From jeff.carver@genie.geis.com Mon Jun 19 00:38:11 1995 Received: from relay1.geis.com (relay1.geis.com [192.77.188.2]) by konrad.lysator.liu.se (8.6.11/8.6.11) with ESMTP id WAA04814 for ; Sun, 18 Jun 1995 22:17:43 +0200 From: jeff.carver@genie.geis.com Received: by relay1.geis.com (1.37.109.11/15.6) id AA057226574; Sun, 18 Jun 1995 20:16:15 GMT Message-Id: <199506182016.AA057226574@relay1.geis.com> Date: Sun, 18 Jun 95 19:45:00 UTC To: matoh@lysator.liu.se Subject: upload again X-Genie-Id: 2165216 X-Genie-From: JEFF.CARVER Status: RO Content-Length: 6955 I was browsing on your homepage and noticed that in my previous transmission of my bibliography, some of the data got lost. So I'm trying again! Here goes: Author bio / Bibliography / Info about TV Show Jeffrey A. Carver Biographical Data Jeffrey A. Carver is the author of numerous science fiction novels, including NEPTUNE CROSSING (1994) and STRANGE ATTRACTORS (1995), the first two volumes of THE CHAOS CHRONICLES, a hard science fiction series inspired by the emerging science of chaos theory. Publishers Weekly said of NEPTUNE CROSSING: "Carver masterfully captures the joy of exploration...[and displays] his gift for the fine rendering of difficult scientific concepts," while Science Fiction Chronicle named it one of the best science fiction novels of 1994. Kirkus Reviews calls STRANGE ATTRACTORS: "dazzling, thrilling, innovative...probably Carver's best effort to date." Prior to this, Carver wrote the paired novels DRAGON RIGGER (1993) and DRAGONS IN THE STARS (1992), blending elements of science fiction and fantasy--as well as the hard SF novel FROM A CHANGELING STAR (1989) and its sequel, DOWN THE STREAM OF STARS (1990), combining nanotechnology, supernovas and cosmic strings, and a great deal in between. His favorite themes include star travel, alien contact, artificial intelligence, and transcendent realities--and the moral, ethical, and spiritual implications of these possibilities--with a strong emphasis on humanistic concerns. Other important novels include THE RAPTURE EFFECT (1987) and the epic novel THE INFINITY LINK (1984), which was praised by SF and Fantasy Review as "a rich novel of immense scope, with the most detailed and brilliant descriptive passages of empathic and telepathic communication," and by Analog as "a satisfying and rewarding visionary experience." His early novels, SEAS OF ERNATHE, STAR RIGGER'S WAY, and PANGLOR established the star rigger universe to which he later returned in DRAGONS IN THE STARS and DRAGON RIGGER, with further explorations planned. Originally a native of Huron, Ohio, Carver has lived in New England since graduating from Brown University in 1971 with a degree in English. In 1974 he earned a Master of Marine Affairs degree from the University of Rhode Island. He has been a high school and collegiate wrestler, a scuba diving instructor, a quahog diver, a UPS sorter, a word-processing consultant, a private pilot, and a stay-at-home dad. He lives with his family in the Boston area, where he is a full-time writer and a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and The Authors Guild. His interests include science, religion, nature, underwater exploration, and flying. BIBLIOGRAPHY Published Works by Jeffrey A. Carver (in order of publication) Novels: SEAS OF ERNATHE, 1976, Laser Books STAR RIGGER'S WAY, 1978, Dell Books, SF Book Club; revised edition, 1994, Tor Books PANGLOR, 1980, Dell Books; new edition forthcoming, Tor Books THE INFINITY LINK, 1984, Bluejay Books (hc), Tor (pb), SF Book Club THE RAPTURE EFFECT, 1987, Tor Books (hc&pb), SF Book Club ROGER ZELAZNY'S ALIEN SPEEDWAY: CLYPSIS (collaborative novel), 1987, Bantam Spectra FROM A CHANGELING STAR, 1989, Bantam Spectra, SF Book Club DOWN THE STREAM OF STARS, 1990, Bantam Spectra DRAGONS IN THE STARS, 1992, Tor Books, SF Book Club DRAGON RIGGER, 1993, Tor Books (hc), 1994 (pb) NEPTUNE CROSSING, The Chaos Chronicles: Book One, 1994, Tor Books (hc); pb forthcoming 1995 STRANGE ATTRACTORS, The Chaos Chronicles: Book Two, Tor 1995 --forthcoming-- THE INFINITE SEA, The Chaos Chronicles: Book Three, Tor 1996. Short fiction: "...Of No Return" -- Fiction, 1974 "Alien Persuasion" -- Galaxy, 1975 [formed the basis for the novel, STAR RIGGER'S WAY] "Seastate Zero" -- Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1977 "Love Rogo" -- FUTURE LOVE: A SCIENCE FICTION TRIAD (Bobbs- Merrill, 1977) "What Gods Are These?" -- Galileo, 1978 "Though All the Mountains Lie Between" -- Science Fiction Times, 1980 and DRAGONS OF DARKNESS (Ace, 1981) [formed the basis for the novel, DRAGONS IN THE STARS] "Life-Tides" -- HABITATS (Daw, 1984) "Reality School: In the Entropy Zone" -- Science Fiction Age, March 1995 "Shapeshifter Finals" --WARRIORS OF BLOOD AND DREAM, edited by Roger Zelazny (Avonova, 1995) His work has been translated into German, Russian, Italian, Greek, Hungarian, and Japanese. SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY WRITING an educational television series with Jeffrey Carver In winter of 1995, author Jeffrey A. Carver developed and hosted a five-part educational TV series called SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY WRITING, produced by the Massachusetts Corporation for Educational Telecommunications (MCET), a distance-learning network based in Cambridge, Mass. The shows, which had excellent production values, were aimed at junior high school classes (grades 6-8) and were broadcast live via satellite directly into nearly 80 schools around the U.S. A number of schools participated interactively, via phonelink connections. The series consisted of teaching by Carver, discussions with guests, interactions with computer-sidekick Tinman, various kinds of preproduced material, live exercises with the interactive classrooms, and on-air review of selected students' writing. Topics covered included an overview of SF and fantasy literature, world building, human character and dialogue, aliens, conflict and plot, and finishing what you start. Studio guests were authors Craig Shaw Gardner, Jane Yolen, Thomas A. Easton, Ellen Kushner, and artist Cortney Skinner. States represented included Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, California, Montana, and Florida. The enthusiasm of the teachers and students was tremendous. One representative comment from a teacher: "Your series has been inspiring an interest in just about everything! Our seventh graders are beginning to see connections between science, social studies, art, and language arts. It's fabulous." Carver described the show as an extremely satisfying experience personally, in large part because it helped to excite quite a number of kids about writing in general, and SF and fantasy in particular. Videotapes of the show are being shown at a number of SF conventions, including the Science Fiction Research Association Conference and Intersection (the 1995 World Science Fiction Convention). The show has been scheduled by MCET for another season, beginning in the fall of 1995. For further information, contact: JEFF.CARVER@GENIE.GEIS.COM From jeff.carver@genie.geis.com Mon Jun 19 00:41:53 1995 Received: from relay1.geis.com (relay1.geis.com [192.77.188.2]) by konrad.lysator.liu.se (8.6.11/8.6.11) with ESMTP id WAA04816 for ; Sun, 18 Jun 1995 22:17:48 +0200 From: jeff.carver@genie.geis.com Received: by relay1.geis.com (1.37.109.11/15.6) id AA057766596; Sun, 18 Jun 1995 20:16:36 GMT Message-Id: <199506182016.AA057766596@relay1.geis.com> Date: Sun, 18 Jun 95 19:49:00 UTC To: matoh@lysator.liu.se Subject: descriptions of books X-Genie-Id: 8101241 X-Genie-From: JEFF.CARVER Status: RO Content-Length: 45529 The following information is in the nature of companion data to the bibliography -- plot summaries, with review quotes, of the various books. In case you'd like to use it. Science Fiction novels of Jeffrey A. Carver Grouped (roughly) by series or universe, more recent books listed first. "Jeffrey Carver imagines wonders and allows us to share his vision." --Terry Carr *** Books of THE CHAOS CHRONICLES *** --------------------------------------- a sweeping hard SF series inspired by the emerging science of chaos Volume One: NEPTUNE CROSSING ---------------------------- Tor hardcover April 1994, ISBN: 0-312-85640-7 Tor paperback August 1995, ISBN: 0-812-53515-4 Named one of the best SF novels of 1994 by Science Fiction Chronicle Two unlikely heroes... When survey pilot John Bandicut falls into a cavern on Triton, his life changes forever...and for an alien quarx, one hundred million years of solitude suddenly come to an end. It is humanity's first contact with an alien presence--and Bandicut can tell no one about the disembodied quarx that has taken up residence in his mind. The quarx, part of an eons-old interstellar civilization that uses advanced chaos theory to predict catastrophic events, seeks to prevent a cometary collision that threatens the Earth. But it must have help--and Bandicut must trust the alien, knowing that humanity's very existence may be at stake. He must break all the rules, and sacrifice everything he holds dear, to prevent a cataclysm that would destroy an unsuspecting humanity. Leaving friends and lover behind, hurtling across the solar system in a stolen spaceship, Bandicut can only hope that his desperate actions will save the Earth--even if he doesn't live to see it again. Quotes and Reviews: "Jeff Carver is a hard sf writer who gets it right--his science and his people are equally convincing. NEPTUNE CROSSING combines his strengths, from a chilling look at alien machine intelligence, to cutting-edge chaos theory, to the pangs of finite humans in the face of the infinite. If you like intriguing ideas delivered in an exciting plot, this is your meat." --Gregory Benford "Masterfully captures the joy of exploration...a fiery conclusion sets Bandicut up for further adventures in yet another alien world, where Carver may find greater room to employ his gift for the fine rendering of difficult scientific concepts." --PUBLISHERS WEEKLY "Reveals an alien encounter brushing hard against a soul, and takes us from there to the far reaches of the cosmos, all with the sure touch of a writer who knows his science. Jeff Carver has done it again!" --David Brin "Solid science, a complex and believable protagonist--an ordinary man rising to extraordinary circumstances--and an alien presence that is at once convincingly strange and deeply real. I'm really glad to have read this one." --Melissa Scott "A roaring, cross-the-solar-system adventure of the first water. This is a winner, the kind of stuff that made us all love science fiction. Recommended with enthusiasm." --Jack McDevitt "One of the very best things Carver has written, a traditional adventure filled with mystery and wonder and featuring a likable and believable protagonist thrust onto a stage for which he is ill prepared." --SCIENCE FICTION CHRONICLE "High-octane space adventure: mystery, humor, theoretical physics, and one of the more interesting SF aliens you've likely encountered in a long while." --Allen Steele Volume Two: STRANGE ATTRACTORS ------------------------------ Tor hardcover 1995, ISBN: 0-312-85641-5 Tor paperback forthcoming 1996 A ship full of worlds... For John Bandicut, Earth is but a memory, since he and the alien quarx Charlie saved the planet from destruction by ramming a wayward comet with their alien-powered ship. Miraculously alive, Bandicut is stranded somewhere on the fringes of the galaxy, docked at a structure of unimaginable size. Exploring the world within, he finds that he and countless other beings have been brought to this vast "shipworld," which contains countless alien biospheres joined both physically and by a web of n-dimensional energy. But he and his new friends Ik and Li-Jared cannot enjoy the marvels of Shipworld. Manipulated by powers beyond their knowledge, they are soon caught in a cascade of unseen forces, like the strange attractors of chaos theory, driven toward some greater purpose. Within Shipworld lurks a malign entity known as the "boojum," which is corrupting critical intelligence systems. Bandicut is inexorably drawn into battle with this force, which threatens to destroy them along with the rest of Shipworld. For Bandicut, a long journey into the