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Martian Knightlife
The Knight is a saint (with a twist)
At least you might think so if you read his curriculum vitae. You would swear, in fact, that this private eye of the future is honest, paying for what he gets, getting what he's paid for, wth somehow a little extra for everybody to go around. Take this case for example.
Well, perhaps not, because that would be telling, something this knightly saint would never do. But it did involve a matter transmitter which the inventor tested on himself—then found his bank accounts empty and his credit cards overflowing, all done by someone whose DNA looks just like that of the rightful owner...
But that wasn't all. There was also an archaeological expedition which had uncovered ruins that might solve the mystery of the Martian race that had vanished from the planet eons ago—except that a greedy interplanetary corporation was all set to bulldoze them over in pursuit of the bottom line unless a gallant knight—or Knight—could come galloping up on his charger...
Then there were some people who were not amused at how the Knight had foiled a sure-fire scheme worth billions, and were looking for him with heavy muscle and heavier artillery....
People in trouble and people who are trouble just seem to populate his life—and thank goodness, because they are the very thing the Knight needs to keep his life from getting boring. And the bad guys never seem to know what hits them...
384 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
About the author
James P. Hogan
115 books273 followersJames Patrick Hogan was a British science fiction author.
Hogan was was raised in the Portobello Road area on the west side of London. After leaving school at the age of sixteen, he worked various odd jobs until, after receiving a scholarship, he began a five-year program at the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough covering the practical and theoretical sides of electrical, electronic, and mechanical engineering. He first married at the age of twenty, and he has had three other subsequent marriages and fathered six children.
Hogan worked as a design engineer for several companies and eventually moved into sales in the 1960s, travelling around Europe as a sales engineer for Honeywell. In the 1970s he joined the Digital Equipment Corporation's Laboratory Data Processing Group and in 1977 moved to Boston, Massachusetts to run its sales training program. He published his first novel, Inherit the Stars, in the same year to win an office bet. He quit DEC in 1979 and began writing full time, moving to Orlando, Florida, for a year where he met his third wife Jackie. They then moved to Sonora, California.
Hogan's style of science fiction is usually hard science fiction. In his earlier works he conveyed a sense of what science and scientists were about. His philosophical view on how science should be done comes through in many of his novels; theories should be formulated based on empirical research, not the other way around. If a theory does not match the facts, it is theory that should be discarded, not the facts. This is very evident in the Giants series, which begins with the discovery of a 50,000 year-old human body on the Moon. This discovery leads to a series of investigations, and as facts are discovered, theories on how the astronaut's body arrived on the Moon 50,000 years ago are elaborated, discarded, and replaced.
Hogan's fiction also reflects anti-authoritarian social views. Many of his novels have strong anarchist or libertarian themes, often promoting the idea that new technological advances render certain social conventions obsolete. For example, the effectively limitless availability of energy that would result from the development of controlled nuclear fusion would make it unnecessary to limit access to energy resources. In essence, energy would become free. This melding of scientific and social speculation is clearly present in the novel Voyage from Yesteryear (strongly influenced by Eric Frank Russell's famous story "And Then There Were None"), which describes the contact between a high-tech anarchist society on a planet in the Alpha Centauri system, with a starship sent from Earth by a dictatorial government. The story uses many elements of civil disobedience.
James Hogan died unexpectedly from a heart attack at his home in Ireland.
Hogan was was raised in the Portobello Road area on the west side of London. After leaving school at the age of sixteen, he worked various odd jobs until, after receiving a scholarship, he began a five-year program at the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough covering the practical and theoretical sides of electrical, electronic, and mechanical engineering. He first married at the age of twenty, and he has had three other subsequent marriages and fathered six children.
Hogan worked as a design engineer for several companies and eventually moved into sales in the 1960s, travelling around Europe as a sales engineer for Honeywell. In the 1970s he joined the Digital Equipment Corporation's Laboratory Data Processing Group and in 1977 moved to Boston, Massachusetts to run its sales training program. He published his first novel, Inherit the Stars, in the same year to win an office bet. He quit DEC in 1979 and began writing full time, moving to Orlando, Florida, for a year where he met his third wife Jackie. They then moved to Sonora, California.
Hogan's style of science fiction is usually hard science fiction. In his earlier works he conveyed a sense of what science and scientists were about. His philosophical view on how science should be done comes through in many of his novels; theories should be formulated based on empirical research, not the other way around. If a theory does not match the facts, it is theory that should be discarded, not the facts. This is very evident in the Giants series, which begins with the discovery of a 50,000 year-old human body on the Moon. This discovery leads to a series of investigations, and as facts are discovered, theories on how the astronaut's body arrived on the Moon 50,000 years ago are elaborated, discarded, and replaced.
