Starman's Quest

by Robert Silverberg

The Lexman Spacedrive gave humanity the stars, but at a fantastic price. Interstellar exploration, colonization and trade became things of reality. The benefits to Earth were enormous. But because of the Fitzgerald Contraction, a man who shipped out to space could never live a normal life on Earth again. Travelling at speeds close to that of light, spacemen lived at an accelerated pace. A nine-year trip to Alpha Centauri and back seemed to take only six weeks to people on a spaceship. When they returned, their friends and relatives had aged enormously in comparison, old customs had changed, even the language was different. Alan was a spacer, just like his whole family--until, suddenly and without intending to, he in turn jumped ship and remained on Earth! There were times he regretted that. Earth was a bewildering and utterly hostile place. To stay alive, he had to play a ruthless game--and he couldn't even find anyone to tell him the rules.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Audiobook, Ebooks, Speculative Fiction, Young Adult, Classics

186 pages, Hardcover

Published January 28, 1969

About the author

There are many authors in the database with this name.

Robert Silverberg is a highly celebrated American science fiction author and editor known for his prolific output and literary range. Over a career spanning decades, he has won multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards and was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2004. Inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 1999, Silverberg is recognized for both his immense productivity and his contributions to the genre's evolution.
Born in Brooklyn, he began writing in his teens and won his first Hugo Award in 1956 as the best new writer. Throughout the 1950s, he produced vast amounts of fiction, often under pseudonyms, and was known for writing up to a million words a year. When the market declined, he diversified into other genres, including historical nonfiction and erotica.
Silverberg’s return to science fiction in the 1960s marked a shift toward deeper psychological and literary themes, contributing significantly to the New Wave movement. Acclaimed works from this period include Downward to the Earth, Dying Inside, Nightwings, and The World Inside. In the 1980s, he launched the Majipoor series with Lord Valentine’s Castle, creating one of the most imaginative planetary settings in science fiction.
Though he announced his retirement from writing in the mid-1970s, Silverberg returned with renewed vigor and continued to publish acclaimed fiction into the 1990s. He received further recognition with the Nebula-winning Sailing to Byzantium and the Hugo-winning Gilgamesh in the Outback.
Silverberg has also played a significant role as an editor and anthologist, shaping science fiction literature through both his own work and his influence on others. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, author Karen Haber.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Starman's Quest is a YA science fiction from the 1950's written when Silverberg was a YA himself. It's an interesting story about the time-dilation effect of interstellar travel, and the effect that has on twins who are part of the crew of a star ship when one leaves the ship to try to make his way on Earth. There's little in the way of background characters and the Earth doesn't seem to change much over the course of thousands of years, but it's a pleasant if predictable tale of overcoming long odds that does nicely portray the vastness of the cosmos. I enjoyed listening to this Librivox version, which was a quite excellent reading.

[César Bustíos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una novela juvenil entretenida y con final feliz. Por partes me pareció un poco ingenua. Algunas escenas familiares son frías y poco creíbles. Considerando que "Obsesión espacial" fue su segunda novela y que la escribió con tan solo 19 años de edad, hay que decir que es buen comienzo.

La tripulación de una nave espacial como "familia" y la sociedad de astronautas es bastante interesante. Debido a la dilatación del tiempo por viajar a velocidades cercanas a la luz, los viajeros usan "recintos" especiales cada vez que llegan a un planeta. Seguro hay muchas novelas que han usado este tema anteriormente pero no pude dejar de pensar en La guerra interminable de Haldeman y el impacto de los tripulantes al encontrar una Tierra diferente.

Probaré con más de Silverberg.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to this as part of The Seventh Science Fiction Megapack. It was an enteremting space story. I have listened to a number of novels by the author. I would recommend to readers of space opera novels. 2023

I listened to this again in 2025. It was as good or maybe better than the first time!

