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GMRC Review: The Day After Tomorrow by Robert A. Heinlein
On his blog Stainless Steel Droppings blogger Carl V. Anderson reviews SF/F books and movies, conducts author interviews and even hosts his own reading challenge: The 2012 Science Fiction Experience. This is Carl’s fifth GMRC review to feature in our blog.
6 Men–against 400,000,000
So the dramatic language of the back cover states, a battle against impossible odds, “the adventures of a handful of soldiers of the future, fighting to save America from a deadly invasion”.
Major Ardmore has just arrived at the secret location of a small scientific enclave as the news is broken that the United States has been summarily defeated by a combined Japanese/Chinese force referred to in this undisclosed future as the PanAsians. In an effort to stay protected from the spread of communism in Russia the United States had spent decades essentially ignoring the world outside its borders only to see Europe fall and the red menace coalesce the Asian and Indian continents into a juggernaut of world power. The PanAsians look upon the Americans as a lower species and with superior forces occupy and enslave the American people, creating a system in which the citizens of the United States are by and large an impotent and cowed populace.
Ardmore arrives to find that this group of scientists has discovered, through an accident of testing, a weapon that may provide the key to the return of freedom to the nation. That is, if Major Ardmore can marshal this 6-person team into a strategic force to infiltrate and reclaim America.
WWEnd Grand Master Reading Challenge: October Review Poll
We featured 5 GMRC reviews in the blog for October and it’s time to cast your vote for the best.
You don’t have to be a GMRC participant to vote and the poll will remain open until November 15th so you have plenty of time to read the ones you missed.
- The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman – (gallyangel)
- Sargasso of Space by Andre Norton – (chuhl)
- Terraforming Earth by Jack Williamson – (Allie)
- Mission of Gravity by Hal Clement – (ScottLaz)
- Star Born by Andre Norton – (Carl V.)
Winner gets the following:
- GMRC T-shirt – your choice of colors so long as it’s black
- GMRC button – you can never have too much flair
- Set of WWEnd Hugo Award bookmarks guaranteed to hold your place in any paper book.
- Book of your choice from the WWEnd bookshelf – winner gets a list of titles to pick from
- Everlasting Glory – So you’ll have that goin’ for ya. Which is nice.
Runners up will get a GMRC button and a set of bookmarks. Thanks to all our reviewers and good luck!
GMRC Review: Star Born by Andre Norton
On his blog Stainless Steel Droppings blogger Carl V. Anderson reviews SF/F books and movies, conducts author interviews and even hosts his own reading challenge: The 2012 Science Fiction Experience. This is Carl’s fourth GMRC review.
Star Born packs quite a lot of storytelling punch in its brief 187 pages. Andre Norton’s 1957 story examines such issues as slavery, racial prejudice, apocalyptic warfare and governmental oppression and wraps it all up in the kind of adventure-filled story that was a pleasure to read as an adult and would have had me gazing heavenward as a child. Star Born is an example of fine world-building and classic space adventure that remains accessible and surprisingly relevant 55 years after its release.
At the beginning of Norton’s novel we are introduced to Dalgard, the progeny of members of a generation ship who escaped an oppressive government on Earth (Terra) and fled to the planet Astra in hopes to make a new start. Dalgard is traveling with Sssuri, a member of a sea-born race affectionately referred to as mermen, and merwomen. Dalgard and Sssuri are traveling together, examining the ruins of a race of beings who at one time brought destructive warfare to Astra and who are rumored to be returning to reclaim the advanced technology that would once again make them a formidable enemy. Through the buddy story of Dalgard and Sssuri the reader learns much of the history of both Terra and Astra as well as learning about the culture of the people indigenous to Astra and that of the colonists who long ago landed there.
GMRC Review: Mission of Gravity by Hal Clement
Scott Lazerus came to Worlds Without End looking for a good list of books. He found David Pringle’s Best 100 Science Fiction Novels to his liking and is currently working his way through the list. He has posted a bunch of reviews for WWEnd including several for the GMRC. Be sure to check out Scott’s excellent blog series Forays into Fantasy too!
Hal Clement‘s Mission of Gravity (1954) is a love letter to science. Serialized in Astounding in 1953, it’s often pointed to as a prototypical “hard” science fiction novel of the ‘50s, with the story driven more by the solution of scientific problems and the achievement of scientific discovery than by character or plot. Clement, a science teacher, specialized in this sort of science fiction, which may be why he seems to be one of the more neglected of the Grand Masters from the perspective of modern SF fans. But Clement’s third novel is a cut above much of the hard SF of the time, which has a tendency to become dated as science advances, because of the way Clement melds the scientific explanations with the characters’ motivations, which in turn drive the plot and create suspense and interest in the story.
