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Kim Stanley Robinson Takes Us Back Out Into The Solar System, 300 Years From Now
With "Transition," Iain M. Banks Reinvents The Multiverse Novel
Is This The Year Urban Fantasy Conquers Science Fiction?
As Our World Crumbles, Readers Clamor For Science Fiction

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AgnosticTheocrat
11/24/09

In reply to Kim Stanley Robinson Takes Us Back Out Into The Solar System, 300 Years From Now
KSR does hard Sci-fi very well, but holy ghost on a cracker, his ideas about government and economics are completely unrealistic. It's like he's good at realistic imagining anything so long as it doesn't involve a human brain. "Blue Mars" was like "Atlas Shrugged" from a parallel dimension, complete with garbled economic theory, utopianism, and soap-box soliloquies. Hopefully he checks those at the door in his next effort.

(Loved the Mars series, don't get me wrong. Just think that putting a bunch of Californians in a locked room with 6 ounces of weed and a copy of "Walden" is a terrible way to develop a system of government. . .)
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Chip Skylark of Space promoted this comment Edited by AgnosticTheocrat at 11/24/09 9:15 PM AgnosticTheocrat was starred AgnosticTheocrat was unstarred

nodrognelg
11/24/09

In reply to Kim Stanley Robinson Takes Us Back Out Into The Solar System, 300 Years From Now
The "Galileo's Dream" book is available in shops already, here in Australia at least. I've read it, and it is not good. Virtually unreadable. Galileo (the historical person) is written as a modern American, and the plot is incomprehensible. I liked the other books by Robinson, so I hope that Galileo was just a single misstep. Here's hoping...
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leftatmars002
11/24/09

In reply to Kim Stanley Robinson Takes Us Back Out Into The Solar System, 300 Years From Now
Odd that his telescope can see 3 Thousand years into the future but the title is 2312. Just sayin...
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Grey_Area
11/24/09

@leftatmars002: Just to set things straight: Galileo's Dream is not part of the upcoming trilogy set in 2312. Also, the description of his being able to see into the future with a telescope is misleading. There is time travel to the 31st Century. I'll write more about this book later.
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Charlie Jane Anders
11/24/09

@Grey_Area: Yay can't wait to see your writeup of it! I haven't seen a copy yet...
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Lassus
11/24/09

In reply to Kim Stanley Robinson Takes Us Back Out Into The Solar System, 300 Years From Now
LAUGHTER

Redqueenmeg beat me to the happy dance, dammit! I'm so unhappy!

However, I am also very happy about this.
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redqueenmeg
11/24/09

In reply to Kim Stanley Robinson Takes Us Back Out Into The Solar System, 300 Years From Now
*happydance*

*gonna go read all the KSR in her library now*
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Honu Harry
11/24/09

In reply to Kim Stanley Robinson Takes Us Back Out Into The Solar System, 300 Years From Now
Might I say that the block quote says mankind has 'left' Earth not 'abandoned' Earth. Maybe man has abandoned Earth in 100 years in these books, but I'm guessing not. A nuclear-irradiated globally warmed hellhole Earth is still going to be more hospitable by and large than say, Mars for one. And that's our second best option!
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disatess
11/24/09

@Honu Harry: Mars would be deem less hostile , if start now .

and if we truly kept at for over 300 years ... we could make it a new planet for us .

but We humans can`t concentrate that long it seems .
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Honu Harry
11/24/09

@disatess: Heck, we can't even concentrate on making the Earth less hostile let alone Mars! It would be much easier (and cheaper) to "terraform" Earth by working to make it less toxic and greener. We can't even seem to agree that there's a problem. Good luck with getting the people that don't want to spend a dime on finding alternatives to the petroleum economy to agree to the billions it would cost to even get a single manned mission to Mars. I mean, I think we should ultimately terraform Mars as well, but mainly because the best way to heal the Earth would be to ship half its human population somewhere else.
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reddingofish
11/24/09

In reply to Kim Stanley Robinson Takes Us Back Out Into The Solar System, 300 Years From Now
The way we are going now I don't see too much space travel even in 300 years. P.K. Dick had it right in "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?". The only people that are going to leave the planet are the rich ones. Leaving the poor and middle class to fend for themselves.
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EdificeComplex
11/24/09

@reddingofish: If it means that the people who run Wall Street get to go off and ruin their own planet with "financial devices" then more power to 'em.
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VisibleHand
11/25/09

@EdificeComplex: I'm conifdent they will build capitalist utopias, with no gods or kings, only man. After all, nothing could possibly go wrong with that, right?
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EdificeComplex
11/24/09

In reply to Kim Stanley Robinson Takes Us Back Out Into The Solar System, 300 Years From Now
In addition to science fiction I'm a huge fan of historical fiction. Put them both together and it's a win in my book. "Gallileo's Dream" sounds like it fits perfectly into that category. The only problem I see is that Amazon lists it as being released on Dec. 29. Why isn't this a pre-Christmas release publishers?
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Byronotron
11/24/09

@EdificeComplex: ask for an amazon giftcard and get it for that long journey through to the next decade.
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daveNYC
11/24/09

In reply to Kim Stanley Robinson Takes Us Back Out Into The Solar System, 300 Years From Now
"By all accounts, it's a fascinating look at the man who may have been the first real scientist."

