Michael Flynn has written the best SF in the tradition of Robert A. Heinlein of the last decade. His major work was the Firestar sequence, a four-book future history. "As Robert A. Heinlein did and all too few have done since, Michael Flynn writes about the near future as if he'd been there and was bringing back reports of what he'd seen," said Harry Turtledove. Now, in this sweeping stand-alone epic of the spaceways, Flynn grows again in stature, with an SF novel worthy of the master himself. Indeed, if Heinlein's famous character, the space-faring poet Rhysling, had ever written a novel, this would be it. This is a compelling tale of the glory that was. In the days of the great sailing ships, in the mid-twenty-first century, when magnetic sails drew cargo and passengers alike to every corner of the solar system, sailors had the highest status of all spacemen, and the crew of the luxury liner the River of Stars, the highest among all sailors. But development of the Farnsworth fusion drive doomed the sailing ships, and now the River of Stars is the last of its kind, retrofitted with engines, her mast vestigial, her sails unraised for years. An ungainly hybrid, she operates in the late years of the century as a mere tramp freighter among the outer planets, and her crew is a motley group of misfits. Stepan Gorgas is the escapist executive officer who becomes captain. Ramakrishnan Bhatterji is the chief engineer who disdains him. Eugenie Satterwaithe, once a captain herself, is third officer and, for form's sake, sailing master. When an unlikely and catastrophic engine failure strikes the River, Bhatterji is confident he can effect repairs with heroic engineering, but Satterwaithe and the other sailors among the crew plot to save her with a glorious last gasp for the old ways, mesmerized by a vision of arriving at Jupiter proudly under sail. The story of their doom has the power, the poetry, and the inevitability of a Greek tragedy. This is a great science fiction novel, Flynn's best yet. Reviews Amazon.com Review In his excellent novel The Wreck of The River of Stars, Michael Flynn looks back on the romantic Age of Sail: the second, high-tech Age of Sail, when spaceships with vast magnetic sails rode the solar winds across the immense ocean of space, and the greatest of the luxury spaceliners was The River of Stars. But the second Age of Sail is dead: the magnetic sails all were struck, and the spaceships all were retrofitted with the new Farnsworth fusion drive. Once a legend, The River of Stars is now a tramp cargo freighter, plying the outer planets with a scanty crew of men and women with questionable pasts, private agendas, and more than a little interpersonal friction. When a bizarre failure disables the Farnsworth engines driving The River of Stars, the crew has a problem no Earthly sailor ever faced: their ports don't stay put. If The River of Stars doesn't arrive on schedule, Jupiter will be somewhere else in its enormous orbit. That means the damaged ship will speed out of the solar system and drift forever among the stars. The crew's only hope appears to be the magnetic sail. But recreating a long-gone high-tech sail isn't the worst problem this motley crew faces. To survive, they must achieve something even more herculean: they must overcome their own intricately entangled fears, hatreds, power struggles, and romantic disasters. --Cynthia Ward From Publishers Weekly The accomplished Flynn (In the Country of the Blind) offers more character analysis than action and adventure in this stand-alone novel, which fans of more cerebral SF will find thoroughly absorbing. Late in the 21st century, The River of Stars, an aging tramp freighter whose magnetic sails once plied the entire solar system, is reduced to trading in the Middle System past Jupiter. Personality conflicts exacerbate technical problems among the misfit crew, operating on a shoestring budget. After the death of beloved Captain Hand, his successor, self-absorbed First Officer Gorgas, quickly loses control. When two of the River's four fusion-powered engines malfunction, precious resources are cannibalized in an ill-conceived attempt to get the magnetic sails working again. The inability of the ship's