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Science Fiction Writing Series
Space Travel: A Writer's Guide to the Science of Interplanetary and Interstellar Travel
Do you really understand what space is like? Do you know what kind of rockets and engineering are needed to travel through it? And what about travel at the speed of light -- is that really possible? Find out the answers, along with a number of other fascinating facts, and explore the potential for conflict in Space Travel.
273 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1997
1 person is currently reading
186 people want to read
About the author
Ben Bova
715 books1,040 followersBen Bova was born on November 8, 1932 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1953, while attending Temple University, he married Rosa Cucinotta, they had a son and a daughter. He would later divorce Rosa in 1974. In that same year he married Barbara Berson Rose.
Bova was an avid fencer and organized Avco Everett's fencing club. He was an environmentalist, but rejected Luddism.
Bova was a technical writer for Project Vanguard and later for Avco Everett in the 1960s when they did research in lasers and fluid dynamics. It was there that he met Arthur R. Kantrowitz later of the Foresight Institute.
In 1971 he became editor of Analog Science Fiction after John W. Campbell's death. After leaving Analog, he went on to edit Omni during 1978-1982.
In 1974 he wrote the screenplay for an episode of the children's science fiction television series Land of the Lost entitled "The Search".
Bova was the science advisor for the failed television series The Starlost, leaving in disgust after the airing of the first episode. His novel The Starcrossed was loosely based on his experiences and featured a thinly veiled characterization of his friend and colleague Harlan Ellison. He dedicated the novel to "Cordwainer Bird", the pen name Harlan Ellison uses when he does not want to be associated with a television or film project.
Bova was the President Emeritus of the National Space Society and a past President of Science-fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA).
Bova went back to school in the 1980s, earning an M.A. in communications in 1987 and a Ph.D. in 1996.
Bova has drawn on these meetings and experiences to create fact and fiction writings rich with references to spaceflight, lasers, artificial hearts, nanotechnology, environmentalism, fencing and martial arts, photography and artists.
Bova was the author of over a hundred and fifteen books, non-fiction as well as science fiction. In 2000, he was the Author Guest of Honor at the 58th World Science Fiction Convention (Chicon 2000).
Hollywood has started to take an interest in Bova's works once again, in addition to his wealth of knowledge about science and what the future may look like. In 2007, he was hired as a consultant by both Stuber/Parent Productions to provide insight into what the world is to look like in the near future for their upcoming film "Repossession Mambo" (released as "Repo Men") starring Jude Law and Forest Whitaker and by Silver Pictures in which he provided consulting services on the feature adaptation of Richard Morgan's "Altered Carbon".
http://us.macmillan.com/author/benbova
Bova was an avid fencer and organized Avco Everett's fencing club. He was an environmentalist, but rejected Luddism.
Bova was a technical writer for Project Vanguard and later for Avco Everett in the 1960s when they did research in lasers and fluid dynamics. It was there that he met Arthur R. Kantrowitz later of the Foresight Institute.
In 1971 he became editor of Analog Science Fiction after John W. Campbell's death. After leaving Analog, he went on to edit Omni during 1978-1982.
In 1974 he wrote the screenplay for an episode of the children's science fiction television series Land of the Lost entitled "The Search".
Bova was the science advisor for the failed television series The Starlost, leaving in disgust after the airing of the first episode. His novel The Starcrossed was loosely based on his experiences and featured a thinly veiled characterization of his friend and colleague Harlan Ellison. He dedicated the novel to "Cordwainer Bird", the pen name Harlan Ellison uses when he does not want to be associated with a television or film project.
Bova was the President Emeritus of the National Space Society and a past President of Science-fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA).
Bova went back to school in the 1980s, earning an M.A. in communications in 1987 and a Ph.D. in 1996.
Bova has drawn on these meetings and experiences to create fact and fiction writings rich with references to spaceflight, lasers, artificial hearts, nanotechnology, environmentalism, fencing and martial arts, photography and artists.
Bova was the author of over a hundred and fifteen books, non-fiction as well as science fiction. In 2000, he was the Author Guest of Honor at the 58th World Science Fiction Convention (Chicon 2000).
Hollywood has started to take an interest in Bova's works once again, in addition to his wealth of knowledge about science and what the future may look like. In 2007, he was hired as a consultant by both Stuber/Parent Productions to provide insight into what the world is to look like in the near future for their upcoming film "Repossession Mambo" (released as "Repo Men") starring Jude Law and Forest Whitaker and by Silver Pictures in which he provided consulting services on the feature adaptation of Richard Morgan's "Altered Carbon".
http://us.macmillan.com/author/benbova
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 24, 2014
Fourth of four volumes in Writers Digest's Science Fiction Writing Series. Bova and Lewis provide a good overview of the history of actual spaceflight technology and physics, then explore the many conceptual or theoretical methods of space exploration from a scientific background. Their discussions of the theoretical methods of space exploration include both interplanetary as well as interstellar travel. I particularly appreciated chapters entitled Starships, The Universe and the concluding chapter Military Uses of Space. As with previous volumes in the this writing guide series, there is both an extensive glossary and bibliography at the back, leading readers (and writers) to many additional sources for more detailed, more technological assistance. Of the four volumes in this series, this was probably one of the most reality-based guides, and should prove to be a helpful tool for both beginning and experienced writers of speculative fiction. Originally reviewed for my local library's website: http://www.lincolnlibraries.org/depts...
