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Stardeath
Ships occasionally disappeared in hyperspace, regrettable sacrifices to the luxury of faster-than-light travel. But now one of the lost ships has been found, and the wreckage is enough to terrify even the most cold-blooded witness.
The lucky ones on the lost ship are dead. The other have been turned inside-out in gruesome parody of human beings and they are still alive.
The disgraced Captain Kurt Varl is chosen to command a suicide mission to discover the cause of these disasters.
The enemy is unknown and the only way Varl can solve the mystery is to use himself as bait!
The lucky ones on the lost ship are dead. The other have been turned inside-out in gruesome parody of human beings and they are still alive.
The disgraced Captain Kurt Varl is chosen to command a suicide mission to discover the cause of these disasters.
The enemy is unknown and the only way Varl can solve the mystery is to use himself as bait!
- GenresScience Fiction
182 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1982
1 person is currently reading
51 people want to read
About the author
E.C. Tubb
383 books85 followersEdwin Charles Tubb was a writer of science fiction, fantasy and western novels. He published over 140 novels and 230 short stories and novellas, and is best known for The Dumarest Saga (US collective title: Dumarest of Terra) an epic science-fiction saga set in the far future.
Much of Tubb's work has been written under pseudonyms including Gregory Kern, Carl Maddox, Alan Guthrie, Eric Storm and George Holt. He has used 58 pen names over five decades of writing although some of these were publishers' house names also used by other writers: Volsted Gridban (along with John Russell Fearn), Gill Hunt (with John Brunner and Dennis Hughes), King Lang (with George Hay and John W Jennison), Roy Sheldon (with H. J. Campbell) and Brian Shaw. Tubb's Charles Grey alias was solely his own and acquired a big following in the early 1950s.
An avid reader of pulp science-fiction and fantasy in his youth, Tubb found that he had a particular talent as a writer of stories in that genre when his short story 'No Short Cuts' was published in New Worlds magazine in 1951. He opted for a full-time career as a writer and soon became renowned for the speed and diversity of his output.
Tubb contributed to many of the science fiction magazines of the 1950s including Futuristic Science Stories, Science Fantasy, Nebula and Galaxy Science Fiction. He contributed heavily to Authentic Science Fiction editing the magazine for nearly two years, from February 1956 until it folded in October 1957. During this time, he found it so difficult to find good writers to contribute to the magazine, that he often wrote most of the stories himself under a variety of pseudonyms: one issue of Authentic was written entirely by Tubb, including the letters column.
His main work in the science fiction genre, the Dumarest series, appeared from 1967 to 1985, with two final volumes in 1997 and 2008. His second major series, the Cap Kennedy series, was written from 1973 to 1983.
In recent years Tubb updated many of his 1950s science fiction novels for 21st century readers.
Tubb was one of the co-founders of the British Science Fiction Association.
Much of Tubb's work has been written under pseudonyms including Gregory Kern, Carl Maddox, Alan Guthrie, Eric Storm and George Holt. He has used 58 pen names over five decades of writing although some of these were publishers' house names also used by other writers: Volsted Gridban (along with John Russell Fearn), Gill Hunt (with John Brunner and Dennis Hughes), King Lang (with George Hay and John W Jennison), Roy Sheldon (with H. J. Campbell) and Brian Shaw. Tubb's Charles Grey alias was solely his own and acquired a big following in the early 1950s.
An avid reader of pulp science-fiction and fantasy in his youth, Tubb found that he had a particular talent as a writer of stories in that genre when his short story 'No Short Cuts' was published in New Worlds magazine in 1951. He opted for a full-time career as a writer and soon became renowned for the speed and diversity of his output.
Tubb contributed to many of the science fiction magazines of the 1950s including Futuristic Science Stories, Science Fantasy, Nebula and Galaxy Science Fiction. He contributed heavily to Authentic Science Fiction editing the magazine for nearly two years, from February 1956 until it folded in October 1957. During this time, he found it so difficult to find good writers to contribute to the magazine, that he often wrote most of the stories himself under a variety of pseudonyms: one issue of Authentic was written entirely by Tubb, including the letters column.
His main work in the science fiction genre, the Dumarest series, appeared from 1967 to 1985, with two final volumes in 1997 and 2008. His second major series, the Cap Kennedy series, was written from 1973 to 1983.
In recent years Tubb updated many of his 1950s science fiction novels for 21st century readers.
Tubb was one of the co-founders of the British Science Fiction Association.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
January 15, 2020
I bought this book expecting a nice vintage SF novel but not too long into Stardeath, I realized that I wasted my money. I was disappointed by pretty much everything about this novel to tell you the truth. The protagonist is self-centered and quite annoying, but that's not the only problem. The book as the whole just doesn't make sense.
