4 minute read
Be the Serpent
Edward Willett
The Tangled Stars
SPACE OPERA / SCIENCE FICTION ACTION & ADVENTURE ON SALE October 18, 2022
$9.99 / $10.99 CAN
This new novel from an Aurora Award-winning author presents a sci-fi caper of high-stakes interstellar travel.
More than a century ago, the network of MASTTs, the space-time tunnels that made interstellar travel possible, violently collapsed, the backlash destroying a lot of the solar system’s space-based infrastructure. Cooper “Coop” Douglas, a thief and conman, is in serious debt to outer-system crime-lord Eric Galioto. While trying to salvage a valuable chunk of a space station destroyed by the backlash, Coop makes a startling discovery: MASTT Primus, the tunnel that used to lead to New Earth, is open again. That raises an intriguing possibility: Coop could flee the solar system and his debt to Galioto and make a new life—and possibly fortune—around another star.
Accompanied by his first mate, the wisecracking, AI-uplifted, genetically modified cat Thibauld, Coop sets out to “liberate” the solar system’s only remaining functioning starship from an Earthside museum, enlisting the help of Laysa Grey, a former-lover-turned-cop on Luna. Along the way, he is pursued by Galioto and dogged by law enforcement and thugs.
And beyond MASTT Primus, the tangled stars await . . .
STANDALONE NOVEL perfect for readers seeking an exciting, self-contained adventure
AWARDS RECOGNITION: Willett has been nominated for the Aurora Award and Saskatchewan Book Award multiple times; his sci-fi novel Marseguro won the Aurora Award for Best Novel in 2009
AWARD-WINNING PODCASTER: Willett hosts a podcast called The Worldshapers, in which he interviews prominent science fiction and fantasy authors about their creative process; the podcast won the 2019 Aurora Award for Best Fan Related Work
SPACE OPERA CAPER that investigates the mystery of the collapsed interstellar transportation system that has allowed humanity to expand to the stars
“Willett brings J.G. Ballard’s High-Rise into the distant space age in this dystopian tale of class, power and freedom that will entertain devotees and non-genre fans alike.” —RT Reviews “Willett wraps his capable new adult science fiction adventure around the fate of a mysterious many-tiered city and its inhabitants... Willett’s spunky protagonists and colorful world will entertain SF adventure fans.” —Publishers Weekly “Set in a metal city at the center of the mountain ringed Heartland, The Cityborn is sprawling space opera centering on Alania, born to the City’s privileged caste, and Danyl, a lowborn scavenger... This is one suspenseful sci-fi thriller not to be missed.” —Unbound Worlds
eBook: 9780756418151
EDWARD WILLETT is the awardwinning author of more than sixty books of science fiction, fantasy, and nonfiction for readers of all ages. He won Canada’s Aurora Award for Best Long-Form Work in English for Marseguro, and a Saskatchewan Book Award for his young-adult fantasy Spirit Singer. His podcast, The Worldshapers, featuring conversations with other science fiction and fantasy authors, also won an Aurora Award for Best Fan Related Work.
PRAISE FOR EDWARD WILLETT
Stephen Leigh Bound to a Single Sun
$9.99 / $10.99 CAN
For readers of space opera and fans of C. J. Cherryh, John Scalzi, Elizabeth Moon, and Ann Leckie.
Now in e-only, this new near-future sci-fi novel explores the boundaries of what makes us human
In the near future, humankind has founded colonies on Mars and the inner planets as well as under the oceans, populating them via by direct genetic manipulation, changing us to suit the environment. The haves are those who are “ecomods” (genetically modified) or “surgenmods” (surgically modified); the have-nots are the “typics”—those who haven’t undergone modification. The typics are forced to live in walled-off, filthy, and run-down areas, held away from the wealthier surgenmods, while the ecomods have formed communities based around their own archetypes— insular societies all, each with their own particular customs.
There’s a greater wall, as well. Someone or something has put a sphere of exclusion around the inner solar system, an unseen barrier that allows no living being to pass beyond AU 3.0. For all humankind knows, this SunWall has existed for only the last half century, when the first manned expeditions attempted to reach Jupiter, or perhaps it existed for aeons, long before humans ever dreamed of flight.
Sofia is an ecomod, but not from a standard ‘race’ that anyone recognizes. She claims to have pierced the SunWall and lived. Against increasingly stubborn resistance, Sofia and the group of misfits who gather around her attempt to uncover the secret of the SunWall and release humankind from its imprisonment.
“Leigh (A Rising Moon) puts an inventive spin on a familiar trope in this provocative tale of first contact set in the far future... Exploring big ideas about interplanetary travel, this finely crafted sci-fi saga is full of both surprises and charm.” —Publishers Weekly
“Leigh builds a vivid, thrilling and exciting new world that will captivate and hold the imagination.”—RT Reviews
“Leigh did a wonderful job doing the world building of this story... An exciting and interesting ending.”—The Reading Café
eBook: 9780756417796
STEPHEN LEIGH s an awardwinning author with nineteen science fiction novels and over forty short stories published. He has been a frequent contributor to the Hugo-nominated shared world series Wild Cards, edited by George R. R. Martin. He teaches creative writing at Northern Kentucky University. Stephen Leigh has written Immortal Muse, The Crow of Connemara, the Sunpath duology, and the fantasy trilogy Assassin’s Dawn.
