« Hot Sky at Midnight » Robert Silverberg

Not so very far in the future, the icecaps have melted and many coastal communities have been flooded out. The ozone layer is destroyed. Some areas are liveable with breathing masks and injections that protect the skin from the now–deadly rays of the sun, but the only real refuge—for those who can afford it—has become the near–space orbital colonies built and run by private companies.

Valparaiso Nuevo is one of these colonies—a haven and a centre of action for hustlers, conspirators, and people looking for an edge. It is also the target of a disillusioned group of humans who become embroiled in a scheme to overthrow it. Their goals are individually motivated but the deadly combination of ambition, distrust, greed, stupidity, and lust leads to a dramatic conclusion that replicates in miniature the history of man’s destruction of his own living space on the planet.