Crossing the Gap

Stephen Donaldson's magnificent five-volume space opera, The Gap, has just been reissued in the UK by Gollancz. Better known for his Thomas Covenant novels, Donaldson wrote this series in the 1990s as part of a desire to examine the stereotypical ideas of Victim, Abuser and Rescuer, and also to examine the ideas and themes of Wagner's Ring Cycle in a science fiction setting.


The books are:

1. The Gap into Conflict: The Real Story (1990, UK, USA)
2. The Gap into Vision: Forbidden Knowledge (1991, UK, USA)
3. The Gap into Power: A Dark and Hungry God Arises (1992, UK, USA)
4. The Gap into Madness: Chaos and Order (1994, UK, USA)
5. The Gap into Ruin: This Day All Gods Die (1996, UK, USA)

For this release, the short Real Story has been issued in an omnibus format with the second volume, Forbidden Knowledge.

The series, which sees disparate factions of cops and criminals caught up in political turmoil on Earth and the threat posed by the alien Amnion, features space battles, intrigue and fascinating (but rarely very nice) characters in an inhospitable environment. This series is going on the re-read pile for next year, but Pat's Fantasy Hotlist covers the series briefly in this post.