A new take on a familiar theme, GIFT FROM THE STARS recounts
what happens when a signal is received from deep space.
From the same premise that served as the starting point for
Carl Sagan's Contact, Gunn develops a story very
different from those that have gone before him.
The story of GIFT FROM THE STARS is broken into several
distinct segments. It begins with the discovery by Adrian
Mast of plans for a space ship in the back of the a UFO
conspiracy book. To his trained eye, the plans appear
genuine and intrigued by the possibilities, he sets off to
find out where the plans came from. Latter segments deal
with the implications of the technology revealed by the
plans, the construction of the spacecraft and the journey to
meet the beings that sent the plans.
Gunn takes the story in some very interesting & novel
directions, but those directions occasionally don't make
sense. When it's convenient for the story, governments and
their agents are short sighted, paranoid villains... or
generous visionaries when that is what is needed to advance
the story. And like any number of SF authors before him,
Gunn can't figure out how to end the story so he resorts to
pseudo-mystical mumbo-jumbo. Despite these flaws - and the
general shortness of the book - this is still a very
interesting work. It's a fascinating exploration of a
classic "what if" scenario, and has some brilliant turns in
it. The section where the space travelers get stuck in a
wormhole where time does not flow properly is a truly
inspired piece of writing.
The age-old question about alien existence and human contact
is explored in a new way in this collection of six novellas,
previously anthologized in Analog magazine. When
disillusioned aerospace engineer Adrian Mast buys a book at
a remainder sale, the last things he expects to find in its
appendix are alien spacecraft designs. With the help of the
bookstore owner, Adrian tracks down the author�only to find
him in a mental institution anguishing over the intentions
of the aliens who sent the designs to him. By bluffing a
bureaucrat intent on thwarting their progress, the two
friends continue their quest for the stars and go ahead with
the spacecraft designs. Having successfully launched their
ship 15 years later, the questions that remain are What
were the intentions of the aliens? and Is mankind
ready to face what's out there?
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