At the very least you've pissed of a large number of Greeks.
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RavenNemain
11/24/09

@daveNYC: Pfft - what did they ever discover except for the pythagorean theorem, displacement, the circumference of the Earth, the fact that the Earth is round and rotates on an axis, an understanding of planetary motion, heliocentricity, Euclidian geometry... Seriously, what science did the Ancient Greeks ever do?
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GianinaBachoo
09/24/09

In reply to With "Transition," Iain M. Banks Reinvents The Multiverse Novel
Indeed, I don't think one should shirk social responsibility, in that respect I draw my ideology more from the Classical Liberalism of the nineteenth century.

I mean, I still volunteer and give to charity because it is the right thing to do, not because I think people should do everything on their own. I just prefer things to be more voluntary and less coerced as well as for decisions to be more local. But, some libertarians take the concept to a ridiculous end, using it to justify the worst of their actions.
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Anekanta - Go Play!
09/24/09

@GianinaBachoo: That's fair--I share the desire not to be coerced, and for local decision-making. I guess in that respect I'm fairly liberal / libertarian as well. I don't believe in a bloated government or centralized authority of any kind.

Where I differ from the kind of libertarianism you're describing is in my dislike for capitalism--because to my mind it leads almost inevitably to large corporations who are just another way of centralizing power. So, even though in an ideal world I don't think a government should be necessary, I agree with John Raulston Saul's The Unconscious Civilization--that in a capitalist society, government (however problematic), is really our only protection against big business.

(Not that I'm a communist in the Soviet or Maoist sense, either. Again, that's centralized power and definitely coercive).

But that's the sort of thing that can be borne out by rational discussion.

It's the folks who aren't capable of rational discussion; who worship selfishness and fanatically defend Ayn Rand, and who think supporting universal healthcare is worse than being a Nazi--it's those folks that give libertarians a bad name.
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Edited by Anekanta - Go Play! at 09/24/09 11:10 AM

TheFirstBardo
09/24/09

In reply to With "Transition," Iain M. Banks Reinvents The Multiverse Novel
I just want to say that io9 has been an amazing resource for new books over the past few months. From Mieville's City to Lebbon's Bar None, Reynolds' Suns to the new Banks' work -- you guys have really outdone yourselves finding and reviewing some of the best new fiction available and have become an irreplaceable resource for myself and many others. Just saying thanks and keep it up.
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Sockatume
09/24/09

In reply to With "Transition," Iain M. Banks Reinvents The Multiverse Novel
I don't think it's released as an Iain M. Banks novel in Scotland, either. You know, where Banks is actually from.
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Klebert L. Hall
09/24/09

@Sockatume: Hee, Scottish nationalism is so cute.
-Kle.
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hamshank
09/24/09

@Sockatume: perhaps in the multiverse, there will be a version of Earth where people don't think "England" is the whole of the UK ...
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Annalee Newitz
09/24/09

@Sockatume: Sorry about that. I changed it to say "UK." Scotland is or was home to many of my favorite SF writers - Ken MacLeod, Banks, Charlie Stross - so I am experiencing the requisite amount of shame. Which makes me sort of an honorary Scot if you think about it.
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Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
09/24/09

@Annalee Newitz: Better get drunk if you really want to be a Scot.

It's the only place I get homesick for, even though I'm not from there.
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FloydCachophony
09/24/09

In reply to With "Transition," Iain M. Banks Reinvents The Multiverse Novel
Sorry: In Firefly, the heroes are libertarian, or at least Mal Reynolds-"It's what governments are for...to stand in a man's way".
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Anekanta - Go Play!
09/24/09

@FloydCachophony: But Mal isn't preoccupied with his own self-interest. He has a crew, takes in River and Simon, and looks out for people both on and off his crew whenever he can.

Any man would hate the government if the only choice was the Alliance, but there's other ways to run the 'verse.
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nexialist
09/24/09

In reply to With "Transition," Iain M. Banks Reinvents The Multiverse Novel
i like his fiction and i love his sf - can't wait to read this one!
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Mr Meh
09/24/09

In reply to With "Transition," Iain M. Banks Reinvents The Multiverse Novel
So the clever world gets an Iain Banks book, and the stupid one gets an Iain M Banks book lol
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