Songs From The Stars

by Norman Spinrad

In the "Big Smash", most of Earth was blown to cinders. Centuries after the big smash, the successor civilization of Aquaria more or less flourishes on the west coast of what was once the United States, a society built on White Science, following the "law of muscle, sun, wind and water". Only the sorcerers of Space Systems, Inc., dare traffic in the "Black Sciences" of atomic, petroleum and physics which destroyed the old golden age of space, for they alone know of the higher destiny that awaits man in the abandoned Big Ear space station. For centuries, they have secretly infiltrated Aquarius through the gray town of La Mirage while crafting a spaceship capable of reaching the Big Ear and turning man's ears once more to the mysterious Songs from the Stars.
Now, through the Aquarians Clear Blue Lou, perfect master of the Clear Blue Way, and Sunshine Sue, queen of the Word of Mouth communication network, they scheme to bring their ultimate scenario to fruition. Sex, love, emotion, karma, destiny, perhaps even The Way itself, all become elements in the scenario of Arnold Harker, Black Scientist, sorcerer, project manager of Operation Enterprise. But when Clear Blue Lou, Sunshine Sue and Arnold Harker finally confront the interstellar brotherhood of sentient beings, they find, each in his way, that The Galactic Way utterly transcends their hopes, wildest dreams and darkest fears.

Genres: Science Fiction, Solarpunk, Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy

Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Born in New York in 1940, Norman Spinrad is an acclaimed SF writer.

Norman Spinrad, born in New York City, is a graduate of the Bronx High School of Science. In 1957 he entered City College of New York and graduated in 1961 with a Bachelor of Science degree as a pre-law major. In 1966 he moved to San Francisco, then to Los Angeles, and now lives in Paris. He married fellow novelist N. Lee Wood in 1990; they divorced in 2005. They had no children. Spinrad served as President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) from 1980 to 1982 and again from 2001 to 2002.

Reviews

[Peter Tillman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reread, and it's pretty good. Published in 1980, it's a post-apocalyptic novel with a 1970s California vibe that grates at times -- you may tire of the many iterations of the down-and-dirty natural man and such. But it's a decent period piece, with some surprising twists. I have a copy in my personal library and presumably read it at some point, but remembered nothing of it in 2019. Except for the mildly-salacious cover art.... A book for Spinrad and 1970s fans. His ninth book. Read the blurbs first (as always). It's not quite up to them, but worth considering. Maybe. I did finish it. 2.8 stars (or so).

[Ira (SF Words of Wonder) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Check out a book discussion with Deb the Omnivorous Reader HERE.

This post apocalypse novel takes place mostly in transformed California, where new age hippies have inherited the earth and follow the ‘Clear Way’ a karmic philosophy that only uses clean energy. They shun dark energy, like coal, oil and atomics and think of it as sorcery. One of our main characters is named Clear Blue Lou and he’s a sort of judge, tasked with deciding if the Sunshine Tribe knowingly bought atomic powered radios to progress their mission of establishing a new communication network. Sunshine Sue, the leader of the Sunshine Tribe, is the other main character and she gets both herself and Lou wrapped up in a bigger conspiracy that ends up leading to the title of this novel. There is some great, unique world building in the beginning followed by some plot intrigue that builds up to some bizarre, dreamlike sequences towards the end. The ending was a bit anti-climatic but I overall enjoyed this novel.

[Deb Omnivorous Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good, quality Spinrad!

A content dense, well writing story with complex sentence structure, a lot of social worldbuilding and some fine characters. The actual core concept behind the Songs from the Stars is fascinating and the storyline execution just got better and better. The ending might be slightly weak but that is the worst criticism I can really level against it.

The early world building is very well done show not tell, with a main protagonist, Clear Blue Lou flying his 'Eagle' to the town of La Miraje where he has been summoned as a 'clear master' to decide justice in a case of black sorcery.

We have a world that has come after the 'smash' to respect things that are made with 'wind, sun and muscle' and consider them white karma. Anything that uses technology is black karma and everyone is really concerned with what level of grey they are, since some small trickles of tech are necessary.

Published in 1980 this feels very based in the 70's and 60's even, with the post apocalyptic society of Aquaria and it's hippy vibes: I kept wanting to burst into songs from Hair, the musical.

A really good story, which I shall not in any way spoil, and not a fast read, because there is so much in it.

[Olethros · Rating 3 out of 5]

-¿New Wave casi controlada después de la New Wave descontrolada?.-

Género. Ciencia-Ficción.

