Eros Descending

From the back cover of the Signet first edition: "The Velvet Comet was a synonym for decadence throughout the galaxy - and the Rev. Doctor Thomas Gold was out to shut it down... The Velvet Comet, orbiting Deluros VIII, was the most exclusive, extravagant, and exotic pleasure-dome ever created, and Thomas Gold, the thundering leader of a fanatical religious sect, was denouncing it as the new Sodom and Gomorrah. Then he discovered the beautiful, innocent, elfin aliens, who made their home and plied their trade aboard the Comet, and his crusade took a whole new turn. Gold declared himself the savior of these poor "enslaved" beings and began a holy crusade of liberation that would only end with the Comet's destruction or his..."