The Man Who Wanted Stars

by Dean McLaughlin, Dean Maclaughlin

Book by Maclaughlin, Dean

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

Dean Benjamin McLaughlin Jr., published as Dean McLaughlin and occasionally Dean Maclaughlin, is a Hugo- and Nebula-Award nominated author of science fiction, and the son of astronomer Dean B. McLaughlin.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Man Who Wanted Stars incorporates two early stories (The Last Thousand Miles from the February 1956 issue of Astounding and Welcome Home from the October 1957 issue of Infinity), which McLaughlin expanded upon for this novel which appeared in mass market format from Lancer in 1965. Curiously, the novel has also been published with the author's name spelled Maclaughlin. It's an interesting story about a man named Joe Webber who works tirelessly to get mankind to return to space exploration after it's been abandoned, by whatever means he feels are necessary. He's a very unlikeable, misogynistic character, sometimes surrounded by sympathetic and likeable characters that he mistreats abysmally. I suspect it was influenced by Heinlein's character D.D. Harriman, but without the soft edges. The first Lancer edition had an okay cover by John Schoenherr, and they re-released it in 1968 with one of my favorite colorful Kelly Freas paintings.

[J. Mauldin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Easily the worst book I've ever read, despite wanting to sort of like it at points. This is a pretty harsh review but it's only because I kind of wanted to like this. I found the idea interesting that we would turn our backs on space travel and that one determined man would fight to bring it back and take us beyond the solar system. I liked that, but there were... issues.

1 - The main character, Joe Webber, is the biggest dick ever. If you're going to give me an asshole, at least do me the favor of making him likable in some way. The end of the book where everyone screws him over could not have come sooner. He goes around most of the book yelling at people for not sharing his opinion and burning bridges left and right. He never shows one lick of appreciation for anyone, ever. Once again, at least make him charming or something. Assholes can be charming!

2 - I know it was the 60's, but what sort of women was Dean McLaughlin hanging out with. "The girl", Marty, calls him uncle and all but jumps his bones several times in the book. She's half naked, or all naked most of the time, and clearly didn't help this book pass the bechdel test (not that they thought of such things back then).

3 - The middle of the book was like slogging through knee high shit in a snow storm. The start, and the end, felt much more interesting. Why? Because we got back to the science! (even if it was hooey) Hydrogen rocket ramjet? Did we really think that much hydrogen existed in all of space at one time?

4 - The conflict with the life extension pills was the best part of this fiction. If everyone could live forever we might have problems, but ones.

"The Man Who Wanted Stars" was worth about as much as I paid for it, which was $1 at Second and Charles. Still, the original cover is pretty retro boss.

[Lynda · Rating 3 out of 5]

in the late 1950's, author Dean McLaughlin imagined a man who wanted to go back into space. In his version of the world, humanity sent ships out to many of the planets, but gave up on space before everyone made it back. Except for one man. With luck and determination that man would live to go back into space, no matter how long it took.

[Geldar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Worst depiction of women I've ever come across in a novel. Book barely tolerable/readable, except for the last 50 pages, which I did actually enjoy and which earned the book a second star.

[Jacob Wechsler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was surprised by how this book played out. It was not what I expected but I really enjoyed it.

There will be some spoilers, but I will try to be fairly general. Joe Webber was put in a really difficult position throughout the book, in my opinion. It felt like he was backed into a corner at times and did whatever was necessary to see his vision played out. While his behaviors and actions may seem diabolical at times, he is thinking about the future of humanity, not just a handful of people on a ship or the next generation. At times, it seems like he has a "God" complex, but to me, he did what he thought was necessary when the world was against him.

I am not advocating for how he handled the situation, but I do understand to some degree.

This was written in 1965, and it is astonishing to see some similarities with what is going on now in space travel/exploration. The influence of politics and money are still very apparent 50 years later. I enjoyed this book because it gave me a glimpse into the past and how people might have been perceiving space exploration/colonization.

This book never got deep into the science of things, which I appreciated. There were lots of relationships and deals made that made this book feel very human, very real.

I'm disappointed to see this book rated so low. I really enjoyed it for what it was. Not all protagonists are the heroes.

[Patrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

This starts off with a promising premise: Four years before the first moon landing, McLaughlin anticipated that space travel would have a short life - people would get bored and the government would abandon it, leaving it to one VERY driven man to try to get us back into space.

But the book flies off the rails for a few reasons. The plot development depends on not one but two bits of miracle science (one biological, one chemical) which are both hard to believe in themselves, and the implications of the biological leap are not well handled at all.

McLaughlin also pushes way too hard on the ruthless unlikability of his protagonist - you keep expecting someone to at least TRY to kill him, and it would really be the only way to go: “If you strike at a king, you must kill him.” Although the denouement does not acknowledge this.

I am still confused about the snow buggy passages in Part Three (of five) and would like someone to please explain. Also why that one young woman never seemed to be wearing any clothes…

It really is overall kind of a mess. The second star is for the prescience of the initial premise.

[Noah Randolph · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring, dull, and ridiculously easy to read.

[Darren Goossens · Rating 2 out of 5]

This review first appeared at: https://darrengoossens.wordpress.com/2014/12/22/no-niceties-a-review-of-the-man-who-wanted-stars-by-dean-mclaughlin/

The Man Who Wanted Stars by Dean McLaughlin

Lancer 1968, 222 pages.

So I felt like reading a bit of old school Sci Fi, and saw this at a Trash and Treasure market for a dollar. I vaguely remembered the author's name, so I bought it.

It is an odd book, though not on the surface.

It's protagonist is a man prepared to sacrifice everything to get mankind into space. Joe Webber commanded a space mission during the 'first age of space', which got as far as Jupiter. When the crew of the Jupiter mission returns after seven years away, the infrastructure needed to get them down from orbit is long gone and they try a risky manoeuvre in which most of the astronauts die. Webber uses this, and any event, discovery, dollar or person he can find, to push people back into space.

Cover of The Man Who Wanted Stars by Dean McLaughlin.

McLaughlin sets himself a tough task -- books with unlikeable protagonists are tricky. Webber's bullying, cajoling and lying are not unreasonable character traits, given the strength of his convictions, they just make him an unpleasant person to spend time with. Less believable is the latitude given him by his backers and friends who share his vision. Less believable again are the women in the story, who are coquettish, cowed baby machines. They might express their opinions, but they know their place and they are bound to ultimately accept their husbands' judgements, however brutal or two-faced. They are continually having their buttocks smacked. It just fails to ring sufficiently true.

The novel grows out of a couple of shorter pieces first published in the 1950s, one in Astounding and the other in Inifinity, so that is a long time ago now. Perhaps that's why it assumes that women will only engage in important events as the supporters of the men, a common attitude in fiction of the time, and presumably rooted in the reality of the day (unfortunately, one still with us too often).

It is well sustained -- Webber's determination and cunning are limitless, right to the end -- and should be commended for looking right into the face of the ruthlessness needed to do something big.

Cover of The Man Who Wanted Stars by Dean McLaughlin.

The central hole is that I remained unconvinced that the people around Webber would let him get away with it.

Can I recommend it? No. Dean McLaughlin has written some much better stuff than this. Hawk Amongst the Sparrows, his collection of three novellas, is a fun book, and his relatively recent appearance in Analog was very well received.

The book is interesting because of its game plan of having a personality, driven to the point of boorishness, at its centre. That alone does not kill it -- indeed, seeing how Webber's latest scheme is going to play out, and waiting for it all to backfire, are largely what kept me reading -- but the lack of subtly in handling other aspects of the story combine to make it a less than sufficiently enjoyable read.

File under 'nice try'.

[David Silva · Rating 5 out of 5]

I greatly enjoyed reading this small novel. It took me years to read the entire book due to picking it up and putting it down though various times of my life. I find the concept of the book fascinating and will definitely be looking forward to more from this author.

[Larry Chambers · Rating 5 out of 5]

The main character is far from likeable, but he is utterly believable. You will find yourself relating to him in spite of yourself. I suspect many visionaries are like him: they have a dream and will use all means, ethical or not, to achieve them.

[Armand · Rating 2 out of 5]

This short, old school SF novel about a former astronaut who bullies and manipulates people in order to restart an aggressive space exploration program never really grabbed me.

[Annette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short sci-fi read with some surprises, interesting premise, one I like to re-read occasionally.