Black Sun

Author: Jack Williamson
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-10-01
Features: The story of The Black Sun begins as the last "Space Sowing Program" spaceship is about to leave Earth. This quantum spaceship will carry the last group of adventurers across the vast cosmic starry sky in a wave state until it encounters enough gravitational pull to return to its normal state. Originally, people wanted to use the "Space Sowing Program" to spread the spark of civilization across the stars, but the great proponents of this plan—the Space Sowing Organization—have been thoroughly disorganized by the arrogant Herman Stuke and his vulgar assistant, Hinch. Outside the launch site, a group of extreme environmentalists tried every means to prevent the spaceship from taking off. They bribed the spaceship's security supervisor, Ginas Rok, to plant a bomb on the ship. However, not everyone wanted to terminate the "Space Sowing Program." Carlos Montalvo, a young Mexican illegal immigrant and computer expert, infiltrated the spaceship with his dream of interstellar travel and became a stowaway. Stuke and Hinch took control of the spaceship just a few minutes after it launched. The spaceship lifted off, and Rok's bomb was also defused. After an indeterminate amount of time, the quantum spaceship returned to normal near a dead star. When the people woke up, they discovered that the star had only one planet—a planet that was extremely cold and lifeless. However, during the landing process, the spaceship's probe detected a mysterious signal. The crew also found a massive structure, clearly the work of extraterrestrials, at the center of the planet's ice cap. After landing, Stuke, despite the experts' suggestions to build a living area beneath the planet's surface, insisted on concentrating all the spaceship's resources on the launch site designed to enable another spatial jump. When bones and other strange ancient artifacts were discovered, a mysterious atmosphere began to spread across the planet and grew increasingly thick. When the exploration team sent to investigate the source of the mysterious signal went missing, the people on the Black Sun planet had little choice left, and a series of adventures made the plot of The Black Sun extremely tense. Williamson used many inventions common in early science fiction and made new improvements to them. This novel lacks the cynicism and pessimism found in modern science fiction, maintaining a high level of adventure and a sense of wonder about the universe and space exploration. In 1975, Williamson expressed regret over the prevalence of pessimism in modern science fiction and vowed to continue an optimistic style in his own works. John Clute, in his famous Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, noted that Williamson's 1992 novel Beachhead exudes "the fragrance of early science fiction" compared to works of the same era. Williamson clearly returned to the roots of his science fiction journey and used his over seventy years of writing experience to give modern twists to somewhat outdated materials, bringing a fresh breeze to today's science fiction. The Black Sun is precisely such a work that fulfills this promise, inheriting the grandeur of space opera and recapturing the passion of early science fiction.