Space is deep, Man is small and Time is his relentless enemy…”
– To the Stars by L. Ron Hubbard
In the vast expanse of science fiction’s golden age, few works have maintained their gravitational pull quite like To the Stars.
Even after 75 years, this groundbreaking exploration of relativistic space travel and its profound human consequences continues to captivate readers.
More About To the Stars…
How far is too far? Alan Corday is about to find out. Shanghaied aboard a craft bound for the stars, Corday embarks on a journey at the speed of light, watching the world he once knew rapidly vanish into the past. Nothing in the dark, forbidding reaches of space could prepare him for the astounding discovery awaiting his return from the stars.
Narrated by Bob Caso and Jim Meskimen
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As we celebrate the 75th anniversary of this classic novel, we’re honored to sit down with John Goodwin, President of Galaxy Press—the publisher dedicated to preserving and promoting L. Ron Hubbard’s science fiction legacy.
Q: To the Stars was published during what many consider the “Golden Age of Science Fiction.” How do you think the novel’s themes of space exploration and human ambition resonate with the modern sci-fi reader versus its original audience in 1950?
A: As an already-established pulp adventure writer, L. Ron Hubbard was brought on board by the publishers of Street and Smith in the 1940s to help transition science fiction from ray guns and robots and rocket ships to stories about real people in the newly fashioned Astounding Science Fiction. When To the Stars was published in February 1950 — 75 years ago this month, it became the first novel ever written that made the time dilation theory and its ramifications understandable to the lay reader. It provided a raw look at the drama and emotion inherent with venturing to the stars knowing that when you returned your people would be considerably older relative to your age.
Publisher’s Weekly in their starred review wrote, “Hubbard embraces one of SF’s deepest goals, to explore the emotional consequences of technological advance, by imagining the effect upon star-faring humans of the “basic equation of mass and time…. AS MASS APPROACHES INFINITY, TIME APPROACHES ZERO.” That is, as those who travel to distant stars at near light speed experience, say, the passing of a year, those left behind will experience the passing of decades, centuries.”
As long as this theme remains one of science fiction’s deepest goals, there will be fans of To the Stars.
Q: L. Ron Hubbard is one of the most prolific science fiction authors in the history of the genre. What makes To the Stars stand out among his other works, and why do you think it’s remained relevant for 75 years?
A: The power of the story still resonates to this day. Dr. Gregory Benford, science fiction author, astrophysicist and professor emeritus at the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Irvine, wrote, “The story moves…. As its last line proclaims, it is a tale of high drama about being ‘outward bound on a mission to the ageless stars.’ …L. Ron Hubbard’s To the Stars shows us what that could be like. The physics gives it backbone, but the drama gives it heart.”
Until Einstein’s theory of special relativity and Lorentz-Fitzgerald’s equation are disproven, To the Stars will remain relevant.
As long as there are fans, who are themselves famous science fiction writers as well as successful scientists, such as Dr. Jerry Pournelle, who proclaims, “To The Stars, by L. Ron Hubbard, I thought was the greatest novel that has ever been written in the history of mankind,” there will be an audience.
Q: This novel was vastly ahead of its time in its treatment of space travel and its psychological impact on those brave enough to “boldly go.” How do you think the audio format helps relate these complex concepts and emotional elements to the general reader?
A: Radio theatre was one of the most popular formats of entertainment during the first half of the twentieth century bringing stories to life through voice alone. Our audiobook performances combine this format, using seasoned Hollywood actors who were selected for their ability to bring words to life. This combined with 21st century sound technology, literally using over a hundred thousand sound effects, creates the ultimate movie of the mind presentation. Again, pulling from Publisher’s Weekly review, “The novel’s turning point—Alan’s reckoning with time’s implacability—is narrated suspensefully.”
Q: As we celebrate this 75th anniversary, what aspects of To the Stars do you think make it particularly appealing to modern science fiction fans who might be discovering it for the first time through the audiobook?
A: When we re-released this novel in the early 2000s, over half a century after initial publication, Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review stating, “Hubbard was one of the great pulp writers, and this brief SF novel, initially published in two parts in 1950 by John W. Campbell in Astounding Science Fiction, is one of his finest works…. Hubbard brilliantly evokes the vastness of space and the tragedy of those who would conquer it.”
This is a theme, perhaps even more appealing now, as humankind’s attention is once again turning toward the vast frontier of space.
Q: Looking ahead, how do you see new formats like audiobooks helping to preserve and introduce classic science fiction works like To the Stars to future generations?
A: In today’s fast-paced world, the audiobook provides a viable solution to reading a book, especially a book representative of the greatest stories of the Golden Age of Science Fiction.
And in the words of Entertainment Weekly, “The story is still pertinent today.”
To the Stars is available NOW everywhere you listen to audiobooks
Follow the retailer links below to add to your TBR today!
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