Reunion on Neverend [Hardcover]

John E. Stith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1994

Undercover agent goes to high school reunion on distant planet and finds his old flame in trouble.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Though Stith (Manhattan Transfer, Redshift Rendezvous) is known for his engrossing SF adventures, his latest is a listless mystery/thriller in SF trappings. On the planet Neverend, where everyone lives in caverns and tunnels carved out of the rock, a kindly museum curator is brutally killed by an unknown intruder. Months later, old pals Lan Dillion and Parke Brenlek arrive for their high-school reunion on Neverend, where, among others, they encounter Tessa Farlon, Lan's old flame and daughter of the murdered curator. Learning that Tessa has been recently threatened, Lan and Parke determine to protect her from her new enemies-who, it seems, want her to sell them the museum, which conceals a secret interplanetary gateway that fits into their plans to commit a foolproof heist. Can Lan, Parke and Tessa stop these villains? Stith plods through this hokey tale, where narrative threads that take up entire chapters vanish without a trace and where several alien worlds (including Neverend) are no more convincing than watercolor backdrops.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Police agent Lan Dillion returns for a vacation and class reunion to his home world of Neverend, a planet honeycombed with caves. His vacation plans are put on hold when he is unexpectedly drawn into a murder case involving his old girlfriend, Tessa. Shortly after Tessa's father is mysteriously killed at his Neverend historical museum, a suspicious woman visits Tessa and demands that she sell the museum building immediately. While struggling to hide his real profession from Tessa, Lan uses his undercover skills to tail the woman and soon uncovers a plot to steal a priceless artifact from a distant world. Before Lan can foil the plot, he and Tessa are strong-armed and held prisoner inside a previously unknown passageway inside the museum that miraculously leads to other planets throughout the galaxy, including one on which they may become permanently stranded. Although the tale resembles any number of standard detective novels transferred to an sf universe, Stith saves it from banality with absorbing, fast-paced action and witty dialogue. Carl Hays

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1st edition (August 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312856873
• ISBN-13: 978-0312856878
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,043,885 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Some resources and info that might be of interest to readers:

Stith's site is www.neverend.com.

Look for Naught for Hire, an upcoming webisode series starring Ben Browder as a private detective in a comic near future filled with AI-based appliances that exhibit a range of human-like personality disorders. Look for the original story from ANALOG, included in ALL FOR NAUGHT.

Naught for Hire: Lying clients, criminal minds, deranged appliances -- Who you gonna trust?

The Naught for Hire site is www.naughtforhire.com.

A Naught for Hire fan community is www.naughtpiagency.com.

John E. Stith has a Facebook page, and there is a Naught for Hire Facebook page.

Also look for MANHATTAN TRANSFER. Aliens kidnap Manhattan. Read all about it.

REDSHIFT RENDEZVOUS is hard SF set in a hyperspace environment where the speed of light is 10 meters per second. Flick a light switch and see the room slowly fill with light. Run, and you can create a sonic boom. Against this background is a starship hijacking where one man stands in their way.

The video page includes part of the the public domain program Science Fiction--Science Fact: SF2 that aired on PBS. All six parts are available on YouTube.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars all the usual Stithisms but not one of his best, March 25, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Reunion On Neverend (Mass Market Paperback)

Reunion on Neverend is readable, but no more. Stith's continuing interest in nice-guy masculinity and female neurosis produces one of his less successful romances, while the science fiction seems incidental, the action is average, and the humor is more juvenile than clever. Stith is a decent writer: for more interesting plot and more involving characters, try Memory Blank or Death Tolls.