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Touch the Stars #1
Emergence
You may have heard of the Bilderberg Group, the Trilateral Commission and the Council on Foreign Relations. Likely though, you've never heard of the Hamilton Club.
Since 1880 the world's richest men have been conspiring to "help" the human race. So far the cost of their meddling has included two World Wars, the Red Revolution and the African Debacle. But what of that? The profit will justify the cost of doing business on the way to their version of Utopia.
But now it's the year 2026 and space travel is getting harder and harder to repress. Soon, if a certain Apache space industrialist has his way, the Human Race will be out amongst the stars in force—and out of control. So even if it takes a nuclear strike to do it, Jason Roanhorse has to die.
This revised and updated novel by veteran science fiction author, John Dalmas, and award-winning essayist, Carl Martin, proves to be a tour de force of international power brokers and intrigue. This work establishes Jason Roanhorse as one of those memorable characters that define not only a work, but a genre as well.
Since 1880 the world's richest men have been conspiring to "help" the human race. So far the cost of their meddling has included two World Wars, the Red Revolution and the African Debacle. But what of that? The profit will justify the cost of doing business on the way to their version of Utopia.
But now it's the year 2026 and space travel is getting harder and harder to repress. Soon, if a certain Apache space industrialist has his way, the Human Race will be out amongst the stars in force—and out of control. So even if it takes a nuclear strike to do it, Jason Roanhorse has to die.
This revised and updated novel by veteran science fiction author, John Dalmas, and award-winning essayist, Carl Martin, proves to be a tour de force of international power brokers and intrigue. This work establishes Jason Roanhorse as one of those memorable characters that define not only a work, but a genre as well.
- GenresScience Fiction
318 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
2 people are currently reading
17 people want to read
About the author
John Dalmas
50 books33 followersJohn Dalmas—pseudonym for John Robert Jones—wrote many books based on military and governmental themes throughout his career. He grew up in Minnesota and Michigan and resided in Spokane, Washington. He was a parachute infantryman in WWII and was discharged in 1946 without ever being put seriously in harm's way. He has worked as a longshoreman, merchant seaman, logger, construction worker, and smokejumper. He attended Michigan State University, majoring in forestry, but also took creative writing.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 4, 2019
Touch the Stars - this sure didn't!
This early 80s direct-to-video release, I mean novel, was pretty lackluster. I had a really had time staying interested in any of the characters or anything that was happening.
The plot revolves around a member of the Apache nation who builds an FTL drive. When I first heard about this book, that sounded pretty cool! However, as the plot unfolded, it turned out to be anything but. One of the major problems of this book can be summed up in the scene where the lead character, Jason Roanhorse, takes the press and some global VIP's on tours of the solar system with his new FTL drive. They visit a few of the outer plants and come back. Nobody involved seems to bat an eyelid. Are you JOKING? Since when is space travel so unninteresting? In the book this was the first time people were using an FTL drive. Doesn't anybody CARE? Apparently not and almost the entire novel plays out this way. Wow. Talk about killing your own ideas.
While nobody cares about space or the FTL drive, the evil Hamilton Group wants to kill the lead character so they can gain control of humanity by confining us to Earth. That makes perfect sense! Well, not really, but since nobody in the novel cares, why should I?
The overall effect reminded me of one of those uber cheap 80s direct-to-video VHS releases. When you looked at the box, it promised action, adventure and thrills! When you watched it, you were treated to boredom, lameness and apathy. So it is here.
Speaking of the early 80s, this book did make for a very interesting time capsule. From the vantage point of 1983, we see how humanity became regularly spacefaring by 2010. Zimbabwe, from their capital in SALISBURY (!), has led the way in astonomical studies while our lead character, a smoker by the way, works to find a way to bring MAN to the stars. I guess women just get to stay home. These details and others make this book feel VERY dated, but can also make for an interestinbg glimpse into the world of the late 70s / early 80s.
To be fair, if you're an SF fan or interested in the early 80's view of the 2010s, this might be a good way to waste an afternoon if you have an afetrnoon to waste. Just like an 80s direct-to-video release.
2/5 Stars
This early 80s direct-to-video release, I mean novel, was pretty lackluster. I had a really had time staying interested in any of the characters or anything that was happening.
The plot revolves around a member of the Apache nation who builds an FTL drive. When I first heard about this book, that sounded pretty cool! However, as the plot unfolded, it turned out to be anything but. One of the major problems of this book can be summed up in the scene where the lead character, Jason Roanhorse, takes the press and some global VIP's on tours of the solar system with his new FTL drive. They visit a few of the outer plants and come back. Nobody involved seems to bat an eyelid. Are you JOKING? Since when is space travel so unninteresting? In the book this was the first time people were using an FTL drive. Doesn't anybody CARE? Apparently not and almost the entire novel plays out this way. Wow. Talk about killing your own ideas.
While nobody cares about space or the FTL drive, the evil Hamilton Group wants to kill the lead character so they can gain control of humanity by confining us to Earth. That makes perfect sense! Well, not really, but since nobody in the novel cares, why should I?
The overall effect reminded me of one of those uber cheap 80s direct-to-video VHS releases. When you looked at the box, it promised action, adventure and thrills! When you watched it, you were treated to boredom, lameness and apathy. So it is here.
Speaking of the early 80s, this book did make for a very interesting time capsule. From the vantage point of 1983, we see how humanity became regularly spacefaring by 2010. Zimbabwe, from their capital in SALISBURY (!), has led the way in astonomical studies while our lead character, a smoker by the way, works to find a way to bring MAN to the stars. I guess women just get to stay home. These details and others make this book feel VERY dated, but can also make for an interestinbg glimpse into the world of the late 70s / early 80s.
To be fair, if you're an SF fan or interested in the early 80's view of the 2010s, this might be a good way to waste an afternoon if you have an afetrnoon to waste. Just like an 80s direct-to-video release.
2/5 Stars
May 16, 2020
This was an excellent story. The story revolved around "the Hamilton Club" which started in 1880. Their objective was to keep the worldfrom advancing to a point that it would again fall back to an pre-agrianian world or even worse destroy the world. They had their own idea of an utopia and it was the massed rled by an elite group of people with the massees being completely under control. And of course they were the elites. Jason Roanhorse was trying to accomplish something that would free people from them. He was trying to accomplish space travel and along the way he discovered faster than light travel. The Hamilton Club personnel tried to stop him.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews