The Void Captain's Tale (1983)

A tragedy, told via the device of a captain's log. Interstellar travel is possible with the assistance of special women trained to provide the human element to make it possible. Any problems they are having can throw up with one these jumps of huge distance, getting people hopelessly lost.

When one such pilot meets our Void Captain, a relationship that is never supposed to happen for professional reasons has extreme consequences.

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2006/12/void-captains-tale-norman-spinrad.html ( )

This book was a whole lot of work for not much payoff. The writing is mannered and needlessly complicated; Spinrad might use 30 words, a third of them with at least 5 syllables and a couple of them in French, German or Spanish, to say "I got out of bed."

The basic premise is that mankind has discovered an FTL technology left behind by an alien race, and uses it to travel between the stars, without really understanding how it works. Sounds pretty traditional so far, right? But in Spinrad’s universe the FTL drive works by putting the “pilot” through an instantaneous mind blowing orgasm (I kid you not) each time the ship “jumps.” Pilots (who must be female, by the way) become addicted to the experience, forgetting about all else, spending their lives recovering from the last mind blowing orgasm and desperately waiting for the next jump. To keep the crew of the ship from going bonkers out in the void of space, a bizarre haute decadent culture has developed around keeping the crew entertained. While the colonists being transported deep sleep, a group of the vapid super-wealthy elite and their hangers-on engage in a non-stop orgy of food, drugs, drinks, sex, arts and the like. Think “Paris Hilton in Space” and you won’t be far wrong.

A couple of the characters were interesting, but I can’t really say that any were really likable. And at least the mannered writing provided quite a bit a variety to the repeated descriptions of various sex acts. A few interesting ideas, but all in all, not recommended. ( )