More classic science fiction re-reads

I’ve been going through more of my old SF books lately. So here’s a roundup of the latest.

Spinneret

Spinneret by Timothy Zahn. I enjoy Timothy Zahn’s writing—I remember enjoying his Star Wars novels (before the expanded universe became unmanageable). And I enjoyed his Cobra series and others. Spinneret is from 1985, an era where SF authors still imagine music coming on cassettes. It’s full of aliens, scheming humans and mysterious alien artefacts--and a dead alien race who tried to camouflage their sun from predators. And failed.

But that’s about it. It’s okay, I’ve taken an idea from it for a freeform I’m writing, but I’m not going to keep it.

Three to Conquer

Three to Conquer by Eric Frank Russell is a 1950s science fiction tale of a telepath battling aliens from Venus. Our hero is a telepath—the only one on Earth. And he accidentally encounters three people with alien minds—the Venusian baddies. Half the book is about getting the authorities to believe him; the rest is tracking down the aliens. Still enjoyable, and I’m still going to keep it.

The Forge of God

For the second time, I struggled with The Forge of God by Greg Bear (1987). That’s both because while I like Bear’s ideas, I find his writing heavy-going. Anyway, aliens destroy the world in The Forge of God. However, the story doesn’t make that much sense—before they destroy the world (dropping neutronium bombs in the Earth’s core), they appear as three different alien groups, each with a different story. But I’m not sure why they would do this—we don’t have the technology to prevent the end of the world, so why waste effort creating confusion? What was the point? Towards the end, good aliens (metallic spiders) save some people for the sequel, which I haven’t (and won’t) read. Not a keeper.

The Mote in God’s Eye and sequels

The Mote in God’s Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. This was one of my all-time favourite SF novels, and it’s still excellent after all these years. The Moties are brilliant (still one of the best, detailed and truly alien aliens in SF), but the Empire of Man now feels very creaky and wrong. The Mote in God’s Eye was written in 1971; my observations from 2022:

• Only one female character in the entire book. Yes, most characters are in the space navy, but I guess equality hadn’t landed in 1971.
• The technology was mostly okay (and mostly in the background), but I spotted a photograph on a desk at one point. Oh, and a hilarious space telegram STOP. 
• The Empire of Man is very aristocratic, with Dukes, Barons, and Lords in power. For science fiction, it feels like space in the 1800s.
• The Alderson drive, whereby fixed jump points between stars facilitate star travel, still feels new and unusual. So physics determines where jump points form (and where they go to), and you can’t jump hither and thither like you can in most other SF universes. 

The Gripping Hand is the excellent 1993 sequel. (It would be more excellent if I had the UK edition which has the better title: The Moat Around Murchison’s Eye). I think I must have read this just the once before, as I remember it being rubbish—slow to start and not enough Moties. I have no idea where I got that from—I found it gripping this time. (Maybe last time I didn’t read it soon enough after reading the first one?)

Anyway, The Gripping Hand addresses many issues with the first book—there are female characters, the Empire of Man doesn’t feel quite so anachronistic, the technology isn’t so out of date (no space telegrams, thank goodness). Also, I liked how the sequel dovetailed into the original, despite being set 25 years later.

Unfortunately, I then tried to read Jennifer Pournelle’s follow-up, Outies. Outies’ writing style didn’t suit me. So that’s twice I’ve tried to read it, and twice I’ve given up. Ah well.