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Apr. 1st, 2007
This series was apparently inspired by last year's deplaneting of Pluto, which someone at Tor seems to have strong feelings about*, judging by the choice of noted Pluto fanatic John Scalzi to write the introduction. Unlike the competing series (Bova's Grand Tour), Nine Planets is a monthly series by a variety of authors.
I note that the author is fairly careful to avoid putting a date on this but it's far enough in the future that nobody is suprised by the existence of space-based infrastructure but close enough to our time that large portions of it are still being built, which leads to the focus of this book: building a ring of high energy solar collectors in close orbit around the sun to beam energy to various parts of the solar system.
Unlike certain books, Landis understands the usefulness of automation so we are not treated to the sight of 22nd (?) century people using 19th century techniques to mine alien worlds. This isn't to say that everything is peachy: it's not a coincidence that the person through whose eyes we see the Mercury end of things is named Lesseps and it's probably not a coincidence that the Terrestrial middle manager who makes the decisions about what equipment is worth the 22 km/s needed to ship things directly to Mercury is named Burbank.
As Landis showed in Mars Crossing, new worlds offer exciting and unexpected ways to die, in this case because of an implication of the conditions in the shadowed polar craters of Mercury that I think must be original to Landis (I won't spoil it here). Taken with the chronic shortage of necessary equipment, this (spoiler) puts the characters in quite a tight spot and it isn't clear how many of them, if any, will manage to avoid freezing or worse.
I thought that this was a little short for the plot at 256 pages but I'd rather have a tightly plotted book that left me wanting more than 1200 pages of plot-flab. It's definitely a keeper.
At the risk of betraying my nerdly nature, I appreciated the lengthy list of suggested books and links given in the afterword, none of which the number-shy need to read to enjoy this book.
* Admittedly, the current definition of planet manages to be inferior to not having a definition at all.
I note that the author is fairly careful to avoid putting a date on this but it's far enough in the future that nobody is suprised by the existence of space-based infrastructure but close enough to our time that large portions of it are still being built, which leads to the focus of this book: building a ring of high energy solar collectors in close orbit around the sun to beam energy to various parts of the solar system.
Unlike certain books, Landis understands the usefulness of automation so we are not treated to the sight of 22nd (?) century people using 19th century techniques to mine alien worlds. This isn't to say that everything is peachy: it's not a coincidence that the person through whose eyes we see the Mercury end of things is named Lesseps and it's probably not a coincidence that the Terrestrial middle manager who makes the decisions about what equipment is worth the 22 km/s needed to ship things directly to Mercury is named Burbank.
As Landis showed in Mars Crossing, new worlds offer exciting and unexpected ways to die, in this case because of an implication of the conditions in the shadowed polar craters of Mercury that I think must be original to Landis (I won't spoil it here). Taken with the chronic shortage of necessary equipment, this (spoiler) puts the characters in quite a tight spot and it isn't clear how many of them, if any, will manage to avoid freezing or worse.
I thought that this was a little short for the plot at 256 pages but I'd rather have a tightly plotted book that left me wanting more than 1200 pages of plot-flab. It's definitely a keeper.
At the risk of betraying my nerdly nature, I appreciated the lengthy list of suggested books and links given in the afterword, none of which the number-shy need to read to enjoy this book.
* Admittedly, the current definition of planet manages to be inferior to not having a definition at all.
This series was apparently inspired by last year's deplaneting of Pluto, which someone at Tor seems to have strong feelings about*, judging by the choice of noted Pluto fanatic John Scalzi to write the introduction. Unlike the competing series (Bova's Grand Tour), Nine Planets is a monthly series by a variety of authors.
I note that the author is fairly careful to avoid putting a date on this but it's far enough in the future that nobody is suprised by the existence of space-based infrastructure but close enough to our time that large portions of it are still being built, which leads to the focus of this book: building a ring of high energy solar collectors in close orbit around the sun to beam energy to various parts of the solar system.
Unlike certain books, Landis understands the usefulness of automation so we are not treated to the sight of 22nd (?) century people using 19th century techniques to mine alien worlds. This isn't to say that everything is peachy: it's not a coincidence that the person through whose eyes we see the Mercury end of things is named Lesseps and it's probably not a coincidence that the Terrestrial middle manager who makes the decisions about what equipment is worth the 22 km/s needed to ship things directly to Mercury is named Burbank.
As Landis showed in Mars Crossing, new worlds offer exciting and unexpected ways to die, in this case because of an implication of the conditions in the shadowed polar craters of Mercury that I think must be original to Landis (I won't spoil it here). Taken with the chronic shortage of necessary equipment, this (spoiler) puts the characters in quite a tight spot and it isn't clear how many of them, if any, will manage to avoid freezing or worse.
I thought that this was a little short for the plot at 256 pages but I'd rather have a tightly plotted book that left me wanting more than 1200 pages of plot-flab. It's definitely a keeper.
