Project Gutenberg 2009-10-07 Public domain in the USA. 188 Derleth, August 1909 1971 Derleth, August William Martin, Bob McIlvaine's Star Produced from If Worlds of Science Fiction July 1952. Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net "McIlvaine's Star" by August Derleth is a science fiction narrative written in the early to mid-20th century. It centers around a character named Thaddeus McIlvaine, an eccentric amateur astronomer who claims to have discovered a dark star and embarks on a quest to communicate with its mysterious inhabitants. The story explores themes of belief, alien encounters, and the search for understanding and connection across the cosmos. In the tale, Thaddeus McIlvaine shares his discovery with a group of friends at a tavern, who respond with skepticism and humor. Undeterred, McIlvaine engages in communication with beings on his dark star, believing he possesses the means to connect with them through a home-made device. As the story progresses, McIlvaine's communications unveil a curious alien civilization, culminating in an ominous revelation that a war against humanity is imminent. The proceeding disappearance of his friend Richardson, coupled with McIlvaine's own enigmatic fate, leaves readers questioning the boundaries between sanity and belief, reality and imagination. Ultimately, the novel presents an exploration of an individual's quest for validation and recognition amidst isolation from both peers and an alien world. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 73.9 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read. en Science fiction Short stories PS Text Science Fiction Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Category: Novels 50669 2025-08-12T10:57:54.588475 text/html 26735 2024-10-24T20:25:52 text/html 253364 2025-08-12T10:57:59.628434 application/epub+zip 251666 2025-08-12T10:57:57.390442 application/epub+zip 122182 2025-08-12T10:57:56.221423 application/epub+zip 397382 2025-08-12T10:58:01.261419 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 308796 2025-08-12T10:57:58.948445 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 173538 2022-09-14T05:00:05.988600 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 43597 2025-08-12T10:57:54.332438 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 23842 2024-10-24T20:25:51 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 43607 2021-01-05T17:42:30 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 19812 2025-08-12T10:58:01.401408 application/rdf+xml 16051 2025-08-12T10:57:56.813442 image/jpeg 3965 2025-08-12T10:57:56.469427 image/jpeg 177447 2021-01-05T17:42:30 application/octet-stream application/zip 16566 2021-01-05T17:42:30 application/octet-stream application/zip 254138 2025-08-12T10:57:54.602434 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia