Learning the World

<b>From the front flap of the Tor first printing:</b> "Humanity has spread to every star within 500 light-years of its half-forgotten origin, coloring the sky with a haze of habitats. Societies rise and fall. Incautious experiments burn fast and fade. On the fringes, less modified humans get on with the job of settling a universe that has, so far, been empty of intelligent life. <p>The ancient starship <i>But the Sky, My Lady! The Sky!</i> is entering orbit around a promising new system after a four hundred year journey. For its long-lived inhabitants, the centuries have been busy. Now a younger generation is eager to settle the system. The ship is a seed-pod ready to burst. <p>Then they detect curious electromagnetic emissions from the system's Earth-like world. As the nature of the signals becomes clear, the choices facing the humans become stark. <p>On Ground, second world from the sun, a young astronomer searches for his system's outermost planet. A moving point of light thrills, then disappoints him. It's only a comet. His physicist colleague Orro takes time off from trying to invent a flying-machine to calculate the comet's trajectory. Something is very odd about that comet's path. <p>They are not the only ones for whom the world has changed. <p><i>"We are not living in the universe we thought we lived in yesterday. We have to start learning the world all over again."</i>"

Year	Award	Category	Status
2005	British Science Fiction Award	Best Novel	Nominee/Finalist
2006	Arthur C. Clarke Award	Best Science Fiction Novel	Nominee/Finalist
2006	Hugo Award	Best Novel	Nominee/Finalist
2006	John W. Campbell Memorial Award	Best Science Fiction Novel	Nominee/Finalist
2006	Locus Poll Award	Best SF Novel	Nominee/Finalist
2006	Prometheus Award	Prometheus Award for Best Libertarian SF Novel	Winner