The Gold at the Starbow's End

Last updated
"The Gold at the Starbow's End"
Short story by Frederik Pohl
Gold Starbow Analog.jpg
CountryFlag of the United States.svg  USA
Language English
Genre(s) Science fiction
Publication
Published in Analog
Publication typePeriodical
Publisher Condé Nast
Media typeMagazine
Publication dateMarch 1972

"The Gold at the Starbow's End" is a science fiction novella by American writer Frederik Pohl. Originally published in the March 1972 issue of Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact , it was nominated for both the 1973 Hugo Award for Best Novella [1] and the 1973 Nebula Award for Best Novella. [2] It did win the 1973 Locus Award for Best Novella. [3]

Contents

Writing in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction , John Clute and Brian Stableford noted that Pohl's longer work had greatly improved after he stopped being the editor of Galaxy Magazine and the Worlds of If in 1969. They considered "The Gold at the Starbow's End" to be an important transitional work leading to his better-known work of the late 1970s and 1980s. [4] As the editor of Platinum Pohl (a collection of Pohl's work), James Frenkel described "The Gold at the Starbow's End" as a "wild adventure" that also addressed "the conflict between the needs of science and the exigencies of balancing a budget". [5]

Pohl later expanded the novella into a full-length novel, which was published in 1982 under the title Starburst . [4]

Plot summary

The story is told with two narrative devices—reports from members of the crew of the U.S. Starship Constitution alternating with a traditional third-person narration of the activities back on Earth. The main protagonist of the activities on Earth is Dr. Dieter von Knefhausen, the scientist in charge of the U.S. space program.

In the first report from the starship, the reader learns that the ship is approximately one month into a multi-year journey to the Alpha Centauri star system, where the crew will begin colonization of the planet Alpha-Aleph. Already, the crew is finding they have too much free time and have begun filling that time by studying various problems in mathematics. In the first narration of the action on Earth, the reader learns that society has become dystopian. The possibility of colonizing Alpha-Aleph is a source of hope for a better future.

As the story progresses, the reader is told that the existence of the planet Alpha-Aleph is a hoax, perpetrated not only on the American people but also on the crew of the starship. The true purpose of the mission is to place the crew in a position where they will have nothing to do other than study mathematics. The hoax was the idea of Knefhausen, who believes that, if deprived of any other means of recreation, the crew will succeed in making scientific breakthroughs that will then be broadcast back to Earth. Knefhausen's theory proves true, but he learns that the crew quickly becomes bored with technological applications of their new-found mathematical prowess. Instead, they become increasingly interested in using it to develop their understanding of art and philosophy. These new understandings give the crew an unusual control over the physical universe and, by the end of the story, they have achieved god-like powers.

Two recurring mathematical themes in the story are Carnap-Ramsey sentences [6] and Godel encoding. [7]

The word "starbow" in the story's title is a word coined by one of the characters on the starship. It refers to the rainbow-like effect seen when stars are undergoing a relativistic Doppler effect. [8]

Extension to novel length

In the novel the crew of the Constitution exact revenge on Earth by sending a beam of "strange" particles back to the home planet, causing all nuclear materials to melt down harmlessly, reducing the population to poverty in the absence of nuclear power. The last section relates the events surrounding the return of the crew's children to Earth.

Publication history

Shortly after its original appearance in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, "The Gold at the Starbow's End" became the title story of a collection of Pohl's works. It also appeared in two best-of-the-year anthologies: Best Science Fiction of 1972 (for which Pohl was the editor) and The 1973 Annual World's Best SF .

Since then, it has been anthologized at least six times, including one in Italian translation (under the title "Alpha Aleph"). The story also appears in two collections devoted to Pohl's work: the already-mentioned The Gold at the Starbow's End (1972) and Platinum Pohl (2005).

