Talk:Grand Tour (novel series)

message: Okay, so Ben Bova's website says one thing:
1. POWERSAT (Tor Books 2005)
2. EMPIRE BUILDERS (Tor Books, 1993)
3. MARS (Bantam Books, 1992)
4. MOONRISE (Avon Books, 1996)
5. MOONWAR (Avon Books, 1998)
6. RETURN TO MARS (Avon Books, 1999)
7. THE PRECIPICE (Tor Books, 2001)
8. JUPITER (Tor Books, 2001)
9. THE ROCK RATS (Tor Books, 2002)
10. SATURN (Tor Books, 2003)
11. TITAN (Tor Books, 2006)
12. THE SILENT WAR (Tor Books, 2004)
13. MERCURY (Tor Books, 2005)
14. VENUS (Tor Books, 2000)
But this can't be exactly right, since events from Venus are referenced in Mercury. And what's currently up is just darned wrong--there's no way Venus could have happened before The Silent War.
:Feel free to adjust the order, then.  I created this article but I've yet to read all of the books (in fact, I just purchased Mercury yesterday).--Caliga10 20:41, 20 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Don't let us stop you! :) --Caliga10 19:23, 31 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Read them again and again - they are briliant! Benjaminstewart05:-) 17:12, 8 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Novel Order

message: It might be useful to add the order in which the novels should be read: should they be read in the order in which they were published, or the order in which they take place in Ben Bova's universe?  Or does it not matter?  I have only just begun reading Venus, but now I wonder if I am reading them out of order...  Spaceman21 01:24, 3 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Order in Which Novels Should Be Read 

message: What did the person who wrote the phrase "background pastiche" mean?  It makes no sense to me.  Please reword this.  Thanks. Zaslav 10:31, 20 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Vocabulary

message: Well, of course we want to read them in chronological order, Mr. Bova! It would have saved me a mountain of time trying to figure out which books to read in what order (I think I started and stopped "Jupiter" three times cause things weren’t fitting together) if someone would have just laid it out for me, so I’m going to give it a try:  I became fascinated with the Grand Tour series about 5 months ago, and I have read from "The Precipice" to the "The Aftermath," which is the novel that just came out. (I can’t comment on anything before "The Precipice" cause I haven’t read those yet. However, I am pretty sure the Sam Gunn stories come before "The Precipice" because he is mentioned as already having gone out to the asteroid belt at the beginning of that book.) I am going to comment on the novels of the asteroid belt and after.  I do agree that the order on Ben Bova's site needs some tweaking, and I even read another list that had put "Jupiter" in front of "The Precipice" (which can't be right because Pancho is discussing merely the idea of a research station around Jupiter with Amanda and Lars as late as "The Rock Rats.") While its true that some of the books overlap (a situation made even more cumbersome by Mr. Bova’s maddening ‘4 Years Later’ breaks in the story), so I find it easier to arrange them in an order that reflects where the bulk of the novel fits into the story line.  
From the clues that are spread throughout the books, I’ve placed "The Precipice" and "The Rock Rats" first as these stories begin the era of fusion rockets and the colonization of the asteroid belt.  Next, since the majority of events in "Saturn" have already happened (or at least begun) at the beginning of "The Silent War," and the character of Raul Talavera shows up in the "Saturn" storyline after completing his two-year public service duty (which he was just starting at the beginning of "Jupiter"), it would be logical to place "Jupiter" after "The Rock Rats," followed by (at least the majority of) "Saturn," and finally the events of "The Silent War." After which, Pancho Lane retires and flies out to Saturn just in time for the events in "Titan." I put "The Aftermath" after "Titan" because, even though the alien artifact is mentioned as rumor at the end of "Titan," Martin Humphries goes out to see the alien artifact roughly six years after the events of "The Silent War" (as indicated in the first chapter). That allows time for Dorik Harbin to become Dorn, the new Chrysalis station to be built, and allows for the four years of the Zacharias family floating around lost in the asteroid belt. So at least the majority of "The Aftermath" happens after "Titan" (or is happening concurrently); either way, this arrangement allows for the continuity of the "Saturn"/"Titan" story. Next we see Alex Humphries leaving his father’s company at the end of "The Aftermath," presumably to start out on the events that would lead up to his eventual death on Venus and then three years later to his brother Van’s storyline as told in "Venus."  (Van Humphries who was born during the middle of "The Silent War" storyline and is said to be 25 years old at the beginning of the "Venus" storyline).  Finally, the life forms discovered on Venus in that story are referenced at the beginning of "Mercury" which would put that book last.  So that’s what a whole lot of obsessive flipping back and fourth and rereading these books will do for you...(Turn you into a complete dork.)  Hopefully this will help anyone who is trying to make sense of all the little cross references that pop up throughout the novels and make some sense of their chronological order.  Any thoughts? Clayboy1645 17:38, 1 September 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Chronological Order?

message: The above themes are arguably illustrative of Ben Bova's well-known views regarding capitalism and environmentalism.
But neither this page or the page on the author fill in what those views are.  Grrr...  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.168.59.57 (talk) 12:56, 26 March 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Elaboration 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

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thread_title:  External links modified (January 2018)