The Star Rover & Other Stories

The Collected Science Fiction and Fantasy of Jack London #3

by Jack London

Renowned as a writer of classic adventure stories such as The Call of the Wild and White Fang, Jack London also had a parallel career as a writer of science fiction and fantasy. In Leonaur's three volume, The Collected Science Fiction & Fantasy of Jack London, his SF and fantasy novels and shorter works are brought together for the first time. Darrell Standing is a university professor and convicted murderer. He's also The Star Rover. During long spells in solitary confinement, his body immobilised by a canvas jacket that prevents all movement, he develops a technique that allows his non-corporeal self to wander through time and home in on lives that were his before he was Darrell Standing. His adventures - engaging, vivid and exciting - offer an eye-witness perspective on a past that might have been. This volume also includes three entertaining shorter works that show Jack London as a more than worthy contemporary of H. G. Wells.

344 pages, Paperback

First published November 24, 2005

About the author

John Griffith Chaney, better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to become an international celebrity and earn a large fortune from writing. He was also an innovator in the genre that would later become known as science fiction.

London was part of the radical literary group "The Crowd" in San Francisco and a passionate advocate of animal rights, workers’ rights and socialism. London wrote several works dealing with these topics, such as his dystopian novel The Iron Heel, his non-fiction exposé The People of the Abyss, War of the Classes, and Before Adam.

His most famous works include The Call of the Wild and White Fang, both set in Alaska and the Yukon during the Klondike Gold Rush, as well as the short stories "To Build a Fire", "An Odyssey of the North", and "Love of Life". He also wrote about the South Pacific in stories such as "The Pearls of Parlay" and "The Heathen".

Reviews

[Aaron · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very odd story about a man who is not exactly reincarnated, but exists over and over again throughout history. At least in his own mind that is the case. Maybe he's just crazy. Some of the writing is good but I found the subject matter quite odd. I can't recommend this unless you are a Jack London completist.

[Sam Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Star Rover is one of my most favorite books. An agriculture professor, who had visions from his previous lives, kills his colleague and after a whole chain of event finds himself on death row. He learns a technique from another inmate how to subdue his suffering during a torture by strait jacket, which he modifies and becomes able to leave his body. At first, he travels among stars, but then he begins waking up in his previous lives and discovers a violent end of each of them, gradually identifying what exactly brought him to prison in his current life.

[Donald Kirch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Not your typical "Jack London." When one thinks of London, such titles as "White Fang" and "Call of the Wild" come to mind. One may even think of Alaska! But...Jack London writing about spirit projections and aliens??? A fantastic look into the other side of a creative talent. A wonder to read!!

[Nikee Huntington · Rating 5 out of 5]

5.5 fiction writing at its best. I loved this book.