Silent Thunder / Universe

by Dean Ing, Robert A. Heinlein

Ing, Dean and Robert A. Heinlein, Silent Thunder and Universe

Genres: Science Fiction

224 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published July 15, 1991

About the author

Dean Charles Ing was an American author, who usually wrote in the science fiction and techno-thriller genres.

He earned a bachelor’s degree from Fresno State University (1956), a master’s degree from San Jose State University (1970), and a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon (1974). It was his work in communication theory at the University of Oregon that prompted him to turn to writing in the 1970s.

Dean Ing was a veteran of the United States Air Force, an aerospace engineer, and a university professor who holds a doctorate in communications theory. He became professional writer in 1977. Ing and his wife lived in Oregon.

Much of Ing's fiction includes detailed, practical descriptions of techniques and methods which would be useful in an individual or group survival situation, including instructions for the manufacture of tools and other implements, the recovery of stuck vehicles and avoidance of disease and injury.

In addition to his fiction writing, Ing wrote nonfiction articles for the survivalist newsletter P.S. Letter, edited by Mel Tappan. Following in the footsteps of sci-fi novelist Pat Frank, Ing included a lengthy nonfiction appendix to his nuclear war survival novel Pulling Through.

In Ing’s fiction, his characters are involved with scientific or engineering solutions and entrepreneurial innovation, elements drawn from his own experience. A lifelong tinkerer, designer, and builder, he was an Air Force crew chief and a senior engineer for United Technologies and Lockheed. His characters know how things work, and they use ingenuity and engineering to solve situational challenges. Ing's work reflects the Oregon traditions of self-reliant independence and suspicion of authority.

“Since I deplore the voracious appetite of the public for entertainment-for-entertainment’s sake,” he told an interviewer in 1982, “most of my work has a clear didactic element. . . . I believe that Jefferson’s ideal of the independent yeoman farmer should be familiar to every generation because I mistrust a technological society in which most members are thoroughly incompetent to maintain the hardware or the software.”

Reviews

[Tomislav · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is Tor Double #35, of a series of 36 double books published from 1988 to 1991 by Tor Books. It contains two novellas. Unlike most of the volumes in the series, this one is not bound tête-bêche (back-to-back and inverted). There is only one cover. The novellas are listed here alphabetically by author; I feel neither should be considered “primary.”

Universe, by Robert A. Heinlein (1941) ****
This novella was originally published in the May 1941 issue of Astounding Science Fiction. Heinlein later combined it with its 1941 sequel, "Common Sense", in his 1963 novel Orphans of the Sky.

It is a classic generation ship story, one of the first such. The population of the ship has forgotten its origin and its mission has become a primitive fable, not literally believed. Hugh Hoyland, a young apprentice Scientist, rediscovers the truth.

Silent Thunder, by Dean Ing (1991) ***
This is the original and only publication of the short novel, 50 years after its companion in this Tor Double. What the two works have in common is a plot that involves rediscovery of hidden truth.

In 1967, amongst information gathered from Germany in the aftermath of World War 2, Walter Kalvin finds out about a powerful secret Nazi weapon – the Donnersprache device. Now America is adopting a new fascism, and powerful forces within the government intend to stop him from learning the truth, and to control the weapon. A thriller, but not a particularly memorable story.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the later Tor doubles containing an original Dean Ing thriller and a classic Heinlein (now there's a redundant description) shorter work. I remembered Universe mostly as the first half of Orphans of the Sky and it was interesting to read it by itself. It's one of the first great lost-colonization generation starship stories, probably more noteworthy for the concept and setting than for the plot and characters. Silent Thunder has a negligible science fiction content (a mechanical persuasion device first used by Hitler), but is a pretty good suspense page-turner. I thought the Heinlein had aged better than the Ing. The cover is single-sided, an interesting Joe DeVito cyber-flag painting shrunk down to thumb-size and buried between huge type with the titles and author names.

[Paul Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one is not quite up to the standard of the other books in the series. The first story, by Dean Ing is not really a science fiction story. It's more of a techno-thriller. The story itself could have used some more work and polish to improve it, as it just feels like a quickly written average story.
The second story, Universe by Robert Heinlein is better than Silent Thunder.
Overall the book is just ok.

[Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would have been better if Dean Ing was removed and published on its own