unknown has begun. Reviews and quotes: "Has all the ingredients for well-deserved popularity: an original creative angle using the budding science of chaos theory; an intriguing alien life-form in the symbiotic quarx, Charlie; and an irresistibly readable story line reinforced by fascinating speculative science. Readers who come this far will be hooked for the series' duration." --BOOKLIST "A dazzling, thrilling, innovative space opera...probably Carver's best effort to date." --KIRKUS REVIEWS "Carver's latest novel showcases his own fertile imagination and his talent for creating a host of engagingly sympathetic characters." --LIBRARY JOURNAL "Carver is at his rousing best in this wild ride into the heart of an enigmatic world beyond the Milky Way. This is science fiction out at the frontier. Maybe beyond the frontier." --Jack McDevitt, author of THE ENGINES OF GOD. Volume Three: THE INFINITE SEA ------------------------------ Tor hardcover forthcoming 1996 In an alien sea... John Bandicut and his company of friends have journeyed from the mysterious Shipworld back into the galaxy. The "star-spanner" bubble which carried them has brought them to an ocean world...and left them underwater, and sinking rapidly. Caught by mer creatures, they are brought to an undersea city, where the race of sea-people known as the Neri live in perpetual night. The Neri roam the ocean at will. But they face multiple dangers--ranging from an inimical race called the landers, to a failure of their irreplaceable deepsea factories, to a terrifyingly powerful object in the deep abyss, now stirring to life after a long hiatus. Is this why the company was brought here--to help the Neri, as alien powers helped save Earth? For Bandicut, the discovery that the Maw of the Abyss is a stargate--perhaps a stargate gone wrong--is only the beginning of an answer. (A work in progress, nearing completion--June 1995.) *** Books in the Star Rigger Universe *** ------------------------------------------- In the Flux, visions of the mind converge with reality: the currents of hyperspace become dreamscapes of land and sea and sky. But visions can be perilous, and real... DRAGONS IN THE STARS -------------------- Tor paperback 1992, ISBN: 0-812-53303-8 Science Fiction Book Club Alternate (Sequel: DRAGON RIGGER) A star rigger far from home... Jael LeBrae, a young female star rigger, rebels against an abusive ship's master and dares to take "the mountain route" through a region of space where legend has it that dragons dwell. But no one believes that _real_ dragons lurk in the mountains, ready to duel unwary riggers... until dragons actually appear in the night sky, challenging Jael to a fight to the death. Help appears when a dragon named Highwing befriends the lonely rigger--but only afterward does Jael realize that she has been caught up in an ancient battle of good and evil, her own appearance foretold by an age-old prophecy. It is only upon her return to the dragon realm that she discovers her friend Highwing sentenced to death for his acts of kindness, and her own life declared forfeit if she should try to intervene. But intervene she must, for the sake of a friend who risked his life to save hers. (SF with elements of fantasy.) Quotes and reviews: "Carver is a strong SF writer, with a good feel for both the hard SF elements and the people he populates them with. DRAGONS IN THE STARS takes his writing ability one step further, as he shows he is not only comfortable working with fantasy elements, but able to succeed at the tough job of melding them into a science-fictional environment without making the SF aspects of the story lose their sense of realism. A well- written, enjoyable book that will impress the technology-oriented readers as well as social/characterization-oriented readers." --C. von Rospach, AMAZING STORIES "An interesting and entertaining blend of genres." --SCIENCE FICTION CHRONICLE "Carver's prose effectively lends a spare yet evocative resonance to the draconian realm. Like a good stage performer, this story should leave its audience wanting more." --John Bunnell, AMAZING STORIES DRAGON RIGGER ------------- Tor hardcover 1993, ISBN: 0-312-85061-1 Tor paperback 1994, ISBN: 0-812-53323-2 (Sequel to DRAGONS IN THE STARS, and a personal favorite of the author's) SF with mythic dimension... The realm of dragons fights a desperate war against an unseen foe, a creature of terrible power, known as Tar-skel, "the Nail of Strength." Once defeated by star-rigger Jael at the Black Peak, Tar-skel now seeks to shape all of space and time into a web of power and death. But first he must annihilate the few valiant dragons who remain to oppose him. Though the sacred Dream Mountain, source of knowledge and life to all dragons, has been captured by the enemy, a single hope burns in the dragons' hearts. Led by Windrush, son of Highwing, the dragons long for fulfillment of the prophecy: the "One" who shall come from outside the realm, the One who shall challenge the darkness. The "One" is Jael LeBrae, human star rigger. Once before, Jael aided the dragons in their struggle. Now she must return to face at last the terrible wrath of Tar-skel. And according to prophecy, the cost is her own life. Reviews: "A most excellent adventure that would make a grand movie if it were not that the special effects budget would surely be quite brutal even in this age of computer animation.... If there is a motto for this novel, it is _solidarnosc_, solidarity, the power to be gained by sticking with one's friends, even by sacrificing for the good of others...there is immense verve, energy, momentum, and power...the reader stays with Carver all the way." --Thomas A. Easton, ANALOG "A refreshingly unique setting and excellently realized characters." --PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY STAR RIGGER'S WAY ----------------- Dell paperback, 1978 Main Selection of the Science Fiction Book Club Tor paperback (revised edition) 1994, ISBN: 0-812-53444-1 In the streams of space... His rigger crewmates suddenly and horribly dead, Gev Carlyle is adrift in the Flux, the "subjective sea" that carries starships