Author of the Paratwa trilogy, and
Anachronisms.
WARNING -- there are plot spoilers in this commentary on the Paratwa trilogy.
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Liege-Killer 1987 -- Earth has been ruined by war, a war brought on at least partially by the Paratwa. They are paired assassins able to merge their minds into a single consciousness with two bodies. Almost unbeatable. Humanity survives in orbital colonies while Earth is cleansed and made livable, a process that is starting to bear fruit. After an illegal salvage run to Earth, a Paratwa starts killing people in the colonies. Two people are brought out of coldsleep to fight the assassin, Gillian, a warrior, and Nick, a programmer. Gillian is skilled with one of the Paratwa weapons (a truly nifty invention called the Cohe Wand, essentially an energy lariat/bola). In this book we get glimmerings of the Ash Ock, the ruling caste of the Paratwa.
- Ash Ock 1989 -- Enter Colette, the Ash Ock known as Sappho, the actual leader of the Paratwa. In this book Hinz reveals that Gillian is actually 1/2 of a Paratwa (a tway). And not just any, but Empodocles, one of the five Ash Ock. After his other tway was killed, he was turned into the ultimate weapon against the Paratwa.
- The Paratwa 1991 -- This is where all the secrets come out. The Paratwa actually started the war that made earth uninhabitable, and rather than dying they escaped into deep space -- and now they are returning. But that's not all. The Paratwa are actually creations of a telepathic alien race. Colette's other tway is not real -- her other half is an alien on board the colony ship headed for Earth. The human's solution is as shocking as it is effective. They nuke the hell out of Earth, rendering it totally uninhabitable for an extended period. The aliens now have no reason to invade...
Good stuff, well written, believable, and complex.