ANNOTATION

The author of Sight of Proteus and The Selkie brings a unique brand of sci-fi to this riveting story. To long-established worlds of starfaring humans come the Immortals--beings with strange ties to ancient Earth, who seem to live forever, who can travel light years in a day--and who use their strange powers to control the existence of ordinary mortals. Reissue.

FROM THE CRITICS

VOYA - Michael Levy

Distinguished scientist and novelist Sheffield died last November, the same month that this book appeared. Originally published in 1985, it has been revised and expanded to reflect new discoveries in cosmology, cryonics, and other sciences. The story begins on a near-future Earth that is wavering on the edge of environmental collapse. Billionaire Salter Wherry, having despaired over the inability of governments to solve the world's problems, has taken matters into his own hands and established a privately owned space program that has far outstripped that of the United States. Although run on a for-profit basis, the program has a secret purpose-to establish self-supporting human colonies in space that will survive when the inevitable crash occurs. To this end, he has recruited the brilliant sleep and hibernation researcher Judith Niles and her staff, ostensibly to deal with an outbreak of narcolepsy among his construction workers, but in fact, so that they can develop the suspended animation techniques humanity needs to reach the stars. Jump forward more than 25,000 years. Humanity has not only survived the destruction of Earth, but also colonized a wide range of star systems. Moreover, as a result of a variety of scientific advances, many of the characters from part one of the novel are still around, continuing their work, discovering wonders undreamed of in the present day. Sheffield's prose has always been fairly uninspired and his characters are not particularly deep, but there is lots of fascinating scientific extrapolation here and a fair amount of a sense of wonder as well. VOYA Codes: 3Q 3P S A/YA (Readable without serious defects; Will appeal with pushing; Senior High, defined asgrades 10 to 12; Adult and Young Adult). 2002, Baen, 343p,

KLIATT

Is time elastic? It certainly seems stretched in this SF search for immortality. In 2016 A.D. JN is experimenting with somnambulistic existence: slowing down metabolism to the point of near-death for long-lasting life. A singular, wealthy scientist convinces JN to move her science center to a space station: just in time, it seems, as Earthlings blow each other up in a nuclear spasm. Where will the survivors find another planet to inhabit, and how will they find the means to keep exploring life extension? Quick cut to 27,698 A.D. On the planet Pentacost top racer survivors are called to extraplanetary detail￯﾿ﾽand maybe a visit from the Immortals. The winners are called troublemakers, with reason, as they try to uncover the mystery surrounding their adventure. When they get to the heart of the matter, they find themselves facing JN. How long can this time-tripping last? Sheffield is a "hard" SF writer who melds a good plot and engaging characters with intriguing scientific conjectures. Although this reviewer had a hard time believing the length of time that passes between parts of the book, the story is still a good read. KLIATT Codes: SA￯﾿ﾽRecommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2002, Baen, 343p., Farmer

Fiction Magazine Science

I'd put him with Niven and Varlry.

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