Tag: time travel

Newly Released eBook Edition of SF Classic – The Forever War by Joe Haldeman

Ridan Publishing released late last week an ebook edition of Joe Haldeman’s classic award winning science fiction novel The Forever War.   A must read for any die-hard fan of science fiction, especially the military scifi subgenre.

My review, written two years ago during the Summer of 2009, follows:

The Forever WarThe Forever War by Joe Haldeman

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5 stars

If I had been born in the 50s and also been born male, I’m positive I would have loved this story. All the pain, confusion and futility of Vietnam but strung out and extrapolated over three thousand years (or about three years relatively speaking). The last fourth of the book salvaged the first three parts.

I didn’t have any trouble grasping the science, the physics or the technology. Haldeman did an excellent job conveying them without making me take a course in quantum physics or string theory.

But again, similar to The Accidental Time Machine, character development suffers, even though we spend months bored in transit. I personally didn’t care for or agree with his predictions for societal changes on Earth and elsewhere that occurred while Mandella travelled at relativistic speeds. I did agree with the morale of his story, which is similar to Ender’s Game in philosophy.

I’ve now read most of the classic (and one neo-classic) military science fiction novels. My personal favorite seems to be Old Man’s War by John Scalzi, followed closely by Heinlein’s Starship Troopers. Haldeman’s Forever War follows and the distant finisher remains Armor by John Steakley.

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Book Review: In the Garden of Iden by Baker (2.5 Stars)

In the Garden of Iden by Kage Baker

My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

My first exposure to Kage Baker’s writing and to her Company series. In our future (about two centuries ahead of us), both time travel and immortality are discovered. As with most time travel scenarios in science fiction, history can’t be rewritten, so said travel is of limited use to the plot and the science is foggy at best. Time travel then becomes a means to transport the reader to a different point in our past. Equally useless to the entrepreneurs of the 24th century is immortality, which can only be applied to very young children and requires extensive cybernetic enhancement.

The Company (aka Dr. Suess) still finds a way to make a buck, sending scientists back to the distant past, recruiting young children from the native population, installing immortality, and putting them to work by scavenging and salvaging priceless art, books, plants, etc. for re-discovery and re-sale (by the Company of course) in the 24th century.

Mendoza is an orphan from the Spanish Inquisition rescued and then recruited by the Company at the very edge of the Pit. After several years of operations and education, she receives her first field assignment, not in the New World (as she desired to be as far as possible away from ‘the monkeys’), but in dreary damp England. While collecting rare specimens from the Garden of Iden, she falls in love with one of the manor’s servants, a fiercely fanatical Protestant young man adrift in a resurgence of Catholicism courtesy of Queen Mary and Prince Phillip of Spain.

I enjoyed the historical aspects of the novel, especially England during the Counter-Reformation. Kage Baker did a good job of immersing me in both Spain and England. I still prefer Connie Willis’ writing style as evidenced in The Doomsday Book and her other Oxford time travel novels and stories.

I’m not a fan of romance, especially teenage romance (and Mendoza is in her late teens while on this first assignment), so I struggled through about half of this book. I also missed some of the humor (or failed to register it as such) exhibited by her fellow agents and their reactions to the ‘monkeys’ (the cyborg agents’ derogatory term for mere mortal men). The predictably tragic ending arrived to my great relief and the novel finally moved back to the original mission – preserving plants.

Perhaps I took the fear and loathing of the immortal agents towards human beings too much to heart. It concerned me that these agents of the Company felt such disdain and dread towards their former brothers and sisters. Commerce and computers seized the day, while the monkeys scampered about and threw bananas at each other. I got the distinct impression that the Company and civilization of the 24th century felt humans were irredeemably inclined to violence and destruction, in a constantly repeating cycle.

I read this novel as part of the Beyond Reality June 2011 book of the month selection for science fiction.  To follow or join in the discussion, please stop by our site.

Doctor Who: The Doctor’s Wife

An amazing episode, written by none other than Neil Gaiman, a well known popular award winning science fiction author.  Again, I’m too lazy to write my own synopsis, so please visit the Wikipedia article on The Doctor’s Wife episode if you need more info.

