Flynn's homage to Ayn Rand, Firestar, tells the near future tale of a heroic capitalist, born to wealth, who utilizes her riches and talents to reclaiFlynn's homage to Ayn Rand, Firestar, tells the near future tale of a heroic capitalist, born to wealth, who utilizes her riches and talents to reclaim the stars, or at least, near space. Mariesa, born a scion of one of the wealthiest families in the USA, seemingly always had a fear of a meteor crashing to Earth, taking humanity the way of the dinosaurs. Once she became head of the family firm (or rather, corporate conglomerate), she kick started a number of ventures to bring humanity out of the gravity well.
Frustrated with the state of schooling in America, she also brought into the conglomerate charter schools, and the firm Mentor also bought the contract to run schools in parts of New Jersey. Mariesa's estate in Jersey allowed her to follow the progress at one school, where several of the students became characters in the novel. Mariesa's grand hopes to reach space also include attempting to inculcate this desire in the students at the school; if you give the 'lost' generation dreams, who knows what they can do?
The book consists of three parts, the first, 1999 (the book was published in 1996), the second a few years later, and the last, around 2007. Science fiction stories cast in the near future obtain that dated feel pretty quickly and Firestar definitely possesses that feel.
The good: Flynn provides a solid, hard science fiction tale of what it may take to jump-start a new space program, albeit one financed by the private sector. All the cloak and dagger to keep things secret, the research, the proto-type space craft (more advanced than the space shuttle for sure); all of this seems remarkably believable.
The bad: 900 pages to tell the story and the story barely gets started at that point. I love space opera, by Firestar put the opera in space opera! Some many characters, so very carefully fleshed out, the political struggles, the 'haters' and 'groupies', and yet, most of the characters still feel pretty flat.
If you want a heroic saga of one capitalist taking us back to space, this may be a book for you! Still, other authors have done this trope much better, like Neal Asher. I may not agree with the politics, but I can still appreciate a good story. Here, Flynn has talent, no doubt, but any decent editor should have cut this by 2/3s. 2 ok stars. ...more
The second installment of the Safehold series advances the story by about a year and by the end, you know this will be another long, drawn out series The second installment of the Safehold series advances the story by about a year and by the end, you know this will be another long, drawn out series with little action but lots of feudal intrigue and politics. If you like that kind of stuff, you will love this; if you actually want action and space opera, you may toss this across the room.
The previous installment ended with Charis defeating the navies of 5 kingdoms and the death of the King of Charis. His son, Cayleb, picks up the crown and he, along with the new archbishop, break from the Church (e.g., the titular Schism). While the Charisian navy rules the seas, the Church obviously is not very happy. Cayleb and company know the Church will be back, and much of this installment deals with the frantic preparations for that eventuality. Cayleb knows he has to come to some accord with the neighboring kingdoms, especially the arch rival state of Emerald. He also knows he has to court allies, especially Chisholm, ruled by a young queen...
This hefty volume chronicles about a year, and after a quick peak at the future volumes, it seems like that is Weber's plan-- an endless series of installments, laboriously telling the tale of brave little Charis taking on the rest of the world. The good guys are all so good and the bad guys ever so bad. Weber does not deal with subtly very well, seemingly content to paint everything in black and white hues. This series reminds me of GRRM's work in the endless detail/prose given to depicting what everyone wears, eats, etc., while barely moving the plot. Yes, we have a few reveals here, giving us some more insight into the backstory of the planet, but primarily, this volume deals with the plots and intrigue our heroes will face shortly. I started to skim (never a good sign) over the endless details, hoping for some action, but alas, nothing here. While I still have a few volumes of this on my shelf, I am done with the series. 2.5 stars, rounding down.
I have something of a love/hate relationship with Weber's work; he usually starts with a good premise and story that gets me hooked, but all too oftenI have something of a love/hate relationship with Weber's work; he usually starts with a good premise and story that gets me hooked, but all too often drags the story along with endless details, characters, infodumps, etc., to the point I think he loses the plot. That stated, I did like the first installment of this long series (Safehold) and will proceed to the next, but I fear the story will become bogged down as usual pretty quickly.
Off Armageddon Reef starts with a bang, as humanity encounters a ruthless alien race fairly early in their space colonization. The Gbaba never communicate, but just keep sending in warships until the colonies become dust and bereft of humanity. In a last ditch effort to save the human race, 8 million or so humans are covertly transported to Safehold, a distant planet far from human (and hopefully Gbaba) space. After an exciting 50 pages or so chronicling this, Weber gets down to business building the Safehold world and the story there.
The leaders of the rump human enclave, e.g., the military commanders of the the exodus, planned Safehold from scratch. Worried that evidence of energy emissions may attract the Gbaba, they carefully planned out a new society, one largely based upon 10th century European feudalism (for Weber fans, no surprise there!) complete with a pseudo Roman Catholic Church to maintain tradition. Further, they 'mind-wiped' the colonists, informing them that they were basically the chosen by the gods and Safehold a haven, if not heaven itself. The Church, via its Canon Law, proscribed innovation and any movement toward the scientific method. Things went fairly swimmingly until the actual story starts.
