Afterword

Today’s readers may perhaps think of a way that the people of Noren’s world might have been enabled to survive without the drastic system imposed by the Scholars. But in 1972, when this book was first published, science was not as far advanced as it is now, and I myself was unaware of any other way. I believed that there was no alternative to what the Scholars did; if I had not, I wouldn’t have written two novels (this one and its sequel Beyond the Tomorrow Mountains) that endorsed it—for of course, I would not have sanctioned it on any lesser basis than my conviction that the extinction of their human race would have been worse. So when, some years later, I learned of a new possibility, I was dismayed. I feared that new readers would assume that I had ignored it for plot reasons and had knowingly justified the social evils in the story on false grounds.

For that reason, I then wrote another novel, The Doors of the Universe, to explain why the Scholars’ knowledge had been incomplete. I won’t spoil the suspense of the second and third books in the Children of the Star trilogy by stating here what they’d not known, and what Noren ultimately does about it. But rest assured that the story doesn’t end with this first book.

Because of the possibility that readers might think it does end here, I have been reluctant to reissue the three novels separately. I was happy that Meisha Merlin put all three together in one volume, Children of the Star, when they were republished. However, I have found that many people hesitate to choose such a long book as that. Furthermore, This Star Shall Abide can be enjoyed by younger readers than the other two, which are rarely of interest to those below high school age—the third one is about Noren’s adult life. (Though all three were originally marketed as Young Adult books, the single-volume edition was issued as adult science fiction.) Teachers and others who wanted a story suitable for middle-school kids didn’t want to buy the whole trilogy. I have therefore issued its three parts simultaneously but separately as ebooks and this book alone in paperback. There are no present plans for paper editions of the other two.

However, although Meisha Merlin has gone out of business and Children of the Star is officially out of print, new copies can still be obtained from me and at Amazon.com. So while they last, you can get a paper edition of the whole trilogy if you want one. All three ebooks will remain available in EPUB, MOBI and PDF formats as well as for Amazon’s Kindle.

There is a detailed FAQ page about the trilogy at www.sylviaengdahl.com/noren.htm. Parts of it contain major spoilers, but it’s clearly marked so that you won’t see them before you’ve read This Star Shall Abide. I hope you’ll go there, as it deals with questions that are often raised by the story. It includes the commentary that was given to librarians at the time this book was first published, which offers some ideas for discussion.

UK readers may be wondering why, when the book appeared there in 1973, its title was Heritage of the Star. American and UK editions often have different titles because of their publishers’ preferences, which is confusing now that books are available internationally on the Internet.

The text of the new editions is identical to the Meisha Merlin edition, which was revised slightly from the original, mainly to remove outdated statements about computer technology.    —Sylvia Engdahl, January 2010