tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1390876285955310032.post9051280489908658460..comments2024-03-26T14:48:15.857-07:00Comments on Rocket Stack Rank: The Audience, by Sean McMullenGreg Hullenderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16720604327299886491noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1390876285955310032.post-57631814798919989232016-03-29T16:50:51.061-07:002016-03-29T16:50:51.061-07:00I would rate this story a 4 -- recommended.
The a...I would rate this story a 4 -- recommended.<br /><br />The author did a good job building up tension through the half-way point of the story with the disappearance of the astronauts, their reappearance as zombies, and the awful pit-in-your-stomach feeling in the reader that the awesome teleportation technology of the aliens could lead to a takeover our solar system.<br /><br />But rather than give the story a Gypsy-like ending (Gypsy, by Carter Scholz) where the reader winds up super-depressed, the author instead manages to raise the reader's spirits (mine at least) with a clever and ballsy plan by the last astronaut to mislead the aliens about our home, thus giving humanity four thousand years to plan a defense.<br /><br />Yes, there are minor suspension-of-disbelief issues, and the historical revision section was a bit too long, but I was so relieved and entertained after the tension at the midway point that I'm sure a year from now I'll still remember this story for the reasons above and forget the minor blemishes.EFWonghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13802595693863129468noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1390876285955310032.post-13022323637473272622015-11-22T02:12:00.330-08:002015-11-22T02:12:00.330-08:00Spoiler Alert...
I re-read this. I rarely re-read...Spoiler Alert...<br /><br />I re-read this. I rarely re-read but this story survived a re-read. I also tend not to miss major inconsistencies. I do have a lower expectation in short fiction for details, than what I would for a novel. That is what short fiction is for - story, not details imo.<br /><br />The story is set about 300 years from now. Space exploration is pretty standard by then "spacesuit boots of humanity on 5703 worlds, mainly small asteroids and comets" to quote a sentence from the novelette.<br /><br />They do prospecting on comets and ice worlds. I get the impression that going off to explore a new planet is important but not ultra-important or that rare. Still enough to make one a celebrity on returning home.<br /><br />The Limbians did understand what the sun was but I don't think they appreciated it as much as humans. Jander was trying to deceive the Limbian into thinking that Gelser was our home world - a world where only one side of the planet saw the sun and the other side was perpetual night, with a thin habitable strip for humans.<br /><br />Before the other crew members got taken they speculated that the Limbian natives could have developed bio-tech but not engineering, as this was a water and ice world, so possibly their biological sciences were very advanced but not their engineering. This would account for them thinking the ship could survive a 4000 year return trip.<br /><br />The 1 thing that could have been mentioned or made clearer in the story was "Why" the desire to explore this planet, aside from exploration for the sake of exploring. I also expected the Limbian to go back home after a certain point in the return trip once 1st contact was made.<br /><br />I thought the story was consistent within the world-building context.<br /><br />I have read Sean McMullen's short and long fiction. He does tend to exaggerate a bit for effect but he tells a very good story. His fiction entertains the reader, and there are usually no obvious social messages in his works. I do consider entertainment value in a story to be important (that is why it is call "fiction").<br /><br />Junehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08645772819461388524noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1390876285955310032.post-24426784886005061152015-11-19T08:46:07.768-08:002015-11-19T08:46:07.768-08:00I suppose it depends on how important suspension o...I suppose it depends on how important suspension of disbelief is to you. (Or perhaps how much you care about scientific credibility.) I found the story impossible to enjoy because the author kept introducing new challenges to belief every few pages. <br /><br />Sometimes humor can make up for it, but not, I think, in this case. The best example I ever saw was:<br /><br />"But sir, that can't work. It would violate the law of conservation of momentum."<br /><br />"I'm a pirate! Of course I violate the laws!"<br /><br />So besides the humor, what did you see in this piece? And did you not notice all the inconsistencies, or did they just seem unimportant to you?Greg Hullenderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16720604327299886491noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1390876285955310032.post-32569607244706883642015-11-19T02:40:55.555-08:002015-11-19T02:40:55.555-08:00I liked this story a lot more than the 2-rating yo...I liked this story a lot more than the 2-rating you gave it. It is a story that entertains the reader while they are reading it.<br /><br />There is also humor in the story, which is something I have always appreciated in this author's previous work.Junehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08645772819461388524noreply@blogger.com