Bouncing Off the Moon (Starsiders Trilogy) - Hardcover

Gerrold, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312878419 ISBN 13: 9780312878412

Publisher: Tor Books, 2001

Synopsis

Having escaped both an Earth on the verge of global collapse and their squabbling parents in a "divorce" at Geosynchronous Station, a newly independent Charles and his two brothers find themselves alone on the Moon with very few prospects. Worse, they are being hunted by ruthless interplanetary corporations who would stop at nothing to come in possession of a memory bar the boys smuggled on board. Can they make it on their own? Who can they trust?
Charles thought the moon would be a new beginning. He will be lucky just to stay alive.

About this title

About the Author

David Gerrold - a winner of the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award - is the author of dozens of novels, including Jumping Off the Planet, Bouncing Off the Moon, The Man Who Folded Himself, When Harlie was One, and the incredibly popular The War Against the Chtorr series.

A prolific screenwriter as well as a novelist - he wrote the hugely popular The Trouble with Tribbles episode for the original Star Trek television series. Gerrold lives in Northridge, California, with his son.

Reviews

Nebula Award winner Gerrold doesn't disappoint in this follow-up to 2000's Jumping Off the Planet. Charles "Chigger" Dingillian and his brothers believe they can get along well enough without their recently divorced parents, if they just stick together. They move off Earth and discover that a robot monkey given to the youngest of them possesses a computer far more advanced than might be required of a toy. In fact the computer is of a power that could make trillions of dollars for the owner. The youth of the protagonists automatically reminds one of Heinlein's juveniles. Though it is doubtful that the convoluted science here could be followed by Heinlein's targeted 12- to 14-year-olds, it really doesn't matter, because the real story is that of being thrust into a world that is adult indeed. After Chigger and his brothers leave Earth just in time to escape a plague that results in social and economic collapse, new friends lead them aboard an automated cargo pod bound for the moon. The moon is an unforgiving and potentially deadly environment, but the brothers soon wonder whether several mishaps are just that or deliberate attempts at murder. As the story continues, the line that divides friend from foe becomes more and more indistinct in this engaging, believable and eventually riveting book from the author revered for his immensely popular Star Trek teleplay, "The Trouble with Tribbles." (Apr. 12)
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

As the even more Heinlein-indebted sequel to Jumping off the Planet (2000) develops, the three young Dingillian brothers, aided by loquacious money launderer Alexei Krislov, must sneak off Geosynchronous Station to the moon. There they take a long hike across the rugged surface, which abounds with technological and natural wonders, and meet more perils than Pauline ever faced, as well as suspected human treachery on all sides. They barely run that gauntlet, only to fall into the hands of the legal authorities, who, acting on behalf of would-be claimants, seek the youngest brother's robot monkey for what it contains--one of the most advanced artificial intelligences in existence. Thanks to a libertarian judge and the AI, acting as machina ex deo, so to speak, the ending is extravagantly happy. Charlie Dingillian, the narrator, remains a convincing, complex 13-year-old, and his portrayal of his family's dysfunctioning still rings true, though the sequel lacks the exuberant creativity and tight narrative of its predecessor. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Tor Books
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0312878419
• ISBN 13: 9780312878412
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288