the cunning blood

JEFFDUNTEM

ANN

JEFF DUNTEMANN

The Cunning Blood

The CunningBlood Peter Novilio was going to Hell.

CAUGHT VIOLATING THE ZERO TOLERANCE forViolence laws, he was sentenced to a one-way trip to Earth’s prison planet in the ZetaTucanae system. Hell was forever: Its eco-sphere had been infected with microscopicnanomachines that destroyed electricalconductors, condemning its inmates to aneo-Victorian gaslight society without com-puters, spaceflight, or hope of escape.

Hell was not what it seemed. Clues sug-gesting impossible technologies and immi-nent revolt forced Peter Novilio to becomeEarth’s unwilling agent, descending to Hell’ssurface in pursuit of information that hecould exchange for his freedom.

But Peter had a secret as well: He was amember of the outlawed Sangruse Society,and in his blood flowed the Sangruse Device,Version 9, the most powerful nanocomputerever created. Although supposedly Peter’sprotector and advisor, the Device had rea-sons of its own for visiting Hell. Peter soondiscovered that he was little more than a dis-guise, caught in a covert war among Earth,Hell’s ingenious inmates, and the deadlymechanism in his veins. For as fearsome as itwas, the Device itself was afraid—and thefates of whole worlds would depend on thethreat that the Cunning Blood had discov-ered outside of space and time.

JEFF DUNTEMANNJeff Duntemann’sfather was an engi-neer who wanted toknow how thingsworked, his motherread SF to him froman early age, and histinkerer uncle washappy to give himbits and pieces ofstuff and show himhow they could beassembled to makeradios and tele-

scopes. When he was ten, his grandmother gavehim her ancient Underwood typewriter, enablinghim to put his fascination with words and gadgetsto good use.

Jeff wrote two Hugo-nominated short stories inthe 1970s, then took a quarter-century detour intoediting, writing, and publishing computer booksand magazines. He has recently resumed writingscience fiction with his story “Drumlin Boiler” inIsaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine. TheCunning Blood is his first published novel.

Jeff lives in Colorado Springs with his wife,Carol, and a variable number of dogs.

You can find more info about Jeff on his web-site at www.duntemann.com.

TODD CAMERON HAMILTONTodd Cameron Hamilton was born in 1962 inChicago, Illinois. His first professional cover wasfor John Varley’s collection Blue Champagne in1986. In 1988, he collaborated with P.J. Beese onthe novel The Guardsman. He has since createdcovers for numerous “Star Trek” novels. Todd’sillustrations have graced the interior pages ofmany magazines, including Analog. He was theartist for Piers Anthony’s Visual Guide to Xanth,Roger Zelazny’s Visual Guide to Castle Amber andThe Dragonlover’s Guide to Pern. He has an inter-est in restoring old houses and lives in Ann Arbor.

“You ready, Joop?” J. J. Rafferty asked from the Pig’scontrols.

“Sure,” the Dutchman answered from the pod in thecargo bay. “Open the door and let’s do it!”

Rafferty tapped an icon on his command stone. Thepanels covering the Pig’s cargo bay crept backwardsinto the hull. The thin air tore into the empty space,blowing scraps of paper and lunch bags in dervishdances before tossing them into the deep blue nothing-ness. The pod’s skeletal magnesium frame glinted in theafternoon sun. Joop Verdaam checked everything onelast time. Some food, enough oxygen to get him down tothe surface, some deadly presents for the natives(including Magic Mikey’s crazy chemical laserteletype), six inflation canisters and balloons to carrymore reliable messages back to the upper atmosphere,and one bigger canister and balloon to get his owncarcass back to power-dive altitude if the plan were tofail.

The Greased Pig couldn’t land. Earth had infected Hellwith a nasty nanobug that ate electrical conductorscarrying current. That was why it was Hell—abandonhope and all that. Nothing electrical lasted longer thana few hours—which meant, pretty much, that nothingtechnological lasted longer than a few hours. Dropprisoners down in one-way lifting-body landers, andthey can’t get out.

Not yet, at least. Joop grinned. This was going to befun, if it didn’t kill him first—and things like that weregenerally the most fun of all.

“So to Hell with you, man!” Rafferty called with a grin,and hit the eject switch.

The Cunning BloodJEFF DUNTEMANN

$28.00

Cover Art by Todd Cameron HamiltonCover Design by Robert T. Garcia, www.gpsdesign.net

ISFiC Press logo: Todd Cameron Hamilton

ISFiC Press707 Sapling Lane

Deerfield, IL 60015www.isficpress.com

0-9759156-2-2 “Everything you want ina hard SF novel.”

—Bruce Schneier

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