Burster

by Michael Capobianco

Homeless Among the Stars

In a last ditch effort to reunite the world, the multinational starship Asia was launched fourteen years ago on a journey through the near solar systems. Its mission: to search out and colonize Earth-type planets that could support human life. Yet, as the crew approaches their first destination in the Epsilon Indi system, an unexplained burst of radiation apparently emanating from Earth wipes out all contact with the mother planet.

Fearing the worst but unwilling to jeopardize essential crew members, the captain chooses the brilliant but restless Peter Zolotin to undertake the hazardous voyage back to Earth. With the aid of an advanced artificial intelligence Zolotin embarks on a mind-bending journey to discover the truth about Earth's fate. And the message he carries back to the orphaned crew will change the course of humanity forever.

A remarkable solo debut, Burster is a stunning and thought-provoking novel of a young man's coming of age in the galaxy.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

272 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 1, 1990

About the author

Michael Capobianco has published two solo science fiction novels, Purlieu (Placeholder Press) and Burster (Bantam). He is co-author, with William Barton, of the controversial hardcore sf books Iris (Doubleday, Avon Eos), Alpha Centauri (Avon), and the critically acclaimed alternate history Fellow Traveler (Bantam), as well as several magazine articles on planetology and the exploration of the solar system.

Starlog Magazine called their final collaboration, White Light (Avon Eos), "a literary treasure."

Born in Washington, D.C. in 1950, Capobianco graduated from the University of Virginia with a major in Interdisciplinary Studies. For many years he was involved in the development of computer simulations and game software. An amateur astronomer, he is a member of the International Occultation and Timing Association (IOTA). His observations were critical in determining the size and shape of asteroid 102 Miriam.

Capobianco served as President of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) from 1996-1998 and 2007-2008. He received the Service to SFWA Award in 2004 and is currently Advisor to SFWA's Board of Directors. He lives in Southern Maryland with two cats, Ariel and Mocha.

Capobianco was married to science fiction author Ann C. Crispin, who died in 2013.

Reviews

[Zork]

I'm pleased that Michael Capobianco was able to publish his own novel, apart from his usual partnership with William Barton, but it's definitely a first novel. It seemed like there were two stories he wanted to tell, but he didn't really write about the stories, just the plot. (Usually when I encounter books like this, it's the other way around: all kinds of story, but no plot.) And neither story dovetailed with the other except in a tangential way near the end of the book.

[Chris Maguire]

A castaway humanity struggles to begin interstellar colonization. Artificial Intelligence wants to play a strong role in the story, as does alien biology and politics but none really do. The book ends just as things are starting to get exciting. Lots of great topics that never really go anywhere. Much of the book feels like boring descriptions of planets. I feel Capobianco could have separated this into five different books dealing with the themes of politics in small insulated groups, interstellar colonization, small colony subsistence, AI and it's submission to humans and the coming of age of the children of space explorers. With so many competing tensions it's hard to tell what the point of the story actually was.