The Stolen Sun
Third Book in Nebula Nominee's Cosmic Kalevala!
Based on the myths and legends of the Finns, Emile Petaja spins an enthralling tale chronicling the fate of the last of the three genetic reincarnations of their great hero-Gods of ancient times. In the distant future, Wayne Panu, captain of a battleship, undergoes terrible psychic trauma when he is forced to kill innocent alien children and then sacrifice his best friend, all in the name of duty. When Wayne looks out a viewport and sees an ancient copper canoe floating in space, bearing a bearded elder of great psychic and physical strength, Wayne knows he has suffered a mental breakdown. But the copper boat is real, and its passenger is the greatest sorcerer of the past, the present and the future, Wainomoinen. For behind the Terran-alien war is the near-immortal hag-witch, Louhi, the vessel through which the Pahaliset, cruel forces from another dimension scheme to conquer our own. To stop them, Wayne will have to accompany Wainomoinen across time and space, learn the secrets of the Vanhat (the ancient Finns), beguile Louhi, craftiest of all the Star-Witches, trick her greatest trick from her, and then allow himself to be totally consumed by the Pahaliset! Author-editor-publisher Donald A. Wollheim wrote that "from the Kalevala's mind-stunning material, Petaja has created a cycle of novels - science fiction fantasy adventure of the highest order - retelling in the eyes of modern scientific conjecture the great worlds-shaking events that may be concealed by the folklore of an ancient and mysterious people." Don't miss the earlier books in this classic saga, The Legend of Lost Earth and The Star Mill.
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Emil Petaja
Emil Petaja (1915–2000) was an American science fiction and fantasy writer whose career spanned seven decades. He was the author of 13 published novels, nearly 150 short stories, numerous poems, and a handful of books and articles on various subjects. Though he wrote science fiction, fantasy, horror stories, detective fiction, and poetry, Petaja considered his work part of an older tradition of "weird fiction." Petaja was also a small press publisher. In 1995, he was named the first ever Author Emeritus by the Science Fiction Writers of America.
The Cosmic Kalevala
This series is based on The Kalevala. (The Kalevala is a 19th century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Finnish and Karelian oral folklore and mythology.)
The Cosmic Kalevala consists of four books. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.
Related series The Cosmic Kalevala (omnibus editions)
