Gold in the Sky

by Alan E. Nourse

Alan E. Nourse's 1958 novel of fortunes made and lost, murder, and betrayal among the asteroid miners. Originally published in the September, 1958 issue of AMAZING SCIENCE FICTION STORIES magazine.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Short Stories, Adventure, Ebooks

126 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1958

About the author

Alan Edward Nourse was an American science fiction (SF) author and physician. He also wrote under the name Dr. X
He wrote both juvenile and adult science fiction, as well as nonfiction works about medicine and science.
Alan Nourse was born to Benjamin and Grace (Ogg) Nourse. He attended high school in Long Island, New York. He served in the U.S. Navy after World War II. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1951 from Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey. He married Ann Morton on June 11, 1952 in Lynden, New Jersey. He received a Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) degree in 1955 from the University of Pennsylvania. He served his one year internship at Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle, Washington. He practiced medicine in North Bend, Washington from 1958 to 1963 and also pursued his writing career.
He had helped pay for his medical education by writing science fiction for magazines. After retiring from medicine, he continued writing. His regular column in Good Housekeeping magazine earned him the nickname "Family Doctor".
He was a friend of fellow author Avram Davidson. Robert A. Heinlein dedicated his 1964 novel Farnham's Freehold to Nourse. Heinlein in part dedicated his 1982 novel Friday to Nourse's wife Ann.

His novel The Bladerunner lent its name to the Blade Runner movie, but no other aspects of its plot or characters, which were taken from Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? In the late 1970s an attempt to adapt The Bladerunner for the screen was made, with Beat Generation author William S. Burroughs commissioned to write a story treatment; no film was ever developed but the story treatment was later published as the novella, Blade Runner (a movie).
His novel Star Surgeon has been recorded as a public domain audio book at LibriVox
His pen names included "Al Edwards" and "Doctor X".

He died in Thorp, Washington.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gold in the Sky is a novella that was published in the September 1958 (which has been one of my very favorite months for 67-and-a-half years now) issue of Amazing Stories digest magazine, which was edited by Cele Goldsmith. Nourse (which, I have been reliably informed, is pronounced as "nurse," not "Norse) expanded it to novel-length for hardback publication by the David McKay line the following year, followed by an Ace paperback edition in 1962. The book length version appeared as Scavengers in Space. It was the cover story for that issue of Amazing, and had a nice Ed Valigursky cover painting. It's a kind of transplanted Western story about a miner who makes a fabulous discovery, is mysteriously killed, and his twin sons fight against the nasty minions of an evil corporation to reclaim it, restore his reputation, and secure their legacy. The name of the corporation is Jupiter Equilateral, which I misheard as Venus Equilateral for most of the story, due to my long-standing familiarity with the George O. Smith masterpiece. It's a pretty good story, the characters are well-developed, and though the ending seems a little rushed, I enjoyed listening to it via the fine folks at LibriVox. I'll have to dig up a copy of the long version someday.

[Jefferson Fortner · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fast-paced sci-fi novella from the golden era, this is a good story. Some things are clearly dated, in that computers still calculate and click and whir while printing results, and other things are unexplained, such as gravity existing on space ships, but the drama of searching the asteroid belt for a huge mining strike (or is it something else?) that a murdered father has left behind, unmarked, for his sons, is taut and fun in the telling (and don’t forget the huge, corrupt, corporate entity that is trying to jump the claim that that these small-miner sons are trying to find). Like most of the material from this era, this first appeared in the Golden Age pulps and much of it is too quickly done. It could have used some deeper development, especially the ending. If that had happened, however, the pacing would have been slowed down, and would that have been worth it?

[Anne Patkau · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nourse combines hard science and human family loyalty. Twins have to overcome mutual anger and unravel mystery find hidden by late dad Roger. Roger's friends miner Johnny Coombs and UN Major Briarton help search. Boys have American hero good looks, whereas Tawney is fat little villain. Conflicts ramp up suspense and action.

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say? These short adventures books that transport you to another timeline and tell an engaging story are what books are all about.
It's not a perfect book by any means, and it doesn't really have any morals or ideas it tries to get across, but the density of enjoyment per unit time invested makes it a 4.5 for me.

[kristine herd · Rating 3 out of 5]

suspenseful

Good suspense. Characters interesting. Would like to have known more about their lives. Entertaining. Liked the ending. Would like to have known more about what happened.

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent narration for 4 stars.

[Mattaniah Gibson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book, definitely in the Star Wars family tree somewhere. Lots of fun, good solid writing. This is science fiction at its best

[Audiobook Heaven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, I listened to the audiobook version on YouTube. I will leave the link below so that everyone can enjoy it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8d0S...

[Mark Rabideau · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Young Adult sci-fi novel is quite the romp through space. I enjoyed it.

[Kamas Kirian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A space adventure set on Mars and the asteroid belt. It's a novella rather than novel length but well paced. The imagery and concepts seem fairly dated, though. Inertia is still a problem, but they apparently have artificial gravity. The predominant weapon is the adjustable strength stunner, though projectile weapons are still around. Leigh Brackett's The Big Jump is from roughly the same period, but I liked it better. For a story dealing with the asteroid belt possibly being a formerly inhabited planet, I much prefer Inherit the Stars by James Hogan.

The Project Gutenberg eBook was formatted well with no obvious errors.

[B. Zedan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Future miners, argumentative brothers make good to revenge the death of their pops. Villain totally foiled, snap, etc.

[Angus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still an entertaining yarn, even though the science is out-of-date and many of the plot twists seem hokey nowadays. Nourse knew how to write, and that makes up for it all.