Lincoln author weaves complicated web of plots in ‘Well of Stars'

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BY FRANCIS MOUL / For the Lincoln Journal Star

 "The Well of Stars" by Robert Reed, Tor, 299 pages, $25.95

Robert Reed is the quintessential science fiction writer. His books are really meant for true sci-fi fans who get caught up in elaborate but authentic future technology, who want truly to roam the stars and who love speculation about our universe — its birth, life and future. This new work — his 11th sci-fi novel — continues the adventure of an ancient and vast world/ship he first introduced in short stories and the book "Marrow."

In those earlier works, the Ship had swung past Earth after traveling for millions of years, and humans claimed it and took it over. Now it is many eons later and the Ship has gained thousands of other species on its way across many solar systems and millions of light-years. The passengers have found immortality and successfully fought a war against an unknown species on their own world, Marrow, deep within the bowels of the Ship.

There are other unknowns about this magnificent artifact. Who built the Ship? Where is it going, and have humans mistakenly taken it off its predetermined course? What are the full capabilities of the Ship, and what other secrets lie in its enormous unexplored reaches?

The answers to those questions become important as the Ship approaches a new nebula and its black and forbidding core, the gigantic Ink Well. Passage though the nebula seemingly is assured by a living entity, which opens a path that is clear of dangerous comets, space debris and other obstacles. Soon enough, however, the officers of the Ship discover there are deadly perils, and they must make plans to save themselves from utter destruction.

Reed weaves a delightfully complicated web of plots in this book, introducing wondrous weapons and engines, biological marvels and imaginative concepts. He helps maintain the truth that science fiction is a precursor to fact, that novelists foretold men on the moon, satellites and other modern marvels. The author, a nominee for the prestigious Hugo Award for science fiction writing, lives in Lincoln with his wife, Leslie, and their daughter, Jessie Renee.

Francis Moul, Ph.D., is an environmental historian who lives in Lincoln.