navigational systems to account for the sails leads to costly course corrections. Flynn layers the personalities and disasters in this complicated story with his usual attention to detail. One can find the precise, if understated, point at which this or that misjudgment results in tragedy that might otherwise have been averted. Inevitably, no one in command is able to make reasonable decisions. This is a sad but compelling study of (literally) explosive group dynamics in an arena where technology is critical to human life. From Booklist Driven by magnetic sails, the River of Stars is the last spaceship of its kind, which is being replaced by fusion drive vessels, much as sailing ships were by steamers. Reduced--again analogous to many sailing ships--to tramp cargo work, she suffers an engine failure that reduces her to raising the sails again or facing disaster. The River's dauntless chief engineer is not going to have a completely free hand, however, for the crew is full of misfits who rapidly become mutineers. That turn greatly enhances plausibility and characterization, and also gives the book a darker, less triumphalist and romantic tone than many another example of the spacefaring subgenre possesses. Flynn's Firestar series proved that he could develop a far-future, spacefaring universe packed with action, and this novel proves it some more. Planting a foot in two other fictional universes, that of Patrick O'Brian's historical novels of the British navy and that of Robert A. Heinlein (an Annapolis graduate, let us recall) in his astronautical fiction, this is good, challenging reading. Roland Green Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved "Flynn's multivolume saga of near-future global peril combines space adventure with dynastic and political intrigue to create a complex drama with a large cast of characters and a too-plausible premise."--Library Journal “An exciting new future history that brings back the sense of wonder and hope that’s been lacking in so much recent science fiction.”--Fantasy Science Fiction About the Author MICHAEL FLYNN is an Analog magazine alumnus whose fiction now appears regularly in all the major SF magazines. His major work of the 1990s was the Firestar series of novels.

The secret war among the Shadows of the Name is escalating, and there are hints that it is not so secret as the Shadows had thought. The scarred man, Donovan buigh, half honored guest and half prisoner, is carried deeper into the Confederation, all the way to Holy Terra herself, to help plan the rebel assault on the Secret City. If he does not soon remember the key information locked inside his fractured mind, his rebel friends may resort to torture to pull it from his subconscious.Meanwhile, Bridget ban has organized a posse—a pack of Hounds—to go in pursuit of her kidnapped daughter, despite knowing that Ravn Olafsdottr kidnapped the harper precisely to lure Bridget ban in her wake. The Hound, the harper, and the scarred man wind deeper into a web of deceit and treachery certain of only one thing: nothing, absolutely nothing, is what it seems to be.

In the fourteenth century, the Black Death ravaged Europe. Most towns decimated by it were eventually resettled, except for Eifelheim, despite its ideal location. Mathematical historian Tom discovers this anomaly and an unexpected connection to his domestic partner Sharon’s research in theoretical physics, which seems to be leading to a method of interdimensional travel. In fact, as Eifelheim’s priest back then, Father Dietrich, relates, before the plague’s arrival, an interstellar ship crashed nearby. The encounters between its passengers and the people of Oberhochwald, as Eifelheim was first called, reflect the panoply of attitudes of the time, from fear of the foreign to love and charity for one’s neighbors to the ideas of nascent natural philosophy (science), and the aliens’ reactions are equally fascinating. Flynn credibly maintains the voice of a man whose worldview is based on concepts almost entirely foreign to the modern mind, and he makes a tense and thrilling story of historical research out of the contemporary portions of the tale. Nominated for Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2007.

