Nexus: Ascension

by Robert Boyczuk

After returning from a thirty-year trade mission, the crew of the Ea wake from cryonic suspension to find that their home world, Bh'Haret, is dead. "Screamer" satellites have been strung around their planet warning of a plague. A scan of the surface of Bh'Haret reveals no trace of human life—only crumbling cities.

Their fuel and other supplies nearly exhausted, the crew has little choice but to make planet fall on Bh'Haret, infected with a virulent and deadly disease. In a desperate scramble to save themselves, the crew members of the Ea must each, in his or her own way, come to terms with the death of their world—and try to rekindle a belief in the possibility of life.

Reviews - What's Being Said About Robert Boyczuk & Nexus: Ascension

". . .the writing is vivid, the characters . . . interact in a believable and thrilling way, and there is enough tension to make us suddenly start turning the pages hurriedly. . . . [Boyczuk is] a writer to watch.
–Paul Kincaid, The New York Review of Science Fiction

(P)age-turning thrills aplenty . . . Boyczuk borrows from sources as diverse as Tolkien, Star Wars, and Alan Moore, and integrates the miscellany admirably into a fast-paced plot. The dystopian human dynamics, on the other hand, are the stuff of an epic nihilistic hangover.
–Publishers Weekly

Boyczuk . . . skillfully ratchets up the suspense as these secret motives are exposed. Well-punctuated with dramatic set pieces and thrills that are often sharp and bloody, the whole thing culminates in a spectacularly messy, and thoroughly satisfying, finale.
–Good Reports