Radio Freefall [Hardcover]

Matthew Jarpe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 7, 2007

In the tradition of Robert A. Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress but with a healthy dose of cyberpunk: Radio Freefall is about a plot to take over the Earth by power-mad, sociopathic computer-geek billionaire, Walter Cheeseman. It's up to a strange cast of rock stars and oddballs to stop him.

 

Aqualung, a mysterious blues musician who also has superhuman tech skills, might be the catalyst for the resistance--or he might just be the pawn of artificial intelligences.

 

To thwart the takeover, the orbitals and the moon colonies secede from Earth. And then something like the Singularity happens, but no one is quite sure.

 

This is a novel of cyberpunk and rock and roll, of technology, artificial intelligence, and wild riffs off of Heinlein all mixed into an explosive debut.

 

Matthew Jarpe launches his SF career with a bang!

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Rock and roll and old-school hard SF go together like peanut butter and jelly in Jarpe's debut novel. At 53, Aqualung is an old man on the rock scene, but his voice and the Machine, a device that uses low energy sound waves to tweak the emotions of the audience, have made the Snake Vendors an overnight sensation. Brilliant Web guru and computer architect Quin Taber is determined to discover the origins of the Digital Carnivore, an AI virus Taber calls the Robin Hood of file-sharing daemons; the Sheriff of Nottingham part is played by megalomaniacal Walter Cheeseman, head of the all-powerful information purveyor WebCense. When Quin learns that Aqualung is one of the Digital Carnivore's original designers, the rock star becomes a target. Running for his life, Aqualung finds sanctuary on the orbital space station Freefall, which becomes the front line in the battle between Cheeseman's forces and the independent-minded folks of Freefall and the moon colony Luna. Fans of Nirvana, Buddy Holly and Heinlein's The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress will gladly soak up the Spandex and Doc Martens atmosphere. (Aug.)
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From Booklist

In 2032 the governments of Earth are on the verge of global unification. An omnipresent, artificially intelligent virus called the Digital Carnivore watches over the Internet. And the reins of ultimate world domination are about to be seized by billionaire computer geek Walter Cheeseman. Standing in his way, however, are Quin Taber, an ex-employee of Cheeseman's corporation who is investigating the Digital Carnivore's origins, and Aqualung, an aging, eccentric rock star whose rising success in the music world owes much to a mysterious outlaw past. When Taber discovers that Aqualung played a founding role in the Digital Carnivore's genesis, the rocker flees to Earth's orbital space station, Freefall. Along with the independence-spirited moon colony Luna, Aqualung and Freefall quickly constitute the rebel army battling Cheeseman's drive to unification. Jarpe's masterfully crafted debut fires on all cylinders, offering a winning combination of Heinleinesque wit and mind-bending technological speculation that should garner major attention during the next awards season. Hays, Carl

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; First Edition edition (August 7, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765317842
• ISBN-13: 978-0765317841
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,303,126 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great first novel, November 26, 2007

By 

John Schley (Des Moines, Iowa, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Radio Freefall (Hardcover)

At its best, science fiction uses exotic settings and technical marvels to give insight into the compelling issues of the current time. In "Radio Freefall", Matt Jarpe uses the sensitive issues of our day--control of access to information, the immense power of global corporations, and the value of diversity to take the reader on a wild ride through the near future.

Jarpe's engaging style makes this a fun and easy read, yet his social commentary is thought-provoking. He paints a world that is at once beautifully futuristic and laden with all-too-human foibles. Data sprays and artificial intelligence aside, humans are still emotional beings, naked apes acting on base instinct. This helps "Radio Freefall" accomplish that other goal of good science fiction: that of being believable.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Artificial Intelligence and Rock 'n Roll, October 29, 2007

By 

Dr.J - See all my reviews

This review is from: Radio Freefall (Hardcover)

Absolutely excellent. Great story, great characters, and truly outstanding writing. Artificial intelligence, rock 'n roll, world domination, space colonies, and a little bit of romance--it's an unbeatable combination.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A refreshing new voice, January 30, 2008

By 

K. M. Sherrod "Kate Sherrod" (Cheyenne, WY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Radio Freefall (Hardcover)

Comparisons to sprawl-era William Gibson really don't prepare the casual book browser for what's in store here. Jarpe took some of WG's more famous tropes -- rogue AIs, shadowrunning attacks against nearly-omnipotent corporations, the new data-driven world we've created as an overlay to the physical world, corporate-owned space stations -- and did them his own way. And that way is pretty darned good, and nothing at all like Gibson (and I say this as a great fan of Gibson's).

Jarpe has a nice way with character, especially in his dialogue/stream of consciousness riffs; you hear what the character actually says out loud AND what he would say if his internal censor wasn't in control, an interesting technique in a book that is ultimately about trying to keep information -- and people -- free. Ultimately even the censored thoughts get expression -- everybody's censored thoughts, even those of the straw-man villain's, to entertaining and satisfying effect.

A lot of people, and I'm thinking of some dear personal friends here, who have complained that, e.g. _Neuromancer_ was too inaccessible or Neal Stephenson's _Snow Crash_ too complex might find in _Radio Freefall_ a nice primer to cyberpunk, written as it is in more of a man-in-the-street voice. It's not gorgeous prose, but it's readable, and unlike Gibson's smooth, detached glide, his poetry, Jarpe's is truly punk, simple, to-the-point, occasionally ungrammatical but doesn't get in the way of the story. Does he have a 'zine background, maybe?

As I finished the book I immediately wanted to pick up a sequel. Will there be an AquaLuna? Here's one reader who hopes so.