About First Landing by Robert Zubrin: Someday I'd like to read a story about competent people on Mars.

James Nicoll

Categorized in : People Stories Mars

This is the sort of book that justifies fatwahs. If WWIII occurred right now, we could die happy knowing Baxter would never write again. If a dinosaur killing asteroid was headed for Earth and I knew Baxter had another book coming up, I would campaign for letting the rock hit, since it is obviously the work of a benovelent deity trying to save us from another Titan.

rocks writing book

Nothin'g sa'ys q'uality fantas'y l'ike misuse'd apos'tro'phes.

misuse

Manitoba... Not sure what to do about them. Restock the province with megafauna and encourage tourism, I think. How quickly can we breed back the saber-toothed cats?

tourism cat thinking

Ben Bova seems to work very hard at working in new discoveries into his Glum Future but alas, his future is glum and not that well written.

new-discoveries wells discovery

I don't mind hidden depths but I insist that there be a surface.

surface depth mind

Until recently baby production was largely dependent on slave labour; as soon as women are allowed to answer the question "Would you like to squeeze as many objects the size of a watermelon out of your body as it takes to kill you?" they generally answer "No, thank you." This leads to falling birthrates everywhere women are not kept enslaved and ignorant of the alternatives.

ignorant baby fall

Most of my scars are not fire-related and I no longer say "I know what I am doing" at critical moments.

critical-moments scar fire

It's bad to wake up and see a large cat in mid-leap from the rough vicinity of the ceiling.

ceilings wake-up cat

Deadly nightshade is the only plant I have ever been able to get to grow for me.

able grows plant

"Gun-wielding recluse gunned down by local police" isn't the epitaph I want. I am hoping for "Witnesses reported the sound up to two hundred kilometers away" or "Last body part finally located".

police gun two

About Antrax by Terry Brooks: I wonder if he's planning a book called SRS? Or F'lu?

planning wonder book

My grandfather for example only died twice, once during the war and once in the 1980s.

example grandfather war

You may have trouble getting permission to aero or lithobrake asteroids on Earth.

asteroids earth may

After enough concussions the head injuries blur together.

injury enough together

Whenever I find my will to live becoming too strong, I read Peter Watts

peter becoming strong

Call me an extremist but killing a few hundred million people seems like the sort of method that might have unintended consequences.

killing might people

I can't help but notice that everytime I fly somewhere, other people's planes fall out of the sky.

sky people fall

I have hated every Kress I read, especially this one, but the Bear is a standard Bear and if you like this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing you'll like.

standards hated bears

I think once you start eating people you should stop claiming to be a vegetarian, even if you only eat bad people.

vegetarian people thinking

english doesn't borrow from other languages. english follows other languages down dark alleys, knocks them over and goes through their pockets for loose grammar.

pockets language dark