The Dark Beyond the Stars

A Lambda Literary Award Winner
A New York Times Notable Book

The Dark Beyond the Stars is an epic novel of interstellar travel, alternate sexuality, and overpowering obsession.

For two thousand years, the starship Astron has searched the galaxy for alien life—without success. Now, just as the ship is falling apart, the only direction left to explore is across the Dark, a 100-generation journey through empty space.

The ship's captain—immortal and obsessed—refuses to abandon the quest. He will cross the Dark, or destroy the ship trying. Only Sparrow, a young crewman uncertain of his own past, can stand against the captain, and against both the lure and challenges of the dark region beyond the stars.

Praise

"A generation-ship masterpiece . . . Do not miss this novel."—Los Angeles Times

"The Dark Beyond the Stars brings the welcome return of a very talented writer."—William Gibson

"Robinson's latest is a work of wholehearted SF . . . Sparrow's inner turmoil [is] consistently presented with insight and compassion."—Kirkus Reviews

About the Author(s)

Frank M. Robinson

Frank M. Robinson was born in 1926. He served in the U.S. Navy during both WWII and the Korean War, in between earning a B.S. in physics at Beloit College, Wisconsin, and afterward an M.S. in journalism at Northwestern University in 1955. He then worked at a number of magazines, including Science Digest (1956-59), Rogue (1959-65), and Cavalier (1965-66). After working as a staff writer for Playboy from 1969 to 1973, Robinson became a freelance writer. He now lives in San Francisco, California, and is the co-author of Death of a Marionette.

Excerpt

1
 
 
The only thing I remembered was that I had seen extraordinary sights on the morning of the day I died.
I had gone in with the crew of the Lander at 0600, just as the system’s sun began to cast a delicate lavender haze over the valley floor. I was the last one down the ladder, snagging a boot on the bottom rung so I had to make a desperate lunge to keep from sprawling on the planet’s surface below.

View Entire Excerpt