Gifts for Readers #3: The Moons of Barsk

Looking for something to read over the holidays?  Or something to give a reader friend?

Here’s the third recommendation I’m making of a book written by a Taos Toolbox veteran.

(And by now I suspect that, if your ambition is to write, attending Taos Toolbox might be a smart thing to do.  We really do produce writers.)

Lawrence M. Schoen has a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology, is a world-renowned authority in the Klingon language, and has been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, and Campbell awards.

The first novel in his Barsk series, Barsk: the Elephants’ Graveyard (Tor Books) won the Coyotl Award for Best Novel of 2015, and was nominated for a Nebula Award for novel.

Barsk is a planet inhabited by uplifted arboreal elephants, but Lawrence makes the idea of uplifted arboreal elephants plausible.  Here’s the cover blurb for the sequel, The Moons of Barsk.

High-concept science fiction, deeply human characters, and a weirdly wonderful story drive The Moons of Barsk, the sequel to the award-winning Lawrence M. Schoen’s Barsk: The Elephants’ Graveyard

Pizlo, the lonely young outcast and physically-challenged Fant, is now a teenager. He still believes he hears voices from the planet’s moons, imparting secret knowledge to him alone. And so embarks on a dangerous voyage to learn the truth behind the messages. His quest will catapult him offworld for second time in his short life, and reveal things the galaxy isn’t yet ready to know.

Elsewhere, Barsk’s Senator Jorl, who can speak with the dead, navigates galactic politics as Barsk’s unwelcome representative, and digs even deeper into the past than ever before to discover new truths of his own.

I have not been provided with links, but since Moons of Barsk was published by Tor, I’m going to assume it’s available wherever fine books are sold.

UPDATE: The author has helpfully provided Amazon links:

Kindle: http://mybook.to/TMOBkin
Audio: http://mybook.to/MoBaud
Hardcover: http://mybook.to/MoBhc