Gordon Eklund
Author of The Starless World
About the Author
Disambiguation Notice:
He has written under the pen name Wendall Stewart.
Series
Works by Gordon Eklund
Moby, Too [Short story] 5 copies
Dear Aunt Annie 3 copies
Vermeer's Window [short fiction] 3 copies
Examination Day 2 copies
Continuous Performance 1 copy
Hellas Is Florida 1 copy
The Cross Road Blues 1 copy
Underbelly 1 copy
Psychosomatica 1 copy
Short Fiction Collection 1 copy
The Anaconda's smile 1 copy
Piratas do Espaço 1 copy
Stalking The Sun 1 copy
Free City Blues 1 copy
What did you do last year? 1 copy
O eclipse da madrugada 1 copy
Associated Works
The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Four: Nebula Winners 1970-1974 (1986) — Contributor — 132 copies, 1 review
Alternate Americas (What Might Have Been, Vol. 4) (1992) — Contributor, some editions — 101 copies, 1 review
Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year Second Annual Collection (1973) — Contributor — 68 copies, 1 review
Fourth Planet from the Sun: Tales of Mars from the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (2005) — Contributor — 44 copies, 4 reviews
Light Years and Dark: Science Fiction and Fantasy of and for Our Time (1984) — Contributor — 37 copies
Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact: Vol. XCVI, No. 12 (December 1976) (1976) — Contributor — 28 copies
Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact: Vol. XCV, No. 9 (September 1975) (1975) — Contributor — 24 copies, 1 review
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction March/April 2014, Vol. 126, Nos. 3 & 4 (2014) — Contributor — 22 copies, 2 reviews
The far side of time, thirteen original stories;: A science fiction anthology (1974) — Contributor — 6 copies
Pistolero fuori tempo — Contributor — 3 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Eklund, Gordon Stewart
- Other names
- Stewart, Wendell
- Birthdate
- 1945-07-24
- Gender
- male
- Occupations
- realtor
science fiction writer - Awards and honors
- Guest of Honour, Bubonicon 9, 1977
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Seattle, Washington, USA
- Disambiguation notice
- He has written under the pen name Wendall Stewart.
- Associated Place (for map)
- Washington, USA
Members
Reviews
Sometimes you just need one from the pulp paperback shelf, especially when there are a couple of long plane rides in the offing, and so it was with my decision to take this fun science fiction novel along on my recent vacation. Falling Toward Forever was published in 1975. Two soldiers are fighting on the same side in an anti-colonial war in an unnamed African country. One, Ahmad, is a black man fighting to free his own country. Waller is a white mercenary, a former Vietnam War prisoner of show more war and torture victim. Embittered by the experience and the hypocrisy of the U.S. government, he was turned soldier for hire, willing, so he says, to fight for any insurgency against any established government. Although Ahmad is suspicious of Waller's motives and what he believes to be Waller's death wish, the two have respect for each other as fighters. In the heat of a battle, Waller comes upon a woman who is trying to hide from the fighting. But she has a gun that she fires at Waller, hitting his arm. Just as he is about to return fire, Ahmad runs up from behind and yells at Waller not to shoot. Suddenly, all three of them are snatched from the spot by an unseen force and dropped down in a wholly alien environment. Where are they and what has happened to them? The rest of the novel, of course, brings us the trio trying to sort out their circumstances and deal with the people whose time and place they have suddenly entered.
Eklund seemed to be attempting to add at least a touch of social awareness to his story. It's hard to miss the fact that our trio of heroes include a white man, a black man and a woman. The leadership and planning, and the best ideas and plans, ebb and flow between all three characters throughout the story. On the other hand, the leadership often does default to Waller, and we are expected, it seems, to see this as natural. Well, I don't want to make too much of all that. This is, after all, a pulp novel, and it appears Eklund was at least aware of these issues in his storytelling. At any rate, Eklund's writing is pretty good, here, in terms of physical detail and even, to a certain extent, characterization. The plot itself gets more implausible as things go along, and the ending is rushed, but what the heck, I had fun reading the tale, which was just right for vacation reading. show less
Eklund seemed to be attempting to add at least a touch of social awareness to his story. It's hard to miss the fact that our trio of heroes include a white man, a black man and a woman. The leadership and planning, and the best ideas and plans, ebb and flow between all three characters throughout the story. On the other hand, the leadership often does default to Waller, and we are expected, it seems, to see this as natural. Well, I don't want to make too much of all that. This is, after all, a pulp novel, and it appears Eklund was at least aware of these issues in his storytelling. At any rate, Eklund's writing is pretty good, here, in terms of physical detail and even, to a certain extent, characterization. The plot itself gets more implausible as things go along, and the ending is rushed, but what the heck, I had fun reading the tale, which was just right for vacation reading. show less
The Enterprise is at the Galactic Core, charting black holes and searching for signs of Klingon activity, when they encounter a Federation shuttlecraft, identified as coming from the USS Rickover, lost more than twenty years prior.
The shuttlecraft is piloted by a madman calling himself Jesus Christ, who Kirk recognizes to be Thomas Clayton, Kirk's old roommate at the academy (he must have had a lot of those--in Star Trek Log Seven, we learn that he had a Klingon roommate named Kumara, who show more returns in Star Trek Log Ten).
Clayton has come out of a Dyson sphere which the Enterprise soon finds itself pulled into. They find within a place called Lyra (McCoy initially suggests Pellucidar as a name), apparently ruled over by a god called Ay-nab, who is the sun.
Nothing very interesting happens for a hundred pages or so, and Kirk telepathically convinces Ay-nab to send the Enterprise back out before the whole Dyson sphere falls into a black hole. Spock ends the story unsure of whether the most logical explanation is that Ay-nab is a god, a telepathic computer, or what. The end.
Although there's a little exposition about what Ay-nab is doing (punishing the Lyrans for repeatedly starting wars), it's not satisfying.
The only alien that gets any meaningful amount of 'screen time', Ola, doesn't do much other than wring her hands and follow Kirk around, until she saves them all with the power of love. When we meet her, Kirk's appraisal isn't terribly inspiring:
And half the book later, when Ola has risked her life to help Kirk find Uhura (who had been kidnapped):
Well, it's not just Kirk and Spock who don't seem to think much of women, either:
Even Uhura doesn't think of Chapel except in relation to Spock.
Enough nitpicking. The book's not very interesting. Dyson sphere, hollow world, whatever. It's been done. By Trek, even. Ditto the space god ruling over the primitive people who once had more advanced tech. It's like Trek's Greatest Hits Volume 3: More B-sides.
Pass. show less
The shuttlecraft is piloted by a madman calling himself Jesus Christ, who Kirk recognizes to be Thomas Clayton, Kirk's old roommate at the academy (he must have had a lot of those--in Star Trek Log Seven, we learn that he had a Klingon roommate named Kumara, who show more returns in Star Trek Log Ten).
Clayton has come out of a Dyson sphere which the Enterprise soon finds itself pulled into. They find within a place called Lyra (McCoy initially suggests Pellucidar as a name), apparently ruled over by a god called Ay-nab, who is the sun.
Nothing very interesting happens for a hundred pages or so, and Kirk telepathically convinces Ay-nab to send the Enterprise back out before the whole Dyson sphere falls into a black hole. Spock ends the story unsure of whether the most logical explanation is that Ay-nab is a god, a telepathic computer, or what. The end.
Although there's a little exposition about what Ay-nab is doing (punishing the Lyrans for repeatedly starting wars), it's not satisfying.
The only alien that gets any meaningful amount of 'screen time', Ola, doesn't do much other than wring her hands and follow Kirk around, until she saves them all with the power of love. When we meet her, Kirk's appraisal isn't terribly inspiring:
Kirk now had a chance to study the alien female more carefully. Her bare face struck him as very human; in fact, she was almost pretty. Her lips were thin and expressive. Her eyes were round and pink. The top of her head was as hirsute as her body. She had no ears. Her breasts were small, firm, and very feminine. She was young, Kirk guessed, and childless. The Starless World (1978-11), 49
And half the book later, when Ola has risked her life to help Kirk find Uhura (who had been kidnapped):
Spock was cautious. “I wish you could be certain Lieutenant Uhura is indeed there.” “I'm as sure as I'm going to be.” “Unfortunately, you have only the word of the female.” The Starless World (1978-11), 124
Well, it's not just Kirk and Spock who don't seem to think much of women, either:
Well, thought Uhura, turning on her right side, now, wasn’t that odd? Here she was thinking about Mr. Spock, while beside her slept poor Chapel, who was in love with him, very possibly dreaming of the same man. Spock did not love Chapel. The Starless World (1978-11), 87–88
Even Uhura doesn't think of Chapel except in relation to Spock.
Enough nitpicking. The book's not very interesting. Dyson sphere, hollow world, whatever. It's been done. By Trek, even. Ditto the space god ruling over the primitive people who once had more advanced tech. It's like Trek's Greatest Hits Volume 3: More B-sides.
Pass. show less
If the Stars Are Gods is a philosophical exploration of the concepts of life and humanity. Throughout the book, we encounter various forms of extra-terrestrial life, including Earth germs on Mars from a "contaminated" landing, stereotypical flesh-and-blood aliens on a spaceship from another star, gaseous beings in the atmosphere of Jupiter, and crystalline beings on the cold moon of Titan. The main character is a high-minded scientist who has to continually work against Earth's political show more machine to continue his work on extra-terrestrial life and intelligence. The political situation becomes even more charged after Earth creates and then tries to expunge a small number of genetically-enhanced humans, who seem better equipped to understand the strangeness of the forms life can take. While it's blatantly obvious that humanity, obsessed with its petty squabbles, is not ready to deal with other intelligences, it remains an open question whether a devoutly scientific man or even a genetically-enhanced person is either. The tone of the book is very reflective and encourages the reader to think upon the central theme--can the human mind comprehend the strangeness of life? show less
This was an odd one. It took just enough chances to feel like more than a large-scale episode. It pushed the characters in ways that threatened (although ultimately didn't change) the status quo, and it read, at times, more like fantasy than sci-fi.
I liked it.
I liked it.
Awards
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Statistics
- Works
- 56
- Also by
- 45
- Members
- 2,574
- Popularity
- #9,981
- Rating
- 3.4
- Reviews
- 20
- ISBNs
- 77
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