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Jupiter #6
Outward Bound
Linc Marani, a fifteen-year-old from twenty-second-century Los Angeles, feels that his life is hopeless after being sentenced to a juvenile labor camp, until a psychologist offers him a mission to the stars and a chance to change. 25,000 first printing.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1999
124 people want to read
About the author
James P. Hogan
114 books268 followersJames Patrick Hogan was a British science fiction author.
Hogan was was raised in the Portobello Road area on the west side of London. After leaving school at the age of sixteen, he worked various odd jobs until, after receiving a scholarship, he began a five-year program at the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough covering the practical and theoretical sides of electrical, electronic, and mechanical engineering. He first married at the age of twenty, and he has had three other subsequent marriages and fathered six children.
Hogan worked as a design engineer for several companies and eventually moved into sales in the 1960s, travelling around Europe as a sales engineer for Honeywell. In the 1970s he joined the Digital Equipment Corporation's Laboratory Data Processing Group and in 1977 moved to Boston, Massachusetts to run its sales training program. He published his first novel, Inherit the Stars, in the same year to win an office bet. He quit DEC in 1979 and began writing full time, moving to Orlando, Florida, for a year where he met his third wife Jackie. They then moved to Sonora, California.
Hogan's style of science fiction is usually hard science fiction. In his earlier works he conveyed a sense of what science and scientists were about. His philosophical view on how science should be done comes through in many of his novels; theories should be formulated based on empirical research, not the other way around. If a theory does not match the facts, it is theory that should be discarded, not the facts. This is very evident in the Giants series, which begins with the discovery of a 50,000 year-old human body on the Moon. This discovery leads to a series of investigations, and as facts are discovered, theories on how the astronaut's body arrived on the Moon 50,000 years ago are elaborated, discarded, and replaced.
Hogan's fiction also reflects anti-authoritarian social views. Many of his novels have strong anarchist or libertarian themes, often promoting the idea that new technological advances render certain social conventions obsolete. For example, the effectively limitless availability of energy that would result from the development of controlled nuclear fusion would make it unnecessary to limit access to energy resources. In essence, energy would become free. This melding of scientific and social speculation is clearly present in the novel Voyage from Yesteryear (strongly influenced by Eric Frank Russell's famous story "And Then There Were None"), which describes the contact between a high-tech anarchist society on a planet in the Alpha Centauri system, with a starship sent from Earth by a dictatorial government. The story uses many elements of civil disobedience.
James Hogan died unexpectedly from a heart attack at his home in Ireland.
Hogan was was raised in the Portobello Road area on the west side of London. After leaving school at the age of sixteen, he worked various odd jobs until, after receiving a scholarship, he began a five-year program at the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough covering the practical and theoretical sides of electrical, electronic, and mechanical engineering. He first married at the age of twenty, and he has had three other subsequent marriages and fathered six children.
Hogan worked as a design engineer for several companies and eventually moved into sales in the 1960s, travelling around Europe as a sales engineer for Honeywell. In the 1970s he joined the Digital Equipment Corporation's Laboratory Data Processing Group and in 1977 moved to Boston, Massachusetts to run its sales training program. He published his first novel, Inherit the Stars, in the same year to win an office bet. He quit DEC in 1979 and began writing full time, moving to Orlando, Florida, for a year where he met his third wife Jackie. They then moved to Sonora, California.
Hogan's style of science fiction is usually hard science fiction. In his earlier works he conveyed a sense of what science and scientists were about. His philosophical view on how science should be done comes through in many of his novels; theories should be formulated based on empirical research, not the other way around. If a theory does not match the facts, it is theory that should be discarded, not the facts. This is very evident in the Giants series, which begins with the discovery of a 50,000 year-old human body on the Moon. This discovery leads to a series of investigations, and as facts are discovered, theories on how the astronaut's body arrived on the Moon 50,000 years ago are elaborated, discarded, and replaced.
