But fanatics rarely surrender easily. . .

The Mentats, the Navigators, and the Sisterhood all strive to improve the human race but know that as Butlerian fanaticism grows stronger, the battle will be to choose the path of humanity's future-whether to embrace civilization or to plunge into an endless dark age.

Navigators of Dune: The Great Schools of Dune: Book 03

by Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson. 

Navigators, mutated by spice into beings far superior to normal humans, make space travel possible across the burgeoning Imperium. Their prescient awareness allows them to foresee safe paths through the universe as starship engines “fold” space. Only industrial magnate Josef Venport knows the secret of creating Navigators, and he intends to build a commercial empire to span the galaxy.

But at every turn, Josef is embattled by the forces of anti-technology fanaticism, “Butlerian” zealots led by the charismatic and dangerous Manford Torondo, who wishes to countermand humanity’s new renaissance and drive the Imperium back into a dark age. And between those titanic forces stands the uncertain new Emperor Roderick Corrino, forced to take the throne after the assassination of his brother. The Navigators are the key to charting a glorious future for humanity . . . or the end of civilization.