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Gateway

Fredeirk Pohl

Nebula 1977, Hugo & Locus 1978, Internet Top 100, Top 20 

Irreverant, unromanticized look at the human side of space adventure. An untenable, perilous external challenge matched by an equally difficult inner struggle.

The story begins in a dialogue with a computer-psychiatrist and bits and pieces of the bigger picture slowly emerge. The themes are sanity, meaningfulness, compassion and the format is neurotic struggle, foolhardiness, and cruelty. It's life and truth and value but not in idealized heroics and glamorized characters. It's a celebration of the good in the ordinary, of deep appreciation for the mundane. A lesson in the possibility of feeling wonder, joy, love in our boring, empty, and lonely experiences.

The fascinating external events unfold in an atmosphere entwined by an anguished personal search for healing. The past and future merge in a psychological mini-drama intersperced with tidbits about the mysterious Heechee, the strange subculture of daredevil explorers, and the endearing honesty of Robinette Broadhead (Bob).

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