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Gateway
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Gateway by Frederik Pohl
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Psychoanalytical machines contrasting men for cleaning garbage. Interesting :)
My only exposure to the book was an old PC adventure game by Legend Entertainment based on it. The plot of the game was quite good; I am curious to see how it compares to the original source.
I am with you for the discussion.
I am with you for the discussion.
I'm about halfway through my re-read of Gateway, and it's clearly been a long time, since I forgotten almost all the details beyond the basic plot outline.
As an observation, Pohl's vision of a future Earth is pretty consistent in his novels. (We had a discussion of Pohl's The Space Merchants sometime back.) As with that book, his future is one of overpopulation and shortages and a society sharply divided into haves and have-nots. And they both involve food mining, evidently an idea Pohl finds amusing. Clearly, he was a pessimist.
As an observation, Pohl's vision of a future Earth is pretty consistent in his novels. (We had a discussion of Pohl's The Space Merchants sometime back.) As with that book, his future is one of overpopulation and shortages and a society sharply divided into haves and have-nots. And they both involve food mining, evidently an idea Pohl finds amusing. Clearly, he was a pessimist.
One of the cheap things I look for in reading older sci-fi is references to obsolete technology, politics, or culture. Gateway seems remarkably free of these.
The was a reference to tapes, but although magnetic tape as a data medium is currently in decline, one can imagine other tape technology reviving it.
Politically, it refers to "Russians", not "Soviets", which I presume is your chance but interesting nonetheless.
I did get a smile out of the mention of "Est" as one of the psychological therapy options available. Est (Erhard Seminars Training) was a 70's fad of group sensitivity training relying on sleep deprivation, drill instructors and bladder abuse to "improve people's lives". It went the way of the Pet Rock.
The was a reference to tapes, but although magnetic tape as a data medium is currently in decline, one can imagine other tape technology reviving it.
Politically, it refers to "Russians", not "Soviets", which I presume is your chance but interesting nonetheless.
I did get a smile out of the mention of "Est" as one of the psychological therapy options available. Est (Erhard Seminars Training) was a 70's fad of group sensitivity training relying on sleep deprivation, drill instructors and bladder abuse to "improve people's lives". It went the way of the Pet Rock.
Halfway through, I really like it.G33z3r wrote: "One of the cheap things I look for in reading older sci-fi is references to obsolete technology, politics, or culture. Gateway seems remarkably free of these."
I don't think that it is free with respect to culture. Just two examples:
1. Smoking, lots of that. I don't think that smoking would ever be reasonable or allowed in space - usage of oxygene, pollution, flying around ashes. But they do it not only in Gateway station but even in the spaceships.
2. Full medical which often comes up. This is typical U.S. culture which I find strange in a multi-cultural setting. Chinese, Russia and I think Brazilia also have different ways to handle medical insurance.
3. Going to a psychiatrist is also a very U.S. cultural theme. In my Western European culture, I don't know anyone consulting regularly such a doctor.
Gateway is centered around a BDO - a Big Dumb Object, which its owners, the Heechees, have left some million years ago. It remembers me a bit of our group read of Rendezvous with Rama which was published in the same decade. I also see a connection to the TV series "Stargate" which is based on a novel by Stephen Robinett, whose name is reflected in the main protagonist's name. Gateway is a kind of spaceport in the Venusian eclipse containing some 1000 small FTL spaceships, each of them pre-programmed to unknown targets. Adventurers on Gateway try their luck in a balance of Sense-of-Wonder and Angst, a kind of Russian Roulette - launched spaceships might end in a star's corona, a black hole or lead to far away to get back alive. If lucky, they end as multimillionaires when retrieving some Heechee artifacts or discover interesting new things.
There is a very high death rate which makes it a bit implausible for me that anyone would man such a suicidal cruise under normal circumstances.
But they aren't normal, they are very dystopian, as Geezer already described: Earth is overcrowded, polluted, just bad. People flee to Venus which isn't much better.
Main protagonist Robinette Broadhead isn't very likeable, he's even an anti-hero.
