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Mutiny (Starship, Book 1)
Jun. 6th, 2008 10:28 amBefore I get to the meat of this post, let me say I hate cold-calling salespeople! Especially the ones that show up in our reception area. Even worse are the ones selling de-regulated energy - they have no idea what they're actually selling, and are very difficult to get rid of. /rant/
In other and more pleasant news, Pyr a new science fiction book publisher, recently contacted me via POD People and offered “pick of the litter” for review. It was like a kid being given keys to the candy store. After some wandering about on my part, I decided to try Mike Resnick’s Mutiny (Starship Book 1)
, and the nice people at Pyr sent me out a copy.
I’ve met Resnick socially, and he’s an engaging fellow. He also writes an entertaining rogue, and the lead character in Mutiny, Commander Wilson Cole, is just such a person. The Republic, a galaxy-spanning organization dominated by humans, is at war with a coalition of species not particularly interested in being dominated by Man. Commander Cole is a genuine war hero, who’s also prone to ignoring orders to win an engagement. This does not sit well with the brass (it never does) but since they can’t cashier him, they do the next best thing – ship him to the Theodore Roosevelt, an obsolete ship stationed as far from the front as possible.
Well, it wouldn’t be much of a story if the Teddy R.’s sector remains quiet, so it’s not a surprise that we’re quickly involved in a crisis. Mutiny is straight-up Space Opera, with ships zipping across thirty light years in a few hours and English-speaking wisecracking aliens. Unlike a certain space opera that boldly goes where no one goes before, we have intelligent watch sections and the Fed, er the Republic isn’t always 100% right. By the end of the book, this leads to the titular mutiny.
How we get there is both fun and an interesting commentary on politics, the media and government. Commander Cole is not of the “blast-them-first, ask questions later” school, so his solutions to the problems presented are inventive and indirect. The secondary characters are well-realized, and the problems presented are grounded in human nature. I really enjoyed Mutiny and can recommend it to fans of science fiction and good stories.
In other and more pleasant news, Pyr a new science fiction book publisher, recently contacted me via POD People and offered “pick of the litter” for review. It was like a kid being given keys to the candy store. After some wandering about on my part, I decided to try Mike Resnick’s Mutiny (Starship Book 1)
, and the nice people at Pyr sent me out a copy.I’ve met Resnick socially, and he’s an engaging fellow. He also writes an entertaining rogue, and the lead character in Mutiny, Commander Wilson Cole, is just such a person. The Republic, a galaxy-spanning organization dominated by humans, is at war with a coalition of species not particularly interested in being dominated by Man. Commander Cole is a genuine war hero, who’s also prone to ignoring orders to win an engagement. This does not sit well with the brass (it never does) but since they can’t cashier him, they do the next best thing – ship him to the Theodore Roosevelt, an obsolete ship stationed as far from the front as possible.
Well, it wouldn’t be much of a story if the Teddy R.’s sector remains quiet, so it’s not a surprise that we’re quickly involved in a crisis. Mutiny is straight-up Space Opera, with ships zipping across thirty light years in a few hours and English-speaking wisecracking aliens. Unlike a certain space opera that boldly goes where no one goes before, we have intelligent watch sections and the Fed, er the Republic isn’t always 100% right. By the end of the book, this leads to the titular mutiny.
How we get there is both fun and an interesting commentary on politics, the media and government. Commander Cole is not of the “blast-them-first, ask questions later” school, so his solutions to the problems presented are inventive and indirect. The secondary characters are well-realized, and the problems presented are grounded in human nature. I really enjoyed Mutiny and can recommend it to fans of science fiction and good stories.
