Star Probe

by Joseph Green

One of the oldest dreams of Man, contact with another intelligent species, fulfilled in 2011! But was man ready to accept the opportunity? The New Friends of the Earth, a powerful and activist radical movement dedicated to the husbanding of Earth's resources and especially to the abandonment of the Space frontier was determined that no contact should be made with the Star probe. And it had the muscle to enforce its ban.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

177 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 1976

Reviews

[Kevin Phyland · Rating 2 out of 5]

The massive investments in space exploration and habitation have come to the attention of the more rabid elements of the new Friends Of The Earth (FOE) who feel the money should be better spent on the poor and hungry, ignoring all the employment, spinoffs and circulation of money that new technology makes. Harold Hentson, head of a large space corporation intends to send a mission to a newly discovered interstellar probe which is the first contact with aliens, but even that is seen by the more radical members of FOE (like the female leader Sarcoma) as counterproductive to Gaea. Hentson plans to use a computer overlay of his dead father on the mind of his idiot son to pilot the one-way suicide mission. (Let’s not examine too closely the appalling insensitivity it takes to sacrifice a son with the mind of a two-year old). Anyhoo, the rendezvous happens despite opposition at launch but Sarcoma manages to hijack a second ship and pilot with the aim of stopping the return of the alien ship and its technology. Pretty much a straw man argument against antitechnologists (who deserve much of the treatment here) but none of the characters generate any sympathy. An average and heavy-handed effort from Joseph Green.

[Jules Jones]

[2010-01-22] Astronomers discover alien space probe heading towards Earth. Fanatical environmentalists who have already killed off most of the space programme decide they have to stop any attempt to make contact with the probe, lest the people be seduced into wasting time and money on space research and high technology, when they could be fixing the problems on Earth. Wealthy space entrepreneur Henson, owner of the only private enterprise in space, sees the opportunity the probe presents, and is determined to bring the benefits to mankind.[return][return]This one was a Did Not Finish for me within the first five pages, and the next five didn't rescue it. I was just too irritated by the apparent attitude that all environmentalists are violent fanatics who are anti-technology. I can certainly find Green Puritans annoying, but this seemed to be presenting the extreme fringe as the norm. Now it's more than possible that I'm grossly misjudging the book and will find that it does address this further on; and I say that mindful of a "bailed after the first chapter" review I read recently that demonstrated exactly that problem. In fact, a quick glance at the last couple of pages suggests that it's a lot less black and white by the end. But I have a TBR mountain that's going to take me a couple of years to get through, and no particular reason to give this book another 25 pages to get my attention (unlike a couple of other books with similar annoyances which I've read). This one's going in the Oxfam box, unless the next book by this author in the TBR mountain gives me a reason to retrieve it.[return][return][Later: checking on LibraryThing, I find that I liked the author's short story in New Writings in SF 10, and the tone of that one suggests that the annoying tone of this one is an opening gambit. The book gets a reprieve, but I'll read it some other time when I'm feeling more receptive.][return][return][return]http://julesjones.livejournal.com/361...

[SciFiOne · Rating 4 out of 5]

1987 grade B-

[Thomas · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poorly plotted with missed opportunities in characterization and technological exploration.

[Marko]

I have the german edition: Invasion aus dem Nichts