A Psilent Place Below

By Marcha Fox

Accepting the hospitality of an indigenous race known as the bnolar, Dirck Brightstar, his mother and young brother go underground to escape Cyraria’s lethal heat season. At first the mysterious caverns feel strangely like home, but shortly after their arrival prophetic visions in the form of veridical dreams alert them to upcoming danger. Incarcerated in a territorial prison, Laren Brightstar is about to receive the final offer from his nemesis, Augustus Troy, after which he’ll be exiled permanently to a place from which there is no return. This leaves Dirck and his friend, Win, no choice but to stage a daring and highly risky rescue with failure not an option.

The planet's political turmoil increases as the Integrator pursues planetary domination through aggressive means. The formation of an opposition group to fight against these hostile actions has heavy consequences as well. Additional threats to the Brightstar family's well-being arise as cultural clashes between Mira III and Esheron surface as well. Creena's return partially reunites the family at last but her ongoing disagreements with her brother distract them from issues that have dire consequences. This is the third volume of the Star Trails Tetralogy and sequel to "A Dark of Endless Days."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Marcha Fox
• Release date: Jan 16, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310673030

Marcha Fox

Marcha Fox has loved science fiction since she was a child with the stars always holding a strong sense of mystery and fascination. Her love of astronomy resulted in a bachelor of science degree in physics from Utah State University followed by a 21 year career at NASA where she held a variety of positions including technical writer, engineer and eventually manager. Her NASA experience was primarily at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas but included trips to Cape Canaveral in Florida, visiting other Centers in Mississippi, Alabama and Maryland as well as visits to the European Space Agency in The Netherlands. Her most memorable experience, however, was the sad task of helping to recover space shuttle debris in East Texas following the tragic Columbia accident in 2003. "NASA was a great career experience, but writing is what I've always wanted to do. To me there is nothing more exhilarating than bringing a character to life."She has made it a point to "do the math" regarding various elements in her books to assure accuracy and hoping to instill an interest in science and engineering to her readers in an enjoyable and entertaining way. She admits that Cyraria's figure-8 orbit around a binary star system is a bit of a stretch but maintains it is mathematically feasible even though it would be unstable with life on such a planet beyond challenging with its seasonal extremes. "But that's what makes it a good setting for the story," she adds.Born in Peekskill, New York she has lived in California, Utah and Texas in the course of raising her family and currently resides in the Texas Hill Country. Whether “Refractions of Frozen Time,” the fourth and final volume of the Star Trails Tetralogy series will be the last she states, "These characters have a life of their own and may move on to other adventures."Before publishing "The Curse of Dead Horse Canyon" Marcha wanted to confirm her portrayal of Native American culture and the story's protagonist, Charlie Littlewolf, was accurate as well as not offensive in any manner. She was fortunate enough to find Pete Risingsun, an enrolled member of the Northern Cheyenne tribe, who did the honors. Pete offered insights and changes, but best of all, was so taken with the story he ultimately became its co-author.Marcha's experience as a retired NASA engineer and seasoned author of the science fiction series, "The Star Trails Tetralogy," combined perfectly with Pete's knowledge of his tribe's history and ceremonies. The pair, who has never met face to face, collaborated via phone call and text messages between her home in the Texas Hill Country and his on the reservation in Montana. Thus far they have produced two multi-award winning thrillers in the "Dead Horse Canyon Saga."The collaboration has been comfortably divided with Pete taking the lead on Charlie's role while Marcha develops the other characters and over-all plot, then tying them together in a manner that has earned several awards and dedicated fans anxiously awaiting the third and final volume of the trilogy.In preparation for writing the saga's explosive conclusion, Marcha and Pete have conducted extensive research. In doing so, they have uncovered fascinating details of Northern Cheyenne history and ceremonies that dove-tail perfectly with the complex tale and tie multiple plot threads together that reach back to the 19th Century. (Forthcoming Spring/Summer 2023)