Cover of Dark Piper

Dark Piper

by Unknown Author

3.5
(2 ratings)
221 pages1984Ballantine BooksISBN 9780345315373

About this book

Returning home after ten years, Griss Lugard found Beltane relatively untouched by the annihilating war of the Four Sectors, her inhabitants still immersed in the biological researches on mutation for which the planet had been designated. The destruction of the other worlds in the Confederation meant little to them, nor would they listen to Lugard's warnings of danger from the lawless elements roaming the chaotic off-world. Only Vere Collis and his nine young friends believed in Lugard and, drawn by his magnetism and his promises of exploring unknown desert caves, were safe underground when a series of explosions rocked Beltane, killing Lugard and sealing them in. In the days that followed, the small group battled fear and despair, as well as enemies more tangible, until they won their way to the surface, there to receive a shattering blow: all other human inhabitants on Beltane had perished. Only strange and possibly hostile mutant creatures remained. Rich in adventure and excitement, Dark Piper once more displays the superlative imagination and narrative skill that have put Andre Norton among the top writers of science fiction.

Publication Details

Publisher
Ballantine Books
Published
1984
Pages
221
ISBN
9780345315373

About Unknown Author

Andre Norton was born Alice Mary Norton in Cleveland, Ohio, the daughter of rug company owner and his wife. She began writing while she was in high school, and she was the editor of a literary page in the school's paper. She also wrote her first novel, Ralestone Luck, which was published in 1938. Her first published novel was The Prince Commands (1934). She graduated from high school in 1930 and began studying teaching at Flora Stone Mather College of Western Reserve University. In 1932 she dropped out early due to economic conditions and began working for the Cleveland Library System. In 1934, she legally changed her name to Andre Alice Norton, the pen name she had adopted to increase her marketability since boys were the main audience for fantasy. In 1941, she bought a bookstore called the Mystery House in Mount Rainier, Maryland, but the business failed and she returned to the Cleveland Public Library. In 1950 she became a reader for the Gnome Press Co. In 1958 she became a full-time author. In 1966 she moved to Florida for health reasons, and then to Murfreesboro, Tennessee. In 1977, she received the Gandalf Grand Master Award from the World Science Fiction Society, and in 1983 she received the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. She died in March of 2005 of congestive heart failure. She has been called the Grande Dame of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Over the course of her career, she published over 300 published titles read by four generations. Shortly after her death, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America created the Andre Norton Award for outstanding work of fantasy or science fiction for Young Adults.

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