Jumper

Gould makes an auspicious debut with this playful and moving look at a hallowed science fiction concept: teleportation. Gould gives us no teleportation chambers, no shimmery beaming a la Star Trek , no worries about mingling one's own molecules with a fly's--here only one person can teleport, and he has no idea how he does it. David Rice, age 17, first ``jumps'' spontaneously in order to escape his abusive father. Having run away, he learns to control his strange talent, using it first to survive on the street and then to set himself up comfortably via bank robbery. Gould does not focus on moral implications so much as keep the plot moving quickly. David searches for his long-lost mother, meets and woos a girl, enjoys the pleasures of a leisurely life in New York and (despite his best efforts) eventually runs afoul of the authorities, who of course want to understand his powers and then put him to work for them. Short fiction has earned this author a reputation in ``hard'' science fiction, and he applies similar logic to teleportation (though he glosses over some points to make the story work). His warm, delightful and compulsively readable novel displays assured storytelling skill. (Aug.)