Book description
The first manned mission to Mars has been a resounding success, and
excitement grows as more new discoveries are made. However, one
phenomenon continues to defy rational explanation - the 'marsmat' - a
complex anaerobic life-form found in the planet's honeycomb of tunnels.
This raises questions about the nature and meaning of life itself which
will lead the curious and the driven to Pluto and beyond, to the cold
void at the fringes of the solar system. Gregory Benford (1941 - )
A leading writer of 'Hard SF', Gregory Albert Benford was born in
Alabama in 1941. He received a BSc in physics from the University of
Oklahoma, followed by an MSc and PhD from the University of California,
San Diego. His breakthrough novel, Timescape
, won both the Nebula and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards, and he has
been nominated for the Hugo Award four times and the Nebula twelve times
in all categories. Benford has undertaken collaborations with David Brin
and Arthur C. Clarke among others and, as one of the 'Killer Bs' (with
Brin and Greg Bear) wrote one of three authorised sequels to Isaac
Asimov's Foundation series. He has also written for television and
served as a scientific consultant on Star Trek: The Next Generation
.
Gregory Benford lives in California, where he is currently Professor of
Plasma Physics and Astrophysics at the University of California, Irvine,
a position he has held since 1979.
