The Great Honor Harrington Read-Along: “Flag in Exile” by David Weber

The Great Honor Harrington Read Along is a read along led by me with critical analysis and SPOILER FILLED looks at the Honor Harrington series and related works by David Weber and collaborators. I’ve read the whole main series and the overwhelming majority of the offshoots, but some of these will still be first time reads. However, spoilers will be abundant throughout these posts, including for much later books in the series.

Flag in Exile by David Weber

Honor Harrington is “exiled” politically and from the military after killing Pavel Young. She makes the most of what she can with it, returning to Grayson and dedicating herself to building up its infrastructure and military as she uses her clout as Steadholder to bring about societal change. She is, however, still emotionally bereft and so at least some of the planning and plotting about Grayson is being done by those close to her. There’s a lot to love in this book, which starts to truly blow open the world of the series in a bigger way than before.

Mayhew gets some character development early on, including the fact that he’s a horticulturalist and loves arranging flowers–something that he intentionally does to jab societal gender norms. We also briefly see Miranda LaFollet, the sister of Andrew LaFollet, one of Honor’s Steadholder’s Guardsmen, show up as Honor’s maid.

A major theme through this book is challenging cultural norms about men and women, largely through religious lenses. We see this, for example, in chapter 5, where Honor is confronted by a clergyman, Marchant, who tries to condemn her from the Grayson books of scripture. Honor herself has been studying up, though, and quotes back to him other portions of the same scripture which seem to suggest that learning of new ways and new ideas is a good thing, and should not be resisted at all costs. This interchange is of great interest to me, because Weber is using an interesting tactic to engage in debate with very real world notions within Christianity of women and men’s places in the church and home. By placing the conversation one step removed from the Bible–with a different set of Scriptures–he makes it safer to discuss for whatever readers might be deeply involved in one side or the other. The fact remains there are people who believe women shouldn’t teach men, that women shouldn’t be pastors, or that women shouldn’t hold other positions of authority over men due to various readings of Scripture. This back and forth with Honor and Marchant illustrates how that can go, but inevitably puts the reader on the side of Honor, and for me personally, as someone who stood on Marchant’s side many years ago, it was a stunning reversal that made me think more about the issue. It’s so well done.

In this book we do run into one of the biggest issues I have with Honor Harrington as a character, though. Namely, she’s apparently good at everything. While there are occasional asides about her not being great at math, for example, the bottom line is that she’s nearly omni-competent and has so many interests and things she does that it becomes difficult to believe she could do them all. For example, in chapter 6 we discover she’s been learning how to duel with swords, but we also know she’s an expert marksman, loves hang gliding, swims a lot, loves going on boats that she knows how to sail, obviously is a great tactician, and the list continues to grow as we go through the books. How does she really have time for it all? I don’t know. I can suspend my disbelief, but it’s good that Weber starts to introduce more side characters to fill in the (very few) gaps in Honor’s ability later, as she’d otherwise grow to be too good at everything. It is a testament to Weber’s ability to write a strong character, though, that we care about her and love her as a person even though it’s sometimes hard to believe she could be what she is.

We get more politicking on the Republic of Haven side, too, as there’s discussion about the dole system and some tilting against universal basic income. Weber’s politics show through at times, and this is definitely one aspect. While it seems to make sense in-universe that a universal basic income could bankrupt a country repeatedly and/or cause them to turn into a kind of pirate state, robbing other nations to pay the dole, the implication is this would be a necessary following from the concept, and I’m highly skeptical of that. Along with this, we also get some insight into Grayson’s own constitutional crises that might be looming as Mayhew and the Steadholders vie for power.

Baseball makes a funny appearance here as Honor believes a bunch of baseball players are trying to start a riot because they’re wielding “clubs.” I love when sci-fi and baseball get combined, as these are two things I absolutely love. We get additional characters showing up throughout this novel who are of high importance later: Captain Yu and Mercedes Bingham reappear, Theisman, Shannon Foraker (who will be a massive thorn in the side later), and more make cameos and more. It’s an exciting read for longtime fans of the series doing a re-read.

Then the big events start to happen in a kaleidoscope of intrigue, action, and reprisal. One of the Sky Domes Honor Harrington helped fund collapses, but then it turns out to be a terrorist act to discredit her as a person, and it killed children. Haven launches a number of attacks, ultimately maneuvering to try to take out Grayson system, which is now a keystone of Manticore’s Alliance. Meanwhile, Honor et al. are dealing with the crisis of the Sky Dome fallout, only to uncover that it was another Steadholder who did it. Honor survives an assassination attempt, ultimately showing up at the Steadholder’s meeting in a super epic scene to then strike down another Steadholder in a duel. But the real brains behind the operation, Mueller, survives.

