Customer Reviews

Orbital Decay (Near-Space)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Reads like Golden Age Heinlein" my butt. It's a down-to-earth (eventually) yarn about a blue-collar construction crew in orbit, a pack of misfits as fascinating as they are bored. They happen to save the free world but, honestly, that's incidental to the drift. A treat for anyone who can't stand swords, sorcerors or space opera.

No, he's not quite like Golden Age Heinlein. I doubt GA Heinlein would've had anything like a biker in his work. Nor would he have approved of weed in the hydroponics chamber. But he fits into the hard-SF groove, and y'know, he's just much less depressing than Gibson, too.

Hats off to Steele for writing what I refer to as "Realistic Science Fiction", in the sense that we have the technology now (or will soon once the technologies can be perfected and mass produced), what we lack is the willpower and motivation(to an extent, the financial backing in the private sector as well). While his use of some of the technologies is limited to what was available in the late 80's (such as computer diskettes as opposed to thumbdrives that are so common now, as well as the internet), such things can be easily overlooked for the story line, as well as his excellent use of earth geography and science of working in space. Considering this was published in the years between Skylab 3 coming down from orbit and the ISS being launched, it stands in my mind as one of the best pieces of sci-fi I have ever read. I am currently reading the Coyote series by this same author, and love how he has included those books into the same "universe" as the Near Earth stories that he has written. Two thumbs enthusiastically up!!!!!!!

Story:
The story follow the memories of the unlucky Sam Sloane as he lyes waiting for his inevitable death at the bottom of a canyon on the moon. As the story progress the reader learns how a bunch of misfit (ex convicts, ex druggies, and one by the end slightly redeemed crime of passion commiter)beam jacks manage to save the world from the tyrnanny of the super spy satellite called "Big Ear" and how exactly Sloane ended up in the canyon.
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The great thing about this story is that it treats it characters as humans, there are no gung ho were going to conquer the universe types. Well there is one but he goes insane by the end book. Most of the characters are just there to escape their past and try to make some money while there at it. The reality is also protrayed that people are people where ever they go, the crew is mostly bored, the space stations are mostly functional and everything is regulated to death. There is realistic science in the book, I wouldn't call it hard Scifi since most of the crew are non scientists it wouldn't make since for them to rattle on about why this or that does this or that. The book also has what I have noticed in the other Allen Steele books is that there is always a main characther who toward the end of the book usually reveals him or herself as working for an organization that is trying to save the earth from somthing. Its not bad and usually puts a different spin on the story that came before, but it happens alot in his books. All in all i would recommend this to any one who likes off beat scifi stories that are about ordinary people that are in extraordinary situations.
-m.a.c