[Tex-49 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tre stelle e mezzo.
Romanzo imperniato sulle conseguenze della relatività su una possibile navigazione spaziale a velocità prossima alla luce e quindi del differente trascorrere del tempo fra la Terra e le astronavi; la trattazione avvince, così come la trama degli eventi che si svolgono sulla Terra; poco credibile però alcune parti, come il modo in cui il protagonista fa fortuna ed il suo peregrinare alla ricerca di studi fatti un migliaio di anni prima sulla ipernavigazione ed il loro esito positivo.

[PetSch · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,4 Sternle.

Nicht zu den Glanzstücken Silverbergs gehörend,
aber mehr oder weniger in einem Rutsch durchgelesen.

Eine Handlung auf 140 Seiten. Sowas ging damals! ;-)

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Robert Silverberg and I have had a fairly scatological association for the best part of four decades. My childhood in the 70s and early 80s was full of little encounters when I'd bump into him in small shops with the odd revolving book rack or amongst the slim volumes brought home from jumble sales. Some of the slim volumes would get read or filed for a rainy day (the rainy day being anything from six weeks to thirty plus years down the line). His output in the latter half of the 80s received more organised attention from me as his name became a library sci-fi staple.
Starman's Quest was written in the 1950s when he was nineteen during his junior year at Columbia. It was his second book and as he admits in his preface he's written better since. The imagination is all there but plotting and story progression certainly have their fair share of problems. The Starman's Quest is the unlikely ambition of a young spacer (a Starman) to solve the drawbacks of interstellar space travel at near the speed of light. Time dilation and relativity are hard science that's fuelled the imaginations of speculative sci-fi writers like Silverberg for most of the last century. Shoving the problems with the plot mechanics aside Silverberg's actual narrative is quite fun and thoughtful. The dismay of our young protagonist being separated from his twin by first space and later age is very well done as is his deep culture shock when he jumps ship and tries to find his brother on the harsh consumerism driven overcrowded Earth. A talking sentient rat accompanies him but Silverberg doesn't really need an extra voice in the narrative so ends up almost completely forgetting he's there. Flawed but enjoyable and far beyond what a nineteen year old should be able to accomplish - just like our young Starman.

[Manuel Alfonseca · Rating 3 out of 5]

ENGLISH: This is the first time I've read this novel by Silverberg. This is the second novel he wrote. It takes place in the 39th century. By then, interstellar travel has reached speeds close to the speed of light. It focuses on the twin paradox, related to the theory of Special Relativity and Fitzgerald's contraction. As a secondary theme, the search for hyperluminal speed. Of course, there is no mention of the paradoxes that could then take place. Perhaps Silverberg did not know about it.

Apart from interstellar travel, this is the future science presented in this novel: Computers in the 39th century work in much the same way as those of the 1960s, the only "improvement" being that questions are asked by handwriting on paper, instead of punching cardboard cards. Intelligent games are at the level of computer games in the 1980s. There is an underground metro and an aerial metro. Lots of robots. And little else. But he guessed correctly when he describe Venus as uninhabited and uninhabitable, years before that fact was discovered by astronomers.

ESPAÑOL: Esta es la primera vez que he leído esta novela de Silverberg. Esta novela es la segunda que escribió. Tiene lugar en el siglo XXXIX. Para entonces los viajes interestelares alcanzan velocidades próximas a la de la luz. Se centra en la paradoja de los gemelos, relacionada con la teoría de la Relatividad Especial y la contracción de Fitzgerald. Como tema secundario, la búsqueda de la velocidad hiperlumínica. Por supuesto, no se habla de las paradojas que entonces se producirían. Seguramente Silverberg no lo sabía.

Aparte de los viajes interestelares, esta es la ciencia del futuro que presenta esta novela: Las computadoras del siglo XXXIX funcionan aproximadamente igual que las de los años 60 del siglo XX, con la única "mejora" de que las preguntas se le hacen escribiendo a mano sobre un papel, en vez de perforando tarjetas de cartulina. Los juegos inteligentes están al nivel de los juegos de ordenador de los años ochenta. Hay metro subterráneo y metro aéreo. Muchos robots. Y poco más. Pero acertó correctamente cuando describió a Venus como deshabitado e inhabitable, años antes de que esto fuera descubierto por los astrónomos.

