Synopses & Reviews
Possessing physical attributes repulsive to "normal" humans, Youn Suu is Expendable -- a dedicated member of the highly skilled and highly disposable Explorer Corps. Embarking on a typically suicidal undertaking with her partner, Tut, Youn has been entrusted with the rescue of a defenseless planet from the Balrog -- a mosslike alien intelligence that is prescient, powerful, and insidious. When the mission goes horribly wrong, only the timely intervention of Expendable legend Admiral Festina Ramos saves Youn and Tut from destruction, as they escape to a seemingly innocuous and deserted world where the true scope of a galactic nightmare will be revealed. Because what came before was only the opening gambit -- and the Balrog's next move may be catastrophic for the Corps and countless imperiled beings.
About the Author
James Alan Gardner is a 1989 graduate of the Clarion West Science Fiction Writers Workshop, and has had several science fiction stories and novellas appear in publications such as Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, Amazing Stories, and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. He is the author of six previous novels: Expendable, Commitment Hour, Vigilant, Hunted, Ascending, and Trapped. He was the grand prize winner of the 1989 Writers of the Future contest, has won the Aurora Award, and has been nominated for the Hugo and Nebula Awards. He lives in Canada.