Here we have another several scenes in which actions are ascribed either to Satan or God depending upon whether one agrees with them. It’s a telling scene that shows how easily religious violence can erupt, and also how easily we can justify our own actions with a religious veneer.

The battle in space, led by an exhausted Honor, is deeply satisfying. Weber always delivers the goods on action scenes like this, and while it’s not super long, the battle here is decisive. I especially loved how Honor (maybe) thinks he fooled Theisman, but we know Theisman was instead fooling the Citizen Commissioner on board his ship, in part, because he wanted to live to fight another day.

Ultimately, Flag in Exile is a thrilling read that opens the world up into many broader possibilities than we’ve seen before. Whether it’s societal upheaval on Grayson, looming problems in Haven, or the broader war opening up, Weber introduces a number of threads here that are of great importance later. This is one of my favorite reads in the series, and every time I read it I discover more to like.

Links

The Great Honor Harrington Read Along– Follow along as I read through and review all the books and offshoots in this series!

Be sure to follow me on Twitter for discussion of posts, links to other pages of interest, random talk about theology/philosophy/apologetics/movies/scifi/sports and more!

SDG.

The Great Honor Harrington Read-Along: “Field of Dishonor” by David Weber

The Great Honor Harrington Read Along is a read along led by me with critical analysis and SPOILER FILLED looks at the Honor Harrington series and related works by David Weber and collaborators. I’ve read the whole main series and the overwhelming majority of the offshoots, but some of these will still be first time reads. However, spoilers will be abundant throughout these posts, including for much later books in the series.

Field of Dishonor by David Weber

Field of Dishonor is probably the weirdest of the early Honor Harrington books in that it doesn’t have a big space battle and the action is all on the surface. The whole thing is a kind of character-building segment for Honor and a select few others. And yet, it works, somehow, so long as you don’t have to have that obligatory space battle in order to be satisfied.

Weber also peels back the curtain here to give us more knowledge of the inner workings of Manticore’s governmental system. It seems to be based on the United Kingdom’s system with a monarch, a House of Lords, and the Commons, a multi-party system in which coalitions must form to make governments, and more. Throughout the book, we get more and more looks at how those different factors intersect to make things as simple as declaring war on an aggressor nation that already attempted to destroy your nation more complex than it should be.

We also get a bit more background about Treecats, how they were discovered, and some of the history of that discovery–including the first mention I am aware of regarding Stephanie Harrington, a distant relative of Honor’s. Many, many characters who loom large later or before this are given cameos or more major appearances, such as Tomas Santiago Ramirez.

Now, to the meat. Pavel Young has friends in high places, and his family backing made it such that they would oppose the declaration of war if he’s court martialed. The admiralty board has quite a bit of politicking happening as they discuss Young’s fate, and it gives us more insight into how divisions within Manticore’s government run. Hemphill shows up here, too, as one of the members of the court martial, and her willingness to bend on some aspects gives us some hints at her character beyond the “Horrible Hemphill” we were introduced to in the first book.

Young gets a dishonorable discharge, which gives his father a fatal heart attack, ironically gifting Young with an Earldom the same time he got the discharge. It’s a kind of deus ex machina that nevertheless works to get Young elevated to a position of power. From the moment he rises to that position, it seems inevitable awful things will happen. And happen, they do. Denver Summervale’s back, and he’s hired by Young to kill Tankersley, shortly after we as readers start to really get settled in for the long haul with he and Honor together. It’s an almost unfair twist of fate, and the emotional turmoil it causes works because Weber invested no small amount of time telling us about Honor’s own self doubts in the books before this. I seem to remember the scenes of Honor’s mourning lasting much longer when I read the book the first time, but I think that’s just a matter of how invested I was in her mourning, too. That mourning is offset a bit by knowing what comes later, but it’s still a powerful character moment, and one during which you certainly sympathize with Honor.

The dueling system within Manticore is nonsensical to an extent. Why would they even continue to allow it? How is it possible, and how would there not be even more contracted killers like Summervale lurking out there? I think it starts to fall apart at the seams if you push it too hard, but that doesn’t take away from the whole thing working for the sake of plot throughout the book. If you can suspend disbelief about how and why they allow it and the inevitably ridiculous consequences that might come of it, it is a powerful way to have the whole Young plotline come to a head.

We also get our first real look at Honor interacting with her Grayson-ian power base, along with seeing she’s set up to make quite a good chunk of cash from investments there. I don’t think at this point I’d yet realized how absolutely major Grayson would be in the rest of the series, but due to my own investment in that plotline I was pleased to see it continuing. We also get LaFollet and the other Grayson armsmen and they become characters close to the reader’s heart almost immediately with how they defend Honor and LaFollet’s discussion of why they want to odo so.