A small group of the original crew did not like the the extreme proscriptions via the church on Safehold and managed to smuggle some hi-tech stuff to the planet. In that 'stuff' resided a robot, a 'PICA', implanted with the memories of an officer in the Humanity's navy. The robot 'awakened' roughly 900 years after the colony became established and became quickly apprised of the situation. After half a year or so of studying the planet via tiny spybugs and such, she had the robot reconfigure itself as a male (patriarchal society don't you know) and headed out to the one kingdom that seems fairly progressive-- Charis. Weber models Charis basically as England circa 1600 or so; a navel power, largely due to its extensive merchant marine, and as distant as possible from 'Rome' (e.g., Zion). The population of Charis have a reputation as innovators, albeit along strictly proscribed lines, but still.
The Church of God Awaiting long before the story starts oozed corruption, very much like the Roman Catholic church prior to the Reformation. In fact, if you know any history of the era, Weber models the Church along the exact same lines; he even has the Church selling indulgences! The leaders of the Church, very rich due to bribes and skimming tributes to live lavishly, have a problem with Charis. Oh, they pay their taxes nicely, but perhaps they are becoming a bit too powerful and wealthy. In any case, they devise a pretext to essentially wipe Charis out. The king of Charis and his young son already feel the pinch, and the Church actively plotting against them puts them between a wall and a hard place. 'Luckily', they have the cybernetic avatar, Merlin Athrawes, who befriended the Prince and King in Charis, and 'he' possesses some tech that just may give them the edge they need to survive. If only they could find their own Martin Luther! Oh, it seems they may have just their man, the Bishop of the kingdom who seems to think the relationship between the gods and one's soul need not be mediated by the Church to obtain salvation, especially given the corrupt nature of the Church!
As you might expect given Weber, the bulk of the book contains many characters engaged in all kinds of feudal intrigue. While the beginning and ending contain some exciting navel battles (first in space, then on the actual sea), most of this revolves around politics and Merlin hinting about innovations that just skirt the edge of the proscriptions enforced by the church. Fun, albeit a pretty rough and ready 'borrowing' of European history, but man, can Weber drag out the politics. 3.5 feudal stars, rounding down for excess verbiage. ...more
The initial premise of Beggars in Spain rocked; I can see why the novella made a big splash in the early 90s (Kress later developed the novella into tThe initial premise of Beggars in Spain rocked; I can see why the novella made a big splash in the early 90s (Kress later developed the novella into this book). Unfortunately, I thought Kress dragged this out a bit too much, while also inserting too much melodrama for my taste. Still, an engaging read and one worth checking out if you are into gene modification and humanity.
Our protagonist, Leisha, became one of the original 'sleepless' back in 2008. Scientists discovered that sleep, originally an evolutionary strategy in mammals, has no necessity for people, and further, may even be the source of a variety of problems (mental imbalances, etc.). The scientists found a way to tweak the genome at the embryonic stage with the 'sleepless' as the end product. Genemods seemed to be the rage at the start of the novel, with beauty, stamina, etc., all being possible to tweak. Yet, the sleepless were different from the rest-- those 8 hours lost each day to 'normals' gave them quite an advantage in just about everything. In just one generation, the sleepless became leading doctors, financiers, lawyers in the United States, but just as rapidly came the social backlash.
The sleepless never numbered more than several thousand; once the backlash began, parents stopped desiring sleepless kids. Yet, as an unintended by-product, the sleepless also age very slowly; Leisha by the end of the novel comes close to 100 years old, but still looks like she is in her 30s. Pretty easy to see why many of the sleepless soon saw themselves as superior over 'normals' while many in society saw them as mutants. The very success of the sleepless induced resentment from those unable to compete.
Besides considering the social dynamics here, Kress also explores some Ayn Randian economics, which become the basic philosophy of many of the sleepless. Mutually beneficial contracts becomes the new mantra, along with the 'free market'. Sleepless firms began to outcompete 'normals' and pretty soon accounted for a substantial percentage of the nation's GDP.
Beggars in Spain consists of 4 parts, each a 'snapshot' of an era. This starts in 2008, then moves to 2051, then a few decades later, and finally, close to 2100. Kress advances the story via several character's POVs. Besides Leisha, who soon became an 'out' of the sleepless, we have Jennifer, also one of the first sleepless. Jennifer lead the group of sleepless who constructed an orbital, Sanctuary, where most of the sleepless moved to. By midway of the text, the US economy, largely due to some new 'free' energy source, became so productive that many if not most people did not need to labor in jobs. Fairly quickly, most US citizens were 'livers' who lived off the Dole and just amused themselves.