at faster-than-light speeds. His lone companion, and his only hope for survival, is a cantankerous castaway alien. Only a compatible rigger team, their visions meshed in psychic unity, can safely harness the most turbulent currents of the Flux--and Carlyle's ship is being drawn inexorably toward a deadly maelstrom, the unthinkable stresses of the Hurricane Flume. For even a scant chance at survival, he needs the catlike alien's help. But the price for that help is a complete merging of minds and memories. And Carlyle, at war with his own past, dreads that union more than death itself. The opening novel of the Star Rigger universe. Reviews and quotes: "A novel of character-change, maturation, abandonment of illusions and discovering-of-self...it's an engaging science fantasy and the novel will leave you saying to yourself, 'Yeah!'" --Richard E. Geis, GALAXY "Learning to communicate, to accept change, to understand the past, to express intimacy become rites of passage for the human Gev Carlyle and his felinoid cynthian crewmate Cephean." --PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (see end of file for additional star rigger novels) *** Stand-alone Novels *** -------------------------- THE INFINITY LINK ----------------- Bluejay Books hardcover, 1984 Tor paperback, 1985 Tor reissue forthcoming, 1996 Science Fiction Book Club selection Transcendent encounter... In the year 2034, a young woman named Mozelle Moi learns that her work as a test subject in a top-secret tachyon transmission project will soon be terminated. The purpose of the project has never been revealed to her; she only knows that she is in love with David Kadin, a man she has met only through the tachyon cyberlink. Desperate not to lose her chance at love, she conspires with a programmer friend to join her with Kadin through the tachyon transmitter. She succeeds--but the truth that awaits her at the end of the tachyon beam is one that will shatter not only her own ambitions of love, but the plans of a secret government program to establish contact with visitors from the stars. Trapped by her love for Kadin, and caught in a telepathic link with the ancient Talenki voyagers, Mozy's personal odyssey becomes irrevocably entwined with the fate of all of Humanity. Combining visionary scientific speculation with passionate human characters, THE INFINITY LINK is an epic work of transcendent science fiction and an exploration into the very nature of humanity. Quotes and reviews: "A rich novel of immense scope, with the most detailed and brilliant descriptive passages of empathic and telepathic communication. Highly recommended." --SF AND FANTASY REVIEWS "A long, ambitious work, painted on a canvas as big as the solar system. The concept itself is even larger--the eventual linkup of various intelligent life forms of our galaxy, including humans, whales and several alien races. Carver carefully sets up his story and develops it in a meticulous fashion...it works very well." --PUBLISHERS WEEKLY "A complex, rich, and satisfying novel." --FANTASY REVIEW "A compelling vision of our world on the day after tomorrow." --Joan D. Vinge, author of THE SUMMER QUEEN "A satisfying and rewarding visionary experience." --ANALOG THE RAPTURE EFFECT ------------------ Tor hardcover, 1987 Tor paperback, 1988 Science Fiction Book Club selection At the crossroads of dance, music, and interstellar war... The war was started by an intelligent computer and fought by robots, and only a few people even knew there was a war at all. But now human beings are dying, and the computer wants it to stop. But it can't act without changes in its program, and for that it needs help from the outside. And when the Gnostic Control System searches for conspirators, it chooses its friends carefully indeed: Pali: a public relations director of the Company, a woman who broods far too much upon her unfulfilled ambitions... Ramo: a cocky, flamboyant senso-dancer and sculptor, who prefers a musical jamdam to serious conversation... Sage: a socially inept systems designer, to whom the rapture-field interface is more real than life... And three of the alien Ell: Harybdartt, who would rather die with dignity than betray his people; Lingrhetta, who tries to unravel the meaning of human dance and music, pain and love; and Moramaharta, the binder, who must persuade his fellow decision-makers to risk everything for the sake of a fragile bridge of understanding across the stars. Quotes and reviews: "An absorbing, suspenseful novel of first contact and interstellar war. It's a complex book, requiring concentration from the reader, and is well worth the effort. The book's ending is excellent: upbeat without being Pollyannaish. THE RAPTURE EFFECT is a strong novel, and I recommend it." --Janice Eisen, ABORIGINAL SF "Meaty and satisfying. I enjoyed this one greatly." --Thomas Easton, ANALOG "A very good story, with both aliens and future humans well worked out, believable as well as original." --Poul Anderson "A lively dance of ideas--first contact, interstellar war, artificial intelligence, alien culture--and it moves at a rapid pace, from Earth through cyberspace to the Horsehead Nebula, and various points between. It's well-worth the trip ticket." --Roger Zelazny *** Novels of the Starstream *** -------------------------------- FROM A CHANGELING STAR ---------------------- Bantam Spectra paperback, 1989 Science Fiction Book Club alternate (another personal favorite of the author's) Into a dying star... Across the galaxy, tensions are rising between the authoritarian Tandesko Triune and the free-marketeers of the Auricle Alliance. Nevertheless, scientists of both sides have come together in Project Starmuse, to observe the giant star Betelgeuse as it goes supernova. At the space station imbedded inside the roiling star, the team anxiously awaits the return of the one man essential to the success of the project. On Kantano's World, astronomer Willard Ruskin must discover why someone has infected him with nano-agents--artificially intelligent, microscopic computers, which alter his appearance, his memory, his very DNA. Drawn into a conflict from