Space Vulture [Hardcover]

Gary K. Wolf (Author), John J. Myers (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 4, 2008

After a lifetime of friendship, two small-town boys who grew to have very different lives and careers have teamed up to travel back in time and conquer the universe.

 

Determined to recapture the science fiction of their youth—not as it was, but as it should have been—Gary K. Wolf, the creator of Roger Rabbit, and his best friend, John J. Myers, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Newark, New Jersey, now transport readers to the far reaches of the galaxy. There, the mere mention of the pirate known as Space Vulture strikes fear into every heart. A hardworking colonist’s only hope is that the dauntless lawman, Marshal Victor Corsaire, will rocket to the rescue.

 

Come along for the ride and discover all the adventure, suspense, wonder, and fun that Wolf and Myers first found in science fiction fifty years ago, and now share with everyone in this rollicking tale of the spaceways. 

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Childhood friends Wolf (creator of Roger Rabbit) and Myers (Roman Catholic archbishop of Newark, N.J.) combine forces to resurrect 1950s pulp action adventures in this hollow space western. Silver–space-suited galactic marshal Capt. Victor Corsaire is distracted from arresting smalltime crook Gil Terry when infamous (and impeccably dressed) criminal mastermind Space Vulture raids the planet Verlinap. Capturing Corsaire and a feisty planetary administrator, Cali Russell, Space Vulture triggers a battle of wits as he seeks to auction the lawman off to 12 of the galaxy's most wanted criminals. Meanwhile, back on Verlinap, Gil helps Cali's sons, boy genius Eliot and innocent waif Regin, fix rockets and pick pockets as they race to a final confrontation. Gimmicks like midair fistfights off the side of 600-foot cliffs trigger readers' nostalgia at the expense of bolstering the threadbare plot or defining the characters, who change moods and personalities at whim. (Mar.)
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Review

“Here’s the pure quill, a real slam-bang heroic space opera written by men who haven’t forgotten a beloved book they shared as boys. Read it, and have a thrilling adventure that would have been serialized in Planet Stories.” —Gene Wolfe

 

“What a time machine! Space Vulture takes me back to Alex Raymond’s classic Flash Gordon comic strip and the other great science fiction adventures that thrilled me as a kid. The book is full of color, action and fun. Gary K.Wolf and Archbishop Myers have brilliantly managed the neat trick of not only evoking a beloved genre but actually surpassing it.” —Stan Lee

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1st edition (March 4, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765318520
• ISBN-13: 978-0765318527
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,463,584 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SF The Way It Used To Be, April 8, 2008

By 

The Crotchety Old Fan (NH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Space Vulture (Hardcover)

Space Vulture by Wolf & Myers is a tour-de-force of space opera iconography.

If you're tired of 'literary' sf, if you're sense of wonder is fading, if you've been finding it difficult to willingly suspend your disbelief - Space Vulture is the answer!

A rousing adventure tale, a return to basics, and a solid argument against the kind of science fiction that wants to win academic awards instead of Hugos, if you like space opera or if you stopped buying new works in the 1980s, THIS novel is what you've been looking for.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic old-school Sci-fi!, June 25, 2009

By 

Christopher Nelson "awesome incarnate" (Eagan, MN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Space Vulture (Paperback)

I really can't recommend this highly enough. I saw it on clearance at a local bookstore and just from looking at the cover, couldn't say no. I will say that given that one of the authors is an archbishop, it is darker than I would have expected. For those of you who may be turned off when you see an archbishop is an author (I know I was), know that it really isn't that bad. There were a few parts where a paragraph or so got bogged down with religious nonsense that was obviously the work of Myers, but then it was back to quality sci-fi.

There are many parts where undefined alien technology is casually mentioned. I love it, though some may find it cheesy, but hey, if you don't want cheesy, you aren't the target demographic for old-school sci-fi. ;)

The day after I finished it (which took only two days because I couldn't put the book down... would have taken one day, but I guess my one month old daughter needed to eat) I loaned it to my sci-fi-loving father-in-law, because I *had* to share this brilliant book.

Stop reading this and buy it. Now.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't Listen to the Nay Sayers!, June 5, 2009

By 

Jack Reynolds (Springfield, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Space Vulture (Kindle Edition)

A couple of reviews for this book decried how amateurish and unbelievable this book was. WELL OF COURSE, BUT YOU'RE MISSING THE POINT!!!! It is meant as a homage to a style of science fiction that is long gone, but from which many of the ideas and stories of today's sci-fi took root. Enjoy it on its own terms, and for the simple morality play it presents (good vs evil, a bad man who learns how to be good from a child, etc.). It isn't profound reading but it doesn't try to pretend to be anything but what it is. I hope there will be a sequel with the Space Vulture returning to wreak his revenge. As funny as this may sound, I came to really like the characters and hope to find out more about them in future stories. Isn't this how we measure the success of any novel?

Jack