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The author of the acclaimed Creation Machine returns to the extraordinary artificial planetary cluster of the Spin with his dazzling new novel - a work of thrilling, heart-in-mouth space opera - a must-read for fans of SF bestsellers such as Iain M. Banks, Peter F. Hamilton and Alastair Reynolds.

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The Spin, an ancient artificial cluster of eighty-eight planets and twenty-two suns - is in decline. The boundaries of the formerly prosperous Inside have shrunk to a mere eleven planets, their trade routes are cut off, and their last remaining source of income comes from selling the services of their vast industrial slave-colony - The Hive.
Then a group of Hivers escape. Led by Seldyan, they steal the last remaining legacy battleship, reverse the trance that has been imposed on it for eight thousand years, and leave the Inside behind. Their destination: the free colony of Web City. However when they arrive they realise all is not well - a new green star has appeared in the sky, sparking the growth of a socially repressive cult which is quickly taking over, making Seldyan wonder if Web City is any improvement on the Hive.
At the same time Harbour Master Hevalansa Vess, stripped of his role after the loss of the last ship, has his identity changed and is sent under cover in to the Hive to find out how Seldyan escaped. Wired into the living AI called the Mind Stack, he is forced to confront both his own past, and the institutionalised cruelty of the hierarchy he has been part of.
While Seldyan and her crew try to discover what has caused the new green star, Vess must choose between loyalty to the system that has nurtured and promoted him, and his sympathy for the mass of people it treats as slaves. He must also work out how far he trusts Vut, the gestalt insect entity that increasingly represents his contact with the Inside.
Meanwhile, the ancient ship, now with full access to its memories, has worked out the meaning of the green star for itself - and the existential threat to the Spin that it has been concealing for ten thousand years...

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"Bannister has the knack of making the extraordinary seem normal and the normal seem extraordinary. It all comes together in dazzling, pin-sharp storytelling, where humour. acute social commentary and some terrific aliens jostle together." Jamie Buxton DAILY MAIL

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Born in 1965, Andrew Bannister grew up in Cornwall. He studied Geology at Imperial College and went to work in the North Sea before becoming an Environmental Consultant. For the day job, he specialises in green transport and corporate sustainability, but he has always written - initially for student newspapers and fanzines before moving on, encouraged by creative writing courses, to fiction. He´s always been a reader and has loved science fiction since childhood. From the classics of the 50s and 60s to the present day, he´s wanted it all: space, stars, astonishment and adventure - and now he´s discovered that writing it is even better. Andrew lives in Leicestershire.

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