Beyond Apollo

1981 : the first manned expedition to Venus has returned to earth and a space program on the verge of dissolution. The commander is missing. The survivor is insane.

The survivor, Harry M. Evans, has the secret of the Venus mission locked somewhere within his slain. But he cannot—or will not—cell what happened. His diary, written while he is institutionalized, is a fascinating and terrible blend of real events, fantasies, myths and wishes, written in such a way they cannot be disentangled.

Yet somehow the scientists of the program and the doctors at the institution must find the answer. The space program, cut back drastically after the Apollo missions of the early 1970's, tried and failed to land a crew on Mars in 1976, in a tragedy with no survivors and no (apparent) answers. If Evans cannot tell why Venus too failed, the program may collapse.

This is the premise of Beyond Apollo, but the novel actually circles around several basic questions which have, to date, not been explored in depth in science fiction. What is the nature of space? What are the effects of technological devices on man, and can man deal with the machinery? Does the solution of engineering problems open or close the way to space by throwing men into situations with which they cannot deal? Above all, what happens to man in space?

In his first hardcover novel, Barry N. Malzberg explores frightening issues which are the inevitable development of modern science fiction.