Noumenon

A centuries-long mission to reach a mysterious star unfolds through a series of vignettes across generations in this “spectacular epic” sci-fi novel (Kirkus, starred review).

In 2088, humankind is finally able to explore beyond Earth’s solar system. The interstellar missions will depend on cloning technology that allows a single crew to replicate itself across eons, and astrophysicist Reggie Straifer knows exactly where to send them. Having discovered an anomalous star that appears to defy the laws of physics, he proposes a deep-space mission to determine if the star is a natural phenomenon, or something manufactured.

Reggie himself is among the hundreds of elite experts cloned for the convoy. But a clone is not an exact copy, and each new generation has its own quirks, desires, and neuroses. As the centuries fly by, the society living aboard the nine ships changes and evolves, but their mission remains the same: to reach Reggie’s mysterious star and explore its origins—and implications.

A mosaic novel of discovery, Noumenon—in a series of vignettes—follows the men and women, and even the AI, as they are born again and again into a thousand new lives. With the stars their home and the unknown their destination, they are on an odyssey to understand what lies beyond the limits of human knowledge and imagination.