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Search for the Star Stones

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The late Andre Norton was best known for her fantasy novels, including the brilliant Witch World series. However, she also published 'hard' science fiction. The adventures of the Free Trader 'Solar Queen' are my favorites as well as "Beast Master"/"Lord of Thunder," and the 'Warlock' books.

"The Zero Stone" and its sequel, "Uncharted Stars" are a little harder to like. The plot hinges on a series of incredible coincidences such as when our hero, Murdoc Jern, an apprentice gem dealer launches himself into space with nothing but a space suit between himself and eternity--and happens upon an ancient Forerunner life boat that lands him on a planet which happens to have two caches of zero stones just like the one he inherited from his father.

As Murdoc Jern himself says in the sequel, the zero stone started "me on a series of adventures so wild that, had another recited them to me, I would have thought them the product of fash-smoke breathing..."

His companion, Eet was born of a Free Trader ship's cat after she had swallowed a curious black stone. Eet himself (or herself) is telepathic and also seems to have swallowed a copy of the 'Encyclopedia Galactica.' Usually Norton's aliens are a bit more likeable or at least a bit more inscrutable than Eet. He's a sort of an obnoxious, know-it-all mutant cat. He's the master and Murdoc is the slave.

The two reel improbably through space with the Thieves' Guild and the Patrol breathing down their rockets (as I think Norton put in another one of her SF novels), all in a race to learn the ultimate source of the Zero Stone.

In "Uncharted Stars" Murdoc tries to rectify the master-slave relationship with Eet that had developed in the previous novel. He purchases a battered old space yacht with his reward from previous adventures and tries his hand at purchasing gems on one planet and selling them for a higher price on another. He decides to purchase Zorans on Lorgal, sell them on Rakipur to the priests of Mankspher, in order to buy the pearls of lonnex crabs. Et cetera. Of course his first venture is almost a complete disaster when another trader shows up and beats him to the market. Murdoc, his drug-addicted pilot, and Eet must chart a new course.

Through a series of hair-raising adventures, including the rescue of a dying Zacathan archeologist, Murdoc and Eet end up on Waystar, the mysterious stronghold of the Thieves' Guild. They are taken prisoner while on the hunt for the source of the Zero Stone, and also for the archeologist's stolen artifacts.

Where better to hunt for treasure than in the great galactic storehouse of loot, and property stolen from current and long-vanished stellar Empires? Of course, Murdoc and Eet must somehow stay alive in this flamboyant and dangerous den of thieves in order to achieve their objectives.

"Search for the Star Stones" takes place in the fantastically populated universe of Norton's Free Traders and Forerunners. Wandering the fabulous storerooms of Waystar with this author makes up for any traces of antiquity in her science or tough-guy jargon. Eet serves as a sort of deus ex machina whenever Murdoc gets himself into really serious trouble, and there is a satisfying surprise ending for those readers who have grown attached to the intrepid gemologist and his mutant cat.

Search for the Star Stones (2008) is an omnibus SF edition of the Murdoc Jern duology, including The Zero Stone and Uncharted Stars. Murdoc is the son of Hywel Jern, a former prime assessor to a sector boss of the Thieves' Guild who bought out when his patron was assassinated. Hywel migrated to Angkor and married the daughter of a local hock-lock operator. He maintained a low profile, operating from the same modest hock-lock.

The Zero Stone (1968) is the first novel in this series. One day, the first officer of a spaceliner brought in a ring with a dull stone that was found in interstellar space, far from any star, on the finger of a spacesuited corpse. The crude stone is plain and cloudy, but has a remarkable hardness. The stone gives an impression of great power to Hywel and Murdoc, but not to the rest of the family.

Hywel is obsessed with the stone and arranges an apprenticeship for Murdoc with Vondar Ustle -- a master gemologist who searches for new sources of precious stones -- so that Murdoc can search for more information on the ring and stone. Murdoc is well satisfied with his life as apprentice to Vondar. Returning for a visit, Murdoc finds that he no longer fits into his family.