I enjoyed the thought experiment here, but this really dragged in parts, especially in the middle, where the sleepless/sleeper political discussion went on an on. The title refers to a thought experiment early in the text-- if you encounter beggars in Spain, what should you do? Give them a hand out? What if their are hundreds? Who deserves help and who is just lazy? Old, old discussion here (think back to England's Poor Laws!). Some great stuff here, but this could have been so much better! 3 sleepless stars!! ...more
Fun, pulpy read by Rusch, which reads more like an introduction to a series than a standalone novel, and indeed, it seems Rusch extended this series iFun, pulpy read by Rusch, which reads more like an introduction to a series than a standalone novel, and indeed, it seems Rusch extended this series into over a dozen sequels. Our main protagonist, Miles Flint, starts the novel working as a detective in the Moon's Armstrong dome, after working years in traffic. The story takes a bit to get going as Rusch at first jumps around to several POVs to introduce the supporting characters of the tale.
Set in the relatively new future, Humanity encountered an entire host of aliens who populate the sector of the galaxy. The 'Earth Alliance', the governing body of humanity, which includes Earth of course, and the far flung colonies in the solar system and beyond, made trade agreements with the aliens, but it seems the aliens are a bit, well alien, and do not think the same way as humans. The gist of this for the novel concerns legal agreements. When a human commits some egregious crime involving aliens, the 'intergalactic tribunal' sorts it out. What this entails is that the aliens get their justice and humanity has little say. The punishments for crimes vary depending upon the aliens, but most seem quite harsh.
The supporting characters are largely people who have 'disappeared'. When the tribunal rules in favor of the aliens, many people use disappearance agencies to, well, disappear with a new identity somewhere in human space. All the aliens have long memories and outstanding warrants may be presented at any time. Miles Flint, along with his tropey partner, start the novel trying to sort out some events around the moon. First, one space yacht turns up on a heading to the moon with three eviscerated bodies on board. Obviously to the cops, this is the result of a vengeance killing by one group of aliens; the bodies are simply a warning to others. At the roughly the same time, the moon's space patrol brings in an alien ship as they have some human children on board and lack the proper warrants. These aliens take their vengeance on the first born children of the guilty humans, and bring them up according to their own rules/culture.
Why are various aliens suddenly showing up in human space with warrants? This is mildly spoilery, but one unscrupulous disappearance agency apparently saw more profit in selling the aliens the info about people they disappeared; indeed, they first take money from people using their services, and then promptly turn the unsuspecting people over to the aliens.
The Disappeared reads like a mystery thriller set in a science fiction environment and is paced accordingly. My issues? The world building, the characters, the aliens, etc. are all underdeveloped; like I noted above, this reads more of a set up for a longer series and perhaps Rusch saved the development of everything for later. Nonetheless, I do feel vested enough to continue with the series, although I may give the next book a go. 3 pulpy stars!! ...more
If the film Blade Runner (1982) had not been so excellent I doubt this story by PKD would today be seen as a classic work of science fiction, but so iIf the film Blade Runner (1982) had not been so excellent I doubt this story by PKD would today be seen as a classic work of science fiction, but so it goes. Yes, DADOES rests on a great premise, e.g., what really makes people human, but the lackadaisical prose and oddities in the story (the cult of Mercer, the entire keeping animals thing) made this for me more interesting than classic.
Yes, Rick Deckard hunts androids (andys) that return to Earth; he is a bounty hunter of sorts, but never really thought of andys as alive or human. The Cult of Mercer prohibits killing life (or is it just animals and humans?) so Rick dodges this prohibition by seeing androids as simply things. Yet, the science behind androids has become so advanced it has become increasingly difficult to tell andys from humans. Over time, the various police forces on ravaged Earth devised a range of tests for andys, but each evolution of androids renders the tests more difficult if not obsolete. Currently, the tests rest on detecting whether or not the subject possesses empathy, for it seems humans do and androids still do not. Or don't they? What really makes people human? Very few movies I have seen outshine the original novel, but in this case, I will side with the movie. 3.5 androids, rounding up for GR!...more
Pretty enthralling mindbender by Priest, and one that left me scratching my head at the end. Priest divided The Adjacent into 8 parts; one 'central' tPretty enthralling mindbender by Priest, and one that left me scratching my head at the end. Priest divided The Adjacent into 8 parts; one 'central' timeline keeps coming back, but the other parts involve a wide range of timelines, from WWI, WWII and the near future. This starts with Tibor Tarent, a photographer, returning to the Islamic Republic of Great Britten (IRGB) from Turkey, where his wife had a nursing job through the diplomatic branch of the government. Set in roughly 2050 or so, climate change has devastated the world; the Mediterranean basin is largely desert and the nations around it are rife with war and insurgency. The field hospital in Turkey primarily dealt with victims of the war and one day Tibor's wife was killed with some new crazy weapon...
