Military SF - Single Ship Novels - Recommendations?

[Parson]

I finished Here Be Dragons by Craig Alan. In many ways this was a great book. It had an interesting and pretty unusual story to tell. It gets high marks for being a self-contained story. I'm in favor of more science and less hand-wav'em* in a S.F. story, and this book was clearly that. I found the political situation to be believable, interesting, and thought provoking. This is pretty much a tour-de-force for a first time (or at least I'm assuming a first time) author. I thought the ending was utterly believable, even if it wasn't what I expected.

Negatively, I detested the continual flash backs. I can tolerate a high tension opening scene, which this book had, and then traveling back to see how this came to be. If we then get the story in order. This book does not do that. It tells a bit of the tale nearing the climax and then goes back 6 months in time showing how the pieces came to be on the board. Rinse and repeat several times. I felt this technique was used to bring a lot of the back story in while being interspersed with the action at the climax so that the back story wouldn't be seen as boring. In my opinion the back story was anything but boring, and the lack of it often made scenes of the climax less tense than they would have been if I would have had more known nuance. One particularly galling thing was that an important piece of technology is named but never described in the climatic scenes of the story. I googled the word a couple of times to see if I could get any hint of what was being talked about, but I saw nothing pointing me the right way. And then in one of the last flash backs the technology was described. I almost howled with frustration. It would have been so good to know earlier.

I also had a slightly negative reaction to the foreign language use in the book. Unless you have a little Spanish and a little Hebrew in your bag of tricks you miss a bit here and there. Fortunately, I have those, but I would guess that it is not common.

Overall, solid four stars out of five.

*There is one serious piece of hand-wav'em in that there is working anti-gravity in the story without any serious consideration as to how that could function

 

[Vladd67]

I thought the anti-gravity was caused by rotation. Perhaps I miss read that.

 

[Parson]

I'm not too clear on it. But in the scene where the guy discovers it. His experiment flies up and smashes itself to pieces on the ceiling. I don't remember any spin being imparted, and I wondered how it was controlled on the space ships. I supposed that it could be switched on or off by electricity. But that still leaves lots of problems.

 

[DeltaV]

Nice overview Parson. Thank you for your comments.

I didn't mind the flash back chapters. I've seen that in a few stories and novels I've read lately, and generally I'm ok with it.

I was under the impression that all of the ship action took place in zero G, and that the Avram device was a space drive that used the effect of gravitons to provide propulsion to the ship. I went back and re-read some of the descriptions of various events and I still have that impression. But perhaps I am not understanding something. I do agree that the Avram drive is very speculative from a scientific viewpoint and this is perhaps, coming from a hard SF background, slightly disappointing. I'll have to go back and read a bit in Fearless to see the method Stroud used as a space drive in his novel.

I have one further comment that I will put in a spoiler.

Spoiler: Here Be Dragons: Idealism & Realism

I have the impression that Estrella represents an idealistic viewpoint on human affairs, while her first officer Vijay is the political realist. Both come from countries with far different outcomes of the nuclear war. Mexico was only indirectly touched, while India suffered greatly. Estrella appears to have led a fairly normal life (camping trips with her father, etc.) whereas Vijay was marked by his experiences as a child/teenager living near the no-go zones.

And, accordingly, both have opposing viewpoints on the role of the 'Outsiders'. Estrella is bound and determined that the truth of the Outsiders be known, whereas Vijay believes that fear of the Outsiders is the only factor keeping a tenuous political peace on Earth.

In the last flashback chapter we learn the truth about her father. And we learn perhaps of a flaw within Estrella: a lack of insight and discernment in her manner of dealing with her Dad all those years. Is this lack of insight also apparent with her actions once she learns the truth of the Outsiders?

Considering the political situation on Earth, who is right?

Oh, and one further observation. I'm actually left with some doubt that all of the actions attributed to the 'Outsiders' were actually done by the 'Outsiders'. How much was the Metatron 'stirring the pot' and provoking the conflict?

I agree 100% that this is a pretty fine effort for a first novel.

 

[Parson]

I was under the impression that all of the ship action took place in zero G, and that the Avram device was a space drive that used the effect of gravitons to provide propulsion to the ship.

I believe that's the case too. About zero G for the majority of the flight, I'm near certain.

Spoiler: Spoiler response

I also agree with what you put in the spoiler. But I wonder if the questions aren't the intent of the book? I believe the author was trying to make some pretty significant political points. This might have been reason for the book in the first place. Clearly the impression I was left with was that whatever action you take --- in the case of the story whether to reveal the Outsiders to the world in general or not --- you don't really know enough to be sure what the right action really is, so in the end you often have to answer the big questions of life not so much on the facts --- by the end of the story the facts are not in doubt --- but on your values and beliefs. Either Estrella's actions and Vigay's preferred actions could be the appropriate response, but it will never be known even in hindsight. All that can be said is that the actions that were taken proceeded these events. (Causality outside of rigorous scientific experimentation cannot approach certainty.)

The more we talk about the book, the more I like it.

 

[DeltaV]

It was refreshing to read a military SF story with a lot of grey about both the characters and the issues that they confront. Nothing in this novel is black and white. Unlike so much of mil SF on the market these days.

 

[Parson]

It was refreshing to read a military SF story with a lot of grey about both the characters and the issues that they confront. Nothing in this novel is black and white. Unlike so much of mil SF on the market these days.

Refreshing isn't the word I'd have used. Perhaps, interesting would fit my reaction better. One of the things I usually enjoy about Mil S.F. is that there are recognizable good guys and bad guys. My all time favorite Mil S.F. are the first 4 or so books in the Honor Harrington series. I liked the fact that the "villains" had understandable motivations but they were clearly wrong motivations. Here Be Dragons existed in the realm of "who knows what's the right action" where so much of actual living exists. I like to read to escape from the shades of gray.

 

[psikeyhackr]

Refreshing isn't the word I'd have used. Perhaps, interesting would fit my reaction better. One of the things I usually enjoy about Mil S.F. is that there are recognizable good guys and bad guys. My all time favorite Mil S.F. are the first 4 or so books in the Honor Harrington series. I liked the fact that the "villains" had understandable motivations but they were clearly wrong motivations. Here Be Dragons existed in the realm of "who knows what's the right action" where so much of actual living exists. I like to read to escape from the shades of gray.

Sounds like I gotta read that.

Escapism vs Perspective Expanding?

Viet Cong versus Americans in Vietnam?

 

[Parson]

I'd recommend it wholeheartedly, but be warned not everyone shares my view on these books. The later books are a lot less tight. It is my belief that David Webber had become such a force that no one was allowed to make the edits to book size that were needed.

 

[psikeyhackr]

I'd recommend it wholeheartedly, but be warned not everyone shares my view on these books. The later books are a lot less tight. It is my belief that David Webber had become such a force that no one was allowed to make the edits to book size that were needed.

It is somewhat amusing how technology has changed my science fiction "reading". I have used AIReader to do text-to-speech rather than actually read with the eyeballs for years now. I strongly suspect that I have enjoyed things I never would have finished years ago. Plus I can walk down the street or drive and read at the same time.
Maybe I am not as demanding.
Maybe I even find the politics more interesting than I used too.

I swear, in the 90s I could not have imagined the stupidity of Trumpism.

Trump makes Baron High Ridge look smart.