From the Publisher
With their sun about to go nova, the people of Epictetus III face utter annihilation. Although the
U.S.S. EnterpriseTM has come to lead the rescue operation, there is no way to evacuate a population of over one hundred million, leaving Captain Picard to make an agonizing decision. Should he try to salvage the planet's children, its greatest leaders and thinkers, or its irreplaceable archeological treasures? No matter what he decides, millions must be sacrificed -- unless another solution can be found.
With time running out, Data proposes a revolutionary scientific experiment that could save all of Epictetus III, or doom both the planet and the Enterprise as well.END
About the Author
Pamela Sargent and George Zebrowski have been watching
Star Trek ever since the 1960s, when they were students at the State University of New York at Binghamton.
Pamela Sargent sold her first published story during her senior year in college, and has been a writer ever since. She has won a Nebula Award, a Locus Award, and been a finalist for the Hugo Award; her work has been translated into eleven languages. Her novels include The Sudden Star, Watchstar, The Golden Space, and The Alien Upstairs. Her novel Venus of Dreams was listed as one of the one hundred best science-fiction novels by Library Journal. Earthseed, her first novel for young adults, was chosen as a 1983 Best Book by the American Library Association, and has recently been optioned for motion pictures. Her other acclaimed science-fiction novels include The Shore of Women and Venus of Shadows; The Washington Post Book World has called her "one of the genre's best writers."
Sargent's most recent novel is Ruler of the Sky, a historical novel about Genghis Khan. Gary Jennings, bestselling author of the historical novel Aztec, said about Ruler of the Sky: "This formidably researched and exquisitely written novel is surely destined to be known hereafter as the definitive history of the life and times. and conquests of Genghis, mightiest of Khans." Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, author of Reindeer Moon and The Hidden Life of Dogs, commented: "The book is fascinating from cover to cover and does admirable justice to a man who might very well be called history's single most important and compelling character." Sargent is also the editor of Women of Wonder: The Classic Years and Women of Wonder: The Contemporary Years, two anthologies of science fiction by women.
George Zebrowski's twenty-six books include novels, short-fiction collections, anthologies, and a forthcoming book of essays. His short stories have been nominated for the Nebula Award and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award. Noted science-fiction writer Greg Bear calls him "one of those rare speculators who bases his dreams on science as well as inspiration," and the late Terry Carr, one of the most influential science-fiction editors of recent years, described him as "an authority in the SF field."
Zebrowski has published more than seventy-five works of short fiction and nearly a hundred articles and essays, including reviews for The Washington Post Book World and articles on science for Omni magazine. One of his best-known novels is Macrolife, selected by Library Journal as one of the one hundred best novels of science fiction; Arthur C. Clarke described Macrolife as "a worthy successor to Olaf Stapledon's Star Maker. It's been years since I was so impressed. One of the few books I intend to read again." He is also the author of The Omega Point Trilogy, and his novel Stranger Suns was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year for 1991.
Zebrowski's most recent novel, written in collaboration with scientist/author Charles Pellegrino, is The Killing Star, which the New York Times Book Review called "a novel of such conceptual ferocity and scientific plausibility that it amounts to a reinvention of that old Wellsian staple: Invading Monsters From Outer Space." Booklist commented: "Pellegrino and Zebrowski are working territory not too far removed from Arthur C. Clarke's, and anywhere Clarke is popular, this book should be, too." Their Star Trek novel Dyson Sphere will be published in 1997.
Pamela Sargent and George Zebrowski live in upstate New York.