At the risk of betraying my nerdly nature, I appreciated the lengthy list of suggested books and links given in the afterword, none of which the number-shy need to read to enjoy this book.
* Admittedly, the current definition of planet manages to be inferior to not having a definition at all.
I note that the author is fairly careful to avoid putting a date on this but it's far enough in the future that nobody is suprised by the existence of space-based infrastructure but close enough to our time that large portions of it are still being built, which leads to the focus of this book: building a ring of high energy solar collectors in close orbit around the sun to beam energy to various parts of the solar system.
Unlike certain books, Landis understands the usefulness of automation so we are not treated to the sight of 22nd (?) century people using 19th century techniques to mine alien worlds. This isn't to say that everything is peachy: it's not a coincidence that the person through whose eyes we see the Mercury end of things is named Lesseps and it's probably not a coincidence that the Terrestrial middle manager who makes the decisions about what equipment is worth the 22 km/s needed to ship things directly to Mercury is named Burbank.
As Landis showed in Mars Crossing, new worlds offer exciting and unexpected ways to die, in this case because of an implication of the conditions in the shadowed polar craters of Mercury that I think must be original to Landis (I won't spoil it here). Taken with the chronic shortage of necessary equipment, this (spoiler) puts the characters in quite a tight spot and it isn't clear how many of them, if any, will manage to avoid freezing or worse.
I thought that this was a little short for the plot at 256 pages but I'd rather have a tightly plotted book that left me wanting more than 1200 pages of plot-flab. It's definitely a keeper.
At the risk of betraying my nerdly nature, I appreciated the lengthy list of suggested books and links given in the afterword, none of which the number-shy need to read to enjoy this book.
* Admittedly, the current definition of planet manages to be inferior to not having a definition at all.
This series was apparently inspired by last year's deplaneting of Pluto, which someone at Tor seems to have strong feelings about*, judging by the choice of noted Pluto fanatic John Scalzi to write the introduction. Unlike the competing series (Bova's Grand Tour), Nine Planets is a monthly series by a variety of authors.
I note that the author is fairly careful to avoid putting a date on this but it's far enough in the future that nobody is suprised by the existence of space-based infrastructure but close enough to our time that large portions of it are still being built, which leads to the focus of this book: building a ring of high energy solar collectors in close orbit around the sun to beam energy to various parts of the solar system.
Unlike certain books, Landis understands the usefulness of automation so we are not treated to the sight of 22nd (?) century people using 19th century techniques to mine alien worlds. This isn't to say that everything is peachy: it's not a coincidence that the person through whose eyes we see the Mercury end of things is named Lesseps and it's probably not a coincidence that the Terrestrial middle manager who makes the decisions about what equipment is worth the 22 km/s needed to ship things directly to Mercury is named Burbank.
As Landis showed in Mars Crossing, new worlds offer exciting and unexpected ways to die, in this case because of an implication of the conditions in the shadowed polar craters of Mercury that I think must be original to Landis (I won't spoil it here). Taken with the chronic shortage of necessary equipment, this (spoiler) puts the characters in quite a tight spot and it isn't clear how many of them, if any, will manage to avoid freezing or worse.
I thought that this was a little short for the plot at 256 pages but I'd rather have a tightly plotted book that left me wanting more than 1200 pages of plot-flab. It's definitely a keeper.
At the risk of betraying my nerdly nature, I appreciated the lengthy list of suggested books and links given in the afterword, none of which the number-shy need to read to enjoy this book.
* Admittedly, the current definition of planet manages to be inferior to not having a definition at all.
I note that the author is fairly careful to avoid putting a date on this but it's far enough in the future that nobody is suprised by the existence of space-based infrastructure but close enough to our time that large portions of it are still being built, which leads to the focus of this book: building a ring of high energy solar collectors in close orbit around the sun to beam energy to various parts of the solar system.
Unlike certain books, Landis understands the usefulness of automation so we are not treated to the sight of 22nd (?) century people using 19th century techniques to mine alien worlds. This isn't to say that everything is peachy: it's not a coincidence that the person through whose eyes we see the Mercury end of things is named Lesseps and it's probably not a coincidence that the Terrestrial middle manager who makes the decisions about what equipment is worth the 22 km/s needed to ship things directly to Mercury is named Burbank.
As Landis showed in Mars Crossing, new worlds offer exciting and unexpected ways to die, in this case because of an implication of the conditions in the shadowed polar craters of Mercury that I think must be original to Landis (I won't spoil it here). Taken with the chronic shortage of necessary equipment, this (spoiler) puts the characters in quite a tight spot and it isn't clear how many of them, if any, will manage to avoid freezing or worse.
I thought that this was a little short for the plot at 256 pages but I'd rather have a tightly plotted book that left me wanting more than 1200 pages of plot-flab. It's definitely a keeper.
At the risk of betraying my nerdly nature, I appreciated the lengthy list of suggested books and links given in the afterword, none of which the number-shy need to read to enjoy this book.
