The Eclipse Trilogy (also referred to as A Song Called Youth trilogy) is a series of three English language cyberpunk science fiction novels by John Shirley consisting of Eclipse (1985), Eclipse Penumbra (1988), and Eclipse Corona (1990). The books depict a dystopian future, set in a hypothetical mid 21st century where a new Russian Soviet has invaded Western Europe, causing massive disruption and destruction. Their armies were only repelled by the (unseen) use of tactical nuclear weapons, resulting in a stalemate, somewhat like the middle years of World War I. The New Soviet—more oligarchic than communist—has been stymied. But now Europe is in chaos, the USA is in crisis. To keep order and free up troops for actual fighting, NATO has contracted with the Second Alliance Security Corporation (SA), a right-wing, private security company of mercenaries, an anticipation of Blackwater-style privatization of the military. Second Alliance is part of a hidden (fascist) agenda unbeknownst to most of those who hired them. The heroes of the series are the New Resistance, who are fighting to expose and defeat the SA's racist policies and the neofascist attempt to grab power. The scope of the story is worldwide, but the main action mostly takes place in Europe, on a small Caribbean island and on humanity's first space colony. On the book jacket of the 2012 re-release, William Gibson calls Shirley "cyberpunk's patient zero", and Bruce Sterling calls the trilogy "a complex, bizarre, and unique vision of the near future, with a kaleidoscopic mix of politics, pop, and paranoia." An of the trilogy is being released by Dover Books, starting with A Song Called Youth: Eclipse, in October 2017. Characters "Smiling" Rick Crandall is the leader of the SA is a charismatic American preacher/televangelist Steinfeld is the leader of the New Resistance (NR), a former Mossad agent Jack "Smoke" Brendon is a former professor, the public face of the NR. He is the first character we meet, disillusioned and living in a bombed out Amsterdam Dan "Hard-Eyes" Torrence is the NR's best fighter Claire Rimpler is the protected daughter of the man who runs the space colony, FirStep Technologies and advances Various technologies and societal changes are employed in this fictional world, and help define it while also anticipating the future through extrapolation and/or speculation. Among these are: Extraction is a tactic used by both sides in the war. The term is applied to