Journey Between Worlds

by Sylvia Engdahl

Overview

Melinda Ashley has a plan for her life, and a trip to Mars isn't part of it. When she receives a spaceliner ticket as a high school graduation gift from her dad, she is dismayed, but reluctantly agrees to go with him--in part because she's infuriated by her fiance's high-handed declaration that she can't. Her outlook begins to change when she meets Alex Preston, a second-generation Martian colonist who is going home after college on Earth. Alex believes settling Mars is important. He's looking forward to the role he expects to play in the colony's future. Melinda finds this hard to understand, yet she is more and more drawn to him and, while on Mars, to his family. Torn between what she has always wanted and upsetting new feelings, she wonders if she can ever again be content. It takes tragedy and a terrifying experience on the Martian noon Phobos to make her aware of what really matters to her.

Although this novel is set on Mars, it's not about technology or exotic adventure. It's mainly a story about human aspirations and human love, and is usually enjoyed more by readers who like romance than by avid science fiction fans. In this new ebook edition there has been some minor updating of wording involving mobile devices, beyond that done in the 2006 hardcover edition.

From the reviews:

"The book feels as fresh and interesting as any near-future novel I have read.... A very accessible story for readers who are interested in space colonization as well as readers who enjoy stories about personal growth and relationships." —Blogcritics

"A must-read for all future space pioneers who wish to persuade their friends to join them in making that future journey between the worlds of the known and the unknown." —Marianne Dyson, Reading Space (National Space Society)

"A beautifully-written, heartwarming, and scientifically plausible novel.... Now that I'm done with it, I want more." —John Joseph Adams, Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show

"The author has projected a plausible picture of the post-twentieth-century world—a world where pioneers on Mars are envisioned as a continuation of the endless chain of settlers who have been moving to new frontiers ever since the human race began." —Horn Book

"Absorbing science fiction ... Intensive first-person characterizations and a love story one can really care about." —Wichita Falls Times

"As an adult, I found Journey Between Worlds captivating and thought provoking. There's much more to this book than romance or a coming of age type of story, but instead the concepts it holds are what make it appealing. It certainly made me think." —Dorine Linnen, Romance Junkies

"Journey Between Worlds' theme of a human manifest destiny in space is by no means juvenile.... A fun read for younger audiences and an inspiring, hopeful and entertaining tale for older readers as well." —ScifiDimensions

"Young adults will find not only adventure here in good measure but a satisfying love story as well." —Catholic Library World

Product Details

BN ID:	2940152421378
Publisher:	Ad Stellae Books
Publication date:	10/19/2015
Sold by:	Smashwords
Format:	eBook
File size:	336 KB
Age Range:	12 Years

About the Author

Sylvia Engdahl is the author of eleven science fiction novels. She is best known for her six traditionally-published Young Adult novels that are also enjoyed by adults, all but one of which are now available in indie editions. That one, Enchantress from the Stars, was a Newbery Honor book, winner of the 2000 Phoenix Award of the Children's Literature Association, and a finalist for the 2002 Book Sense Book of the Year in the Rediscovery category. Her Children of the Star trilogy, originally written for teens, was reissued by a different publisher as adult SF.

Recently she has written five independently-published novels for adults, the Founders pf Maclairn dulogy and the Captain of Estel trilogy. Although all her novels take place in the distant future, in most csses on hypothetical worlds, and thus are categorized as science fiction, they are are directed more to mainstream readers than to avid science fiction fans.

Engdahl has also issued an updated edition of her 1974 nonfiction book The Planet-Girded Suns: Our Forebears' Firm Belief in Inhabited Exoplanets, which is focused on original research in primary sources of the 17th through early 20th centuries that presents the views prevalent among educted people of that time. In addition she has published three permafree ebook collections of essays.

Between 1957 and 1967 Engdahl was a computer programmer and Computer Systems Specialist for the SAGE Air Defense System. Most recently she has worked as a freelance editor of nonfiction anthologies for high schools. Now retired, she lives in Eugene, Oregon and welcomes visitors to her website at www.sylviaengdahl.com. It includes a large section on space colonization, of which she is a strong advocate, as well as essays on other topics and detailed information about her books. She enjoys receiving email from her readers.