The begging isn't that bad, but the plot slowly turns into a disaster. As for the end, I JUST didn't get it. Judging by the reviews I read here on goodreads, I'm not the only one. Maybe the author messed up? What else to say? The emphasis of Stardeath is on the action, not the characters which could have been fine if the action made more sense, was more elaborate or something. The plot didn't make sense. On overall, I didn't like Stardeath at all- and I do generally enjoy SF. So, either this isn't very good SF or I just didn't get it. What did you think of it?
The begging isn't that bad, but the plot slowly turns into a disaster. As for the end, I JUST didn't get it. Judging by the reviews I read here on goodreads, I'm not the only one. Maybe the author messed up? What else to say? The emphasis of Stardeath is on the action, not the characters which could have been fine if the action made more sense, was more elaborate or something. The plot didn't make sense. On overall, I didn't like Stardeath at all- and I do generally enjoy SF. So, either this isn't very good SF or I just didn't get it. What did you think of it?
September 7, 2023
Една од новелите кои веќе сум ги прочитал, но сум ги заборавил. Дури на половина од романот сфатив дека веќе ми е читана.
Убава СФ новела, типичен класик, зафркнат капетан на вселенски брод, згодна офицерка, мистериозен надреден, посада нон-стоп во состојба пред бунт, чудни феномени, вселенски чудовишта од други димензии...
Убава СФ новела, типичен класик, зафркнат капетан на вселенски брод, згодна офицерка, мистериозен надреден, посада нон-стоп во состојба пред бунт, чудни феномени, вселенски чудовишта од други димензии...
January 28, 2012
My experience with this novel (one of the very few sci-fi books I’ve read) was not a very pleasant one. Perhaps it was wrong of me, but I expected more depth, more insight into how the technology changes lives and less “sensational horror” from this book. I have to admit, I rather enjoyed the first 4 chapters, but from then on it mostly went downhill for me. For a 182 pages' book, the storyline really dragged and consisted for most part of the expectation of the attack, a coupla assaults and casualties, angsting about the horrible evil out there and the final showdown with the classic “good-guy-beats-the-evil-guys-and-gets-the-girl” scenario. Actually, I happen to like horror elements in fiction if portrayed well and I think the author does succeed in verbally depicting rather vivid imagery (the mutilated bodies, the wonders of the space etc.), but fails on almost every other level.
For a book whose plot revolves around the mysterious and rather gruesome murders it has an extremely anti-climactic ending. And all of this could have worked out much better if the ending had been more fleshed-out. It seems almost like the author got bored of his own story(which wouldn’t surprise me) and decided to take the easy way-out, i.e., it was just some alien ship that was responsible for multiple hydees’ disappearances, without any reason for such aggression explained.
Speaking about the characters…The secondary characters’ traits seem to be only described to make the readers feel a modicum of sympathy for them when they die.
And don’t even get me started on the protagonist who’s a heartless, sexist bastard that somehow manages to keep his cool while everyone else is freaking out. His sexism and contempt for women is obvious from the very first meeting with Erica and especially the apalling and totally unnecessary scene of his mistreatment of an overly-flirty drunk girl. Yet somehow Kurt develops warm feelings towards Erica and they hook up. There is really no valid reason why Erica would actually want to have a relationship with such a guy, apart from the lack of better options and the strain and danger transforming itself into “desire and the need to create”.
In conclusion, so much build-up, too little payback = 2 stars from me, which is rather generous as this book is worth more like 1.7 stars.
For a book whose plot revolves around the mysterious and rather gruesome murders it has an extremely anti-climactic ending. And all of this could have worked out much better if the ending had been more fleshed-out. It seems almost like the author got bored of his own story(which wouldn’t surprise me) and decided to take the easy way-out, i.e., it was just some alien ship that was responsible for multiple hydees’ disappearances, without any reason for such aggression explained.
Speaking about the characters…The secondary characters’ traits seem to be only described to make the readers feel a modicum of sympathy for them when they die.
And don’t even get me started on the protagonist who’s a heartless, sexist bastard that somehow manages to keep his cool while everyone else is freaking out. His sexism and contempt for women is obvious from the very first meeting with Erica and especially the apalling and totally unnecessary scene of his mistreatment of an overly-flirty drunk girl. Yet somehow Kurt develops warm feelings towards Erica and they hook up. There is really no valid reason why Erica would actually want to have a relationship with such a guy, apart from the lack of better options and the strain and danger transforming itself into “desire and the need to create”.
