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I got this today from Al Luther. He’s trying to remember a story he read in the 70’s and hoping that someone here will know what the title and author were. Cool! A Detective story in real life. Here are the hints:
“Anyone there ever read a time paradox story about a young man who is shanghaied by a star freighter, returning to earth years later to find earth and his sweetheart are somehat the worse for wear? I must have read this worn novella in the early 1970’s.”
Not I, though it sounds like I’d love it! At first I thought of Heinlein, but having read almost all of them I couldn’t think of one that fit. When I pressed him for more details, I got this spoiler filled response:
“There was a multi-legged shipmate whose species were born individually knowing the exact moment of their passing, and, I believe, that the shanghaied crewman eventually becomes the captain, and repeats the cycle by shanghaiing another poor soul.”
Devious. Can anyone help Al? I’d like to read this book too!
9 responses so far ↓
1 Quintet // Feb 1, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Childhood end maybe?
2 Cam // Feb 1, 2008 at 1:07 pm
By Asimov? No, I don’t think that one fits. Thanks though, I’m glad someone is trying to help.
Right era, but I don’t recall anything about the aliens knowing exactly when they would die in that one. It’s been a while though. Anyone care to prove me wrong?
3 Butch Malahide // Feb 1, 2008 at 2:19 pm
“To the Stars” aka “Return to Tomorrow” by L. Ron Hubbard. I don’t remember that alien shipmate, but it’s been 58 years since I read the story. Everything else fits perfectly. Here is a summary from “The Fiction of L. Ron Hubbard” by William J. Widder:
“They are the outcasts of time–space voyagers among the distant stars, rootless exiles from a world they left that has aged and passed away even as they remain young. Alan Conroy seeks understanding of his mission in life–unfamiliar, inhospitable–altered by the relative passage of time; at the end, he is the new commander of the symbolically named starship _Hound of Heaven_.”
That summary doesn’t mention any of the plot details your friend provided–the ship is engaged in interstellar trading, the guy is shanghaied, returns to find his fiancee an old crone, etc.–but they were definitely in the story. I don’t recall the alien shipmate, and I don’t have a copy to check.
By the way, “Childhood’s End” (a completely different story) is by Arthur C. Clarke, not Asimov.
4 Cam // Feb 1, 2008 at 2:21 pm
So I asked on the newsgroup rec.arts.sf.written and this is the answer I was kindly given:
The author is L. Ron Hubbard, of Scientology fame. It was originally published as a 2-part serial in Astounding Science Fiction in January and February of 1950 under the title “To the Stars”. It has been published as a book under the original title and also under the title “Return to Tomorrow”.
Source: http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.sf.written/browse_thread/thread/c34526bbd30a5570#6f5f5f599ec6e331
Thanks!
5 Butch Malahide // Feb 1, 2008 at 4:27 pm
Oops, the magazine publication was in February and March of 1950, not January and February. Sorry about that!
6 Butch Malahide // Feb 2, 2008 at 2:39 am
Oops. I found a copy of the book. Everything fits the description, except that there is no alien shipmate. Must be some other story, or maybe your reader is mixing up two different stories.
7 Cam // Feb 2, 2008 at 9:26 am
Hey Butch,
Thanks! You’ve been a great help. I’ll leave it up to Al to chime in, otherwise I’ll assume we solved this one.
8 toomufu // Mar 20, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Sounds a little like the Dred Pirate Robert from the Princess Bride. Of course, that’s not likely the story he’s looking for, but it rings similar.
9 Al Luther // Aug 3, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Hi Guys,
Great Sleuthing! Thanks Butch! Thanks Cam! Case closed. You nailed it. I couldn’t recall the title, though a trace memory of it was itching my curiosity. Impressive recall.
When I saw the Princess Bride, the Dread Pirate Roberts character evoked the same familiar response.
Saw these references when I googled the title, had no idea who the author was when I read it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_the_Stars_%28novel%29
http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=961
What an awesome forum.
Thanks greatly.
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