Paperback original novel, Robert Hoskins (1933 - 1993) was an American science fiction writer. This is the second of three science fiction adventure novels he wrote which comprise his and "Stars and " trilogy (the others are and "Master of the Stars and " (1976) and and "To Escape the Stars and " (1978). All take place in a future where ancient and "stargates and " are used to transport between worlds; an idea perhaps serving as inspiration for the 1994 movie and later TV series.