Synopses & Reviews
The closest planet to our Sun, Mercury is a rocky, barren, heat-scorched world. But there are those who hope to find wealth in its desolation.
Saito Yamagata thinks Mercury's position will make it an ideal orbit point for satellites that could someday create enough power to propel starships into deep space. He hires Dante Alexios to bring his dreams to life. Astrobiologist Victor Molina thinks the water at Mercury's poles may harbor evidence of life, and hopes to achieve fame and glory by proving it. Bishop Elliot Danvers has been sent by the powerful Earth-based "New Morality" to keep close tabs on Molina's endeavors, which threaten to produce results contrary to fundamentalist teachings.
Three of these men are blissfully unaware of their shared history and how it ties into one of mankind's greatest tragedies. Years before, visionary engineer Mance Bracknell made his own attempt to help man progress into space by building a ladder to the stars: a glistening tower stretching thousands of miles into the air, anchored by spans of steel to a satellite in geosynchronous orbit. But technological endeavor was no match for human passions, and greed and jealousy provoked terrorists to an act of sabotage that resulted in the death of millions.
There's no telling how many more will have to die before Mance has his revenge...
Review
“With Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein gone, Bova, author of more than 70 books, is one of the last deans of traditional science fiction. And he hasnt lost his touch.” —
Kansas City Star on
Venus"Recalls the work of Heinlein in his Destination Moon mode, or Hal Clement in any number of stories: a day-after-tomorrow tale crafted with near-journalistic purity...It's a difficult, demanding mode to pursue, and not many choose to nowadays. But Bova does it magnificently." -Paul Di Filippo, Scifi.com
"This audio version, as you expect from Macmillan Audio, is very good and when you listen to the narrators, it's like being re-introduced to old acquanintances." - SFCrowsnest.com
Review
“With Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein gone, Bova, author of more than 70 books, is one of the last deans of traditional science fiction. And he hasnt lost his touch.” —
Kansas City Star on
Venus"Recalls the work of Heinlein in his Destination Moon mode, or Hal Clement in any number of stories: a day-after-tomorrow tale crafted with near-journalistic purity...It's a difficult, demanding mode to pursue, and not many choose to nowadays. But Bova does it magnificently." -Paul Di Filippo, Scifi.com
"This audio version, as you expect from Macmillan Audio, is very good and when you listen to the narrators, it's like being re-introduced to old acquanintances." - SFCrowsnest.com
Review
"A guaranteed crowd-pleaser!"
--Booklist on Mercury
"Recalls the work of Heinlein in his Destination Moon mode, or Hal Clement in any number of stories: a day-after-tomorrow tale crafted with near-journalistic purity...It's a difficult, demanding mode to pursue, and not many choose to nowadays. But Bova does it magnificently."
--Paul Di Filippo, Scifi.com, on Jupiter
"With Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein gone, Bova, author of more than 70 books, is one of the last deans of traditional science fiction. And he hasn't lost his touch. Venus scorches."
--Kansas City Star on Venus
"Bova gets better and better, combining plausible science with increasingly complex fiction."
--Los Angeles Daily News on The Precipice
Review
"A guaranteed crowd-pleaser!"
Booklist
Synopsis
A tale of revenge and technological endeavor set on our solar system's most desolate stage.
Synopsis
A tale of revenge and technological endeavor set on our solar system's most desolate stage.
Synopsis
A novel of the planet scorched by the Sun from the author of
Venus, Jupiter, and
SaturnSynopsis
The planet closest to our Sun, Mercury is a rocky, barren, heat-scorched world. But there are those who hope to find wealth in its desolation.
Saito Yamagata thinks Mercury's position makes it an ideal place to generate power to propel starships into deep space. Astrobiologist Victor Molina thinks the water at Mercury's poles may harbor evidence of life. Bishop Elliot Danvers has been sent by the Earth-based "New Morality" to keep close tabs on Molina.
But all three of these men are blissfully unaware of their shared history, and of how it connects to the collapse of Mance Bracknell's geosynchronous space elevator a generation ago. Now they're about to find out, because Mance is determined to have his revenge...
Synopsis
A tale of revenge and technological endeavor set on our solar systems most desolate stageDespite Mercurys desolateness, there are still those who hope to find diamonds in the rough. Saito Yamagata thinks Mercurys position will make it an ideal orbit point for satellites that could someday create enough power to propel starships into deep space. He hires Dante Alexios to bring his dreams to life. Astrobiologist Victor Molina thinks the water at Mercurys poles may harbor evidence of life, and hopes to achieve fame and glory by proving it. Bishop Elliot Danvers has been sent by the religious sect, “The New Morality,” to keep close tabs on their endeavors, which threaten to produce results that contradict biblical teachings.
About the Author
Ben Bova is the author of more than a hundred works of science fact and fiction, including Able One, Leviathans of Jupiter and the Grand Tour novels, including Titan, winner of John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best novel of the year. He received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation in 2005, and in 2008 he won the Robert A. Heinlein Award "for his outstanding body of work in the field of literature." He is President Emeritus of the National Space Society and a past president of Science Fiction Writers of America, and a former editor of Analog and former fiction editor of Omni. As an editor, he won science fictions Hugo Award six times. Dr. Bovas writings have predicted the Space Race of the 1960s, virtual reality, human cloning, the Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars), electronic book publishing, and much more. He lives in Florida.