A Billion Days of Earth

by Piserchia, Doris

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  Also by Doris Piserchia

  Mister Justice (1973)

  Star Rider (1974)

  A Billion Days of Earth (1976)

  Earthchild (1977)

  Spaceling (1978)

  The Spinner (1980)

  The Fluger (1980)

  Doomtime (1981)

  Earth in Twilight (1981)

  Blood Country (1981)

  I, Zombie (1982)

  The Dimensioneers (1982)

  The Deadly Sky (1983)

  Dedication

  to Joe

  Doris Piserchia (1928 – )

  Doris Piserchia was born in Fairmont, West Virginia, where she grew up as part of a large family. She attended Fairmont State College and worked as a lifeguard while earning a teacher’s degree in Physical Education. Upon graduating in 1950, Piserchia realised that she didn’t want to become a teacher and so instead joined the Navy, where she served for four years. It was during her time studying for a Master’s degree in educational psychology at the University of Utah that she discovered science fiction and began to write, although her works were not published until 1966, beginning with the humorous short story ‘Rocket to Gehenna’. Despite her military experience, age, and preference for older SF, she is often associated with the New Wave, with her works being described as ‘darkly comic’ by admirers. Piserchia has not published any new work since 1983.

  For more information see www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/piserchia_doris

  Copyright

  A Gollancz eBook

  Copyright © Doris Piserchia 1976

  All rights reserved.

  The right of Doris Piserchia to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  This eBook first published in Great Britain in 2015 by

  Gollancz

  The Orion Publishing Group Ltd

  Orion House

  5 Upper Saint Martin’s Lane

  London, WC2H 9EA

  An Hachette UK Company

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  ISBN 978 0 575 13358 7

  All characters and events in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor to be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  www.orionbooks.co.uk