Published by Avon Books, 1990.
paperback, 356 pages, $4.99, ISBN: 0-380-71717-4

Wulfsyarn brings a tale of interstellar angst from back to front, starting at the end of the War of Ignorance. The Nightengale, a massive starship tasked with the mission to repopulate devastated alien worlds with their native alien life forms, was lost without a trace for over a year. The ship with its 2,400 crew and 820 Close Metabolism Life Forms and 130 Distant Metabolism Life Forms had been entrusted to an experienced captain, Jon Wilberfoss. Now, it had been found -- a lifeless hulk orbiting a minor planet. Lifeless, that is, except for the near comatose captain.

Wilberfoss is brought back to the medical facilities of the gentle Order of St. Francis Dionysos and Wilberfoss is almost immediately healed in a physical state. However, it is his mental state that requires extensive effort, and a machine named Wulf is tasked with putting Wilberfoss' shatted psyche back together again, as well as discovering what happened to the Nightengale.

Mann sets up the character of Wilberfoss as a caring and gentle soul with a profound love aof life, then leads you through the twisted corridors of a mind overwhlemed with the responsibilty of the destruction of so many endangered alien species. It is a work of character destruction and despair, and eventual reconstruction and repair.

In between Wilberfoss' agony and self doubt, the machine Wulf offers insight into his very human condition as the events surrounding the disappearance of the ship come to light.

The War is over, and Wulfsyarn contains no overt military action, but the internal battles of the soul in this post-war mission will keep you involved with Wilberfoss and Wulf.