Another way Clement infuses his narrative with science is by making the exploration of the setting a major source of interest for the reader, as well as the source of the obstacles that must be overcome in order for the plot to advance and the characters to achieve their goals. The protagonists’ quest involves overcoming the environmental difficulties created by the setting itself. That setting is the planet Mesklin, a disc-shaped world with an intense gravity field. The gravity ranges from three times that of Earth’s along the equator (the “rim”) to seven-hundred times at the poles. Intelligent life, capable of living under the extreme gravity, has developed there. The Mesklinites are hydogen-breathing, chitin-shelled, caterpillar-like creatures fifteen inches long and two inches in diameter, with “dozens of suckerlike feet,” and pincers functioning as hands. The point-of-view of the novel is that of Barlennan, a merchant trader and leader of a Mesklinite crew that sails the methane oceans of the storm-tossed planet in search of profit.
GMRC Review: Terraforming Earth by Jack Williamson
Guest Blogger, Allie McCarn, reviews science fiction and fantasy books on her blog Tethyan Books. She has contributed many great book reviews to WWEnd and has generously volunteered to write some periodic reviews for our blog.
Terraforming Earth by Jack Williamson
Published: Tor, 2001
Awards Won: 2002 John W. Campbell Memorial Award
The Book:
“There is a chance, however remote, that an asteroid might collide catastrophically with the Earth and destroy humanity. With that in mind, Calvin DeFort planned a moon base to preserve the genetic material of Earth against future disasters. He couldn’t know how soon that base would be needed.
The base is unfinished when the collision occurs, and few make it off of the Earth in those last hours. Those eight survivors are fated to spend the rest of their life in the moon base, within sight of their dead home planet. Thousands of years and many cloned generations of the original survivors will pass before the Earth is once again habitable. Raised by robots, and indoctrinated into the roles of their forebears, each new clone generation carries the responsibility of the future of the human race.” ~Allie
This is my 10th novel for WWEnd’s Grand Master Reading Challenge. Jack Williamson was the second author awarded the Grand Master title (after Heinlein), but this is the first of his work that I’ve ever read. He wrote many novels and short stories in his long career, which spanned from 1928 to just before his death in 2006. Serialized in “Analog” and “Science Fiction Age”, and published in 2001, Terraforming Earth is one of his later works.
GMRC Review: Sargasso of Space by Andre Norton
Chris Uhl (chuhl) can’t remember a time when he wasn’t a science fiction fan. He has a B.A. in Classics from Vassar College and an M.A. in English Literature from the University of Virginia. He has worked as a teacher, a legal assistant, a college development officer, a salesman, and a film extra. Chris may be the only WWEnd reviewer who has no blog. This is his fourth GMRC review to feature in the WWEnd blog.
“WORLDS FOR SALE!
That was the startling cry that electrified Dane Thorson of the space-trader Solar Queen. It was his first trip and the cosmic auction was taking place at an isolated port of call, far out in the Milky Way.
Who’ll buy this newly-discovered planet? The data on it sealed — you may be getting a radioactive desert, you may be buying a fabulous empire, or you may be stuck with an untracked unconquerable jungle. And Dane and his fellow spacemen took the risk. They bought a planet, sight unseen, whose ominous name was… Limbo!”
If you can resist a blurb like that, you’re made of sterner stuff than I am. I read that page in my used book store and snapped up Sargasso of Space right away.
The hero of the story is Dane Thorsen, an apprentice cargo-master about to receive his first assignment in space. In a scene oddly prescient of the Sorting Hat scenes in Harry Potter, Dane and his classmates wait anxiously while a computer called “The Psycho” assigns them to a ship based on their compatibility with the current crews. Dane draws the Solar Queen, a Free Trader, which means an uncertain career of high risk and potentially high rewards – or poverty.
GMRC Review: The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman
Glenn Hough (gallyangel) is, among other things, a nonpracticing futurist, an anime and manga otaku, a gourmet, a writer of science fiction novels which don’t get published to world wide acclaim, and is almost obsessive about finishing several of the lists tracked on WWEnd. This is Glenn’s second featured review for the GMRC.
Note: There be spoilers here!
