To the Stars (novel)

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For other uses, see To the Stars.
To the Stars

Cover of 2004 hardcover edition
Author L. Ron Hubbard
Cover artist Mike Manoogian
Country United States
Language English
Subject(s) Dystopian future
Genre(s) Science fiction
Publisher Galaxy Press
Publication date 2004
Media type Print (Hardback)
Pages 210
ISBN ISBN 1592121756
OCLC 56342556

To the Stars is a science fiction novel by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Hubbard's story was first published by John W. Campbell in two parts in a serialized format in 1950 in Astounding Science Fiction. It was first published in book format in 1954 under the title Return to Tomorrow, and was published in hardcover in 1975 under the same title. In 1997, film producers were in the process of preparing to develop the work as a movie for Touchstone Pictures. Jazz musician Chick Corea released a 2004 album of the same name with music inspired by the story, and Scientology-owned Galaxy Press reissued a hardcover edition of Hubbard's novel the same year as a form of cross marketing.

The novel's story is set in a dystopian future, and chronicles the experiences of protagonist Alan Corday aboard a starship called the Hound of Heaven as he copes with the travails of time dilation from traveling at near light speed. The book was generally positively received, and garnered a 2001 nomination for a "Retro" Hugo Award for Best Novella. Publishers Weekly gave the book a positive review, calling it one of Hubbard's "finest works", and Alan Cheuse highlighted the work on National Public Radio's program All Things Considered as a top literature holiday pick.

To the Stars is also the title of a 1994 autobiography by actor George Takei - To the Stars: The Autobiography of George Takei, Star Trek's Mr. Sulu,[1] and the name of a science fiction magazine published by Bridge Publications.[2]

Contents

[edit] Publication history

To the Stars was first published in two parts in February and March of 1950 in a serialized form, by John W. Campbell in Astounding Science Fiction.[3][4] Hubbard had previously written the story Ole Doc Metheselah for Astounding Science Fiction in 1947, later published as a book in 1992.[5] The story was first published in book format by Ace Books, in a 1954 paperback first edition under the title Return to Tomorrow.[6] Garland Publishing released a hardcover edition of Return to Tomorrow in 1975.[7]

In 1997 Hollywood producers were working on developing a film version of To the Stars.[8] Producers Barbara Boyle and Michael Taylor were preparing to bring the book to the film screen for Touchstone Pictures, a division of Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group.[9] Boyle and Taylor had previously worked with Scientologist actor John Travolta on the film Phenomenon, and the project was planned to be part of Travolta's vision to make films out of L. Ron Hubbard's science fiction novels.[9] Hubbard's novel Battlefield Earth was first on his list,[9] and Travolta starred in and helped to fund the film version of the book which was released in 2000.[10][11] Scientologist and jazz musician Chick Corea released a CD of the same name with music inspired by the story in 2004,[12][13] and Scientology-owned Galaxy Press reissued a hardcover edition of Hubbard's novel the same year as a form of cross marketing.[14][15] According to Publishers Weekly, Corea's soundtrack to the novel was issued by Galaxy Press to give the company's "enormous marketing muscle" the ability to "tap into the vast Hubbard fan base".[12] Corea explains at his website how he was motivated to work on music inspired by the book, commenting that he was inspired by a scene from the book where Hubbard describes the Captain of the spaceship in the story playing a melody on a piano.[16]

[edit] Plot

Protagonist Alan Corday is a young engineer, and is kidnapped from a spaceport called "New Chicago" and taken aboard the interstellar trading starship Hound of Heaven. The ship is commanded by a charismatic leader named Captain Jocelyn, who tells Corday to use his skills to help the Hound of Heaven in its travels between Earth and space colonies in other star systems. On the first page of the book's prologue Hubbard cites "the basic equation of mass and time.... AS MASS APPROACHES INFINITY, TIME APPROACHES ZERO," meaning that interstellar travelers at near light speed experience time relative to their environment, and when they return to their home star will find that decades or centuries may have passed. Six weeks of time aboard the ship amounts to roughly nine years experienced by those on Earth. Corday resists mingling with the culture aboard the starship, but when he returns home after travels with the Hound of Heaven he finds that his fiancee has aged and has trouble with her memory. Corday realizes his only home has become that of the starship. Captain Jocelyn dies on a remote planet controlled by a powerful ruler, and Corday takes command of the ship.

[edit] Reception

To the Stars was nominated by the World Science Fiction Society for a "Retro" Hugo Award for Best Novella in 2001, losing to The Man Who Sold the Moon by Robert A. Heinlein.[17] Hubbard's novel Battlefield Earth did not receive a Hugo nomination, and Scientologists showed up at the 1983 World Science Fiction Convention passing out an advertisement titled: "To the Stars", which was devoted to Battlefield Earth.[18] The "To the Stars" science-fiction magazine was published by Bridge Publications.[2]

The book generally received positive reception from literature critics. It is seen as one of the classics of the Golden Age of Science Fiction by Publishers Weekly and The Harvard Crimson.[12][19] A reviewer writing in Publishers Weekly commented: "Hubbard brilliantly evokes the vastness of space and the tragedy of those who would conquer it," and called the book "one of his [Hubbard's] finest works".[12] Alan Cheuse reviewed the book in the San Francisco Chronicle, writing: "As in a number of groundbreaking -- or time-breaking, I suppose we ought to say -- works of science fiction, the science behind the story is more interesting than the fiction itself. Hubbard is a thinker who writes, rather than a writer who thinks, as most masters are."[20] Cheuse highlighted the book among his 2004 literature holiday picks in a piece for National Public Radio's program All Things Considered: "Before he began founding new religions, Hubbard was one of the country's most prolific pulp science fiction writers, and this book is one of his best."[21]