Hogan's fiction also reflects anti-authoritarian social views. Many of his novels have strong anarchist or libertarian themes, often promoting the idea that new technological advances render certain social conventions obsolete. For example, the effectively limitless availability of energy that would result from the development of controlled nuclear fusion would make it unnecessary to limit access to energy resources. In essence, energy would become free. This melding of scientific and social speculation is clearly present in the novel Voyage from Yesteryear (strongly influenced by Eric Frank Russell's famous story "And Then There Were None"), which describes the contact between a high-tech anarchist society on a planet in the Alpha Centauri system, with a starship sent from Earth by a dictatorial government. The story uses many elements of civil disobedience.
James Hogan died unexpectedly from a heart attack at his home in Ireland.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
August 2, 2024
This YA novel is the sixth and final book in the Jupiter line, an imprint Tor released to recapture the spirit of the juveniles (as it was okay to call them back then) Heinlein, del Rey, Norton, Asimov, and others wrote in the 1950s. Charles Sheffield wrote the first four and Jerry Pournelle wrote the penultimate volume. The settings and situations were similar, though there was a new cast of characters in each story. Hogan's entry in the series is fine, showing a hard luck hardcase youth from Los Angeles getting a second chance and making good in outer space.
January 1, 2018
A pleasure to find a Hogan I haven't read, they're a dying breed. This was interesting, he's not known for his coming of age stories. Whilst this worked, I do think it lacked something in tone of some of the other novels he's pushed out. I can't argue that I didn't enjoy it, but equally I don't think it's one I'd pick up again without compelling cause.
March 22, 2025
Coming of age scientifiction tale. Linc is a juvenile delinquent on future Earth and he is headed for a life in prison or a quick death. After a crime goes wrong he is given a choice: join a secret program that he is not allowed to know anything about or let the system through him in a hole and forget about him forever. He goes with the program.
Linc gets sent to boot camp with a bunch of other delinquents and there they are trained in all sorts of things: hiking, mountain climbing, cooking, camping, kung fu. Mostly they are learning to be human beings and not eat each other. Linc makes some friends, some enemies, and slowly figures out that there is more to the world than trying to screw over your neighbor.
And that's what it's all about with the backdrop of a little space travel. A Heinlein-esque story about producers moving humanity forward while the unwashed masses are left to wallow in their own filth. And the redemption of a violent teenage criminal into a worthwhile addition to society.
Linc gets sent to boot camp with a bunch of other delinquents and there they are trained in all sorts of things: hiking, mountain climbing, cooking, camping, kung fu. Mostly they are learning to be human beings and not eat each other. Linc makes some friends, some enemies, and slowly figures out that there is more to the world than trying to screw over your neighbor.
And that's what it's all about with the backdrop of a little space travel. A Heinlein-esque story about producers moving humanity forward while the unwashed masses are left to wallow in their own filth. And the redemption of a violent teenage criminal into a worthwhile addition to society.
August 29, 2018
Hogan, James P. Outward Bound. Jupiter No. 6. Tor, 2010.
Outward Bound is the last of a series of Young Adult novels begun by Charles Sheffield and Jerry Pournelle in the late ‘90s. The series aimed to recapture the freshness of the Young Adult novels written by Asimov and Heinlein. But Sheffield died in 2002, and by the time Hogan, once an original hard science fiction writer, was brought on to finish the series, the energy was not there. Hogan cranks out the formula plot in which a kid with gumption but no opportunity is taken on an adventure in space in which he discovers who he is and learns how he will adapt to his new world. Here, the life lessons are too much on the nose, the kid, Linc from the LA slums, never comes alive, and his early life does not convince us that it is real. Perhaps, if Hogan had imbued Linc with some of his own contrarian crankiness, things would have gone better.