Short story collection

The Gold at the Starbow's End is a collection of Pohl's stories published in the United States and Canada by Ballantine Books in August 1972. It was published in Britain by Gollancz Science Fiction in June 1973, followed by a paperback edition from Panther Books in January 1975. Contents are as follows:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vernor Vinge</span> American computer scientist and writer (born 1944)

Vernor Steffen Vinge is an American science fiction author and retired professor. He taught mathematics and computer science at San Diego State University. He is the first wide-scale popularizer of the technological singularity concept and among the first authors to present a fictional "cyberspace". He has won the Hugo Award for his novels A Fire Upon the Deep (1992), A Deepness in the Sky (1999), Rainbows End (2006), and novellas Fast Times at Fairmont High (2002), and The Cookie Monster (2004).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philip José Farmer</span> American science fiction and fantasy writer (1918–2009)

Philip José Farmer was an American author known for his science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories.

The Heechee Saga, also known as the Gateway series, is a series of science fiction novels and short stories by Frederik Pohl. The Heechee are an advanced alien race that visited the Solar System hundreds of millennia ago and then mysteriously disappeared. They left behind bases containing artifacts, including working starships, which are discovered and exploited by humanity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gardner Dozois</span> American science fiction author and editor (1947–2018)

Gardner Raymond Dozois was an American science fiction author and editor. He was the founding editor of The Year's Best Science Fiction anthologies (1984–2018) and was editor of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine (1986–2004), garnering multiple Hugo and Locus Awards for those works almost every year. He also won the Nebula Award for Best Short Story twice. He was inducted to the Science Fiction Hall of Fame on June 25, 2011.

Michael Lawson Bishop is an American writer. Over four decades and in more than thirty books, he has created what has been called a "body of work that stands among the most admired and influential in modern science fiction and fantasy literature."

<i>Platinum Pohl</i>

Platinum Pohl is a collection of thirty science fiction stories by Frederik Pohl first published in December 2005 by Tor Books (ISBN 0-312-87527-4). It includes a volume introduction and story introductions by the editor, James Frenkel, plus an afterword by Pohl.

<i>The Fifth Head of Cerberus</i> 1972 novella by Gene Wolfe

The Fifth Head of Cerberus is the title of both a novella and a single-volume collection of three novellas, written by American science fiction and fantasy author Gene Wolfe, both published in 1972. The novella was included in the anthology Nebula Award Stories Eight.

The science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein (1907–1988) was productive during a writing career that spanned the last 49 years of his life; the Robert A. Heinlein bibliography includes 32 novels, 59 short stories and 16 collections published during his life. Four films, two TV series, several episodes of a radio series, at least two songs and a board game derive more or less directly from his work. He wrote a screenplay for one of the films. Heinlein edited an anthology of other writers' science fiction short stories.

<i>Beyond Fantasy Fiction</i> US fantasy fiction magazine (1953–1955))

Beyond Fantasy Fiction was a US fantasy fiction magazine edited by H. L. Gold, with only ten issues published from 1953 to 1955. The last two issues carried the cover title of Beyond Fiction, but the publication's name for copyright purposes remained as before.

"The Time Trap" is the twelfth episode of the first season of the American animated science fiction television series Star Trek. It first aired in the NBC Saturday morning lineup on November 24, 1973, and was written by American actress and screenwriter Joyce Perry.

"The Merchants of Venus", also known by the title "The Merchants of Venus Underground", is a science fiction novella by American writer Frederik Pohl published in 1972 as part of the collection The Gold at the Starbow's End.

Tor.com is an online science fiction and fantasy magazine published by Tor Books, a division of Macmillan Publishers. The magazine publishes articles, reviews, original short fiction, re-reads and commentary on speculative fiction.

