Seeds of Earth

by Michael Cobley

  rushed up on deck in time to see a long, irregular shape

  erupt from the sea on a pillar of plasma energies. From

  a blasted crater in the waters, superheated steam flew up

  and swirled outwards in pale shells of vapour while

  webs and curtains of water were drawn up after the

  ascending craft. Some on board the lugger had been

  scalded by the steam and all had flattened themselves

  on the deck, craning their heads to stare fearfully as

  the strange thing roared up into the night sky and was

  gone.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  As most writers would surely know, a true and compre-

  hensive page of acknowledgements would require tips of

  the hat going out to manifold persons far and wide. But

  in the interests of brevity, clarity, maybe even hilarity, I'll

  have to leave out half the human race (y'all know who

  you are) and direct thankees to those whose own works

  have inspired me to launch myself full-bodied upon the

  mighty task of space opera, them being Eric Brown, Bill

  King, David Brin, Dave Wingrove, Iain Banks, Ken

  Macleod, Gary Gibson, Ian Mcdonald, Vernor Vinge,

  Dan Simmons, the Big Three - Asimov, Heinlein and

  Clarke - Ian Watson, Neal Asher, Jack Vance, Andre

  Norton, and, undoubtedly, a host of others that my fee-

  bletastic brain has failed to bring to mind. Checksum

  failed, assuredly.

  In addition, mention must be made of those stalwart

  pioneers of Scottish spec-fic, the Glasgow SF Writers

  Circle, as well as our Edinburgh counterparts, and the

  redoubtable Andrew J Wilson. Munificent thanks

  should also be extended to John Parker at MBA Literary

  Agency, and by no means least to my editor, Darren

  Nash, whose critical eagle-eye (some kind of editorial

  special perception) and amiable, enthusiastic persistence

  kept me and the book on track. Encouragement and

  rethink-jogging came from other quarters at various

  points along the book's timeline, from the likes of John

  Jarrold, Joshua Bilmes, Stewart Robinson, John Marks,

  Eddie Black and the copy editors at Orbit.

  Musical accompaniment was provided by the likes

  of Pallas, Fish, Eisbrecher, Colony5, Robert Schroeder,

  Klaus Schulze, Racer X, Ozric Tentacles, Opeth, the

  amazing Mustasch, as well as such doomlords as

  Penance, Novembre, Candlemass, Paradise Lost, and

  Krux, as well as Paisley's preacher of prog, Graeme

  Fleming, and Sheffield's missionary of metal, Ian Sales.

  KDI!

  about the author

  Michael Cobley was born in Leicester,

  England, and has lived in Glasgow, Scotland,

  for most of his life. He has studied

  engineering, been a DJ and has an abiding

  interest in democratic politics. His previous

  books include the Shadowkings dark fantasy

  trilogy, and Iron Mosaic, a short story

  collection. Seeds of Earth, book one of the

  Humanity's Fire sequence, is his first full-

  length foray into space opera.

  Find out more about Michael Cobley and

  other Orbit authors by registering for the free

  monthly newsletter at www.orbitbooks.net

  Table of Contents

  www.orbitbooks.net