Review: Good, hard science fiction at its best
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 11, 2013
One of the great things about the self-publishing movement is the volume of material that's now available to readers. Its great to be able to pick up a new author's work, try it and then move on to the next at little cost other than time. The flip side is also true of course - it gives an author a chance to access an audience that, given the constraints of publishing industry, he or she probably wouldn't get regardless of how good they were.Richard Tongue is one of those self-published authors and proof that talent isn't dependant on label or a printing house. Battlecruiser Alamo is hard science fiction, with a sharp eye on what technology is and isn't possible within its universe. The writer also has a firm grasp of both modern and future politics, a relief from a lot of American military sf where politicians are presented as narcissistic chimps or where `instant betrayal' always informs the storyline. By contrast, in Battlecruiser Alamo the politics are interesting, relevant and believable. What machinations do exist are intelligent, well thought through and about what you would expect from any number of governments acting in their own self interest.So what did I specifically like about Battlecruiser Alamo? The pace was good, the characters believable and its technology supportive of the story line rather than constraining. This was especially true in the space combat scenes where orbital mechanics, laser recharge times and the missile duelling between ships felt `right' as did the responses and actions of the crew. Writing a believable battle scene sounds easy but is actually quite difficult, especially when the technology used is based on much of how we know the universe actually works. Its easy to write a scene with fantasy technology, but writing within real world constraints? Much more difficult! In Battelcrusier Alamo I found the battle scenes well presented, logically thought through and, most important of all - both fun and relevant! The scenes draw you in as a reader and tension ratchets up as the battles progress. Excellent! Equally good were the rationalizations of how and why the different crewmember behave as they do, both the good guys and the bad. One scene in particular where an African officer from Titan explains why Titan colony is the way it is rang especially true. In Battlecruiser Alamo the African character is looking back in time and explaining just what drives him and Titan and why. I've lived in a variety of countries including many in Africa and have heard the exact same explanation given in Battlecruiser Alamo from many of Africa's politicians today. The same firm grasp on modern politics is presented as back-story for the Australasian descended colonists of the planet Ragnarok where most of the action takes place. Here the Australasians discuss the geopolitical reasons why they fled Earth and those concerns are the same ones one hears today in both Australia and New Zealand. Its that kind of detail - modern politics shading the development of an alternate future that make Battlecruiser Alamo believable and engaging. Its future is one that might just be possible based on how things could turn out if we had a star drive of some sort.One other small good point. The writer does not have a problem with tense. Too many self-published books do, even ones I like. Its just dang pleasant to read a self-published book where the writer cares enough about his craft to get the basic bits right.Well doneAnd what didn't I like? Hmmmm... not much comes to mind which is pretty unusual for me! That said, I didn't like the cover art - I thought it was, well, awful. Not a bigee but it probably cost the author a sale or two. Fortunately cost tempted me past it and the content more than made up for it.So all in all a good, solid read, worth the money and I'll be buying the nextBattlecruiser Alamo: The Price of Admiralty