[Denis · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent an competently written juvenile Silverberg novel. Deals with the Lorentz-Fitzgerald effect as does L. Ron Hubbard's "To the Stars aka Return to Tomorrow". This is dealing with the issue of time dilation from traveling at near light speed. It is a wonderful fast paced story written in the classic fifties style. Much like Heinlein's juvenile novels of the period, the young protagonist is left to his own devices as he must survive in a strange world (earth in this case) relying on his instincts. The story is laced with a little bit of social, political and cultural issues, but not so much that it bogs down the yarn. It is eccentrically a story of self growth, while keeping with one's own ethics and morality.

A very enjoyable read for those who like a good old fashion space adventure story.

[Kat Hooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Will review at www.fantasyliterature.com.

[KennyR · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good short book, that is never has any downtime in between events. This lack of downtime is both good and bad. It’s good because it keeps the plot moving and helps skip over what would be sections of hardcore math and theoretical science if developed further. The bad is how you lose out on the small scenes that help develop the characters into something more than just words on a page. Alan and Hawkes are the best off out of the bunch, because most of the story revolves around them, but the side characters don’t get much of any explanation. One of the nice things about this book is that it throws you into the shoes of Alan and the crew of the Valhalla. You learn their lingo and how the group functions. When Alan visits the city you see the world through his eyes, not just because of it being written to follow him and what he thinks, but because you know as much about this world as he does. Most information about side characters and what little information about earth is given through Alan’s thoughts or through the computers he accesses which helps the reader see things from where Alan is coming from. The ending while good does seem a little rushed and ends a bit abruptly. I would have liked to have seen some sort of epilogue added on to the end that wrapped up the story better, and set the characters onto a more concrete path.

[D. E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

An RS. SYFY. Deep Space Action Adventure (SQ)

RS. has penned a SYFY. deep space action adventure, titled "Starman's Quest, which, at the time in 1958, as written had a very unusual story line. RS. Attempted or did explain the differences in time for space travel as opposed time lapsed on Earth. The example was a trip trip to a distant star where regular space at the place was NORMAL, but when the people returned they were still young and the people they knee long gone. Thus cane faster than the speed of light. A common example was Star Trek, Warp 8. This is an excellent read for the genre.....DEHS

[Rhys Pierce · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this science fiction book. The conflict is primarily sociological and uses the time dilation of near light speed to set up a compelling story. I think anyone who enjoys science novels edged with potential future developments will like this book.

[David Steele · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good fun. I wrote my first book when I was 19. I still have it on A4 paper in a folder somewhere. This guy's ability to craft a story made me look like the hulk with crayons. My first Silverberg book, but absolutely not my last.

[Craig Childs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alan and Steve Donnell are twins aboard a near light speed spaceship that ferries freight to Alpha Centauri IV. Because of the effects of time dilation, when they return to Earth every six weeks, nine years have passed on their home planet. This makes keeping any sense of continuity with Terran customs, language, and politics nearly impossible. As a result, spacers have developed their own closed society that rarely intermingles anymore with the earthbound.

Chafing against ship life—the boredom, the rigid military structure, the lack of women--Steve jumps ship to stay behind on Earth. The next time Alan docks, they are nine years apart in age. Alan embarks on a adventure to find his wayward brother. In doing so, he discovers a dystopian Earth where jobs are scarce and drugs plentiful. He makes decisions that will alter not only his own life but also the course of humanity’s journey into the far reaches of space.

The was Robert Silverberg’s second novel, written in 1956 although it was not published until 1959. It was aimed at a YA audience. Silverberg has said he does not think the book is very good. He let the copyright lapse, figuring no publisher would want to reprint it. Ironically, in this internet age, this means it is now the most widely available Silverberg novel in the world.

