Blood in the Fruit — L. Timmel Duchamp

Blood in the Fruit, the hard-hitting fourth volume of the five-novel Marq ssan Cycle, focuses sharp, analytical attention on human rights issues. The novel opens in October 2086. After ten years absence, the Marq ssan Fleet returns to Earth to determine whether humans should be quarantined, and a young alien, unprepared for the shock of human culture, becomes a dangerous loose cannon taking violent, unilateral action. In the Free Zone, a flood of renegades led by Elizabeth Weatherall establish a fortress; even Hazel Bell, Weatherall s lover, doesn t know what they re up to. In the US, when the government responds to increasing dissent and civil disorder by ratcheting up its repressive tactics, brave and dedicated human rights activists like Celia Espin join forces with the Free Zones in a global challenge that threatens to undermine governments around the world. Blood in the Fruit offers a grand, sweeping story through the eyes of four individuals with markedly contrasting perspectives and experience.