Love Story in Three Acts
by David Gerrold
Nova One, ed. Harry Harrison (Delacorte, 1970); reprinted (Sphere, 1975), pp. 111-123.
SF short story. Gerrold’s two-hander sees a jaded couple hook themselves up to a ‘guidance model’ to improve their lacklustre lovemaking. Cue the retrospectively tame sex scene. Regrettably, the protagonists are banal archetypes, the ending a telegraphed twist (spoiler: the placebo effect).
The Middle of Nowhere
by David Gerrold (Bantom, 1995)
An odd novel, consisting for the most part of logistical speculation and a backstory for Korie (as if to justify or bolster the previous two books). The action, once it comes, is murky and confused… yet still somehow pulls the reader in.
Voyage of the Star Wolf
by David Gerrold (Bantom, 1990)
Gerrold’s second book in the Yesterday’s Children / Star Hunt universe features a similarly disreputable ship and an even more grim scenario, and for reasons unknown brings back First Officer Korie (with scant regard for continuity). The story itself is darkly compelling.
Starhunt
by David Gerrold (Hamlyn, 1985)
Not merely a reprint. Starhunt does encompass Yesterday’s Children but reboots at that story’s conclusion and ups the word count by a third, rewriting Korie from deranged and overambitious fool to master strategist and king of mind games. The psychobabble is unconvincing.
Yesterday’s Children
by David Gerrold (Faber & Faber, 1972)
A grim search for realism in depicting space warfare. Having established his antihero protagonist aboard a tumbledown ship rife with interpersonal tensions—Star Trek in other words but stripped of hope and idealism—Gerrold pins his denouement on mental breakdown and gimmickry.