Starman's Quest (Paperback)

~ Robert Silverberg (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The Lexman Spacedrive gave man the stars -- but at a fantastic price. Interstellar exploration, colonization, and trade became things of reality. The benefits to Earth were enormous. But because of the Fitzgerald Contraction, a man who shipped out to space could never live a normal life on Earth again.

Travelling at speeds close to that of light, spacemen lived at an accelerated pace. A nine-year trip to Alpha Centauri and back seemed to take only six weeks to men on a spaceship. When they returned, their friends and relatives had aged enormously in comparison, old customs had changed, even the language was different.

Alan was a spacer, just like his whole family -- until, suddenly and without intending to, he in turn jumped ship and remained on Earth!

There were times he regretted that. Earth was a bewildering and utterly hostile place. To stay alive, he had to play a ruthless game -- and he couldn't even find anyone to tell him the rules. . . .

Product Details

• Paperback: 124 pages
• Publisher: Aegypan (February 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1606643681
• ISBN-13: 978-1606643686
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #116,431 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gambling with time ..., June 14, 2007

By	R. Smith "honestabe" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Starman's quest (Hardcover)

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.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars First Sci-Fi Book I ever read, August 14, 2003

By	A. Reese (United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Starman's quest (Hardcover)

This was the first science fiction book that I ever read. I read it when I was in the fifth grade and it got me hooked on the genre for good. It is still one of my all time favorites.

It's about twin brothers who travel in space, and on one of their stops they get separated, one brother takes off on the ship, the other gets left behind. During the space travel the spacedrive that they use distorts time for them. So while only 6 weeks would pass for the person in space, a greater amount of time (years) would pass on the planet. This book tells the story of the one who gets left behind on the planet.