One evening, Hywel stays home to conduct some business while the rest of the family goes to a party. Leaving the party earlier, Murdoc returns home to find his father tied to his chair, bloody and dead. Murdoc takes the ring and stone from its hiding place and leaves his home forever.

In this novel, Murdoc and Vondar have come to Koonga City on Tanth searching for gems. They are dining in a taproom when the Green Robes, native priests, enter, spin their selection wheel to point between Murdoc and Vondar, and try to take both men. Murdoc kills one priest, fights his way clear, and then finds sanctuary with the priests of Noskald.

These priests arrange for a Free Trader -- the Vestris -- to take Murdoc off-world. The crew treats him in a distant, but civil manner, but his only companion is the ship's cat, Valcyr. When the ship sets down on a primitive planet, Valcyr accompanies Murdoc as he explores the area.

When Murdoc finds some bits of a curiously dull black substance that forms an extremely hard but fuzzy oval, Valcyr takes the largest specimen and starts to lick it. Murdoc tries to take it away from her, but gets clawed for his efforts. When a crewman tries to get the specimen, Valcyr runs off with it and hides. Murdoc and the crewman find her again, but she then swallows it.

When they return to the ship, the Medico tests Valcyr and the specimens; he determines that the black ovals are alive at a low level as if hibernating and that Valcyr is now pregnant. Since there is a possibility that Valcyr is not carrying ordinary kittens, she is locked in a cage within the sick bay.

About four weeks later, she disappears from the cage and is next seen in Murdoc's cabin with a newborn animal, Eet, that is not a kitten. And then Murdoc finds himself covered with purple blotches and feeling feverish. At this point, Murdoc and Eet leave the Vestris, Murdoc in a spacesuit and Eet in a clear-sided box, to escape the plague-fearing, frantic crew.

Uncharted Stars (1969) is the second SF novel in this series. Murdoc and Eet are back on a civilized world. At the suggestion -- and with the assistance -- of Eet, Murdoc has bought an old, yet functional, starship from a scrapyard near the spaceport on Theba. The ship has been serviced and waits at the port for a pilot. Murdoc doesn't have the skills and Eet cannot operate controls of the ship, so they try to hire a licensed pilot to no avail.

Murdoc is preparing himself for an excursion into the seamier part of town to locate a black-listed pilot when a Patrol agent suggests an alternative: they will furnish a pilot. But Murdoc suspects that the Patrol is responsible for their lack of a pilot and rejects the offer.

Eet has found a pilot at a dive in the worse section of the Out-port. Kano Rysk is a Free Trader pilot and a fash-smoker. Fortunately, fash is expensive and he hasn't smoked any for a long while. Murdoc and Eet manage to smuggle him into their ship without anybody -- other that a Patrol watcher -- noticing their presence.

In this story, Murdoc has Rysk take them to Lorgal, where he trades for zorons. Unluckily, another gemtrader is there before him and gets the better gems. Worse yet, Akki is heading for Rakipur, the same world that Murdoc has intended as their next stop.

Murdoc decides instead to go to Sororis. Rysk is familiar enough with that world's reputation to avoid the only spaceport. Still, Murdoc was not planning on landing the ship itself, but taking the lifeboat down to Sornuff.

After trading for greenstones, they space to Lylestane and its auctions. But Murdoc finds that he is listed and cannot legally sell his gems. Then they learn of a Jack raid and arrive too late to save most of the Zacathans at the archaeological site. Still, they find that the Jacks are heading toward Waystar and Zilwrich -- the only survivor -- has the coordinates.

The creature Eet is rather unique in the author's space adventures, having a human level of intelligence, yet possessing an animal body. Eet combines the friendly alien, symbiotic animal, and mutated talents aspects of these tales, all in one body. Sort of a highly evolved version of the meerkats in The Beast Master.

These stories are not among the author's best works, but they are still worth reading. Murdoc and Eet overcome some daunting challenges in their search for the zero stone source. Enjoy!

