Ballroom of the Skies
by John D. MacDonald
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Ballroom of the Skies, a classic science fiction novel from John D. MacDonald, the beloved author of Cape Fear and the Travis McGee series, is now available as an eBook.Have you ever stopped to wonder why the world is eternally torn by war? Why men of goodwill, seeking only peace, are driven relentlessly to further disaster? In a future society, where India rules the globe and everyone chases the mighty rupee, the First Atomic War has just ended. Already the Second is clearly building. show more People shrug. War is man’s nature, they think. And that’s what newspaper reporter Dake Lorin thinks, too . . . until he becomes aware of the aliens living among us and discovers their sinister purpose—as well as the strange and monstrous explanation for humankind’s seemingly limitless capacity for violence and destruction.
Features a new Introduction by Dean Koontz
Praise for John D. MacDonald
“The great entertainer of our age, and a mesmerizing storyteller.”—Stephen King
“My favorite novelist of all time.”—Dean Koontz
“To diggers a thousand years from now, the works of John D. MacDonald would be a treasure on the order of the tomb of Tutankhamen.”—Kurt Vonnegut
“A master storyteller, a masterful suspense writer . . . John D. MacDonald is a shining example for all of us in the field. Talk about the best.”—Mary Higgins Clark. show less
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myshelves MacDonald's other SF novel.
Member Reviews
A work from relatively early in JDM’s evolution as a writer. The story is well told, but seems a bit stilted - from before the days when science fiction strove to be a sub-genre of literature.
This is one of two sci-fi novels JDM wrote, the other being "Wine of the Dreamers." This story grows tedious in the middle, but if you can hold with it, it gains power toward the end. JDM didn't seem to have the problem Harry Crews, Steve King and I have with endings. He wraps things up really well in his work.
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Author Information
John D. MacDonald was born in Sharon, Pennsylvania on July 24, 1916. He received a B.S. from Syracuse University in 1938 and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration in 1939. During World War II, he served in the Army. His first novel, Brass Cupcake, was published in 1950. He wrote about 70 books during his lifetime show more including the Travis McGee series, Condominium, No Deadly Drug, Nothing Can Go Wrong, and A Friendship: The Letters of Dan Rowan and John Dann MacDonald. A Flash of Green was adapted into a movie by the same name and The Excuse was adapted into a movie entitled Cape Fear. He received numerous awards including the Ben Franklin Award for the best American short story in 1955, the Grand Prix de Litterature Policiere for A Key to the Suite in 1964, the Mystery Writers of America's Grand Master Award in 1972, the American Book Award for The Green Ripper in 1980. He died from complications of an earlier heart bypass surgery on December 28, 1986 at the age of 70. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1952
- People/Characters
- Darwin Branson; Dake Lorin; Martin Merman; Patrice Togelson
- Important places
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Pennsylvania, USA; Training T (planet)
- Epigraph
- No question is so difficult to answer as that to which the answer is obvious. - George Bernard Shaw
- First words
- The world, Branson thought, is like that circus act of long ago, back in the sweet-colored days of childhood, when the big top was as high as the sky, and gigantic horses marched the earth.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Dake Lorin squared his shoulders and stood quietly, awaiting Martin Merman's words.
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Statistics
- Members
- 261
- Popularity
- 122,122
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.17)
- Languages
- 5 — Dutch, English, French, German, Portuguese
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 7
- ASINs
- 15
