Rare (Off) Earth Elements - A Sam Gunn Tale by Ben Bova - A Short Story Review

I've been a long-time fan of Bova's.  I consider him the Clive Cussler of space.  His writing, although much more nuanced are still firmly "pulpy."  Bova's villains are often psychologically damaged, greedy or
mustache-twirlingly evil.

But there is a special place for Sam Gunn, who is a comical rogue that flitters in and out Bova's novels but more often lives in stand-alone short stories.  He is an opportunist who is constantly seeking, and losing, his fortunes.

This story hinges on asteroid mining and the limitations placed upon the activity by the Outer Space Treaty.  In order for an individual or a country to have a legal claim to the minerals of a body in space the claim must be made from the object itself.  A "flag" must be planted.

That's a pretty onerous legal detail but it forces interested parties into space, where adventure awaits.  When you think about it, it's a rather human clause.  We have a long history of exploration and this method of flag planting has long been acknowledged as the correct way to go about things.

In this little gem, the plans of a nation are pitted against the motivations of an individual.

I liked this story very much.

Ben Bova's website - http://benbova.com/

Ben Bova

Leviathans of Jupiter by Ben Bova - Book Report #266

I always intend to start Bova's Grand Tour from the beginning but have yet to accomplish it.

According to Bova, every book in the series is a stand-alone in its own right.  However, part of the payoff from reading a series is the recurring characters and a sense of understanding of how the world works.

What keeps bringing me back to his work is how plausible his vision of the future is.  Since there is no FTL technology, his stories show just how enormous the Sol system is.

The only complaint I have is something I've found in all the books; his antagonist is always a mustache-twisting egotist who suffers from some kind of mental break.  Oh, and the women.  Yikes!  Why does the author feel that every female must fall in love with one of his male characters?

Okay, that's the complaining.  As a science fiction adventure, it's a pretty darn good read.  It centers around a research station orbiting Jupiter.  Below the clouds, there is an ocean thousands of kilometres deep where life exists.

Robotic probes and lives have been lost in trying to learn about the leviathans that inhabit this strange place.  But now, after a secret project to build a better human-rated ship is completed, the station manager must work against time and his superior to launch the mission before he is ordered to stop.

It is a rather unlikely crew that makes the dangerous trip but that doesn't matter as I was treated to a terrific yarn below the clouds.

After reading the book I still want to experience the series from the beginning.

Ben Bova's website - http://benbova.com/

Ben Bova

Escape Plus, A Short Story Collection by Ben Bova - Book Review #245

I've always had trouble dealing with collections.  I review each story individually thinking that if a reader of this blog wants to know more about the anthology itself he or she would find the label of the title, click on it and - voila! the entire book reviewed on one page.

But that seems like a lot of trouble and not always very intuitive.  So I've decided that with this book and going forward, once I've reviewed every story, I will publish a collection of links.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All in all this was a very enjoyable read.  Most of the stories worked for me and I am glad I spent time with it.

I am always thankful for collections like this, as it is often difficult to follow an author's work in the short story field.

Escape! -

http://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.ca/2018/03/escape-by-ben-bova.html

A Slight Miscalculation -

http://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.ca/2018/03/a-slight-miscalculation-by-ben-bova.html

Vince's Dragon -

http://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.ca/2018/04/vinces-dragon-by-ben-bova.html

The Last Decision -

http://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.ca/2018/04/the-last-decision-by-ben-bova.html

Men of Goodwill -

http://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.ca/2018/04/men-of-good-will-by-ben-bova.html

Blood of Tyrants -

http://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.ca/2018/04/blood-of-tyrants-by-ben-bova.html

The Next Logical Step -

https://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-next-logical-step-by-ben-bova.html

The Shining Ones -

https://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-shining-ones-by-ben-bova.html

Sword Play -

https://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.com/2018/05/sword-play-by-ben-bova.html

A Long Way Back -

https://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.com/2018/05/a-long-way-back-by-ben-bova.html

Stars, Won't You Hide Me?

https://eric-the-mailman.blogspot.com/2018/05/stars-wont-you-hide-me-by-ben-bova.html

Ben Bova's website - http://benbova.com/

Ben Bova

Stars, Won’t You Hide Me? by Ben Bova

For a last installment in a very good collection this one was mind-blowing in its scale.

Holman wakes with the ship's computer AI asking for instructions.  Where should we go?  The ship has been damaged in an attack but it is repairing itself.

Humanity has been at war with The Others and they have come back to exterminate every last person left alive.

Not only did the include faster-than-light travel but  it is an intergalactic chace story.  Humanity has been judged as unworthy to continue existing.

This was a terrific epic that could easily have been made into a complete series of novels.  Bova did a great job of succinctly telling a giant story by showing us what happened to one single man.

A Long Way Back by Ben Bova

I found this story less plausible, so I had trouble getting behind the premise.

In America, after a nuclear exchange, society has devolved as you might expect - into tribal behavior.  One enclave is formed where the leadership decides to rebuild society by first scavenging rocket parts and then sending one volunteer into orbit to assemble a power satellite that has been parked there since before the war.

He has been trained by hypnosis (really?) and barely has enough oxygen to get the job done (odd).

Once the true nature of the mission is discovered, and the manipulations that took place to get it done, our poor hypnotized astronaut changes the rules.

There was something that could have worked in the story but placing it in a post-apocalypse setting threw the whole thing off balance .  At least for me.

Sword Play by Ben Bova

This was not a SF story but more a coming of age one.

Luckily Bova writes an introduction to each story in this collection. Otherwise, I would have been left wondering why it was included. 

It deals with boys coming to terms with things they don't currently understand, about being open to others and willing to learn.

It was a warm story.

The Shining Ones by Ben Bova

This could be shot as a movie by Steven Spielberg.

It has all the elements; a troubled youngster, a small town, local police, the army and an alien encounter. 

Johnny has run away from home and discovered a UFO landing site.  While he hides out he watches the affairs around the craft. 

Forced by curiosity, his own personal need and hunger he sneaks into the camp the military have built around the UFO. 

The story was charming and warm. 

A treat.

Ben Bova's website:  http://benbova.com/

The Next Logical Step by Ben Bova

Wow!

THIS is what great science fiction is all about. 

It is just as timely and important today as it was back in 1962.

A top secret computer model predicts the likely scenario of a world after a nuclear exchange. 

This should be required reading to those in power and to every high school student. 

Chilling. 

To me this is the best story in the collection. 

Ben Bova's website:  http://benbova.com/

Blood of Tyrants by Ben Bova

A sequel of sorts to Escape!

Bova took the main character of Danny and put him in a far-different rehabilitation program. 

It was an interesting story where Danny takes everything he’s learned about how re-enter society and puts his own twist on things when he’s released. 

I’ve got to say this is the weakest story so far.  It relied too much on my willingness to suspend disbelief. 

Men of Good Will by Ben Bova

An interesting treat of a story.

What happens when you use weapons, designed on Earth, and fire them on the moon?

A funny and sobering look at orbital mechanics. 

The Last Decision by Ben Bova

Space Opera!

The Emporer of the Hundred Worlds is faced with a daunting and risky decision. 

Should he save the Earth from the sun?  The sun is dying and will burn the planet to ash if interventions are not made to stabilize it. 

The Emporer hears arguments from his advisors and those from his inner circle. 

The implications of the task are deep and far-reaching. 

There was a gentleness in the story that I enjoyed very much. It was a political story at its core but it had all kinds of technology in the background to make it fun.  This one story feels as though it occupies a small corner of a vast canvas. 

I liked the size of it.  I would be happy to revisit this place again. 

Vince’s Dragon by Ben Bova

I will admit that I’ve never read a story quite like this one.

Bova has a surprising sense of humour. 

What if there was a dragon?  

What if this dragon befriends a lowly Mafia flunky?

Great fun. 

