Nucleation

- Blurb -

We are live, we are live, we are live. . . Helen Vectorovich holds the unique distinction of failing at first contact - and she did it in both virtual reality and outer space. Only the most elite teams of operators and navigators get to pilot in remote space-mining operations. And no one was better than Helen and her navigator. Together they secured a multi-billion contract for establishing an interstellar gate to a distant star. But during a routine mission, what should have been an easy success turned deadly. Helen, grounded in a desk job, has overeager junior pilots jockeying to take her place, jealous corporate rivals, and nasty rumors blaming her for the botched mission. Meanwhile, Helen' s new discovery in space - the Scale - seems to be. . . evolving. When someone - or something - wants to terminate her project, Helen must race to find out why before it is far too late. ' Nucleation is an immersive tale that has blockbuster scale and emotional story-telling you won' t soon forget. ' - Terry Matalas, showrunner, Star Trek: Picard' A superb, smart debut! Love this woman who has to fight her way back to the top using her intelligence and expertise. The confident, sharp details made me feel I was there, in Helen' s head, at each step of her remarkable journey. ' - Lissa Price, author of the Starters series' Science fiction fans will be captivated by Unger' s smart, plausible vision of the future of space travel, especially the elegant solution of utilizing quantum entanglement to communicate across light years. . . ' - Publishers Weekly' This smart, gripping debut weaves technology, embodiment, and corporate espionage into a tense vision of the future that readers won' t be able to put down. ' - Jacqueline Koyanagi, author of Ascension' In technology we so often look to science fiction for inspiration. Kimberly Unger is the rare author with a foot in both worlds and it shows as she gives a thrilling glimpse into the future with Nucleation. ' - Andrew Bosworth, Vice President of Augmented and Virtual Reality, Facebook' Nucleation delivers top-notch suspense, deftly weaving together industrial espionage and first contact in a futuristic world that is all too plausible. Unger brings to her world a special sensibility for human psychology that gives realism to futuristic nanotech and corporate politics alike. ' - Juliette Wade, author of Mazes of Power' Unger weaves real-world insights about virtual reality, technology, and art into a space opera packed with high adventure and dastardly intrigue. ' - Eliot Peper, author of Veil and Breach' A near-future, tech-driven thriller marked by grounded characters, wondrous discovery, and a compelling mystery at its core. ' - Joseph Mallozzi, Executive Producer, Dark Matter' An inventive, exciting page turner that mixes mystery, bleeding edge technological speculation, and the promise of a potential sequel. If Grisham was a better wordsmith and chose to write hard sf thrillers, it would look a lot like Kimberly Unger' s gripping Nucleation. ' - Charles Gannon, author of the Caine Riordan series' WithNucleation, Kimberly Unger offers a richly detailed, thought-provoking peek into our not-so distant future and a mind-blowing means of taking us to the stars, but are we prepared for what awaits us out there? ' - Dayton Ward, author of Star Trek: Kirk Fu Manual