Barnes & Noble's Explorations editor, Paul Goat Allen, put the book at number eight on his list of the top ten science fiction/fantasy novels for 2004, writing: "After more than half a century, 'To the Stars' is just as timely, just as awe-inspiring, just as profoundly moving as it was in 1950."[22] In a review of the book for the website SF Site, Georges T. Dodds writes: "To the Stars, besides being among the earliest hard science fiction works to consider time-dilation effects in long-distance near-light-speed space travel, is a pretty entertaining story."[23] Writing in the Marburg Journal of Religion, Marco Frenschkowski of the University of Mainz described the book as a "melancholy tale about interplanetary travel and the effects of time dilation".[5] University of California, Irvine physics professor and science fiction author Gregory Benford wrote positively of the book in an article for the science fiction website "Crows Nest": "Writers had used Einstein's special relativity theory before in stories, but Hubbard brought to his novel the compressed story telling and pulp skills that had stood him in over a decade of professional writing."[24]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Takei, George (October 1994). To the Stars: The Autobiography of George Takei, Star Trek's Mr. Sulu. Pocket Books, 352. ISBN 0671890085. 
  2. ^ a b McIntyre, Mike. "Hubbard alienated science-fiction fans by abandoning field, trying to return", The San Diego Union, Union-Tribune Publishing Co., April 15, 1990, p. A8. 
  3. ^ Hubbard, L. Ron (February 1950). "To the Stars". Astounding Science Fiction 44 (6). John W. Campbell. 
  4. ^ Hubbard, L. Ron (March 1950). "To the Stars". Astounding Science Fiction 45 (1): 78-123. John W. Campbell. 
  5. ^ a b Frenschkowski, Marco (July 1999). "L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology: An annotated bibliographical survey of primary and selected secondary literature". Marburg Journal of Religion 4 (1). 
  6. ^ Hubbard, L. Ron (1954). Return To Tomorrow. Ace Books, 157. (Classic Ace SF, S-66). ISBN 0441190669. 
  7. ^ Hubbard, L. Ron (1975). Return to Tomorrow. Garland Publishing, 157. ISBN 0824014170. 
  8. ^ Kent, Stephen A. (July 1999). "Scientology -- Is this a Religion?". Marburg Journal of Religion 4 (1). 
  9. ^ a b c Southam Newspapers. "Travolta wants to make sci-fi movies", The Record, (Kitchner, Ontario, Canada), April 18, 1997, p. A16. 
  10. ^ Staff. "Christian to direct Travolta in 'Earth'", Variety, 1999-01-14. 
  11. ^ Schneller, Johanna. "Vanity projects are like land mines. They blow up", Globe and Mail, 2000-10-13. 
  12. ^ a b c d Staff (August 30, 2004). "To the Stars". Publishers Weekly 251 (35): 37. Reed Business Information. 
  13. ^ Rogers, Michael (November 1, 2004). "Hubbard, L. Ron. To The Stars". Library Journal 129 (8): 134. Reed Business Information. 
  14. ^ Ratliff, Ben (November 11, 2004). Jazz Review - Chick Corea Elektric Band: The Cluttered but Valiant Sound of a Space-Age Trip to the Stars. The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved on 2008-06-06.
  15. ^ Eglash, Ruth (December 6, 2006). Who was L. Ron Hubbard?. Jerusalem Post. www.jpost.com. Retrieved on 2008-06-06.
  16. ^ Smith, Christopher. "To The Stars" - The Chick Corea Elektric Band. Chick Corea - Official Website. www.chickcorea.com. Retrieved on 2008-06-05.
  17. ^ World Science Fiction Society. 1951 Retro Hugo Awards. The Hugo Awards. www.thehugoawards.org. Retrieved on 2008-06-09.
  18. ^ Dird, Michael. "Letter from the World Science Fiction Convention", The Washington Post, The Washington Post Company, September 25, 1983, p. 8. 
  19. ^ Collins, James F. (December 3, 2004). Elektric Band and Chick Corea Resynergize: Jazz great teams up with old band for tour, album with sci-fi literary influence. The Harvard Crimson. The Harvard Crimson, Inc.. Retrieved on 2008-06-06.
  20. ^ Cheuse, Alan (December 26, 2004). Thrill of going where no one has gone before. San Francisco Chronicle. Hearst Communications Inc.. Retrieved on 2008-06-05.
  21. ^ Cheuse, Alan (December 14, 2004). Alan Cheuse's 2004 Holiday Book Picks : NPR. All Things Considered. National Public Radio. Retrieved on 2008-06-05.
  22. ^ Press release - Beverly Widder, Dateline Communications (January 10, 2005). The Top Ten Novels of 2004. WebWire. www.webwire.com. Retrieved on 2008-06-05.
  23. ^ Dodds, George T. (2005). The SF Site Featured Review: To the Stars. SF Site. www.sfsite.com. Retrieved on 2008-06-05.
  24. ^ Benford, Gregory (January 1, 2005). To the Stars. Crows Nest. www.computercrowsnest.com. Retrieved on 2008-06-05.

[edit] External links

Literature Portal