The Stars Within - Hardcover

by Stefan Petrucha (Author)

Wyrm's mother always told him he was special, that he was the World Soul who'd bring peace to the galaxy. But she's babbling now, committed to an asylum, leaving the sickly 10-year-old on a perilous journey to find his father.

That father is none other than Anacharsis Stifler, the man who discovered the Plasma in old Earth's ruins, a weapon that's allowed the atheist Archosians to liberate planet after planet from their superstitious beliefs, whether they want to be liberated or not.

When Anacharsis returned to Earth to find a cure for his wife, he vanished, setting off not only Wyrm's desperate trek, but an invasion of the fragile world by Archosian High Commander Sebe Mordent, who can't allow anyone else to find whatever secrets remain.

Meanwhile, the Pantheon, an uneasy collection of diverse faiths, approach their old foes, the Kundun Slave-kings, in the hope of forming an alliance to stop the atheist expansion. En route, Wyrm is forced to throw in with a manipulative gender-shifting alien, a war criminal, a genocidal female scientist, and the childlike woman Calico.

But is Calico harmless, or a visitor from Earth's past sent to judge whether humanity is worth preserving? The Stars Within is a sprawling sci-fi epic, populated with complex, at times flawed, at times heroic, but always real characters.

Political intrigue, theological musings, and a tightly-woven action-driven story play out in six intertwining narratives set in a fully realized universe on the verge of mass war.

Author Biography

Stefan Petrucha is a prolific author whose literary achievements have captivated readers worldwide, with his works selling over a million copies. With a repertoire of over twenty novels, including original works such as Ripper and Dead Mann Walking, Petrucha has proven himself as a storytelling virtuoso. Additionally, he has crafted hundreds of compelling graphic novels, spanning iconic franchises such as The X-Files, Beowulf, Mickey Mouse, and Nancy Drew. He has also delved into the realm of licensed prose novels, penning gripping tales like Spider-Man: Forever Young and Deadpool: Paws for Marvel. His upcoming original science fiction epic, The Stars Within, promises an enthralling read. Born in the Bronx, Petrucha spent his formative years moving between the big city and the suburbs, both of which made him prefer escapism. A fan of comic books, science fiction and horror since learning to read, in high school and college he added a love for all sorts of literary work, eventually learning that the very best fiction always brings you back to reality, so, really, there's no way out. An obsessive compulsion to create his own stories began at age ten and has since taken many forms, including novels, comics and video productions. At times, the need to pay the bills made him a tech writer, an educational writer, a public relations writer and an editor for trade journals, but fiction, in all its forms, has always been his passion. Every year he's made a living at that, he counts a lucky one. Fortunately, there've been many.