Leaping to the Stars

by David Gerrold

Overview

No longer able to return to his home on Earth, Charles Dingillian and his two brothers must choose a new planet to call home. But which one?

Charles has come into possession of a prototype HARLIE unit so revolutionary and state-of-the-art that corporations will stop at nothing—including murder—to control it. Earth is in a state of social and economic meltdown. The battle for domination between rival corporations has gone interplanetary.

Charles has been at war before: only, that was a personal civil war waged between him and his parents. In an effort to end the strife once and for all, thirteen-year-old Charles took the drastic step of "divorcing" his parents. He and his brothers are now free to do what they choose. 

Freedom for Charles and his brothers means passage on a starship to a colony Outbeyond. There, they will use HARLIE to help build a better world. But freedom also means exile. From his home. From his friends. From everything he has ever known. And even his chance for a new life on a remote planet is put in jeopardy when a critical malfunction with the HARLIE unit seemingly threatens the integrity of the voyage. However, a faction of passengers on board the Brightliner Cascade may pose an even greater risk. 

A risk not even an intelligence as powerful as a HARLIE unit can avert.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781948836890
Publisher:	BenBella Books, Inc.
Publication date:	07/16/2019
Series:	Far Side of the Sky , #3
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	305
Sales rank:	343,735
File size:	662 KB

About the Author

A Hugo and Nebula award winner, David Gerrold is the author of more than 50 books, several hundred articles and columns, and more than a dozen television episodes.


His books include When HARLIE Was One, The Man Who Folded Himself, The War Against the Chtorr septology, The Star Wolf trilogy, The Dingilliad young adult trilogy, and the award-winning autobiographical tale of his son's adoption, The Martian Child. TV credits include episodes of Star Trek ("The Trouble With Tribbles," "The Cloud Minders"), Star Trek Animated ("More Tribbles, More Troubles," "Bem"), Babylon 5 ("Believers"), Twilight Zone ("A Day In Beaumont," "A Saucer Of Loneliness"), Land of the Lost ("Cha-Ka," "The Sleestak God," "Hurricane," "Possession," "Circle"), Tales from the Darkside ("Levitation," "If the Shoes Fit"), Logan's Run ("Man Out of Time"), and more.

David Gerrold is a figment of his own imagination.

Editorial Reviews

Fans of Heinlein's trademark blend of space-bound high adventure and serious political philosophy will feel right at home in the third and final book of Gerrold's series (Jumping Off the Planet; Bouncing Off the Moon) detailing the adventures of 13-year-old Charles "Chigger" Dingillian and his family as they seek a place to call home. On the moon, Charles's HARLIE unit, an advanced artificial intelligence device packed into the body of a monkey, is coveted by Lunar Authority as well as by the revolutionaries who seek to overthrow it. The only option left for escaping these forces is to sign on as colonists bound for Outbeyond, Earth's most distant colony, where the only surety is a life of backbreaking labor but also the chance to finally be free. Once the colony ship Cascade has set off, however, nothing goes smoothly. The colonists, particularly Charles's divorced parents and two brothers, face pressure from Revelationists, a fundamentalist group traveling aboard the Cascade to their own colony on the way to Outbeyond. The Revelationists believe HARLIE is evil and must be destroyed, along with those who possess it and the Dingillians are at the top of the list. If that isn't enough, Charles has his own growing uncertainty about HARLIE's motives. Those new to the series will find the opening tough to follow, but through his engaging adolescent narrator, Gerrold gradually provides enough backstory to clarify without slowing down the action. The appeal to YA readers is obvious, but plenty of adults are also sure to enjoy this thoughtful adventure. (Mar. 15) FYI: Gerrold is the author of the classic Star Trek teleplay "The Trouble with Tribbles." Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Teenage space traveler Charles Dillingham, a veteran of jaunts to the moon and back, now finds himself unable to return to Earth. Furthermore, he and his state-of-the-art AI unit, HARLIE, have become valuable commodities for the rebels of the Free Luna movement. His only option is to try to take himself and his family to the stars. Gerrold's conclusion to the story begun in Jumping Off the Planet and continued in Bouncing Off the Moon features more derring-do in the style of early Heinlein. A good choice for adult and YA sf collections. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal