About the Author

Gregory Benford is a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of California, Irvine. A Woodrow Wilson Fellow and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, he received the Lord Prize for contributions to science in 1995 and the Asimov Memorial Award for popularizing science in 2007. He has written numerous works of science fiction, receiving a Nebula Award and a John W. Campbell Memorial Award for his novel Timescape.

Gabrielle de Cuir is a Grammy-nominated and Audie Award-winning producer whose narration credits include the voice of Valentine in Orson Scott Card's Ender novels, Ursula K. Le Guin's The Tombs of Atuan, and Natalie Angier's Woman, for which she was awarded AudioFile magazine's Golden Earphones Award. She lives in Los Angeles where she also directs theatre and presently has several projects in various stages of development for film. Gabrielle de Cuir is a Grammy-nominated and Audie Award-winning producer whose narration credits include the voice of Valentine in Orson Scott Card's Ender novels, Ursula K. Le Guin's The Tombs of Atuan, and Natalie Angier's Woman, for which she was awarded AudioFile magazine's Golden Earphones Award. She lives in Los Angeles where she also directs theatre and presently has several projects in various stages of development for film. Richard Gilliland is a veteran television and film actor.

Susan Hanfield was a 2017 Audie Award finalist in the Young Adult category for The Game of Love and Death by Martha Brockenbrough. Her work has also been recognized with a Voice Arts Awards nomination in 2016 and as an Audie Award finalist in 2015 and 2014. She has recorded approximately seventy titles thus far, and comes from a strong classical theater background, bringing deep characterizations to all of her work. Her audiobook titles span many genres, including young adult, historical fiction, faith-based inspirational, fantasy, paranormal romance, science fiction, classics, and nonfiction. In addition to recording audiobooks, she can be seen in film, on stage, and in commercials. Stefan Rudnicki is a Grammy-winning audiobook producer and an award-winning narrator who has won several Audie Awards, as well as more than twenty-five Earphones Awards, and been named one of AudioFile's Golden Voices.

Reviews

A novel about the discovery of anaerobic life on Mars? Trust physics professor and Nebula Award winner Benford to pull it off.-- "Library Journal"

Benford has always been fascinated by the possibilities inherent in extraterrestrial life, and he takes advantage of his own scientific specialty, plasma physics, to create some extraordinary creatures.-- "Publishers Weekly"

Benford is a scientist who writes with verve and insight not only about black holes and cosmic strings but about human desires and fears.-- "New York Times Book Review"

Benford--here, as always, at his best when portraying scientists discussing ideas and hammering out hypotheses--offers up some absorbing scientific speculations.-- "Kirkus Reviews"

Gabrielle de Cuir opens the narrative with the voices of astronauts Julia, an Australian, and her husband, Victor...[and] succeeds beautifully in keeping both accents distinct and accurate and in giving the characters added dimension. Stefan Rudnicki's rumbling tones seem to convey the majesty and expanse of deep space, which Richard Gilliland echoes with his own low timbre. Susan Hanfield rounds out the cast with a clipped, authoritative voice for Captain Axelrod...This stellar ensemble...makes the action sequences positively shine.-- "AudioFile"

Working from a thrilling premise and with original, speculative science, Benford, a premier practitioner of hard SF, is in top form.-- "Booklist"