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Fires of Freedom

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Fires of Freedom (2009) is an omnibus edition of two SF novels, including Birth of Fire and King David's Spaceship. These novels take place at widely different times during mankind's expansion into the universe.

Birth of Fire (1976) is a standalone SF novel. It takes place several decades from now in a future where Mars has been settled. The planet is being used as an alternative to prison for convicts, much like Australia.

In this novel, Garrett Pittson is a member of a youth gang. His Dog Soldiers have a rumble with the Hackers, leaving several dead bodies, including two cops. As the only adult among the captives, Garrett gets reamed.

Alexander Farr is superintendent of the Mars training school. It teaches newcomers how to survive on Mars. Farr is also recruiting a few newbies into the Martian underground.

Sarge Wechsung is a Marsman. He owns a claim on the Hellas rim. He is a part of the Martian underground.

Erica Hendrix is Marsborn. Her father is Sam Hendrix, owner of a large claim on the Hellas rim. His claim has a huge amount of frozen water.

In this story, the jury returns a verdict of guilty on Murder One. Garrett gets twenty years to life. Then the deputy public defender gives him an alternative: exile for life to the Mars colony. Garrett jumps at the chance to get offplanet.

Life on Mars is strange. Farr tells the newcomers the four rules on the first day of training: don't try to escape. Ultimately, escape means trying to breathe the outside air. That is not conducive to long life and good health.

One local quirk is the air tax. It seems that the air is not free. The air tax tags change colors over time. If you are not wearing a tag or if it is red, you get thrown out the airlock.

Another quirk is the justice system. There is a distinct lack of courtrooms and prisons, but plenty of airlocks. For most crimes, the punishment is local and quick: out the airlock.

After Garrett gets out of training, he hangs around Hellastown. Farr has told him to look around and wait for someone to come for him. So Garrett gets a job as a runner for a hole-in-the-wall store until Sarge comes for him.

Back at Sarge's place, Garrett is worked hard and learns much about running a Martian farm. He gets out to meet the neighbors and falls head over heels for Erica. He also gets to hear a lot of political discussions from her father and the neighbors.

Then one day, the marines come for Sarge. Garrett and Erica are in the marscar coming back from Hendrix's place when they hear a call from Sarge. They hide the car and walk in a back way. They watch two marines take Sarge to town, but most of them head toward Erica's home.

King David's Spaceship (1980) is an SF novel in the Alderson Drive series. It takes place about the same time as the events in The Mote in God's Eye.

Prince Samuel's World has recovered greatly from the Succession Wars. Now they have been rediscovered by the Second Empire. The Imperials have allied with the Kingdom of Haven to reunify the various polities into a world government.

In this novel, Nathan McKinnie is a former colonel in the army of Orleans. His regiment -- the Wolves -- received the dubious benefits of the Imperial Navy's alliance with Haven. The death toll amounted to two battalions and his beloved. But he received a pension from Haven to compensate for the loss of his commission and personnel.

Hal Stark is Nathan's batman, lead noncom and now his personal servant. They are living in a rundown boarding house near the waterfront. Yet they go uptown to drink.

Shipmaster MacLean of the Royal Merchant Service is qualified on both sail and motor vessels. At least that is his story. But he is most probably from the Royal Haven Navy.

Academician Longway is from Prince Samuel University. He studies social organization and primitive cultures as well as ancient history.

Scholar-Bachelor Kleinst is Longway's assistant. He is supposedly a historian, but is actually a physicist.

Mary Graham is a university graduate. Women students at the university are few and far between, so Mary has been allowed to study many different subjects for her degree.

Malcolm Dougal is the head of the Haven Royal Secret Police. He has been gathering information on the Second Empire since before their alliance with Haven. He has found that the Empire is probably going to colonize Prince Samuel's World.

In this story, McKinnie and Start are drinking in the Blue Bottle while three Imperial Navy lieutenants are buying drinks for the house. Of course, they are recruiting young men for their ship. But they are also getting rather noisy.

During the evening, Lieutenant Jefferson mentions an Old Empire library on Makassar, among other remarks. Nathan pays little attention, for his thoughts are on the events that led to his surrender to Haven. At the end of the evening, Dougal introduces himself and invites them out for a drink, but McKinnie refuses and heads back to the boarding house.

On the way, McKinnie and Start are abducted by the Secret Police and conveyed to the palace for a meeting with Dougal. Malcolm tells Nathan about the situation with the Second Empire. Then he asks Nathan to help them on a special mission to Makassar, the nearest inhabited world.

These tales involve the regaining of freedoms. Naturally, these efforts are only partially successful, for total freedom is anarchy. Yet they win a measure of liberty. Read and enjoy!

Highly recommended for Pournelle fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of military combat, political intrigue, and a bit of romance.

-Arthur W. Jordin

"Birth of Fire". Earth teenager Garrett Pittson was convicted of a homicide he did not commit but his violent past did not help the delinquent. He is given a choice of a life sentence on earth without parole or deportation as a convicted slave at the penal colony on Mars; Garrett chooses Mars. On the fourth planet from the sun, Garrett meets angry workers used as expendable slaves in horrific mining conditions by the earth-based ruling multinational corporations. He thrives in the hostile environs and soon is in the forefront of revolt.

"King David's Spaceship". The civil war on Haven ended with the monarchy ruling as the outside Imperial Navy destroyed the resistance. Rebel leader Colonel Nathan MacKinnie knows the cost of the defeat first hand as his beloved, his friends, and his soldiers are dead. The victor King David asks Nathan to perform a mission; he wants to refuse but acquiesces as he knows the resistance is over. MacKinnie leads a small contingency to the backward planet Makassar where an ancient First Empire Library exists, but no outsider may enter as this is a holy shrine. He must find books on space travel before the Imperial Empire determines his home needs outside rule as the key for full self-rule membership is space travel.

These are reprints of two terrific action-packed science fiction thrillers with similar themes of freedom fighters trying to keep a much more powerful and technological advanced superpower from dominating them. BIRTH OF FIRE is an entertaining coming of age tale. KING DAVID'S SPACESHIP (with some references to THE MOTE IN GOD'S EYE) is an intriguing comparative look at civilizations with the Imperial Empire at a twenty-second century or later level of technology; Haven is at late nineteenth-early twentieth century technology; and Makassar is near the bottom with a medieval technology. Both books are exciting as the pursuit of basic rights is the universal connector.

Harriet Klausner