Author | Joan D. Vinge |
---|---|
Language | English |
Series | The Snow Queen Cycle |
Genre | Science fiction |
Publisher | Warner Books |
Publication date | 1991 |
Publication place | United States |
Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
Pages | 670 (first edition, hardback) |
ISBN | 978-0446513975 |
813/.54 | |
Preceded by | Worlds End (1984) |
Followed by | Tangled Up in Blue (2000) |
The Summer Queen is a 1991 science fiction novel by American writer Joan D. Vinge, the sequel to The Snow Queen . It was nominated for the 1991 Hugo Award for Best Novel [1] and Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. [2]
Moon Dawntrader, a clone of the former Snow Queen, has become the Summer Queen on the planet of Tiamat. She must now endeavour to introduce technology to the Luddite Summers while keeping the mers safe from extinction. Their demise would bring about nothing less than the collapse of the empire's biggest kept galactic secret.
Moon Dawntreader Summer, the Summer Queen of the planet Tiamat, struggles to unite the population under her rule. Moon must convince the Tiamatians to rebuild a technologically advanced society from scratch before the return of the Hegemony in 150 years.
Reede Kullervo is a biotechnologist and a member of a secret society called The Brotherhood. He is also an expert in the Old Empire’s technology, but he has been unable to successfully recreate the water of life. Kullervo befriends BZ Gundhalinu, then betrays him and steals the faster than light stardrive they created together. Kullervo is kidnapped and enslaved by the Source, a high-level Brotherhood operative.
Gundhalinu returns to Tiamat as the new Chief Justice and head of the Hegemonic government. Kullervo also arrives on Tiamat, where he meets Ariele Dawntreader, Moon’s daughter. He realizes he can speak to the mers. Ariele and Kullervo begin a romantic relationship. Tammis Dawntreader, Moon’s son, becomes a sibyl. He marries a woman while simultaneously struggling to accept his own bisexuality, which is forbidden among the Summer clans. Sparks learns that Ariele and Tammis were actually fathered by Gundhalinu. Betrayed, he joins the Brotherhood. Moon and Gundhalinu reestablish their romantic relationship.
The Source kidnaps Ariele and Kullervo to blackmail Moon. Sparks rejects the Brotherhood and stages a rescue. Gundhalinu attempts to stop the mer hunts and is arrested for treason. Moon discovers the purpose of the mers: they are meant to maintain the sibyl network. Mer hunting has driven them to the brink of extinction, placing the network in danger.
Kullervo learns that he has access to the recorded memories of Vanamoinen, the creator of the sibyl network. The network had orchestrated Vanamoinen’s return in the event that the integrity of the network was ever threatened. Kullervo and Tammis repair the sibyl net, though Tammis is killed in the attempt. Moon is granted knowledge of the coordinates of other Old Empire planets. She offers to share this information with the Hegemony if the mer hunts cease. In her interaction with the network, she loses her sibyl-hood. Gundhalinu is released from prison and restored to his position as Chief Justice. Kullervo and Ariele start a new life together on Tiamat. Sparks leaves Tiamat with Kullervo’s former crew.
Kirkus Reviews called the book "absorbing and satisfying", praising its new ideas, in contrast to the prequel's reliance on literary allusions. However, the review also called the novel "overcomplicated" with "flabby patches". [3]
The novel was nominated for the 1992 Hugo Award for Best Novel [1] and 1992 Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. [2]
Leigh Douglass Brackett was an American author and screenwriter. Nicknamed "the Queen of Space Opera," she was one of the most prominent female writers during the Golden Age of Science Fiction. As a screenwriter, she was best known for her collaborations with director Howard Hawks, mainly writing Westerns and crime films. She also worked on an early draft of The Empire Strikes Back (1980), elements of which remained in the film; she died before it went into production.
Gregory Dale Bear was an American writer and illustrator best known for science fiction. His work covered themes of galactic conflict, parallel universes, consciousness and cultural practices, and accelerated evolution. His last work was the 2021 novel The Unfinished Land. Greg Bear wrote over 50 books in total. He was one of the five co-founders of San Diego Comic-Con.
The Foundation series is a science fiction book series written by American author Isaac Asimov. First published as a series of short stories and novellas in 1942–50, and subsequently in three books in 1951–53, for nearly thirty years the series was widely known as The Foundation Trilogy: Foundation (1951), Foundation and Empire (1952), and Second Foundation (1953). It won the one-time Hugo Award for "Best All-Time Series" in 1966. Asimov later added new volumes, with two sequels, Foundation's Edge (1982) and Foundation and Earth (1986), and two prequels, Prelude to Foundation (1988) and Forward the Foundation (1993).
