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Candlemark & Gleam is known for finding exciting new voices. Yet an equally integral part of our vision is to give shuttles to bold experienced astrogators.

A talent I’ve always tracked closely is Melissa Scott, one of the brightest stars in the SFF firmament, a pioneering forerunner who opened new paths in the genre way ahead of trends. With a PhD in Comparative History from Brandeis, she has published more than thirty original novels, most with queer themes and characters. She is known for her remarkable world-building, has won a slew of awards, and most of her short stories (including those I elicited for The Other Half of the Sky and To Shape the Dark) have appeared in “Best of” compilations.

So I was thrilled when Melissa chose Candlemark as the launch pad for her mythic space opera series Firstborn, Lastborn, seamless fusions of adventure, myth, and science so advanced as to have become magic—bold, original re-imaginings of the tales of the Atreides, Daedalus, Prometheus, Pandora, and the Titans. The first agate in that gleaming pendant was the highly acclaimed Finders, now to be accompanied by Fallen. Here’s the latter’s appetite-whetting synopsis:

Nic en Doroney was promised an education and an academic career in exchange for sharing the nanite burden she carries in her bloodstream. Instead, the Novilis family broke that bargain, and now Nic is captain of a small starship, competing with larger businesses by using illegal Ancestral technology to chart her way through the adjacent possible. But when Rejane Novilis re-enters her life, Nic is unable to resist the chance to work with her again, even if it means challenging the malevolent AI who have already destroyed human society once before.

Such a riveting work calls for a cover artist of equally potent talent. Today I get to share the breathtaking cover of Fallen, created by Eleni Tsami. Eleni’s stunning, painterly work has graced many previous Candlemark efforts, including Melissa Scott’s Finders and Water Horse, and Jo Graham’s Sounding Dark and Warlady. As with Finders, the back of the cover for Fallen shows the pivotal space station of Callambhal Above in a different era.

Fallen will launch on December 18. Until then, watch the sensor scans, keep fingers on the engine buttons—and visit Fallen at GoodReads!