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Rich Man's Sky #3
Beggar's Sky
A wildly original alien contact novel, set against a vivid backdrop of near-Earth corporate intrigue.
Trillionaire Igbal Renz has constructed a starship capable of making the twenty-year journey to Alpha Centauri. So why is he stopping at barely one-tenth that distance, with a cargo of a hundred frozen scientists and diplomats? Rumors abound that Renz Ventures, Inc., has made contact with . . . something. And yet, as deadly stealth ships prowl the space lanes and as the corporate space race threatens to devolve into outright warfare, the Four Horsemen of space industry are discovering firsthand that even in a limitless and lawless frontier, no one can ever be truly self-sufficient.
At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).
Praise for Poor Man’s Sky:
“Full bore show-your-work SF and a tense lunar mystery! A thrilling read.� —Max Gladstone, Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author
“Wil McCarthy’s skill at crafting a believable, deeply science-grounded future is on full display. He brings us the mother of all locked-room mysteries wrapped in a vision of lunar colonization that rings a bit more true than we might be comfortable with. Small, gritty moments of inspired futurism pepper Poor Man’s Sky and remind us that no matter where we go, our human nature follows.� —Kimberly Unger, author of The Extractionist and Nucleation
Praise for Rich Man’s Sky:
“Action SF built on a hard foundation of cutting-edge science.� —Walter Jon Williams
“An action-crammed story that darts at hyper-speed from Burning Man, Nevada, to Suriname to a convent on the Moon to an orbiting colony that’s clearly up to something. A jam-packed adventure fizzing with mind-blowing concepts, and a great read!� —Connie Willis
� . . . plenty of verisimilitude . . . superbly intriguing and captivating . . . bravura historical recreations, full of conjectural material. . . . Presenting us with a colorful cast of characters from across the millennia who have thick and rich existences, and affirming that the cosmic stream of life flows forcefully despite all small blockades, McCarthy has written a novel that looks both forwards and backwards, thus making a stellar return to the field.� �Locus
Praise for Wil
“McCarthy is an entertaining, intelligent, amusing writer, with Heinlein’s knack for breakneck plotting and, at the same time, Clarke’s thoughtfulness.� �Booklist
“Imagination really is the only limit.� �The New York Times
The future as McCarthy sees it is a wondrous place.� �Publishers Weekly
“Wil McCarthy demonstrates that he has a sharp intelligence, a galaxyspanning imagination, and the solid scientific background to make it all work.� —Connie Willis
Engineer/novelist/journalist/entrepreneur Wil McCarthy is a former contributing editor for WIRED magazine and science columnist for the SyFy channel. A lifetime member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, he has been nominated for the Nebula, Locus, Seiun, AnLab, Colorado Book, Theodore Sturgeon, and Philip K. Dick awards. His short fiction has graced the pages of Analog, Asimov’s, WIRED, and SF Age, and his novels include the New York Times Notable Bloom, Ama
Trillionaire Igbal Renz has constructed a starship capable of making the twenty-year journey to Alpha Centauri. So why is he stopping at barely one-tenth that distance, with a cargo of a hundred frozen scientists and diplomats? Rumors abound that Renz Ventures, Inc., has made contact with . . . something. And yet, as deadly stealth ships prowl the space lanes and as the corporate space race threatens to devolve into outright warfare, the Four Horsemen of space industry are discovering firsthand that even in a limitless and lawless frontier, no one can ever be truly self-sufficient.
At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).
Praise for Poor Man’s Sky:
“Full bore show-your-work SF and a tense lunar mystery! A thrilling read.� —Max Gladstone, Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author
“Wil McCarthy’s skill at crafting a believable, deeply science-grounded future is on full display. He brings us the mother of all locked-room mysteries wrapped in a vision of lunar colonization that rings a bit more true than we might be comfortable with. Small, gritty moments of inspired futurism pepper Poor Man’s Sky and remind us that no matter where we go, our human nature follows.� —Kimberly Unger, author of The Extractionist and Nucleation
Praise for Rich Man’s Sky:
“Action SF built on a hard foundation of cutting-edge science.� —Walter Jon Williams
“An action-crammed story that darts at hyper-speed from Burning Man, Nevada, to Suriname to a convent on the Moon to an orbiting colony that’s clearly up to something. A jam-packed adventure fizzing with mind-blowing concepts, and a great read!� —Connie Willis
� . . . plenty of verisimilitude . . . superbly intriguing and captivating . . . bravura historical recreations, full of conjectural material. . . . Presenting us with a colorful cast of characters from across the millennia who have thick and rich existences, and affirming that the cosmic stream of life flows forcefully despite all small blockades, McCarthy has written a novel that looks both forwards and backwards, thus making a stellar return to the field.� �Locus
Praise for Wil
“McCarthy is an entertaining, intelligent, amusing writer, with Heinlein’s knack for breakneck plotting and, at the same time, Clarke’s thoughtfulness.� �Booklist
“Imagination really is the only limit.� �The New York Times
The future as McCarthy sees it is a wondrous place.� �Publishers Weekly
“Wil McCarthy demonstrates that he has a sharp intelligence, a galaxyspanning imagination, and the solid scientific background to make it all work.� —Connie Willis
Engineer/novelist/journalist/entrepreneur Wil McCarthy is a former contributing editor for WIRED magazine and science columnist for the SyFy channel. A lifetime member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, he has been nominated for the Nebula, Locus, Seiun, AnLab, Colorado Book, Theodore Sturgeon, and Philip K. Dick awards. His short fiction has graced the pages of Analog, Asimov’s, WIRED, and SF Age, and his novels include the New York Times Notable Bloom, Ama
369 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 6, 2024
6 people are currently reading
28 people want to read
About the author
Wil McCarthy
56Ìýbooks85ÌýfollowersScience fiction author and Chief Technology Officer for Galileo Shipyards
