Run to the Stars

by Michael Scott Rohan, Mike S. Rohan, John Berkey (Illustrator)

Unjustly suspected of treason and murder, Mark Bellamy decides to sign up for the second starship taking thirty thousand colonists to a new world

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Michael Scott Rohan (born 1951 in Edinburgh) was a Scottish fantasy and science fiction author and writer on opera.

He had a number of short stories published before his first books, the science fiction novel Run to the Stars and the non-fiction First Byte. He then collaborated with Allan J. Scott on the nonfiction The Hammer and The Cross (an account of Christianity arriving in Viking lands, not to be confused with Harry Harrison's similarly themed novel trilogy of the same name) and the fantasy novels The Ice King and A Spell of Empire.

Rohan is best known for the Ice Age-set trilogy The Winter of the World. He also wrote the Spiral novels, in which our world is the Hub, or Core, of a spiral of mythic and legendary versions of familiar cities, countries and continents.

In the "Author's Note" to The Lord of Middle Air, Rohan asserts that he and Walter Scott have a common ancestor in Michael Scot, who is a character in the novel.

[copied and adapted from en.wikipedia.org]

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Run to the Stars by Michael Scott Rohan is a near-future science fiction novel about first contact and the colonization of another planet by humans. This book was originally written 41 years ago in 1982. Although somewhat dated it is very accurate in the events that will take place in the future. It mentions how the climate has changed for the worse and how many of the Earth's governments are moving toward authoritarianism. In the midst of this, a second colony ship is trying to prepare to leave Earth for an established colony. The Earth's oppressive government has been dragging its feet on supply in the ship in hopes that it will ultimately be canceled altogether. Add to this that a race of intelligent beings has been discovered in the vicinity of the colony and things become very complicated.
This book is a thoughtful, deceptively original take on the first contact concept and human colonization of space. I enjoyed it very much.

[Brian Paterson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Another dive into the second hand books.
In this, the voice is off, and not like that any bureaucrat that I’ve ever met. Bureaucracy triggers me and probably triggers many decent people. Bureaucrats are not nice. They desperately want that next promotion. If they do not step up then a rival will overtop them. This is the news today- so I don’t get the feeling that this story is speculative.
This protagonist could not land his job as head of security by lyrically describing rockets take off and nor would he blab on and on for an aerial holding-pattern info-dump. I stopped reading there. I expect a hero who has already swallowed his principles and decency during many procedural shit-shows. His sudden need to lash out and bring someone in Accounts to justice rings hollow to me. So, that is all the hook we have? What about all the other times he sat on his bum and did nothing?
His? Yes, I also noticed that all bureaucrats in the Thirtieth Century are male. The copyright date astonished me. 1982! The first chapter: seasoned older man scores an eager teenage girl. That was my parent’s generation- back in the Fifties! The dreary retro-vibe required me to re-watch Rogers and Hammerstein’s SOUTH PACIFIC (1958). That is this book’s same plot, in a form nearer to its source: man accused of murder runs away to an island.
That version at least has songs!

[James Sundquist · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intriguing SF from one of my favourite fantasists, this very much reflects the time it was written. The tech is a bit more futuristic and believable than the "golden age" mechanics that came before, but the politics is very "of its time". And that's not a bad thing, because SF is always a commentary on the present, and this one really opens a window onto our past more than our future (past future?). The protag is another interesting one, a bit unlikeable yet charismatic if not quite a psychopath like James Bond - again, very of his time for 70s/80s thrillers/action films. The author does these sorts of characters, now I think about it - and does them well. Glad I found it.

[Jonathan Palfrey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought the book was competently written, but I wasn’t keen on it, and I no longer seem to have a copy of it; so I must have got rid of it sometime.

[Andy]

1ST BRITISH EDITION.

[Iain Parkes]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14475422