Seven thousand centuries ago, falling death stars unleashed fiery apocalyptic destruction on Earth and inaugurated the Long Winter. One small band of People took refuge in an underground cocoon where they and their descendants waited for the time of ice to end. Now their long winter is over. Prophecy and circumstance urge the tribe out into the half-forgotten world beyond their safe cocoon. Led by their chieftain Koshmar, the tribe journeys to the city of Vengiboneeza, where the prophecy of the gods says they are to rule. On their way the tribe discovers the dangers and wonders of life in the New Springtime. In the face of new temptations and peril, Koshmar and her lover, the priestess Torlyri, struggle to keep the People united and fulfill the prophecy. For soon they will be beset by other trials, as other beings seek to fulfill their own prophecies.

 

Robert Silverberg provides an introduction exclusive to this Bison Books edition.

Robert Silverberg is one of the most honored writers in the history of science fiction and the author of such contemporary classics as Tom O’Bedlam, Star of Gypsies, and Lord Valentine’s Castle, as well as The Queen of Springtime, also available in a Bison Books edition. He is a past president of the Science Fiction Writers of America and is the only writer to have won five Nebula Awards and five Hugo Awards. In 2004 the Science Fiction Writers of America named him a Grand Master, one of twenty-two writers to have received that designation.

"This solid, dramatic novel expands on a favorite motif of Silverberg’s: the mixed terrors and pleasures of freedom, of going out into the wider world without guide, map or a sure sense of one’s own capabilities."—Publishers Weekly

"Outstanding in every respect."—S.F. Chronicle