The Gateway Trip: Tales and Vignettes of the Heechee

Frederik Pohl

ISBN 10: 0345363019 / ISBN 13: 9780345363015

Published by Del Rey / Ballantine Books, New York, 1990

About this Item

This is a singular treat, combining Frederik Pohl's wonderful 'Heechee' stories with Frank Kelly Freas' marvelous illustrations. "First Edition: November 1990" and full printing line with "1" on its copyright page. This book is in near fine condition, marred only by light bumps on its spine ends. Its binding is sound and square, with no spine crease. Covers are unmarked and otherwise unworn, with bright silver titles on its spine. Pages are unmarked and unworn. Not a remainder. Its dust jacket, now protected by a removable mylar cover, is in fine condition: whole, bright, unmarked, and unworn. I will ship this book in a moisture proof zip-loc bag, padded in bubble cushion, inside a sturdy box to assure it reaches its new owner in the same condition as my description.

Seller Inventory # 004251

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Gateway Trip: Tales and Vignettes of the Heechee
• Publisher: Del Rey / Ballantine Books, New York
• Publication Date: 1990
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0345363019
• ISBN 13: 9780345363015
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Frank Kelly Freas
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Printing: 1st Printing
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine
• Weight: 1.29 pounds
• Seller catalogs:
  • SF & Fantasy Collections

About this title

Synopsis

A collection of tales and vignettes chronicles humankind's discovery and exploration of the Heechee artifacts and provides a companion to the novels of "The Heechee Saga"

Reviews

The most successfully realized universe that Pohl ( Gateway ) has created as a solo writer has been that of his Heechee series. This book contains his one pre-Gateway Heechee story, the novella "The Merchants of Venus," and nine short entries under such titles as "The Gateway Asteroid," "The Starseekers" and "Other Worlds" that provide background on the characters and settings of the Heechee novels. The narrator of the novella , Audee Walthers, makes his living on Venus by showing tourists around the Heechee ruins, abandoned 500,000 years earlier. He hopes that wealthy, surly Boyce Cochenour will pay him enough to provide for surgery to replace his failing liver. There's only one problem, an ethical one: Cochenour wants to dig for illegal artifacts. The story has the zip and humor of vintage Pohl. The short pieces that comprise the rest of the volume are not narratives but glossings on the Heechee novels. Although Pohl is careful not to give away plot elements of those books, at the same time he presents new details to enhance that universe for familiar readers. Still, it would be preferable to read the novels first. Illustrations, by Frank Kelly Freas, not seen by PW .
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The discovery on Venus of artifacts created by an ancient alien race prompts a galaxy-wide search for more intriguing remnants of the vanished "Heechee" culture and gives rise to the Gateway Corporation as a means of encouraging exploration by bold and sometimes foolhardy explorers. This collection of short tales serves as a tantalizing companion piece to Pohl's other Heechee volumes (among them, Heechee Rendezvous , LJ 5/15/84 and Annals of the Heechee , Ballantine, 1987) and belongs in libraries owning the earlier works.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.