He had me at "and the Canadians, for some reason"

[james_davis_nicoll]

Jason Sheehan's review of a book that won't be making it into MilSF That Doesn't Suck.

Comments

[keith_morrison]

I, one day, would like to read a futuristic novel where secular colonists of Arabic descent have to deal with lunatic fundamentalist Christian libertarian terrorists coming from backwards desert tribal cultures. Just for the entertainment value. (Dune doesn't count.)

[james_davis_nicoll]

Not quite what you're looking for but the Cassandra Kresnov novels have a reasonable decent, democratic Africa-and-Asia dominated Earth and its allies plagued by the space union of unethical white asshats. The main character is an escaped slave from the SUoUWAs.

[keith_morrison]

Have those books. Nope, I want a novel where there's fear about the rampaging white Christian hordes with their primitive and bloodthirsty religious beliefs threatening to create a global Libertaria.

[autopope]

It's only a short story, but: does "We See Things Differently" by Bruce Sterling fit your bill?

[keith_morrison]

Just read it. Nah, not quite.

[timgueugen]

Amir Hussein Versus the Planet of the Mormons.

[zxhrue]

oddly enough, from the review it sounds as though that scenario could be fit right into that 'verse.

[(Anonymous)]

Sweet baby Jesus yes to this review.

I like MilSF and was somewhat looking forward to this book, but, alas, it does suffer from what I call David Weber Syndrome, ie, All the Tech Specs Any Reader Could Possibly Want That Really Deserve To Be Part Of An Appendix Instead Of Something That Stops The Story Dead Every Few Pages.

Sikander's could be more interesting, I mean, he's got a lot of potential, but he's a little too perfect - which reminds me of all of Elizabeth Moon's main characters, particularly Ky Vatta.

The rest of the book is...yeah. It's not bad, it's just bland.

Dryad, posting from work.

[rwpikul]

All the Tech Specs Any Reader Could Possibly Want That Really Deserve To Be Part Of An Appendix Instead Of Something That Stops The Story Dead Every Few Pages.

Hmm, this sounds like something that could be solved in the eBook space. When hardware is being talked about/used, you can call up the specs from said appendix. Heck, you might even be able to modify what is shown based on where in the story you are calling it up from, (so early on, the untested prototype gets it's max FTL speed listed as 150c+ but in the denouement, after the mad dash to Save The Day™, it comes up as 300c sustained/423c emergency).

[(Anonymous)]

Indeed! I've seen such popups and changeable links on the AO3. Ebooks would be a perfect solution.

Dryad, posting from work again

[zxhrue]

nope.nope.nopity,nope,nope,nope.

thank you for the pointer.