which not even death will free him, Ruskin must find a way to reach Betelgeuse before his enemies sabotage Starmuse...and humankind's future among the stars. A harrowing journey from inside the human cell--to the mind of a dying star. Quotes and Reviews: "Starts with a bang and keeps getting better. Carver handles not one, but two hot topics, and presents both vividly." --David Brin "Running from the micro to the macro and back again, redefining sentience, space-time, and perhaps humanity along the way, FROM A CHANGELING STAR is a fast-paced puzzler, rush in invention, and Jeffrey A. Carver's most ambitious book to date." --Roger Zelazny "Carver does an excellent job of tickling your sense of wonder, and in the end he leaves you both satisfied and craving another serving of his considerable talent." --ANALOG "Carver's best book yet! FROM A CHANGELING STAR combines deft characterization and fascinating extrapolation into a complex, compulsively readable thriller. I wish all science fiction novels could be this good." --Craig Shaw Gardner "This is the rare science fiction novel that has everything: a mysterious and exciting story that grabs you from the first page, characters (both alien and human) who will come to matter a great deal to you, and some fascinating scientific concepts (from nanotechnology to hyperstrings). Most of all, it has what only the best science fiction can offer: an almost mystical sense of the wonder and strangeness of this universe and the creatures who inhabit it. If you're not crying at the end, you're a robot. It is Carver's best book." --Richard Bowker, author of REPLICA and DOVER BEACH "As audacious and imaginative as the best of John Varley, with characters as memorable as those of Sturgeon or Zelazny, and with one of the most powerful endings in science fiction." --Spider Robinson DOWN THE STREAM OF STARS ------------------------ Bantam Spectra paperback, 1990 (sequel to FROM A CHANGELING STAR) Named one of the best SF novels of 1990 by SCIENCE FICTION CHRONICLE Into the heart of the galaxy... A great diaspora deep into the galaxy has begun--made possible by an interstellar gateway known as the starstream. Created by the human- engineered collapse of Betelgeuse into a black hole, the starstream is also a living entity: born of the merged personalities of the once- living star, the starstream's human architect Willard Ruskin, and several other sentients who died in its creation. Who could have imagined the wonders that would be revealed, or the terrors unleashed, in the starstream? Among the perils is an enigmatic race known as the Throgs--shadowy beings that live in the n-space of the starstream, beings so alien they seem to understand only destruction and death. Entire worlds have died when Throgs have appeared. Colony-bound aboard starship _Charity_ are one Claudi Melnik, a child of uncommon talents--and an AI named Jeaves, who has his own agenda, who almost hopes for an encounter with Throgs. When the attack occurs, Claudi must face alone a peril from beyond space and time. But no one, not even Jeaves, could have imagined the outcome, or the quarter from which unexpected help would arrive. An epic journey across the gulf between human and alien, to the heart of consciousness itself. Quotes and reviews: "It was no surprise that...Jeffrey Carver's DOWN THE STREAM OF STARS would have heavy emphasis on science as well as good writing." (Don D'Ammassa--naming the book to SF CHRONICLE's "Best Novels of 1990" list.) "I enjoyed it immensely. Carver provides another wild ride through a deranged cosmos. His imagination is matched only by his compassion. Marvelous effort!" --Jack McDevitt, author of A TALENT FOR WAR "Carver's ingenuity is everywhere apparent." --LOCUS *** Collaborative Novel *** -------------------------- ROGER ZELAZNY'S ALIEN SPEEDWAY: Book 1, CLYPSIS ----------------------------------------------- Bantam Spectra paperback, 1987 Raceway to the stars... Imagine Clypsis, an entire solar system designed as the most awesome racetrack in the history of the sport. Imagine a young hero from Earth, braving the unknown to reach Clypsis, where his dream of being a faster-than-light racer can come true. Mike Murray makes his way from the racing pits to the cockpit of the universe's most dangerous and exhilarating challenge... Background by Roger Zelazny, novel by Jeffrey A. Carver, technical drawings by automotive designer Hayashi. Sequels PITFALL and THE WEB written by Thomas Wylde. Reviews: "Zelazny has blessed a string of round robin novels by a group of junior authors, based on his idea for a Big Racetrack in the Sky, a place where the greatest racers and the fastest vehicles would come together for the most exciting races ever run... Young readers will find it every bit as fascinating as an earlier generation found PLANET OF LIGHT by Raymond F. Jones or SONS OF THE OCEAN DEEP by Bryce Walton. Carver does a creditable job of moving his part of the story along. Carver and his successors may make fusion race groupies out of us yet." --Dan Chow, LOCUS "Carver's a good author, and in CLYPSIS he writes a nice coming of age tale. Carver's got the energy of the track, the obsession that makes people attempt the impossible down cold. This is a good book." --Chuq Von Rospach, OTHERREALMS *** Other novels of the Star Rigger Universe *** ------------------------------------------------ PANGLOR ------- Dell paperback, 1980 Tor reprint forthcoming 1996 (?) The novel that sets the stage for starship rigging--the discovery that enables the transition from "foreshortening" star travel to the freedom of the Flux, with an unlikely hero, Panglor Balef. "An original and very charming novel, with a particularly unusual protagonist." --PUBLISHERS WEEKLY SEAS OF ERNATHE --------------- Laser Books paperback, 1976 Millennia after the skills of starship rigging have been lost...can Seth Perland find the key to rediscovery, on a world of the mysterious sea people, the Nale'nid? "Jeffrey Carver imagines wonders and allows us to share his vision." --Terry Carr "A wonderful ability to deal sensitively with the interrelationships of characters and their