The Luminous Depths

A novella. Introduction by Stephen Baxter.

In Brno, Czechoslovak Republic, 1931. Eight years before the Nazi invasion...

At the Theater on the Ramparts, a performance of the world-famous robot play R.U.R. is in rehearsal, attended grudgingly by its author, Karel Capek. A former master of science fiction, Capek now devotes himself to the here-and-now, writing small works vital to his beloved Republic. He finds little real pleasure in the proceedings but for the contributions of his brother Josef, a renowned avant-garde artist, and Pavel Haas, a disciple of the late eccentric composer, Maestro Leoš J------.

Yet in the midnight streets of the city, Haas has found a luminous enigma; or rather, it has found him, floating down out of the starry sky. Once activated it carries Haas, as well as the Brothers Capek, the actors, robots and musicians, into a nightmarish world of Occupation, of immense devastation and fecund marvels, of dire transports East, setting in motion a terrifying siege and a phantasmagorical night journey leading from the Theater on the Ramparts to the lonely and now-forgotten cottage of Leoš J------.

Featuring deep, loving portrayals of the Brothers Capek, and of Pavel Haas, who died at Auschwitz, The Luminous Depths – sequel to the superb novella On the Overgrown Path – lights a dark corner of Europe between the Wars.

"Distinctive and imaginative, Herter's tale moves to its own disconcerting logic: a debut of immense promise." – Kirkus Reviews on Ceres Storm

"David Herter is a writer of formidable intelligence and talent." – Paul Witcover, New York Review of SF