Many many hugs and kisses to John, who was able to identify the mystery book as Buying Time by Joe Haldeman. Ironically, once the title was known, it was easy-peasey to find information and reviews on it.
Hail Eris.
For those interested enough to Read More About It, I recommend this review by none other than Orson Scott Card.
Happy to help. Weirdly this is the second time in the space of a month where I've ID'ed a Haldeman yarn in an online forum (the other one was in the Onion's 'Ask the AV Club' feature).
ReplyDeleteI guess this makes me evangelical for Joe, which I guess I owe him, as his books helped get me through high school.