Personally, I think the author’s assessment is off the mark. This is a fun book. He showed a lot of progress between his first two novels. He was able to handle a more complex plot with nuanced emotional context.

The scientific aspects of the story were believable. Silverberg introduces an early idea of embedding microchips in people as a tracking device. I also found it a fascinating subject how disorienting life becomes once society loses its common sense of time. Even spacers on different ships age differently depending on their speed of travel. This forces every ship to become its own closed-off community.

While he may not have been the first author to use time dilation as a plot device (I believe that honor goes to Arthur C. Clarke in Childhood’s End in 1953), Silverberg was certainly at the forefront. The genre’s most often cited early examples of this trope are Planet of the Apes and “Tao Zero”, which were not published until 1963.

The historical aspects of the fictional universe also rang true. The centuries-old feud between Lexman (inventor of near light speed travel) and Cavour (who was trying to invent a hyperspace engine) echoed the feuds of Edison and Tesla. Just like in real life, the man who introduced his invention first swayed public opinion, and the impact to technological advancement reverberated for centuries.

Like most sci-fi novels of the 1950’s, the futuristic technology is an amusing blend of far-fetched capabilities while everyday life functions are humorously still dependent on paper and writing. For example, in this novel Alan feeds instructions to computers by filling out a pen-and-paper form and dropping it into a pneumatic tube.

The book is not perfect. There are still some rough spots. Alan keeps a sentient alien as a pet, a circumstance that should provide rich opportunity for conflict but instead is hardly mentioned. The only female character is used as window dressing. The middle act features a subplot in which Alan falls in with members of organized crime and is forced to participate in a crime, but this subplot goes nowhere, and the author has to employ some deus ex machina tactics to get out of it. The climax, while moving and meaningful, also feels a bit too easy for Alan.

But despite the minor flaws, this is an incredible early work from a 19-year old teenager--still enjoyable after 62 years!

[Jared Millet · Rating 4 out of 5]

If Heinlein's juveniles were more like this, I'd probably have enjoyed them more than I did. Of course, I'm assuming this is young adult fiction because the protagonist is 17 when the book starts, but maybe Silverberg didn't think of it that way. Nevertheless, reading it today, it falls squarely into what I'd consider "YA" territory.

The setup is good: In the far future, the human race has interstellar travel, but it's slower than light which means (of course) time dilation shenanigans. Silverberg's angle is that space travelers become a subclass who are perpetually behind the times while Earth life and culture keep leaping forward and changing faster than spacers can keep up with. Therefore, even when spacers come home, they stay in enclaves separate from the rest of humanity until they ship out again.

So, basically, the conflict of the book is about a spacer trying to find his way in Earth society while trying to solve the lightspeed problem. Where it falls down is Silverberg's attempt to imagine an alien future society—post-humanism wasn't an idea yet, so the best Silverberg can come up with is to imagine an extreme technocratic caste system. Instead of "human spacer vs post-human Earthlings," we get more of a "country boy goes to the city" feel with flying trains and rocket ships.

That doesn't stop the book from being a good read. Silverberg's characters inhabit a moral gray area that Heinlein's never go anywhere near (except for, to some degree, in Citizen of the Galaxy ). The only weakness in Silverberg's writing is that he keeps reminding the reader how time dilation works about five times per chapter, at least until the halfway point of the book. I expect it was a novel idea in 1958, but that still doesn't excuse beating the reader over the head.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This fairly short sci-fi story is cute, kind of cheesy, but a lot of fun.
When Alan's twin brother leave their spaceship to stay on Earth, Alan is distraught - especially when he realizes that by the time they return to Earth, 6 weeks will have passed for Alan, but his brother will be nine years older. Determined to find his brother, Alan ventures out into Earth and sets out on a course that will change his life.
I enjoyed this story. It was kind of cheesy and clearly written, but it was fun and I can see why early sci-fi could be somewhat addicting. The characters aren't that well-developed, nor are their emotions. However, many aspects of the science were interesting and excellent motivators for the characters. I especially enjoyed some of the new culture on Earth and how much things can change in so short a period of time.
I highly recommend this for young SFF readers to get them started on classic SFF.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starman's Quest was written when Robert Silverberg was a young man, just starting out in a long and distinguished literary career. It reminds me quite a bit of the early Isaac Asimov, when there was still a sense of wonder in science-fiction, that anything was possible, that anything could happen if only men dreamed and worked hard enough.