April 12, 2014
This book is fantastic. Its mission is to be a guide to the science of space travel for writers of science fiction, and it's perfect. Exactly what I needed.
I mean, yes, OK, it's from 1997, so maybe perfect is too strong. But it's less outdated than I would have thought, and it's still incredibly useful even with its age limitations.
You can tell how much I liked this book because I now say things like, "Ben Bova says . . . " or "Well, Ben Bova thinks that . . . ." Ben Bova. He is now my homeboy.
I mean, yes, OK, it's from 1997, so maybe perfect is too strong. But it's less outdated than I would have thought, and it's still incredibly useful even with its age limitations.
You can tell how much I liked this book because I now say things like, "Ben Bova says . . . " or "Well, Ben Bova thinks that . . . ." Ben Bova. He is now my homeboy.
January 10, 2011
A solid reference for science fiction writers and anyone else who wants to know how space travel works now and may work in the future. Ben Bova is one of the pioneering authors and editors in the field, and he does a great job of laying out the science, possibilities and limitations, and the kind of details that will make a story feel more authentic.
June 22, 2015
There are some great guidelines in this book. The other thing I liked about the book were the story questions asked and discussed. And he uses a lot of examples of how certain story questions were handled by other authors.
October 8, 2013
As a science-fiction writer I found this a valuable resource. It explained concepts in a easy to understand manner while laying out the foundational science behind them.
April 30, 2024
Is there any popular science writer who makes tough concepts explicable to the layman as well as Ben Bova? If so, I haven’t found them. “Space Travel” is a short, but information-rich exploration through the history of space travel, its current (at that time) abilities and the hypothetical, scientifically plausible future methods.
The “scientifically plausible” part is the part that needs the most stressing. There’s no “handwavium” going on here, or nebulous fantasy forces like The Force, as used by Luke in Star Wars. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but extrapolation requires some grounding in existent or theoretical technology. Otherwise you’re not writing science fiction; you’re writing science fantasy.
Because this book offers a general overview, though, it means that the reader looking for granular details and schematics should look elsewhere. That’s no knock on “Space Travel” though, as those aforementioned “elsewheres” (sic) are included in the bibliography, offering all kinds of resources for getting the reader started. Thankfully most of these magazines are still publishing, though some now only have a virtual imprint online. Unfortunately, a lot of the fiction-publishing magazines Bova references are no more. No matter, though, as a lot of the stories he mentions have survived in anthologies, and barring that, are probably public domain and freely available online.
Some of the info here may seem dated—a lot has happened between the early nineties and the 2020s. Much of it, though, will seem prescient, especially as regards the rise of our “space barons” who in some ways may be even stranger (and perhaps more dangerous) than the ones invented by Bova et. al. Who the heck saw Musk on the horizon, for instance?
Still, now is as good a time as any for a refresher on the subject. After a long interregnum with lots of fits and starts—Nixon’s kibosh on the Space Program, the Challenger disaster—things appear to be moving again. Those pesky mutually binding treaties still won’t let us use nuclear propulsion (which can get us to Alpha Centauri in something like three years.) And astronaut John Crichton’s wormholes still remain theoretically possible, but unobserved in the universe at large. But, as Michael Corleone told Don Vito near the end of the old man’s life, “We’ll get there, Pop.” Recommended.
The “scientifically plausible” part is the part that needs the most stressing. There’s no “handwavium” going on here, or nebulous fantasy forces like The Force, as used by Luke in Star Wars. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but extrapolation requires some grounding in existent or theoretical technology. Otherwise you’re not writing science fiction; you’re writing science fantasy.
Because this book offers a general overview, though, it means that the reader looking for granular details and schematics should look elsewhere. That’s no knock on “Space Travel” though, as those aforementioned “elsewheres” (sic) are included in the bibliography, offering all kinds of resources for getting the reader started. Thankfully most of these magazines are still publishing, though some now only have a virtual imprint online. Unfortunately, a lot of the fiction-publishing magazines Bova references are no more. No matter, though, as a lot of the stories he mentions have survived in anthologies, and barring that, are probably public domain and freely available online.
Some of the info here may seem dated—a lot has happened between the early nineties and the 2020s. Much of it, though, will seem prescient, especially as regards the rise of our “space barons” who in some ways may be even stranger (and perhaps more dangerous) than the ones invented by Bova et. al. Who the heck saw Musk on the horizon, for instance?
Still, now is as good a time as any for a refresher on the subject. After a long interregnum with lots of fits and starts—Nixon’s kibosh on the Space Program, the Challenger disaster—things appear to be moving again. Those pesky mutually binding treaties still won’t let us use nuclear propulsion (which can get us to Alpha Centauri in something like three years.) And astronaut John Crichton’s wormholes still remain theoretically possible, but unobserved in the universe at large. But, as Michael Corleone told Don Vito near the end of the old man’s life, “We’ll get there, Pop.” Recommended.
November 21, 2011
Somehow i was hoping for more info. Seems more like a book for beginners than someone who wants more information.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews