Howling Dark

The second novel of the galaxy-spanning Sun Eater series merges the best of space opera and epic fantasy, as Hadrian Marlowe continues down a path that can only end in fire.

Hadrian Marlowe is lost.

For half a century, he has searched the farther suns for the lost planet of Vorgossos, hoping to discover a way to contact the elusive alien Cielcin. He has pursued false leads for years among the barbarian Normans as captain of a band of mercenaries, but Hadrian remains determined to make peace and bring an end to nearly four hundred years of war.

Desperate to find answers, Hadrian must venture beyond the security of the Sollan Empire and among the Extrasolarians who dwell between the stars. There, he will face not only the aliens he has come to offer peace, but contend with creatures that once were human, with traitors in his midst, and with a meeting that will bring him face to face with no less than the oldest enemy of mankind.

If he succeeds, he will usher in a peace unlike any in recorded history. If he fails, the galaxy will burn.

— Synopsis from Highmatter Books

The Quest for Vorgossos

The expeditionary mission takes forty eight standard years, only twelve of which Hadrian is conscious for, the rest spent in cryogenic fugue. Officially under the command of Bassander Lin, and supported by the Jaddian officer Jinan Azhar, Hadrian and his people have been posing as a mercenary outfit in the hopes of insinuating themselves into the galaxy’s criminal underworld and so discover the location of the hidden kingdom Vorgossos, where they believe they can find the means to contact the Cielcin clans and perhaps broker some kind of peace.

In all that time, they’ve had precious few leads, though they have amassed allies. While operating as the Red Company, they assisted in the toppling of a planetary warlord named Marius Whent, in so doing bringing a collection of Norman mercenaries to their side. Tension within the Red Company are high, Bassander Lin is eager to declare the mission a failure in order to return home and to the war front. Hadrian wishes to press on; and has the support of the Normans, who are personally loyal to him over the empire. To further complicate matters, Hadrian has found himself romantically entangled with Jinan. A lead finally emerges and the Red Company has come to Rustam, to the city of Arslan, a city built by refugees fleeing the Cielcin onslaught, to meet with an arms dealer reported to come from Vorgossos itself.

Rustam

This arms dealer, known only as the Painted Man, reveals that Vorgossos is a planet without a sun and that it can only be found by those who already know where it is. The Painted Man realizes that Hadrian is working for the empire and attempts to flee, kidnapping him the process. Hadrian manages to free himself and kills the Painted Man, stealing the smuggler’s computer, along with what he hopes is the location of Vorgossos. Instead they get a series of off grid trading posts; space stations and airless moons where the black market weapons and technology trades are carried out far from imperial oversight. Such outposts are run by barbarians know as the Extrasolarians, people who have turned their back on imperial civilization to live a life in exile.

Hadrian pushes the Red Company to visit one of these outposts, March Station. Bassander Lin, fed up by yet another step in the decades long hunt for Vorgossos, insists they regroup with the imperial fleet and return to the fight. Failing to convince Jinan to help him, Hadrian recruits Otavia Corvo and the Normans to assist him, along side a few of his friends from Emesh, including Valka Onderra and the gladiators led by his friends Pallino and Switch. They plan to kidnap one of the frozen Cielcin prisoners from Jinan’s ship and escape with it to March Station.

Hadrian and his friends mount an assault on the other Red Company ship and free the alien Tanaran from cryonic fugue. Tanaran, an oral historian of the Cielcin people, is by far their most valuable captive. Swayed by promises of reunion with its people, Hadrian brings Tanaran to Corvo’s ship. During the escape, Hadrian is forced to engage Lin in a sword fight, and cuts off the imperial officer’s hand. Jinan tries to stop Hadrian leaving at the last moment. He leaves anyway, effectively ending their relationship.

First Contact with the Cielcin

The Price of Knowledge

Print and Ebooks

Edition	Cover	Publisher	Cover Artist	Interior Artist	Format	Pages	Dimensions (MM)	ISBN-13	Publication Date	Notes
US Edition		DAW Books	Kieran Yanner	N/A	Ebook	688	N/A	9780756413057	July 16, 2019	Following the issuance of the 1st edition, subsequent editions have changes including revised pricing to interior dust jacket flap and revisions to the spine configuration; spine art now matches the format of Empire of Silence.
					Hardcover	688	157 x 235	9780756413033	July 16, 2019
					Mass Market Paperback	800	106 x 172	9780756413040	June 30, 2020
					Trade Paperback	688	139 x 208	9780756419271	September 26, 2023
UK Edition		Gollancz	Patrick Knowles	N/A	Ebook	679	N/A	9781473218314	July 18, 2019	The UK edition recieved a small print run, approximately 300 in circulation.
					Hardcover	679	160 x 240	9781473229488	July 18, 2019
					Trade Paperback (Large)	608	153 x 232	9781473218291	July 23, 2019
					Trade Paperback (Small)	688	128 x 198	9781473218307	January 9, 2020
Diamond Edition		Steve Diamond	James L. Cook	N/A	Signed Numbered Edition					Details forthcoming.
					Signed Lettered Edition
The Broken Binding Edition		The Broken Binding	Rene Aigner	Digital edges and illustrated endpapers by Rene Aigner. Reverse dust jackets and PLC boards by Peng Lu.	Hardcover	694	160 x 240	9781399625777	September 8, 2024	The first printing consists of 3,000 Signed Copies.

Audiobooks

Print and Ebooks

Language	Title	Cover	Publisher	Translator	Cover Artist	Interior Artist	Format	Pages	Dimensions (MM)	ISBN-13	Publication Date	Notes
Russian	Ревущая тьма		Азбука (Azbuka)	Yuri Pavlov	Kieran Yanner	N/A	Ebook	840	N/A	9785389195271	May 7, 2021	Covers feature the original Sam Weber art with holographic boards.
							Hardcover	672	145 x 215	9785389183049	February 2024
Polish	Bezkresna ciemność		Dom Wydawniczy Rebis	Jerzy Moderski	Igor Morski	N/A	Ebook	768	N/A	9788381888950	February 2, 2022
							Paperback	768	150 x 225	9788381884037	February 1, 2022
Italian	L'ululato dell'oscurità		Fanucci Editore	Annarita Guarnieri	Kieran Yanner	N/A	Ebook	972	N/A	9788834747148	August 29, 2025
							Hardcover	848	143 x 211	9788834746400	August 29, 2025
German	Die Finsternis zwischen den Sternen		Heyne Verlag	Kirsten Borchardt	DAS ILLUSTRAT (Using Shutterstock images by artists: Amanda Carden, Elizaveta Ruzanova, Yaroslav Vitkovskiy, Meawstory15 Production, freestyle images)	N/A	Ebook	800	N/A	9783641202095	May 10, 2021
							Paperback	768	137 x 206	9783453318298	May 10, 2021
French	Les Ténèbres hurlantes		Bragelonne	Nenad Savic	Kieran Yanner	N/A	Ebook	968	N/A	9791028113780	February 2, 2022
							Mass Market Paperback	984	112 x 180	9791028115463	February 2, 2022
							Trade Paperback	792	154 x 238	9791028116361	June 2, 2021
Czech	Skučící temnota		Host Publishing House	Zdenek Polivka	Kieran Yanner	N/A	Ebook	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
							Hardcover	832	145 x 212	9788027525898	September 16, 2025