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Starfall: a novel
A daughter's search for truth. A father's impossible theories. A comet that will change everything.
When journalist Samantha Foster returns to her Catskills hometown to cover an approaching comet, she expects a routine science story. Instead, she discovers that her late father's discredited theories about electromagnetic connections between Earth and comets are proving terrifyingly accurate.
Dr. Neil Foster died in obscurity, dismissed as a crackpot by the scientific community. But as Comet Alvarez approaches, monitoring stations worldwide detect the exact patterns he mysterious electromagnetic pulses, animals behaving in impossible synchronicity, and people tasting metal in the air. The correlation between his calculations and reality climbs daily toward an impossible 100%.
Working with Alex Watson—her first love, now a brilliant physicist—Samantha races to decode her father's encrypted journals while helping her hometown prepare for humanity's first conscious cosmic dialogue. But the closer the comet comes, the more she realizes her father paid a terrible price for seeing truth too choosing the stars over family, cosmic patterns over human connection.
On June 20th, the summer solstice that would have been Neil Foster's birthday, Comet Alvarez will reach its closest point to Earth. In sixty-two seconds that will reshape human consciousness, eight billion people will experience what one man died trying to share—that Earth and the cosmos have been in conversation all along.
A literary science fiction novel about the price of vision, the power of vindication, and the difference between reaching for the stars alone and learning to listen together.
When journalist Samantha Foster returns to her Catskills hometown to cover an approaching comet, she expects a routine science story. Instead, she discovers that her late father's discredited theories about electromagnetic connections between Earth and comets are proving terrifyingly accurate.
Dr. Neil Foster died in obscurity, dismissed as a crackpot by the scientific community. But as Comet Alvarez approaches, monitoring stations worldwide detect the exact patterns he mysterious electromagnetic pulses, animals behaving in impossible synchronicity, and people tasting metal in the air. The correlation between his calculations and reality climbs daily toward an impossible 100%.
Working with Alex Watson—her first love, now a brilliant physicist—Samantha races to decode her father's encrypted journals while helping her hometown prepare for humanity's first conscious cosmic dialogue. But the closer the comet comes, the more she realizes her father paid a terrible price for seeing truth too choosing the stars over family, cosmic patterns over human connection.
On June 20th, the summer solstice that would have been Neil Foster's birthday, Comet Alvarez will reach its closest point to Earth. In sixty-two seconds that will reshape human consciousness, eight billion people will experience what one man died trying to share—that Earth and the cosmos have been in conversation all along.
A literary science fiction novel about the price of vision, the power of vindication, and the difference between reaching for the stars alone and learning to listen together.
322 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 30, 2025
9 people are currently reading
750 people want to read
About the author
Christopher Liberty
3 books25 followersChristopher Liberty's works span diverse genres. His first novel, Flash Crash, was a financial thriller, followed by Bonfire at Squash Long Creek, a coming-of-age story. His third novel, Starfall, explores questions about connection, legacy, and the stories we pass between generations.
While these three novels span vastly different worlds—from high-stakes financial markets to small-town adolescence to cosmic mysteries—they share a common thread: each explores how unexpected events illuminate hidden patterns in our lives. Whether it's a market crash revealing character, a summer tragedy forging identity, or a comet's return connecting generations, Liberty's work examines those pivotal moments when the ordinary becomes extraordinary. He believes that the best stories, like comets, return to us transformed, carrying new meaning with each passage.
Reviews are appreciated!
While these three novels span vastly different worlds—from high-stakes financial markets to small-town adolescence to cosmic mysteries—they share a common thread: each explores how unexpected events illuminate hidden patterns in our lives. Whether it's a market crash revealing character, a summer tragedy forging identity, or a comet's return connecting generations, Liberty's work examines those pivotal moments when the ordinary becomes extraordinary. He believes that the best stories, like comets, return to us transformed, carrying new meaning with each passage.
Reviews are appreciated!
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 5, 2025
Christopher Liberty has done it again! Starfall is a page-turner and the most riveting book that I've read this year. It's surprising because I don't usually read science fiction-my shelves are filled with romance, historical fiction, and murder mysteries. That said, the book cover caught my eye. I read the blurb and I was hooked.
It's an emotional story about struggling family: a father disconnected due to his cosmic obsession, a daughter who is trying to understand her father, and a wife shouldering the responsibility of holding the her family together.
Starfall brought out all my emotions; happy, sad, and anger. Break out the tissue for the scenes where Samatha tries to connect with her father. Heartbreaking! Five Stars for a captivating science fiction novel!
It's an emotional story about struggling family: a father disconnected due to his cosmic obsession, a daughter who is trying to understand her father, and a wife shouldering the responsibility of holding the her family together.
Starfall brought out all my emotions; happy, sad, and anger. Break out the tissue for the scenes where Samatha tries to connect with her father. Heartbreaking! Five Stars for a captivating science fiction novel!
October 14, 2025
I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway.
Starfall is a slower kind of sci-fi that mixes science, mystery, and family drama. The main character, Samantha, goes back to her hometown to cover a comet but ends up digging into her late father’s strange theories—and things start getting weird in the best way. The story kept pulling me in - this one’s worth checking out.
Starfall is a slower kind of sci-fi that mixes science, mystery, and family drama. The main character, Samantha, goes back to her hometown to cover a comet but ends up digging into her late father’s strange theories—and things start getting weird in the best way. The story kept pulling me in - this one’s worth checking out.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews