Other editions of book The Year When Stardust Fell

Years before J.J. Abrams' new Science Fiction TV series Revolution, or Newt Gingrich's prediction of a doomsday power outage, Raymond Jones wrote a spell-binding sci-fi novel with a similar theme. The world suddenly finds that, due to an unknown cause, all machines have stopped working. That means no electricity, no cars, no computers, none of the things the modern world has come to rely on. The story follows the population of a small college town as events unfold. Will scientists, using only primitive equipment be able to find the cause...and a solution? Will people band together and find a way to survive or will chaos ensue?

Mayfield was a typical small town in rural America. Nothing much ever happened there. Then, one day, cars stopped working, the bearings seized and pistons welded to the cylinder walls. Generators stopped working. The railroads ceased to run. Bit by bit the trappings of civilization no longer functioned. Was it a new additive in the gasoline? Or was it something brought on by the strange comet that hung ominously in the sky? Whatever it was, the citizens of Mayfield knew that life would never be the same after The Year When Stardust Fell!This classic book was edited and published by Resurrected Press. Included in this book is a new, introductory foreword discussing the story, the times, and the influences that went into the tale, adding historical context to the book. Author biographies are also included, as are illustrations, when appropriate. These are not scanned versions of the originals, but handcrafted, quality-checked and edited books meant to be enjoyed! Resurrected Press is dedicated to bringing high quality classic books back to the readers who enjoy them. Please search Amazon for "Resurrected Press" to find both print and Kindle editions of all of our books!

Mayfield was the typical college town. Nothing too unusual ever happened there until a mysterious comet was suddenly observed by the scientists on College Hill.And then one day the modified engine on Ken Maddox's car began overheating mysteriously. By morning it didn't run at all.Art's Garage, local headquarters for hot-rodders, was soon so full of cars that wouldn't run, that Ken's science club began working in the garage after school. It didn't take long for the club to discover that all the moving parts on these stalled cars had fused together. Soon all machinery had stopped in Mayfield. There was no longer any light or power anywhere. This mysterious creeping paralysis was spreading.The copper-yellow glow of the comet seemed to have brought the whole world to a grinding halt. Airplanes, trains, generators and heavy machinery were immobilized. Finally man was left with only a few primitive tools and communication became possible only by means of amateur radio. In the resulting chaos parts of Mayfield were burned and looted by hunger-crazed mobs that stole and killed as they advanced.Here is science fiction at its thrilling best. A startling and thought-provoking book that shows how human nature might react to catastrophe. THE YEAR WHEN STARDUST FELL is a juvenile science fiction novel, published first in 1958, by Raymond F. Jones (author of THIS ISLAND EARTH) with cover illustration by James Heugh and endpaper illustration by Alex Schomburg. It was one of the books in the Winston Science Fiction series.

From the man who gave us This Island Earth, Raymond F. Jones, The Year When Stardust Fell is an engaging sci-fi thriller about an Earth in peril. Mayfield was the typical college town. Nothing too unusual ever happened there until a mysterious comet was suddenly observed by the scientists on College Hill. And then one day the modified engine on Ken Maddox's car began overheating mysteriously. By morning it didn't run at all. Art's Garage, local headquarters for hot-rodders, was soon so full of cars that wouldn't run, that Ken's science club began working in the garage after school. It didn't take long for the club to discover that all the moving parts on these stalled cars had fused together. Soon all machinery had stopped in Mayfield. There was no longer any light or power anywhere. This mysterious creeping paralysis was spreading. The copper-yellow glow of the comet seemed to have brought the whole world to a grinding halt. Airplanes, trains, generators and heavy machinery were immobilized. Finally man was left with only a few primitive tools and communication became possible only by means of amateur radio. In the resulting chaos parts of Mayfield were burned and looted by hunger-crazed mobs that stole and killed as they advanced. Here is science fiction at its thrilling best. A startling and thought-provoking book that shows how human nature might react to catastrophe.

A MYSTERIOUS "FALL-OUT" PARALYZES CIVILIZATION! Mayfield was the typical college town. Nothing too unusual ever happened there until a mysterious comet was suddenly observed by the scientists on College Hill. The copper-yellow glow of the comet seemed to have brought the whole world to a grinding halt. Here is science fiction at its thrilling best.(Goodreads)

That night the comet was the only thing in the whole sky. All the stars were smothered by the light of its copper-yellow flame, and, although the sun had set two hours ago, the Earth was lit as with the glow of a thunderous dawn.In Mayfield, Ken Maddox walked slowly along Main Street, avoiding collisions with other people whose eyes were fixed on the object in the sky. Ken had spent scores of hours observing the comet carefully, both by naked eye and with his 12-inch reflecting telescope. Still he could not keep from watching it as he picked his way along the street toward the post office.The comet had been approaching Earth for months, growing steadily to bigger proportions in the sky, but tonight was a very special night, and Mayfield was watching with increased awe and half-dread -- as were hundreds of thousands of other communities around the world.Tonight, the Earth entered the comet's tail, and during the coming winter would be swept continuously by its million-mile spread.

Mayfield was a typical small town in rural America. Nothing much ever happened there. Then, one day, cars stopped working, the bearings seized and pistons welded to the cylinder walls. Generators stopped working. The railroads ceased to run. Bit by bit the trappings of civilization no longer functioned. Was it a new additive in the gasoline? Or was it something brought on by the strange comet that hung ominously in the sky? Whatever it was, the citizens of Mayfield knew that life would never be the same after The Year When Stardust Fell!