History Literature / Nova

* AGlassInTheHand: In addition to proper meaning of this trope, Prince can ''make'' glass in his artificial hand. By ''[[SuperStrength squeezing sand]].''

* GutturalGrowler: Mouse. His raspy voice is actually an incurable medical condition: as a result of birth defect, his brain lacks tissue to fully control his vocal chords. In the same conversation, he speculates that Prince probably has the same thing with his arm - if he lost it in the accident, a new one could be grafted in place.

* DoesNotLikeShoes: Spaceships that travel within a stellar system lack ArtificialGravity. Their crewmen develop one or two prehensile feet, which they always keep bare. Both Mouse and Leo have served on such ships and now wear only one shoe, the former is even said to eat using his bare foot.

* SpoiledBrat: Lorq, somewhat. Prince, [[UpToEleven big time]].

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* EvilCripple

* [[RedRightHand Mechanical Right Hand]]

* SpaceOpera

** RoyalBrat

* AppliedPhlebotinum / McGuffin / {{Unobtainium}}: Illyrion. Extremely rare, superheavy matter that can produce ungodly amounts of energy. Only forty or so planets on the edge of the galaxy have some natural Illyrion, about 8 or 9 tons in the whole known universe. Portable batteries containing trace amounts of it last for decades. Several grams are suffisient to keep the surface of Moon-sized satellite at room temperature or to propel a spaceship. [[spoiler: Lorq gets ''seven tons''.]]

* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Averted with Lorq [[spoiler: and, by the end of the book, Ruby.]]

* BodyHorror: [[spoiler: Red siblings after being attacked with a syrynx and spending several minutes on the bank of lava river. In their final appearance, Ruby is hideously burned and forsed to wear, at least for a while, a mask and a wig, and Prince is a charred corpse on life support in the vat of nutrients, with still-living brain.]]

* BreakThemByTalking: Lorq succeeds in doing this to Prince [[spoiler: by explaining in details how they are going to die (slowly) from the heat of the star they're falling on. [[ILied He lied.]]]]
* ConvectionSchmonvection: Averted. The book mentions several times how hot the air above volcanic cracks is. [[spoiler: Ruby bursts in flames when hit by syrynx laser after spending a couple of minutes near such a crack, and Prince ''burns to a crisp'' by simply being there several minutes longer.]]
** When Dan tells Lorq about his trip though the Nova, Lorq sceptically says that intense heat radiation should have ''evaporated'' the ship across the distance similar to one between Sun and Pluto, to which Dan responds that he knows it should, except it didn't. [[spoiler: As it turns out, at the first stage of going Nova the star implodes into torus. Everything near poles is [[GravitySucks pulled]] into and through the hole, which rapidly expands to a size comparable to Moon orbit and is cooled to "mere" 500 degrees - more than bearable for a spaceship, though.]]

* DisproportionateRetribution: Prince, for reminding him of his [[BerserkButton defect]]. If you're lucky, he will crush ''your'' hand with his prosthesis. If you're not, he'll laugh about it, [[spoiler: then methodically destroy your life until you lose everything and die]].

* DrivenToSuicide: Dan at the beginning of the book, by his SenseLossSadness. He jumps into a lava river.[[spoiler: At the end, Prince [[BetterToDieThanBeKilled smashes his life support system]] after Lorq's BreakingLecture about how they're going to die.]]

* InstrumentOfMurder: Mouse has sensory syrynx, a complex futuristic instrument capable of projecting holographic images, complete with sound and odours. The thing is, it includes a laser to create holograms, has a very precise focus and runs on near-inexhaustible Illyrion batteries. As [[spoiler: Red siblings]] learn the HARD way, with [[ImprovisedWeapon it's maximum output focused on a person]], it can knock them out with horrible stench, blow their eardrums out and not only blind them with a laser, but ''[[KillItWithFire set them ablaze]]''.

