Star Maker

by Olaf Stapledon

Overview

This bold exploration of the cosmos ventures into intelligent star clusters and mingles among alien races for a memorable vision of infinity. Cited as a key influence by science-fiction masters such as Doris Lessing, this classic has left its mark not only in modern literature but also in the fields of social anthropology and philosophy.
Olaf Stapledon's 1937 successor to Last and First Men offers another entrancing speculative history of the future. Its narrator, a contemporary Earthman, joins a community of explorers who travel to the farthest reaches of the universe, seeking traces of intelligence. Along the way, they encounter nautiloid water beings, races of hyperspiders and hyperfish, composite group intelligences, plantlike creatures, and other strange life forms. Their dramatic voyage unfolds against a backdrop of life-and-death struggles on a cosmic scale.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780486466835
Publisher:	Dover Publications
Publication date:	05/19/2008
Series:	Dover Literature: Science Fiction/Fantasy
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

A preeminent figure of British science fiction, Olaf Stapledon (1886-1950) wrote several influential novels. Praised by H. G. Wells, Aldous Huxley, and Virginia Woolf, Stapledon's works introduced such innovative concepts as genetic engineering and terraforming.

Table of Contents

Preface
1. The Earth
2. Interstellar Travel
3. The Other Earth
4. I Travel Again
5. Worlds Innumerable
6. Intimations of the Star Maker
7. More Worlds
8. Concerning the Explorers
9. The Community of Worlds
10. A Vision of the Galaxy
11. Stars and Vermin
12. A Stunted Cosmical Spirit
13. The Beginning and the End
14. The Myth or Creation
15. The Maker and His Works
16. Epilogue: Back to Earth
A Note on Magnitude
Diagrams

What People are Saying About This

Robert Shelton

“Star Maker is a masterpiece in the field of science fiction, a bursting to the brim compendium of ideas for later science fiction writers.”

From the Publisher

"A buried treasure of 20th century literature reemerges in this splendid and practical edition. McCarthy's revealing introduction and notes display the genius of Star Maker to a new century."—Robert Crossley, author of Olaf Stapledon: Speaking for the Future

"A buried treasure of 20th century literature reemerges in this splendid and practical edition. McCarthy's revealing introduction and notes display the genius of Star Maker to a new century."—Robert Crossley, author of Olaf Stapledon: Speaking for the Future

"Star Maker is a masterpiece in the field of science fiction, a bursting to the brim compendium of ideas for later science fiction writers."—Robert Shelton, Associate Professor of Science and Technology Studies, Michigan State University

Robert Crossley

"A buried treasure of 20th century literature reemerges in this splendid and practical edition. McCarthy's revealing introduction and notes display the genius of Star Maker to a new century."
— Robert Crossley, author of Olaf Stapledon: Speaking for the Future

Editorial Reviews

"A buried treasure of 20th century literature reemerges in this splendid and practical edition. McCarthy's revealing introduction and notes display the genius of Star Maker to a new century."—Robert Crossley, author of Olaf Stapledon: Speaking for the Future

"A buried treasure of 20th century literature reemerges in this splendid and practical edition. McCarthy's revealing introduction and notes display the genius of Star Maker to a new century."—Robert Crossley, author of Olaf Stapledon: Speaking for the Future

"Star Maker is a masterpiece in the field of science fiction, a bursting to the brim compendium of ideas for later science fiction writers."—Robert Shelton, Associate Professor of Science and Technology Studies, Michigan State University

From the Publisher