Engineer/Novelist/Journalist/Entrepreneur Wil McCarthy is a former contributing editor for WIRED magazine and science columnist for the SyFy channel (previously SciFi channel), where his popular "Lab Notes" column ran from 1999 through 2009. A lifetime member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, he has been nominated for the Nebula, Locus, Seiun, AnLab, Colorado Book, Theodore Sturgeon and Philip K. Dick awards, and contributed to projects that won a Webbie, an Eppie, a Game Developers' Choice Award, and a General Excellence National Magazine Award. In addition, his imaginary world of "P2", from the novel LOST IN TRANSMISSION, was rated one of the 10 best science fiction planets of all time by Discover magazine. His short fiction has graced the pages of magazines like Analog, Asimov's, WIRED, and SF Age, and his novels include the New York Times Notable BLOOM, Amazon.com "Best of Y2K" THE COLLAPSIUM (a national bestseller) and, most recently, TO CRUSH THE MOON. He has also written for TV, appeared on The History Channel and The Science Channel, and published nonfiction in half a dozen magazines, including WIRED, Discover, GQ, Popular Mechanics, IEEE Spectrum, and the Journal of Applied Polymer Science. Previously a flight controller for Lockheed Martin Space Launch Systems and later an engineering manager for Omnitech Robotics, McCarthy is now the president and Chief Technology Officer of RavenBrick LLC in Denver, CO, a developer of smart window technologies. He lives in Colorado with his family
Engineer/Novelist/Journalist/Entrepreneur Wil McCarthy is a former contributing editor for WIRED magazine and science columnist for the SyFy channel (previously SciFi channel), where his popular "Lab Notes" column ran from 1999 through 2009. A lifetime member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, he has been nominated for the Nebula, Locus, Seiun, AnLab, Colorado Book, Theodore Sturgeon and Philip K. Dick awards, and contributed to projects that won a Webbie, an Eppie, a Game Developers' Choice Award, and a General Excellence National Magazine Award. In addition, his imaginary world of "P2", from the novel LOST IN TRANSMISSION, was rated one of the 10 best science fiction planets of all time by Discover magazine. His short fiction has graced the pages of magazines like Analog, Asimov's, WIRED, and SF Age, and his novels include the New York Times Notable BLOOM, Amazon.com "Best of Y2K" THE COLLAPSIUM (a national bestseller) and, most recently, TO CRUSH THE MOON. He has also written for TV, appeared on The History Channel and The Science Channel, and published nonfiction in half a dozen magazines, including WIRED, Discover, GQ, Popular Mechanics, IEEE Spectrum, and the Journal of Applied Polymer Science. Previously a flight controller for Lockheed Martin Space Launch Systems and later an engineering manager for Omnitech Robotics, McCarthy is now the president and Chief Technology Officer of RavenBrick LLC in Denver, CO, a developer of smart window technologies. He lives in Colorado with his family
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 16, 2024
The book is better than the first one and worse than the second one. My main gripe is that the book is too short for the number of different parallel threads it is weaving. You have at least 5 parallel stories that don't actually intersect and none is exploited to its utmost. The characters are interesting and the worldbuilding is adequate (though it could have been better; by now, we should have a better grasp on the world beyond the 4/5 horsemen). The standout for me was the Venus colony, a plot area which also has some interesting ruminations on the nature of poverty and the initial lack of economic rationale for colonization at a distance. The technology was also very imaginative. The weakest thread is, unfortunately, the main storyline, which I won't spoil, but involves a lot of half-baked gibberish.
I will definitely read a future book. For all the faults I found, the storyline is compelling and I want to see where the various subplots go, especially with the as-yet unrevealed 6th player. The fragmented nature of the plot is inevitable given the world in which it is taking place, but I can't help but think dedicated books for each horseman would have been a better way to do things.
I will definitely read a future book. For all the faults I found, the storyline is compelling and I want to see where the various subplots go, especially with the as-yet unrevealed 6th player. The fragmented nature of the plot is inevitable given the world in which it is taking place, but I can't help but think dedicated books for each horseman would have been a better way to do things.
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April 9, 2024Third book in the "Rich Man's Sky", then "Poor Man's Sky". Which implies that there will be a "Thief's Sky" next.
In this series there are trillionaires responsible for expansion into space � and making themselves more wealthy than nations and able to do it. They have plot � but they also explain how lots of this works.
I haven't yet seen trillionaires surrounded by yes-men making big mistakes, which I think is unrealistic, but I have enjoyed what I have read.
In this series there are trillionaires responsible for expansion into space � and making themselves more wealthy than nations and able to do it. They have plot � but they also explain how lots of this works.
I haven't yet seen trillionaires surrounded by yes-men making big mistakes, which I think is unrealistic, but I have enjoyed what I have read.
April 21, 2024
This was a great installment (probably not the finale) of a plausible hard sf story about solar system colonization efforts. The "four horsemen" (similar to current space entrepreneurs, e.g. Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson), different economic and social models for different colonies and missions, etc. were solidly extended. There's a reasonable libertarian angle to the book/series, more so in the first and third books than the second.
August 28, 2024
Wil McCarthy is just frickin' brilliant. It's that simple. Read this book but first read the two prior books in the series. And then send me a cookie for point them out to you because I've done you a great favor and I like cookies.
Thanks, Wil.
Thanks, Wil.
March 16, 2024
The good hard science fiction detective story continues.
June 21, 2024
A very good continuance of the series.
My only frustration was that all the logs of observers got repetitive and kept it from some other action.
My only frustration was that all the logs of observers got repetitive and kept it from some other action.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
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