The Star Trails Compendium: Terms, Definitions, Weather, Political Structure, and Planetary Description of the Cyrarian Planetary System

Marcha Fox, author of the Star Trails Tetralogy, (Beyond the Hidden Sky; A Dark of Endless Days; A Psilent Place Below; and Refractions of Frozen Time) is a physicist with over two-decades experience working at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. She has skillfully integrated real as well as speculative science into this hard science fiction series to stimulate interest in STEM topics. Sociological and interpersonal situations are also presented in an entertaining way to which readers can relate. Included here are all the juicy details of interest to science aficionados, but would have slowed down the plot action.

A glossary of terms is included as well as topical discussion guides and project ideas at the chapter level for those who want to get even more value from these stories, e.g., book club discussions, science teachers, and homeschoolers, who wish to take full advantage of the tetralogy's technical content.

Dedicated fans will learn more about Cyraria, where much of the tetralogy's plot action occurs. This planet is unique due to its zero-degree inclination combined within a lemniscate (figure-8) orbit around a binary star system, which results in extreme seasonal weather with which the saga's characters must learn to survive. Besides explaining the reasons for its hostile climate, additional sections address Star Trails' alien races, in particular Cyraria's indigenous race, the bnolar, as well as its political structure.