Recommended for Norton fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of far star systems, future societies, and a determined young man.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Uncharted Stars, the second half of this omnibus collection, was the first science fiction book I ever read, and it still remains a favorite. One of the things that I really liked about Norton's science fiction is that over the course of her writing career, she created a huge, complex universe that appears as the background to her stories. The books in which she created this universe are not related per se, but they all take place in the same milieu. This allows her to toss off allusions to the greater universe which provide tantalizing glimpses of places, people, and adventures unseen and unresolved, at least in the current story. It gives a feeling of an adventure taking place among a larger and much more complex universe, providing greater verisimilitude to the tale.

I am not going to recap the book, as several of the previous reviewers have done a much better job of that than I could. The thing that I wanted to emphasize about this book is that it is primarily a coming of age and adventure story. It was originally written as a book aimed at the mid-teen market, but I think that it stands up well even for more adult readers. One of the previous reviewers criticized the book for containing incredible coincidences and totally wild situations. I believe that the point he missed was that all these things were NOT coincidences, but were situations brought about by the protagonist's companions and the zero stone itself. Part of the charm of the book is the portrait of an ordinary young man caught up in a series of incredible adventures over which he has but little control. However, the situations he finds himself in all stem from his peculiar heritage as the son of his father and the legacy of the stone his father left him.

This book may seem a bit simplistic and straightforward in our more jaded and cynical time, but I love the unapologetic way that Norton writes her adventure story. This is a great book for a casual read or a light break in your hectic holiday schedule. Think of it as a literary equivalent of a summer action movie or a light romantic comedy -- not particularly deep or philosophical, but an rollicking adventure story.

I first read The Zero Stone and Uncharted Stars as a child, as part of a summer library reading program, and so I bonded with them quite young. They are some of the few books that I go back and reread every few years, less to discover something new than to simply experience the story and the world again. Because the universe Norton created here is in many ways the real star of the novels: the mystery as it unfolds, the layer upon layer of ancient interstellar civilizations, the intrigue. Murdoc Jern is perfectly written, a character who we the reader can become as we follow his story. Eet is brilliant, both mentor and foil for Jern, a part of the mystery and yet caught up in it as well. The stones themselves are almost alive, almost animate.

They don't write science fiction like this anymore. The wonder of exploration and adventure that is so perfectly presented in these two magnificent works has been replaced with soap-opera violence and an obsession with long page counts, and that's a pity. So pick up The Zero Stone and Uncharted Stars and lose yourself in them; you'll be glad you did.

Search For The Star Stones

Search For The Star Stones is an Omnibus edition of two of Andre Norton's Murdoc Jern novels set in the Forerunner Universe, it includes The Zero Stone[[ASIN:B000CMKKB0 and Uncharted Stars (Murdock Jern, Bk. 2) Thank you Baen for bring these two back. My older paperback copies were getting a little worn




The Zero Stone



"A Mysterious stone, born of worlds long extinct, is the key to powers unimaginable, to man--powers that could enable its owner to control the Universe. Murdoc Jern, gem trader, finds that possession of the stone has led him to the center of a web of intrigue ands murder.
With his companion Eet, an inscrutable feline mutant with phenomenal ESP powers, he is hunted through space, coming finally to a long forgotten planet inhabited by apelike "sniffers." There facing the predatory sniffers, the antagonistic Patrol and the laser guns of the Thieves Guild, Murdoc must seek the source of the Zero stone and bargain for his rights to pursue his destiny as a free man."


The Zero Stone (1968) is the first novel in the two book Murdoc Jern series. Murdoc is the son of Hywel Jern, a former prime assessor to a sector boss of the Thieves' Guild. Hywel migrated to Angkor and married the daughter of a local hock-lock operator. Shortly after the marriage, his in-laws. and many others in the vicinity of the port, died from disease brought by a plague ship, but Hywel and his wife survived and even performed some of the necessary governmental functions during the emergency. Some five years later, Angkor became a hub for interstellar trade in that sector and the Jern business thrived through Hywel's many off-world contacts, both legal and illegal, but he maintained a low profile, operating from the same modest hock-lock.

