Kim Miller

This is a book that did not age well. H.G.Wells explores atomic power, seeing it as powering industry (atomic powered planes and cars) as well as weapons of warfare. But he wraps it in a manifesto of his thoughts on the future of humanity and one world government and the story falls dead under the weight of his postulations.

There are three main sections. First he looks at how people have powered their world through history, and how such things as steam power took a long time to emerge even when people had been seeing the lid bounce on top of a boiling kettle for centuries. And nobody ever thought, "Hey, I could use that power for something." Similarly, he tells of a man who studied glow worms and luminescence and thought, "That thing is releasing energy in small doses. I wonder how I could speed it up." And from such thoughts of radiation came atomic power.

Second section is the story of atomic bombs being dropped by hand from aeroplanes like large grenades. Because of the half life of radiation the bombs keep exploding for weeks. Most major cities are destroyed in an orgy of destruction. Had he written a complete novel on this portion alone it would have been a much better book.

Third section is a long long long diatribe about peace coming through the voluntary giving up of all political power to a single world wide authority and the people of Earth can then live in peace by focusing on art instead of farming.

There is some value in reading about his understanding of radiation etc, considering that the book was written in 1912. He gets lots of stuff wrong, and his view of the future is limited. For example, his atomic powered planes in the war he sets in 1955 are still fabric covered timber frame machines and the bombs are dropped over the side by hand by the copilot. As a writer who saw the talk of a looming war on one hand and talk of nuclear power on the other, he joined the two pretty well.

This is a fast paced story of Jazz who lives in a moon base, the town of Artemis, population about two thousand, and she seems to be the only criminal in the place. She works as a porter doing deliveries but pays the bills by smuggling. And then she's asked to take on a high stakes sabotage job by a local businessman.

Why ask a 26 year old woman to cripple your opposition? Because she seems to be the only criminal in the place. It's surely not because of her maturity, she's got the personality of a twelve year old boy living tough on the back streets of New York - brash youthful stupidity coupled with resourcefulness. And we can add in that her father has taught her his welding skills.

Andy Weir has put together an engaging story although his main character is polarizing. He supports each decision and action Jazz takes with scientific reasoning, which we accept as true because we trust him as an author and he writes a convincing story. We see the same process in Project Hail Mary, and possibly in The Martian although I've not read that one. His writing style is smooth and easy to read and this story is at a much faster pace than Project Hail Mary.

Overall, it's a heist story, a mini Ocean's Eleven or Mission Impossible. There's a main plot, a detailed plan, a list of characters with different functions to complete in a set order, the possibility of danger at every turn that can leave a lot of people very dead, and a major payoff. Things become critical towards the end because of course they do. And just as we leave a heist movie thinking, 'That was a good time', and we go for a pizza, so we also do with Artemis.

This is a fast paced story of Jazz who lives in a moon base, the town of Artemis, population about two thousand, and she seems to be the only criminal in the place. She works as a porter doing deliveries but pays the bills by smuggling. And then she's asked to take on a high stakes sabotage job by a local businessman.

Why ask a 26 year old woman to cripple your opposition? Because she seems to be the only criminal in the place. It's surely not because of her maturity, she's got the personality of a twelve year old boy living tough on the back streets of New York - brash youthful stupidity coupled with resourcefulness. And we can add in that her father has taught her his welding skills.

Andy Weir has put together an engaging story although his main character is polarizing. He supports each decision and action Jazz takes with scientific reasoning, which we accept as true because we trust him as an author and he writes a convincing story. We see the same process in Project Hail Mary, and possibly in The Martian although I've not read that one. His writing style is smooth and easy to read and this story is at a much faster pace than Project Hail Mary.

Overall, it's a heist story, a mini Ocean's Eleven or Mission Impossible. There's a main plot, a detailed plan, a list of characters with different functions to complete in a set order, the possibility of danger at every turn that can leave a lot of people very dead, and a major payoff. Things become critical towards the end because of course they do. And just as we leave a heist movie thinking, 'That was a good time', and we go for a pizza, so we also do with Artemis.

Into the world of the noir detective story comes something different. We have the dark mind of the gumshoe who varies from sardonic to sarcastic, but now we have Titans.

Titans are people who have been medically enhanced to be taller, stronger, younger, and seemingly live forever. The procedure is only available to the wealthy and well connected.

A titan has been found dead and Cal Sounder had been hired by the police to solve the politically charged case.

Harkaway takes us on a wild ride to the dark side, weaving a complex narrative that becomes increasingly confused until suddenly we see that he has hoodwinked us. And then he adds a frisson of final twist as he exits stage left grinning to himself.

Sometimes whimsical, sometimes prescient, this is a collection of stories of earthlings landing on Mars. As it progresses we realise that they are chapters of a continuing narrative with a dark undercurrent of how readily we otherise certain communities.

It's hard to set a particular date to the stories. Some seem to be set in the future and some in a bygone era of the American south.

The overall feel of the book is that I started out reading an innocent story that ended up with an unexpected sting in its tail.

1. Sometimes whimsical, sometimes prescient, this is a collection of stories of earthlings landing on Mars.

This is the sequel to Hyperion, the beginning of which I considered clumsy and the ending, unintentionally absurd. That it took me more than a week to finish this book shows that it didn't engage me as it should.

The pilgrim's tale structure of #1 is gone and in place there is a new narrator, an artificial human with the DNA and mind of the poet Keats. And in using this narrative device Simmons indulges himself with quotes from Keats or other poets (I recognised a WB Yeats quote in there) through the book. So lets take a look at Keats's own view of Hyperion.

Hyperion was one of the Titans, the ancient Greek Gods who were displaced by the Olympians, and Keats wrote two poems at the end of his life, Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion. He was nursing his brother through 'consumption' (tuberculosis) and Keats himself died soon after from the same illness. These poems were his exploration of death and meaning. And Simmons took the poetry and the theme as the foundation for this book.

Fall of Hyperion is about the war between factions within the AI 'datasphere' that supports human life and exploration. And it's about the war between 'normal' human civilisations and the Ousters, human civilisations who have used technology to enhance their bodies and minds. And it's about the war between military command and political intrigue among the human planets and central government. Like the ancient Titan, Hyperion, some of these power structures are going to fall and be displaced by others.

Now, to the story, The pilgrims have arrived at the Time Tombs and strange things are happening. The legendary Shrike is on everyone's mind as time moves back and forth on 'time tides' bringing chaos to the valley. Circumstances separate the pilgrims from each other and the Shrike appears to some as they are alone. The outcome is not good.

The narrator Keats can use his 'cyber mind' to see what is happening in other places as his dreams log into the datasphere and the information channels there. He is the link between government and pilgrims, especially as he enhances his ability to explore data lines without having to be asleep.

However, he also dives deep into the information channels like a good cyberpunk hero and finds an AI entity willing to tell him what is really going on in the machinations between the three major AI factions at the deepest level. The information he brings back to the government changes everything they thought about the upcoming war with the Ousters.

Things rush to a head in three domains. There is a final (?) confrontation with the Shrike but Simmons almost buries the story in mundanity. There is a radical action in the war that causes mass deaths and condemns billions of people to anarchy as the price of victory. And the Time Tombs open and reveal deeper layers of mystery as the stories of the original pilgrims at last find resolution.