Ivory

The Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author "has cultivated in these pages an epic history that spans millennia and the breadth of the galaxy" (Tampa Bay Newspapers).

Duncan Rojas, an employee in the research department of Wilford Braxton's Records of Big Game, rarely gets such a request. Bukoba Mandaka, the last descendant of the Maasai, wants his help finding a relic that has been lost for three thousand years: the tusks of the famous Kilimanjaro Elephant. In the year 6303 of the Galactic Era, all animals have become extinct. It's an almost impossible job, but what Bukoba is willing to pay-and Duncan's own curiosity-prove irresistible.

As Duncan puts all the technology at his disposal to the task, he begins to follow the remarkable odyssey of the ivory through cultures, time, and the universe-from being used as a pawn in a power play by unethical scientists to propping up a brutal warlord, from being worshipped as a symbol of immortality by an alien race to being turned into a matter of national pride by an opportunistic politician. But to Duncan, the even bigger mystery-and one that he must solve-is why Bukoba is willing to put his own future on the line for something so irretrievably lost to the past . . .

"Resnick's fluent writing and respect for African cultures and wildlife make for some smoothly ironic glimpses of people who imagined they 'owned' the ivory." -Publishers Weekly

"Marvelously satisfying science fiction . . . don't miss." -Analog

"Resnick is an excellent storyteller . . . Ivory is a winner." -The Cincinnati Post

Auteur

Mike Resnick (1942-2020) was an American science fiction author and editor. A winner of five Hugo Awards and a Nebula Award, Resnick was hugely popular in the world of fandom and was the guest of honor at many science fiction conventions, including Chicon 7, the World Science Fiction Convention in Chicago. He was the executive editor of Jim Baen's Universe, as well as the editor and co-creator of Galaxy's Edge magazine. In addition to publishing hundreds of books, Resnick was known for helping new writers start their careers. The Mike Resnick Memorial Award was created in 2021 to honor his memory and carry on his legacy by spotlighting new writers of short fiction in the genre.