Shroud

Bizarre ecologies, nonhuman intelligences, and the genius of everyday people—this is the quintessential Tchaikovsky (Service Model) novel. Aspects of his prior work reverberate through the prose, adding a welcome sense of familiarity to a narrative that skitters at the edges of horror. It is a survival story about two researchers lost on an alien moon in an untested exploratory vehicle. The air is toxic, gravity is grueling, and the atmosphere is so murky there is no light. Worse, it’s a world of constant screaming and chainsaw-like creatures. Armed only with their feeble lamps and a wealth of cleverness, Juna Ceelander and Mai Ste Etienne must trek across treacherous landscapes while learning how ill-suited their vessel is to the moon. They’re followed or stalked or aided by an ever-renewing pack of alien creatures whose intentions are constantly in flux. If they survive, they may be hailed as heroes by their employers—or branded as resource wasters only fit for shelving away in hibernation.