It is the distant future. The world known as Virga is a fullerene balloon three thousand kilometers in diameter, filled with air, water, and floating chunks of rock. The humans who live in this vast environment must build their own fusion suns and "towns" —enormous wood and rope wheels that are spun for centripetal gravity.
This complex and fascinating world is the setting for the novels of Virga, Karl Schroeder's interstellar far-future space habitat sealed off from contamination by the rest of the inhabited universe. These books have set a high standard for hard SF adventure in the last decade, and now the first two novels, Sun of Suns and Queen of Candesce, are brought out for the first time in one trade paper omnibus.

Karl Schroeder was born to a in Brandon Manitoba. His family is part of a Mennonite community that has lived in southern Manitoba for over one hundred years. Karl moved to Toronto to pursue a writing career. His novel Permanence won the 2003 Aurora Award for best Canadian SF novel. Karl is married with a daughter and he divides his time between writing fiction and consulting - chiefly in the area of Foresight Studies and technology.

Karl Schroeder's profile page

“Outrageously brilliant and absolutely not to be missed.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review on Sun of Suns, a Kirkus pick for the Best of 2006
“A classic space opera…full of feudal castles and wooden ships, ancient compasses, old revolvers, and frothing beakers on one hand, and flying bikes, space travel, and cyborgs on the other.” —Toronto Globe and Mail on Sun of Suns
“I loved it. It never slowed down. The background is fascinating and the characters held my attention. It reminded me a little of The Integral Trees, with technology a little more advanced.” —Larry Niven on Sun of Suns
“Karl Schroeder…is proving to be one of our most ingenious devisers of exotic, fantastic settings as well as a spinner of ripping yarns.… Schroeder's world-building, storytelling, and character-drawing chops seem strong enough to have given even Known Space run for its money.” —Locus on Queen of Candesce