One day, the first officer of a space liner brought in a ring with a dull stone that was found in interstellar space, far from any star, on the finger of a space suited corpse. The crude stone is plain and cloudy, but has a remarkable hardness. The stone gives an impression of great power to Hywel and Murdoc, but not to the rest of the family. Hywel is obsessed with the stone and arranges an apprenticeship for Murdoc with Vondar Ustle, a master gemologist who searches for new sources of precious stones, so that Murdoc can search for more information on the ring and stone. Hywel is well satisfied with his life as apprentice to Vondar and, when he returns for a visit, finds that he no longer fits into his family. One evening, Hywel stays home to conduct some business while the rest of the family goes to a party. Leaving the party earlier, Murdoc returns home to find his father tied to his chair, bloody and dead. Murdoc takes the ring and stone from its hiding place and leaves his home forever.

In this novel, Murdoc and Vondar have come to Koonga City on Tanth searching for gems. They are dining in a taproom when the Green Robes, native priests, enter, spin their selection wheel to point between Murdoc and Vondar, and try to take both men. Murdoc kills one priest, fights his way clear, and then finds sanctuary with the priests of Noskald. These priests arrange for a Free Trader, the Vestris, to take Murdoc off-world. The crew treats him in a distant, but civil manner, but his only companion is the ship's cat, Valcyr. When the ship sets down on a primitive planet, Valcyr accompanies Murdoc as he explores the area. When Murdoc finds some bits of a curiously dull black substance that forms an extremely hard but fuzzy oval, Valcyr takes the largest specimen and starts to lick it. Murdoc tries to take it away from her, but gets clawed for his efforts. When a crewman tries to get the specimen, Valcyr runs off with it and hides. Murdoc and the crewman find her again, but she then swallows it.

When they return to the ship, the Medico tests Valcyr and the specimens; he determines that the black ovals are alive at a low level as if hibernating and that Valcyr is now pregnant. Since there is a possibility that Valcyr is not carrying ordinary kittens, she is locked in a cage within the sick bay. About four weeks later, she disappears from the cage and is next seen in Murdoc's cabin with a newborn animal, Eet, that is not a kitten. And then Murdoc finds himself covered with purple blotches and feeling feverish. At this point, Murdoc and Eet leave the Vestris, Murdoc in a spacesuit and Eet in a clear-sided box, to escape the plague-fearing, frantic crew.

This novel has some of the signature characteristics of the author's space adventure tales, including the outcast Murdoc, the telepathic Eet, and alien artifacts. The creature Eet is rather unique in the author's space adventures, having a human level of intelligence, yet possessing an animal body.



Uncharted Stars

Book Two of the two book Murdoc Jern series.


Murdoc is trying to rectify the master-slave relationship with Eet that developed in the previous novel. He purchases a battered old space yacht with his reward from previous adventures and tries his hand at purchasing gems on one planet and selling them for a higher price on another. He decides to purchase Zorans on Lorgal, sell them on Rakipur to the priests of Mankspher, in order to buy the pearls of lonnex crabs. Etc. His first venture is almost a complete disaster when another trader shows up and beats him to the market. Murdoc, his drug-addicted pilot, and Eet must chart a new course.

Through a series of hair-raising adventures, including the rescue of a gravely injured Zacathan archeologist, Murdoc and Eet end up on Waystar, the mysterious stronghold of the Thieves' Guild. They are taken prisoner while on the hunt for the source of the Zero Stone, and also for the archeologist's stolen artifacts.

Where better to hunt for treasure than in the great galactic storehouse of loot, and property stolen from current and long-vanished stellar Empires? Of course, Murdoc and Eet must somehow stay alive in this flamboyant and dangerous den of thieves in order to achieve their objectives.

"Uncharted Stars" takes place in the fantastically populated universe of Norton's Free Traders and Forerunners. Wandering the fabulous storerooms of Waystar with this author makes up for any traces of antiquity in her science or tough-guy jargon. Eet serves as a sort of deus ex machina whenever Murdoc gets himself into really serious trouble, and there is a satisfying surprise ending for those readers who have followed the intrepid gemologist and his mutant cat through "The Zero Stone" and its sequel.

Highly recommended for fans of Andre Norton and science fiction.

Gunner, October, 2008

Highly recommended for Norton fans and anyone who enjoys space adventures.