A Slight Miscalculation by Ben Bova

Here’s a cute story about a scientist who develops a system to predict earthquakes.

But he’s having a little trouble with a part of his equation. 

Word gets around that an earthquake is coming.  On the day of the predicted disaster the flaw in the equation is revealed. 

It brought a smile to my face. Good fun.

Ben Bova's website - http://benbova.com/

Ben Bova

Escape! by Ben Bova

I had a feeling I would enjoy Bova’s short works.

Here we explore a re-imagined penal system. 

A young man is sent to The Center which is run by a kind-hearted director who created the facility to help inmates learn the skills needed to re-enter society. 

The Center runs incredibly well with the help of an AI.  Having been written in 1970 it is amazing to see how very close we are today to achieving this kind of advancement. 

I found the story well told. I could see it adapted into a movie very easily.

Ben Bova's website - http://benbova.com/

Ben Bova

Moonrise by Ben Bova - Book Report #220

The thing I like about Bova's books are how the exploration and settlement of space are done by private companies.  Governments are usually a hinderance.

Masterson Aerospace is a conglomerate that builds clipper ships, vessels that can launch from earth to orbit and go beyond to the moon.  They also work on nanotechnology, build wall screens and run a moon base.  All of these things take money to run.  Some parts of the business are more profitable than others and some are hindered by world governments.

The novels centers itself on the precarious existence of Moonbase and its uncertain future.  Should the company close it or double down?  The conflict comes from the cold equations of the P&L sheet and the loftier goal of improving the future for humanity.

There are good guys and bad guys and Bova is not scared to kill anybody.  My only complaint, and this spans most of what I've read of his, is that his bad guys tend to be insane in some way.  I would find it much more compelling if the big drama came from a perfectly sane person working for his own interests.  Instead we get a bad guy with mommy issues who should have been in prison in the first part of the book.  Instead Bova keeps him around in a barely plausible way.

I've said this before; Bova comes from the pulp era of SF and I love that about him, it makes the stories super easy to get into.  But it makes his villains so cartoonish that the tension becomes cliché.

But, did the book do its job?  Was it entertaining?  Did I have a good time?  Did it make me wish for a future with spaceflight being as common as air travel?

Yes on all counts.  Which is why I read Bova.  He can still make you think about a future that should have happened if the Apollo program was not abandoned.

And for that reason, I believe he should be read.

If you find it in a second-hand bookstore, it's worth the five bucks to buy it.

Ben Bova

Return To Mars by Ben Bova - Book Report #201

As a sequel this worked very well indeed.

We are back on Mars ready to explore new regions and to go back to a tantalizing feature that was only glimpsed on the last mission.

I felt that Bova did a much better job at characterization than in his previous effort.  Some of the emotional sides of the story were still a bit clunky but much less so than before.

This time, instead of being threatened by some disease the treat comes from within the program.  There will come a time when decisions will have to be made on how much of Mars will need to be preserved and how much will be exploited.

The needs of science versus the need to make money (to fund missions for science) come to a head and I was quite pleased with the twist from one of the antagonists.

The ultimate resolution to the conflict was, once again, solved in an interesting and surprising way.

I liked this one even better than the last.

Ben Bova's website - http://benbova.com/

Ben Bova

Empire Builders by Ben Bova - Book Report #188

Ben Bova has been writing my kind of science fiction for decades and I continue to enjoy every book I've read so far.

You have to approach his books with a pulp mindset.  The characters can sometimes be a bit one-dimensional which is okay with me.  In Bova's stories plot is king and characterization is secondary.  What you get are easily identifiable characters that behave and predictable ways, just like most movie thrillers.

I've been trying to read his Grand Tour series of books but he has written it out of order making it challenging to read in some kind of order.  Even the internet has difficulty putting the series in some kind of chronological order.

It is best to read each book as a stand-alone even though they are loosely connected.

In any case I liked Empire Builders, especially in a time with an Elon Musk in the world.  There are times I feel Musk has read Bova's stuff.

