STAR TOWER by Joe Vadalma

Their Tower to the Stars was a Spaceship!

Star Tower is the enthralling hard science story of the first manned starship, how it came into being and what happens on its long journey.

John Huck, a bitter veteran of an exploitative war fought for control of the solar system, returns to the earth ghetto where he was born to discover his parents murdered by Earth's repressive government. Seeking revenge, he joins an underground revolution, but is betrayed, arrested and sentenced to die. Then he is offered an out: join a group of other prisoner volunteers on the risky first trip to the stars and back! Successful return means a pardon.

But, taken aboard a vessel so enormous many mistake it for a space station, John and the other prisoners learn they have been shanghaied onto a one-way trip. There can be no return. They will be lucky to live long enough to survive their long, long journey.

This is just the beginning of the story of the ship they christened Star Tower. What John cannot dream is that the hazards and disasters they will encounter along the way will force him to rise to become a leader and change their voyage completely.