Yet the barbarians, who are not divided by rival traditions, fight all the more incessantly for food and space. Peoples cannot love one another unlessYet the barbarians, who are not divided by rival traditions, fight all the more incessantly for food and space. Peoples cannot love one another unless they love the same ideas. – George Santayana
It can be challenging reviewing older speculative fiction books by modern standards. Many things have changed: scientific knowledge, obviously, but also cultural mores and the way that books are being published (a very real Achilles heel for older books; word count limitations upon serialization affected characterization dramatically, since the focus would always be on the “idea”).
They Shall Have Stars is the first in the Cities In Flight (or “Okies”) series (in terms of internal chronology). It was published in the 1950s and has a lot of the hallmarks of a Science Fiction novel from that era, for better or worse. That said: this is hard SF and not anything like planet adventure or space opera.
Fun trivia: Amalthea is still referred to as Jupiter V, even though this novel takes place in the “future”. Well, to be exact, circa 2013 through 2018 or so. Alternate history then?
The rest of the sky was crawling with color, striped and blotched with the eternal, frigid, poisonous storming of Jupiter’s atmosphere, spotted with the deep-black, planet-sized shadows of moons closer to the sun than Jupiter V.
Somewhere down there, six thousand miles below the clouds that boiled in his face, was the Bridge. The Bridge was thirty miles high and eleven miles wide and fifty-four miles long – but it was only a sliver, an intricate and fragile arrangement of ice-crystals beneath the bulging, racing tornadoes.
Nevertheless, I found this novel very engaging. The “Ice Bridge” experiment, as depicted, in the atmosphere of Jupiter, stands up to just about any modern day SF novel in scope and execution.
”One of these days, Jupiter is going to destroy the Bridge. It’ll go flying away in little flinders, into the storms. My mind will be there, supervising some puny job, and my mind will go flying away along with my mechanical eyes and ears and hands – still trying to adapt to the unthinkable, tumbling away into the winds and the flames and the rains and the darkness and the pressure and the cold—“
There are some philosophical undertones, but mostly this novel sets up the rest of the series (for example, there is no “city in flight” yet). In fact, They Shall Have Stars really deals with the events and political and scientific status quo that led to the pioneering of the Spindizzy drive. Or, in general terms, the invention of a space drive capable of making interstellar voyages.
Should the temple bell be struck so continually that it has to shatter – make all its worshippers ill with terror until it is silenced?
It is a short novel, and a quick read, and in the end I found it to be quite good. The climax is excellently executed for the most part and generated quite a bit of excitement as readers can finally see how pieces fit together, and the fruits of one man’s obsession to give us the stars.
Stunned, he made a very rough estimate in his head of the increase in parallax and tried to calculate the ship’s rate of approach from that.
4.5 stars, but rounded down because of the lack of flying cities. I know, I am being petty (tongue in cheek, of course), but fortunately the rest of the series promises to deliver on that front. ...more
Not much I can add that hasn't been said here already.
This was my first Vonnegut - I might try his other Science Fiction offerings.
As a commentary on Not much I can add that hasn't been said here already.
This was my first Vonnegut - I might try his other Science Fiction offerings.
As a commentary on the meaning of life and just how much control humans apparently have over their destiny, this one pretty much has its finger aimed right at your eye. Occasionally funny, occasionally horrifying, always surprising and, in the end, thought provoking (in a really quirky kind of way).
I came away from this with more questions than answers, but not in the kind of way that leaves one feeling confounded (maybe just a little bit hollow). This is one that will resound for a while, and no doubt is the kind of book that demands a re-read to fully unlock all of its little bittersweet delights. ...more
Some two thousand million years ago, when the Coalescence occurred - the event which was to make each of the two interpassing galaxies teem with plane Some two thousand million years ago, when the Coalescence occurred - the event which was to make each of the two interpassing galaxies teem with planets - the Arisians were already an ancient race; so ancient that they were even then independent of the chance formation of planets. The Eddorians, it is believed, were older still. The Arisians were native to this, our normal space-time continuum; the Eddorians were not.
