On a primal world orbiting a distant star, humans are the invading aliens. Only the lessons of our past will preserve Samarkand’s biosphere, and prove mankind can learn from its mistakes.

On a restored Earth humans live apart from nature, sequestered from their own world to protect its ecosystems. That’s just fine by astronaut Franklin Bedford. He’s lived most of his life in space, and whether he’s exploring circumstellar disks or circumnavigating a comet, it’s never boring. But the colonists aboard his ship are seeking a life in harmony with nature on the distant planet Samarkand.

Led by an eccentric naturalist, the colonists are determined to coexist with their new biosphere. But survival expert Randall Holmes knows nature can’t be negotiated with. When a malfunction forces their ship to break orbit, Holmes volunteers to land on the surface in search of a settlement site. All Bedford knows about Samarkand is he’s glad he doesn’t have to go down there. But he worries when Holmes takes his engineer, Nina Stark, along. The last time Holmes landed on an exoplanet the rest of his crew didn’t survive, including Nina’s father.

When a tyrannosaur ransacks their camp, Holmes is lucky to have Nina to fix what’s broken, and remind him that he can’t control everything. With their biologist gravely injured, they must brave a hostile alien valley with only seven days to find a settlement site. If they fail, their loss would decimate the colony before a single structure lands. And in a forest filled with alien predators, there might not be enough of Holmes and Nina left to bury.

Seven Days on Samarkand is a multi-POV work of hard science fiction. A found family, an unexpected romance, and an enlightened humanity embracing its better nature are set upon a backdrop of a perilous alien valley populated by dinosaurs.

Querying Now