Karl Schroeder - Böcker

A world of endless sky, with no land, no gravity: this is Virga. Beginning in the seminal science fiction novel "Sun of Suns", the saga of this striking world has introduced readers to the people of stubborn pride and resilience who have made Virga their home; but also, always lurking beyond the walls of the world, to the mysterious threat known only as Artificial Nature. In "The Sunless Countries", history tutor Leal Hieronyma Maspeth became the first human in centuries to learn the true nature of this threat. Her reward was exile, but now, in "Ashes of Candesce", Artificial Nature makes its final bid to destroy Virga, and it is up to Leal to unite the quarrelling clans of her world to fight back. "Ashes of Candesce' brings together all the heroes of the "Virga" series and draws the diverse threads of the previous storylines together into one climactic conflict. Blending steampunk styling with a far-future setting and meditations on the posthuman condition, "Ashes of Candesce" mixes high adventure and cutting-edge ideas in a fitting climax to one of science fiction's most innovative series.

Chaison Fanning, the admiral of a fleet of warships introduced in the first book, has been captured and imprisoned by his enemies, but is now rescued and set free. He must flee to his home city to confront the ruler who betrayed him. Perhaps while there he will also regain his lovely, powerful, and subversive wife, Venera. He has not seen her since she fled, careening off into the air of Virga, with the key to the artificial sun, Candesce, at the centre of Virga. In "Pirate Sun", Schroeder sets a whole new standard for hard SF space opera.

In an ocean of weightless air where sunlight has never reached, the running lights of the city of Pacquaea glitter in the dark. One woman, Leal Hieronyma Maspeth lives and dreams of love among the gas lit streets and cafes. And somewhere in the abyss of wind and twisted cloud through which Pacquaea eternally falls, a great voice has begun speaking. As its cold words reach even to the city walls - and as outlying towns and travellers' ships start to mysteriously disappear - only Leal has the courage to try to understand the message thundering from the distance. Even the city's most famous visitor, the sun lighter and hero named Hayden Griffin, refuses to turn aside from his commission to build a new sun for a foreign nation. He will not become the hero that Leal knows the city needs; so in the end, it is up to her to listen, and ultimately reply, to the worldwasp.

When seventeen-year-old Toby McGonigal finds himself lost in space, separated from his family, he expects his next drift into cold sleep to be his last. After all, the planet he's orbiting is frozen and sunless, and the cities are dead. But when Toby wakes again, he's surprised to discover a thriving planet, a strange and prosperous galaxy, and something stranger still-that he's been asleep for 14,000 years. Welcome to the Lockstep empire, where civilization is kept alive by careful hibernation. Here cold sleeps can last decades and waking moments mere weeks. Its citizens survive for millennia, traveling asleep on long voyages between worlds. Not only is Lockstep the new centre of the galaxy, but Toby is shocked to learn that the empire is still ruled by its founding family: his own. Toby's brother Peter has become a terrible tyrant. Suspicious of the return of his long-lost sibling, whose rightful inheritance also controls the Lockstep hibernation cycles, Peter sees Toby as a threat to his regime. Now, with the help of a Lockstep girl named Corva, Toby must survive the forces of this new empire, outwit his siblings, and save human civilization.

Every thirty years, ten billion visitors overrun Earth during one month of madness: partying, polluting, and brawling. In between, the world is ruled by the Million; the inheritors and custodians of all of humanity’s wealth and history, they lead unimaginable lives of privilege and wealth, and they see it as their due.Gavin Penn-of-Chaffee is an illegal child - a visitor hidden among the Million. When the family that raised him in secret is torn apart, Gavin must impersonate a dead boy to survive. What he doesn’t know is that his new identity is expected at the School of Auditors - the Million’s feared police force, sworn to find and capture outcasts like him to keep the peace. In order to solve the murder of his adoptive father, Gavin must keep his disguise and his wits intact within the stronghold of those threatened by his very existence.

Die Notwendigkeit, elektrischen Strom für eine Vielzahl der verschiedenartigsten Ver­ wendungszwecke in fortlaufend sich erweiterndem Umfang zu erzeugen, zwingt zum Bau immer neuer Kraftwerke. Immer mehr Menschen aller Sparten kommen mit Technik und Wirtschaft der Energieumwandlung in Berührung; immer mehr Kraftwerksingenieure müssen sich mit der Planung, der Ausführung und dem Betrieb von Kraftwerken be­ fassen; immer mehr Ingenieure der zuliefernden Industrie benötigen einen Überblick über die gestaltenden Kräfte, die das Kraftwerk formen und die eigene Technik beeinflussen; immer mehr Studierende und Nachwuchskräfte müssen sich in die Grundlagen der Energie­ erzeugung einarbeiten; immer mehr Angehörige anderer Berufsarten nehmen im Berufs­ oder Privatleben irgendeine Verbindung mit der Erzeugung, Übertragung bzw. Ver­ wendung des elektrischen Stromes auf. Das Interesse dafür, welche Vorgänge sich bei der Energieerzeugung abspielen und welche wirtschaftlichen Verbesserungsmöglichkeiten gegeben sind, wächst damit ständig. Das dreibändige Werk soll dem Kraftwerksbauer nicht nur für die Gesamtplanung als Nachschlagewerk für seine täglichen Aufgaben - als eine Art "Brevier" - dienen; es soll auch auf den Teilgebieten Wegweiser und Ratgeber sein, und es soll schließlich auch dem Ingenieur, der sich diesem Gebiet zuwendet, insbesondere also dem Studierenden die Mög­ lichkeit einer hinreichenden Unterrichtung bieten. Bei der überwältigenden Fülle des Stoffes wäre eine Behandlung durch einen einzigen Fachmann unmöglich gewesen. Genauso, wieein Kraftwerk nur von einem erfahrenen Arbeitsteam geplant und gebaut werden kann, mußte auch das Buch von einer in langjähriger Zusammenarbeit aufeinander eingespielten Ge­ meinschaft genannter undungenannter Mitarbeiter verfaßt werden.