* KissOfDeath: Ruby has a strychnine-filled tooth [[CyanidePill for some reason]] and intended to do this to Lorq once. [[spoiler: Ironically, she inflicts this on herself in the end, by kissing Prince's corpse, ingesting some nutrient fluids he was in, and succumbing to anaphylactic shock. ]]
* LackOfEmpathy: Red heirs, especially Prince who maims people and animals in cold blood. At one point, Ruby even admits both she and Prince never understood true concept of pain [[spoiler: before getting fried by volcanic heat.]]

* RisingEmpire: Pleiades. For the record: the Federation is less than two centuries old, yet already has three quarters of Draco's population and more planets than Draco and Outer Colonies combined, a self-sustaining industry and economy (including lagre part in Illyrion mining) and a legitimate political independence. Naturally, Reds don't like this. [[spoiler: Lorq's seven tons of pure, ready-for-use Illyrion propel Pleiades even faster and further.]]

* SensoryOverload: Syrinx has enough power and precision to damage retinas and rupture eardrums. [[spoiler: And set people on fire.]] Damage done by Nova is much worse since it's ''permanent'', see below.
* SenseLossSadness: Looking at nova through ship's sensory input, as Dan did prior to book's beginning, causes SensoryOverload directly in brain centers that jams all your senses into constant stimulation, producing unending "white noise" that suppresses actual input to a tiny fraction. [[spoiler: at the end, this happens to Katin (abeit temporary) and Lorq.]]

* TakingYouWithMe: [[spoiler: Averted, Lorq pretended doing this to Prince and Ruby, while he was actually on the final stage of his Illyrion-scooping plan. [[DrivenToSuicide The fear did its work]], though.]]

* WeWillHavePerfectHealthInTheFuture: All diseases are eradicated, up to the point where ''basic hygiene is unnecessary''. Mechanical trauma is repaired in mere minutes, missing limbs can be reconstructed, and [[spoiler: someone who literally was burned to a crisp can be saved, kept conscious and possibly even healed]]. However, some cases are still too much for the medico, such as brain defects (either innate or acquired), and severe burns take some time to heal.

* WhamLine: [[spoiler: "Just ... go on sensory input, and look around to see where [Illyrion] is." In the end, Lorq had to sacrifice his senses to collect Illyrion.]]
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Well, not ''Mouse'' himself. Brian, Lorq's second co-pilot on "Caliban", disappeared after the fateful party, Lorq mentions he didn't return to the ship. [[spoiler: In the extended republishing, Prince brags about using his connections to destroy Brian's life until he was homeless and died of exposure. All because Brian unknowingly mentioned Prince's arm.]]

''Nova'' is a NewWaveScienceFiction novel by Creator/SamuelRDelany, first published in 1968, nominated for the HugoAward for Best Novel in 1969.

At 3172, humanity had colonized half of a galaxy, which is divided in three parts: Draco, the oldest, Earth-based formation, stretched along the entire galaxy branch, Pleiads Federation, consisting of the namesake cluster and populated by middle-class people, and the Outer Colonies, populated by worker class with the sole purpose of mining [[AppliedPhlebotinum Illyrion]], extremely efficient [[{{Unobtainium}} and rare]] "fuel" consisting of superheavy chemical elements. These formations are basically ruled by {{Mega Corp}}s, namely Draco's Red Shift Limited, based on transporting (and thriving because of vast distances between Draco's worlds) and Von Ray family, the founders of Pleiads. Due to the harsh means Von Ray anscestor took to protect Pleiads economical independece from Red Shift, Von Rays are called pirates and the FamilyFeud lasts for generations, up to the youngest - careless spaceship racer and playboy Lorq Von Ray and spoiled Prince Red, who was born without a right arm, and his sister Ruby Red.

* DatingCatwoman: Subverted. Despite Lorq's best efforts, Ruby never goes with him because of their FamilyFeud and her unnatural loyalty to Prince.

* FamilyFeud: Started when Von Ray grandfather blew some Red Shift ships up.

