When the Blue Shift Comes

In this curious concept piece, part of the Stellar Guild series of collaborations between notable SF authors and newcomers, Zinos-Amaro caps an unfinished novella begun in 1987 by SFWA Grand Master Silverberg. The book consists of two parts: Silverberg’s “The Song of Last Things” and Zinos-Amaro’s follow-up, “The Last Mandala Sweeps.” Silverberg’s setup envisions a far future where the immortals on Earth are threatened by a strange “hole in the continuum” of space, something like an aggressive black hole with multidimensional reach. Hanosz Prime, ruler of a distant world, decides to abandon his dull life to travel to Earth, where he learns he may be the prophesied “king who has no kingdom” who is to save the endangered planet. Amaro more than matches Silverberg’s energetically expository style and manages to tie up all the loose ends, but flat characters and a slim plot keep the story firmly anchored in the 1980s. (Nov.)