Structural, the novel switches between psychotherapy session chapters ("Sigfrid" being a reference to Sigmund Freud) reflecting the interior world of Rob and chapters around exterior, space opera adventures. Both concentrate on the main protagonist. They are interleaved with lots of vignettes containing classifieds, mission reports, scientific articles which represent a world view independent of Rob.
There is no clear linear narrative structure, destruction the adventerous tension arc with those psychoanalytical sessions.
This structure reminds me a lot of dystopian New Wave novel Stand on Zanzibar, published in 1968 - but it doesn't reach that novel's literary quality.
In fact, I think that Pohl wrote a remarkable bridge between pulpish space operas and experimental New Wave, combining both SF sub-genres in an awesome way.
Andreas wrote: "I don't think that it is free with respect to culture. Just two examples:
1. Smoking, lots of that...."
Yeah, you're right, that's true. I even remember wincing when Robbie lights up in the Heechee spacecraft. In the last 40 years smoking in public is all but gone in the US.
Andreas wrote: "2. Full medical which often comes up. "
This is part of Pohl's dystopian stratified society, where only the truly wealthy can afford healthcare. He seems to view future medical insurance as a huge, one-time purchase. Full Medical seems to include longevity enhancements, while Major Medical includes a lot of care but not longevity.
I'm not sure whether Pohl thought that through in a multicultural solar system, given that the US healthcare business is so much different than most of the rest of the world.
1. Smoking, lots of that...."
Yeah, you're right, that's true. I even remember wincing when Robbie lights up in the Heechee spacecraft. In the last 40 years smoking in public is all but gone in the US.
Andreas wrote: "2. Full medical which often comes up. "
This is part of Pohl's dystopian stratified society, where only the truly wealthy can afford healthcare. He seems to view future medical insurance as a huge, one-time purchase. Full Medical seems to include longevity enhancements, while Major Medical includes a lot of care but not longevity.
I'm not sure whether Pohl thought that through in a multicultural solar system, given that the US healthcare business is so much different than most of the rest of the world.
Pohl was a smoker, as am I....trust me, smokers will find a way....
a mention was made to The Space Merchants...if I remember right, Pohl wrote that one with C M Kornbluth...Pohl often wrote with him, I don't know why but I prefer a Pohl & Kornbluth novel to Pohl working solo, and I can't for the life of figure out why....
A question for any astrology buffs: when Klara figures her horoscope, does she decide which planets are in which house based on Earth or based on Gateway? And how does that work when she's flying the galaxy?
Inquiring minds need to sweat the details! ;)
Inquiring minds need to sweat the details! ;)
One unusual feature of Gateway that Pohl uses is the text sidebar. These are small inserts that don't really fit at any specific point in the main novel's text. In the print editions, these appear in boxes that take entire pages. (In the e-book edition, they just slide inside the text.)
These include boxes that have faux-computer code (not in any particular language, but one with characteristics of several popular old computer languages), mission reports and public postings.
I haven't been reading them when encountered, because in my old dead tree edition, they can occur mid-sentence; so, I just keep reading the primary narration. I've been sticking my finger on those boxes to come back to after reaching some natural break in the main narration. It can be a little distracting.
I recall at one point, one of the sidebar scientific reports mentioned the conclusion by the research team that a particular color scheme on the HeeChee ship controls meant fuel supply was critically low. Violating Chekov's Gun, but never actually shows up in the story, no matter how much we might have expected it to pay off.
These include boxes that have faux-computer code (not in any particular language, but one with characteristics of several popular old computer languages), mission reports and public postings.
I haven't been reading them when encountered, because in my old dead tree edition, they can occur mid-sentence; so, I just keep reading the primary narration. I've been sticking my finger on those boxes to come back to after reaching some natural break in the main narration. It can be a little distracting.
I recall at one point, one of the sidebar scientific reports mentioned the conclusion by the research team that a particular color scheme on the HeeChee ship controls meant fuel supply was critically low. Violating Chekov's Gun, but never actually shows up in the story, no matter how much we might have expected it to pay off.
This has been strange for me so far. I really like Rob's flashbacks about his Gateway experience, but his therapy sessions and his brooding are boring.