Outward Bound is the last of a series of Young Adult novels begun by Charles Sheffield and Jerry Pournelle in the late ‘90s. The series aimed to recapture the freshness of the Young Adult novels written by Asimov and Heinlein. But Sheffield died in 2002, and by the time Hogan, once an original hard science fiction writer, was brought on to finish the series, the energy was not there. Hogan cranks out the formula plot in which a kid with gumption but no opportunity is taken on an adventure in space in which he discovers who he is and learns how he will adapt to his new world. Here, the life lessons are too much on the nose, the kid, Linc from the LA slums, never comes alive, and his early life does not convince us that it is real. Perhaps, if Hogan had imbued Linc with some of his own contrarian crankiness, things would have gone better.
May 17, 2020
A pleasant enough near future book with a nice premise: in the outer solar system people are valued for their skills and courage not their money or standing. The protagonist starts life in the inner city doing poorly and is rescued, given the chance to make his own choices and succeed or not.
Without too many spoilers, I think I have to leave it there. There's lots of redemption for everybody important in the book. Lots of hopeful future planning. Some interpersonal conflict but no interference by governments or armies or anything that would raise the stakes beyond personal growth and goals.
I enjoyed it. I feel like I can recommend it. But it's a little lightweight to keep or read again (I'm getting old enough that a book has to be special in some way to get reread).
Without too many spoilers, I think I have to leave it there. There's lots of redemption for everybody important in the book. Lots of hopeful future planning. Some interpersonal conflict but no interference by governments or armies or anything that would raise the stakes beyond personal growth and goals.
I enjoyed it. I feel like I can recommend it. But it's a little lightweight to keep or read again (I'm getting old enough that a book has to be special in some way to get reread).
September 18, 2021
In some ways this is like Robert Heinlein's juvenile novels -- I believe that was intended. Plotwise it's similar to Heinlein's Space Cadet. Overall it didn't thrill me quite as much. I didn't buy the protagonists almost overnight change from a bad, violent delinquent to a devoted team-player determined to stay clean and do his best at everything. Then the outfit he's training in is a little far-fetched. But it is pretty good reading and they eventually get into space.
May 12, 2024
Recent Rereads: Outward Bound. The Jupiter novels were a 1990's attempt to replicate the Heinlein juveniles, by a small group of hard SF writers. This is James Hogan's attempt, a coming-of-age story as a young criminal reaches for the stars. Libertarian space industry propaganda.
October 27, 2017
Great Young Adult Sci_Fi
February 4, 2019
If you enjoy RAH’s juveniles, you will like Outward Bound. It’s a bit slow and tedious at times but enjoyable nonetheless.
September 11, 2021
Finally finished the last book in the Jupiter novel series that started with Higher Education. Such a great series.
June 17, 2013
review of
James P. Hogan's Outward Bound
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
Schmeck. This is one of those bks that has ZILCH originality to the writing. As such, despite my liking aspects of the plot, I found it a very monotonous read. This virtually pukes w/ taught writing. AND it's a "JupiterTM" [imagine "TM" in superscript] novel - Jupiter's trademarked. Trademark my dick, why doncha?!
The basic story's about a gangster kid repurposing his life for outer-space, discovering a more positive side to himself.
"Linc waved the rest aside with a shake of his head and peeled a fifty off a roll he produced from his belt.
""Say, are you sure? . . ." But his father was already reaching for it. "I'll have it back for you by—"
""It doesn't matter. Keep it," Linc said curtly.
"And he left before the taste in his mouth could get any worse. Bad luck could happen to anybody, and anyone might be in need of a helping hand one day. But to have no pride. That was something else." - p 17
I kindof found it unconvincing. maybe the author has direct experience w/ impoverished desperate living, maybe his version of it is based on watching TV. Dunno.
As Linc get recruited into off-Earth living, he gets this spiel:
"["]Command through loyalty, not authority. Respect in place of fear. Competence and knowledge, the only true wealth." The Director looked around at their expression as they puzzled over the words. He gave them several seconds and then explained, "Because out where we are, you can't afford to waste human talent. You have to harness the potential that exists in everyone for doing something worthwhile and being needed. There isn't any room for passengers. And in particular, there is no room for a mass of unthinking, obedient sheep, whose only function is to be exploited and controlled by a privileged few. Everyone must be free to become the most they are capable of."" - p 100
& it's thanks to anarchistic passages like that that this bk squeaked by w/ a 3 star rating. Otherwise, it wd've been 2 stars.
