To the Stars is a science fiction novel by American writer L. Ron Hubbard. The novel's story is set in a dystopian future, and chronicles the experiences of protagonist Alan Corday aboard a starship called the Hound of Heaven as he copes with the travails of time dilation from traveling at near light speed. Corday is kidnapped by the ship's captain and forced to become a member of their crew, and when he next returns to Earth his fiancée has aged and barely remembers him. He becomes accustomed to life aboard the ship, and when the captain dies Corday assumes command.
Hubbard's story was first published by John W. Campbell in two parts in a serialized format in 1950 in Astounding Science Fiction. It was first published in book format in 1954 under the title Return to Tomorrow, and was published in hardcover in 1975 under the same title. In 1997, film producers were in the process of developing the work as a movie for Touchstone Pictures. Jazz musician Chick Corea released a 2004 album of the same name with music inspired by the story, and Galaxy Press reissued a hardcover edition of Hubbard's novel the same year as a form of cross marketing.
The book was generally positively received, and garnered a 2001 nomination for a "Retro" Hugo Award for Best Novella. Publishers Weekly gave the book a positive review, calling it one of Hubbard's "finest works", and Alan Cheuse highlighted the work on National Public Radio's program All Things Considered as a top literature holiday pick.
Plot
Protagonist Alan Corday is a young engineer, and is kidnapped from a spaceport called "New Chicago" and taken aboard the interstellar trading starship Hound of Heaven. The ship is commanded by a charismatic leader named Captain Jocelyn, who tells Corday to use his skills to help the Hound of Heaven in its travels between Earth and space colonies in other star systems. On the first page of the book's prologue Hubbard cites "the basic equation of mass and time.... AS MASS APPROACHES INFINITY, TIME APPROACHES ZERO", meaning that interstellar travelers at near light speed experience time relative to their environment, and when they return to their home star will find that decades or centuries may have passed. Six weeks of time aboard the ship amounts to roughly nine years experienced by those on Earth. Corday resists mingling with the culture aboard the starship, but when he returns home after travels with the Hound of Heaven he finds that his fiancée has aged and has trouble with her memory. Corday realizes his only home has become that of the starship. Captain Jocelyn is killed in an ambush on a dystopian Earth, and Corday takes command of the ship.
Publication history
To the Stars was first published in two parts in February and March 1950 in a serialized format by John W. Campbell in Astounding Science Fiction. Hubbard had previously written the story Ole Doc Methuselah for Astounding Science Fiction in 1947, later published as a book in 1992. In 1954 the story was published in book format by Ace Books in a paperback first edition, under the title Return to Tomorrow. Garland Publishing released a hardcover edition of Return to Tomorrow in 1975.
In 1997 Hollywood producers were working on developing a film version of To the Stars. Producers Barbara Boyle and Michael Taylor were preparing to bring the book to the film screen for Touchstone Pictures, a division of Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group. Boyle and Taylor had previously worked with actor John Travolta on the film Phenomenon, and the project was planned to be part of Travolta's vision to make films out of L. Ron Hubbard's science fiction novels. Hubbard's novel Battlefield Earth was first on his list, and Travolta starred in and helped fund the film version of the book which was released in 2000. A film version of To the Stars had not yet begun production as of 2008.
The jazz musician Chick Corea released a CD of the same name with music inspired by the story in 2004, and Galaxy Press reissued a hardcover edition of Hubbard's novel the same year as a form of cross marketing. According to Publishers Weekly, Corea's soundtrack to the novel was issued by Galaxy Press to give the company's "enormous marketing muscle" the ability to "tap into the vast Hubbard fan base". Corea explains at his website how he was motivated to work on music inspired by the book. He comments that he was inspired by a scene from the book where Hubbard describes the Captain of the Hound of Heaven spaceship playing a melody on a piano.