Trust Territory (Threshold) [Hardcover]

Janet Morris (Author), Chris Morris (Author)

Book Description

Series: Threshold | Publication Date: March 3, 1992

Joe South, a test pilot who has been lost for five centuries, warns the humans of the United Nations of Earth of the approach of three alien ships, and soon he finds that the aliens wish to form an alliance with the humans.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The second volume of the projected military space adventure trilogy begun with Threshold is fast-paced but otherwise inept. Joe South, a 21st-century test pilot, has been transported into the future during an experimental excursion into "spongespace," a sort of hyperspace. Rescued by the people of the 25th century (a la Buck Rogers), South is put to work on the huge space station Threshold with the hope that his unique perspective will help decipher the mysteries of the Ball, an alien artifact. Just as it seems that no one will solve the puzzle, three alien ships suddenly appear near the Ball, conveying an embassy from a vast confederation of alien races. Should they be welcomed? The issues are left hanging, presumably for the next installment. However, the plot elements and characters seem cut from older cloth, while the writing is pervaded by a superficial militarese (a wealth of clumsy acronyms; short, choppy sentences)--accordingly, many readers may disembark here.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Twenty-sixth-century alien-contact yarn, second in the trilogy begun with last year's paperback Threshold. Space scavenger Keebler finds a huge, mysterious, glowing Ball in space and tows it back to Threshold, humanity's base in the asteroid belt and portal to interstellar travel. Among those who suspect that the Ball's purpose is to facilitate alien contact is Joe South, a 21st-century test pilot who returned from an experimental voyage only to find that 500 years had elapsed; during his travels, he glimpsed the aliens but cannot now remember. After administrators, industrialists, and security chiefs wrangle over the Ball, the aliens--representing a galactic Unity of intelligent species--finally show up; administrator Mickey Croft meets their leader, the Interstitial Interpreter, and is profoundly changed by the experience--the aliens, you see, are dissociated from linear time. But since the humans cannot agree on a policy, the aliens withdraw, leaving the Ball as a portal for further contact; South recovers his memories, and Croft's new nonlinear awareness spreads to others at Threshold. Intriguing time/mind notions and quite promising aliens are undermined by wretchedly feeble plotting and threadbare characters: overall, no better than mediocre. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Roc Hardcover; First Edition edition (March 3, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451451260
• ISBN-13: 978-0451451262
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,536,109 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Best selling author Janet Morris began writing in 1976 and has since published more than 20 novels, many co-authored with her husband Chris Morris or others. She has contributed short fiction to the shared universe fantasy series Thieves World, in which she created the Sacred Band of Stepsons, a mythical unit of ancient fighters modeled on the Sacred Band of Thebes. She created, orchestrated, and edited the Bangsian fantasy series Heroes in Hell, writing stories for the series as well as co-writing the related novel, The Little Helliad, with Chris Morris. Most of her fiction work has been in the fantasy and science fiction genres, although she has also written historical and other novels. Morris has written, contributed to, or edited several book-length works of non-fiction, as well as papers and articles on nonlethal weapons, developmental military technology and other defense and national security topics.