By Honor Bound

Ballard's debut, the first in a futuristic romance trilogy, inaugurates a new Five Star romance series that will publish four novels each quarter. The year is A.D. 6032. Raithe Serrodon is the number-two man of House Serrodon. Raithe's half-brother, Jerstrom, the High Lord of Serrodon, is mentally ill and dying. Savage far-future customs dictate that Raithe assume command by killing the half-brother he loves. Instead, Raithe seeks to marry Jerstrom to Cynnara Kyerrneth of the powerful House Kyerrneth, which will ensure Jerstrom's safety. But Cynnara lives not in 6032 A.D. but in 1999, her father having fled his time for ours. Raithe visits our present, abducts Cynnara and brings her back to the future, where men are ""more animal than human"" and women are ""forced to follow the dictates of some primitive male."" A virus called the Blood Lust--genetically engineered to create sexual attraction and reverse humanity's population decline--has made the people of the time tribal and aggressive. The Blood Lust draws Raithe, against his will, to Cynnara. While he struggles to weigh his lust for Cynnara against his fraternal love for Jerstrom, Cynnara takes matters into her own hands. Ballard introduces neat ideas, but skips or underplays crucial events and never quite gets her plot on the move, making all her intended surprises easy to anticipate. Raithe, Cynnara and the rest conduct, in flat, vague terms, familiar arguments about science, culture and biology: ""Technology has benefits, but the price is so high."" Fans of futuristic romance will compare Ballard's debut to category classics by Dana Joy, Ann Maxwell or Jayne Castle--and the contrast won't make Ballard's work look good. (June)