Random's comments (member since Apr 30, 2009)

Random's comments from the Beyond Reality group.

Cheryl wrote: "Thankfully, he's not cute and cuddly (can't stand those "vampires"), but I don't remember any good explanation as to why humanity brought these things back and why Sarasti is so indispensable as the leader on this mission. Just because he's smart? There's a lot of smart people."

It's because the "vampires" think much differently than the rest of humanity. Its not that they're smarter than us, but they are capable of the kind of thought processes that humans, no matter how intelligent, just cannot perform.

Baen has been very ebook friendly for a number of years now. The first publisher I've run across that has been so.

I really appreciate how they often will have first books available for free. You can try before you commit to the entire series. :)

My husband used to like the Honor Harrington books and one of the hard backs came with all of the books up to that point in ebook format. If I'm remembering correctly, it even included a note to feel free to share them with others. I always purchase from them when possible.

Stefan wrote: "I liked Ethan as a character, although I thought he lost his naivete a bit too quickly to be realistic. Elli Quinn acted more or less like a female and cute version of Miles, so in that sense the novel had the same feel as some of the other books."

I suspect the speed at which Ethan lost his naivete may have been to just keep the plot moving. We didn't have a lot of time for him to get up to speed.

I adored Elli. No, she isn't Miles but she is a quick understudy. I found it amusing when she admitted it was her first mission. :)

For anyone who may have missed it, she tossed in a reference to this adventure in Cetaganda with a reference of Terrence Cee and its recovery.

Ron wrote: "Well, I'm just getting started, and it seems to me the premise is patently ridiculous: using reproductive tech to maintain a planet without women."

Any more ridiculous than quaddies, herms, clones, pretty much all of Cetaganda, etc. That's not even counting the kind of things that come out of Jackson's Hole.

The reproductive tech is standard in this universe. "Natural" birth is considered somewhat barbaric, so the tech has been set as long established and the preferred method of reproduction for quite a long time now.

Sisimka wrote: "I didn't get the feeling that the crew was expendable, although they did have 'backups' which was interesting. I think they were chosen for their disabilities. Interesting representation of the h..."

I wouldn't say they were chosen for their disabilities. I'd say they were chosen for their abilities, which happen to be augmented due to the disabilities.

Just finished and I really liked it.

Interesting post. Reading a bit between the lines I got the impression she didn't like it because it wasn't like the others she had read.

One complaint mentioned was that we knew Miles would get out of the mess ahead of time. That's a bit silly IMO. Of course he gets out of it. These are adventure stories. The hero always finds the way. The fun is in seeing how he manages to do it. :)

BTW - I ran across the book's web page last night. Some neat stuff in there. I can't promise there aren't any spoilers however.

http://www.rifters.com/blindsight/BS_mai...

Rest assured, Saristy is not one of those cringe worthy vampires. No penetrative sexual symbolism, no sparkles, etc. :)

I'm a little over half way through it at the moment and so far I'm loving the tone and the main character's perspective.

Ack! Life has been so hectic recently that I haven't hardly had a chance to participate with one of my favorites.

Anyway, I personally would concentrate less on comparing the different cultures to current day equivalents. Obviously there are influences but I personally would want to avoid judging them by anything other than their own merits.

I find the inner workings of the Cetaganda Empire fascinating, especially the balance of power between the male and female hout. Miles even wonders that they see themselves as hout first, gender second.

I do wish we could have seem the third cast, the average population. I'm really curious what their lives might be like.

Oh, if I remember right, I believe I read something where Bujold mentioned she once considered an idea where Ivan was given a hout wife. I can just imagine the disaster coming out of that one. :)

It has been ages since I read those. From what I remember, the first couple of books were gripping enough to cause a few all night reading sessions. After that not so much so. They fell into too much of a formula and I lost interest.

Jim wrote: "I love that the Dynamic Duo are together again. "

Ha! I never thought of that description. I love it. :)

I have to admit, Ivan is my favorite secondary character in the series.

Cetaganda is one of my favorites in the series. I've already finished the reread.

Jim wrote: "On the stagnation point, that natural clones with a hive mind, such as the Tauran's, managed to evolve & discover space travel means that stagnation is not a certainty, at least to Haldeman."

I think that's up to speculation. Clones are not a natural state, so at one point the Taurans transitioned from biological reproduction of some kind to cloning. They were at least somewhat advanced to have the technology and resources to institute the change. Plus, once the war with the humans started they had significant external input and stimulation. We don't know what kind of development they may have had in between those events.

I like to try to read at least one book every year that help put me in the mood for Halloween.

Last year it was Neil Gaiman's Coraline which does very well on the creepy-o-meter for a YA book. I listened to the audio book and the music between sections and the singing mice added to the creepy factor oh so very well.

When I was a kid my mom picked up this old book from a library sale called Ghosts and Goblins. Its a collection of old short stories and we would ready it every Halloween. I still remember some of them almost by heart, such as "The Shadow People" http://www.bartleby.com/250/71.html

Anyway, I was wondering if any of you have any Halloween reading traditions you might like to share. For those who don't really have a tradition, what books might you recommend for Halloween reading?

Going to try this one again :)
Science Fiction: Dragon's Egg by Robert L. Forward

First contact, evolution of a species/world, some great fodder for discussion.

Ken wrote: "My thoughts also. The bodies stop changing but the mind. Will the minds evolve to another level of consciousness. I wonder if its a hive mind or just a general interconnectedness."

I got the impression that it is a true hive mind. The separate clone bodies even fell into referring to the group as I.

Growth and change rarely comes from within a closed system. New experiences and thoughts have to come from the outside. I think the answer would have to really depend upon how much interaction the Kahn clone entity has those outside itself. I didn't get the impression that it really interacted with the other humans out there. It may be more involved with the Taurans, but I don't remember anything pointing to this.

A truly closed system (one mind no matter how many bodies with no outside interaction) will stagnate no matter how brilliant or long lived that entity is.

Jim wrote: "I don't know why it's not valid or why Kahn should have to be put in the same situation to make the comparison. Would you explain why you think that?"

Following the ideas of basic logic I don't really see how you can't see the contradiction in that statement.

You're stating that the entity known as the Kahn clones (it does seem to think of itself as one person with multiple bodies) must be better at adjusting to the jumps due to time lag because it will never experience that lag in the first place.

Take what I quoted and replace Kahn with Mandella's Mother. She never went out on a ship. She never experienced time lag. The potential that she will ever experience time lag in the future is as close to nil as you can get. Thus, that must make her better adapted to deal with time lag issues than other humans.

That's like saying I would be better at adjusting to the mental hardships of a battle ground because I have never and likely will never experience life on a battle ground.

Now using logic you can say you think the Kahn entity is superior because it would be exceedingly difficult to put it in that situation to begin with. I might argue whether or not that equals superiority but agree that its nature does give it an advantage of avoiding the time lag situation all together.

Jim wrote: "Sort of, Random. I never considered the possibility of Kahn being in the same position with communication difficulties due to time lag because I thought it was extremely difficult, if not impossib..."

Whether or not you consider the Kahn clones still human (though I posit that over time they will be more human than the other humans due to genetic drift), that doesn't mean it can or cannot handle the time displacement easier than the other humans.

My original comment was saying that I disagreed with the statement "Normal humans can't keep up with information given the time lag involved in interstellar travel, but Kahn can."
Its not a valid statement if the Kahn clones can't be put into the same situation as the average human.


I do wonder why the human Kahn was chosen for the cloning over anyone else. The book doesn't go into it but I am very curious as to the events of that time period.