Moon People has reshaped my literary perceptions. After reading the heroic story of Captain David Braymer, 1st Science Officer of the space ship USS Lunar Base One, I feel as if I have been unbound from the restraints put in place by a dozen English teachers. "Amazing", I said to myself, when I realized the linguistic flexibility that comes from releasing character speech from its quotation marks. There is a certain joy that comes with exercising the freedom to end a sentence on any punctuation, even a comma. Question marks needn't be for interrogative statements! Must we bind every interjection to an exclamation point? Henceforth we shall be free to transpose homophones with the confidence that the reader will still get the point. Even chapters needn't be logical containers for portions of the story; why can't we start a new chapter in the middle of a conversation with two characters? Even the rules of spelling and capitalization serve only to bestow an unnecessary magniloquence when plain conversational writing will do. After reading this book, I scoff even at the concept of 'correct' word order.
But all this only addresses style and the substance of this book is in the plot. Our guide on this adventure, Dale M. Courtney takes us from the nuances of interpersonal relationships to the majesty of the stars themselves. Each important event is carefully explained, reiterated, repeated and said again, all without any bothersome detail. Approximations like "a good size" and "about seven feet" get across the point without wasting time. The brush strokes used to paint this story are certainly broad, like those of an impressionist sketching in the sunlight across their subject. In these broad brush strokes there is a certain efficiency. Our story takes place in the span of only a long weekend. So quickly David Braymer's life changes; he begins a humble teacher, is hired by NASA to head a project to investigate an incoming asteroid, and soon takes to the stars on a ten year mission aboard the USS Lunar Base 1.
For an optimistic and adventurous vision of our near future, this book is unmatched. We are presented with a world where war has ended, a country where NASA actually sends people into space, and a town in Florida where a man can take a woman to Red Lobster on their first date, and still take her to bed. We see technology so advanced, it amazes its own creators. Lasers! Rockets! Liquid shields that harden to the strength of four inches of steel! Air tubes which transport food to you in mere minutes! Yes, the future presented here is truly a place of wonder. Of course even this Utopian setting is not without flaws. There are villains, there is fighting and there are consequences. Only quick thinking and some new friends can pull our heroes out of this fight in one piece.
Moon People, by Dale M. Courtney will realign your perception and you may just have a little fun along the way.
