One thousand years after "the time of fire," a gentle craftsman and flute player forsakes both his true love and birthright to seek the fabled Shining Sea. Stel, born of proud but rigid Pelbar culture, embarks on an epic quest across an America dramatically changed by a long-ago nuclear war. Following him is his beloved wife, Ahroe, equally determined to find Stel, avoid disgrace, and share her own precious secret. The Ends of the Circle is the second novel in the highly praised Pelbar Cycle, a classic series of postapocalyptic novels about the people of the Pelbar. Imaginative and reflective, this rousing tale introduces Stel-engineer and poet, adventurer and musician-one of the most memorable characters in modern postapocalyptic fiction. In addition to the Pelbar series, Paul O. Williams (1935-2009) is the author of The Man from Far Cloud and Outside Robins Sing: Selected Haiku as well as The Nick of Time: Essays on Haiku Aesthetics, and several other books.