« Prev Home The World is Round Prologue Chapter One: Signing On (In the Classical Style) Chapter Two: Casting Off Chapter Three: First Mistakes Chapter Four: Introductions for Planet and Explorer I Chapter Five: Introductions for Planet and Explorer II Chapter Six: A Propitious Arrival and a Hasty Retreat Chapter Seven: Death Row Chapter Eight: The Treasure Chest Chapter Nine: Dialogue on Two World Systems Chapter Ten: Conjectures and Refutations Chapter Eleven: Homecoming Chapter Twelve: And Back Again Chapter Thirteen: Turn Back the Clock: A Girl Alone Chapter Fourteen: Again Turn Back the Clock: The Night Begins Chapter Fifteen: A Brief Glimpse Underground Chapter Sixteen: The First Crack in the Sky Chapter Seventeen: Fire or Stars; Personalities vs. Universes Chapter Eighteen: Confronting the Past, Confronting the Present, Confronting the Future Chapter Nineteen: Trapped by a Planet and a Friend Chapter Twenty: Daybreak in the North: The Journey Begins Chapter Twenty-One: Daybreak in the South: Other Journeys Begin Chapter Twenty-Two: The Road to Cathay Chapter Twenty-Three: So Near and Yet So Far Chapter Twenty-Four: Two Epiphanies Chapter Twenty-Five: Swept Away Chapter Twenty-Six: A Gathering of Friends Chapter Twenty-Seven: Another Homecoming Chapter Twenty-Eight: A Second Gathering of Friends Chapter Twenty-Nine: To the Underworld Chapter Thirty: Two Problems Chapter Thirty-One: In the Realm of the Gods Chapter Thirty-Two: Reculer Pour Mieux Sauter Chapter Thirty-Three: Education Chapter Thirty-Four: The Logic of Scientific Discovery Chapter Thirty-Five: Dialogue Concerning a Third World System Chapter Thirty-Six: The Great Siege Chapter Thirty-Seven: Final Convergence, or the New Cosmology Appendix: Days and Nights on Patra-Bannk (Revised 2020) A Note from the Technical Illustrator 2020 Autobiographical Note 2020 Back Cover Back Cover
The Planet of Starless Nights
Their world was 50 times bigger than any world had a right to be.
Their days were a year long. They had no moon. Normal seasons didn’t exist,
and when the natives weren’t worried about being roasted alive, they lived
in dread of freezing to death. Paddelack wasn’t a native of Patra-Bannk,
but he had been trapped there long enough to hate its insanity with every
fiber of his being.
Then a crew from far-off Two-Bit arrived to search for a fantastic city and
its fabulous treasures. Paddelack greeted them with a vengeance and begged
for passage off this crazy world. But the mission commander had something
else in mind, and he needed Paddelack’s help.
So Paddelack stayed on the world he hated, an unwilling captive of a
mercenary band. Together they traversed the face of this bizarre
planet—plagued by unpredictable natives, beset by irrational weather, and
thoroughly confused by the enormity of their predicament.
A memorable debut… a big, glorious adventure overflowing with memorable
ideas and marvelous events. —Robert Silverberg
« Prev Home The World is Round Prologue Chapter One: Signing On (In the Classical Style) Chapter Two: Casting Off Chapter Three: First Mistakes Chapter Four: Introductions for Planet and Explorer I Chapter Five: Introductions for Planet and Explorer II Chapter Six: A Propitious Arrival and a Hasty Retreat Chapter Seven: Death Row Chapter Eight: The Treasure Chest Chapter Nine: Dialogue on Two World Systems Chapter Ten: Conjectures and Refutations Chapter Eleven: Homecoming Chapter Twelve: And Back Again Chapter Thirteen: Turn Back the Clock: A Girl Alone Chapter Fourteen: Again Turn Back the Clock: The Night Begins Chapter Fifteen: A Brief Glimpse Underground Chapter Sixteen: The First Crack in the Sky Chapter Seventeen: Fire or Stars; Personalities vs. Universes Chapter Eighteen: Confronting the Past, Confronting the Present, Confronting the Future Chapter Nineteen: Trapped by a Planet and a Friend Chapter Twenty: Daybreak in the North: The Journey Begins Chapter Twenty-One: Daybreak in the South: Other Journeys Begin Chapter Twenty-Two: The Road to Cathay Chapter Twenty-Three: So Near and Yet So Far Chapter Twenty-Four: Two Epiphanies Chapter Twenty-Five: Swept Away Chapter Twenty-Six: A Gathering of Friends Chapter Twenty-Seven: Another Homecoming Chapter Twenty-Eight: A Second Gathering of Friends Chapter Twenty-Nine: To the Underworld Chapter Thirty: Two Problems Chapter Thirty-One: In the Realm of the Gods Chapter Thirty-Two: Reculer Pour Mieux Sauter Chapter Thirty-Three: Education Chapter Thirty-Four: The Logic of Scientific Discovery Chapter Thirty-Five: Dialogue Concerning a Third World System Chapter Thirty-Six: The Great Siege Chapter Thirty-Seven: Final Convergence, or the New Cosmology Appendix: Days and Nights on Patra-Bannk (Revised 2020) A Note from the Technical Illustrator 2020 Autobiographical Note 2020 Back Cover