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Mission of Gravity
The blueprint for Mission of Gravity is so simple that the tale might almost be expected to tell itself. It is a further grace of the book that it often feels as if this is exactly what is happening. A human exploration mission has lost a valuable probe on the planet Mesklin. This massive planet spins at such a rate that there is a extreme gravity gradient from the poles to the distorted equatorial bulge. The story opens near the equator where native "Mesklinites," exploring north, have made friends with the strange human visitors. Clement is not interested in the potential confusion of first contact so the lead alien -- Barlennan, captain of the trader ship Bree -- has already learned English and has agreed to undertake a further long journey to the polar regions to recover the probe. He and his crew are from a high gravity zone and professional travellers, so such an adventure holds the promise of profit for both human and Mesklinite.
The subsequent adventure is so absorbing because the planetary science is integral and integrated into both the setting and the mental characteristics of the alien protagonists. Barlennan -- alongside at least some of his shipmates -- has a raw intelligence equal to that of his human mentors, but it is informed by their wholly different environment. They are hard-shelled, many-legged crawlers, with eyes low to the ground and an almost irrational fear of anything falling; evolved for and adapted to living in over 700 gravities. The sail-powered ship in which they cross oceans is a series of flat rafts tied together, the concept of a "hollow boat" being wholly unknown to them. In common with many heroes of this era of science fiction, they display a love for knowledge and a wiry resilience. Though they change as they learn, these aliens retain a character and approach which ensures they are not mistaken for humans in disguise. The novel's transit of the planet is aided by radio contact with the human base on the planet's moon, allowing much interchange of information. As this territory is unknown to Barlennan's society, the reader can share the "newness" from the Mesklinite perspective as well as the human. The protagonists show a clear joy in learning about the world around them, both through exploration on their own world and through the new concepts of science they gain from their human confederates.
While Clement is clearly of the view that a rounded grounding in science is essential for the modern citizen, he doesn't grind this into either the reader or the players. Explanations are brief yet sufficient to intrigue those not already familiar with the underlying science, offering a trigger for independent research and a key with which to unlock the potentially dry tomes of pure science. The book is so deeply embedded in a positive scientific worldview that it can communicate the desirability of learning almost without noticing it is doing so. Mission of Gravity is elegant and simple, fun, filled with wonder and a joy to read.
You can purchase this book at Fatbrain
Buy the paperback version of _Mission of Gravity_ at Half.com for way-cheap.
The sequel to Mission of Gravity is Star Light. Same characters, different situation, different problems. Both are good.
And, if it's my honest and heartfelt opinion that hunting is a Good Thing, and I post it to a newsgroup frequented by PETA members, is that not a troll?
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You must have read the Slashdot Trolling Howto. You do put up some nice ones.
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Read the Slashdot Trolling HowTo and then re-read the post you're replying to...
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The above post is, of course, one of the methods described in the howto...
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I do suggest you look into the C.S. Lewis Space trilogy if you haven't.
Oh, it's definitely on my list. As you probably know, Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien challenged one another; Lewis wrote on space travel and eventually churned out a whole trilogy. Tolkien wrote on time travel but never published the result himself.
You cannot apply a technological solution to a sociological problem. (Edwards' Law)
Yes, and the pub was nicknamed the Bird and Baby by the Inklings and others in the Oxford area. :-) Believe me, I follow Tolkien quite closely.
Christopher Tolkien did eventually publish what his father had written as far as the "time travel" story went. I *think* it's entitled _The Lost Road_, although I may be remembering some other Tolkien work. It's not time travel in the sense that we tend to think of it now -- there's no sudden *pop* and suddenly they're in the Second Age chatting with Celebrimbor and they have to careful not to reveal the future while being chased by Sauronic Daleks yadda yadda yadda. :-)
If you haven't already, do pick up the published Letters of JRR Tolkien. Really fascinating work.
You cannot apply a technological solution to a sociological problem. (Edwards' Law)
The story summary on the slashdot homepage doesn't even mention the author of the book even though it twice gives the name of the reviewer. I think a little more editorial work is in order.
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-- SIGFPE
It was written sometime around 1950. This is the novel taht makes me look at any story or book that has "Hal Clement" written in the cover.
Alright, I'm going to have to disagree with just about everything you've said.
The New Wave was simply a literary movement. It wasn't some grand turning point in the genre, and it didn't make the Golden Age material obsolete. It was a reflection of mainstream literature of the time, and the elements it explored weren't unique to science fiction.
To explain, the New Wave was a literary genre
As opposed to the lowly popular sci-fi that came before? I'm sure you would agree New Worlds had its share of inferior material, just like Astounding and the other pulps had theirs.
how characters react and grow, unlike the Golden Age writers who always seemed to have a more basic and mechanical approach.
