Book excerpt: Acclaimed sci-fi author Alan E. Nourse offers up an exciting tale of treachery, adventure, and vast wealth in the novel Gold in the Sky. The story unfolds among the rarefied and rough-and-tumble crews who mine the surface of asteroids for valuable metals and minerals. Much like the lawless mining towns of the Old West, these groups are made up of rapacious types who will stop at nothing to strike it rich.