E.E. “Doc” Smith is credited by some as the Father of Space Opera. Obviously, there are those who disagree. Nevertheless, it is probably safe to say that his books did have a significant impact on the genre.
Considering that the Lensman stories have been published as early as the 1930s, there are quite a few themes that would be recognizable to readers of more contemporary Science Fiction: near-immortal aliens, big ideas (case in point, the moving of a planet to a new solar system), alternate universes, faster than light travel et al. Granted, some of the bigger ideas are mentioned fleetingly and not discussed at any length, but still.
"Well, I'll be damned! I thought I had seen everything, but that is really new!"
I try to be cautious when rating/reviewing older Science Fiction by today’s standards. Our understanding of science is constantly evolving, and anachronisms are inevitable. The world view and writing styles of authors have also changed. There’s an even chance that a century from now your favourite contemporary Science Fiction will have been relegated to the bin of “dubitable” fiction just because it is filled with anachronisms and literary quirks typical of our time. Consider: a similar amount of time has now passed since the 1940s, or the Golden Age of Science Fiction, as had passed between, say, circa 1870s (Jules Verne) and the 1940s. Food for thought.
…the wonder of space, the ever-changing, constantly-shifting panorama of incredibly brilliant although dimensionless points of light, against that wondrous background of mist-besprinkled black velvet, is a thing that never fails to awe even the most seasoned observer…
Back to the review of the book at hand. First Lensman chronicles how First Lensman Virgil Samms obtains the lens from Arisia and his subsequent efforts to recruit other civilizations and alien races to the cause of the Galactic Patrol. And let’s face it, the term Galactic Patrol does have a nice ring to it. Speaking of which, that is also the title of the next book in the series (which was actually the first one written). That’s also the one I actually wanted to read (it’s the one that started all the hoo-hah), but I am taking the scenic route by trying to read them in chronological order.
And what a mind! The transcendent poise; the staggeringly tremendous range and scope--the untroubled and unshakeable calm; the sublime quietude; the vast and placid certainty; the ultimate stability, unknown and forever unknowable to any human or near-human race!
As for the lens itself, it appears to be a precursor of sorts to the neural interface devices used in Science Fiction more recently (allowing for instantaneous communication or shared perception – such as the brain augmentation devices of Neal Asher’s Polity novels) combined with a dose of good ol’ telepathy.
First Lensman wasn’t quite the quick read I thought it was going to be. There are a surprising number of additional characters, even though character development is low on the agenda, so keeping up can be an issue if you are not paying attention. There are some pretty cool characters too, among the alien races represented.
And whereas a human being can swing only one space-axe or fire only two ray-guns at a time, the Rigellian plunged through space toward what was left of the pirate vessel, swinging not one or two space-axes, but four; each held in a lithe and supple, but immensely strong, tentacular "hand".
It’s actually quite a yarn. As for the military aspects of this novel: not only are there some big space battles, but the novel even has “space marines, armed and armored”, boarding ships for close quarters combat in instances where capture is preferable to outright destruction. Also: infiltration and espionage, as well as a surprisingly vicious torture scene (tame by today’s standards, but no doubt would have gotten a reaction seventy-odd years ago).
And from the gargantuan mouth of the Cone there spewed a miles-thick column of energy so raw, so stark, so incomprehensibly violent that it must have been seen to be even dimly appreciated. It simply cannot be described.
Not much more to add. Even though the focus is mostly on the adventure / action side of things, there is some overt politicking towards the latter end of the novel. Good stuff for the most part, especially if you take the age of the book into account. Now, on to Galactic Patrol.
The Galactic Patrol became for him an actuality; a force for good pervading all the worlds of all the galaxies of all the universes of all existing space-time continual. He knew what the Lens was, and why. He understood time and space. He knew the absolute beginning and the ultimate end.
”The driver lost control at high speed while swiping at a wasp which had flown in through a window, and was buzzing around his face. The weight of a wa ”The driver lost control at high speed while swiping at a wasp which had flown in through a window, and was buzzing around his face. The weight of a wasp is under half an ounce. Compared with a human being, the wasp’s size is minute, its strength negligible. Its sole armament is a tiny syringe holding a drop of irritant, formic acid. In this instance, the wasp didn’t use it. Nevertheless, that wasp killed four big men and converted a large, powerful car into a heap of scrap.”