I don't think you should really dismiss a body of work spanning several decades and consisting of thousands of works as "always" being mechanical and basic. There were plenty of Golden Age writers who explored human elements; they didn't necessarily deal with the existentialism that was the style of the times during the New Wave, but their characters and stories were just as human.
Nowadays, the best SF writers are to be found in Scotland
One usually prefaces a statement like that with the words "I believe" or "It seems to me". This is an opinion.
But in conservative America, people still have a backward attitude to SF
"Backward" of course meaning "not to your liking".
and think that SF begins and ends with Isaac Asimov and his retarded descendants
Now you're just being offensive. Just because you don't enjoy American sci-fi doesn't mean you can dismiss it all as lacking in intelligence.
It is a real shame that American readers are missing so much, and that the American SF movement is so behind the UK in this regard.
Ah, the ubiquitous "dim-witted Americans with their inferior culture" attack. Well, if it makes you feel better about yourself or your country, knock yourself out.
There is a substantial body of what even the most jaded pseudointellectual would admit is literary sci-fi in America.
Kurt Vonnegut. Harlan Ellison. Walter M. Miller, Jr. William Gibson. James Tiptree Jr. Octavia Butler. Phillip K. Dick. Can you honestly say their works don't count as "literary"? Or they're "basic" and "mechanical"?
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This is a bit off-topic, but a more recent writer in this genre is C. J. Cherryh. Her Sol/Alliance/Union books, such as "Cyteen", "Downbelow Station", "Heavy Time", "Hellburner" live up to the technical standards set forth by Hal Clement in "Mission of Gravity". However, while "Mission of Gravity" is basically an uplifting book about exploration, C. J. Cherryh's books (Especially "Cyteen") convey a sense of depression, paranoia and fear. I love it :-)
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Last summer I biked across Canada on a recumbent bicycle (a weird, comfortable, geeky bike if there ever was one). Somewhere in B.C., I stopped by a yard sale where someone was selling their old paperbacks. Seeing as I had plenty of time to kill during the trip, I ended buying an original copy of Mission of Gravity.
I must admit, the reading was enjoyable and straight forward. Not taxing, not overly technical, but very science oriented nevertheless. Still, it lacked a certain character driven quality, and kinda felt like things were just going through the motions.
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- Disclaimer:
I've met Hal a number of times, and he taught science to my brother. (His real name is Harry Stubbs, and he was a teacher at a prep school for many years.)Hal is definitely one of the most pure of hard-SF writers. Partly that's a result of the time when he began, partly (or mostly) that's a result of that fact that he simply and truely loves science and thought experiments.
If you're looking for extensive character development and truely alien psychologies, read C. J. Cherryh. If you're looking for really interesting thought experiments, especially about bizarre planetary environments (and their effects on biology and ecosystems), read Hal Clement.
Mission of Gravity is old, but good. He's written quite a few since then (with one small series that were not hard-SF - Eye of the Needle), and has been a regular at SF conventions for many years. He's also one of the nicer people I've met, and always has a smile on it seems.
If you're going to buy this book, try to get
a newer edition, one that includes the essay
"Whirligig World." In this essay, Clement talks
about the way he writes (summary: come up with a
world; play with it; write it down). Good reading.
And just in passing, Clement has a (annoying?)
habit of throwing in at least one puzzle, and
then not solving it. In _Mission of Gravity_,
IIRC it was
``I can see the building, but I can't see any
people.''
``Of course not. Your eyes are smaller than mine.''
In response to your first post, you might want to read "The Dreams Our Stuff Is Made Of" by Disch (IIRC). It's great commentary on SF as an American art form. Though I don't entirely agree with all he says, it is interesting, provocative, and well written.
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Large parts of the plot take place on the surface of a neutron star. Yeah, that's right, a neutron star. Forward's a physicist.
Makes some really interesting ideas as far as what life would be like when walking against a magnetic field is almost impossible. And for the younger trolls of /. there's even a alien threesome sex scene. (I don't know why. It has nothing to do with the plot.)
Sorry about the typos; someone turned up the building chillers and my fingers are about frozen.
You cannot apply a technological solution to a sociological problem. (Edwards' Law)
Having met Hal at several different Ohio sci-fi conventions, I would like to recommend reading any of his novels. STILL RIVER (one of his more recent novels) is an excellent example of his gentle art of using science to make a real hard science story work at the personal level and entertaining as a mystery, too.
There is no problem so great that Armegeddon wouldn't solve it.
I'm often surprised at how astute people can be.