Dan Randolph, the owner of Astro Manufacturing loses everything and becomes a wanted criminal.  He finds his way into the underground society living on the moon where he plots his return and revenge.

I consider myself a futurist at heart and it hurts me to read about powerful people who try to prevent others from fulfilling their visions of a better place for humans by leveraging technology.  Power and money, baby!  Power and money corrupts so many minds.  Bova does a pretty good job of showcasing how powerful people control each other.

Yes, I liked the book.  But there are some flaws that many readers will have difficulty with; one-dimensional characters, obvious plotting and especially his treatment of some of the female characters will leave the reader wincing.

Overall, it still makes for a good read if you focus on the progress of humanity into space and how money can be made out there while solving some of our environmental problems.

Ben Bova

Mars by Ben Bova - Book Report #178

The first team of humans arrive at Mars and start to explore the planet.

Things do not go as planned, of course, and the crew suffers some damage after a meteor shower.

I liked the characters who spanned all the way back to Earth.  Everybody had their own motivations which added to the tension of the story.  Some of them were just silly but I don't think it took away from the story very much.

Something begins to impact the health of the entire ground crew and the mission is threatened because of it.  I found this part of the story very clever and thought it plausible today.

There was a tantalising discovery on one excursion that was left unexplored.  It was a nice cliffhanger for the next book.

All in all I found myself transported by the story.

Given today's activity in space I feel more confident than ever that I will live to see humans return to the moon and I hope to see them on Mars too.

Bova's website is here - http://benbova.com/

Powersat by Ben Bova - Book Review #154

06/15/2016

This is the kind of stuff I like.  Plausible SF without aliens or FTL.

Bova has been delivering this kind of fiction for decades and I really enjoyed this audio book.

That's not to say it was perfect, to be honest I found his love scenes to be ham-fisted and the women were depicted in an antiquated way; only ONE woman was not driven by love.  That's not to say they were not strong or smart, each one was, but the underlying driver was that they were in love with the main character Dan Randolph.

Randolph himself was irrationally in love with a senator to the point that his proclamations of love to her grated on me.  I found myself saying, "Really??" a lot.

Okay, many of the characters were just a bit off, but one must remember that Bova has been writing this kind of thing right from the tail end if the pulps and for the entire life of the paperback thriller era.  His plotting was excellent, his villains were diabolical and Randolph's competitors were formidable.

I kept thinking that this was very close to what Elon Musk and SpaceX must have felt like when they were getting started.  Without the body count.  That's not to say the book is very violent.  The industrial espionage within was believable and the action sequences were thrilling and cinematic.

All in all, none of it felt impossible and I found myself wishing SpaceX would take up the challenge of developing space based power generation.  Randolph and Musk share the same vision, they want to make the world a better place and are willing to take fantastic risks to get it done. They are men of vision.

Perhaps that is what makes this book work for me; there is a real life Dan Randolph, and Tony Stark rolled into one and he is Elon Musk.

Go SpaceX!

Go Ben Bova!

Book Report #84 - Farside by Ben Bova

8 of 52
page count - 367

This had a higher page count than I'm trying to concentrate on but I've always enjoyed Bova's work and have found him an easy read.

As much as I like Bova I found this book to be longer than it had to be.  A lot of points were repeated to the point of annoyance.

That said, I enjoyed it.  This is the kind of science fiction that I'm always interested in; there are no aliens, for a start, it's about people, people trying to make a living, trying to accomplish something.  With that comes conflict and opposing interests.

The book confines itself to the moon but travel throughout the solar system is part of the reality of the setting.  This kind of near-earth SF is fun to read because it's the next logical step in human exploration.  Our technology today does not include interstellar travel. We don't have a warp drive, but if we wanted, we could travel about the solar system today.

I think Bova is doing humanity a favour by telling stories that still embraces the "What If..." spark of SF but keeps it close to home.  Perhaps he's trying to inspire people to make the "giant leap."

Ben Bova