Stewards of the Flame (65 page)

“Between 1970 and 1981 Sylvia Louise Engdahl published six sf novels ostensibly for young adults but more challenging (and better written) than almost all of the material published at the time for the adult market. . . . Yet for some reason the public—aside from a select group of aficionados—largely ignored Engdahl’s work, and it’s only within the past few years that it’s been rediscovered as the treasure trove it is.”
 
—
Fantasy Magazine, 2006

Sylvia Engdahl is the author of nine science fiction novels. Six of them are Young Adult books that are also enjoyed by adults, all of which were originally published by Atheneum and have been republished, in both hardcover and paperback, by different publishers in the twenty-first century. The one for which she is best known,
Enchantress from the Stars
, was a Newbery Honor book, winner of the 1990 Phoenix Award of the Children’s Literature Association, and a finalist for the 2002 Book Sense Book of the Year in the Rediscovery category.

Her newest novels, the trilogy
Stewards of the Flame, Promise of the Flame
, and
Defender of the Flame,
are not YA books and are not appropriate for middle-school readers, but will be enjoyed by the many adult fans of her work. In addition, she has recently issued an updated and expanded edition of her nonfiction book
The Planet-Girded Suns: History of Human Thought About Extrasolar Worlds

Why would an established author publish some of her books independently? “Because publishers of adult fiction demand that it be strictly categorized by genre, while the novels of the Flame Trilogy don’t fit genre requirements,” Engdahl says. “Since they’re set in the future on other planets, they’re considered science fiction—yet like my YA novels, they appeal more to general audiences than to those with extensive science fiction background. This means they’re not suitable for adult sf lines, and in any case I want them to reach other readers, too. At my age, I feel it’s unlikely that marketing criteria will change during my lifetime. So I decided to make use of my desktop-publishing skills.”

Engdahl lives in Eugene, Oregon with two companionable cats. Currently she works as a freelance copyeditor and editor of nonfiction anthologies. She welcomes visitors to her website
www.sylviaengdahl.com
and e-mail to [email protected]. Background information for the Flame trilogy, including a list of recommended nonfiction books about psi, can be found at
www.stewardsoftheflame.com
or through links from her home page.

Other Books Available from Sylvia Engdahl in Ebook Editions

Flame Trilogy, Book Two:
Promise of the Flame

Three hundred people, isolated on a raw new planet in the hope of fulfilling a dream, the dream that their psi powers will become the foundation of a culture that can someday shape the future of humankind. If they don’t starve first. If they don’t lose heart in the face of hardships beyond any they imagined. And if their kids can be reared to believe in the dream and
advance both their technology and their psi powers from one generation to the next.

Starship captain Jesse Sanders hasn’t expected to be responsible for the settlement. Peter is the leader, the visionary on whose inspiration they all depend. But Peter has his hands full, not only with maintaining morale but with grueling ordeals of his own. So the job of ensuring the colony’s survival falls on Jesse. And in the end, he must stake his life in a desperate attempt to prevent the loss of all they have gained.

Flame Trilogy, Book Three:
Defender of the Flame

Starship pilot Terry Radnor is puzzled and outraged when he is suddenly recalled from interstellar exploration to the desolate training base on Titan. His spirits rise after he volunteers for a secret project offering him extraordinary physical and psychic capabilities, yet before he can complete this new training, he is transferred against his will to the cruiser
Shepard
for a tour of duty he expects to hate. But
Shepard’
s mission turns out to be unlike anything he could have imagined. Advancing rapidly in his career, Terry finds fulfillment in love and in commitment to a cause—until an ironic twist of fate tears him away from everything he has ever cared about. He is forced to build a whole new life, far from all that has previously mattered to him, and only the effort to regain what he has lost keeps him from despair. Is there any hope that he can fulfill his pledge to protect the world whose safety is crucial—more crucial than anyone else knows—to the future of humankind?

This novel concludes the trilogy begun with
Stewards of the Flame
and
Promise of the Flame
, but is a completely independent story set two hundred years later, and can be read alone.

Children of the Star Trilogy, Book One:
This Star Shall Abide

(Published in the UK as
Heritage of the Star
)

Noren knew that his world was not as it should be—it was wrong that only the Scholars and Technicians could use metal and Machines. It was wrong that only they had access to the knowledge hidden in the mysterious City. He was a heretic. He defied the High Law and had no faith in the Prophecy’s promised fulfillment. But was defiance enough, or could some way be found to make it come true?

A Young Adult novel. Winner of a Christopher Award, given for “affirmation of the highest values of the human spirit.”

Children of the Star Trilogy, Book Two:
Beyond the Tomorrow Mountains

Once Noren gained admission to the City where technology was hidden, he thought he had discovered how to make metal and Machines available to everyone and end the rule of the Scholars. But he soon learned it was not as simple as he had believed. Was it right to let people go on believing in the promises of a Prophecy that might not come true after all?

Originally published as a Young Adult novel, but of interest mainly to high school and adult readers.

Children of the Star Trilogy, Book Three:
The Doors of the Universe

Noren had found faith in the Prophecy’s fulfillment in the face of overwhelming odds. Yet the more he learned of the grim truth about his people's situation, the less possible it seemed that their world could ever be changed. It would take more drastic steps than anyone imagined to restore their rightful heritage—and he alone could do what was needed.

Originally published as a Young Adult novel, but of interest mainly to high school and adult readers.

The Far Side of Evil

Assigned as a observer to a world whose people may soon destroy their civilization, Anthropological Service agent Elana expects merely to gain knowledge that may save other planets. When a young, inexperienced agent unwittingly endangers the entire world by a well-meant but ill-advised attempt to intervene, Elana finds that only she—at great cost—can prevent an immediate war of annihilation.

Originally published as a Young Adult novel. Related to
Enchantress from the Stars,
but a completely separate story intended for older readers.

Nonfiction –
The Planet-Girded Suns: The History of Human Thought About Extrasolar Worlds
(2012 Updated Edition)

Interest in extrasolar worlds is not new. From the late 17th century until the end of the 19th, almost all educated people believed that the stars are suns surrounded by inhabited planets—a belief that was expressed not in science fiction, but in serious speculation, both scientific and religious, as well as in poetry. Only during the first half of the 20th century was it thought that life-bearing extrasolar planets are rare.

This book, first published by Atheneum in 1974, tells the story of the rise, fall, and eventual renewal of widespread conviction that we are not alone in the universe. Its chapters dealing with modern views have been revised to reflect the scientific knowledge gained during the past 40 years, including the actual detection of planets orbiting other stars.

In addition it contains a new Afterword, "Confronting the Universe in the Twenty-First Century," discussing the relevance of past upheavals in human thought to an understanding of the hiatus in space exploration that has followed the Apollo moon landings.