Gunner November, 2008

I first discovered a novel (The Stars Are Ours!) by Andre Norton at the age of nine (I'm 46 now!) and have been addicted to science fiction ever since. If the slightest smidgen of a thirst for adventure and a sense of wonder her books will give your soul wings!

I find this 2 book series one of Miss Norton's best and it is my favorite series by my favorite author. The interaction of plot elements that are present in all of Norton's works seem to mesh best in these two stories (and also oddly enough in another of her series that has only 2 books as well "The Stars Are Ours" and "Star Born").

The elements of youth on the cusp of adulthood discovering there place in the universe, being a mutant as a metaphor for the strangeness all adolescents go through at that time, alliances between human and mutant/alien/or other as social commentary on what we loose out on if we are prejudice against race/religion/gender/or species (she did start to write over 50 years ago and had to use a mans name instead of her real name "Mary Norton" after all! Andrew North then finally Andre Norton.) , the manifest destiny of mankind to take our place in the universe as explorers as exemplified by "Free Traders", "First In Scouts" of the galactic patrol and others who just simply get lost in the great expanse. The the flat out weirdness of alien/ancient/or forgotten knowledge and how we have the abject stupidity in our hubris of thinking we are the "lords of creation" whenever the topic of aliens that appear to be animals to us are often much more intelligent, and also in the often frightening and awe inspiring science and power left behind in various artifacts by the thousands of "forerunner" species that predate us some by many millions of years. An almost reverential fear of the awesome power of forgotten knowledge and the many star systems ravaged by ancient conflicts that to us primitives seem to be nothing short of magic! (Like Arthur C. Clarke said "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." !)

The awesome "Zero Stones" end up ultimately being a metaphor themselves in that when the manufacturing process is reviled in the end, there creation takes nothing less then the destruction of the very living essence, being and life force of a being from an ancient forerunner civilization. One of which is reveled to be the main characters companion throughout the adventure who has hidden this fact for two reasons. One, that it itself can only be released from the imprisonment of the temporary body it has found itself in and take it's (or close to it's) original form, and two, that it's ultimate goal is not independence and wealth for the two of them but the release of others of it's kind from imprisonment in the stones even if that release is the release of the grave! A powerful anti servitude metaphor if ever there was one! "Give me liberty or give me death!" so to speak.

If you are a science fiction or fantasy fan DO NOT MISS OUT on reading at least a few story's by "The Grand Dame of Science Fiction" Andre Norton! Her story's are enjoyable by people of all ages. While not technically the best written "hard science fiction" by standards of scientific accuracy (how many really are?) and not exactly fantasy or space opera either, nor in general written for 'adults' Norton's story's are compelling for there timeless use of symbolism and there ability to draw the reader into the story and out of the everyday well enough that most people find themselves reading many of her books in a single sitting!

Even if you are not a science fiction fan you will enjoy her writing. Even at the age of 46 I can still read one of these books and feel that old 'sense of wonder' I felt way back when I was 9 years old and read one of these, or Treasure Island etc. When no other author can still draw me in or instill that feeling of really being there and the universe being a big weird place these story's can still do it!!!

In the pantheon of science fiction authors some belong there for shearly insane ideas that no one else can come up with (Greg Bear "Moving Mars" that's nuts! Cool but nuts!). Some for the great sense of where history is headed (Asimov for his Foundation series). Some for there cautionary tails (Michael Crichton). Some for the good old space opera with all blasters blazing (E.E. Doc Smith!). Some for swashbuckling sword play against all odds in an alien landscape (Edgar Rice Burroughs) Some for there understanding of emerging cultures that are already in process (Cory Doctorow you really understand where tech is moving our culture!!) But NONE stand above Andre Norton for the shear joy of a story well told!!

Miss Norton, rest in piece. Hope to meet you some where some when in the future!

I'm very pleased that the Andre Norton books are being re-published in collections that contain continuing stories. It's good to be able to get them at Amazon prices.

This is a book with two previously written titles under a new name. It would be helpful to list those titles on books like this-I already had both of them

I was gyped by this book. It contains two books I already own, but no mention of them was made in the description of the book. This happens quite frequently on this site.