NOVA -- SAMUEL R

Given that the suns of Draco stretch almost sixteen light years from end to end, it stands to reason that the cost of transportation is the most important factor of the 32nd century. And since Illyrion is the element most needed for space travel, Lorq von Ray is plenty willing to fly through the core of a recently imploded sun in order to obtain seven tons of it. The potential for profit is so great that Lorq has little difficulty cobbling together an alluring crew that includes a gypsy musician and a moon-obsessed scholar interested in the ancient art of writing a novel. What the crew doesn’t know, though, is that Lorq’s quest is actually fueled by a private revenge so consuming that he’ll stop at nothing to achieve it. In the grandest manner of speculative fiction, Nova is a wise and witty classic that casts a fascinating new light on some of humanity’s oldest truths and enduring myths. These are [at least some of] the ways you can read NOVA: as a fast-action farflung interstellar adventure; as archetypal mystical/mythical allegory (in which the Tarot and the Grail both figure prominently); as modern myth told in the S-F idiom... the reader observes, recollects, or participates in a range of personal experience including violent pain and disfigurement, sensory deprivation and overload, man-machine communion, the drug experience, the creative experience - and inter-personal relationships which include incest and assassination, father-son, leader-follower, human-pet, and lots more! The balance of galactic power in the 31st century revolves around Illyrion, the most precious energy source in the universe. The varied and exotic crew who sign up with Captain Lorq van Ray know their mission is dangerous, and they soon learn that they are involved in a deadly race with the charismatic but vicious leader of an opposing space federation. But they have no idea of Lorq's secret obsession: to gather Illyrion at the source by flying through the very heart of an imploding star. ABOUT THE AUTHOR 11 ABOUT THE AUTHOR 11 ACKNOWLEDGMENT 15 Contents 18 Chapter One 20 Draco, Triton, Hell3, 3172 20 Draco, Earth, Istanbul, 3164 22 Draco, Triton, Hell3, 3172 26 Chapter Two 28 Draco, Triton, Hell3, 3172 28 Chapter Three 41 Draco, Triton, Hell3, 3172 41 Pleiades Federation, Ark, New Ark, 3148 42 Outer Colonies, New Brazillia, Sao Orini, 3149 43 Pleiades Federation, Ark, New Ark, 3162 52 Pleiades Federation/Draco (Caliban transit), 3162 55 Draco, Earth, Paris, 3162 56 Draco, Earth, Nepal, 3162 58 Draco, Earth, Paris, 3162 61 Pleiades Federation, Ark, New Ark, 3162 70 Chapter Four 78 Chapter Five 97 Draco, Vorpis, Phoenix, 3172 97 Chapter Six 121 Draco/Pleiades Federation (Roc transit) 121 Pleiades Federation, other world, CDN, 3172 124 Pleiades Federation/Outer Colonies (Roc transit) 3172 141 Chapter Seven 144 Outer Colonies (Roc transit) 3172 144 Outer Colonies (Black Cockatoo transit), 3172 150 Outer Colonies (Roc transit), 3172 154 Outer Colonies, New Brazillia II, 3172 155 "Given that the suns of Draco stretch almost sixteen light years from end to end, it stands to reason that the cost of transportation is the most important factor of the 32nd century. And since Illyrion is the element most needed for space travel, Lorq von Ray is plenty willing to fly through the core of a recently imploded sun in order to obtain seven tons of it. The potential for profit is so great that Lorq has little difficulty cobbling together an alluring crew that includes a gypsy musician and a moon-obsessed scholar interested in the ancient art of writing a novel. What the crew doesn't know, though, is that Lorq's quest is actually fueled by a private revenge so consuming that he'll stop at nothing to achieve it. In the grandest manner of speculative fiction, Nova is a wise and witty classic that casts a fascinating new light on some of humanity's oldest truths and enduring myths."--Provided by publisher