Hogan's fiction also reflects anti-authoritarian social views. Many of his novels have strong anarchist or libertarian themes, often promoting the idea that new technological advances render certain social conventions obsolete. For example, the effectively limitless availability of energy that would result from the development of controlled nuclear fusion would make it unnecessary to limit access to energy resources. In essence, energy would become free. This melding of scientific and social speculation is clearly present in the novel Voyage from Yesteryear (strongly influenced by Eric Frank Russell's famous story "And Then There Were None"), which describes the contact between a high-tech anarchist society on a planet in the Alpha Centauri system, with a starship sent from Earth by a dictatorial government. The story uses many elements of civil disobedience.
James Hogan died unexpectedly from a heart attack at his home in Ireland.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 5, 2024
Martian Knightlife contains two novellas that feature a Simon Templar-like character named Kieran Thane, a futuristic private eye, who adventures on Mars. It's an interesting idea, but not carried off as well as Hogan could have. There are some amusing bits and a couple that fall flat, a good dog character, and a few too many lumps of lecturing on questionable beliefs and philosophy. There's some good action and adventure in between those, though, and I enjoyed the book overall.
July 23, 2015
This book is two novellas that really should have been just one novel since the second story is just a continuation of the first. I get the impression that the first story may have been published and then somebody suggested Hogan complete the story. in any case the story of a wealthy gad about who goes around the solar system righting wrongs, is much like The Saint or Paladin in space. (If you are too young to remember those shows Google it.) Such a familiar trope could be dull and boring but Hogan manages to keep it interesting and fun.
I would have enjoyed the first story if that was all I read but I am glad he wrote the second one because it does tie everything up nicely. I don't know if there are more stories with the Knight by Hogan but if there are, I will read them.
I would have enjoyed the first story if that was all I read but I am glad he wrote the second one because it does tie everything up nicely. I don't know if there are more stories with the Knight by Hogan but if there are, I will read them.
January 28, 2018
There are some Hogans that I'll read and read again, and some that are forgettable.
This one falls in the middle; it's vintage Jim, without a doubt, but the lack of a coherent, single adventure lets it down some, although Knight is a brilliant character. a true shame there's no more of him to read about.
This one falls in the middle; it's vintage Jim, without a doubt, but the lack of a coherent, single adventure lets it down some, although Knight is a brilliant character. a true shame there's no more of him to read about.
April 6, 2018
The book had a good premise, a Simon Templar, Saint like character goes on holiday to Mars and starts to help out a scientist, and starts of well, however it is a book of 2 halves, the first being good, but seeming written in a hurry, and the second seeming more like an awful sequel to the first, filled with strange ideas being pushed. A bit of a rushed mess.
February 26, 2025
Leo Sarda invented a teleporter and was the first to test it out. Kieran Thane is on Mars visiting June, a sort of newswoman who helps these businesses leak information to the right people, e.g. investors. So June has an inside view of Quantonix, the company developing this teleporter which will hopefully be a revolutionary change for the transportation industry. June introduces Kieran to Leo and others at Quantonix, they explain a bit of the teleport process and what they hope to accomplish and find out that Kieran is sort of a knight [putting things right] on the side of those that have been fleeced. When Leo finds that his bank account has been emptied he comes to Kieran. The Leo that went into the transmit box was supposedly destroyed when the Leo that came out of the R-Lab was indeed Leo. Their thoughts are now that Leo-1 is alive and kicking. If this Sarda-1 made a plan and Sarda-2 is an exact copy wouldn’t number two know about it? Mystery begins. Solving that problem made some people mad and Kieran decides to lay low by joining an archaeological team starting another adventure while continuing the first.
Fun read. Kieran uses finesse and knowing how people will react rather than brute force and a frontal attack. I like it. After everything is resolved, June makes a statement to Keiran that puts a great twist on everything that had preceded. 4.6 stars.
Fun read. Kieran uses finesse and knowing how people will react rather than brute force and a frontal attack. I like it. After everything is resolved, June makes a statement to Keiran that puts a great twist on everything that had preceded. 4.6 stars.
July 13, 2020
Seems to promise a type and level of humor that it doesn't deliver. Characterizations are rather wooden and thin...
February 25, 2026
A fun, fast paced but clever science fiction novel. Interesting ideas and a feel good vibe throughout!
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January 9, 2010baen ebook
January 1, 2015
Starts out great, but did not live up to expectations. It was not nearly as enjoyable or humorous as I expected given the beginning.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews