The Sails of Tau Ceti [Mass Market Paperback]

Michael McCollum (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 22, 1992

Tory Bronson--a software engineer aboard the first Earth starship--becomes the intercessory between a shipload of aliens fleeing a dying sun and her own world, which is reluctant to take in the refugees.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Michael McCollum is the author of 10 science fiction novels and one book of short stories, with total sales of 250,000 books in bookstores. He is now the proprietor of Sci Fi - Arizona, an Online Science Fiction bookstores and publishing company. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Del Rey; First Edition edition (June 22, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345371089
• ISBN-13: 978-0345371089
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 3.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,374,436 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Deceptive Refugees, August 9, 2007

By 

John A Lee III "jal3" (San Antonio, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Sails of Tau Ceti (Paperback)

Humanity is delighted when it discovers an artifact heading towards Earth from Tau Ceti, especially since that star recently became a nova rather unexpectedly. They are thrilled when they realize that the artifact is a ship carrying refugees. Some are xenophobic but most are eager to get their hands on some first class alien technology. An expedition is dispatched to meet the ship and all goes well...almost too well.

The aliens seem to know a lot about humanity. In fact, their knowledge seems uncanny and even frightening at times as they try to mimic their hosts. One person, though, learns the reason for this. They are not a simple group of refugees. They have much bigger plans and the survival of humanity depends upon treason and deception.

This is a well written and crafted story for most of its extent. The end is a bit draggy but it is worth reading.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This could make a sci-fi fan out of anyone, October 11, 2000

By 

Lindsay Kenny "ProEFT Facilitator" (San Rafael, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Sails of Tau Ceti (Mass Market Paperback)

What a pleasant surprise this book was! From the beginning I found the plot incredibly intriguing and the writing style engrossing. Less than halfway through the book one is confronted with a moral delimma I hope we never have to face as humans. In fact, it's one of the most unique and difficult choices imaginable. How it's resolved, as this remarkable story unfolds, is fascinating. Needless to say, I loved this book and recommend it highly.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good fiction, February 20, 2011

By 

Alexis Gervais (Rimouski, Qc CAN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Sails of Tau Ceti (Paperback)

I was reluctant to buy a book that had little to no dissenting voices, 4-5 star reviews, including a Top 500 reviewer. Sounded fishy. But...having good cashflow right now I went for it and, to my surprise, it /is/ good.
Others (along with the blurb) have done a good job of explaining the initial plot details, and the core of the mystery. Read their reviews for that.
So how's the novel, you might ask?
The characterisation was realistic, from motivations to personality to discourse. Unlike Robert L. Forward's Rocheworld (which I just read), these characters actualy think and talk in a realistic fashion, and McCollum does nothing silly and amateurish with the way he types, such as exclamation points every other utherance, or capitalized words in someone's speech.
The science exposition is adequately limited for our enjoyment, and what of it there is - to my knowledge - appears accurate, from space radiation exposure, light-sail dynamics, relativistic physics, to orbital mechanics.
The book has minimal esthetic appeal for collectors (low-budget small press), but a relatively good job has been done on editing nonetheless. At least, many other novels make you bleed from the eyes at the number of errors.
Final word: worth the read, but not impressive, hence 1 star less. I can only vouch for the editing and physical appearance of the Sci Fi-Arizona edition, not the older Del Rey one.