6.4 /10 1 Votes
Country United States Media type Print (Paperback) OCLC 33273412 Genre Science Fiction Cover artist Jack Gaughan | 3.2/5 Goodreads Language English Pages 121 Originally published 1 November 1976 Page count 121 Publisher Ace Books | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Publication date 1963 (first book publication) Similar Works by Leigh Brackett, Science Fiction books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Alpha Centauri or Die! is a science fiction novel by Leigh Brackett.
Contents
Publication
The novel is a fixup of two earlier short stories, "The Ark of Mars" (first published in the September 1953 issue of Planet Stories) and "Teleportress of Alpha C" (first published in the Winter 1954-1955 Planet Stories). Its first book publication was as half of Ace Double F-187 with Legend of Lost Earth by G. McDonald Wallis.
Summary
In Brackett's future solar system, manned interstellar flight is forbidden with only the government's robotic spaceships being permitted. Attempting to escape the regime, Kirby, a former starship pilot, and his wife Shari construct the "Ark of Mars", a refitted freighter named the Lucy B. Davenport and with their crew set out to a habitable planet around Alpha Centauri. They run through the government blockades and defeat a robotic pursuit ship in battle, before setting out on a five-year voyage to the new planet. However, after arriving, they begin to realize that they are not alone…
Influence and Reception
Rich Horton's review was mixed. He felt that the novel didn't have "the frisson of Dunsany-esque fantastical imagery that so drives her best work," concluding that it was "[m]ediocre stuff, really, though Brackett is never unreadable, and I did enjoy the book."