Burning Bright

Melissa Scott, winner of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, has been holding down a position as "one of science fiction's most talented newcomers" (The Baltimore Sun) through a string of paperback original successes. With her last novel, Dreamships, she broke into hardcover to widespread acclaim, taking her place among the established names in the field. "A thoughtful, challenging story," said Elizabeth A. Lynn. "She creates a complex world, and her characters are believable and subtle. This is a talent to watch."
Now, in Burning Bright, Scott tells a passionate, colorful tale of love and death, her best yet. Setting her tale on the free-port planet of Burning Bright, nexus of trade, politically balanced between the human and Hsai empires in space, and center of virtual-reality-gaming for all of civilization, Scott weaves a network of intrigue and suspense.
When spacepilot and ambitious young game designer Quinn Lioe gets shore leave on Burning Bright, determined to play the game at its brilliant center, she becomes enmeshed in the conflict between two great empires, a key figure upon whom the fates of fortunes turn.
Once again, Scott constructs a brilliantly complex future society and tells a story that involves the mind and the heart. This is science fiction adventure at its classic best.