The Tesserene Imperative blurb

 Here is a brief description of my second science fiction novel, The Tesserene Imperative (to be published in October 2007):

It was supposed to be a routine prospecting mission, but something went wrong.

With 43 billion souls crammed together on Mother Earth—using up natural resources at an unsustainable rate—the essential minerals that support human civilization are in desperately low supply. Tesserene, the mineral that makes starflight travel possible, is especially critical. Without it, humans are effectively imprisoned on their home world.

When prospecting shipShamu  is almost destroyed in a distant asteroid belt, Swede Johansen and rest of the crew of five is left with three days of air, little water, a smashed starflight drive, and no hope of rescue. It will take every ounce of ingenuity and stubborn pigheadedness they possess to find a way to survive.

If they do  find a solution, the ultimate jackpot awaits them in the shadows of a distant moon--if  the galaxy doesn't kill them first.

Mark.