My favorite snippet of dialogue from this episode:

Idris: You ever wonder why I chose you all those years ago?
The Doctor: I chose you. You were unlocked.
Idris: Of course I was. I wanted to see the universe so I stole a Time Lord and I ran away. And you were the only one mad enough.

This episode is overflowing with revelations about the TARDIS (it’s female and likes being called both ‘old girl’ and ‘sexy’).  We see more of the TARDIS (well, Amy and Rory running through endlessly similar corridors while the villain, House, terrorizes them).  We see other dead TARDISes (or is it TARDI ??) and revisit the Tenth Doctor’s console (Tenant’s desktop so to speak).  Definitely a four star rating.

Next Episode: Rebel Flesh

Doctor Who: The Curse of the Black Spot

Doctor Who: Curse of the Black Spot

“Yo ho ho! or does nobody actually say that?”  — the Doctor (soon to be one of my favorite quotes).

Plot summary at Wikipedia (yes, I’m being lazy again but I have an excuse … it’s Mother’s Day).

I thoroughly enjoyed this episode and would give it four stars, possibly more, especially for the dramatic scene between Amy and Rory towards the end and for the pirates!  Who doesn’t love a romping swashbuckling tale of the high seas, pirates and sea monsters?

And was I the only one who noticed that the newly inaugurated space pirates first visited the Dog Star aka Sirius?

I think I still prefer Robert Picardo over a supermodel with his signature ‘Please state the nature of the medical emergency.’  But that’s just me.

Next week we might meet the Doctor’s wife or possibly another time lord.  Either way, I’m excited and ecstatic to have exceptional science fiction to look forward to each and every Saturday night.  Hip Hip Hurray for BBC America!

Doctor Who: Day of the Moon

Nearly the first thing we did upon returning home from our weekend getaway to Table Rock Lake, after visiting the necessary room of course, was to watch the Day of the Moon via the DVR.  Follow this link for a plot synopsis at the relevant Wikipedia article.

Doctor Who: Day of the Moon
Doctor Who: Day of the Moon

The beginning and middle of this episode kept me confused for longer than I like.  And the Silents started creeping me out, similar to the Weeping Angels in “Blink” episode, especially when Amy was wondering a deserted orphanage during a night thunderstorm alone.  Part of my confusion probably stemmed from the unreliably nature of the narration.  Since the characters (including Doctor Who) could not cohesively remember their encounters with the Silents, we experienced what they experienced without much third-person omnipotent viewpoint advantage.

I am not convinced we have seen the last of the Silents, especially if you consider the continuity flashbacks and foreshadowings.  I liked the very American response and call to revolution against the Silents that the Doctor engineered and I especially liked the black box at Area 51, but the resolution arrived too quickly for me.

As to the identity of the girl in the astronaut suit, you can find a good discussion ongoing here where I bring up some questions about who the girl might be and who her mother might be, all of which will be answered in Moffat‘s good time.

Close to four stars, better than three and a half stars (out of five stars) for an episode of Doctor Who.  Next week it appears Doctor Who et al. will be playing pirates and chasing mermaids on the high seas in “The Curse of the Black Spot” episode.

Doctor Who: The Impossible Astronaut

Just a few quick words, thoughts and questions about last night’s Doctor Who Season Six premiere ‘The Impossible Astronaut‘ (if you’re looking for a synopsis or re-cap of the episode, click on the episode name link).  The Doctor, Amy, Rory and River hop across the pond to late 1960s America, unraveling (without alerting the younger doctor) the mystery surrounding the two hundred year older Doctor’s demise (yes, a bit of a spoiler but it happens within the first few minutes of the episode).

I enjoyed the nostalgic references to the space program (go NASA! to the moon and beyond!) and Nixon (as Doctor Who states ‘so much more happened in 1969 than people remember), but Moffat’s latest aliens didn’t seem as creative as his extremely creepy weeping angels (see the Hugo and BAFTA award winning episode ‘Blink‘ for further creepiness).

