Saturn Run by John Sandford & Ctein

[james_davis_nicoll]

THERE IS AN ISSUE WITH MY SITE. WORKING ON IT



Saturn Run by John Sandford & Ctein

Comments

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

I am surprised that your readers need no introduction to the mononymic Ctein. (Though I don't; I've known him for years through mutual congoing.)

Perhaps everyone has read Post Exposure: Advanced Techniques for the Photographic Printer and Digital Restoration from Start to Finish but me.

[the_rck]

I'm getting an internal server error when I click on the link. It says something about not finding a last name in Ctein. Whatever that means.

Error on your site

[(Anonymous)]

FYI I'm getting errors on your site due to the lack of a last name for Ctein. I was actually trying to follow a link to a different review (not Saturn Run).

[philrm.livejournal.com]

I also just got an internal server error message when I tried to follow the link to the review.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

Both authors missed that cats are obligate carnivores.

[philrm.livejournal.com]

I'm scratching my head over the notion that someone would name a spaceship after Nixon.

[ilya187.livejournal.com]

Still, an SF novel that explicitly rejects the idea of workable interstellar imperialism is an interesting novelty.

It occurred to me that "Saturn Run"'s take on the subject of first contact is almost exact opposite of Murray Leinster's "First Contact."

SPOILER WARNING!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
In a nutshell: Without a deep understanding of each other's culture it is all too easy to say or do inadvertently something that the other side will perceive as offensive, or hostile, or suspicious. Heck, it happened many times in human history, and parties involved were the same species! Consequently, direct communication between different intelligent technological species almost always ends in violence, no matter how benign were original intentions. Also, there is no FTL in "Saturn Run", so centuries or millenia can pass between visits to any given star system. So all the the sentient species throughout Milky Way galaxy who manage to develop interstellar travel without either blowing themselves up, or getting into lethal misunderstanding with someone else, interact via "caches". A cache is a refueling station/trading warehouse. Visiting starship takes some trade goods -- which more often than not are cultural artifacts, -- and leaves some of its own. That way civilizations can learn quite a bit about each other without ever meeting face to face, with its attendant risks.

[jessie-c.livejournal.com]

Ctein, of course, needs no introduction.

Uh, Whisky Tango Foxtrot, over? He certainly does need an introduction, because I've never heard of him, and apparently neither has the interwebs.

reasons for the 2068 election to not be mentioned.

[connactic.livejournal.com]

1) It could have been the end of a sitting President's second term. They wouldn't be running again, so might not care too much about the election, or spend any time thinking about it.

2) It could be an election like the ones in 1996 or 1984, where a popular sitting President had to win an election, but it was mostly a foregone conclusion that he would win.

3) You mention that there is no saber-rattling in the book. What is the economic situation? If 2068 is more peaceful and prosperous, the position of President might be a more wonkish position, and less of the great prize that it is today.

[awesomeaud.livejournal.com]

I know I'm late to this party, but I've been away.

I read this recently, and found the ship building and trip to Saturn interesting. One thing that struck me as odd is why did they have the anthropologist go up to the ship so early? Fvapr gur zvffvba jnf fgvyy frperg gurl unq n uneq gvzr rkcynvavat jung ur jnf qbvat gurer, naq nalguvat ur unq gb qb pbhyq unir orra qbar ba Rnegu - naq ur pbhyq unir obneqrq jvgu nyy gur bgure fpvragvfg-cnffratref. However, once they arrived I just kept getting the feeling that the authors had choked. Znlor gurl unq n ynpx bs vzntvangvba nf gb jung gur nyvraf fubhyq or yvxr, fb gurl znqr gurz abguvat ng nyy.

Gura nyy gur vagrenpgvbaf jvgu gur Puvarfr whfg veevgngrq zr. Naq bapr gur Puvarfr jrer gnxra pner bs, jung? Gurl nyy whfg yvirq unccvyl gbtrgure ba gur jnl ubzr?

And there wasn't enough about the cat.