Ascendant Sun*

*forthcoming PRAISE FOR CATHERINE ASARO.

"With a mixture of technology, physics, action, romance, and characters you can't forget, Catherine Asaro's The Radiant Seas offers an insightful look at human nature, a roller-coaster of emotions, and a most engrossing read-far better than the vast majority of books sold as 'great' hard science fiction."

-L. E. Modesitt, Jr.

"Catherine Asaro is one of those rare authors who can write accurately and lovingly both about science and about the minds and hearts of her characters. Primary Inversion is vivid, thoughtful, and exciting, the kind of story you want to read at one sitting. It sweeps you along with the force of its action. Throughout it are sprinkled jewels of scientific speculation that enhance the story with their clarity and cleverness. The changes in the main character are evoked so carefully and with such understanding that only at the end do you realize how far she, and so you as the reader along with her, have come."

-Kate Elliott.

"What a great read! In her newest book, The Radiant Seas, Catherine Asaro shows herself to be a writer with depth and sensitivity. Her signature strengths-dynamic characters, real human emotions, and cutting-edge scientific background-here flower into a story that reaches past the individual lives of her characters to engulf entire interstellar empires. Unlike writers who focus on technology as an end in itself, she uses her stunningly original vision to weave a story of loyalty, love, courage, and sacrifice. I'm looking forward to reading more!"

-Deborah Wheeler.

"Rising star Catherine Asaro exploded onto the science fiction scene with all the blazing glory of a supernova with her first book called Primary Inversion.

"Ms. Asaro reveals fascinating new aspects of her talent with each new book, and readers can always expect something fresh, different, and absolutely wonderful."

-Romantic Times.

About the Author.

Catherine Asaro grew up near Berkeley, California. She earned her Ph.D. in chemical physics and her M.A. in physics, both from Harvard, and a B.S. with highest honors in chemistry from UCLA. She runs Molecudyne Research and lives in Maryland with her husband and daughter. Among the places she has done research are the University of Toronto in Canada, the Max Planck Inst.i.tut fr Astrophysik in Germany, and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Ma.s.sachusetts. A former ballet and jazz dancer, she founded the Mainly Jazz Dance program at Harvard and now teaches at the Caryl Maxwell Cla.s.sical Ballet, home to the Ellicott City Ballet Guild.

Catherine also wrote Catch the Lightning, which won the Sapphire Award in 1997, Primary Inversion, and the Nebula-nominated The Last Hawk. All three books are stand-alone novels set in the Ruby Dynasty universe (the Skolian Empire). Primary Inversion tells the story of how Soz and Jaibriol met. A tale of Soz from her younger days can be found in the novella "Aurora in Four Voices," which appeared in the December 1998 issue of a.n.a.log, won the AnLab and the Homer, and was nominated for both the Nebula and Hugo. The next three Ruby Dynasty books due out from Tor are Ascendant Sun, Spherical Harmonic, and The Quantum Rose.

Catherine can be reached by E-mail at and on the web at http://www.sff.net/people/asaro/.

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