The Juniper Theft

Donald Moffitt just can't write about tiny things. His ideas become huge engineering projects, of such massive scope that it boggles the mind. Using a whole gas planet as as fuel, taking it along and protecting your ships from the radiation by putting them behind a moon is something that NOBODY would of thought of before. Yet by making it seem simple, if not also a tad ruthless, he makes the Cygnans seem totally alien. The scope, the time, the very sweep of their plans and projects force the reader to see them as a totally alien culture.In fact he did such a good job that Cygnans are in both Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials AND Clifford Pickover's The Science Of Aliens (along with a different artist's drawing of what a Cygnan looks like). The science of planet stealing might be questionable, but the design of the aliens, their history and their ways, in the book is a first class example of how to do it RIGHT.

I too found this book very interesting and fun to read. That's probably why I'm here looking for it when I read it almost 20 years ago. For some reason it came to mind. I myself am a Stephen King fan. Not being much of a reader I stepped outside Kings bounds and picked up Jupiter Theft and found it enjoyable & fun reading.

This book approaches the mechanics of writing with a 'good enough' attitude, and focuses instead on plot, setting, and interesting ideas. To my surprise, it worked very well. I inhaled this book in a weekend ten years ago, and I still remember it as a fun read. It would be an excellent book for less experienced readers who haven't developed their stylistic prejudices yet :)