Something very odd is happening on the university planet of Dellah, home to Bernice Summerfield, famed archaeologist, adventurer, raconteur and barfly. A long-ignored religion is rapidly gaining recruits. The faithful rejoice and talk of their God walking the land once more. And in secret rooms on campus, arcane arts are practised with dangerously successful results.

Behind these apparent absurdities, something far darker is going on, something that has consequences for everyone.

Rebecca Levene edited science fiction at Virgin for over five years. More recently she has been a freelance journalist and storyliner forEmmerdale.

Simon Winstone is the editor of the New Adventures. When he is not writing he leads an exotic lifestyle well beyond his means.

This is their first novel.