The Sky People

The Sky People

While Marc Vitrac was growing up in 1960s Louisiana, Earth was rocked by the news that other planets in the solar system were literally crawling with lifeforms—Venus and Mars in particular. And suddenly a new kind of power-grab was born as the US and Soviet Union sped off in a heated race for the second planet from the sun.

Now in 1988, 25-year-old Vitrac finds himself the latest player in that ongoing rivalry, assigned to Jamestown, the US-Commonwealth base near Venus' only established city. Not to be outdone, the Soviets man their own base some distance away, where relations between the old superpowers remain tepid at best—that is, until a Soviet shuttle crashes in uncharted terrain, its captain possibly the only survivor. Vitrac joins the search for the crew, reminded of how humans need to stick together on this hostile rock.

For this is no ordinary boomtown world—not when the wilderness features ravenous raptors, pterodactyls, sabertooths and other long-extinct earth predators, and the locals closely resemble Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons. In fact, the Jamestown scientists accompanying Vitrac are alarmed by the unlikely way Venus resembles prehistoric Earth. Something's terribly amiss in the Venusian evolutionary scale, an enigma that could threaten every human life, and even Earth itself. Their only hope? A young Cro-Magnon woman serving as acolyte to a mysterious presence hidden in a sacred tribal cave—a presence capable of arming Neanderthals…with AK-47s! Jacket art by Gregory Manchess. (Approx. 304 pp.) 2006.

Hardcover: 304 pages

Publisher: Tor Books ( November 01, 2006 )

Item #: 91-8832

ISBN: 9780765314888

Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 8.25 x 0.79 inches

Product Weight: 13.0 ounces