The Dark Beyond the Stars by Frank Robinson

Attendees: A. T. Campbell III, Shirley Crossland, Fred Duarte., Jeff Rupley, Willie Siros, Lori Wolf

We had a good turnout for the discussion of Frank Robinson’s The Dark Beyond the Stars, the Lambda Award-winning generation ship novel. The novel’s protagonist starts the book with amnesia, and we learn with him as he slowly peels away layers of truth about the environment in which he finds himself. We thought the amnesia worked well as a narrative device, and each level of revelation turned out to be more interesting and mind-blowing than the last. This novel is a rare book that provides intellectual thrills. The ending ties together all the plot threads in a very satisfying manner. The imagery of the book is often quite striking, and the author is clever in how he re-uses images for dramatic effect. One person commented that the book was an amazingly good take on such a hoary concept, and that he’d nominated for the Hugo the year it was eligible. We all thought this book was worthy of many awards, and are disappointed that the author doesn’t have any other books in print.

— A. T. Campbell, III