Rogue Moon [Paperback]

Algis J. Budrys (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1981

This is one of the most hair-raising novels of hard SF ever published. Its technological props of matter transmission have dated slightly since 1960; the neurotic, obsessed characters are fresh as ever as they struggle against each other and the timeless, incomprehensible alien death machine found on our Moon. Hawks the scientist can tape men and beam endless copies of them moonwards, to investigate the deadly artifact. It invariably kills the duplicates, and as a side-effect drives the (telepathically linked) originals insane. Barker the playboy is already insane, more than half in love with death: just the man to map the alien maze by surviving a few seconds longer on each of countless visits. The two men inevitably collide head-on, and you're left to decide which is the stronger, and which wins. The matter transmitter itself is also "the death machine" (Budrys's original title for the novel); what comes out is only a copy of the man who went in, and the copy may not be perfect. When the maze seems almost mapped, versions of Hawks and Barker stumble together through its psychedelic horror -- littered with the corpses of past Barkers at each false turning -- in hope of being the first to enter and emerge again. This final sequence inside the alien machine could be a filmic trip to rival 2001's Star Gate -- but filming would ruin it, because the nightmares are subjective: Barker doesn't see the same as Hawks.... And there's still one last black twist to come in the power-game between the two. "You thought then you'd already felt the surest death of all. You hadn't. I have to do it once more." Rogue Moon is impressive, compulsive SF, a novel that can be read many times without going stale. Don't miss it.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Avon (June 1981)
• ISBN-10: 0380001004
• ISBN-13: 978-0380001002
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,045,360 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars First rate, thought provoking sci fi at its best!, September 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Rogue Moon (Paperback)

The creation of human replicants allows for the study of a mysterious alien artifact on the moon. The humans and their alter ego replicants become one mentally, and both share the experience when one enters the artifact, in which all who enter ultimately die. The remaining human can then describe what the other saw and felt inside, allowing further study of the artifact. When the remaining humans are unable to communicate the information, due to insanity brought on by the memory experience of dying, a search begins for a man who can withstand the experience. That search brings together some fascinating characters, who find that facing the project is less difficult than facing their own demons, brought out fully during participation in the project. The character interactions and development are superb, and ultimately elevate this gripping story to the highest level. Fundamental human issues of life and death are explored effectively, as the characters struggle to define their lives in the face of an uncaring, unyielding and mysterious object.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You may never have heard of this book., October 29, 2000

By 

C A Hughes (North Wales, UK.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rogue Moon (Hardcover)

This is a book you may never have heard of, which is a shame; it's an absolute diamond. First of all it's a book about people, the way they manipulate each other and allow themselves to be manipulated. It has a very worldly outlook for a book, which could easily appear to be a simple piece of pulp sci-fi. Most notable is that it is the first book I ever read which explained that a teleportation device is not a means of transport, but a means of killing someone and building a replacement of them in another location. The fact that it is an instrument of death is a theme that pervades the book. It's not quite Heart of Darkness, but it also offers an insight into the less pleasant motivations that can lead our actions. It won't take a long time to read, but I suspect you will want to read it again and again. It may indeed be pulp sci-fi, but I for one like pulp sci-fi, especially not when it is as engaging as this.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sci-fi as a character study of men who live dangerously, July 3, 2004

By 

Dave Deubler (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rogue Moon (Paperback)

During science fiction's Golden Age, it was almost taken for granted that the characters of sci-fi were the same characters found in fantasy: consummate wizards who could solve any problem, helpless damsels in distress, and intrepid heroes who could slay the toughest dragon. True, the wizard wore a lab coat rather than a pointed hat, and the hero flew a rocket ship instead of riding a white horse, but at essence, they were the same types: flat, flawless, and wholly unbelievable. Budrys explodes the myth in this painfully honest look at what drives the kind of man who would risk his life, and the lives of others, in the name of Science.

Dr Edward Hawks heads a project that, through the miracle of teleportation, puts men on the moon. He does this by transmitting taped copies of human beings across the void, where the men are then reconstructed alive from this data. Communication is handled by an inherent psychic link between the original and his copy. With unique insight, Budrys sees this journey as a one-way trip, since the men so sent are mere duplicates of their earth-side counterparts, with no lives of their very own to come back to. Thus Hawks' machine creates life, but it is life that has no real place in our world.

While exploring the moon, these doomed men have found an inexplicable artifact. Attempts to enter this structure and learn its secrets have always resulted in the demise of the explorer. And staying in constant contact with "themselves" as they die again and again has taken a tragic toll upon even the hardened military men whose avatars are doing the investigating. So Director of Personnel Vincent Connington chooses fearless tough guy adventurer Al Barker for the job. But how will Al react to not just facing death, but actually experiencing it, dying day after day? And what of his beautiful and flirtatious girlfriend Claire, whose coquettish ways threaten to undermine the entire project? If life is this cheap, then how valuable are relationships?

Originally published in the early sixties, perhaps in response to the Nedelin catastrophe in which 126 people were killed on a Soviet launch pad, this short but strangely gripping novel focuses on the people who undertake dangerous ventures, rather than on the science behind this sketchily-drawn quest. The point of view usually lies with Hawks, and his relationships with Al, whom he sends to his death on a daily basis, and Claire, who seems anxious to shatter his inscrutable composure. Fans of whiz-bang science fiction may be disappointed by the fairly weak and dated explanations of the science involved, and the fact that many of the more scientific questions remain unresolved at the end. But despite the outrageousness of the back story, this is a unique, gripping, and very hard-boiled book that takes a hard if somewhat simplistic look at what drives the people who do dangerous work.