#21. STAR MAKER By Olaf Stapledon

Published : 1937
Pages : 254
Overall Mark : 7/10

One moment a man sits on a suburban hill, gazing curiously at the stars. The next, he is whirling through the firmament, and perhaps the most remarkable of all science fiction journeys has begun. Even Stapledon's other great work, Last And First Men, pales in ambition next to Star Maker, which is nothing less than a history of life in the universe, encompassing billions of years.

W. OLAF STAPLEDON (1886-1950)
Stapledon was educated at Oxford and Liverpool University, where he later lectured in psychology and philosophy. His wartime experiences made him a committed lifetime pacifist. According to The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, his influence on the development of SF ideas is 'probably second only to that of H. G. Wells'.

VERDICT
This is an imaginative novel, something of an expansion of Last And First Men that moves on from the planet Earth and ventures into the realms of space. Stapledon manages to use his mind to envisage whole new species of beings, yet only looks at them for a couple of pages before moving into to more of the same. This has plenty of wonderful imagination and enough thought provoking ideas to keep even the most doubtful SF fan intrigued.