environments... [Carver succeeds] in creating a race and milieu that is not only a good solution to his mystery, but is emotionally effective and believable, something the reader will remember after finishing the book. Carver is becoming a writer who will demand attention." --GALILEO Magazine ---------------------------- Watch for Jeffrey A. Carver's homepage forthcoming on the World Wide Web. The author can be reached via email at JEFF.CARVER@GENIE.GEIS.COM ---------- GE Electronic Mail To: SF-LOVERS-REQUEST@SFLOVERS.RUTGERS.EDU@INET# Sub: Descriptions of books Sent on 6/16/1995 at 5:09p Hi. I recently emailed you some bibliographical info on my SF novels, which I hope reached you okay. I thought you might also like to attach the following, which contains plot descriptions, as well as review quotes, etc., for the individual books. (If I sent you a collection of quotes before, this could substitute; it contains the quotes, but also additional info.) Thanks! Science Fiction novels of Jeffrey A. Carver Grouped (roughly) by series or universe, more recent books listed first. "Jeffrey Carver imagines wonders and allows us to share his vision." --Terry Carr *** Books of THE CHAOS CHRONICLES *** --------------------------------------- a sweeping hard SF series inspired by the emerging science of chaos Volume One: NEPTUNE CROSSING ---------------------------- Tor hardcover April 1994, ISBN: 0-312-85640-7 Tor paperback August 1995, ISBN: 0-812-53515-4 Named one of the best SF novels of 1994 by Science Fiction Chronicle Two unlikely heroes... When survey pilot John Bandicut falls into a cavern on Triton, his life changes forever...and for an alien quarx, one hundred million years of solitude suddenly come to an end. It is humanity's first contact with an alien presence--and Bandicut can tell no one about the disembodied quarx that has taken up residence in his mind. The quarx, part of an eons-old interstellar civilization that uses advanced chaos theory to predict catastrophic events, seeks to prevent a cometary collision that threatens the Earth. But it must have help--and Bandicut must trust the alien, knowing that humanity's very existence may be at stake. He must break all the rules, and sacrifice everything he holds dear, to prevent a cataclysm that would destroy an unsuspecting humanity. Leaving friends and lover behind, hurtling across the solar system in a stolen spaceship, Bandicut can only hope that his desperate actions will save the Earth--even if he doesn't live to see it again. Quotes and Reviews: "Jeff Carver is a hard sf writer who gets it right--his science and his people are equally convincing. NEPTUNE CROSSING combines his strengths, from a chilling look at alien machine intelligence, to cutting-edge chaos theory, to the pangs of finite humans in the face of the infinite. If you like intriguing ideas delivered in an exciting plot, this is your meat." --Gregory Benford "Masterfully captures the joy of exploration...a fiery conclusion sets Bandicut up for further adventures in yet another alien world, where Carver may find greater room to employ his gift for the fine rendering of difficult scientific concepts." --PUBLISHERS WEEKLY "Reveals an alien encounter brushing hard against a soul, and takes us from there to the far reaches of the cosmos, all with the sure touch of a writer who knows his science. Jeff Carver has done it again!" --David Brin "Solid science, a complex and believable protagonist--an ordinary man rising to extraordinary circumstances--and an alien presence that is at once convincingly strange and deeply real. I'm really glad to have read this one." --Melissa Scott "A roaring, cross-the-solar-system adventure of the first water. This is a winner, the kind of stuff that made us all love science fiction. Recommended with enthusiasm." --Jack McDevitt "One of the very best things Carver has written, a traditional adventure filled with mystery and wonder and featuring a likable and believable protagonist thrust onto a stage for which he is ill prepared." --SCIENCE FICTION CHRONICLE "High-octane space adventure: mystery, humor, theoretical physics, and one of the more interesting SF aliens you've likely encountered in a long while." --Allen Steele Volume Two: STRANGE ATTRACTORS ------------------------------ Tor hardcover 1995, ISBN: 0-312-85641-5 Tor paperback forthcoming 1996 A ship full of worlds... For John Bandicut, Earth is but a memory, since he and the alien quarx Charlie saved the planet from destruction by ramming a wayward comet with their alien-powered ship. Miraculously alive, Bandicut is stranded somewhere on the fringes of the galaxy, docked at a structure of unimaginable size. Exploring the world within, he finds that he and countless other beings have been brought to this vast "shipworld," which contains countless alien biospheres joined both physically and by a web of n-dimensional energy. But he and his new friends Ik and Li-Jared cannot enjoy the marvels of Shipworld. Manipulated by powers beyond their knowledge, they are soon caught in a cascade of unseen forces, like the strange attractors of chaos theory, driven toward some greater purpose. Within Shipworld lurks a malign entity known as the "boojum," which is corrupting critical intelligence systems. Bandicut is inexorably drawn into battle with this force, which threatens to destroy them along with the rest of Shipworld. For Bandicut, a long journey into the unknown has begun. Reviews and quotes: "Has all the ingredients for well-deserved popularity: an original creative angle using the budding science of chaos theory; an intriguing alien life-form in the symbiotic quarx, Charlie; and an irresistibly readable story line reinforced by fascinating speculative science. Readers who come this far will be hooked for the series' duration." --BOOKLIST "A dazzling, thrilling, innovative space opera...probably Carver's best effort to date." --KIRKUS REVIEWS "Carver's latest novel showcases his own fertile imagination and his talent for creating a host of engagingly sympathetic characters." --LIBRARY JOURNAL "Carver is at his rousing best in this wild ride into the heart