I found it interesting that Silverberg's vision of a far-future earth resembled a dystopian version of The Jetsons: there were robot servants and flying cars, but there was also overpopulation, drug addiction, poverty, and a deep-seated resentment against Spacers, because they were "different." I would have liked to see a sequel, maybe set a couple of generations in the future, that would have chronicled the changes the Cavour Drive had made to both Earther and Spacer cultures.

[Aricia Gavriel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good idea underpins this little novel. Some of the tech hasn't aged well across the sixty years since Gnome Press printed a modest 5,000 copies, but the fact is, a great idea remains a great idea. Silverberg delivered a surprisingly good novel, ideally suited to the YA market. It zips along, never dull, and though the finale is somewhat underdeveloped (especially by today's standards), the book leaves a very good taste on the palate. If you're looking for quickie, kid-safe, feel-good fiction -- which may surprise you with how well a sixty year old novel can travel! -- this is a good bet. Shelve alongside Starman Jones (which I reviewed in depth).

[Francesco Luchetta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Il libro prende in un certo senso le mosse dal paradosso dei gemelli di Einstein, realizzandolo praticamente attraverso i protagonisti.

La trama che si lascia seguire, e che consente di leggere il tutto in un'unica giornata. Il tono della storia, cosí come i temi trattati, cambiano con una certa frequenza. Verso la conclusione si avverte un'eccessiva accelerata. Il finale non risolve appieno tutti i nodi aperti durante la storia lasciando un po di amaro in bocca.
Una pecca è che molti personaggi vengono introdotti ma poi non approfonditi affatto.

Il libro comunque lascia un gusto piacevole quando lo si finisce.

[Leonida Monaco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well,
it clearly shows early career mistakes.
1) Secondary characters are not developed at all
2) the searching for [no spoiler] it could have had A LOT more pathos and emotions
3) at least in my case, I got the ending since the very beginning of the plot

BUT
Four stars are well earned by the fact that
1)it was written only at 19 y.o.
2) you clearly see the Earth through Alan's eyes, it clearly gives more deepness to Alan and the story itself.
3) Max Hawkes character.
4) Last but not least, I can see the young R.Silverberg's ideas forming in his mind. Ideas that gave us many astonishing books.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good but not great story. It was written in the 1950s, and fits much of the style of the era, and while Silverberg was still a teen. The plot is mostly good, with a few twists and small surprises. The last two chapters are a little weak, with one being a gloss of several year's development and the other being a quick tying up of loose ends, plus a dreadful epilogue. But overall it's worth a read.

[Benjamin Juarez Uribe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Historia interesante enfocada en la busqueda de una nueva forma de propulsión, sin perder el foco en el protagonista. En su primer acto desarrollándose en los tiempos justos y adecuados. Su segundo acto marcando hitos para el desarrollo de su personaje y en último muy rápidamente y con muchas conveniencias para la trama.

Es una historia que vale la pena leer como curiosidad, más no va ser memorable como historia de heinlein, Asimov, pournelle.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written when Silverberg was a teenager, and it really shows. A 17 year old starship crewmember jumps ship to shanghai his now-older twin and stay behind on Earth to develop a faster star drive. Raw stuff, all male cast except for one pesky girl with a crush at the beginning.

[Al Lock · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good yarn based on the problem of time dilation at near light speed travel.

[Del · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, light sf.

[Richard Gombert · Rating 3 out of 5]

A classic old Young Adult Science Fiction book from the 1960s.

[Victor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story.

[Therese · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5

[Rickard Dahlgren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinerande

[V.K. Valev · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute.