Celestial Matters

The ancient Greeks believed that the Earth was the center of the universe. The great astronomer Ptolemy mapped the solar system and stars, locating each heavenly body in a crystalline sphere, the spheres forming a concentric series that progressed in an orderly fashion outward from the earth. Celestial Matters is a startling novel of hard SF, set in an alternate, ptolemaic universe in which these beliefs are literal scientific fact.
The greek empire of Alexander the Great has lasted for a thousand years, and for a thousand years it has been at war with the Empire of the Orient. Now, a spaceship has been built to voyage through the spheres to the sun and return with the ultimate weapon: a fiery piece of sun matter.
Aias, a distinguished scientist of the Delian League, is set to command the first, secret expedition to the sun. The ship, Chandra's Tear, sculpted whole from moon matter, is ready to depart on its epic voyage. But as Aias is returning from his final shore leave to Athens across the Mediterranean, his ship is attacked by enemy soldiers flying deadly self-propelled battle kites. Aias's death seems certain, until the arrival of the Greek navy and, more surprising, Aias's new bodyguard, a tough Spartan warrior woman called Yellow Hare, who has been sent by the ruling Archons to protect their valuable captain.
And so begins the most extraordinary SF adventure of the year. Battling against overwhelming odds - not to mention assassins, traitors, and the paranoia of his own military forces - Aias takes Chandra's Tear on the strangest and most wonderful voyage in all (alternate) history.

In newcomer Garfinkle's outrageous alternate world, the natural laws as understood by the ancient Greeks are literally true. So, the Earth, at the center of the universe, is surrounded by crystal spheres, the planets move in epicycles, space contains air, the gods talk to and through people, and good health depends upon a balance of humors. Here, the Delian League--based on the unmatchable warriors of Sparta and the unequalled learning of the Athenian Akademe--has been at war with the Middle Kingdom for 900 years. Now, the distinguished scientist Aias, in his mile-long celestial ship sculpted of glowing moon-matter, has proposed to capture a fragment of the sun and scorch the Middle Kingdom (which has its own well-developed, incomprehensible, science) into submission. As the voyage to the sun gets under way, Aias and his bodyguard, the Spartan Captain Yellow Hare, realize that they have a Middler spy aboard. The ship's military suspect Aias's old friend, mathematician Ramonojon; the latter maintains that the sun- capture method worked out by scientist Mihradarius will destroy the ship. Who is lying? Prompted by the gods, and heeding the wisdom of a stowaway, the Middler scientist Phan, Aias comes to believe that his entire course of action is mistaken. But only after a long, strange trip will he find a means to resolve the situation. Weird, disconcerting, fascinating, and original--though readers may find the counter-factual workings of Garfinkle's universe-that-never-was more puzzling than stimulating. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Garfinkle deftly captures the Ptolemaic universe in his first novel, an alternative history built on the assumption that ancient Greek science is accurate. Aias, scientist of the Delian League, commands the first expedition to the sun on Chandra's Tear, a ship sculpted from the moon. He sets out to harness a piece of the sun, return it to Earth, and destroy the enemy Middle Kingdom's capital, 'AngXou. But aboard the ship, assassins and traitors try to thwart the expedition. This well-written story combines some Greek philosophy and beliefs with adventure. Highly recommended for sf collections.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In what direction might science have developed if the solar system were really as Ptolemy rather than Copernicus conceived it, with Earth as the center of the universe? The answer to this question animates Garfinkle's captivating yarn, in which Greco-Roman culture remains dominant in a space-age alternative future. Aias commands the spaceship Chandra's Tear, newly outfitted with a sophisticated net designed to snare and retrieve a piece of the sun. Before departing for the sun, Aias takes a tour of his Athenian homeland, during which he is saved from assassination by a Spartan woman assigned to be his bodyguard. After departing, he struggles to maintain command of his ship and mission amid growing threats from his own crew, and he slowly uncovers a conspiracy to capture solar fire for military purposes. In a first novel full of promise about its author's future, Garfinkle masterfully details his alternative world's history and draws parallels with this world's arms race without sacrificing the suspense of an intriguing story line. Carl Hays