Usurper of the Sun

Genres: Science Fiction; Sci-fi Action & Adventure; Space Exploration

Synopsis

UNDER A DIMMING SUN, EXTINCTION IS OUR FUTURE AND A LONE SCIENTIST OUR ONLY HOPE Aki Shiraishi is a high school student working in the astronomy club and one of the few witnesses to an amazing event--someone is building a tower on the planet Mercury. Soon, the enigmatic Builders have constructed a ring around the sun, and the ecology of Earth is threatened by its immense shadow. Aki is inspired to pursue a career in science, and the truth. She must determine the purpose of the ring and the plans of its creators, as the survival of both species—humanity and the alien Builders—hangs in the balance. “A tightly focused narrative line that marches us relentlessly through 35 years of future history, and [with] a genuinely engaging heroine” —Locus Magazine “A philosophical take on the nature of aliens and what a first-contact scenario might be like...and about a beautiful, brilliant female student who is humanity's last hope for salvation...”—National Geographic’s Breaking Orbit blog “A compellingly poetic first contact story, gleaming with digital savvy, appealing human detail, and alien peril. Think Arthur C. Clarke meets Haruki Murakami, and gaze at Mercury in the sunset and sunrise with new awe.”—Paul Levinson, author of The Plot to Save Socrates About the author: Housuke Nojiri was born in Mie, Japan, in 1961. After working in instrumentation control, CAD programming, and video game design, he published his first work, The Blind Spot of Veis, based on the video game Creguian, in 1992. He gained popularity with his subsequent works the Creguian series and the Rocket Girls series. In 2002, he published Usurper of the Sun (Haikasoru 2009), ushering in a new era of space science fiction in Japan. After first appearing as a series of short stories, Usurper won the Seiun Award for best Japanese science fiction novel of 2002. His other works include Pendulum of Pinieru and Fuwa-Fuwa no Izumi.

Release date: November 4, 2010

Publisher: Haikasoru

Print pages: 280