The Apolyton Science Fiction Book Club: November Nominations

[Imran Siddiqui]

And it should have remained that way (ie, contained only to one book)

[Mordoch]

I nominate The Mote in Gods Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.

In the year 3016, the Second Empire of Man spans hundreds of star systems, thanks to the faster-than-light Alderson Drive. No other intelligent beings have ever been encountered, not until a light sail probe enters a human system carrying a dead alien. The probe is traced to the Mote, an isolated star in a thick dust cloud, and an expedition is dispatched.
In the Mote the humans find an ancient civilization--at least one million years old--that has always been bottled up in their cloistered solar system for lack of a star drive. The Moties are welcoming and kind, yet rather evasive about certain aspects of their society. It seems the Moties have a dark problem, one they've been unable to solve in over a million years.

This is the first collaboration between Niven and Pournelle, two masters of hard science fiction, and it combines Pournelle's interest in the military and sociology with Niven's talent for creating interesting, believable aliens. The novel meticulously examines every aspect of First Contact, from the Moties' biology, society, and art, to the effects of the meeting on humanity's economics, politics, and religions. And all the while suspense builds as we watch the humans struggle toward the truth.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/067149175X/102-8069943-8785750?v=glance

This book is a sci-fi classic which looks at what might happen with first contact with an alien species in a way that other novels don't. What makes it particularly interesting is the level of paranoia that the humans show in dealing with the alien Moties, while the Moties have their own secrets to conceal.

[Lonestar]

I recommend Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein.

Power armor, an Intelligent enemy, a Terran Federation that was a Democracy instead of some sort of ****** Facist state...everthing the movie wasn't.

[Immortal Wombat]

Barefoot in the Head by Brian Aldiss.

In a world torn apart by hallucinogenic madness, a Europe in ruins, people ride the riff of the psychedelic music playing nonstop in their brains. After the "Kuwaiti millionaire" pilots flying French-made attack aircraft have aerosoled the Old World of Europe back into a mental Stone Age with the ultimate chemical weapon. A befuddled mass awaits the Messiah, an acid Moses ready to lead his people out of Past Times, and into the new. Man the Driver cometh.

Brian Aldiss' book Barefoot in the Head (Faber, 1969) is a no-contest work of genius. It's an acid Ulysses, difficult in proportion to the revelations contained. And it is quite a difficult book, a jungle of homonyms and allusive puns. Out of Serbia comes Charteris, his mind subverted by the persistent psychedelic agent dropped on Europe by an Arab coalition. He senses that the barriers of mind and time have fallen, and that the New Order is ready to be born. In a twisted Gurdjieffian gestalt, he sees himself as a spider, sitting in the middle of a web, each strand of which is another possible reality, all valid, the universe a multivalued matrix of potentiality. Through this matrix rolls Man the Driver, the avatar of the Metaphor of the Road. Charteris comes out of the continent to England, gathering his people for the great road trip back to the Wilderness world of the New Mind, where the wrongness of the Old world may be shed. He sees his Road as an endless chain of photographs, each freezing a tiny instant of time, from which any number of things may arise, which only can be known to Man the Driver.

The road trip is a combination of Mad Max, a portable Glastonbury Festival, and a literate language game. Many chapters end with the lyrics of the camp-follower bands or poetic meditations on the story, a strange acid haiku. The minds' eye points-of-view of Charteris and his travelling companion Angeline portrays the breakdown of their old mental structures under the influence of the PCA bombs. On one hand, Europe is falling under the spell of a chemical dance of madness, which is destroying civilization. On the other, Charteris' crusade is developing the tools to work within a new reality, and to make the choice between the known errors of the Old world and the possibilities of the New.

Barefoot in the Head's hallucinogenic, punning, stream-of-consciousness narrative makes this is a tale for clear heads; don't try and read it when you're dozin'. It just won't work. Four stars for story as well as challenge. Aldiss' near-future works are always good (also check out his recent Somewhere East of Life, Carroll & Graf, New York 1994), and this is his masterpiece.

Trippy but awesome.

[Tuberski]

Oce again, Armor by John Steakey.

ACK!

[Drake Tungsten]

A lot of good books getting mentioned this month. The Mote in God's Eye -

[GePap]

Yeah. Mote is good, better than the Gripping Hand sequel.

NIVEN!!

Did we do Ringworld aready?

Or Smoke Ring?

[GePap]

Hmmmm.....

JohnT" change my nomination to Ringworld

[St Leo]

Ringworld came close to becoming my favourite book a few years back, but I've cooled on Niven since then. Once you read enough Nivens, certains patterns begin grating on your nerves.

Hopefully, the same won't happen with my current Egan obsession.

[JohnT]

Originally posted by GePap
Hmmmm.....

JohnT" change my nomination to Ringworld

Hm, do you really think it's fair* to nominate two books by the same author? You'll end up drawing votes from the Mote nomination, imo, virtually guaranteeing that neither book will be selected. If you still want to, I'll change it, but I'll need verification to do so.

*best word I can think of at 5:00am.

[GePap]

Hmmm, well, I would assume people to vote for bok and not author..but fine mr. fairness:

I wanted Glory season from Brin anyways, not Uplift War

[Jon Miller]

Originally posted by Boshko
The Coldfire ones Jon?

I am actually not sure about those ones (but I would put them greater than or equal to in conquest born)

the other one (stand alone, I think) I deffinitely think is better (something about aleins within)

Jon Miller

[Jon Miller]

I liked Rendevous with Rama but it was only good not great and the other books got progressively worse (soon reaching very very bad)

I would like to nominate cyteen by cherryh

Jon Miller

[Darsnan]

Originally posted by Tuberski
Oce again, Armor by John Steakey.

ACK!

Although Tuberski is almost illegible in his selection, why I will second his nomination of "Armour", by John Steakley: bests the other two nominated books in its genre' ( i.e. "Starship Troopers" and "The Forever War") by a mile, and the ending, unlike the former two, leaves you on the edge of your seat, wanting more!


D

[Lonestar]

Starship Troopers, Damnit!