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Starchild Trilogy
The Starchild Trilogy is a series of three science fiction novels written by Frederik Pohl and Jack Williamson. In the future depicted in this series, mankind is ruled by a brutal totalitarian government known as the ''Plan of Man'', enforced by a computerized surveillance state. The books in the series were: *'' The Reefs of Space'' (1964) *'' Starchild'' (1965) *'' Rogue Star'' (1969) An omnibus edition titled ''The Starchild Trilogy'' was first published in 1980. Reception Algis Budrys Algirdas Jonas "Algis" Budrys (January 9, 1931 – June 9, 2008) was a Lithuanian-American science fiction author, editor, and critic. He was also known under the pen names Frank Mason, Alger Rome (in collaboration with Jerome Bixby), John ... praised ''The Reefs of Space'' as "a most rewarding piece of science fiction . . . full of inventions ndthe constant generation of science-fiction ideas and science-fiction characters." However, he criticized its ending as "anticlimactic" and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frederik Pohl
Frederik George Pohl Jr. (; November 26, 1919 – September 2, 2013) was an American science-fiction writer, editor, and fan, with a career spanning nearly 75 years—from his first published work, the 1937 poem "Elegy to a Dead Satellite: Luna", to the 2011 novel ''All the Lives He Led''. From about 1959 until 1969, Pohl edited ''Galaxy'' and its sister magazine '' If''; the latter won three successive annual Hugo Awards as the year's best professional magazine. His 1977 novel '' Gateway'' won four "year's best novel" awards: the Hugo voted by convention participants, the Locus voted by magazine subscribers, the Nebula voted by American science-fiction writers, and the juried academic John W. Campbell Memorial Award. He won the Campbell Memorial Award again for the 1984 collection of novellas '' The Years of the City'', one of two repeat winners during the first 40 years. For his 1979 novel ''Jem'', Pohl won a U.S. National Book Award in the one-year category Science F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Williamson
John Stewart Williamson (April 29, 1908 – November 10, 2006), who wrote as Jack Williamson, was an American science fiction writer, often called the "Dean of Science Fiction". He is also credited with one of the first uses of the term ''genetic engineering''. Early in his career he sometimes used the pseudonyms Will Stewart and Nils O. Sonderlund. Early life Williamson was born April 29, 1908 in Bisbee, Arizona Territory. According to his own account, the first three years of his life were spent on a ranch at the top of the Sierra Madre Mountains on the headwaters of the Yaqui River in Sonora, Mexico. He spent much of the rest of his early childhood in western Texas. In search of better pastures, his family migrated to rural New Mexico in a horse-drawn covered wagon in 1915.Williamson, Jack. ''Wonder's Child: My Life in Science Fiction'' (Benbella Books, 2005) The farming was difficult there and the family turned to ranching, which they continue to this day near Pep. He ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Totalitarian Government
Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and regulation over public and private life. It is regarded as the most extreme and complete form of authoritarianism. In totalitarian states, political power is often held by autocrats, such as dictators (totalitarian dictatorship) and absolute monarchs, who employ all-encompassing campaigns in which propaganda is broadcast by state-controlled mass media in order to control the citizenry. By 1950, the term and concept of totalitarianism entered mainstream Western political discourse. Furthermore this era also saw anti-communist and McCarthyist political movements intensify and use the concept of totalitarianism as a tool to convert pre-World War II anti-fascism into Cold War anti-communism. As a political ideology in itself, totalitarianism is a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Surveillance State
Mass surveillance is the intricate surveillance of an entire or a substantial fraction of a population in order to monitor that group of citizens. The surveillance is often carried out by local and federal governments or governmental organizations, such as organizations like the NSA, but it may also be carried out by corporations (either on behalf of governments or at their own initiative). Depending on each nation's laws and judicial systems, the legality of and the permission required to engage in mass surveillance varies. It is the single most indicative distinguishing trait of totalitarian regimes. It is also often distinguished from targeted surveillance. Mass surveillance has often been cited as necessary to fight terrorism, prevent crime and social unrest, protect national security, and control the population. At the same time, mass surveillance has equally often been criticized for violating privacy rights, limiting civil and political rights and freedoms, and bein ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Reefs Of Space
''The Reefs of Space'' is a dystopian science fiction novel by American writers Frederik Pohl and Jack Williamson, published in 1964. It is part of the Starchild Trilogy, the other books in the series being '' Starchild'' (1965) and '' Rogue Star'' (1969). Plot The novel is set in a dystopian future where mankind is ruled by a brutal totalitarian government known as the ''Plan of Man'', enforced by a computerized surveillance state Mass surveillance is the intricate surveillance of an entire or a substantial fraction of a population in order to monitor that group of citizens. The surveillance is often carried out by local and federal governments or governmental organizati .... The main character is a genius scientist, Steve Ryeland, who is trying to build a new type of rocket drive. While Ryeland is struggling with amnesia, he has a computer companion named Oporto. Due to Ryeland's anti-government actions in the past, the Plan of Man Computer deems him to be a security risk, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Starchild (novel)
