Publisher's Synopsis
Colonization is the theme of this exciting, complex page-turner that provides a provocative and entertaining look at Thoreau's classic eco-text Walden. Eccentric billionaire Jack Winter has bought the planet Beekman's Pea, renamed it Walden, and created a utopia in which members renounce the technologies of human civilization. Marginalized by these newcomers, the planet's original inhabitants are resisting the colony's dominance by setting fires to Walden's artificial ecology. A member of Walden, Prosper Gregory Leung is a veteran firefighter who believes in protecting Winter's utopian vision, but when he is wounded, he begins to learn of the terrible price that the people of Walden are paying for their paradise. Interwoven with themes of environmental responsibility, political struggle, and courage, this adventure novel nimbly combines political and social relevance with a flawless and gripping narrative from a veteran science fiction author. Kelly is an American science fiction author who began publishing in the 1970's and remains to this day an important figure in the science fiction field. He made his first fiction sale in 1975, and has since been a major force in the science fiction field. Throughout the 1980s, he and friend John Kessel became involved in the humanist/cyberpunk debate. While Kessel and Kelly were both humanists, Kelly also wrote several cyberpunk-like stories, such as The Prisoner of Chillon and Rat. His story Solstice was published in Bruce Sterling's anthology Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology. He's won several awards including the 1995 Hugo Award for his novelette Think Like a Dinosaur and again in 1999 for his novelette 1016 to 1. In 2006 his novella, Burn won the Nebula Award.