The premise for this novel is deceptively simple. It deals with the disruption, or destabilization, of enemy resources and government by individuals acting as saboteurs. These individuals, also known as “wasps” go through a rigorous training regime for the sole purpose of annoying enemy forces to such an extent that they get tied down (i.e. making it unable for them to commit their military might elsewhere while dealing with a problem on home ground).
”By the time they’ve finished with you, you’ll be fully qualified to function as a complete and absolute pain-in-the-neck.”
Much like saboteurs during the Second World War, these wasps are dropped behind enemy lines, where they have to rely on their wits and a formidable array of equipment and false identities, to survive and cause as much havoc as possible. Bearing in mind that “behind enemy lines” refers to planets in the Sirian system (referring to the star Sirius), the wasps are well and truly alone. It’s not totally random, though, the whole operation is divided into nine phases, with the last being a pre-invasion tactic (or “the last straw”). I don’t want to go into too much detail here, because this is such a fun book the best is to just read it and see for yourself.
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown – but infinitely more so when a wasp crawls into bed with it.
Wasp details the exploits of one particular wasp. It’s a fairly quick read, and at times darkly funny. It was published in the 1950s so there are some glaring anachronisms (for a Science Fiction novel about interstellar warfare and far future insurrection and espionage / sabotage), even so these actually seem to add to the charm of the book. A classic! ...more
An exploration vessel with a crew complement of almost one thousand wandering between the stars... cue some music. No, wait a minute, it’s not the EntAn exploration vessel with a crew complement of almost one thousand wandering between the stars... cue some music. No, wait a minute, it’s not the Enterprise. It’s the Space Beagle. When was this written then? Well, the individual parts that make up this novel were published between 1939 and 1952. This is quite a famous little novel, even though current opinion about it is somewhat divided. Some of the assumptions in this book are rather naïve, such as allowing a foreign organism into an enclosed system (spaceship) without any concern over contamination or disease. Perhaps it’s merely anachronistic: this novel is, after all, from the golden age of Science Fiction. However, if you look at the story with eyes unbiased by 60 years of Science Fiction history and evolution, you should be suitably impressed.
The Discord in Scarlet storyline is especially memorable. A vicious and supernaturally powerful alien steals aboard the human ship; it lays eggs inside its hosts (the hapless humans); it hides in the “miles-long system of air conditioning”; it is bent on survival at all cost... Sound familiar? It should. 20th Century Fox eventually settled out of court, although in all fairness it may have been coincidence after all.
The novel also coined the phrase Nexialism, which is basically a consolidated approach to problem solving, by applying approaches from different sciences. Or, the holistic (“whole”-istic according to the novel) approach. The Anabis sequence contains some startling ideas, such as the teleportation of entire planets to create artificial systems. We are so used to high concept SF these days that it’s somewhat hard to imagine what folk would have experienced when reading this in the 1940s when the sequence was first published (as M33 in Andromeda, Astounding, 1943).
Needless to say, the Voyage of the Space Beagle has influenced the field of Science Fiction and pop culture to a momentous extent. Whether you like the novel or not, there is no denying its impact. Van Vogt’s alien creatures have even made it into Dungeons & Dragons and Final Fantasy, albeit in slightly altered forms. The novel carries its years pretty well, all things considered, and despite the fact that the Space Beagle still sports a mail chute. A true classic. ...more
Not too much to add here, everybody have had their say already.
Where the first book was a fix-up comprised of short stories, this second entry is compNot too much to add here, everybody have had their say already.
Where the first book was a fix-up comprised of short stories, this second entry is comprised of two novellas. As as result the book is quite clearly divided in two arcs, or sequences.
The second sequence here is where the metal meets the meat. I have found, whenever discussing the Foundation books with fellow readers, that the Mule is always at the center of what people remember of the series (especially if it has been a while since they have read it).
It's arguably an uneasy bit of reading, because Asimov subverts himself a bit here. By this time we have gotten used to the fact that the Foundation is (apparently) unstoppable, and that Hari Seldon seems to have made provision for all possibilities. The Mule sequence rattles the cage, and poses a number of questions. It also shows the depth of Asimov's vision.
