Clarke County, Space

Clarke County - well, sounds like an all-American name, doesn't it? As it happens, the colonists have apparently named it after Arthur C. - if you're skimming through the book, you'd miss the brief mention of his statue. That said, yes, the rest of the plot does have more to do with Heinlein's books than Clarke's. It's a rousing story, plenty of action, several connected threads. I *would* recommend reading "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" by Heinlein before you read this, especially to refresh your memory of Mycroft. The Church of Elvis provides a lot of the fun - but so does Blind Boy Grunt. Even the more serious characters have their moments of fun. Police chief Bigthorn, of Native American ancestry, has a sense of humor, even when he's being almost blown up. We also have some villains we can enjoy - heartless lawyers representing soulless corporations, that sort of thing, that we can unabashedly revile. A hired killer code-named the Golem, complete with an explanation of the original Golem and some scary insight into the assassin's psychology. The only disappointment in the book is the very end - involving Simon McCoy. I thought this particular bit of explanation to be rather out-of-nowhere and arbitrary. Works as a plot device, but not as a plot or a character, in my opinion. However, it's quite possible to just ignore that part. If what you know of Allen Steele is his more recent Coyote series, you will find this book to be both similar and different. There's some of the same questions of exactly what constitutes patriotism, and when is it correct to decide that one's patriotism should be devoted to creating a new country. There are also the same Heinleinian issues of figuring out what it takes to be self-sufficient, and how big a political/geographical entity do you need to have to be self-sufficient. (Steele poses these questions in the spirit of Heinlein, but the answers to these questions are not the same as Heinlein's.) There is more humor in this book than in the Coyote series, rather less time spent on assorted military preparations. All in all, while not a complete masterpiece - it's a little too lightweight for that - it is a worthwhile, fun, read, and gets five stars for being accessible, funny, not as politically strident as some books in the same vein, and having lots of in-jokes for science fiction fans.

Tis is an action/gangster story set in outer space. The setting could well take place in any small or isolated town, not necessarily a space colony. The bernal sphere has been introduced before to SF literature in "Rendevouz with Rama". apart from that, there are no new ideas or concepts. It is a good read though. The author has a talent in description and drawing characters and the events are fast paced. What I mind the most is that the cover illustration got the shape of the supposedly Bernal sphere wrong and really spoiled the way I tried to imagine it.

All of Steele's books are just plain fun and this is no exception. Bizzare of course, but fun. I like his tributes to the greats and his nostaligic treatment of current scifi, "the good old days of Captain Kirk." The Elvis Cult is a riot.

Near Space, but far from the quality of "Orbital Decay" and "Lunar Descent". The colony in the Lagrangian is called "Clarke County", the story is about first moves towards independence of Clarke County from the US and more important from the companies who paid for it. But O'Neill habitat and move for independence are only the backdrop for a standard organized crime story a la Grisham. Mixed in are the Church of Elvis with the "Living Elvis" and his believers (Elvis himself not among them) visiting Clarke County as tourists (tourism being one of the cash cows in Clarke County and thus loved by the companies, but hated for its impact by the settlers), an atomic warhead in Earth orbit taken over by terrorists, and robots as household aids appearing in news clips. And on top, without advancing the plot in any way, Steele throws in a time traveler from the future, and - pulling all the strings for the revolution - the Clarke County AI which has become sentient (revolution off Earth and a sentient computer - come on, this should be Heinlein County!). Perhaps all this is meant as tribute to the three Grand Masters, but it just does not work in this story. Definitely not the best of the Near Space novels.