""We're not recruiting for some elite unit of the army or anything like that. We have beginnings of a whole society taking shape. New people are going to be born there—in fact, they are being born already—and that means as varied as people come. A society that couldn't absorb all kinds wouldn't be much use. is it supposed to eliminate the ones who don't fit? Society should be shaped to fit people they way they are. It's trying to do it the other way that causes the problems."" - p 106
This is the (near) future but entertainment is still what's become the same-old-same-old: "A brown-skinned kid called Muddy (he was presumably from Mississippi) did a creditable job as deejay, and others who fancied their talents took turns at rendering live vocals." - p 110
Despite alternative expectations, Linc gets recruited into the outer-space army ANYWAY: "In some ways Linc's first impression was that his existence had regressed from the quality it had attained at Coulie and Seville Trace to something more like the detention conditions he had known previously. A crop-headed sergeant called Schultz, who was in charge of cadet basic training, shouted incessantly and was satisfied by nothing. Every minor infraction became a reason for personal degradation and abuse. Linc gritted his teeth and reminded himself that he had chosen to accept it." (p 121) Ah.. "Every [deviation] became a[n excuse] for personal degradation and abuse.": I'm reminded of life in BalTimOre where the prison/military mentality permeated 'normal' social relations.
"The smart ones were the worst: throwing kids in the slammer for leaning on a few jerks in order to get a decent car and a suit, while themselves looting nations wholesale and counting the corpses in millions." (p 126) Maybe Hogan does know what he's talking about after all.
I reckon you might not even need to be an SF nerd anymore to recognize the origin of one of these words: "a mile from the remote-directed "waldo" assembly robot he'd been controlling." (p 146) Heinlein's coinage might be one of the most successfully assimilated.
"Their perceptions had been shaped by media depictions, which Linc now had no doubt were contrived deliberately to mislead and misinform." (p 207) Indeed. Its interesting to me that Hogan's analysis is very anarchist & apparently uncensored here but I wonder if his publisher would draw the line on any linguistic eccentricities.
James P. Hogan's Outward Bound
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
Schmeck. This is one of those bks that has ZILCH originality to the writing. As such, despite my liking aspects of the plot, I found it a very monotonous read. This virtually pukes w/ taught writing. AND it's a "JupiterTM" [imagine "TM" in superscript] novel - Jupiter's trademarked. Trademark my dick, why doncha?!
The basic story's about a gangster kid repurposing his life for outer-space, discovering a more positive side to himself.
"Linc waved the rest aside with a shake of his head and peeled a fifty off a roll he produced from his belt.
""Say, are you sure? . . ." But his father was already reaching for it. "I'll have it back for you by—"
""It doesn't matter. Keep it," Linc said curtly.
"And he left before the taste in his mouth could get any worse. Bad luck could happen to anybody, and anyone might be in need of a helping hand one day. But to have no pride. That was something else." - p 17
I kindof found it unconvincing. maybe the author has direct experience w/ impoverished desperate living, maybe his version of it is based on watching TV. Dunno.
As Linc get recruited into off-Earth living, he gets this spiel:
"["]Command through loyalty, not authority. Respect in place of fear. Competence and knowledge, the only true wealth." The Director looked around at their expression as they puzzled over the words. He gave them several seconds and then explained, "Because out where we are, you can't afford to waste human talent. You have to harness the potential that exists in everyone for doing something worthwhile and being needed. There isn't any room for passengers. And in particular, there is no room for a mass of unthinking, obedient sheep, whose only function is to be exploited and controlled by a privileged few. Everyone must be free to become the most they are capable of."" - p 100
& it's thanks to anarchistic passages like that that this bk squeaked by w/ a 3 star rating. Otherwise, it wd've been 2 stars.
