The Starman Team dedicated its first book, _Assault On Mars_, to Joseph
Greene, the late author of the Dig Allen series which was the
inspiration for the Starman series. A complimentary copy was sent to his
son Paul, who was moved by the tribute. We then asked Paul to write an
introduction to _The Runaway Asteroid_. The following is his
response--surely one of the most unusual introductions in any book
anywhere, and one we are privileged to share with our readers.
Dear Dad,
A most remarkable invention is weaving the world together in a way we
never anticipated while you were on Earth, and it netted your writing.
Fans of your books for juveniles, The Digby Allen series, were able to
connect to each other, share their enthusiasm for your novels, and were
inspired to continue the voyage. Led by Jonathan Cooper, the intrepid
mastermind of the creative crew, they made a commitment to write their
own vision of the future. Thoughtfully, they credit you as having
shoulders broad enough for them to stand on and see the centuries
beyond. The invention that has made this possible is called the
internet. There seems no need to explain what it is here, but part of
its magic is that it can permit people to connect to each other
independently of time and space.
The themes of Dig Allen from the 1960’s have worked like the internet in
that they functioned independently of time and space, only much more
slowly. You presented your ideas in books as ideas are posted on the
internet. The authors of Starman were drawn to the themes in your books
and then each other in cyberspace, which acts as both the bookshelf and
café for today’s ideas and authors. The creators of Starman saw value in
your stories and tried to get the publisher to renew the series. Sadly,
your old publisher ignored them and blocked the revival, as though they
were so much space junk.
No one owns a theme. But the creators of Starman have shown that they
share some of the beliefs that you express in your subjects. Their young
men of the stars prove that they too are brave, adventurous and willing
to sacrifice for freedom and justice. With a loyalty toward each other
that would create envy in every generation, they test themselves against
cunning scoundrels. As they conquer villains, they, and we along with
them, learn whether they measure up. Will they prove themselves worthy
as young people have done for all time? Young readers can have a chance
to preview something about their own lives and the world they will live
in. And just as you believed, somehow the human race survives. If the
world of Starman is an accurate guess on the future, then the good guys,
the ones in the white spacesuits, will continue to prevail and produce
more young people to keep the dream alive. I hope that some of the next
generation of courageous young people will read this series.
Your fans don’t know that you started writing seriously relatively early
in life, in the 1920’s and ’30’s, first as a teen for your personal
pleasure and then on your school newspaper at New Utrecht High School in
Brooklyn, New York. Did having to learn the English language after
speaking Russian until the age of seven help you become a better writer?
Were your poems and letters to Mom valuable both to her and to your
professional development? Did the comic books you authored during the
Golden Age of comics give you a better sense of story-telling and
dialogue or did it degrade your love of language? I know that writing
television scripts and other creative projects supported the family
during the difficult years of the 1950’s, but how did it affect your
later work with Digby Allen? So many of your themes are repeated and
reworked in several of your creations right through to the late 1980’s.
Who would guess that you once wrote a paper on the use of the raven in
several of Shakespeare’s plays? Or that you wrote biology text to
accompany a new medium, slides made from strips of 35-mm film? Would
admirers realize that you were most interested in world events, but read
the sports section of the New York Times first, everyday? I’m certain
your fans wouldn’t have read the American Elsewhen Almanac, a
compilation of bits of Americana and commentary that you published in
the 1980’s.
I want to thank the authors of Starman for giving me the opportunity to
write the introduction to their second novel. If there is a way to
communicate to you across the veil between our dimensional world and the
one in which you now reside, then it must be through the pages of a
book. After the love of family, I don’t believe anything was more
precious to you than books, so maybe this letter will be able to cross
the divide. Just as I proofread the drafts of Digby Allen before you
sent them to the publisher, your granddaughter and grandson proofread
this. Perhaps that will act like a mystical booster rocket to get these
pages to you.
And to future space pioneers, may the solar winds be at your back.
Love,
Paul
October 20, 2000