While Tibor's tale starts the book, the real story here involves a new discovery in theoretical physics-- the 'adjacent'. The guy who pioneered the work found a way (via some crazy quantum hand-wavery) to essentially divert things from our universe into one adjacent. The original intent was to create a new peace in the world, as 'adjacent fields' could be set up to 'relocate' missiles and other violent things. Purely defensive of course, until some Brainiac managed to turn it into a weapon. In Tibor's original timeline, London received the brunt of the new weapon when terrorists used it on May 10th, annihilating many blocks and 100s of 1000s of people. Meanwhile, Priest presents a gloomy, depressing near future, with temperate zones of the planet basically unlivable, England getting rocked by major hurricanes on a regular basis, and wars and fighting everywhere. The Tibor section reads a bit like a Kafka novel-- Tibor keeps getting shunted around in England, riding out various storms, and beset by grief.
Just when I though I had a handle on the story, Priest takes us to early WWII, where two gentlemen, an illusionist and H.G. Wells, had been called to aid the British war effort; the illusionist to somehow camouflage planes from the Germans and Wells with some new idea to deal with the mud in the trenches. Then we jump to 'now' with the theoretical physicist being interviewed by a reporter and a photographer (a young Tibor), then WWII-- yeah, the story moves timelines over and over...
The mindfuckery revolves around parallel universes (the adjacent) and it seems Tibor, and his wife for that matter, have 'proxies' in other adjacent worlds and Priest takes us on a tour of their lives before returning repeatedly to Tibor. Priest writes well and the narratives flow nicely, but this is one that needs some patience. Each 'part' reads something like a short story, but you know they will somehow come together in some way. Priest also drops in several Easter eggs here, featuring his The Prestige and The Islanders. A cover blurb captures the essence of the novel: "Haunting mediations on the philosophy of weapons, war, hope, love, and loss." 4 trippy stars!!...more
An odd, but entertaining book by David, with the infamous "Philadelphia Experiment" as a central motif. Back in 1943, the US government, working with An odd, but entertaining book by David, with the infamous "Philadelphia Experiment" as a central motif. Back in 1943, the US government, working with famous scientists like Einstein, tried to develop a means to make ships invisible using magnetic resonance generators. David riffs on this, and has one of the ships so equipped, a cruiser, essentially 'transport' itself into another dimension. Flash forward 50 years and the story begins.
Apparently, the US government, utilizing similar magnetic generators, isolated the ship in its 'space' and as been monitoring it. The people on the ship occasionally find an exit into the 'now', although for them, time has barely moved. These escapees, however, often had mad Psi talents and often go on a rampage, killing all kinds of people. The covert government agency can track them, however, and then send out kill teams. Another story arc features a group of scientists who work on brain waves, and have managed via some crazy science, to be able to insert people into other people's dreams. The 'dream team', at a member's behest (a social worker), starts working on some people who seem to keep having the exact same dream-- being on a ship and endless wandering, with a stark sense of dread. Obviously, these two story arcs possess a relationship, but David takes his time establishing it.
Ship of the Damned reads more like a techno thriller than 'straight' science fiction and David does pace this accordingly. The science is a bit hand-wavy, but so it goes. I really wanted to like this one more, but the characters did not inspire much and were pretty flat. Also, it got increasingly harder to suspend my sense of disbelief as the story progressed. Very neat idea, but this could have been executed better for sure. Still, worth a read if you can find it and like this type of stuff ...more
I love discovering science fiction reads that make me think while telling a good story, and Kress did a fine job with An Alien Light This made me thinI love discovering science fiction reads that make me think while telling a good story, and Kress did a fine job with An Alien Light This made me think of Le Guins's work (quite a compliment) as it fits somewhat neatly into sociological science fiction with an alien component. Many generations ago, a human ship crashed (or something) on the planet Qom, and from the ashes two rival cities or states emerged on the mainland (the wreckage of the ship, still around, may be found on an island off the coast). Each of the two human societies over time created their own institutional framework around just about everything, including a dearth of high tech stuff; they are basically barbarous laced with some craftspeople who make glass, etc.
Qom possesses a harsh climate, with 'three day' days and nights, which vary from hot to freezing, and the indigenous flora and and fauna pretty hostile. The planet itself, however, remains secondary to the actual story. It seems humanity and the Ged, an alien species, have been at war for a long time, and surprisingly to the Ged, humanity is winning. What makes it so surprising concerns how humanity, alone among star-faring races, still fights among itself; humans are not united and violence common. Every other race with such tendencies managed to blow themselves up and/or their home planet before reaching the stars. What is it about humanity?
Well, the Ged decided to experiment on the forgotten planet of Qom to find out what makes humans tick. They build a 'city', a massive walled compound, and after about a year, it started letting humans in; they had to pass some tests to enter and stay, but some emerged early with valuable gems and other goodies, attracting people from both human 'tribes'. After about 600 humans 'pass' and enter the city, the city walls seal themselves and the story really takes off. An Alien Light features two protagonists, Ayrys, a glass-blower exile from one tribe, who makes for the city as she has nowhere else to go, and Jehane, a young 'sister-warrior' from the other tribe, who meet several days outside of the city while they make their way there.