Evgeny wrote: "This has been strange for me so far. I really like Rob's flashbacks about his Gateway experience, but his therapy sessions and his brooding are boring."They are boring, at least initially. But they are essential - they represent the interior view to Robinette's character. If one skipped it, the whole novel is just another space opera. Which Gateway isn't - it is a bridge novel between space opera and new wave, i.e. a merge of interior and exterior focus.
Spooky1947 wrote: "Pohl was a smoker, as am I....trust me, smokers will find a way...."I just found an interesting article about smoking astronauts:
When NASA ordered astronauts quit smoking.
Andreas wrote: "Evgeny wrote: "This has been strange for me so far. I really like Rob's flashbacks about his Gateway experience, but his therapy sessions and his brooding are boring."
They are boring, at least in..."
I understand their importance, but these parts are still boring. Space opera parts are interesting though. For those who read the second book of the series: is this structure od the narration still the same?
They are boring, at least in..."
I understand their importance, but these parts are still boring. Space opera parts are interesting though. For those who read the second book of the series: is this structure od the narration still the same?
Andreas, NASA wouldn't let em smoke because back then NASA was run by rocket scientists who we snapped up after WW II before the Russians could...the whole Apollo program was about who had the best Nazi scientists...smart lot too, so smart they couldn't figure out a breathable air mix that wouldn't blow up in your face when you lit up. We can put a man on the moon, but.....
Andreas wrote: "They are boring, at least initially. But they are essential - they represent the interior view to Robinette's character...."
The sessions with Sigfrid also provide the superstructure of the space opera narration, because they give us strong indications of what's yet to happen. Because of them, we know Rob will eventually get rich (and survive, so that's not entirely unexpected for a first-person narrator.) We know he will eventually have a serious relationship with Klara, and that will eventually go bad (although we don't know how.) And there's even a discussion of Rob's 1st & 2nd missions with Sigfrid before we reached the point where he takes any missions in the space opera, so we know something about their outcome even as we are reading the story about them. That defuses some tension and establishes others.
However, I also thought there were perhaps too many such sessions.
The sessions with Sigfrid also provide the superstructure of the space opera narration, because they give us strong indications of what's yet to happen. Because of them, we know Rob will eventually get rich (and survive, so that's not entirely unexpected for a first-person narrator.) We know he will eventually have a serious relationship with Klara, and that will eventually go bad (although we don't know how.) And there's even a discussion of Rob's 1st & 2nd missions with Sigfrid before we reached the point where he takes any missions in the space opera, so we know something about their outcome even as we are reading the story about them. That defuses some tension and establishes others.
However, I also thought there were perhaps too many such sessions.
I liked the book because it used a narrative style you don't typically see in sci-fi. The psych stuff, smoking and character relation ships all felt dated though.
The reason for him going to the shrink feels really out of place from a modern perspective.
The whole idea of a company just randomly shooting people into space with no hope of getting them back is certainly an odd approach.
Matthew wrote: "The whole idea of a company just randomly shooting people into space with no hope of getting them back is certainly an odd approach. ..."
Not all that different from European sailing expeditions during the Age of Exploration or scouting and wagon trains during America's push to the West. High-risk, high reward.
Not all that different from European sailing expeditions during the Age of Exploration or scouting and wagon trains during America's push to the West. High-risk, high reward.
G33z3r wrote: "Matthew wrote: "The whole idea of a company just randomly shooting people into space with no hope of getting them back is certainly an odd approach. ..."Not all that different from European saili..."
True. I never quite put that connection together for some reason. Wouldn't have hurt to have that briefly explained during the text.
US Cable network SyFy is in the early stages of adapting Gateway as a TV series.
Syfy Developing ‘Gateway’ TV Show with ‘Battlestar Galactica’s’ David Eick
Syfy Developing ‘Gateway’ TV Show with ‘Battlestar Galactica’s’ David Eick
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Stand on Zanzibar (other topics)Rendezvous with Rama (other topics)
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Winner of the 1977 Hugo & Nebula Awards for Best Novel.