of an enigmatic world beyond the Milky Way. This is science fiction out at the frontier. Maybe beyond the frontier." --Jack McDevitt, author of THE ENGINES OF GOD. Volume Three: THE INFINITE SEA ------------------------------ Tor hardcover forthcoming 1996 In an alien sea... John Bandicut and his company of friends have journeyed from the mysterious Shipworld back into the galaxy. The "star-spanner" bubble which carried them has brought them to an ocean world...and left them underwater, and sinking rapidly. Caught by mer creatures, they are brought to an undersea city, where the race of sea-people known as the Neri live in perpetual night. The Neri roam the ocean at will. But they face multiple dangers--ranging from an inimical race called the landers, to a failure of their irreplaceable deepsea factories, to a terrifyingly powerful object in the deep abyss, now stirring to life after a long hiatus. Is this why the company was brought here--to help the Neri, as alien powers helped save Earth? For Bandicut, the discovery that the Maw of the Abyss is a stargate--perhaps a stargate gone wrong--is only the beginning of an answer. (A work in progress, nearing completion--June 1995.) *** Books in the Star Rigger Universe *** ------------------------------------------- In the Flux, visions of the mind converge with reality: the currents of hyperspace become dreamscapes of land and sea and sky. But visions can be perilous, and real... DRAGONS IN THE STARS -------------------- Tor paperback 1992, ISBN: 0-812-53303-8 Science Fiction Book Club Alternate (Sequel: DRAGON RIGGER) A star rigger far from home... Jael LeBrae, a young female star rigger, rebels against an abusive ship's master and dares to take "the mountain route" through a region of space where legend has it that dragons dwell. But no one believes that _real_ dragons lurk in the mountains, ready to duel unwary riggers... until dragons actually appear in the night sky, challenging Jael to a fight to the death. Help appears when a dragon named Highwing befriends the lonely rigger--but only afterward does Jael realize that she has been caught up in an ancient battle of good and evil, her own appearance foretold by an age-old prophecy. It is only upon her return to the dragon realm that she discovers her friend Highwing sentenced to death for his acts of kindness, and her own life declared forfeit if she should try to intervene. But intervene she must, for the sake of a friend who risked his life to save hers. (SF with elements of fantasy.) Quotes and reviews: "Carver is a strong SF writer, with a good feel for both the hard SF elements and the people he populates them with. DRAGONS IN THE STARS takes his writing ability one step further, as he shows he is not only comfortable working with fantasy elements, but able to succeed at the tough job of melding them into a science-fictional environment without making the SF aspects of the story lose their sense of realism. A well- written, enjoyable book that will impress the technology-oriented readers as well as social/characterization-oriented readers." --C. von Rospach, AMAZING STORIES "An interesting and entertaining blend of genres." --SCIENCE FICTION CHRONICLE "Carver's prose effectively lends a spare yet evocative resonance to the draconian realm. Like a good stage performer, this story should leave its audience wanting more." --John Bunnell, AMAZING STORIES DRAGON RIGGER ------------- Tor hardcover 1993, ISBN: 0-312-85061-1 Tor paperback 1994, ISBN: 0-812-53323-2 (Sequel to DRAGONS IN THE STARS, and a personal favorite of the author's) SF with mythic dimension... The realm of dragons fights a desperate war against an unseen foe, a creature of terrible power, known as Tar-skel, "the Nail of Strength." Once defeated by star-rigger Jael at the Black Peak, Tar-skel now seeks to shape all of space and time into a web of power and death. But first he must annihilate the few valiant dragons who remain to oppose him. Though the sacred Dream Mountain, source of knowledge and life to all dragons, has been captured by the enemy, a single hope burns in the dragons' hearts. Led by Windrush, son of Highwing, the dragons long for fulfillment of the prophecy: the "One" who shall come from outside the realm, the One who shall challenge the darkness. The "One" is Jael LeBrae, human star rigger. Once before, Jael aided the dragons in their struggle. Now she must return to face at last the terrible wrath of Tar-skel. And according to prophecy, the cost is her own life. Reviews: "A most excellent adventure that would make a grand movie if it were not that the special effects budget would surely be quite brutal even in this age of computer animation.... If there is a motto for this novel, it is _solidarnosc_, solidarity, the power to be gained by sticking with one's friends, even by sacrificing for the good of others...there is immense verve, energy, momentum, and power...the reader stays with Carver all the way." --Thomas A. Easton, ANALOG "A refreshingly unique setting and excellently realized characters." --PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY STAR RIGGER'S WAY ----------------- Dell paperback, 1978 Main Selection of the Science Fiction Book Club Tor paperback (revised edition) 1994, ISBN: 0-812-53444-1 In the streams of space... His rigger crewmates suddenly and horribly dead, Gev Carlyle is adrift in the Flux, the "subjective sea" that carries starships at faster-than-light speeds. His lone companion, and his only hope for survival, is a cantankerous castaway alien. Only a compatible rigger team, their visions meshed in psychic unity, can safely harness the most turbulent currents of the Flux--and Carlyle's ship is being drawn inexorably toward a deadly maelstrom, the unthinkable stresses of the Hurricane Flume. For even a scant chance at survival, he needs the catlike alien's help. But the price for that help is a complete merging of minds and memories. And Carlyle, at war with his own past, dreads that union more than death itself. The opening novel of the Star Rigger universe. Reviews and quotes: "A novel of character-change, maturation, abandonment