The Ged provide food and lodging and the city is completely climate controlled; the Ged themselves, methane breathers, interact with the humans in special environmental suits. All they ask of the humans is that they go to 'teaching' several hours a day, and at the end of a year, they will all be awarded new weapons and other cool stuff. Each tribe quickly organizes itself, dividing themselves into separate lodgings and so forth, but must intermingle in the teaching lodges, much to their respective chagrin. What the Ged want comes out in orts and scraps, along with short chapters where we learn more about the aliens. Each tribe wants the goodies, as if only one tribe gets it, the other will be at a disadvantage when they all leave.
Kress does an excellent job exploring the socio-dynamics of each tribe and they differ in fundamental ways. The two tribes war almost constantly between themselves as land and other resources are quite scarce. I will forego details here, along with the plot, as all of that unfolding is what really makes this book work so well. The pacing at times ebbed a bit slow, but Kress' prose pulled the story along nicely. Even though this was first published back in 1988, it does not feel dated at all; it helps in this regard that the focus falls upon the sociology of each tribe rather than the tech. Solid read for sure, and if you like Le Guin's work, you will probably dig this. 4 alien stars!!...more
The cover blurb states that Before the Cradle Falls is "Superbly paced mix of science fiction, thriller, and police procedural" and I have to agree, eThe cover blurb states that Before the Cradle Falls is "Superbly paced mix of science fiction, thriller, and police procedural" and I have to agree, even if you have to suspend your disbelief a bit along the way. Set in Portland, Oregon, our protagonist, Detective Sommers, starts the book still reeling from the death of his young daughter and his fall to booze. It seems he and his daughter hit a deer on the way home, he lost control of the car and the resulting crash killer her. Before, Sommers had quickly risen in the ranks of the PPD, and had been tasked to lead the hunt for the so-called Cradle Robber, a serial killer slowing working his way up the West Coast.
Well, the Cradle robber arrived (he kills young kids in their bedrooms, leaving toys in their hands) and Sommer's chief activates the task force, putting Sommers in charge, albeit warily. So, on the one hand, we have a serial killer story/police procedural. The author, however, also brought a 'wild-card' into the mix, with a strangely clad older man starts to show up in places somehow knowing crimes and/or tragedies would soon ensue. Who is this guy? How does he know the future? He even leaves clippings from a newspaper that narrated events that he helped thwart.
Mild spoiler (it is on the back flap), it turns out the mystery 'good Samaritan' has somehow travelled back in time to prevent various tragedies, but why? I will stop with the plotting here to avoid spoilers. David's workmanlike prose and pacing moves the story along nicely. Decent character development, even if some of them possess a bit too much 'larger than life' attributes. The author is also a professor of psychology and it shows in places, especially the motivations of the killer and how the various characters deal with grief. The rather saccharine ending stopped me from rating this higher, but jeez, quite a page turner. 4 untimely stars! ...more
I really enjoyed this. More of a novella than a novel in length, it is a gripping, exciting tour of a future where humans are basically cockroaches inI really enjoyed this. More of a novella than a novel in length, it is a gripping, exciting tour of a future where humans are basically cockroaches in the grand scheme of things.
Merged review:
I really enjoyed this. More of a novella than a novel in length, it is a gripping, exciting tour of a future where humans are basically cockroaches in the grand scheme of things....more
Another six stories from The Twilight Zone, but rather a mixed bag as collections of stories often are. "The Whole Truth" (3.5 stars) involves an unscAnother six stories from The Twilight Zone, but rather a mixed bag as collections of stories often are. "The Whole Truth" (3.5 stars) involves an unscrupulous used car salesman who receives a trade in, an old Model A Ford, but the owner tells him it is cursed. Thinking nothing of it, he takes the car, but suddenly finds out he cannot tell a lie...
"The Shelter" (4.5 stars) I found to be the stand out. Picture an average suburban street with neighbors having a dinner together. Suddenly, the radio announces it looks like the Ruskies launched some ICBMs. Only one family has a bomb shelter, and it only fits the four of them (mom, dad, two kids)....
"Showdown with Rance McGrew" (2 stars) features a cowboy TV star who suddenly finds himself back in a real Western town and real outlaws. Rance as a character-- what an asshole.
"The Night of the Meek" (2.5 stars) has an older, depressed guy playing Santa, getting drunk before work. After being fired, he finds in an alley an old burlap bag that seems to have just what everyone asks for...
"The Midnight Sun" (4.5) proved to be another stand out here. A lady in NYC and her landlord across the hall are trying to deal with the dramatic change in weather patterns when the Earth suddenly moves closer to the sun. The city is dying, everyone fleeing north, but everyone also knows it is futile. Awesome twist!
Lastly, "The Rip Van Winkle Caper" (3 stars) consists of four dubious but smart robbers how heist a train of gold going to Fort Knox. They take it and place themselves in suspended animation for 100 years ('no use in gold if we get caught!') and when they wake up, we have a classic greed and human condition tale.
Another 7 stories/episodes from The Twilight Zone collected here, first published in 1961. All of them were fun to read, but like most collections, soAnother 7 stories/episodes from The Twilight Zone collected here, first published in 1961. All of them were fun to read, but like most collections, some stood out from the pack. One of the things I enjoy most about these concerns how most of them probe deeply into the notion of the individual and society at large, and how just a few things can undermine the veneer of civilization.