* Admittedly, the current definition of planet manages to be inferior to not having a definition at all.
Raised eyebrow
Apr. 1st, 2007 04:27 pmOK, I understand that with the end of the 191 series, Turtledove has to come up with a new series to fill that slot in his publishing schedule. I understand the intellectual attraction of trying to come up with a history where the Book of Mormon is a fairly literal account of Pre-Columbian History, then examining what would have happened if the New Worlders had been an iron-age culture in decline when the Europeans showed up. I can kind of understand why he has historical New Worlders popping up in a history whose POD is 2600 years ago. I even understand that coming up with a plausible mechanism for the Curse of the Lamanites seemed necessary.
But chromataphores? In humans? I'm sorry but handwaving about the Founder Effect and natural rDNA isn't going to make this work for me.
But chromataphores? In humans? I'm sorry but handwaving about the Founder Effect and natural rDNA isn't going to make this work for me.
Raised eyebrow
Apr. 1st, 2007 04:27 pmOK, I understand that with the end of the 191 series, Turtledove has to come up with a new series to fill that slot in his publishing schedule. I understand the intellectual attraction of trying to come up with a history where the Book of Mormon is a fairly literal account of Pre-Columbian History, then examining what would have happened if the New Worlders had been an iron-age culture in decline when the Europeans showed up. I can kind of understand why he has historical New Worlders popping up in a history whose POD is 2600 years ago. I even understand that coming up with a plausible mechanism for the Curse of the Lamanites seemed necessary.
But chromataphores? In humans? I'm sorry but handwaving about the Founder Effect and natural rDNA isn't going to make this work for me.
But chromataphores? In humans? I'm sorry but handwaving about the Founder Effect and natural rDNA isn't going to make this work for me.
Raised eyebrow
Apr. 1st, 2007 04:27 pmOK, I understand that with the end of the 191 series, Turtledove has to come up with a new series to fill that slot in his publishing schedule. I understand the intellectual attraction of trying to come up with a history where the Book of Mormon is a fairly literal account of Pre-Columbian History, then examining what would have happened if the New Worlders had been an iron-age culture in decline when the Europeans showed up. I can kind of understand why he has historical New Worlders popping up in a history whose POD is 2600 years ago. I even understand that coming up with a plausible mechanism for the Curse of the Lamanites seemed necessary.
But chromataphores? In humans? I'm sorry but handwaving about the Founder Effect and natural rDNA isn't going to make this work for me.
But chromataphores? In humans? I'm sorry but handwaving about the Founder Effect and natural rDNA isn't going to make this work for me.
How to sell your book to strangers.
It seems to me that this kind of example of self-published blissfully incompetent spammer is turning up more and more frequently on rasfw and other groups. Are companies like BookSurge and Publish America telling the authors to make fools of themselves this way or is it just that the authors are hitting on similar strategies?
It seems to me that this kind of example of self-published blissfully incompetent spammer is turning up more and more frequently on rasfw and other groups. Are companies like BookSurge and Publish America telling the authors to make fools of themselves this way or is it just that the authors are hitting on similar strategies?
How to sell your book to strangers.
It seems to me that this kind of example of self-published blissfully incompetent spammer is turning up more and more frequently on rasfw and other groups. Are companies like BookSurge and Publish America telling the authors to make fools of themselves this way or is it just that the authors are hitting on similar strategies?
It seems to me that this kind of example of self-published blissfully incompetent spammer is turning up more and more frequently on rasfw and other groups. Are companies like BookSurge and Publish America telling the authors to make fools of themselves this way or is it just that the authors are hitting on similar strategies?
How to sell your book to strangers.
It seems to me that this kind of example of self-published blissfully incompetent spammer is turning up more and more frequently on rasfw and other groups. Are companies like BookSurge and Publish America telling the authors to make fools of themselves this way or is it just that the authors are hitting on similar strategies?
It seems to me that this kind of example of self-published blissfully incompetent spammer is turning up more and more frequently on rasfw and other groups. Are companies like BookSurge and Publish America telling the authors to make fools of themselves this way or is it just that the authors are hitting on similar strategies?
Also Not an April Fool's joke
Apr. 1st, 2007 05:31 pmIs noticing the the sex of writers nominated for the Hugo a sexist act?
(linked to with the permission of the person whose livejournal account that is)
(linked to with the permission of the person whose livejournal account that is)
Also Not an April Fool's joke
Apr. 1st, 2007 05:31 pmIs noticing the the sex of writers nominated for the Hugo a sexist act?
(linked to with the permission of the person whose livejournal account that is)
(linked to with the permission of the person whose livejournal account that is)
Also Not an April Fool's joke
Apr. 1st, 2007 05:31 pmIs noticing the the sex of writers nominated for the Hugo a sexist act?
(linked to with the permission of the person whose livejournal account that is)
(linked to with the permission of the person whose livejournal account that is)