''Night Sky Mine'' is a 1996

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

novel by American writer

Melissa Scott Melissa Scott (born 1960, in Little Rock, Arkansas) is an American science fiction and fantasy author noted for her science fiction novels featuring LGBT characters and elaborate settings. Biography Scott studied history at Harvard College and B ...

, set in a future after computer programs have run amok. After the Crash, an

interface Interface or interfacing may refer to: Academic journals * ''Interface'' (journal), by the Electrochemical Society * ''Interface, Journal of Applied Linguistics'', now merged with ''ITL International Journal of Applied Linguistics'' * '' Inte ...

has been created that portrays programs as various floral, faunal and mythological species, depending on the characteristics of the program. Scott explores this interface between human society and

cyberspace Cyberspace is a concept describing a widespread interconnected digital technology. "The expression dates back from the first decade of the diffusion of the internet. It refers to the online world as a world 'apart', as distinct from everyday rea ...

, both as a plot device and as back drop for the story. Ista Kelly was the sole survivor of a pirate raid on a Night Sky mining platform that was searching a remote region of space for useful gases. Now a teenager, she is apprenticed to become a hypothecary with the tools and skills to explore and harvest the hammals, floral and faunal programs of cyberspace. She must navigate the complex relationships among Company, Union, and merchant Travellers as she becomes enmeshed in an undercover operation that could hold the keys to her identity and the mysterious happenings on the computer Net.

Sources

* Hays, Carl. "Adult books: Fiction." Booklist 92.22 (Aug. 1996): 1889. * Hamburger, Susan. "Book reviews: Fiction." Library Journal 121.13 (Aug. 1996): 119. * Steinberg, Sybil S. "Forecasts: Fiction." Publishers Weekly 243.30 (22 July 1996): 230. Cyberpunk novels 1996 science fiction novels American science fiction novels 1996 American novels Penguin Books books {{1990s-sf-novel-stub