<i>The 1973 Annual Worlds Best SF</i>

The 1973 Annual World's Best SF is an anthology of science fiction short stories edited by Donald A. Wollheim and Arthur W. Saha, the second volume in a series of nineteen. It was first published in paperback by DAW Books in May 1973, followed by a hardcover edition issued in August of the same year by the same publisher as a selection of the Science Fiction Book Club. For the hardcover edition the original cover art of Jack Gaughan was replaced by a new cover painting by William S. Shields. The paperback edition was reissued by DAW in December 1978 under the variant title Wollheim's World's Best SF: Series Two, this time with cover art by Larry Oritz.

<i>The 1975 Annual Worlds Best SF</i>

The 1975 Annual World's Best SF is an anthology of science fiction short stories edited by Donald A. Wollheim and Arthur W. Saha, the fourth volume in a series of nineteen. It was first published in paperback by DAW Books in May 1975, followed by a hardcover edition issued in September of the same year by the same publisher as a selection of the Science Fiction Book Club. For the hardcover edition the original cover art of Jack Gaughan was replaced by a new cover painting by Richard V. Corben. The paperback edition was reissued by DAW in December 1980 under the variant title Wollheim's World's Best SF: Series Four, this time with cover art by Vicente Segrelles. A British hardcover edition was published by The Elmfield Press in November 1976 under the variant title The World's Best SF Short Stories No. 2.

<i>The Best Science Fiction of the Year 2</i>

The Best Science Fiction of the Year #2 is an anthology of science fiction short stories edited by American writer Terry Carr, the second volume in a series of sixteen. It was first published in paperback by Ballantine Books in July 1973, and reissued in May 1976.

"A Momentary Taste of Being" is a science fiction novella written by Alice Bradley Sheldon, published under the pseudonym James Tiptree, Jr. in the 1975 anthology The New Atlantis and Other Novellas of Science Fiction.

This is an incomplete list of works by American space opera and science fiction author Frederik Pohl, including co-authored works.

<i>Alpha 3</i> (Robert Silverberg anthology) 1972 anthology edited by Robert Silverberg

Alpha 3 is an anthology of science fiction short works edited by Robert Silverberg. It was first published in paperback by Ballantine Books in October 1972.

<i>Nebula Awards 32</i> Anthology of science fiction short works

Nebula Awards 32 is an anthology of science fiction short works edited by Jack Dann. It was first published in hardcover and trade paperback by Harcourt Brace in April 1998.

<i>Starburst</i> (novel) 1982 novel by Frederick Pohl

Starburst is a science fiction novel by American writer Frederik Pohl, published in 1982. It is an expansion of his 1972 novella The Gold at the Starbow's End.

References

  1. ↑ "1973 Hugo Awards". World Science Fiction Society. Archived from the original on May 7, 2011. Retrieved April 19, 2010.
  2. ↑ "1973 Nebula Awards". Locus . Archived from the original on June 5, 2011. Retrieved December 6, 2011.
  3. ↑ Locus Award for Best Novella Winners accessed March 4, 2015
  4. 1 2 Clute, John; Stableford, Brian (August 28, 2015). "Frederik Pohl". sf-encyclopedia.com. Retrieved October 6, 2015.
  5. ↑ Pohl, Frederick (2005). James Frenkel (ed.). Platinum Pohl: The Collected Best Stories. New York: Tom Doherty Associates (Tor). p. 336. ISBN   0-312-87527-4.
  6. ↑ Carnap statements are introduced in the section titled "Constitution Three", and are mentioned again in "Constitution Four" and "Constitution Five" (at pages 345, 353 and 358 of the Platinum Pohl collection ISBN   0-312-87527-4).
  7. ↑ Godel encoding first appears in the "Constitution Four" section (at page 352 of the Platinum Pohl collection ISBN   0-312-87527-4), but is discussed more fully in the "Washington Four" section (starting at page 354 of Platinum Pohl).
  8. ↑ The coining takes place in the fourth and fifth paragraphs of the section titled "Constitution Four" (which starts at page 351 in the Platinum Pohl collection ( ISBN   0-312-87527-4)).
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.