An Exciting new Space Opera

Sometimes a book is so good that you can’t wait to talk about it. Such is the case with Caliban’s War by James S. A. Corey.

But first…

For my hard science followers, this Utube link discusses how we see our universe and contains some interesting concepts on how big it must be. I just had to include it in my blog. There must be a book in there somewhere. Misconceptions about the Universe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBr4GkRnY04

On to Caliban’s War…

Caliban’s War is the second book in The Expanse trilogy that is slated to be made into a mini series on the syfy channel sometime in the future. It will be interesting to see how they present this series.

I read and reviewed the first book, Leviathan Wakes, (February 11, 2014) but dragged my feet on delving into this 600 page adventure because of both price and title. The title just didn’t excite me, but the price did.

I went on a rant.

The publisher is Hatchette and that house puts out expensive hardbacks at $25 by popular authors until the next book debuts, a year later, and then publishes a trade paperback so they can charge $17 a book. That’s high for my budget, in addition to a wait.

So, I went to Kindle where I found the Ebook at $9.99. For an Ebook! Fortunately, I had a credit at Powell’s Bookstore so I justified buying the paperback…but now I want to read Abaddon’s Gate, the next in the series with a cool title, and I’m faced with the same high cost and so I am impatiently waiting until it shows up in my library (which it hasn’t yet).

Maybe that’s what Amazon is protesting in their suit with Hatchette.

After struggling through some Indie books and a few traditional novels of mediocre writing, the professionalism of the writing and formatting in Caliban was a welcome change. Hatchette does that right at least.

Four main characters reveal the story. On Ganymede, breadbasket to the outer planets, Roberta Draper, a Martian marine, watches in horror as an alien super soldier easily slaughters her entire platoon and destroys the critical food installation. As the sole survivor, she is taken to Earth and questioned about what happened where she meets and becomes involved with…

Chrisjen Avasarala, an elderly, powerful, politician from Earth, who deftly manipulates the game of politics in a desperate attempt to prevent interplanetary war. Cracking pistachios in a bright orange sari, the assistant to the undersecretary of executive administration wields her power as she tries to out maneuver war-mongering generals and power hungry, good old boy politicians.

While on Venus, the protomolecule from the first book evolves, spreads and overruns the planet, threatening to escape and take over the solar system.

Meanwhile, James Holden takes on the job of keeping the peace for the Outer Planet Alliance until Prax, a desperate scientist from the devastated Ganymede, pleads with him to help find Mei, his daughter, who has been kidnapped from Ganymede by mysterious scientists.

In order to pay for the rescue, Holden crowdsources the funds, showing pictures of the kidnapped child while her father, Prax, emails and communicates with millions who sends what they can to support the endeavor. The idealistic Holden pursues a trail that becomes more and more dangerous and complex, until the future of humanity rests on whether his single ship can stop the alien invasion that threatens them all. With the help of the Earth politician and Martian soldier, he tries to dismantle a secret conspiracy that unwittingly may destroy humankind.

Lots of action with real characters and emotion, this space opera should be on any science fiction enthusiast’s reading list.

So, start saving your pennies now.

 

 

 

 

 

Crowdsourcing and Portal Fiction

Escaping into another dimension either through a looking glass, a wardrobe or a stargate is one way some authors present a unique world.

John Bunnel mentioned casually at our last science fiction book club a subgenre that I had never heard of:

Portal Fiction.

Immediately classic stories such as: Through the Looking Glass, Alice in Wonderland, The Witch, the Lion and the Wardrobe, and the Magician (which we were reading) sprung to mind.

Then, I realized the stargate that is in Past the Event Horizon is a portal of sorts leading to an undiscovered world.

What else?

Stephen Donaldson in his The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever employs the portal fiction device using a white gold ring that takes a dying leper into a fantasy world where he becomes a powerful magician. The series became immensely popular back in the day, particularly the first three books. Check them out if you like big fantasy ala Lord of the Rings style.

However, it was his series, Mordant’s Need, with the first book being A Mirror of her Dreams and the final book, A Man Rides Through, that is the undiscovered surprise.

A mirror provides the portal for a young modern Manhattan girl to fall into a an exciting Medieval world where she pairs up with a faulty imager to try to defeat the evil wizard. Once again, the characters have issues, and once again, it’s hard to put the book down.

His Into the Gap Series is also worth trying. The “last” in the Chronicle Series, was published fairly recently, called Against All Thing Ending. A warning that the reviews are mixed. I liked the first books best. But FYI.

Another tidbit that attracted my attention this past week is the startling different problem solving technique showcased on a recent Nova show of which I am fast becoming a fan. David Pogue is the narrator/guinea pig.

He recently talked about an addictive game called Foldit that was based on folding proteins. Hundred of thousands of individuals played the game and twittered each other through their computers to come up with some break through science in fighting disease through new protein configurations.

htt://www.thesocialpath.com/2009/05/10-examples-of-crowdsourcing.html

The method is called crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing is a phenomenon that is getting some buzz and may provide a cure for Aids through game playing. Maybe. Possibly other diseases. Some are hopeful. See the above link for many other ways crowd sourcing is being used to: write a book, determine what music we hear, kickstart a project, map the cosmos, collect tips and advice and solve difficult science problems. Interesting…very interesting what they might use it for next.

Any ideas?

Maybe viral a blog?