The Speed of Darkness

A novel about space, time, and aliens who LOVE to party!

After First Contact, when earthlings learned the Djbrr tale of Creation, a tale of conflict between Darkness and Light, humans interpreted the story as a metaphor for Satan’s revolt against heaven, or the battle between good and evil, or the struggle of light and darkness inside the soul. As is often the case, the universe would prove them wrong.

Jubilation sweeps planet earth after First Contact with extraterrestrials, the friendly and technologically advanced Djbrr—aliens with an attitude who LOVE to party. Then catastrophe strikes earth’s greatest technological achievement, Grissom Base on Jupiter’s moon Io, and humanity faces a crisis of confidence. Earth’s top physicist responds, creating Excelsior, the craft he believes will travel faster than light, an achievement the Djbrr—like Albert Einstein—think is impossible. But the suspicious death of an Excelsior crew member and an unknown scientist’s warning of hidden danger lurking behind the light barrier raise the question— Which is faster, the speed of light, or the speed of darkness?

A novel about space, time, and aliens who LOVE to party!

After First Contact, when earthlings learned the Djbrr tale of Creation, a tale of conflict between Darkness and Light, humans interpreted the story as a metaphor for Satan’s revolt against heaven, or the battle between good and evil, or the struggle of light and darkness inside the soul. As is often the case, the universe would prove them wrong.

Jubilation sweeps planet earth after First Contact with extraterrestrials, the friendly and technologically advanced Djbrr—aliens with an attitude who LOVE to party. Then catastrophe strikes earth’s greatest technological achievement, Grissom Base on Jupiter’s moon Io, and humanity faces a crisis of confidence. Earth’s top physicist responds, creating Excelsior, the craft he believes will travel faster than light, an achievement the Djbrr—like Albert Einstein—think is impossible. But the suspicious death of an Excelsior crew member and an unknown scientist’s warning of hidden danger lurking behind the light barrier raise the question— Which is faster, the speed of light, or the speed of darkness?

Mendy Sobol is the author of Virtual Fire, a speculative novel about war and resistance to war, and a volume of short stories, Flame Sale and other Stories of Love, Friendship, Fire and Desire. Writing awards include First Place in the Lynx Eye Captivating Beginnings Contest and a Pushcart Prize nomination for the short story Flame Sale. Mendy is working on a third novel, The Eternal Blue Sky. A chapter from that novel was selected as a semifinalist in The Tucson Festival of Books Literary Awards Fiction Contest.