The Gap Into Conflict: The Real Story

Angus Thermopyle is a pirate, a murderer, and the most feared man in the asteroid belt, until he arrives at Mallory's Bar with Morn Hyland, a police officer, changed and diminished by their time together. Nick Succorso, a more glamorous pirate with a better ship, sees an opportunity and takes it, and what appears to be a simple story of rivalry and revenge reveals itself as something far more complex. Stephen Donaldson tells the same events three times from three perspectives, each recontextualizing what the previous version established.

Scott Brick narrates with the controlled intensity that Donaldson's dark science fiction demands, never flinching from the moral ugliness of the material. His performance understands that The Gap Cycle requires the reader to hold multiple incompatible versions of events in mind simultaneously, and he differentiates the three perspectives without making the technique feel academic. Brick's authority with morally compromised characters makes him an ideal narrator for Donaldson's deliberately uncomfortable material.