Publisher Description
The long-awaited conclusion of the Heorot series from genre legends Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Steven Barnes
Avalon was thriving. The cold sleep colonists from Earth had settled on a verdant, livable world. The fast and cunning predators humans named “grendels” were under control, and the mainland outposts well established. Avalon’s new mainland hydroelectric power station was nearly complete, and when online would compensate for the nuclear power systems lost in the Grendel Wars. Humans would have power, and with power came the ability to make all the necessities for life. They would survive.
They would not survive as a spacefaring people.
What they were losing faster than they knew was the ability to get to space. But unbeknownst to the planet-bound humans, something was moving out there in the stars, decelerating at a rate impossible for a natural object. And its destination was Avalon. The most probable origin was Earth’s Solar System.
This is a novel of first contact—between the human Starborn and the self-named Godsons who followed on, between the first generation of Avalon-born humans and their descendants, and between humans and the almost ineffably alien species native to their new world …
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“The ideological differences inevitably lead to clashes as tension between the humans mounts en route to the thrilling climax. This excellent series finale sticks the landing.”
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Publishers Weekly (starred review)
About the Authors
Larry Niven is the multiple Hugo, Locus, and Nebula Award–winning author of science fiction short stories and novels, including the Ringworld series, as well as many other science fiction masterpieces. His Footfall, coauthored with Jerry Pournelle, was a New York Times bestseller.
Jerry Pournelle (1933–2017) was an American science fiction writer, essayist, and journalist who contributed for many years to the computer magazine Byte. He wrote the popular Janissaries and CoDominium series and was the coauthor of several bestselling science fiction novels, including Lucifer’s Hammer, The Mote in God’s Eye, and the New York Times bestseller Footfall. He had advanced degrees in engineering, political science, statistics, and psychology and, in addition to his career as a fiction writer, had for many years written columns on both politics and technology.
Steven Barnes is a prolific author and scriptwriter who has been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, Cable ACE, and Endeavour awards. His work for television includes episodes of The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, Stargate SG-1, and Andromeda. A lifelong student of human-performance technologies, he holds black belts in judo and karate, has an instructor certificate in Circular Strength Training, and is a trained hypnotherapist.
About Tom Taylorson
Tom Taylorson is an Earphones Award–winning narrator and Chicago-based actor with over a decade of stage experience. In that time he also built a voice-over career and now primarily works as a voice actor. Tom is an adjunct faculty member at Columbia College Chicago, teaching voice-over for interactive media.