of illusions and discovering-of-self...it's an engaging science fantasy and the novel will leave you saying to yourself, 'Yeah!'" --Richard E. Geis, GALAXY "Learning to communicate, to accept change, to understand the past, to express intimacy become rites of passage for the human Gev Carlyle and his felinoid cynthian crewmate Cephean." --PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (see end of file for additional star rigger novels) *** Stand-alone Novels *** -------------------------- THE INFINITY LINK ----------------- Bluejay Books hardcover, 1984 Tor paperback, 1985 Tor reissue forthcoming, 1996 Science Fiction Book Club selection Transcendent encounter... In the year 2034, a young woman named Mozelle Moi learns that her work as a test subject in a top-secret tachyon transmission project will soon be terminated. The purpose of the project has never been revealed to her; she only knows that she is in love with David Kadin, a man she has met only through the tachyon cyberlink. Desperate not to lose her chance at love, she conspires with a programmer friend to join her with Kadin through the tachyon transmitter. She succeeds--but the truth that awaits her at the end of the tachyon beam is one that will shatter not only her own ambitions of love, but the plans of a secret government program to establish contact with visitors from the stars. Trapped by her love for Kadin, and caught in a telepathic link with the ancient Talenki voyagers, Mozy's personal odyssey becomes irrevocably entwined with the fate of all of Humanity. Combining visionary scientific speculation with passionate human characters, THE INFINITY LINK is an epic work of transcendent science fiction and an exploration into the very nature of humanity. Quotes and reviews: "A rich novel of immense scope, with the most detailed and brilliant descriptive passages of empathic and telepathic communication. Highly recommended." --SF AND FANTASY REVIEWS "A long, ambitious work, painted on a canvas as big as the solar system. The concept itself is even larger--the eventual linkup of various intelligent life forms of our galaxy, including humans, whales and several alien races. Carver carefully sets up his story and develops it in a meticulous fashion...it works very well." --PUBLISHERS WEEKLY "A complex, rich, and satisfying novel." --FANTASY REVIEW "A compelling vision of our world on the day after tomorrow." --Joan D. Vinge, author of THE SUMMER QUEEN "A satisfying and rewarding visionary experience." --ANALOG THE RAPTURE EFFECT ------------------ Tor hardcover, 1987 Tor paperback, 1988 Science Fiction Book Club selection At the crossroads of dance, music, and interstellar war... The war was started by an intelligent computer and fought by robots, and only a few people even knew there was a war at all. But now human beings are dying, and the computer wants it to stop. But it can't act without changes in its program, and for that it needs help from the outside. And when the Gnostic Control System searches for conspirators, it chooses its friends carefully indeed: Pali: a public relations director of the Company, a woman who broods far too much upon her unfulfilled ambitions... Ramo: a cocky, flamboyant senso-dancer and sculptor, who prefers a musical jamdam to serious conversation... Sage: a socially inept systems designer, to whom the rapture-field interface is more real than life... And three of the alien Ell: Harybdartt, who would rather die with dignity than betray his people; Lingrhetta, who tries to unravel the meaning of human dance and music, pain and love; and Moramaharta, the binder, who must persuade his fellow decision-makers to risk everything for the sake of a fragile bridge of understanding across the stars. Quotes and reviews: "An absorbing, suspenseful novel of first contact and interstellar war. It's a complex book, requiring concentration from the reader, and is well worth the effort. The book's ending is excellent: upbeat without being Pollyannaish. THE RAPTURE EFFECT is a strong novel, and I recommend it." --Janice Eisen, ABORIGINAL SF "Meaty and satisfying. I enjoyed this one greatly." --Thomas Easton, ANALOG "A very good story, with both aliens and future humans well worked out, believable as well as original." --Poul Anderson "A lively dance of ideas--first contact, interstellar war, artificial intelligence, alien culture--and it moves at a rapid pace, from Earth through cyberspace to the Horsehead Nebula, and various points between. It's well-worth the trip ticket." --Roger Zelazny *** Novels of the Starstream *** -------------------------------- FROM A CHANGELING STAR ---------------------- Bantam Spectra paperback, 1989 Science Fiction Book Club alternate (another personal favorite of the author's) Into a dying star... Across the galaxy, tensions are rising between the authoritarian Tandesko Triune and the free-marketeers of the Auricle Alliance. Nevertheless, scientists of both sides have come together in Project Starmuse, to observe the giant star Betelgeuse as it goes supernova. At the space station imbedded inside the roiling star, the team anxiously awaits the return of the one man essential to the success of the project. On Kantano's World, astronomer Willard Ruskin must discover why someone has infected him with nano-agents--artificially intelligent, microscopic computers, which alter his appearance, his memory, his very DNA. Drawn into a conflict from which not even death will free him, Ruskin must find a way to reach Betelgeuse before his enemies sabotage Starmuse...and humankind's future among the stars. A harrowing journey from inside the human cell--to the mind of a dying star. Quotes and Reviews: "Starts with a bang and keeps getting better. Carver handles not one, but two hot topics, and presents both vividly." --David Brin "Running from the micro to the macro and back again, redefining sentience, space-time, and perhaps humanity along the way, FROM A CHANGELING STAR is a fast-paced puzzler, rush in invention, and Jeffrey A. Carver's most ambitious book to date." --Roger Zelazny "Carver does an excellent job of tickling your sense of wonder, and in