"The Lonely." One of the better stories here, tells the tale of a guy serving time for murder on an desert asteroid; think of it as solitary times three! He gets three or four visits each year for resupplies, and that is it. Yet, one supply trip, his 'buddy' dropped of a female robot... 4 stars
"Mr. Dingle the Strong." Fun, but not the best here. Mr. Dingle represents the weaklings of the world, and starts the tale being beaten up in the neighborhood bar for daring to voice his opinion on sports to some loudmouths. An invisible alien shoots him with a special ray that gives him the strength of 300 men... 3 stars
"A Thing about Machines." Again, fun, but not outstanding. Our protagonist, a loner who writes essays on the social set and such, keeps smashing his machines as they just do odd things. The repair guys tell him to treat the stuff better, but maybe there really is something hinky about his machines! 3 stars.
"The Big, Tall Wish." A very touching story about an aging boxer and his number one fan, a young boy who lives in the same tenement. The boy makes a Big, Tall Wish that he will win and be ok. Really about the loss of innocence. 4 stars.
"A stop at Willoughby." My favorite of the collection. A middle age guy working for an advertising company is just fed up with the rat race. His boss is an asshole, his wife a nagging B***H, and he just wants something simpler out of life... 5 glowing stars!!
"The Odyssey of Flight 33." Probably the creepiest of the lot. A transatlantic 707 heading to NYC from London encounters something strange; suddenly, their airspeed becomes really fast and they see and odd light flash. We are not in Kansas any more! 4 stars.
"Dust." Another good story, but not that profound. In a small western town in the frontier days, a Mexican boy is about to be hanged for drunkenly running over and killing a small girl with his wagon. Will their be any mercy shown?
Solid collection, but of these, I only remembered "A stop at Willoughby" vividly as it left a big impression on my young mind. Maybe that is why I do not work in a corporation. 4 nostalgic stars!!...more
Di di di di, di di di di... I loved the Twilight Zone back in the day; I fondly remember watching marathons of them late at night on my little 12 B&W Di di di di, di di di di... I loved the Twilight Zone back in the day; I fondly remember watching marathons of them late at night on my little 12 B&W TV set in my room as a kid. Stories contains six novelizations (or should I say short storyizations ...more
Sprague de Camp wrote a number of sword and planet adventures under the umbrella of the Viagens Interplanarias tales, and The Queen of Zamba collects Sprague de Camp wrote a number of sword and planet adventures under the umbrella of the Viagens Interplanarias tales, and The Queen of Zamba collects the first two: the titular and 'Perpetual Motion', both set on Krishna, a feudal-like planet of hominids, albeit with green hair and reproduce by laying eggs. The humor exhibited here will either make or break this series; for me, I found it a bit too much yuk yuk that has not aged very well (these were first published in 1949).
I read a lot of Sprague de Camp back in the 70s, mostly sword and planet adventures, but also Conan and other fantasy works. Sometimes his works were serious, and some comedies, and this falls into the latter camp; maybe humorous space opera would be the best fit. Viagens runs the space ships, headquartered in Brazil, the dominant economic power of Federated Earth. Earthlings are not permitted to bring new tech to Krishna
The people were endoskeletal, bisexual, oviparous, bipedal organisms enough like humans beings so that one could pass himself off with a little skillful disguise... They had a pre-mechanical culture characterized by such archaisms as war, national sovereignty, epidemics, hereditary status, and private ownership of natural resources.
Digs like this I enjoyed, but much of the humor consisted of sexist jokes and such. The Krishna women go topless and boy does it excite the male humans; they also all seem to want to get married and have lots of kids. Just about every stereotype from the 40s and more. 2 limp stars. ...more
While the concept of prison planet in the near/far future may not be a new and novel idea, Longyear definitely gives it a unique and thoughtful spin wWhile the concept of prison planet in the near/far future may not be a new and novel idea, Longyear definitely gives it a unique and thoughtful spin with Infinity Hold. As a means to end expensive incarceration for those thought to be incorrigible, several (fairly) newly colonized planets began dumping the 'worst' on the planet Tartaros, a fairly hellish desert world. Planet Earth finally decides to do likewise and Nicos Bando, along with the thousands of others at his 'hotel' are part of the first wave from Earth.
Infinity Hold takes a bit to get into, as Longyear creates his own prison argot for Nicos to narrate the tale, but I quickly got up to speed. The new arrivals had no idea whatsoever what Tartaros would be like; they were just taken there and dumped, along with some cloths, ration packs and water. As you could imagine, the thousands of newly 'free' prisoners did not agree on what to do next. Nicos ends up falling into a pack of a few thousand or so that decide to head to a distant (but green!) mountain range. After a day or so, the group realizes they are being pursued by some people with guns on strange animals and manage to set up an ambush. They kill most of them, but take about 50 or so prisoner, and what happens after this event is what makes this novel unique.