And it begs that question, if these aliens have the ability to make you forget them completely after you are no longer looking at them, why would one of these aliens command Amy to tell Doctor Who something?  Don’t they realize she’ll forget whatever they told her as soon as she turns her head?   Here’s an excerpt from Amy’s conversation with one of the aliens in a White House restroom:

Alien: You will tell the Doctor.

Amy: Tell him what?

Alien: What he must know and what he must never know.

Amy: How do you know about that?

Alien: Tell him.

After which Amy runs gasping from the restroom and immediately forgets what just happened.  She did snap a photo of the alien with her cell phone, after she determined that humans forget the aliens as soon as they look away (thanks to a poor woman caught in the conversational crossfire as collateral damage).  And was I the only one who that thought the electrifying moaning alien consuming said woman reminded you of Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall‘?  Ew.

An intriguing above-average episode of Doctor Who (more than three, probably close to four out of five stars).  I’m still having David Tennant withdrawals as I just can’t relate to a Doctor Who played by an actor born just a year before I graduated from high school.  I loved having Mark Sheppard, one of my current favorite British (or is that Irish) actors who pops up on many of the shows I watch.  The preview for next week’s conclusion entitled ‘Day of the Moon‘ look suitably time-twisty and action packed.

Thank goodness BBC America saved science fiction television from complete extinction.  Heaven knows, I can’t count on Syfy for anything except fantasy (because what else do you call WWE or reality TV)?

Book Review: All Clear by Willis (5 Stars)

All Clear by Connie Willis

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wonderful, exceptional, loved every page. I find myself unable to describe what truly astonishes me about this novel without giving away huge spoilers. I laughed, I cried, my heart filled to bursting and erupted with hope and inspiration.

All Clear picks up where Blackout abruptly ended, back in the Blitz, London during the Blackout, the air raids, the shelters, life marches on for the stoic British citizens.  Our stranded time-traveling historians face the facts, for the most part, and buckle down to survive.  Rationing recipes, holding down jobs, wondering if the next air raid will destroy your employer’s building or your home, constant commute disruptions caused by bombed out streets, communication disruptions (telephone lines down and mail slowed to a crawl), doing the odd heroic rescue on the side, and don’t forget the rehearsals for the latest diversionary play performed in the underground tube stations by the hodgepodge of amateur actors directed by none other than Sir Godfrey.

Connie Willis revealed the essence of Britain during the Second World War through these glimpses into the everyday lives of it’s citizens.

Now that I have reached the end, and seen all the pieces fall into place, I must re-read both novels to truly appreciate the masterful ingenious tale crafted by Connie Willis.

Book Review: Blackout

Blackout (All Clear, #1)Blackout by Connie Willis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Fifty years in our future, time-traveling Oxford historians studying key moments early in the Second World War become stranded in time in various locales around England. Like the contemporaries they are assigned to observe, the historians increasingly feel the weight of impending doom.

Doubt seeps into their belief that the continuum, the embodiment of a chaotic system, prevents damage or alteration to the time line; a self-correcting system. The butterfly effect, more aptly referenced with the catch phrase ‘For want of a nail’ becomes an argument both for and against altering the time-line. All doors back to Oxford and home seem sealed off and hope flickers and flutters against the background of air raid sirens and the Blackout.

The author peeled back the curtains to give us a glimpse of England in 1940, the astonishing courage and fortitude of her citizens. Amidst all the danger and bleakness, the light and compassion continued to shine. And the occasional comedic interludes, especially as respects to two incorrigible children, Alf and Binnie, and a rag tag amateur acting troupe forged in the shelters and tube stations during air raids, directed by a retired knighted Shakespearean actor, Sir Godfrey. Willis captures the soul of the British to a tea.

Be prepared to move directly on to the second novel immediately. The only reason I didn’t give this first novel five stars relates to the torture I would have endured waiting six months to read the second half. I didn’t torture myself, though, because I waited until All Clear was released before starting Blackout.

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