Starchild (novel)

Starchild is a dystopian science fiction novel by American writers Frederik Pohl and Jack Williamson, published in 1965.

The novel is set in a dystopian future on an Earth where mankind is ruled by a brutal totalitarian government known as the Plan of Man, enforced by a computerized surveillance state.

In The Reefs of Space, the main character is a genius scientist, Steve Ryeland, who is trying to build a new type of rocket drive.

Another mystery is how a "Plan of Man" agent named Boysie Gann can travel across space in a flash.

James Nicoll states that the strategy of the Starchild is strange, as "it seems to be designed to maximize drama and body count rather than to accomplish its goal [of freeing people from totalitarianism] effectively."

Cover of one of the episodes serialized in the magazine If in 1964.