David Selby

David Selby was born and grew up in Berkeley, California. He taught elementary school in California, Mexico, and New Mexico for thirty-six years. He and his wife live in Northwest New Mexico.  He has written many short stories including the Joe the Man with Gills series. Mica is his first novel.

Mica, an expert navigator, uses the currents of the Darkstream to pilot his ship across the galaxy to join his love, Olivine. On the way, he befriends Ronnie, a stowaway who can look like a coat or a first aid kit, the mysterious Vuud, and the translucent “Slight People”. They experience the savage planet of Carnage and the whirling destruction of the Moon of 10,000 Drones before they even reach Olivine in the brand-new city of Garner in the midst of an unknown world.


Mica

We looked over our Skimmer. It was pretty badly scratched and had some deep dents in its skin. The inflates had worked well; we climbed back up into the skimmer and tried to get some response from Garner. The Brushskimmer said, "Ouch, that hurt," but did not elaborate and none of the propulsion systems would work


Vuud and I were somewhat disappointed that our plans had not worked out, but Vuud climbed into the back seat and rummaged around a moment and appeared with a fabric bag that clinked like metal or ceramic. He actually seemed pretty happy. "It seems to me that God has given us a great opportunity. We were thinking about searching for possibly medicinal plants. I have my bag for samples. We're both feeling relatively hale-so let's explore. The Skimmer rental people will be around soon to collect it and us."


Chapter 42: The Cure Hunters, Part 1