Lo que nos cuenta. Celeste Lou se dirige a La Mirage para impartir justicia en un evento en el que parece que hay indicios de brujería, en concreto núcleos de energía radioactiva pertenecientes a la ciencia negra, algo prohibido desde que cientos de años atrás el planeta fuese casi arrasado por tecnología humana destructiva. Allí también se dirige Luminosa Sue para tratar de defender el caso, porque considera que alguien ha puesto una trampa a los suyos, y tiene razón porque la situación ha sido planificada por algunas personas que creen necesaria la vuelta de esa tecnología para alejarse de la ley del músculo, sol, viento y agua, con los ojos puestos en un remanente de la Era Espacial.

¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:

http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...

[Temucano · Rating 3 out of 5]

La primera parte tiene más de fantasía, comunidad hippie, sexo y drogas. Al principio entretiene, pero tanto de lo mismo vuelve cansina la lectura y un golpe de timón se hacía necesario entre tanto humo. Es por ello que agradecí la llegada de un viaje al espacio para enderezar el rumbo, ya que de ahí en más Spinrad regala una visión galáctica soberbia, con imágenes cósmicas algo lisérgicas, pero fascinantes.

En todo caso lejos de "Jinetes de la antorcha", y algo menos también de la más famosa, "Incordie a Jack Barron".

[Cody · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set in the post-apocalyptic society of Jefferson, this is the story of Sunshine Sue and Clear-Blue Lou, two protagonists. It's a kind of metaphor for our times, like all scifi, but it also boasts an unbelievable ending (in more ways than one) and some unforgettable characters. Spacers vs. Hippies - who could ask for more?

[Sotiris Makrygiannis · Rating 5 out of 5]

fascinating story , highly philosophical but with few scenes lacking originality but that bc I've set a high standard for his writings . A prophet and clearly a master author of SciFi books and star trek movies. I cannot praise him and this book enough.

[John Defrog: global citizen, local gadfly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd read Spinrad twice before this – A World Between, which didn't make much of an impression, and Bug Jack Barron, which at the time I didn't care for because Spinrad buried an otherwise good story in free-association 60s hip slang. However, this is the novel where I finally "got it" and became a fan. It's a relatively straightforward post-apocalyptic tale of galactic redemption, and it’s full of interesting ideas. Some lapses into corny 60s sentiment aside, it’s a good read. One of these days I'm going to revisit A World Between and Bug Jack Barron to see if I can appreciate them better than I did the first time I read them.

[Liriope · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book. Some of the later scenes, with the songs from the stars is a bit tedious, but the story as a whole was very enjoyable. The world and culture Spinrad crafted was intriguing and charming, if not startlingly original.

Definitely recommend to any sci-fi or Spinrad fans.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

As long as you're willing to accept its conceits, this book is pretty groovy, and contains a surprisingly unique vision of the galactic civilization.

[Joseph Sobanski · Rating 2 out of 5]

Songs from the Stars is very much a hippy infused science fiction novel. I found the terminology used to be more distracting than immersive (I still have no idea what a "william" is), and the copious sex a tad embarrassing. Our two protagonists are named Clear Blue Lou and Sunshine Sue, and man they are sooo far out. Lou is like some kind of judge and Sue a journalist, and both are co-opted into a plot to travel into space to retrieve a lost message from the Stars. I actually thought the story picked up once they left the planet, and the time inside the space station with the titular Songs from the Stars I found to be actually engrossing and tense. I appreciated the internal tension of the novel between technology and morality/nature, and Spinrad seems to want to hint that balance is the objective, but the story seems to rather favor morality/nature over technology, which is unsurprising considering the hippy tone of the novel. Ultimately Songs from the Stars had some promise, and even shined at times, but it was just too much a hippy novel for me, in terms of the slang, sex and moral messaging. 2.5 rounded down.

[Xabi1990 · Rating 2 out of 5]

4/10. Media de los 4 libros leídos del autor : 4/10

De los libros suyos que he leído salvo "Agente del Caos", con un 7/10, lo mejor hubiera sido prescindir.

[Juan Mesa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Es una Utopia/Distopia, los personajes son muy bien manejados, aunque en la parte final el brujo se torna acartonado, casi como el "cliche" de cualquier inquisidor de la edad media.

[Ralph McEwen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little heavy on the Karma, but a very good story anyway.

[Bookmole · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first read this on original publication. It speaks well for the book that reading again, 34 years later, and it is still a good book.