The Light of Titan Series by Tom Howard

Justine Des Jardins de Chartres wonders why she is so privileged yet feels so limited. Why is she the only artist to learn from the newly discovered life on Titan how connected we are to the cosmos we alienate ourselves from? She knows she is the artistic light of Earth in crisis, yet she feels too selfish, too addicted to pleasure, too unskilled to be worthy of this calling. A comet will hit Titan... moreJustine Des Jardins de Chartres wonders why she is so privileged yet feels so limited. Why is she the only artist to learn from the newly discovered life on Titan how connected we are to the cosmos we alienate ourselves from? She knows she is the artistic light of Earth in crisis, yet she feels too selfish, too addicted to pleasure, too unskilled to be worthy of this calling. A comet will hit Titan. NASA and other space agencies send an unmanned probe to investigate the possibility that life could develop when water from Titan’s crust is melted and added to organic compounds in surface and atmosphere. The probe returns with an object that could be an artifact and this leads to calls for a manned mission. The Chinese send the first manned expedition to Titan, a mission which is soon followed by an international mission on which Justine is a member of the crew. Justine wonders why she is the only artist privileged to go so far from Earth. She feels she must create a special work that will show the connection between the life of Earth and the life of Titan. When the spaceships meet, Ila Stratford, the first person born on the Moon and the international expedition’s science officer and Cheng, the Chinese commander, decide to combine their crews to explore Titan jointly. Chinese crew member Li opposes this cooperation. A lander containing Ila, Justine, Cheng, and others reaches the surface. They find a comet-wrecked multi-million-year-old city of organisms adapted to Titan’s cold, a lake with life both cold-adapted and adjusted to the fleeting warmth of comet impact, and in the subsurface ocean a city older than Earth’s dinosaurs. Disaster ensues when Li, one of the other Chinese crew members, sabotages the international ship and causes it to burn up in the atmosphere; Ila, who had flown up to the ship in the transfer vehicle, is the only survivor. A storm in the comet’s crater destroys the lander and Justine is the only survivor there. Ila and Justine alone return to Earth and Justine struggles with tragic memories while she tries to create the great project that will illuminate the connections between humanity and the rest of the universe. She must force herself to relive the disaster so her art can live and touch the world. A Seed in the Void shows how Justine deals with tragedy and personal problems to create the largest work of art in history. This artwork, which will be seen by all who live on Earth, will attempt to heal the broken bond between humanity and the universe. less

During the second manned expedition to Titan, Mary Lynne Des Jardins, daughter of the artist Justine Des Jardins de Chartres, discovers an Archive of Worlds in a cave in the rugged region called Xanadu. This Archive contains records of over two hundred thousand civilizations that have reached Titan... moreDuring the second manned expedition to Titan, Mary Lynne Des Jardins, daughter of the artist Justine Des Jardins de Chartres, discovers an Archive of Worlds in a cave in the rugged region called Xanadu. This Archive contains records of over two hundred thousand civilizations that have reached Titan. Justine, who follows Mary Lynne into the Archive, receives visions of other living worlds from the ancient beings of Titan, and Justine feels compelled to share her knowledge with the self-centered people of Earth. On Earth the natural environment is steadily collapsing, but people continue their disconnected ways, unaware that they are part of the life not only of Earth, but also of a vaster, more intelligent cosmos than ever imagined.Justine feels she must do something, some great project that will show to the people that they are a part of a cosmos that teems with intelligence, and that humanity has reached for the stars before. In the records of the Archive of Worlds, Justine and Mary Lynne discover that Atlantis existed, and had a technologically advanced civilization that reached into space; after a comet struck the ice sheet in what is now Canada, and a great tsunami drowned Atlantis, benevolent aliens took some of the survivors to a safe new world.Justine knows all this in her head, but in her heart, she is as selfish as any other human. Tragedy befalls what little family she has, and she ends up in a deep quarrel with Mary Lynne, her only daughter, the only surviving member of her immediate family. If she cannot heal the rifts that divide her from the people she is close to, how can she use her art to heal her broken world?Yet she must do an art project that all the Earth will see, that will show how connected we are to each other and to the rest of the universe. She is inspired by two people who accomplished great things despite being faced with more severe adversities than she has ever dealt with. Lilith, the last priestess of Atlantis, inspires her people to move on, to build new lives in the most disastrous situation humans have ever faced. Zara, an artist in the New Atlantis world twenty light years from Earth, rises above a life of abuse and suicidal tendencies, to bring the unifying vision of the Sentient Trees who rule her world, to her people. Justine completes her great work in the enchanted city of Salem with the steadfast support of her friend and business partner Muffy Chadwick, and the tacit approval of a black cat that is said to be immortal. less