The Return (Hardcover)

by Buzz Aldrin (Author), John Barnes (Author) "So how are you planning to top this mission?..." (more)
Key Phrases: proton bomb, space tourism, storm cellar, Republic Wright, Scorpion Shack, Mars Four (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Old-school moonwalker Buzz Aldrin teams up again with former Hugo and Nebula Awards nominee John Barnes to pen another near-future SF tale focused on the fate of the U.S. space program. But as with the duo's previous effort, 1996's Encounter with Tiber, Aldrin's ideas can take center stage a little too conspicuously, which, regardless of your own views on the subject, doesn't always make for the best story. Part thriller, part infomercial for the Aldrin space manifesto, The Return fumbles only in its lack of subtlety: The book's protagonist, Scott Blackstone, is a technically accomplished and charismatic retired astronaut who runs a foundation called ShareSpace, whose mission is to send everyday citizens into outer space. And what do you know--in real life Aldrin is a technically accomplished and charismatic retired astronaut who runs a foundation called ShareSpace, whose mission is to send everyday citizens into outer space. (Talk about your expert author.)

Of course you read Aldrin not because you think he's the next Ben Bova but because he's a space-race winner, a bright man with inspiring ideas. And Barnes, who's already proven himself with topnotch titles like Mother of Storms, helps Aldrin get his point across admirably, spinning a tale that begins with ShareSpace's third Citizen Observer to accompany a space shuttle mission: a legendary, recently retired basketball hero known around the globe as simply "MJ." Disaster strikes, though, while the beloved MJ is airborne, and Blackstone soon finds himself relying on his lawyer ex-wife to come to ShareSpace's defense. Was the disaster an accident? Don't count on it. --Paul Hughes

From Publishers Weekly
Reunited with award-winning SF writer Barnes (Encounter with Tiber), Aldrin, the second man to walk on the Moon, imagines a near future when the space program is in the hands of competing private corporations. In association with ShareSpace, headed by ex-astronaut CEO Scott Blackstone, NASA is offering privileged civilians the opportunity to ride as "Citizen Observers" on space shuttle missions. The third such celebrity in space, basketball legend MJ (Michael James), has scarcely reached orbit when he and a crew member are killed in what appears to be a bizarre accident. Culminating in an emergency crash landing on Easter Island, this tragedy puts the future of the entire space program in jeopardy. Overnight, Blackstone becomes the scapegoat and--sued by MJ's mother for over $1 billion--is fired. When, mysteriously, Blackstone finds that no lawyer will take his case, his brother, Nick, v-p of rocket builder Republic Wright, revives the childhood bond of the Mars Four (Nick; Scott; Scott's ex-wife, celebrity attorney Thalia, mother of their 10-year-old son; and Eddie Killeret, Nick's counterpart at rival Curtiss Aerospace)--and persuades Thalia to represent Scott. Despite anonymous threats, the case turns in their favor when the media focus on the explosion of a Pakistani proton bomb that turns the entire ionosphere into a super Van Allen belt, knocking out all existing satellites. Enter an enigmatic figure from a secret agency tying everything to a Chinese conspiracy. After three of the Mars Four go into space on a mission to rescue the crew of a disabled space station, fade to sunset as they reunite at the beach cottage of their youth. In made-for-Disney prose, this facile effort makes a fast read. $150,000 marketing campaign; 20-city author tour. (May) FYI: Aldrin is the head of a foundation called ShareSpace, which advocates civilian space travel.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books; 1st edition (June 3, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312874243
• ISBN-13: 978-0312874247
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,834,515 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars THE RETURN returns to Aldrin's strong space suit, May 28, 2000

By	Erich Landstrom (Greenacres, FL United States) - See all my reviews

THE RETURN covers techno thriller territory familiar for readers of ENCOUNTER WITH TIBER. Many of the same elements are in both hard science-fiction novels: a family involved for generations in spaceflight, a divorced couple driven apart by the demands of aeronautics, a disaster aboard an American space shuttle, an emergency on an orbiting outpost, bad guy communists. Some ideas are identical: realistic rocketry, an evaluation and projection of the next decade of manned exploration, ShareSpace as a advocate for civilian space travel, the struggle for the soul of the space program. Some plot devices are new: a courtroom drama, an international nuclear incident, and covert operations. The result is something of a storytelling salad - a little of everything is thrown into the bowl, and it's all good for you. After a slow start, RETURN becomes a quick, exciting read, with technical details explained in simple terms and characters given human dimensions.