""We're not recruiting for some elite unit of the army or anything like that. We have beginnings of a whole society taking shape. New people are going to be born there—in fact, they are being born already—and that means as varied as people come. A society that couldn't absorb all kinds wouldn't be much use. is it supposed to eliminate the ones who don't fit? Society should be shaped to fit people they way they are. It's trying to do it the other way that causes the problems."" - p 106
This is the (near) future but entertainment is still what's become the same-old-same-old: "A brown-skinned kid called Muddy (he was presumably from Mississippi) did a creditable job as deejay, and others who fancied their talents took turns at rendering live vocals." - p 110
Despite alternative expectations, Linc gets recruited into the outer-space army ANYWAY: "In some ways Linc's first impression was that his existence had regressed from the quality it had attained at Coulie and Seville Trace to something more like the detention conditions he had known previously. A crop-headed sergeant called Schultz, who was in charge of cadet basic training, shouted incessantly and was satisfied by nothing. Every minor infraction became a reason for personal degradation and abuse. Linc gritted his teeth and reminded himself that he had chosen to accept it." (p 121) Ah.. "Every [deviation] became a[n excuse] for personal degradation and abuse.": I'm reminded of life in BalTimOre where the prison/military mentality permeated 'normal' social relations.
"The smart ones were the worst: throwing kids in the slammer for leaning on a few jerks in order to get a decent car and a suit, while themselves looting nations wholesale and counting the corpses in millions." (p 126) Maybe Hogan does know what he's talking about after all.
I reckon you might not even need to be an SF nerd anymore to recognize the origin of one of these words: "a mile from the remote-directed "waldo" assembly robot he'd been controlling." (p 146) Heinlein's coinage might be one of the most successfully assimilated.
"Their perceptions had been shaped by media depictions, which Linc now had no doubt were contrived deliberately to mislead and misinform." (p 207) Indeed. Its interesting to me that Hogan's analysis is very anarchist & apparently uncensored here but I wonder if his publisher would draw the line on any linguistic eccentricities.
May 29, 2014
I read the book, Outward Bound, By James P. Hogan for an English project. This book is an amazing futuristic space novel. This is the story of one Linc Marani and his journey through his rollercoaster of a life. The story starts with showing him as a convict and by the end he has become a hard working first class citizen. This is the marvelous story of his change and what he went through before it could happen. The slow influx of multiple minor characters and the great definition when applying detail throughout the story has made this story a really good read. I personally enjoyed the futuristic feel to the story a great deal more than I thought I would. This book also brings to light a revolutionary idea of taking minor convicts and training them to use their natural abilities to their fullest potential. This act of kindness usually convinces the convicts to stay on, continue their intense training, and become what they call outzoners or people that live in the outzone. The outzone is the term for the colonies the people running the reformation program are using the ex-convicts to build and fill with people. The story follows Linc as he takes all of the trials thrown at him and comes out a friendly, strong, kind, and ingenious leader. During his training they put him through many stages first a physical training program, then a program used to develop their intellect and thinking prowess, and finally a specialization stage where their results from the other stages is used, along with their preference, to decide what to train them in. Linc learns to enjoy this training once he realizes there is no real catch. In the story they use technology far more advanced than anything in existence today. This factor really intrigued me which kept me reading long enough for me to reach each and every plot twist. Between that and the number of plot twists there were made the story really fun. This story not only holds amazing technological and teaching advancement but also has a love interest for lady readers. I am someone who isn’t usually into this sort of book but this time it was definitely a great read. I’d say that it is a perfect read for anyone and everyone that so much as looks at the cover. I think all of my review has gone to show that I really enjoyed this book and I hope that anyone else reading it does just as much if not more. I can only thank my English teacher for assigning me this paper because truthfully I probably wouldn’t have read this amazing book.
July 5, 2010
Good YA book for boys. Had fascinating scientific information but a good story as well. Combining insight and emtions with action. Supposedly it's the Sixth in the Jupiter series written by this writer.
September 26, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews