PHOBOS

Set on 22nd-century Mars and the larger of its two moons, Phobos, Drago's first novel successfully combines hard science (biotech and nanotech) with military and social SF. The SED corporation, which mines a vital metal christened barsoomium, calls the shots on the colonized Red Planet. When Lieutenant Michael Brogue, the only native Martian colonist in the Peacekeepers, rescues a visiting Terran politician from terrorists, he discovers that no good deed goes unpunished. He gets transferred to Phobos, where he replaces the moon's popular Peacekeeper officer recently killed by a mysterious life form known as the Phobos Beast. He also encounters the formidable Sergeant Choi Min Lau and the equally formidable Wilber Isaacs and his daughter Gabrielle, entrepreneurs running the Agraria research station on Phobos. Tracking down the Phobos Beast tangles Brogue in a web of intrigue involving near-mutiny, kidnapping and murder. After a weak opening (with infelicitous coinages like "Freedomist"), the author hardly sets a foot or a word wrong. This is a strong candidate for the year's best SF debut. (Nov. 17)