It’s a big Spiral Arm, and the scarred man, Donavan buigh, has gone missing in it, upsetting the harper Mearana’s plans for a reconciliation between her parents. Bridget ban, a Hound of the League, is unconvinced that reconciliation is either possible or desirable; but nonetheless has dispatched agents to investigate the disappearance. After all, Donovan had once done the favor for her (in Up Jim River). There is a struggle in the Lion’s Mouth, the bureau that oversees the Shadows—a clandestine civil war of sabotage and assassination between those who would overthrow Those of Name and the loyalists who support them. And Donovan, one time Confederal agent, has been recalled to take a key part, willingly or no.Review"A marvelously heroic ancient legend reborn in humanity’s future days. Space opera fans will be swept away by the poetic rhythm and subtle plot construction."--Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)"Fascinating and intelligent."--Kirkus Reviews Praise for Michael Flynn:"This story weaves love, mystery, music, action, and a change to create a mammoth of a read that will leave readers enraptured in its pages for generations to come.”—Sacramento Book Review on *The January Dancer“Flavored like Celtic poetry, The January Dancer is the first effort in what promises to be a space opera of epic proportions…. Will leave readers both wide-eyed and breathless.”—Starlog*“The January Dancer is an innovative intellectual and stimulating take on the space opera in which, once again, Flynn demonstrates that he is a writer of the highest caliber.—Interzone"For fans of… Brainy first-contact tales (Carl Sagan meets Umberto Eco). Lowdown: bursting with pungent historical detail and Big Theme musings, this dense, provocative novel offers big rewards."—Entertainment Weekly on *Eifelheim"A deeply researched and well-thought-out novel that moves us and makes us smarter just for having read it…. Excellent."—Orson Scott Card on Eifelheim"Firestar was a mighty hard act to follow, but Michael Flynn has done so, and brilliantly. Rogue Star* continues the story, with the same imaginative realism, suspenseful narration, and vivid humanness, plus all sorts of new ideas and insights."—Poul Anderson"Another powerful tale of far-future humanity…. Space opera fans will be swept away…will leave them clamoring for future Donovan buigh adventures." —Publishers Weekly, starred review on In The Lion’s Mouth"The January Dancer is a masterpiece." —LocusAbout the AuthorMICHAEL FLYNN lives in Easton, Pennsylvania. www.m-francis.livejournal.com

Robert A. Heinlein Award-winning SF writer Michael Flynn returns to space opera and to the world of The January DancerThe Hound Bridget ban has vanished and the Kennel (the mysterious superspy agency) has given up looking for her. But her daughter, the harper Mearana, has not, and she has convinced the scarred man, Donovan, to aid in her search.But Donovan's mind has been shattered by Those of Name, the rulers of the Confederacy, and no fewer than seven quarreling personalities now inhabit his skull. How can he hope to see Mearana safely through her quest?Together, they follow Bridget ban's trail to the raw worlds of the frontier, edging ever closer to the de-civilized and barbarian planets of the Wild. Along the way, they encounter evidence that they too are being followed--by a deadly agent of Those of Name.From BooklistOn the harper Mearana’s home planet, up Jim River is a saying indicating a journey ever further into danger and the unknown. Mearana’s mother, Bridget ban, has disappeared on mysterious business. Even the Kennel, her employer and one of the galaxy’s two sources of secret agents, didn’t know what she was looking for or where she went. Mearana is determined, though, to discover her mother’s fate. She manages to convince the scarred man, the Fudir, who was once Donovan but became six or seven personalities after a botched experiment by Those of Name, to join her out of a sense of nostalgia. The worlds inhabited by these people are sufficient reason to read the novel. The extrapolations of linguistic drift and remnants of ancient history that Flynn conjures constitute a fascinating story in themselves. Adding to them a tense and thrilling search from the bar on Jehovah to the very Wild itself, through strange cultures and dangerous ports, just makes the book all the more engaging. A future history with serious punch. --Regina Schroeder ReviewPraise for Michael Flynn:“With well-drawn characters and a colorful universe, this narrative tour de force brings space opera to the next level.”--Library Journal on *Up Jim River“The return to the far future Flynn universe is an engaging science fiction thriller that focuses on a search and rescue mission in an isolated lethal area of the human dominated galaxy. . . . Up Jim River is an enjoyable mostly planet side adventure thriller on an orb on the edge of the Wilds of deep space.”--SFRevu“Flynn implants the style of medieval storytelling into an old-fashioned space opera.”--The Washington Post Book World“Composed with structural brilliance, invested with authentic human feeling, and redolent not only of its SF precursors but of archetypal myths that echo timelessly through life and art, The January Dancer is a masterpiece.”--Locus“Weaves love, mystery, music, action . . . to create a mammoth of a read that will leave readers enraptured in its pages for generations to come.”--Sacramento Book Review on The January Dancer*