TMiaHM is perhaps the crowning masterpiece of a legendary science fiction
author. People have told me to read it for decades, and now I understand why.
It completely changes the socio-political outlook of our solar system, or at
least Earth’s small neighborhood.
The book begins innocently as a techno-optimist, coming-of-age story
exploring the limits of AI (or how AI was envisioned back when Heinlein wrote
it in 1966). Interesting characters drive events forward until they snowball
into a riveting military logistics thriller.
This story can teach us valuable lessons about the politics of human
nature. As a writer, I’m also learning many advanced literary techniques from
it. The science remains cutting-edge even today, and the relevance has never
been greater, given recent NASA plans to build settlements on the Moon. Will
future Lunies be convicts or conquerors? Or both?
Tom Clancy has said of Robert A. Heinlein, "We proceed down the path marked by his ideas. He shows us where the future is." Nowhere is this more true than in Heinlein's gripping tale of revolution on the moon in 2076, where "Loonies" are kept poor and oppressed by an Earth-based Authority that turns huge profits at their expense. A small band of dissidents, including a one-armed computer jock, a radical young woman, a past-his-prime academic and a nearly omnipotent computer named Mike, ignite the fires of revolution despite the near certainty of failure and death.
This book fits squarely into my
‘realistic space settlement’ wheelhouse. Establishing a colony lightyears from
Earth will be hard…really hard. Desperation is a good motivation for early
settlers; you’ll find plenty in these pages. Besides natural disasters (floods,
predators, disease), our fearless heroes must fight themselves.
Suspicion fuels
a rift between the final generation of settlers born on the massive colony ship
(the Gens) and the scientific experts who arrived in suspended animation (the
Woken). Then, the Guardians arrive from Earth
in a faster-than-light starship armed with advanced weapons and technology.
They seem determined to save the colony at all costs from an evil naturalist
cult seeking the extinction of humanity. But are they a worse threat?
Most
characters click, and I love the motivations, deceptions, and outright
betrayals in the various subplots. How can our settlers thrive if they can’t
trust each other? Don’t expect any fairy tale endings. Living to fight another
day is the best we can hope for.
All her life Cariad had one dream: to participate in humanity's colonization of deep space. After topping her field as a geneticist, and then spending 184 years in cryonic suspension, she's achieved her goal.
But the new planet is not the paradise the scientists predicted. Alien predators come out at night, ready to feast on the new arrivals. What's more, saboteurs have stowed away aboard the ship and are determined to destroy the new colony.
To defeat the settlers' enemies, Cariad must enlist the help of the disgruntled Gens, last in the line of…
I love books that don’t take
themselves too seriously. The Vacuum of Space aims for a zany drama akin to
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, where serious events transpire within a
comical context. Toning down the comedy a few notches while ramping up the
drama leads to an unexpectedly entertaining murder mystery!
The author avoids stereotypes when developing the characters and slowly
revealing their secrets. The main character, a lowly techno-janitor trying to
fly under everyone’s radar, hides more secrets than anyone. That’s bad because
a murderous psychopath roams the corridors of a realistic, rotating space
station. Escape is not an option; you can only run so far. Will it be far
enough?
About that space station…, I love it. It becomes another character. Up is
in, and down is…perfect for bungee jumping. Yee-hah! They say in space, no one can hear you scream. But perhaps they can hear
you snicker and snort.
Triana Moore programs the robots that clean the glitzy Station Kelly Kornienko. Avoiding the wealthy inhabitants on the upper levels of the station is her number one rule. Well, number two, right after "eat all the chocolate."
But when one of her bots finds a dead body, all the rules go out the window. Or the airlock, since the windows on SK2 don't open.
Come along on a crazy ride through SK2 and across the galaxy with Triana Moore, Space Janitor.
This ebook contains the complete Space Janitor series…
Secrecy shrouds the first mission to land human explorers on the planet Mars. Even David Debacco, the Director of Mission Support, doesn't know the identity of his sponsors or their true agenda. As David struggles to keep the brave Mars explorers alive, an expanding web of deceit threatens the mission and the woman he loves from afar.
Traveling to Mars in a bold pursuit of knowledge, Anna Schweitzer barely perceives the Earthly plots against her team. Despite impossible odds, she looks to Mars for hope. Will she survive long enough to reach a New World and battle its untamed surface? Or will she succumb to dangers in space more terrifying than anything left behind on Earth?
