GATEWAY TO HELL'S FURY The Union of Arcana has expanded through the portals linking parallel universes for over a century and a half. In that time, its soldiers and sorcerers have laid claim to one uninhabited planet after another¾all of them Earth, and in the process, the Union has become the most powerful, most wealthy civilization in all of human history. But now the Union's scouts have discovered a new portal, and on its far side lies another human society, Sharona, which has also been exploring the Multiverse, and the first contact between them did not go well. Arcana is horrified by the alien weapons of its sudden opponents, weapons its sorcerers cannot explain, weapons based upon something called . . . science. But Sharona is equally horrified by Arcana's "magical" weapons. Neither side expected the confrontation and each thinks the other fired first. But as the initial disastrous contact snowballs into all-out warfare, both sides can agree on one thing. The portal which brought them together is Hell's Gate itself! At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management). "Magic and high tech collide in this exciting military SF novel from bestseller Weber and Evans, the first of a new series. . . . The authors treat both societies sympathetically and realistically, with human vices and virtues evenly distributed."¾Publishers Weekly

本書は魔法と科学という相反する体系が激突する壮大な叙事詩です。単なるジャンルの融合に留まらず、異なる論理を持つ文明が接触した際に生じる「相互理解の不可能性」という悲劇を鮮烈に描き出しています。著者は双方に正義と欠点を等しく配分し、読者を究極の倫理的ジレンマへと誘うのです。 緻密な軍事描写の裏側には、未知への恐怖が憎しみの連鎖を生むという人間心理の深淵が横たわっています。魔術と科学が交差する戦場で、信念を胸に抗う人々の姿は泥臭くも崇高であり、文明の衝突という重厚なテーマに命を吹き込んでいます。知性と情熱が火花を散らす、圧倒的な筆致に酔いしれてください。