From the Shadows of the Landscape
A science fiction novel by Richard H. Durisen
“Rarely does a novel balance the discipline of hard science with the grace of a cosmic epic so perfectly. By anchoring merged identities and biological starships in realistic physics, this story becomes a stunning exploration of what we might become—set against the astonishing beauty and transcendent wonder of the unknown.”
— Jim Meeks-Johnson, Author of the Entangled Galaxy series
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By the 37th Century, the Human Domain stretches hundreds of light years into the Milky Way Galaxy. Most occupants live long, rich, and untroubled lives—until something beckons from far beyond its edge.
Its powerful psychoactive emissions beamed toward human space are impossible to explain by known science. They bend perception, blur causality, and appear capable of reshaping past and present reality.
To confront their source, a diverse and unlikely crew of humans, clones, and engineered beings embark on an ambitious mission beyond explored space aboard a living interstellar ship. Their destination proves to be a world-sized intelligence whose nature defies normal assumptions about consciousness, time, and self.
With humanity’s fate hanging in the balance, the crew's survival depends on courageous acts of friendship, trust, and love. Are these human bonds strong enough to endure even when reality itself is unraveling? And what might survival mean?
Sneak Preview: The Genie’s Wish
The opening chapter introduces Rylk von Humboldt B’Clothum O’Connell as he arrives on Shangdu, the home world of the Genies. These merged intelligences believe fulfillment comes through bioengineered collective being. Amid singing cities, living architecture, and an encounter with the enigmatic Genie Abraham, Rylk learns that anomalies haunting human science for centuries may be, in part, a summons. Abraham proposes that Rylk undertake an interstellar adventure to answer the call.
What begins in wonder turns increasingly ominous.
On Shangdu, nothing is what it seems.
And some wishes, once granted, cannot be undone.
Remembering
Set in the same science-fiction universe as From the Shadows of the Landscape, the short story Remembering offers a poignant meditation on memory, love, identity, and devotion across vast stretches of time, following a lone consciousness who keeps a solemn promise long after worlds, civilizations, and even galaxies have changed.
From the Shadows of the Landscape
2026