About the Book
Passage: Citadel - a forgotten inheritance - Obsidian-black, a monument no longer. One hundred and forty feet long, thirty feet high, new views, new perspectives. Earth... gas giants, a barren world, a diminished star, long journeys to outposts and frontiers. Looking for the builders, two passengers, and 'Tutor'.A pale wisp of a girl, lonely no longer. A new kind of schooling. The ultimate 'mobile home'. A will to survive, the loss of hope, the sparing of the enemy, the discovery of a new friend, and a relative, at last.The lone survivor, now the protector of... the girl. Grey mists and premonitions. Uncovered skills to learn, to repair, to kill and to spare, a beginning of leadership, shouldering responsibilities.A physicist and his wife, their industrialist friend, an unplanned period in Canada. Extreme multiculturalism. A pilot, a single-seat jet, an incredible rescue and resulting incarceration, an ultimatum - unbelievers, messengers misunderstood, and unappreciated. A hand-held laser and a crumbling hangar floor. Floating in an electric chair. Defence against the impending attack. Discoveries in the mists at Niagara, in Soho, London and in the extremes of a winter snowstorm.An isolated series of structures on a cold and barren planet, four occupants, one untried escape route. Mobilizing the immobile to cross hundreds of millions of miles of unforgiving vacuum. Jailor no longer, slave - never again. Lost lives, limbs and lasers. One 'Controller', a return to slow-engulfing disaster, belaying delaying the attack, a push for the ultimate relocation.An air force fighter jet fished from the waters off the coast of Maine, close to an empty, cliff-top excavation. A new flyer, a sub reactor, an unfortunate cat, fickle funding and bureaucratic delays. American beryllium, Eliminators, and a new crater in Nevada, an unprovable explanation, preferable to the truth. Time running out.Collecting new items: obsidian fragments and a figurine in miniature, one hand-made ring and many, many Macrals.A new kind of union. Respite, despite near enemies. Friends under false pretences. An aunt enlightened, a warrior commander on hold.
About the Author: Thorby Rudbek grew up in England, where, from an early age, he fell in love with reading. As a teenager, he often had three books on the go at once. (Is that a male kind of multitasking?) Science Fiction became his favourite kind of book, and he particularly enjoyed many of the works of Robert Heinlein. Of course, once he graduated from University, he found it a natural progression to pursue a career in science; he worked around the world, dabbling in high vacuum physics, microwave, radar, laser, and ionising radiation. As he grew older he found it harder to locate novels that he enjoyed, and finally he decided to write his own. The Galactic Citadel series, begun in 'Ascent' and continued in 'Passage', is about seemingly ordinary folks who find themselves tasked with extraordinary challenges. They might seem to harken from an earlier time, when heroes were really heroes, and the only wars worth fighting are ones which will protect the defenceless. If you can escape from reality for a while in his stories and come away with that 'feel good' sensation - Thorby will feel he has succeeded.
