Ghost

From Publishers Weekly Anthony's latest novel is one of his most minor efforts, a mechanical working out of an absurd, rattletrap plot, overwhelmed by talk and introspection. The story is set in a future in which a law has been passed (the Miscegenation Act) forbidding the marriage of two people of the same race (this in response to ''savage race riots'' and the need to slow population growth). Kerr Shetland, captain of the Meg IIa ''timeship'' traveling beyond the farthest reaches of the universe in search of new energy sources for an energy-poor Earthand his crew of six spend the trip in a paroxysm of racial, sexual and psychological self-examination, finally reaching some sort of epiphany when the ship breaks up on the rim of a Black Hole, and they are transformed into pure spiritall to little effect. Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. Product Description Navigating a time ship into the void beyond the universe, Captain Shetland searches for a new energy for Earth, but instead finds a galaxy-sized black hole--the ghost of all reality. Reissue. Earth is an energy-starved madhouse of selfish and superficial inhabitants who have depleted its resources. and where spacers are hated as power wasters. But starship captain Shetland's life is dedicated to finding new energy sources for Earth. Navigating a time ship into the void beyond the universe, the search takes him into deepest space and time where he and his crew discover a galaxy-sized black hole, the ghosts of all reality. The most horrifying ghost of all, the ghost of their universe, where his crew are shattered into beings of pure will. And he found another ghost. Alice, the chemist of the Meg II, had committed suicide and now wandered its corridors, lost in a lonely, private hell. The rest of the crew were soon to follow her. Beyond the galaxy-sized black hole at the edge of the universe, another universe waited, a universe of ghosts that would turn Shetland and his crew into ectoplasmic energy-beings. and he must help them to regain their humanity. Not a very good read. More concerned with sex than telling a good story. The story itself was highly improbable, disjointed and ended too quickly leaving one wondering how everything turned out. One of the very few books I cannot recommend. gmb 7/7/20 When Space Captain Shetland, commander of an experimental deep-time ship, happens upon a ghost universe, his crew are shattered into beings of pure will, and he must help them to regain their humanity.