The Blue-Spangled Blue — David Bowles

Jitsu. Once the center of human expansion into distant space, this world was isolated for the better part of a century, a theocratic government rising to fill the void left by its former corporate owners. Now, as Jitsu finally begins to open itself to the rest of humanity, Professor Brando D'Angelo accepts a teaching position on the dry, desolate planet, beguiled by the promise of a new life far from ice-shackled Earth. He quickly finds himself drawn to controversial architect Tenshi Kuroda and her religious reform movement. But the dogmatic struggles on Jitsu are a mask for the machinations of a truly disturbed mind, and the young professor's life will soon be forever altered by the horrifying extremes to which Tenshi's enemies are willing to go.