← Back to discovery

Radiance

Catherynne M. Valente

2001432 pagesabout 7–10 hours
2001
first published
  • 2015Little, Brown Book Group Limited · ENGISBN 9781472115164
  • 2015432 pages · ENGISBN 9780765335296
  • 2016CorsairISBN 9781472151827
  • 2001Constable & Robinson · 432 pages · ENGISBN 9781472115157
  • 2016Tor Books · 432 pagesISBN 9780765335302
  • 2015Dreamscape MediaISBN 9781682620304
  • 2015Tor Books · 433 pagesISBN 9781466821484

Severin Unck's father is a famous director of Gothic romances in an alternate 1986 in which talking movies are still a daring innovation due to the patent-hoarding Edison family. Rebelling against her father's films of passion, intrigue, and spirits from beyond, Severin starts making documentaries, traveling through space and investigating the levitator cults of Neptune and the lawless saloons of Mars. For this is not our solar system, but one drawn from classic science fiction in which all the planets are inhabited and we travel through space on beautiful rockets. Severin is a realist in a fantastic universe. But her latest film, which investigates the disappearance of a diving colony on a watery Venus populated by island-sized alien creatures, will be her last. Though her crew limps home to earth and her story is preserved by the colony's last survivor, Severin will never return.

How it feels

AtmosphereBleak

When and where

PlaceOcean
ThemesScience
How do you feel?