* SensoryOverload: Syrinx has enough power and precision to damage retinas and rupture eardrums. [[spoiler: And set people on fire.]] Damage done by Nova is much worce since it's ''permanent'', see below.

* WeWillHavePerfectHealthInTheFuture: All deceases are eradicated, up to the point where ''basic hygiene is unnecessary''. Mechanical trauma is repaired in mere minutes, missing limbs can be reconstructed, and [[spoiler: someone who literally was burned to a crisp can be saved, kept conscious and possibly even healed]]. However, some cases are still too much for the medico, such as brain defects (either innate or acquired), and severe burns take some time to heal.

* SenseLossSadness: Looking at nova through ship's sensory input, as Dan did prior to book's beginning, causes SensoryOverload that jams all your senses into constant stimulation, producing unending "white noise" that suppresses actual input to a tiny fraction. [[spoiler: at the end, this happens to Katin (abeit temporary) and Lorq.]]

* TarotMotifs: The novel includes a running theme of Tarot readings and imagery amid the cyborgs and starships. One curious thing is that a [[UsefulNotes/{{Romani}} Romany]] character states that his people consider the Tarot to be utter BS, and a scholar is astonished by this: how could anyone intelligent ''not'' believe in Tarot?

* TarotMotifs: The novel includes a running theme of Tarot readings and imagery amid the cyborgs and starships. One curious thing is that a [[{{Roma}} Romany]] character states that his people consider the Tarot to be utter BS, and a scholar is astonished by this: how could anyone intelligent ''not'' believe in Tarot?

* ShallowLoveInterest: Ruby is said to be smart and tough but doesn't really show any personality traits other than being Prince's beautiful and loyal sister whom Lorq has a crush on.

* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Averted hard with Lorq [[spoiler: and, by the end of the book, Ruby.]]

* DrivenToSuicide: Dan at the beginning of the book, by his SenceLossSadness. He jumps into a lava river.[[ At the end, Prince [[BetterToDieThanBeKilled smashes his life support system]] after Lorq's BreakingLecture about how they're going to die.]]

''Nova'' is a science fiction novel by Creator/SamuelRDelany, first published in 1968, nominated for the HugoAward for Best Novel in 1969.

* GutturalGrowler: Mouse. His raspy voice is actually an incurable medical condition: as a result of birth defect, his brain lacks tissue to fully control his vocal chords. In the same conversation, he speculates that Prince probably has the same thing with his arm - if he lost in in the accident, a new one could be grafted in place.
* InstrumentOfMurder: One the [rotagonists has senso-syrinx, a complex futuristic instrument capable of projecting holographic images, complete with sound and odours. The thing is, it includes a laser to create holograms, has a very sharp focus and runs on near-inexhaustible batteries. As the bad guys learn the HARD way, with [[ImprovisedWeapon it's maximum output focused on a person]], it can knock them out with horrible stench, blow their eardrums out and not only blind them with a laser, but ''[[KillItWithFire set them ablaze]]''.

* ReallyGetsAround: Lorq, to the point of having at least three illegitimate children.

* SatelliteLoveInterest: Ruby is said to be smart and tough but doesn't really show any personality traits other than being Prince's beautiful and loyal sister whom Lorq has a crush on.

* ShallowLoveInterest: Ruby is said to be smart and tough but doesn't really show any personality traits other than being Prince's beautiful and loyal sister whom Lorq has a crush on.

* SuperStrength: As a compensation for lacking a plug, Prince's artificial arm has this.

''Nova'' is a science fiction novel by Creator/SamuelRDelany, first published in 1968, nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1969.

After taking a beating from Prince, Lorq participates in his father's plans to bring down Red Shift economically. This can be down by lowering the transporting cost by producing more spaceships at lower price, which, in turn, can be only achieved by lowering the price of Illyrion - basically, getting more of the stuff. After hearing a weird story from his second pilot, Lorq gets an idea of scooping up Illyrion directly from an ''imploding/exploding star'' - a Nova star.