Star Fire

by Ingo Swann

Essef - Fictional story about a rock superstar who has discovered his own astonishing Psychic powers, his out of body mind voyages have revealed rival Russian and American instalations for developing psychic weaponry.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Thriller, Paranormal, Fantasy

314 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Ingo Douglas Swann

Reviews

[Del · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reordered this from Amazon...great book this.. Read it years ago and was intrigued by the storyline. Glad I now have another copy.
Re-read the book and was still sufficiently impressed to allow the 5 star rating to remain in place!

[Thomas Spellman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful story that engages the imagination to see the world through "inner eyes" and wonder what would be possible if we had the level of advanced psychic functioning that the main character possesses.

[Tobin Elliott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well (and I chose this opening word carefully), this one was interesting.

I originally read this when it was first released in 1978, probably on the cusp of turning 16, so still very much wanting to believe in all the cool stuff that was in this novel. It was just prior to my skeptic years (which last to this day).

Swann presents Dan Merriweather, rock star who also happens to be the most powerful possesser of psychic abilties, and then gives us a cat-and-mouse story of how the military are first threatened by him, then searching for him. It's a neat story, overall, and for the most part, well-written. Swann does like to have his characters start much of the dialogue with, "Well..." (hence my opening) which becomes a touch grating by the end, and he falls solidly into that 70s style of writing where at least a couple of the characters have unusual erotic predilections, and every time a character is introduced, all forward momentum for the story is sacrificed for a too-long backstory that really has no importance to the plot. Full on 70s storywriting 101. Still, overall, it holds up reasonably well.

I enjoyed Swann's wide-eyed enthusiasm for the awesome technology of the DARPAnet that linked a few military and university centres around the world (which, of course, would ultimately translate into the delivery system for far more unusual erotic predilections than Swann ever conceived).

However, for me, the biggest downfall of the novel is the pages and pages and pages and pages and pages of Swann bending and twisting his characters in knots to find new and different ways to explain or legitimize psychic ability as both completely logical and absolutely scientific. It gets a little silly, to be honest.

It honestly would have gone better if he'd just taken the attitude of, "Merriweather's a powerful psychic. Deal with it." It felt like he was trying more to legitmize his own claims than move the story forward.

But, for the most part, this was better written than my 47 year old failing memory remembers and was somewhat entertaining.

[Mike S · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this because I am interested in remote viewing, and after reading about Ingo's RV work I was filled with admiration for his attempts to promote understanding and scientific acceptance of psychic phenomena. Ingo had incredibly accurate periods of time during which his remote viewing was so good it was mind-blowing. He left absolutely no doubt that people can be trained to do RV 'on demand', repeatedly, and that psychic phenomena can be real and repeatable and scientifically verifiable beyond doubt.
Star Fire is interesting because it seems like an idealized version of a psychic who transcends normal human capabilities. Ingo worked hard to promote understanding and acceptance of psychic phenomena, the book shows the challenges involved in doing so, as well as the hopes he held - that encouraging development of these abilities in large numbers of people would help us evolve, and treat one another more humanely. Ingo wanted to help the whole planet, in his own small way, and he worked very hard towards that end for decades.
If you're interested in the psychic world I rate Ingo Swann right at the top as far as required reading.

[Ron Record · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the author bio at the end of the book:

INGO SWANN is America's most researched super-psychic, a fine artist, and a gifted writer. His credentials are unique - he is "a cosmic psychonaut who probably has a better grasp of parapsychology than most professional researchers" ... a "sensitive" who has caused temperature changes in remote targets by pure force of will, and who used out-of-body astral projection to correctly predict the major scientific surprise of the Mariner 10 Mercury probe! His powers have been irrefutably demonstrated at the prestigious Stanford Research Institute.

Read more about Swann in the Wikipedia article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingo_Swann

[Sir Blue · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Americans develop Psychic powers.
Russians try to steal them.
Theres a war between Russia and America.
Then America must stop psychic powers.
Gay dope heads own all prostitutes.
Money belongs to the elderly.

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Swann was a excellent fiction writer

Amazing fictional story about a psychic who decides to end the American vs Russian arms race. Has echos of 5G. Highly recommend read.

[Blake · Rating 3 out of 5]

(FYI I tend to only review one book per series, unless I want to change my scoring by 0.50 or more of a star. -- I tend not to read reviews until after I read a book, so I go in with an open mind.)

I'm finally going through my physical library owned book list, to add more older basic reviews. If I liked a book enough to keep then they are at the least a 3 star.

I'm only adding one book per author and I'm not going to re-read every book to be more accurate, not when I have 1000s of new to me authors to try (I can't say no to free books....)

First time read the author's work?: Yes

Will you be reading more?: Yes

Would you recommend?: Yes


------------
How I rate Stars: 5* = I loved (must read all I can find by the author)
4* = I really enjoyed (got to read all the series and try other books by the author).
3* = I enjoyed (I will continue to read the series)
or
3* = Good book just not my thing (I realised I don't like the genre or picked up a kids book to review in error.)

All of the above scores means I would recommend them!
-
2* = it was okay (I might give the next book in the series a try, to see if that was better IMHO.)
1* = Disliked

Note: adding these basic 'reviews' after finding out that some people see the stars differently than I do - hoping this clarifies how I feel about the book. :-)

[Donald · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gave this one a fiver for several reasons. That it remains fairly believable today, twenty-six years after its copyright says a lot on so many fronts. There are authors whose work can't boast the same ability to age gracefully. That it was written by the one person, it has been proven, who could probably have come at least very close to the powers represented in the character of Dan Merriweather makes the story that much more compelling. After all, Ingo Swann had seen the rings of Jupiter well before Voyager I did in 1979. He apparently could travel to distant places without the need of his physical body. Freaky, that.
And, well, if Ingo indeed can know of this rating so far in time from his own demise, I'd like to thank him for the eye opening ride through the fields of his imagination.
Or was this a bit of post-history?
Yikes...

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a reread for me. It still stands up after quite a few years with only a few tech details being noticeably outdated. It nicely confirms all the fears/stereotypes of government, arms dealers, businessmen - that they don't care about people and are callous and self centered - all true. Good take on psi powers, almost left a feeling of hope. Finally - Bring on the revolution.

[TheOldWoman&TheSea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even though this book is well written, likely partially autobiographical, and has an interesting topic, ... I just did not enjoy reading it.
High-society, the military, and cloak-and-dagger settings are just not my thing. And unfortunately, the book is more about that than about 'human evolution'.

[Sury Vemagal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book long back; maybe 40 years . But the impression still remains. It was a very stimulating read. The author was famous for his psychic powers. Part scifi, part mystical. Highly recommended.

[Peter Forster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ingo Swann was a writer, artist and a well-tested remote viewer. Although this book is presented as speculative fiction, it includes a number of the author's ideas about the ways in which psi phenomena will develop and manifest. That made it worth reading.

[Liquidlasagna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ingo Swann was a true freak, but his fiction is way more enjoyable than his non-fiction

[Roger Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Depending on your background and aspirations this could easily be rated a 4 star book. It's about mind over matter; over governments and our quiet private thoughts of triumph. It's a plot that tight ropes nationalism and humanitarian ideals. Peace vs war.

[Quinton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a work of fiction, but to enjoy the story, you would benefit from first reading about the work the author did with the US intelligence agencies in creating psychic spying offices and methods.