Boundary - Hardcover

Flint, Eric; Spoor, Ryk E.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1416509321 ISBN 13: 9781416509325

Publisher: Baen, 2006

Synopsis

Searching for the truth behind an oddly shaped fossil discovered in the Arizona desert that could hold the key to the great extinction at the KT boundary, Dr. Helen Sutter never realized that her quest would take her all the way to the planet Mars.

About this title

About the Author:

Ryk E. Spoor was born in Omaha, Nebraska, and has lived in South Dakota, Georgia, New York, and Pennsylvania. Severe asthma forced him to spend most of his childhood reading and, by the time he was six, writing. While he began reading fantasy such as Oz and science fiction starting with Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, it was his 5th grade teacher that sent him on the course that would make him a science-fiction author, by lending Ryk a battered copy of E.E. "Doc" Smith's Second-Stage Lensmen; this sent him on a reading spree that devoured every science-fiction book he encountered for the next ten years, and instilled in him the conviction that being a science-fiction author was the greatest possible profession anyone could aspire to.

At the turn of the 21st century, Ryk succeeded in achieving this ambition by first launching a clever plan to be published through the diabolical strategem of insulting Eric Flint in public. (Note that neither Eric nor Ryk recommend anyone else attempt his strategy.) Subsequently, Eric brought Ryk's work to the attention of Baen Books, culminating in the publication of Digital Knight, and subsequently two stories with Eric Flint ("Diamonds Are Forever" and Boundary). His next solo novel Grand Central Arena was released in April 2010, followed in June by the sequel to Boundary, titled Threshold. More recently he has completed release on the Balanced Sword trilogy (Phoenix Rising, Phoenix in Shadow, and Phoenix Ascendant) and released his first self-published novel, Polychrome.

Ryk Spoor is also Research and Development Coordinator for International Electronic Machines (IEM), where he has obtained funding for and directed/assisted in research into wireless MEMS sensor systems, power harvesting, smart video security systems, and other related fields; he holds several patents in these areas. He lives in Troy, New York, with his wife Kathleen and their four children Christopher, Gabriel, Victoria, and Domenica.

From School Library Journal:

Adult/High School–As this engaging and mostly lighthearted tale of the first expedition to Mars begins, three friends and colleagues are sharing what they expect to be their last dig in Montana with paleontologist Dr. Helen Sutter. Joe Buckley and Jackie Secord are graduate students about to embark on engineering careers–Joe with the Ares Project, and Jackie as an astronaut. After a strange fossil is found, anomalies pile up, and A.J. Baker, a genius with new imaging technologies, comes to help document the site. Then a robot explorer he is working with on the Ares Project finds a suspiciously similar fossil on Phobos, the Mars moon, and before long the four are on their way there, along with an equally likable pilot, security officer, and international crew of scientists. Their adventure of discovery and exploration unfolds in intriguing and surprising ways. While the existence of Jurassic-age fossils on Mars is a little hard to swallow at first in such a reality-based nuts-and-bolts type of science fiction, in the end they serve to raise valid questions about the future of humans in space. Besides paleontology, engineering, and space flight, puzzles in linguistics, biology, physics, and evolution further the story, as well as wacky humor, academic rivalries, and even some sweet romances. Science-fiction fans will enjoy a number of in-jokes (such as naming the fossil Bemmius secordeii).–Christine C. Menefee, formerly at Fairfax County Public Library, VA
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About this edition

• Publisher: Baen
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 1416509321
• ISBN 13: 9781416509325
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 464