The Demi-Monde series by Rod Rees

The Demi-Monde series...

01. Winter (2011): The Demi-Monde:
* A subclass of society whose members embrace a decadent lifestyle and evince loose morals.
* A shadow world where the norms of civilized behavior have been abandoned.
* A massive multiple-player simulation technology that re-creates in a wholly realistic cyber-milieu the threat-ambiance and no-warning aspects of a hi-intensity, deep-density, urban Asymmetric Warfare Environment.
* Hell.
Welcome to the Demi-Monde, the ultimate in virtual reality—a military training ground and vivid, simulated world of cruelty and chaos run by psychopaths, madmen and fanatics. If you die here, you die in the Real World . . .

In the year 2018, the Demi-Monde is the most sophisticated, complex and unpredictable computer simulation ever created, devised specifically to train soldiers for the nightmarish reality of urban warfare. A virtual world of eternal civil conflict, its thirty million inhabitants—“Dupes”—are ruled by cyber-duplicates of some of history’s cruelest tyrants: the fanatical Nazi butcher Reinhard Heydrich; Stalin’s arch executioner Lavrentii Beria; the torture-loving Grand Inquisitor TomÁs de Torquemada; the Reign of Terror’s bloodthirsty mastermind Maximilien Robespierre.

But something has gone horribly wrong inside the Demi-Monde, and the U.S. president’s daughter, Norma, has been lured into this terrifying shadow world, only to be trapped there. Her last hope of rescue is Ella Thomas, an eighteen-year-old jazz singer and very reluctant heroine. But when Ella infiltrates the Demi-Monde and begins her hunt for Norma, she soon discovers the walls containing the evils of this simulated environment are dissolving—and the Real World is in far more danger than anyone knows. With the help of resistors determined to understand their world, Ella must race to save Norma and stop an apocalypse . . . but the clock is ticking.

Blending fact and fantasy, history and religion, military and existential themes, epic adventure and dark wit, dystopia and steampunk in a wholly original and driving narrative stream, The Demi-Monde: Winter is inventive fiction at its finest.

02. Spring (2012): The Demi-Monde is a high-realism computer simulation, designed to train the military for operations in places like Iraq and Afghanistan without the risk of real-life death. The simulation is peppered with computer-recreated psychopaths – Aleister Crowley, the pitiless Inquisitor General Torquemada, Robespierre, and Reinhard Heydrich, architect of the Holocaust – providing a powder-keg mix of racial, sexual and religious intolerances and perpetual internecine strife.

Ella Thomas was sent into this veritable virtual Cyber-Hell on Earth to rescue Norma Williams, the President's daughter, but it's all gone horribly wrong, and now it falls to Norma herself to lead the resistance. But first she must come to terms with the knowledge that those she thought were her friends are now her enemies.

03. Summer (2013): Eight thousand years ago the Deluge destroyed the empire of the Lilithi, setting the race of super-warriors known as the Grigori loose in the outside world. They have lain hidden until now when - thanks to the creation of the dystopian virtual reality that is the Demi-Monde - they at last stand ready to achieve mastery of the Real World - and to cull HumanKind in the Final Solution.

Three girls stand between them and victory: Norma Williams, trapped in the nightmare that is the Coven, the viciously misandric Sector of the Demi-Monde; Ella Thomas, enslaved by the spirit of Lilith-come-again; and Trixie Dashwood, consumed by her hatred for Heydrich and his evil ForthRight.

"This highly imaginative series blurs the line between reality and computer-generated fantasy until the line simply ceases to exist: Elegantly constructed, skillfully written, and absolutely impossible to stop reading." --Booklist, Starred Review

04. Fall (2013): For thousands of years the Grigori have lain hidden, dreaming of the day when they will emerge from the darkness. Now that day draws close.

Norma, Trixie and Ella fight doggedly to frustrate these plans, but they need help. Percy Shelley must lead Norma to the Portal in NoirVille so she can return to the Real World. Trixie's father must convince her that, if she is to destroy the Great Pyramid standing in Terror Incognita, she must be prepared to die. And Vanka Maykov - though not the man she knew and loved - must guide Ella to the secret enclave of the Grigori, where she will face the most chilling of enemies.

In this explosive finale to the Demi-Monde series, our heroes will come to understand that resisting evil will require courage, resolve... and sacrifice.