cover image Distant Seas

Distant Seas

Bud Sparhawk. Fantastic (fantasticbooks.biz), $13.99 trade paper (216p) ISBN 978-1-62755-633-0

Sparhawk (Vixen) has created a riveting and tightly wound interplanetary adventure, first self-published in 2010. Louella and Pascal are two of the best sailors on Earth, with the racing victories—and near-death stories—to prove it. When Jerome Blacker, president of the multiplanetary corporation JBI, decides to sponsor them in a race across the atmosphere of Jupiter as good company publicity, Louella and Pascal agree to leave Earth’s seas behind—promised a large reward for the massive risk. But a “million-year storm” on Earth is nothing compared to what Jupiter can manifest, including tempests larger than the entire planet Earth and millions of tons of metallic debris dredged up from below. Pascal learns he must also fight his own terror once the race is on if he and Louella are to survive, much less win. Louella is the archetypal sailor whose hard edge, razor-sharp instincts, almost superhuman endurance, and reverence for sailing—on any planet—make for a rousing and thoughtful adventure with roots as deep as the oceans themselves. (May)