Month: May 2008 (Page 2 of 3)

[Read 11/2007] Science Fiction. 2007

Fleet of Worlds is set in the Ringworld universe and is about the Puppeteer’s “Fleet of Worlds” – the Puppeteer’s en mass migration of their whole planet (and supporting food-producing worlds) away from the exploding galactic core.

The story takes place 200 years before the Ringworld discovery. Nessus the Puppeteer is one of the main characters (we see him in later Ringworld books). The other main characters are human “colonists” that the puppeteers supposedly “saved” 500 years earlier and are now living on one of the puppeteer planets. They serve the puppeteers, but have their own society on the continent “Arcadia”.

Three colonists, Kirsten, Eric, and Omar are trained by Nessus to be advanced scouts for the puppeteers. The truth about the colonists’ past is starting to come out, and comes to a head when Kirsten and the others find “The Long Pass” – the humans’ “lost” ship from 500 years ago.

Good, “modern” SF read, very much unlike Lerner’s Moonstruck.

[Read 10/2007] Science Fiction. 2005

Moonstruck reads like a sort of “retro” 1950’s SF novel. It’s a fun, but superficial read. Aliens land in D.C. and offer humans membership in the “Galactic Commonwealth”. Most people on the planet believe the aliens, except for Kyle Gustafson (the President’s science advisor) and Darlene Lyons (a junior diplomat at the UN).

When nations’ satellites start blowing up or malfunctioning, a new cold war erupts as most of the world doesn’t believe the U.S. is working with all of humanity. Another alien, using her native form, crash-lands on earth and tells a very different story. Who is telling the truth? The first aliens also have a surprise up their sleeve – and it’s on the moon.

I’d have to file this under bathroom reading. :)

[Read 10/2007] Science Fiction. 2007

The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman is a fun, quick read. Ok, “mind candy”. This is on par with Camouflage for character development, i.e., not much. Mathew, an ABD MIT grad student builds a detector in his prof’s lab. He finds out by chance that hitting the “reset” button causes the machine to jump forward in time. However, each time it is used, it goes forward about 12x further (few seconds, an hour, few hours, a day, etc.). Mathew can’t duplicate the machine. His girlfriend recently dumped him, and he loses his lab position to rival. After a ~15 year jump he finds his professor used his notes and had taken credit for the discovery (and won a Nobel). But the professor still can’t duplicate the machine. More jumps into the future, and he meets Martha. He is “expected” at MIT, but it now is the Institute of Theosophy (and no tech). Mat and Martha jump forward, meet an AI, some future “humans”, etc.

Recommended for an Airplane Read.

[Read 10/2007] Science Fiction. 2007

Halting State by Charles Stross is a great read. This book reminds me of Spook Country by William Gibson however the tech in Stross’ book is more believable and this is much more of an SF/Police procedural. The book is in the uncommon? “second person”, i.e., “you” perspective. Three viewpoints are shown: Scottish detective Sue Smith, forensic accountant Elaine, and programmer Jack.

Basically the book opens with a bank robbery. However the “bank” is within a virtual world of an online RPG. This heist will wreak havoc with the in-game economy and will result in millions of *real* dollars being lost if the heist becomes known to gamers. Elaine is called in by the game company to help find the bad guys – because in addition to being an accountant she is also a gamer. However, Elain is into LARP (live action role playing) where she dresses up and uses heavy period (and real) swords. Jack is hired to act as her online gaming “guide”. Jack not only plays RPG’s but writes the software for a major online RPG company.

As Elaine and Jack team up to solve the case, there is a lot of tech and plot spun up with them. The book is set in 2018 and the tech extrapolation is believable. Stross’s use of current jargon also helps immerse the reader in the story.

HIGHLY recommended.

[Read 10/2007] Science Fiction. 1957

The Naked Sun is the sequel to The Caves of Steel, and is the 2nd book in Asimov’s Robot series. Elijah Baley (an Earth detective) is called upon to investigate a murder on the planet Solaria. It seems a prominent scientist has been murdered, and the scientist’s wife is the prime suspect. However, she is claiming that she is innocent. Baley is partnered with the robot R. Daneel Olivaw (who hides the fact that he is a robot from the Solarians).

On Solaria robots outnumber humans something like 20,000 to 1. There are only about 20,000 humans on Solaria and they abhor any kind of personal contact. Each Solarian lives on his/her own private estate and only has contact with other humans via “viewing” (advanced holographics). Earth is just the opposite, with billions of humans living underground in interconnected cities. Earth humans don’t like the outside, and panic when they see “the naked sun”.

The police investigator (the only policeman on Solaria) is subsequently murdered and attempts are made on Elijah’s life as he gets closer to solving the crime.

Classic Asimov sf!