The Seed of Earth / Next Stop The Stars (Ace Double F-145 )

By Robert Silverberg

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• ISBN: B000HYQW8I
• Release Date: January 1962
• Publisher: Ace Books
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.20 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Star Giants, Time Hoppers, and the Lottery

Robert Silverberg's _The Seed of Earth_ and _Next Stop the Stars_ (both 1962) represent Silverberg just before he began to take himself seriously as an artist but at a point when his style, characterization, and plots were improving. _Seed of Earth_ was originally a 1962 _Galaxy_ novella. _Next Stop the Stars_ is a collection of five stories from a variety of magazines during the mid-fifties. The stories are: "Slaves of the Star Giants" (_Science Fiction Adventures_, 1956), "Songs of Summer" (_Science Fiction Stories_, 1956), "Hopper" (_Infinity_, 1956), "Blaze of Glory" (_Galaxy_, 1957), and "Warm Man" (_Fantasy and Science Fiction_, 1957). Silverberg elsewhere states that "Warm Man" was his first sale to the prestigious _F&SF_ and was a breakthrough story for him. "Hopper" was later used as the basis for Silverberg's novel, _The Time Hoppers_ (1967). "Slaves of the Star Giants" is the sort of action adventure that was a staple in many sf magazines in the forties and fifties. A man from 1957 is scooped up by time machine into a far future world of alien star giants, giant robots, assorted mutants, and savage barbarian tribes. Believe it or not, he emerges triumphant. Nothing classic here, but good fun. "The Songs of Summer" is about another modern man whisked to the future. But this time, the future is utopian and the man (to put it mildly) is not heroic. "Hopper" is time travel again, but of a very different kind. I liked the realism of the African setting. "Blaze of Glory" and "Warm Man" are two character studies of a couple of flawed but not altogether unsympathetic men. Both meet unusual but appropriate dooms. I suppose that there are a lot of young whippersnappers about today who do not remember the days when young men were being drafted to fight in Vietnam, but that is what was going on when Silverberg wrote _The Seed of Earth_. He imagines a draft system of the future-- not to recruit soldiers, but to send colonists out to the stars. He imagines the problems faced by the man in charge of the program, who knows that it is necessary but universally hated. And he follows the lives of a cross section of draftees sent to an alien planet. It is not a dazzling or original novel. But it is solidly crafted, with believable characters. I give a solid three-star rating to each book and a global score of three stars. The cover to _Next Stop_ is in the style of Ed Emshwiller. The cover to _Seed_ is by Ed Valigursky. Both covers are well-done.