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Searching... Dallas Public Library | PBK McDevitt, J. Seeker | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Independence Public Library | SCIENCE FICTION - MCDEVITT | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Monmouth Public Library | Fic (sf) McDevitt, J. 2005 | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Thousands of years after an entire colony mysteriously disappears, antiquities dealer Alex Benedict comes into possession of a cup that seems to be from the Seeker, one of the colony's ships. Investigating the provenance of the cup, Alex and his assistant Chase follow a deadly trail to the Seeker-strangely adrift in a system barren of habitable worlds. But their discovery raises more questions than it answers, drawing Alex and Chase into the very heart of danger.
Author Notes
Jack McDevitt (born 1935) is an American science fiction author whose novels frequently deal with attempts to make contact with alien races, and with archaeology or xenoarchaeology.
He attended La Salle University, where a short story of his won the annual Freshman Short Story Contest and was published in the school's literary magazine, Four Quarters. He received a Master's degree in literature from Wesleyan University in 1971. Before becoming a full-time author, he was an English teacher, naval officer, Philadelphia taxi driver, customs officer and motivational trainer.
His first published story was The Emerson Effect in The Twilight Zone Magazine in 1981. Two years later, he published his first novel, The Hercules Text, which won the Philip K. Dick Special Award. He won the 2006 Nebula Award for Best Novel for Seeker, the UPC International Prize for his novella Ships in the Night in 1991, and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best SF novel for Omega in 2003.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Ideas abound in McDevitt's classy riff on the familiar lost-space-colony theme. In 2688, interstellar transports Seeker and Bremerhaven left a theocratic Orwellian Earth to found a dictator-free society, Margolia-and vanished. Nine thousand years later, with a flawed humanity spread over 100-odd worlds, Margolia and its ships have become Atlantis-type myths, but after a cup from Seeker falls into the hands of antiquarian Alex Benedict, the hero of McDevitt's Polaris (2004), Alex determines to win everlasting fame and vaster fortune by finding them. Female pilot Chase Kolpath, this book's narrator, gutsily tracks the ancient Seeker on a breathless trek across star systems and through an intriguing mystery plot, a bevy of fully realized characters, ingenious AI ships and avatars of long-departed personalities who offer advice and entertainment. The scientific interpolations are as convincing as the far-future planetscapes and human and alien societies, bolstering an irresistible tractor beam of heavy-duty action. This novel delivers everything it promises-with a galactic wallop. Agent, Ralph M. Vicinanza. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
McDevitt's latest gripping novel of future history begins in the late twentieth century, when a technological breakthrough costs the lives of its discoverers. Then it jumps seven centuries forward, to the beginning of interstellar flight and some of the first refugees from Earth. Finally, it moves into the very far future and to the seeker of the title, one of several looking for inhabited worlds that are the results, however longterm, of events recorded earlier. McDevitt is now being compared, quite legitimately, to Arthur C. Clarke, and not only because he has a similar kind of grand vision of the human future among the stars. He also has characters with amiable, or not-so-amiable, quirks, who in the middle of deciphering the secrets of lost races take time to worry about where to get a good meal in the next town. One of these days McDevitt is going to receive an actual and well-deserved big award to go with his professional stature. --Roland Green Copyright 2005 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Fleeing Earth's repressive societies in the 27th century, a pair of ships-the Bremerhaven and the Seeker-sought refuge in the stars and established the colony of Margolia. Then they disappeared. Several thousand years later, an artifact that may have come from the Seeker falls into the hands of antiquities dealer Alex Benedict and his assistant, Chase Kolpath. Their investigations into the lost colony lead them into a web of intrigue and danger as they become targets for assassination by powers that don't want them to pursue their goal. Set in the same universe as the author's Polaris and Deepsix, McDevitt's latest sf adventure features personal drama as well as fast-paced action in the depths of outer space. Combining hard science with superb storytelling, this compelling take belongs in most sf collections. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.