Customer Reviews

Starman's Quest

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4 star:		(1)
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This is a pirated edition of a very early book of mine that I allowed to go into public domain, long ago, because I was replacing it with a revised edition. Back then, it did not seem worthwhile to renew the copyright, because I did not intend to allow a new edition of the original text to appear. Even though as a science-fiction writer I'm supposed to predict the future, I had no idea in 1969 that the Internet would arise and many years later so-called "publishers" would find this book and distribute it against my wishes for their own profit. It may be "classic' science fiction now but it's also the work of a beginning writer who, in later years, did not choose to offer it to readers, Someone else chose to do so anyway. You buy it at your own risk and with the knowledge that the author did not wish this version of the text, which he wrote when he was in college, to appear again.

Robert Silverberg

This was one of Silverberg's early novels and one of his best. Essentially it is the story to two brothers who make up part of a merchant family that travels by spaceship from star to star and near speed of light speeds which due to Einstein's time dilation find these journeys take only a few months while many years pass on Earth.

On a previous trip, one of the brothers has jumped ship and stayed behind on earth. Now its 6 weeks later for the on ship brother and they've come back to earth, but for the brother on earth many years have passed (10 to 12). The shipboard brother sets out to find his brother during the layover and does. He basically gets him back on the ship, but then decides to stay himself.

He meets a strange fellow who is a professional gambler and he himself becomes a gambler to support himself. After establishing himself and becoming wealthy he sets about to discover the secret of a lost "star drive" that will allow a ship to travel faster than light. And so the plot boils down to: will he be able to succeed in discovering this drive and then reuniting with his brother in space and them both be the same age again?

Read the book to experience a fascinating adventure in the world of gambling, a future earth (a rather strange one in fact) and a quest like adventure. Find out whether the hero succeeds or fails!

This is a great read and one that I read as a young lad, and then searched it out several years ago so that I could read it again.

An honest attempt to portray real science in an early sci-fi story, Robert Silverberg weaves a tale of a spaceman (and his brother) that just isn't happy with the way that the world of star men is working, with the huge time differences that relativity causes. Of course, it's dated, but that's one of the things I enjoy in these older Science Fiction stories....they still have the wonder and 'gee whiz' feel of it all that I had as a kid. I wouldn't call it his best early story, but it is a highly enjoyable, well written story of the world of the future, a la 1950's ideals.

The story is covered in another review, and it would appear the author has also put his opinion of this version. I just want to thank Mr Silverberg for introducing me to science fiction almost 40 years ago. Starmans Quest was one of the first science fiction novels I read. Actually one of the earliest 'chapter books' that I can remember reading.

I was browsing the sci-fi section of the public library and selected this book for reasons long lost to me. But I do remember reading it more than once and then returning to the library to look for more books by Robert Silverberg and then on to other science fictions authors.

So - Thank you Mr Silverberg for introducing me to science fiction and planting the seeds that made me want to read more!

Written thousands of years ago by that ageless wonder, Robert Silverberg when he was just a pup in college, with Starman's Quest, you get a real feel for 50's era sci-fi. Mr. Silverberg let the copyright lapse, and Gnome Press is long defunct so the whole world benefits from this quick read. Get the free Guttenbergized Kindle edition - and why not pick up something new of Silverberg's too. That way he'd get a royalty check and you can see how much he has matured as a writer.