- Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
- Publisher: Baen Books; First Edition edition (1 Jun 1998)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0671878786
- ISBN-13: 978-0671878788
- Product Dimensions: 17 x 10.9 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 4,975,443 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Synopsis
Taya starts to wonder about the world outside when her inside world and life with her metal friend Kort begins to change dramatically.
From the Author
Background and history
I have no recollection where the original idea for this came from. It began as a short story called "Silver Shoes for a Princess," which appeared in Destinies (Vol. 1, #5, October 1979), published by ACE Books, when Jim Baen was editor in chief there. It was about a nine-year-old girl called Taya and her robot companion, tutor, and mentor, Kort, who inhabit a mysterious structure names Merkon. We never quite find out if Mekon is a former spaceship, colony, or what, but for as long as anyone has know, it has been moving toward a star that they call Vaxis. (I was still at DEC when I wrote the story, and everything of mine at the time had an explicit or coded reference somewhere in it to a DEC computer.) The big question, of course, is, how does Taya come to be there? The reader finds out, naturally, but to give a hint here would risk spoiling things.
I have no recollection where the original idea for this came from. It began as a short story called "Silver Shoes for a Princess," which appeared in Destinies (Vol. 1, #5, October 1979), published by ACE Books, when Jim Baen was editor in chief there. It was about a nine-year-old girl called Taya and her robot companion, tutor, and mentor, Kort, who inhabit a mysterious structure names Merkon. We never quite find out if Mekon is a former spaceship, colony, or what, but for as long as anyone has know, it has been moving toward a star that they call Vaxis. (I was still at DEC when I wrote the story, and everything of mine at the time had an explicit or coded reference somewhere in it to a DEC computer.) The big question, of course, is, how does Taya come to be there? The reader finds out, naturally, but to give a hint here would risk spoiling things.
The story provoked a lot of enthusiastic responses from readers, a mumber of whom demanded to know what happened when Merkon--whatever it was--eventually reached Vaxis--for whatever reason. (We found out at the end of the story that it was about ten years from arrival.) So Jim Baen and I thought it would be an idea to extend the original story to a series of several linked stories telling the events that unfolded subsequently. Soon afterward, however, Jim left ACE to set up Baen Books, and the whole thing went into cold storage. But letters from readers insisting on knowing what happened continued coming in.
Years later, in 1995, I did a deal with Baen Books to write PATHS TO OTHERWHERE and BUG PARK, and Jim and I were in business together again. One of the projects we discussed was the revival of Taya and Kort, and the result was a set of four stories in one volume under the collective title STAR CHILD.
The four stories are: SILVER SHOES FOR A PRINCESS, a slightly edited version of the original story. SILVER GODS FROM THE SKY—the much-requested sequel telling what happens when Merkon reaches Vaxis. THREE DOMES AND A TOWER—set twenty years after that, and at last answering the question of what Merkon was. And THE SILENCE AMONG THE STARS, many years later still, which deals with Kort's fears of being left alone now that Taya is in her final years, and what happens when she dies. Each story captures a phase of Taya's life: childhood, a young woman, maturity, and old age. And that's probably all it would be prudent to say here.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This would be a good book to give to a child about 10 years old to get them into science fiction. As an adult work, it falls short. I didn't find anything particularly remarkable about the book, and the characters all seemed very flat to me. I like Hogan's other works, but this one didn't leave me satisfied at all, as I'd guessed the surprise ending about a third of the way through the book. It compares to Heinlein's Podykane of Mars in terms of it's target audience, in my opinion.
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I was wandering in the library and saw this book in the new books shelf. I read the back and said, "Huh, interesting." I've never read any books by Hogan before and I mainly read light Sci-fi and fantasy, most of which have "action". (Quest, mission, guns, swords, etc.) This is a "thinking book", not that I mean it's boring, it just makes you think, think about creators, machines and evolution and all that deep stuff. Usually, that sort of stuff doesn't interest me, but Hogan has created characters that make the whole thing interesting, especially Kort. Kort is cool, he's a machine, but has a enough "humaness" to make him likable. Anyway, read this book, it's good for rainy days.
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This novel is light reading that carries a nice and innocent story line and concludes with a beautiful ending. Marvelous introduction of secondary players in mechanical entities that serve as analysts of the main character, Taya. It was easy to get into and I wasn't able to put the book down until I finished it.
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