They do get some info from the new prisoners, but what to do with them? None of the cons wants to be a 'stain' (prison guard)! So, a debate ensues, and from that comes the first 'law'-- we will not take prisoners. You can join us, die, or walk away into the sands-- your choice. Slowly (well, actually quite quickly in real time), other arguments arise and the group hammers out some more rules; these rules become augmented with more rules after some trials (and trial and error!). But what kind of society will a bunch of hard-core cons make? What would be the logic and outcomes? That is what Longyear digs into here whole heartedly, all though the eyes of Nicos Bando, a killer himself with a rage problem, who also becomes the first cop on the 'tribe'!
Thoughtful book by Longyear for sure, and one that raises all kinds of questions about our own society, with its flawed judicial system that favors the rich and pads the pockets of lawyers (known as 'cockroaches' here). What is justice after all? Even though these big questions are at the heart of this one, the action and expert pacing pull the reader right along. 4 solid stars!!...more
While I love some of Morris' work, such as Toady and Stitch, The Deluge felt far off the mark, like a big swing and a miss. It does start off promisinWhile I love some of Morris' work, such as Toady and Stitch, The Deluge felt far off the mark, like a big swing and a miss. It does start off promising-- for some reason, after a series of earthquakes, a massive flood submerges London, swallowing all but the highest buildings. Morris than takes us on a tour of the survivors, e.g., those on the top floors of those buildings. After a week or so, the water recedes leaving devastation, piles of silt and of course, bodies.
Morris then 'follows the script' if you will of many a post-apocalyptic thriller, with the survivors uniting and trying to make a go of it. In this case, a guy and his 13 yo daughter decide to head to Scotland to see if his ex-wife (and the daughter's mom) survived; the others decide to tag along. Of course, they meet some other survivors, some peacefully, others more hostile. So we follow their trials and tribulation for a spell.
The only novel thing Morris adds to the age-old script concerns strange blue lightening and some shape-changing things like from Carpenter's The Thing. One of the survivors tells her story, namely that a young girl approached her one evening and then turned into some crazy black shape that buzzed and tried to eat her. Well, the others take this with a grain of salt, but soon they discover the things themselves. Aliens? Maybe. Morris never makes this very clear.
Again, this did have promise, but Morris never really developed much beyond the standard script. Maybe if this was a novella, or a much longer novel, it could have worked. As is, it just felt same old same old. (view spoiler)[We never learn what caused the flood, or what the (maybe) alien things want. It just felt incomplete. Further, the guy with the helicopter, flying around for over a month, with little or no maintenance? Copters needs tons of this, along with parts! (hide spoiler)] 2 wet stars....more
Good authors refuse to become formulaic and despite (I thought) dragging the The Expanse series well past its sell date, The Mercy of the Gods gives uGood authors refuse to become formulaic and despite (I thought) dragging the The Expanse series well past its sell date, The Mercy of the Gods gives us something decidedly different. Rather than start in the new future of Earth, Mercy starts with a lost colony of humanity, stranded for over 3000 years. The inhabitants, now numbering in the billions, knew that they came from somewhere else as the planet's biosphere, based on silica rather than carbon, made it a dead give away. The level of technology, however, seems to be close to humanity today, albeit modified to co-exist in the different biosphere.
Corey introduces our main protagonist, one Dafyd Alkhor, a young research scientist at a 'university' on the planet. He works with a team that somehow managed to bridge the two ecosystems and the novel starts off at a rather lavish party at the end of the academic year. Corey rotates POVs among the characters, primarily Dafyd's team members to introduce them as well, when suddenly, the unthinkable happens-- alien invasion. Now, alien invasion remains a well walked trope in science fiction, but Corey puts a good spin on it for sure. The Carryx possess a vast interstellar empire, with hundreds if not thousands of 'client' species from previous conquests. It seems the Carryx empire constantly expands, incorporating new 'clients' that have use, and exterminating the rest. Ruthless comes to mind rather easily! So, after total conquest of Dafyd's world, the aliens take a portion of humanity back to one of their worlds; in fact, it seems like their capitol of sorts...
As any good reader of science fiction knows, humanity does not take well to alien masters and 'domesticating' humanity always fails one way or another. As the story progresses, Corey introduce another alien presence, the 'swarm', which (mild spoiler) (view spoiler)[comes from the beings fighting the Carryx; in fact, Corey hint at a major intergalactic war in process (hide spoiler)]. Poor Dafyd and company reluctantly try to adapt to their 'prison' planet and this constitutes the bulk of the tale in the first installment.
On the plus side, Corey knows how to spin a tale, and outside of a rather slow start, the pacing proceeds apace nicely. The characters, while not fully fleshed, have promise, and I believe will receive more attention as this series progresses. The Carryx made a great 'bad guy', especially as they do not see themselves as bad, they simply are. What is, is seems to be their motto, and the Carryx are in power. Yet, the scribblings of the human 'minder' Carryx, referenced repeatedly in the text, obviously refer to a future where humanity causes some problems, but the authors hold back on that for the next few installments.
