The City Among the Stars

by Francis Carsac, Judith Sullivan (Translator), M. Schiff (Translator)

Overview

First English translation of the celebrated Golden Age Science Fiction Classic.



"This stunning classic stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Arthur C. Clarke, Asimov, and Heinlein." – New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear



Tankar Holroy, Lieutenant in the Stellar Guard of earth’s Empire, floats in space after his spaceship is sabotaged. Rescued by an enormous, unknown ship, he awakes to discover himself saved by the People of the Stars who are born and live in space with minimal contact with planets and their occupants whom they call, with contempt, planetaries.

The chilly welcome he receives from the ship’s leader, the Teknor, is followed by overt hostility from the other inhabitants of the Tilsin. Only a woman named Orena reaches out to him. 

Tankar soon realizes that he was rescued for his knowledge of tracers, the technology that allows Empire ships to track others through hyperspace, a technology the People of the Stars lack. Out of spite, he refuses to deliver the one piece of knowledge that can protect the people who saved but now spurn him - and the consequences will be catastrophic.




FLAME TREE PRESS is the new fiction imprint of Flame Tree Publishing. Launched in 2018 the list brings together brilliant new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781787584228
Publisher:	Flame Tree Publishing
Publication date:	05/21/2020
Series:	Fiction Without Frontiers
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Francis Carsac, a pseudonym for the world-renowned French scientist, geologist, and archaeologist Francois Bordes, wrote and published six novels during the golden age of science fiction.

Never before published in English, these novels resonate with timely issues ranging from climate control to racism and greed and tell the stories of characters whose challenges and triumphs clearly relate to many of the problems we encounter today. He has been translated and published into Russian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Lithuanian, Latvian, Hungarian, Estonian amongst others.

Editorial Reviews

"Most of the world knew Francois Bordes as one of the world's leading paleoanthropologists. His The Old Stone Age was required reading for generations of archaeologists. Long considered one of France's giants of science fiction, and writing under the pen name Francis Carsac, his The City of the Stars is now available in English translation. This stunning classic stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Arthur C. Clarke, Asimov, and Heinlein." – New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear

"A dramatic exploration of belonging and the weight of unintended consequences set within twin wars, The City Among the Stars revives the golden age of science fiction for a new audience."

"Devotees of classic sci-fi will appreciate this translation."

“Riveting and introspective, The City among the Stars is a novel that readers will devour in one sitting, anticipating the turn of every page.

From the Publisher

02/24/2020

The first English translation of Carsac’s 1962 space opera offers a thematically rich, but jarringly dated, vision of the future. When Stellar Guard Tankar Holroy’s spaceship is sabotaged, the People of the Stars rescue him. The descendants of religious fanatics who fled Earth and now roam the galaxy on massive city-state spaceships, the People of the Stars hope that Tankar will share the technology that allows Earth’s oppressive, war-mongering Empire to track them through hyperspace. Carsac examines the interplay between politics and personal freedom as Tankar struggles to adapt to life aboard the Tilsin, finding it impossible to assimilate into a people who disdain all those born on planets instead of in space crafts. Despite the People of the Stars’ biases, Tankar’s resolve to withhold the information on tracers from his rescuers reads as pure spite and leads him to ruin. Readers might be able to accept Tankar’s overt misogyny as a similar character flaw, if it weren’t insidiously mirrored in the romantic subplots, wherein stereotypical vixens Orena and Anaena fight for Tankar’s affections. Devotees of classic sci-fi will appreciate this translation, but more casual readers will find the sexual politics difficult to stomach. Agent: Betty Anne Crawford, Books Crossing Borders. (May)

Publishers Weekly

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