Title: Transgalactic excerpt
Author: James Gunn
Published: March 2016
Publisher: Tor Books
Series: Transcendental, Book 2
When Riley and Asha finally reached the planet Terminal and found the Transcendental Machine, a matter transmission device built by an ancient race, they chose to be "translated." Now in possession of intellectual and physical powers that set them above human limitations, the machine has transported them to two, separate, unknown planets among a possibility of billions.
Riley and Asha know that together they can change the galaxy, so they attempt to do the impossible--find each other.
Russell Letson, reviewing for Locus Online, says: Transcendental echoes Olaf Stapledon in its embedded pilgrim-tales of alien evolutionary paths and ends with scenery and action right out of the SF-pulp version of lost-city adventures. Transgalactic continues that latter line, interleaving images and gestures from earlier cycles of science-fictional storytelling with more contemporary devices and shaping the whole concoction into an old-fashioned interstellar odyssey.
Paul diFilippo, reviewing for Locus Online, says: When I reviewed the predecessor to this book, Transcendental, in this very venue, I said: “It is wise, exciting, clever, surprising, hip and au courant (or perhaps timeless is a better word). Its technical craftsmanship is subtle and awe-inspiring.”... Gunn is bucking the current publishing tide, yet there is nothing forced or labored or disingenuous about this book. He sells the hope. It reads as a sincere credo from someone who has seen a lot, lived a lot, meditated a lot, and wants to share that wisdom in an artistic manner. The novel ends on a highly satisfying note, but leaves the horizon open for further narratives, on which we can hope Gunn is already working.