I once heard that all fantasy writers have a bad Lord of the Rings novel in them. It’s something they have to grapple with as writers; they have to deal with this mountain in the landscape of modern Fantasy, which is Tolkien. Any trip to the local Barnes and Noble Fantasy section should prove that many a career started with that bad knockoff Tolkein-esk novel.
I feel that SF writers have to do something quiet similar with H. G. Wells. With, especially, the classic novel, The Time Machine. That out of his works, it’s The Time Machine which is the most universal. It’s the pinnacle of the Scientific Romance as Wells called it. It offers up the perfect vehicle for anything and everything the mind of humanity can conceive.
And so we get The Accidental Time Machine by Grand Master Joe Haldeman.
This novel purrs along like a fine high-end sports car running at the safe and sane speeds of the Montana freeways. We’re not bogged down in too much techno babble or physics-babble. Just enough for flavoring. Nor are we bogged down in too much former girlfriend/mother/professors/ drug supplier/priests/M.I.s. Just enough to flavor the main character’s world, but not enough to slow us down. Haldeman knows what the point is here, time travel, so the other pieces of Matt’s life are thus merely background pieces.
WARNING: Spoilers after the break…
Grand Master Reading Challenge September Review Winner: Daniel Roy
The September GMRC Review Poll closed a few days ago and the winner is Daniel Roy (triseult) for his review of Poul Anderson’s Tau Zero. Well done, Sir!
Daniel will receive a T-shirt, a GMRC button and a set of commemorative WWEnd Hugo Award bookmarks as well as his choice of book from the WWEnd bookshelf. All runners-up will be getting a button and a set of bookmarks for their efforts.
The GMRC is starting to wind down now with just a few months to go and I imagine there are some folks out there playing catch-up like me. So far our 167 participants have logged 631 books read and have posted 192 reviews. It’ll be interesting to see how those numbers change as the end of the challenge approaches. Thanks to everyone for your participation and best of luck completing your challenge!
WWEnd Grand Master Reading Challenge: September Review Poll
We featured 7 GMRC reviews in the blog for September and it’s time to cast your vote for the best.
You don’t have to be a GMRC participant to vote and the poll will remain open until October 15th so you have plenty of time to read the ones you missed.
- The Legion of Space by Jack Williamson – (chuhl)
- Dragonsdawn by Anne McCaffrey – (valashain)
- A for Anything by Damon Knight – (CharlesDee)
- Ring Around the Sun by Clifford D. Simak – (ScottLaz)
- Stepsons of Terra by Robert Silverberg – (chuhl)
- The Computer Connection by Alfred Bester – (allie)
- Tau Zero by Poul Anderson – (triseult)
Winner gets the following:
- GMRC T-shirt – your choice of colors so long as it’s black
- GMRC button – you can never have too much flair
- Set of WWEnd Hugo Award bookmarks guaranteed to hold your place in any paper book.
- Book of your choice from the WWEnd bookshelf – winner gets a list of titles to pick from
- Everlasting Glory – So you’ll have that goin’ for ya. Which is nice.
Runners up will get a GMRC button and a set of bookmarks. Thanks to all our reviewers and good luck!
GMRC Review: Tau Zero by Poul Anderson
Daniel Roy (triseult), has contributed over 30 reviews to WWEnd including this, his third, for the GMRC. Daniel is living his dream of travelling the world and you can read about some of his adventures on his blog Mango Blue.
Tau Zero has been hailed as the quintessential hard SF novel, and it’s a well-deserved accolade. It shares some of the weaknesses of the genre, sure; but in its strengths it shines as an exceptional story, grounded in proper science, and brimming with mind-boggling ideas, hard science, and a scale rarely matched in SF.
Let’s get the weaknesses out of the way first. Yes, the character development is flimsy. And as with many other SF classics, it’s hard not to get irritated by its portrayal of women as fragile, irrational creatures. Most of the characters are interchangeable and forgettable, with the exception of Reymont, who turns into quite an interesting and complex character. The level of prose and character emotion can be summed up by the following two excerpts: the first, almost sensual, is a description of two space modules docking:
“[The ship’s] robots—sensor-computer-effector units—directing the terminal maneuvers caused airlocks to join in an exact kiss. More than that would be demanded of them later. Both chambers being exhausted, their outer valves swung back, enabling a plastic tube to make an airtight seal.”
The second describes a beautiful woman:
“Physically she was a big brunette, her features ordinary but the rest of her shown to high avantage by shorts and tee shirt.”
Oh, hard SF…
But anyway. Who reads hard SF for the character development and the prose? It’s all about the fascinating scientific concepts, and this novel has them in spades.