''Starchild'' is a dystopian science fiction novel by American writers Frederik Pohl and Jack Williamson, published in 1965. It is part of the Starchild Trilogy, a series of three books, the others being '' The Reefs of Space'' (1964) and '' Rogue Star'' (1969). ''Starchild'' is about a rebellion against the government-computer by a mysterious person or group called the "Starchild". Plot The novel is set in a dystopian future on an Earth where mankind is ruled by a brutal totalitarian government known as the ''Plan of Man'', enforced by a computerized surveillance state Mass surveillance is the intricate surveillance of an entire or a substantial fraction of a population in order to monitor that group of citizens. The surveillance is often carried out by local and federal governments or governmental organizatio .... In '' The Reefs of Space'', the main character is a genius scientist, Steve Ryeland, who is trying to build a new type of rocket drive. In ''Starchild'' there is an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rogue Star (novel)
''Rogue Star'' is a dystopian science fiction novel by American writers Frederik Pohl and Jack Williamson, published in 1969. It is part of the Starchild Trilogy, a series of three books, in which (in the first two) mankind is ruled by a brutal totalitarian government known as the ''Plan of Man'', enforced by a computerized surveillance state Mass surveillance is the intricate surveillance of an entire or a substantial fraction of a population in order to monitor that group of citizens. The surveillance is often carried out by local and federal governments or governmental organizatio ... (these books are '' The Reefs of Space'' (1964) and '' Starchild'' (1965)). In ''Rogue Star'', the totalitarian state is replaced by a utopian state, but the characters are threatened by a mysterious force. Plot In '' The Reefs of Space'', the main character, Steve Ryeland, is a genius scientist trying to build a new type of rocket drive. In ''Starchild'' there is an unknown person or group cal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Algis Budrys
Algirdas Jonas "Algis" Budrys (January 9, 1931 – June 9, 2008) was a Lithuanian-American science fiction author, editor, and critic. He was also known under the pen names Frank Mason, Alger Rome (in collaboration with Jerome Bixby), John A. Sentry, William Scarff, and Paul Janvier. He is known for the influential 1960 novel '' Rogue Moon''. Biography Budrys was born in Königsberg (today's Kaliningrad) in the then East Prussia, Germany. His father Jonas Budrys was the consul general of Lithuania; as a child he saw Adolf Hitler in a parade in the city. In 1936, when Budrys was five years old, Jonas was appointed as the consul general in New York, instead of Paris as he had hoped. After the Soviet Union's occupation of Lithuania, the Budrys family ran a chicken farm in New Jersey while Jonas remained part of the exile Lithuanian Diplomatic Service, since the United States continued to recognize the pre-World War II Lithuanian diplomats. During most of his adult life, Bud ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Galaxy Science Fiction
''Galaxy Science Fiction'' was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published in Boston from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by a French-Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break into the American market. World Editions hired as editor H. L. Gold, who rapidly made ''Galaxy'' the leading science fiction magazine of its time, focusing on stories about social issues rather than technology. Gold published many notable stories during his tenure, including Ray Bradbury's "The Fireman", later expanded as ''Fahrenheit 451''; Robert A. Heinlein's ''The Puppet Masters''; and Alfred Bester's ''The Demolished Man''. In 1952, the magazine was acquired by Robert Guinn, its printer. By the late 1950s, Frederik Pohl was helping Gold with most aspects of the magazine's production. When Gold's health worsened, Pohl took over as editor, starting officially at the end of 1961, though he had been doing the majority of the production work for some time. Under Pohl ''Gala ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Book Series Introduced In 1964
A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical arrangement is ''codex'' (plural, ''codices''). In the history of hand-held physical supports for extended written compositions or records, the codex replaces its predecessor, the scroll. A single sheet in a codex is a leaf and each side of a leaf is a page. As an intellectual object, a book is prototypically a composition of such great length that it takes a considerable investment of time to compose and still considered as an investment of time to read. In a restricted sense, a book is a self-sufficient section or part of a longer composition, a usage reflecting that, in antiquity, long works had to be written on several scrolls and each scroll had to be identified by the book it contained. Each part of Aristotle's '' Physics'' is c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Science Fiction Novel Trilogies
Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for scientific reasoning is tens of thousands of years old. The earliest written records in the history of science come from Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia in around 3000 to 1200 BCE. Their contributions to mathematics, astronomy, and medicine entered and shaped Greek natural philosophy of classical antiquity, whereby formal attempts were made to provide explanations of events in the physical world based on natural causes. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, knowledge of Greek conceptions of the world deteriorated in Western Europe during the early centuries (400 to 1000 CE) of the Middle Ages, but was preserved in the Muslim world during the Islamic Golden Age and later by the efforts of Byzantine Greek scholars who brought Greek m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
