Angus Thermopyle was an ore pirate and a murderer; even the most disreputable asteroid pilots of Delta Sector stayed out of his way. They muttered that everyone who had ever gotten close to Thermopyle has ended up dead—or in the lockup. But when he arrived at Mallory's Bar & Sleep with a gorgeous woman by his side, the regulars had taken notice. She was too beautiful, too obviously from a different class. Her name was Morn Hyland, and she had been a police officer—until she showed up with Thermopyle.

One person in Mallorys Bar wasn't frightened. Nick Succorso had his own ship, a sleek frigate fitted for deep space. He had a reputation as a bold pirate, but not a bloodthirsty one. And he had the kind of charisma that made men follow him and women want him. Only the scars beneath his eyes—brutal knife cuts that darkened when his blood rose—indicated that he'd ever known defeat. You could almost feel the tension when he first saw Morn Hyland.

Everyone knew that Thermopyle and Succorso were on a collision course. What nobody suspected was how quickly it would be all over—or how decisive the victory would b e. It was a common enough example of rivalry and revenge—or so everyone thought. But the real story was something entirely different—something none of them would have believed. Here is that story as told by one of the modern giants of imaginative fiction.

The Real Story takes us to a remarkably detailed world of faster-than-light travel (known as "crossing the Gap"), politics and betrayal, extraordinary technological development, and a shadowy presence just outside our view. It confirms Stephen R. Donaldson's deep awareness of the wellsprings of the human condition and of the implacable conflict of good and evil within each of us. It begins the fiercest, most profound story that he has ever written.