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Ben Bova for the UK
WWEnd monitors Amazon’s Daily Deals, and if we see a good deal on SF/F/H books, we usually tweet it. Sometimes, we see one that is so good, it’s blog worthy. Today’s UK deal is one of those. If you live in the United Kingdom, you can get any of five Ben Bova novels for £0.99 each.
Four of these books are part of the Grand Tour series. They’re pretty much random volumes, so it’s a good thing they were meant to be read in no particular order. Here they are:
Mars
Moonwar
Return to Mars
Moonrise
The fifth book, Voyagers III, is part of the Voyagers series, which probably will require reading the first two books.
Ben Bova Interview
Recently, I had the opportunity to speak to famed science fiction writer Ben Bova about his remarkable career, science and science fiction in the near future, and his latest works. Bova has authored more than 115 fiction and nonfiction books and has a huge and loyal following – myself included.
Dr. Bova is President Emeritus of the National Space Society and a past president of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Two facts that help explain why his novels often morph from fiction into prophecy; at least two American companies are working on producing the orbital power-generation technology depicted in his novel Powersat.
Best known for his Grand Tour series, Ben Bova is widely regarded as the eminence grise of the space exploration sub-genre. His many accolades include a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation, a Campbell Award in 2006 for his novel Titan and a 1979 Locus SF Award nomination for Colony.
Ben Bova InterviewRecent Additions: The Grand Tour arrives at WWEnd
The Grand Tour series by author Ben Bova deals with the exploration and colonization of the solar system. Each book tends to focus on a different planet with some common themes and characters appearing across the series. Exploration, colonization, amazing discoveries, corporate espionage, murder, space battles… this series has got something for everyone.
Strangely, Dr. Bova has not had much luck in the awards department despite a large and faithful following. The only Grand Tour book to garner a nomination was 2006’s Titan which won the 2007 Campbell Award. There are 18 total books in the series including the short story collection Tales of the Grand Tour and the 4 volumes that make up the Asteroid Wars: The Precipice, The Rock Rats, The Silent War and The Aftermath. We’ve got them listed in the author’s preferred chronological order though many of the stories overlap in time.
One of the nice things about this series is that despite the character and time overlaps most of the books can be read independantly or out of order. The exceptions would be the Asteroid Wars and the Mars trilogy: Mars, Return to Mars, and Mars Life which should be read in sequence as each novel builds on what went before. I cherry picked my way through most of the planets reading Mars, Saturn, Jupiter and Venus and enjoyed them all. I really like the nice cover art as well. They’ve got a classic SF look.
