Tales of the Grand Tour - by Ben Bova (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

New tales of humanity's near-future exploration of the Solar System, from a science fiction master and award-winning author Ben Bova

In novels like Mars, and Moonbase, and Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn, as well as Privateers, The Precipice, and The Rock Rats, Ben Bova has been telling the stories of the wars and rivalries, the outsize individuals, public crusades, and private passions that will drive us as we expand into the Solar System and make use of its vast resources. And throughout, Bova has shown our cosmic neighborhood as we know it to be, giving us a sense of Venus and Jupiter and the Asteroid Belt and Mars that's as up-to-date as the latest observations. For the last two decades have been a golden age of near-Earth astronomy and observation, and Bova has made dramatic use of our newest knowledge.

Bova has written short fiction about some of the same characters and events--Sam Gunn, Martin Humphries, Klaus Fuchs, Dan Randolph, the Asteroid Wars. Now, in Tales of the Grand Tour, those stories are collected in book form for the first time, creating a volume that is a landmark of modern SF.

Review Quotes

"Ben Bova is the last of the great pulp writers." --The New York Times on Tales of the Grand Tour

"His stories offer glimpses of the human side of space, the heroic grins and tragic grimaces alike." --Publishers Weekly on Tales of the Grand Tour

"Bova is entirely equal to making the novel's personal and corporate rivalries interesting and even compelling...Well above average as hard sf and space advocacy, so that even many non-space buffs will enjoy it." --Booklist on The Rock Rats

"Another attention-grabbing entry in a series that continues to grow in stature, scope, and complexity. Once again, Bova in top form." --Kirkus Reviews on The Rock Rats

"With Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein gone, Bova, author of more than 70 books, is one of the last deans of traditional science fiction. And he hasn't lost his touch. Venus scorches." --Kansas City Star on Venus

"Recalls the work of Heinlein in his Destination Moon mode, or Hal Clement in any number of stories: a day-after-tomorrow tale crafted with near-journalistic purity. . . It's a difficult, demanding mode to pursue, and not many choose to nowadays. But Bova does it magnificently." --Paul Di Filippo, Scifi.com, on Jupiter

About the Author

Ben Bova (1932-2020) was the author of more than a hundred works of science fact and fiction, including Able One, Transhuman, Orion, the Star Quest Trilogy, and the Grand Tour novels, including Titan, winner of John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best novel of the year. His many honors include the Isaac Asimov Memorial Award in 1996, the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation in 2005, and the Robert A. Heinlein Award "for his outstanding body of work in the field of literature" in 2008.

Dr. Bova was President Emeritus of the National Space Society and a past president of Science Fiction Writers of America, and a former editor of Analog and former fiction editor of Omni. As an editor, he won science fiction's Hugo Award six times. His writings predicted the Space Race of the 1960s, virtual reality, human cloning, the Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars), electronic book publishing, and much more.

In addition to his literary achievements, Bova worked for Project Vanguard, America's first artificial satellite program, and for Avco Everett Research Laboratory, the company that created the heat shields for Apollo 11, helping the NASA astronauts land on the moon. He also taught science fiction at Harvard University and at New York City's Hayden Planetarium and worked with such filmmakers as George Lucas and Gene Roddenberry.