A Bard on Hercular

Eisenstein Syzygy Kell, now grown to adulthood and known as Ice, is a galactic singing superstar, the Troubadour of all Troubadours. When he gives a concert on Hercular, he escapes a bombing and kidnapping attempt. A group of winged young people whisk him to safety through many of the five independent environments of this seeded world.

When we last saw Holt Ib'r Sanqq', son of the Great Father, he had fled in a Fast equipped with technology gained from the Box Men. Twenty-three years later, he awakens in a faraway galaxy, where he is almost immediately captured and badly injured. The Trasp men have repaired him and placed him isolated and under guard in a palace. Whenever Holt looked at himself in a mirror, some medical cyber was sure to say, "Given your excellent upper torso and an otherwise clean slate, it was easily decided that a person of your high eminence should possess a perfect Trasp body." High ranking men adore him and court him, all in their bids to rule the planet. 

Raqqa's mother perished alongside the Great Father Ay'r decades ago.  Now Raqqa teams up with the Cyber who calls herself Jenny to unravel the mystery of what happened then.

The tale that began in Dryland's End with the fall of the Matriarchy in the Center Worlds concludes at the planets in the outer reaches. A Bard on Hercular chronicles new generations on new adventures. 

A ReQueered Tales Original Publication.

Praise for Dryland's End (Book I):

"... like the best speculative fiction, this book provides the lucky reader with both an escape into the extraordinary and a mirror for humanity's deepest issues and concerns." – Jeff Mann, Edge

"In full-fledged sci-fi form, Picano has created entirely new civilizations, species, even new language forms for his society. A phenomenally well-written book." – Virginia Gazette