Lhar

By Lee Willard

Alfred must put the loss of his son behind him and press ahead with his plans to remain with the study planet while the main expedition moves to 61 Cygni B. Those plans are going well enough till he finds out the natives can read memories, leaving all the secrets of their civilization exposed in Alan's brain.

Ava is determined to study the signals Alan finds because they are the key to the native's data system. She will stop at nothing, even the greatest sacrilege their society knows.

Desa finds the boat ride down the Lhar long and lazy, but her eager young student is growing more attached and wants to show his love by total monogamy. That is definitely slowing her circulation, and starting to frustrate Luray, who needs affection to counteract the withdrawal from yaag.

Alan becomes even more aware of how poorly he was prepared for life on an alien planet when the starship attack sends them fleeing into the wilderness. Almost all the most dangerous carnivores on the planet are found there, making their journey thru the wilds a non-stop battle for survival.

It is the meetings of the planet’s foremost astronomers and wizards trying to make sense of the apparitions in their sky that should concern the Angels more. If they knew of them, but since chasing Alan into the wilds, they now have no info from the surface at all and they have to presume he has been lost.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lee Willard
• Release date: May 31, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005929558

Lee Willard

I am a retired embedded systems engineer and sci-fi hobbyist from Hartford. Most of my stories concern Kassidor, 'The planet the hippies came from' which I have used to examine subjects like: What would it take to make the hippy lifestyle real? How would extended lifespans affect society? What could happen if we outlive our memories? How can murder be committed when violence is impossible?I have recently discovered that someone new to science fiction should start their exploration of Kassidor with the Second Expedition trilogy. To the mainstream fiction reader the alien names of people, places and things can be confusing. This series has a little more explanation of the differences between Kassidor and Earth. In all of the Kassidor stories you will notice the people do not act like ordinary humans but like flower children from the 60's. It is not until Zhlindu that the actual modifications made to human nature to make them act that way are spelled out. To aide that understanding I've made The Second Expedition free.I am not a fan of violence and dystopia. I believe that sci-fi does not just predict the future, but helps create the future because we sci-fi writers show our readers what the future will be and the readers go out and create it. I believe that the current fad of constant dystopia and mega-violence in sci-fi today is helping to create that world, and I mention that often in reviews and comments on the books I read. I also believe that the characters in those stories who are completely free of any affection are at least as unnatural as the modified humans of Kassidor.In my reviews, * = couldn't finish it. ** = Don't bother with it. *** = good story worth reading. **** = great and memorable story. ***** = Worth a Hugo.

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