Heart of the Comet

The novel tells the story of an expedition beginning in the year 2061 to capture Halley's Comet into a short period orbit so that its resources can be mined. The discovery of life on the comet and the subsequent survival struggle against the indigenous lifeforms and the illnesses and infections they cause leads to a breakdown of the expedition crew and the creation of factions based around political beliefs, nationality and genetic differences between the "percells"—genetically enhanced humans—and the "orthos"—unmodified humans. As well as the fighting between these factions, Earth rejects the mission due to fear of contamination from the halleyform life and attempts to destroy the comet and those living upon it. Eventually the mission crew on Halley are forced to accept that they can never return to Earth and create a new biosphere within the comet's core and in some cases evolve into symbiotic organisms with the halleyform life.

Subplots within the novel include the love triangle between the three major characters, Saul's quest for immortality through the creation of clones of himself and Virginia's development and nurture of the bio-organic stochastic computer JonVon, into whom Saul eventually transfers her consciousness before her brain dies as a result of an accident. The description of many of the interactions with JonVon and this final transference of consciousness is similar to the descriptions of the matrix in the William Gibson novel Neuromancer.

As an example of the hard science fiction subgenre, the story is meant to be scientifically plausible. Social and political issues such as racism and diaspora are also present, as well as social arguments surrounding issues such as genetic engineering and cloning and exploration of more philosophical subjects such as immortality and transhumanism.

• Weisgerber, Christian (July 28, 1995). "Review: Heart of the Comet". Naddy's Review Index.