On the con side, Mercy has the makings of another long series, one primed for the big screen, with lovely visuals of various alien client species, alien worlds and wonder. I heard rumors, however, that the authors planned this as a trilogy, but we will see. I can dig a good series, but thought they dragged out The Expanse way too long and read the last installments more out of duty than enjoyment. I just hope they keep this one in check. 4 alien tangos!!...more
There must have been something in the air, or maybe the water, in the 70s/80s that generated a slew of novels featuring secret government and/or privaThere must have been something in the air, or maybe the water, in the 70s/80s that generated a slew of novels featuring secret government and/or private sector institutions, doing all kinds of research. A few, like Nightmare, incorporated these institutions into the heart of towns, or planned 'utopias' (really dystopias, but so be it). Crestwood Heights, for example, features a brand new small town, surprisingly high tech, that 'lures' people in. In Nightmare, the town sits in Maine-- an underground city of several thousand. Very high tech as well.
Jessie, the wife of Rich and mother of two kids, serves as the narrator here in her role as protagonist. In the last year, Rich lost his business, a once very successful security firm, starting drinking and even once beat their son. Now, it seems like Rich has a new life-line, being offered the head of security at the Institute at Grads Village. The novel starts with the Platt family driving from Orlando to Maine and Murphy slowly, in dribs and drabs, gives us the family backstory. Their son Buddy, obviously a genius, even at age 4, has been having horrible nightmares for the last year. All in all, they are all hoping the move and new job will save their marriage.
Well, Jessie, a character I felt pretty hard to empathize with, has strong misgivings right away, as the institute seems to not only chart their every move, but insists on a wide range of rules she finds uncomfortable to say the least. Worse, her car breaks down and they are all basically stuck in the 'village'. She meets some friends and soon discovers not everyone is happy in 'paradise', but what is really going on?
Maybe King started this motif with Firestarter, but in any case, it has long legs! I liked this, but this was more and attempt to shock the reader rather than scare them, although Murphy did provide some good chills along the way. Plus, at just over 200 pages, it does not overstay its welcome. 3 nightmares!...more
I have read a few dozen Tchaikovsky tomes, but this was my first novella of his. Tchaikovsky seems determined to reinvent existent science fiction troI have read a few dozen Tchaikovsky tomes, but this was my first novella of his. Tchaikovsky seems determined to reinvent existent science fiction tropes and does so here in a character driven tale of a stranded 'wizard', e.g., an anthropologist (Nyr) from distant, future Earth, who came with a group of others to examine the outcome of an age old generation ship that colonized the planet a 1000 or so years ago. Our other protagonist, Lynesse (Lyn), starts the tale as the young 'fourth daughter' of one clan; intrepid to be sure, perhaps reckless, but determined to do something about the 'demon' that other clans claim invaded their lands.
Nyr has been stuck on the planet for over 300 years after the rest of his party returned to Earth. He wakes occasionally, but mostly 'sleeps' the decades away, awaiting for news from Earth; sadly, he now believes such news shall not be forthcoming. Elder Nyr, many human generations ago, helped Lyn's clan banish another 'demon'; in that case, some old human tech from the original colonists that some guy turned into weapons to build himself an empire. Nyr swore a blood oath with the leader of Lyn's line that he would return if another demon arose. Well, Lyn, frustrated that her mother has done nothing about the new demon, decides to act and wakes Nyr from his 'outpost' (or wizard tower as the locals know it).
The joy of this story revolves around Nyr, who repeatedly tries to tell Lyn and her friend that he is not a wizard, but merely a scientist who knows how things work, but language barriers make this just about impossible.
They think I'm a wizard. They think I'm a fucking wizard. That's what I am to them, some weird goblin man from another time with magic powers. And I literally do not have the language to tell them otherwise. I say, "scientist," "scholar," but when I speak to them, in their language, these are both cognates for "wizard." I imagine myself standing there speaking to Lyn and saying, "I'm not a wizard, I'm a wizard, or at best a wizard." It's not funny. I have lived a long, long life and it has meant nothing, and now I'm on a fucking quest with a couple of women who don't understand things like germs or fusion power or anthropological theories of value.
The motif of future humans stranded on feudal worlds has been done many times; Cherryh's Morgaine saga (starts with Gate of Ivrel), or Le Guin's Rocannon's World come to mind, both over 40 years old now. Tchaikovsky (as usual) gives this motif a twist by focusing on the stranded future human's state of mind rather than building some intricate plot. Yes, Elder Race possesses a plot, but really, nothing more than as a vehicle to develop Nyr's character.
One thing missing here, perhaps because of the novella format, concerns the lack of world building, which features so much in Tchaikovsky's other work, but there is enough to keep the story grounded (barely). Similarly, Tchaikovsky developed Lyn just enough to contrast Nyr, no more, no less. Still, a fun reading experience and this guy can write. 3.5 wizards, rounding up!...more
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