Notes
The Shining Ones, a novel by Paul Preuss based on Arthur C. Clarke's 1964 short story of the same name.

Volume 6 of Arthur C. Clarke's Venus Prime.

Includes an essay by Arthur C. Clarke and a set of technical "blueprints" drawn by Darrel Anderson.

The image opposite and the blurb below are from the first printing of the 2002 ibooks paperback edition, ISBN 0743444701. Cover illustration by Jim Burns.

Publisher’s Blurb – Lower Cover
The concluding volume in a series of science fiction thrillers evolving from the works of Arthur C. Clarke, grandmaster of science fiction and author of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Her code name is Sparta. Her beauty veils a mysterious past and abilities of superhuman dimension – the product of advanced biotechnology.

World-renowned professor J.Q.R. Forster’s expedition to Jupiter’s moon has not proven uneventful. In a furious blaze of ice-geysers, the moon’s surface rips off to reveal an ancient alien world-ship.

But when the world-ship suddenly hurtles through space toward a black hole, Sparta must find out why, and soon, from a mysterious alien from an unknowable culture, little knowing that what is about to unfold will determine the future of Earth. As the alien ship charts its ancient course, the scheming Sir Randolph Mays and Sparta unwittingly head for their final battle through the eons in the midst of an ancient galactic civil war.

This star-spanning adventure brings together the genius of Arthur C. Clarke and the talents of distinguished science fiction writer Paul Preuss.

Introduction by Arthur C. Clarke

Cover art by Jim Burns, with a special section of computer-generated tech specs and blueprints of the spacecraft and hardware from Venus Prime by Darrel Anderson.