But unlike TIBER, which literally spanned time and space in first person narratives, Return follows a more constrained literary approach. Only three narrators are used, childhood friends who have drifted apart and reunite as adults. As a result the overall scope of RETURN is less grand than TIBER, but certainly more readable. Aldrin is at his best with the details of the space exploration business, with the lift capabilities, PR coups, long hours, and exhilaration and exhaustion. Barnes does an outstanding job in taking Aldrin's space strategies and spinning them into the story, around the high cost of machines and the higher costs to men and women as marriages fail and friendships are sacrificed. The authors are unique in their qualifications to comment on the current state of the space program and to speculate with fictional events on what politics or profit-margins will be prophetic.

There have been crises large and small to test the confidence and commitment to an American space program: the Apollo 1 fire, the Apollo 13 "successful failure," the Challenger explosion, the troubles of the Hubble Space Telescope, the problematic space stations Skylab, Mir and ISS, the disappearance of Mars probes. These historical hardships lend credence to the reaction surrounding the untimely tragedy in chapter two of THE RETURN -- the death of basketball superstar MJ on orbit. Our protagonist, former astronaut Scott Blackstone and CEO of ShareSpace, is set up to take the blame. In short order, Scott is fired and sued by MJ's mother for $1 billion, while a nation grieves a slain celebrity and debates the risks of the conquest of space. The "Citizen Observer" program was to bring Americans from all walks of life along on selected shuttle missions, so that schoolteachers, shop mechanics and newscasters who dreamed of flying could go where senators, Saudi princes, and Scott Blackstone have been. There are those who do not want it to succeed for a variety of reasons: some sinister, some short-sighted. When no legal eagles will mount a defense for Scott, his older brother Nick pulls strings at aerospace company Republic Wright to dig deeper lest the well get poisoned for any rocket builder. This brings Nick back into contact his childhood clique of Eddie Killeret, now at competitor Curtiss Aerospace, and Scott's ex-wife, attorney Thalia "Thally" Pendergast. Scott, Nick, Thally and Eddie are preteen pals who dubbed themselves the Mars Four, vowing to get to the red planet by the year 2019. Nick hires Thalia to represent Scott and works surreptitiously to re-unite the couple as a family with their 10-year-old son, Amos. But the family's safety is threatened by anonymous threats, mourners, sabotage and security breaches. When a preliminary NASA report would acquit Scott, a cover-up begins that culminates with a communist Chinese conspiracy detonating a proton bomb. The bomb unleashes enough hard radiation to fry every satellite in low-earth orbit, including the International Space Station. A daring rescue mission by the Mars Four would not only save the ISS astronauts, but also an aggressive space program, and American idealism itself. THE RETURN concludes on a note of hope for a return to Apollo-era fervor space exploration.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Starts terribly, but rapidly reaches orbit, May 30, 2000

By	Dolores Washburn (Rochester, NY) - See all my reviews

The first chapter of this book is AWFUL: a press conference with a smug first-person narrator just cramming back story down our throats. But it really does pick up after that, although I wasn't the least sorry to see one insufferably perfect character die in chapter two. After that, though, it really does get moving nicely, and by the end you do share Aldrin's enthusiasm for getting us back into space. As I said, a slow start but ultimately a worthwhile book --- and perhaps the most beautiful book I've seen in a while, with a transluscent dustjacket overtop of a glossy hard cover.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Makes me wish this was reality and not fiction!, June 20, 2004

By	orbops (Scottsdale, AZ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Return (Mass Market Paperback)

This story from Buzz Aldrin reads almost like an alternate US space history - one in which the government allowed private business to take up the space tourist business. What makes this story a little more poignant is that the space shuttle Columbia places a significant role in the story. The pace keeps the reader flipping from page to page, and the storyline makes you want to believe that this type of R&D is really happening in the private sector. My only gripe is that Aldrin could have been a little more creative in creating one of the main civilian characters instead of simply using a caricature of Michael Jordan.