![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I just finished reading Michael Puttre’s first novel, Outre Mer, and I was very favorably impressed. Michael is a writer and editor with military specialization, which shows through favorably in his writing. His grasp of matters military and political are impressive, and this book is the kind of big story that defines the term “space opera.”
The story is set in a future where mankind, having saved itself from “The Rock” (an asteroid deflected by a US Air Force ship) and fought a war with The Grays (an alien race that has been kidnapping humans since 1947) has settled a number of inhabitable worlds in various star systems. However, in Puttre’s view, mankind is no more united then we are now. One faction, the Phalangists, terriforms worlds by burning the atmosphere and surface to ash – an act we see from several perspectives, including a Greenpeace-like spaceship. Unlike their 21st century counterparts, Starpeace ships pack heat, and aren’t afraid to use it.
Puttre has a long but action-filled prologue where we learn much of this while seeing members of the Outer Systems Service (OSS) a cross between the CIA and a space fleet try to recover a Phalangist defector. The story then shifts to the world of Outre Mer, an Earth-like moon of a gas giant. The moon is populated by human refugees, descendants of those kidnapped by the Grays, and a curious race called Durranis, which are small forest-dwelling creatures. Given artificial hands, they prove to be every bit as intelligent as humans. The rest of the story is an increasingly tense multi-faction struggle between the Durranis and the various human factions on and around Outre Mer.
Puttre’s writing is clear and strong, although a bit florid at times, but quite riveting. He weaves a cast of a dozen characters, all believable, through his story in a way that has you rooting for all of them. In Puttre’s world, there is no absolute right and wrong, only shades of gray, and even the apparent “bad guys” aren’t as bad as they seem.
I highly recommend this book to any fans of science fiction. It has aliens, politics, military, and even a bit of romance. There’s something for everybody in Outre Mer, and it's only available at Lulu.com. While you're there, check out my science fiction book, The Mars Run.
The story is set in a future where mankind, having saved itself from “The Rock” (an asteroid deflected by a US Air Force ship) and fought a war with The Grays (an alien race that has been kidnapping humans since 1947) has settled a number of inhabitable worlds in various star systems. However, in Puttre’s view, mankind is no more united then we are now. One faction, the Phalangists, terriforms worlds by burning the atmosphere and surface to ash – an act we see from several perspectives, including a Greenpeace-like spaceship. Unlike their 21st century counterparts, Starpeace ships pack heat, and aren’t afraid to use it.
Puttre has a long but action-filled prologue where we learn much of this while seeing members of the Outer Systems Service (OSS) a cross between the CIA and a space fleet try to recover a Phalangist defector. The story then shifts to the world of Outre Mer, an Earth-like moon of a gas giant. The moon is populated by human refugees, descendants of those kidnapped by the Grays, and a curious race called Durranis, which are small forest-dwelling creatures. Given artificial hands, they prove to be every bit as intelligent as humans. The rest of the story is an increasingly tense multi-faction struggle between the Durranis and the various human factions on and around Outre Mer.
Puttre’s writing is clear and strong, although a bit florid at times, but quite riveting. He weaves a cast of a dozen characters, all believable, through his story in a way that has you rooting for all of them. In Puttre’s world, there is no absolute right and wrong, only shades of gray, and even the apparent “bad guys” aren’t as bad as they seem.
I highly recommend this book to any fans of science fiction. It has aliens, politics, military, and even a bit of romance. There’s something for everybody in Outre Mer, and it's only available at Lulu.com. While you're there, check out my science fiction book, The Mars Run.
