Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Returning to the universe of New York Times Notable book This Alien Shore comes a new space opera from an acknowledged master of science fiction. Millenia ago, an overcrowded Earth developed the Hausman Drive, which allowed humans to travel faster than light and colonize the galaxy. Too late, it was discovered that the technology damaged the DNA of those who used it, causing the children of colonists to be born with mutations. Fearful of contagion, Earth cut off all contact with the colonists, leaving them stranded and alone as they struggled to come to terms with what they had become.
Now, in the Second Age of Human Expansion, a new galactic civilization has been established. This time it is based on space stations clustered around natural transit points: the outworlds. One Variant race, the Guerans, has made it a personal mission to locate any surviving colonies and bring them back into the human fold. But ancient bitternesses die hard, and there is no love lost between Terrans and their Variant cousins.
It is technology that unites humanity now. The brainware that each person receives at birth allows direct mental communication with a computer network spanning the outworlds: the outernet. But with that technology comes great risk.
Synopsis
Returning to the universe of New York Times Notable book This Alien Shore comes a new space opera from an acknowledged master of science fiction. When deep-space travel altered the genes of the first interstellar colonists, Earth abandoned them. But some of the colonies survived, and a new civilization of mental and physical "Variants" has been established, centered around clusters of space stations known as the outworlds.
Now the unthinkable has happened: a suicide assault has destroyed the life support system of a major waystation. All that is known about the young men responsible is that in their last living moments they were receiving messages from an uninhabited sector of space, and were playing a virtual reality game.
Two unlikely allies have joined forces to investigate the incident: Ru Gaya, a mercenary explorer with a taste for high risk ventures, and game designer Micah Bello, who must find the parties responsible for the attack in order to clear his name. From the corridors of a derelict station lost to madness to an outlaw stronghold in the depths of uncharted space, the two now follow the trail of an enemy who can twist human minds to his purpose, and whose plans could bring about the collapse of outworld civilization.