Xenocide(1991) is a science fiction novel by American writer Orson Scott Card, the third book in the Ender's Game series. It was nominated for both the Hugo and Locus Awards for Best Novel in 1992.
The Hyperion Cantos is a series of science fiction novels by Dan Simmons. The title was originally used for the collection of the first pair of books in the series, Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion, and later came to refer to the overall storyline, including Endymion, The Rise of Endymion, and a number of short stories. More narrowly, inside the fictional storyline, after the first volume, the Hyperion Cantos is an epic poem written by the character Martin Silenus covering in verse form the events of the first two books.
Constance Elaine Trimmer Willis, commonly known as Connie Willis, is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. She has won eleven Hugo Awards and seven Nebula Awards for particular works—more major SF awards than any other writer—most recently the "Best Novel" Hugo and Nebula Awards for Blackout/All Clear (2010). She was inducted by the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2009 and the Science Fiction Writers of America named her its 28th SFWA Grand Master in 2011.
The Fall of Hyperion is the second novel in the Hyperion Cantos, a science fiction series by American author Dan Simmons. The novel, published in 1990, won both the 1991 British Science Fiction and Locus Awards. It was also nominated for the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award.
Ian McDonald is a British science fiction novelist, living in Belfast. His themes include nanotechnology, postcyberpunk settings, and the impact of rapid social and technological change on non-Western societies.
The Snow Queen is a 1980 science fiction novel by American writer Joan D. Vinge. It won the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1981, and was also nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1981.
Kelly Link is an American editor and writer. Mainly known as an author of short stories, she published her first novel The Book of Love in 2024. While some of her fiction falls more clearly within genre categories, many of her stories might be described as slipstream or magic realism: a combination of science fiction, fantasy, horror, mystery, and literary fiction. Among other honors, she has won a Hugo Award, three Nebula Awards, and a World Fantasy Award for her fiction, and she was one of the recipients of the 2018 MacArthur "Genius" Grant.
The Empire Trilogy is a collaborative trilogy of political fantasy novels by American writers Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts, set in the fictional world of Kelewan. It is the second trilogy in Feist's The Riftwar Cycle.
Martha Wells is an American writer of speculative fiction. She has published a number of fantasy novels, young adult novels, media tie-ins, short stories, and nonfiction essays on fantasy and science fiction subjects. Her novels have been translated into twelve languages. Wells has won four Hugo Awards, two Nebula Awards and three Locus Awards for her science fiction series The Murderbot Diaries. She is also known for her fantasy series Ile-Rien and The Books of the Raksura. Wells is praised for the complex, realistically detailed societies she creates; this is often credited to her academic background in anthropology.
The science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein (1907–1988) was productive during a writing career that spanned the last 49 years of his life; the Robert A. Heinlein bibliography includes 32 novels, 59 short stories and 16 collections published during his life. Four films, two TV series, several episodes of a radio series, at least two songs and a board game derive more or less directly from his work. He wrote the screenplay for Destination Moon (1950). Heinlein also edited an anthology of other writers' science fiction short stories.
Sarah Rees Brennan is an Irish writer best known for young adult fantasy fiction. Her first novel, The Demon's Lexicon, was released June 2009 by Simon & Schuster. Rees Brennan's books are bestsellers in both the UK and USA.
James S. A. Corey is the pen name used by collaborators Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, authors of the science fiction series The Expanse. The first and last name are taken from Abraham's and Franck's middle names, respectively, and S. A. are the initials of Abraham's daughter. The name is also meant to emulate many of the space opera writers of the 1970s. In Germany, their books are published under the name James Corey with the middle initials omitted.
A list of works by, or about, the American science fiction author Larry Niven.
The Stone Sky is a 2017 science fantasy novel by American writer N. K. Jemisin. It was awarded the Hugo Award for Best Novel, the Nebula Award for Best Novel, and the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel in 2018. Reviews of the book upon its release were highly positive. It is the third volume in the Broken Earth series, following The Fifth Season and The Obelisk Gate, both of which also won the Hugo Award.
List of works by or about the British author Ian McDonald.
AnnaLinden Weller, better known under her pen name Arkady Martine, is an American author of science fiction literature. Her first novels A Memory Called Empire (2019) and A Desolation Called Peace (2021), which form the Teixcalaan series, each won the Hugo Award for Best Novel.
Ty Corey Franck is an American novelist, screenwriter, and television producer. He is best known for co-authoring The Expanse with Daniel Abraham under the pseudonym James S. A. Corey, as well as Game of Thrones: A Telltale Games Series (2014) and The Expanse: Expanded (2016). The Expanse novels have been adapted into the television series The Expanse (2015–2022), with both Franck and Abraham serving as writers and producers on the show.