And again, Trantor, even in ruins these are some of the most iconic depictions from this series, and must have lit up so many aspiring writers’ imaginations.
So, onward to Second Foundation - because, of course, taking into account that this story is supposed to play itself out over thousands of years, it is early days yet....more
I’ve always wanted to read a book where one of the characters is named Bork, people are built around mandrake roots, and the earth is surrounded by anI’ve always wanted to read a book where one of the characters is named Bork, people are built around mandrake roots, and the earth is surrounded by an egg-shell. No, really…
This is by far one of the most bizarre and absurd books I have ever read. Just for that it gets an extra star. What was the author on when he conceived all this? It’s really quite entertaining, if you can ignore most of the weirdness. There’s some amusing wordplay as well, although it will likely be considered pretty lame by today’s standards. There is a plot, of sorts, but it’s pretty surreal and nonsensical all round. Or is it? I suppose that is open to interpretation. The weird thing is: this doesn’t have the feel of a spoof or parody. It’s actually pretty serious. Lester Del Rey was a bit of a big shot writer back in the day, but I doubt that it was on account of this.
People who die on Earth can be “summoned” or “conjured” or “resurrected” (take your pick) on a different world by using their true names. Of course their bodies are long gone so they are rebuilt from scratch using the aforementioned mandrake root technique. In special cases, they are allowed to retain their souls, but this allowance is rare so mostly they’re just zombies. This world exists in a universe governed by rules VASTLY different to the physical world we are used to and magic is prevalent, Astrology takes precedence over Astronomy etc. Thing is, even the magic system is bizarre, and it is failing. The sky in this world is broken (literally) and, well, about to fall. So, these “resurrections” are taking place in an attempt to find someone with the knowledge and skill to help prevent this. Even Einstein makes an appearance. An incorrect true name is used to summon a computer expert instead of his famous engineer uncle and he is tasked with fixing the sky, “or else…”. The only problem is: he doesn’t even know where to start. Squabbling between different factions, kidnappings, fantastic creatures, violence and wholesale destruction spice up the proceedings.
Sound weird? It is! Very! …but, it’s quite short and in the end I probably enjoyed it more than I should be confessing to. ...more
Highly regarded as one of the best of Heinlein’s juvies, Citizen of the Galaxy is indeed, for the most part, worthy of the praise that has been heapedHighly regarded as one of the best of Heinlein’s juvies, Citizen of the Galaxy is indeed, for the most part, worthy of the praise that has been heaped upon it. I do have one qualm with this novel; it seems to lack a nemesis, or antagonist. There is quite a bit that happens – but to what end? There are no “bad guys” so it’s a bit bland at times. The slavers, and slavery, are the closest the novel ever comes to real conflict, but that is handled in such a peripheral fashion that there is never any real sense of threat. In the end, the novel turns into a courtroom and boardroom drama. This is connected to the overlying plot, but the coincidences involved are a bit hard to swallow.
On the other hand, this novel succeeds fairly well as a bildungsroman and as a science fiction novel aimed at younger readers. There is almost no violence and the scientific expositions are fairly straightforward and interesting. There is a lot of allegory and Heinlein gets positively preachy about the importance of family and owning up to responsibility.
So where does that leave me? It isn’t a bad novel by any definition, but it did leave me feeling a bit unsatisfied. Perhaps I’ve just become desensitized… ...more
A pretty sinister book, this, containing some really creepy moments. It also happens to be written quite well, so, it goes without saying that I enjoyA pretty sinister book, this, containing some really creepy moments. It also happens to be written quite well, so, it goes without saying that I enjoyed it. Another forerunner of modern horror, The Body Snatchers, along with I Am Legend, pretty much set the stage for modern paranormal horror a la King, Koontz and co. Both of these books happen to be in the Science Fiction Masterworks series, as well.
There is some oddball science in here, but come on! It was written in the fifties, and still carries a hefty punch. A commentary on 50s politics? Who cares - it entertained me and scared the pants off me, so I just have to recommend it.
Oh, and check out that scene with the skeletons......more
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