Wildcatter, Dave Duncan’s short novel, is published by Edge ($9.95) next
month.
“As long as there is money to be made, there
will be Wildcatters. Throughout human history wildcatters, the first great
explorers and prospectors to lay claim to newly discovered lands, have marched
to the beat of a different drummer — motivated by a deep yearning to be the
first to walk on uncharted land and benefit from treasures yet to be
discovered.
In the future, wildcatters in space will
travel to exoplanets, located in The Big Nothing, to search for new chemicals
which, when transformed into pharmaceuticals, will bring untold wealth and fame
to the individuals and corporations that stake their claim for exclusive
exploitation rights. Such is the quest of the crew of the independent starship Golden
Hind, whose mission is to travel a year and a half to ‘Cacafuego’, beat the
larger corporations to the exoplanets’ resources, and strike it rich for
themselves.
But will a yellow warning flag, planted
above the planet, stop them? Or will the Golden Hind’s prospector foray to
the planet’s surface, possibly to never return alive?”