In conclusion, so much build-up, too little payback = 2 stars from me, which is rather generous as this book is worth more like 1.7 stars.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 13, 2012
I bought this book because I really got hooked on sci-fi lately and I wasn't disappointed. The book starts dynamically at the very beginning and by the end, it gets so intense that even if I was rather sleepy I could not stop reading.
Style of writing was a bit weird at the start, but that might be because of the translation. I was amazed by just the right amount of descriptions and from time to time, rather complicated, philosophical metaphors. At the very start I didn't like dialogues, but as the story progressed they became more and more interesting and real.
Ideas that were presented in this book were amazing for me. At first it started to sound a bit cliche - hypon and space-faring adventures. But when they entered hypon, and gone to that other dimension I was stunned by the descriptions of alien lifeforms and amount of horror that geometrical shapes can achieve. Brutal murders that weren't meaningless but had psychological background of a mental horror that victims were experiencing were great addition to behavioral reaction of other crew members. And at the end, the goal wasn't finding Kreutzal's writings or himself but escaping from horrors of other dimensions and finding out how and can they kill the invaders - so the whole plot was about surviving so mr. Tubb successfully evaded linear progressing of the story.
So my opinions are positive mostly, but as I said I'm new to the genre so I won't hurry with conclusions naming this best book ever or something, so I'll remain a bit skeptical, and give it 4/5. But if someone asks me to recommend a short sci-fi story, I would gladly recommend this one.
Style of writing was a bit weird at the start, but that might be because of the translation. I was amazed by just the right amount of descriptions and from time to time, rather complicated, philosophical metaphors. At the very start I didn't like dialogues, but as the story progressed they became more and more interesting and real.
Ideas that were presented in this book were amazing for me. At first it started to sound a bit cliche - hypon and space-faring adventures. But when they entered hypon, and gone to that other dimension I was stunned by the descriptions of alien lifeforms and amount of horror that geometrical shapes can achieve. Brutal murders that weren't meaningless but had psychological background of a mental horror that victims were experiencing were great addition to behavioral reaction of other crew members. And at the end, the goal wasn't finding Kreutzal's writings or himself but escaping from horrors of other dimensions and finding out how and can they kill the invaders - so the whole plot was about surviving so mr. Tubb successfully evaded linear progressing of the story.
So my opinions are positive mostly, but as I said I'm new to the genre so I won't hurry with conclusions naming this best book ever or something, so I'll remain a bit skeptical, and give it 4/5. But if someone asks me to recommend a short sci-fi story, I would gladly recommend this one.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 20, 2016
Stardeath is a half decent science fiction novel. The back of the book spoils the first half by giving us plot points it takes 60+ pages to get to, out of a 180 page novel. It suffers from clear sexism - in a ship holding only a handful of people the women often go unnamed and are only used for sexual relations. It suffers most, though, by having a weak and rather forced ending.
That aside, the main character - Kurt Varl - is badass enough to keep you reading; the idea of space travel reaching through another dimension is fun. It's also interesting to note that it's written in omniscient.
That aside, the main character - Kurt Varl - is badass enough to keep you reading; the idea of space travel reaching through another dimension is fun. It's also interesting to note that it's written in omniscient.
September 15, 2018
When this caught my eye in the used bookstore, and I thought it would be a fun to take a nostalgic trip back to the world of pulp science fiction. The first half was somewhat amusing, but the poor writing became tedious and the story never amounted to anything of interest.
March 22, 2013
Has to be one of the worst SF novels ever published. Great, suspenseful set-up—murky, incomprehensible ending.
December 26, 2016
This is not up to the Dumarest Saga standard. A struggle to finish.
September 26, 2017
Ships disappear. One man needs to know why. Strong beginning, very weak after page 30 or so.
August 24, 2024
3.5 stars
September 21, 2012
There is only one James T. Kirk. When you try to recreate him, you get a chauvinistic macho guy.
Not that the original Kirk wasn't like that but at least on screen he could get away with it. Maybe because he had Spock to cover his back.
Not that the writer was trying to recreate him,( I have no idea when this novel was written, maybe even before Star Trek...)but the fact is that the protagonist looks like a jerk to me.
What else to say? The emphasis is on the action, not the characters which could have been fine if the action made more sense, was more elaborate or something. I didn't like it at all- and I do generally enjoy SF.
Not that the original Kirk wasn't like that but at least on screen he could get away with it. Maybe because he had Spock to cover his back.
Not that the writer was trying to recreate him,( I have no idea when this novel was written, maybe even before Star Trek...)but the fact is that the protagonist looks like a jerk to me.
What else to say? The emphasis is on the action, not the characters which could have been fine if the action made more sense, was more elaborate or something. I didn't like it at all- and I do generally enjoy SF.
May 25, 2015
1985 grade D-
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews