From a winner of the BSFA award for best novel
Two hundred years ago mankind found Orbitsville, a vast sphere whose habitable inner surface comprised living space equivalent to five billion Earths. The resulting migration was enthusiastic - and nearly total.
Earth itself is a backwater now, a place with which the people of Orbitsville maintain only marginal contact. But just because it's backward doesn't mean it isn't dangerous.
Bob Shaw (1931 - 1996)
Bob Shaw was born in Belfast in 1931. After working in engineering, aircraft design and journalism he became a full time writer in 1975. Among his novels are Orbitsville, A Wreath of Stars, The Ragged Astronauts and his best-known work Other Days, Other Eyes, based on the Nebula Award-nominated 'Light of Other Days', the story that made his reputation. Although his SF novels and stories were for the most part serious, Shaw was well-known in fannish circles for his sense of humour, and his witty 'Serious Scientific Talks' were a favourite of attendees at Eastercons. Bob Shaw won two Hugos and three BSFA Awards. He died in 1996.