Alliance Rising

Cherryh (Emergence) and Fancher (’Netwalkers), expand Cherryh’s extensive Alliance-Union universe (which is fast approaching its 40th birthday), with this taut drama set aboard the star-orbiting Alpha Station. Although faster-than-light travel is possible, no FTL route to Earth has yet been discovered, leaving Alpha Station reliant on sublight vessels from Earth and FTL cargo ships from sparsely populated worlds further away from Sol. Tensions mount when an unidentified ship fast approaching Alpha Station turns out to be Finity’s End, captained by JR Neihart. It’s one of the newest and largest faster-than-light ships in known space and the model for The Rights of Man, a not-yet-spaceworthy vessel being built at Alpha Station by the station’s owner, the Earth Company, from stolen plans. Neihart’s revelation of a planned alliance of merchanters, which would make them independent of the stations they supply, is only the first news to send shocks through Alpha’s society. In addition, stationmaster Ben Abrezio is increasingly concerned about the Rights project, as its leaders have laid claim to most of Alpha’s incoming resources. Rather than rely on pyrotechnics, Cherryh and Fancher ground this fine work in the difficult choices that their characters must make in the face of an uncertain future. The economics and sociopolitics are as riveting as space battles, enhancing this welcome addition to the Alliance-Union saga. Agent: Matt Bialer, Sanford J. Greenburger Assoc. (Jan.)