I got this is in a five bucks a bag sale of paperbacks several years ago and finally got around to it. My mistake. This is not a SF novel. It’s a pitch for religion. I don’t have a problem with that if those concerned are honest about their product but what galls me is the fact that the author and publisher didn’t have the honesty to market it for what it is. That tactic is extremely irresponsible and all concerned should be ashamed of themselves.
The basic alleged storyline has Stef on his yacht with his family. His compass goes haywire and he runs into a huge object in the water. A body is floating by and Stef manages to pull it out of the water. Turns out it’s an alien from the planet Iarga some ten light years away.
The object is a huge spaceship. One of the aliens takes Stef aboard in gratitude for saving his crewman’s life. He tells him all about his planet whose society is based on freedom, justice and efficiency.
The planet has over three hundred billion people. Stef is shown a film about it. This is another situation where Earth isn’t ready for the cosmic society. Lots of detail about the planet.
Now the religious pitch starts via the dialogue from the alien. It goes on forever. At the end the alien tells Stef to write a book about what he’s learned and publish it under the guise of science fiction.
I blame the publisher more than the author. In this case the paperback is from Pocket Books. Maybe they thought they could get by because in the one paragraph forward it says, “This is not exactly a science fiction book.” .
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