Outbound
Outbound
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has a Kristi Lang story,
Some of you might be fans of Jack McDevitt thru reading his novels, several of which have sold well and are currently in print. Chances are that many fewer will have read the short stories and commentaries in Outbound. Ok, some of the latter were written specifically for the book, and have not appeared in print elsewhere. These give you insight into McDevitt’s thoughts and help flesh out your knowledge of him.
Outbound also includes several stories that appeared in various magazines. Most notable is the one with the Kristi Lang character. There have now been 2 stories about her, which Analog readers have encountered. The hard science in the book’s story is quite ingenious and, while very speculative, is quite solid. Undoubtedly reflecting the input of the story’s co-author, who is an astrophysicist. Plus, the depiction of the social interactions in current astronomy is spot on. Perhaps McDevitt will give us many more Kristi Lang encounters. This first tale is a promising start.
Another attraction of the book is a short story set in the universe of “A Talent for War”. That book was an elegant tale, and it is neat to see more stories in its context.
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|If You Can’t Find this Book……,
This is not really a review, but a suggestion on how to find a reasonably priced copy of this book: For some reason (probably because I am cheap), I originally passed on Amazon’s discounted copy of Outbound and then was shocked to see it go out of print and start doubling (and more) in price.
I recently began re-reading all of Jack’s books (they are even better the second time through), and needed to check his website to make sure of the order they were written. I happened to notice that he sold autographed copies of some of the books postpaid at the original list price. There was Outbound for $30. Mailed a check, and yesterday my nice new copy came, signed by Jack on June 17th (2008).
I don’t know how long they will last, but if you really need a copy, why not get a signed one from the Man himself? Try http://www.jackmcdevitt.com/ and go all the way to the bottom of the page.
Hope this helps someone!
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|Jack McDevitt: Outbound,
McDevitt has a number of stories showing his interest in the potential for computers to simulate the human mind: “The Candidate” and “Combinations” both feature artificial recreations of historical figures and “Henry James, This One’s For You” tells of a computer programmer who creates an AI writer that is so talented that the POV character (an editor) fears for the sanctity of the classical authors. I’m personally skeptical of the ease at which AI intelligence can be created and McDevitt shies away from or glosses over the ethical and philosophical implications. “Date with Destiny”–described by McDevitt as “‘a situation that usually would lead to violence'” but ends non-violently–indeed finds a peaceful solution but it rests on a dictator wanting to seem like a peace-loving leader, which I think is rather unrealistic.
“Lighthouse”, written with Michael Shara, was about an astronomer who discovered a way to detect just about ALL brown dwarfs (the method is a bit sketchy, since interstellar gas is known to redshift and block certain wavelengths) and finds that around 2000 of them are artificial. It had some strengths but it seemed to rest on this one idea and withheld it unnecessarily to the end.
Some of the weaker stories are:
“Nothing Ever Happens in Rock City” about SETI discovering extraterrestrial intelligence but told from the perspective of an unreliable narrator and far too short to be interesting
“Whistle” about a signal from M-82 that turns out to be music. Somehow the narrator is certain that, because the galaxy has a tenfold increase in star formation that the “sky is on fire” at the source of the music
“Ignition” takes place in a post-flood world where a theocratic elite governs ideas. Some people find a statue of Jefferson and when it’s destroyed by authorities, a civil war is implied. Again, I would have liked to seen more, and as it stood this was an incomplete tale.
“Valkyrie” a naively anti-war piece where valkyries are actual entities… not really scifi.
“The Mission” a confusing narrative that takes place in the South after a horrible plague and people decide to scrap a rocket to survive…
However, McDevitt shined the most when he dealt with space exploration–or settings that involved a spacefaring humanity:
“Windows” is about a thirteen year old who wants to go to space but robotic missions are preferred over manned ones (just like today!). The character development went at a good pace but the story was a bit too short.
“The Far Shore” is about a character marooned on a habitable planet and spends his time listening to radio broadcasts from Earth 200 years prior which, by sheer coincidence, allows him to follow along on the events of World War II. He is rescued just before the end of the war comes to him. The story was good, but the final line was just stupid.
“Melville on Iapetus” and especially the two Novellas “In the Tower” and “The Big Downtown” were the strongest pieces. In all of them, alien artifacts are found; the Novellas also have strong detective aspects, which play out well.
It’s these last three that give me an appreciation of McDevitt. I haven’t read any of his novels, but if his strength is in longer pieces than I may just do so.
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|Computer programming requires some very intricate work. This is the type of work that thrives on details and people who work in this field understand that the absence of even the minute elements can spell a huge difference in the overall result. If a programmer fails to correct this problem, it can lead to errors down the line. As a result, bugs will appear in the system and errors will emerge later on. Programming is also taxing work, requiring hours upon hours of writing, testing and debugging. This is why computer programming thrives on team work. Without team work, a single computer program can take decades to complete.;.
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