Honor’s return to Manticore and forcing Summervale into challenging her is masterful, and I have to say the firing from the hip surprised me this round again. It’s been a while since I re-read this book and I forgot how she bested Summervale. It’s a cool scene that also makes it easier to believe that Honor could defeat a practiced duelist. The standoffs with Young culminating in her trapping him into a Duel are immensely satisfying scenes. Meanwhile, her interactions with Hamish Alexander are, we know, buildup for later. For now, though, they show how much he’s come to take her as a student under his wing.

We get to the end of the book at a surprising point. Honor is effectively disgraced not because she is disgraceful but because she’s so damned honorable and the politics of the world she serves didn’t let her get justice the way she should have. Dark is the wrong word to use here, but it’s a kind of look into the abyss of injustice of everything as she takes the punch on the mouth for her own actions seeking justice. And that’s where it leaves off: with Honor getting a talk about how it’s not over yet. And we very well know it’s not. Onward!

How about you? What did you think of the book? What were your highlights? Leave a comment and let’s discuss it more!

Links

The Great Honor Harrington Read Along– Follow along as I read through and review all the books and offshoots in this series!

Be sure to follow me on Twitter for discussion of posts, links to other pages of interest, random talk about theology/philosophy/apologetics/movies/scifi/sports and more!

SDG.

The Great Honor Harrington Read-Along: “The Short Victorious War” by David Weber

The Great Honor Harrington Read Along is a read along led by me with critical analysis and SPOILER FILLED looks at the Honor Harrington series and related works by David Weber and collaborators. I’ve read the whole main series and the overwhelming majority of the offshoots, but some of these will still be first time reads. However, spoilers will be abundant throughout these posts, including for much later books in the series.

The Short Victorious War by David Weber

Honor gets the Nike! This is an honor that’s played up in this book and we’ll hear about it later in the series, too. It’s a fun way to kick off the novel, and MacGuiness getting a bigger role in this novel too. It’s kind of interesting how much he grows on me and I wonder if he gets bigger roles in later books or if I just enjoy that he cares about Honor. This is my third or fourth time through them all, so a lot of it is pretty mashed up in my head.

Speaking of characters who loom large later, Nimitz remains effectively silent here. There’s some scenes of him being playful, and Honor picks up a little bit on emotions from others through him, but he’s largely a nonfactor, dispensing the occasional hiss from her shoulder. In The Honor of the Queen, he got some major action scenes, but here he remains effectively shoulder ornamentation.

Michelle Henke is introduced, and longtime readers of the series know what a major character she is. She gets her own place in later offshoot books, too. I believe she’s one of the first black characters we encounter in the series, as well. It gives Weber the chance to talk about the disapora from Old Earth and how it played out a little bit, and some of that backstory is quite important later, of course. Anyway, for now we see her as a steadfast friend of Honor.

Joe Webster, who served with Honor before, shows up only to make a great defense of Honor as a damned fine captain, and it certainly leaves an impression on Sarnow. As a reader, I’m sitting there like “Yeah, I’m proud of Honor, too!” I love this scene from chapter 6.

Tankersley–oh no. I honestly kind of forgot about him. I mean not forgot forgot, but in the sense of kind of blurring the painful memory out. The first time I read the series I was totally devastated. Weber sets up Honor as a kind of awkward woman who doesn’t realize how beautiful she is, and whose hesitancy is at least somewhat tied into Pavel Young’s awful attempted rape (more on that later). To have her fall in love is a great thing to see, and Henke’s beauty tips are awesome. The whole ship apparently knowing about Honor’s special Tankersley time is a tad awkward, but I wonder how true to life on board a ship like that it’d be. I imagine it’d be difficult to keep secret. Henke’s beauty tips scene in chapter 12 is a wonderfully domestic setting in a series that doesn’t get a lot of them. While Weber doesn’t go through the details of cosmetics that he does with weaponry, it was a nice character building aside.

The Havenites’ increasing incursions being kind of unexplainable for a bit is a good way to foreshadow the later big revelation of their use of sensor platforms. As Haven and Manticore keep up an arms race going forward, it’s fun to see how they innovate with different technology to try to throw each other off. We also get yet another hint about the Solerian League being a thing. When I read the books the first time, I definitely wrote that off as mostly unnecessary fluff to show the universe was bigger. Little did I realize how important it’d be. It’s nice to know Weber was seeding it this early in the series.

Speaking of Haven, the coup at the top is something I thought I recalled taking a lot longer than it does here. It kind of surprised me how quickly it happened from the conspirators meeting in secret to boom the navy blows away the Legislaturists. I’ll be curious to see if I remembered wrong or if there’s more going on with this whole thing than I recalled.

Finally, we need to talk about the battle scenes. Here, they’re a bit few and far between. There “big showdown” type battle is mostly because of a gaffe by Parker, but is cleaned up off stage. It’s not a bad way to do things, but after all the buildup it feels maybe a bit like a letdown to not see quite as much ship-to-ship blowing up as expected. That might just be me, though. And, to be fair, we did get a pretty hefty page count worth of battles towards the end, as we watched a series of traps get set off on the Havenites and then Young flee like the dog that he is.

Young… yeah, he’s the worst. I forgot that we witness his attempted rape of Honor from his viewpoint in this book and it’s bad. It’s not super graphic, but there’s enough there to make it a rough scene and cement Young as among the most hated characters on my list.

The final scene, in which we learn from Parker that Young has been sent to Manticore to face a court martial for cowardice in the face of the enemy, is super satisfying. One might say that I “bared my teeth” in my smile as I read it again. Can we talk briefly about Weber’s penchant for using the same types of phrases over and over? Baring teeth in a smile is one of these recurring themes in most of Weber’s corpus as I recall. What others do you remember? Do you like/hate them? They remind me personally of “tugging braids” in the Wheel of Time, and it’s almost a comforting thing at this point: ah yes, this is what people in this world do.

How about you? What did you think of the book? What were your highlights? Leave a comment and let’s discuss it more!

Links

The Great Honor Harrington Read Along– Follow along as I read through and review all the books and offshoots in this series!

Be sure to follow me on Twitter for discussion of posts, links to other pages of interest, random talk about theology/philosophy/apologetics/movies/scifi/sports and more!

SDG.

The Great Honor Harrington Read-Along: “The Honor of the Queen” by David Weber

The Great Honor Harrington Read Along is a read along led by me with critical analysis and SPOILER FILLED looks at the Honor Harrington series and related works by David Weber and collaborators. I’ve read the whole main series and the overwhelming majority of the offshoots, but some of these will still be first time reads. However, spoilers will be abundant throughout these posts, including for much later books in the series.

The Honor of the Queen by David Weber

I need to get this out of the way at the start. This may be my all-time favorite novel. I’m not saying it’s the best literarily or anything. It’s just probably my favorite. Part of that is because it’s just a fun read with any number of highly satisfying moments. But a bigger part of it is that I read this novel in the midst of a faith crisis in which I was, in a way, like the Graysons. I was struggling with my conservative upbringing teaching that women couldn’t be pastors, and that it was largely preferable to have women at home. There were just some things women couldn’t do as women. I was in the midst of throwing off that belief when I read this book, with Honor Harrington serving as the shining example of why women could be exactly what Graysons believed they couldn’t be. Yet the Grayson people had their faith taken seriously, even if it was seen as an aberration. It was hugely important and healing in a number of ways, and so this novel occupies that space in my heart (I wrote more about that here). Later, I’d get the book signed by Weber and tell him about its import on my own life and how I was now married to a pastor. He wrote, “Keep up the Good Work” with his dedication.

Okay, let’s dive in!

We get a little glimpse at Honor’s mother, which turns out to be a hugely important character detail later. Pretty sure this is all we see of her the whole novel, though. I wonder if this was an intentional character detail to be built on or just an incidental piece that Weber decided to use later. The chapter also gives us an introduction to Yeltsin’s Star, the strategic situation there, the Church of Humanity Unchained, and Honor’s alleged ineptness with diplomacy. We find out that even on Grayson, the lest strict sect of the Church of Humanity Unchained, women aren’t allowed to serve in basically any position of power. The Masadans also lopped off the New Testament from their Bibles after a conflict with Grayson, because they felt Jesus couldn’t be the Messiah due to technology still existing on Old Earth and women not being in their proper place.

There is a potential difficulty here–the implication seeming to be that if you just had the Old Testament, that is, the Hebrew Scriptures, you’d have oppression of women and anti-technology sentiment. No mention is made here of Jews, but it could be perceived as a kind of writing off of their faith. In-universe, however, it becomes clear the Masadans are not supposed to be an analogue for the Jews (who still exist in the Honor Harrington universe in various branches). Instead, they are an extremist cultic group that was an offshoot of Christianity. Weber gives a solid insight into the headspace of fundamentalism later, in chapter 4: “There could be no compromise with those who rejected one’s own beliefs, for compromise and coexistence only opened the door to schism. A people or a faith divided against itself became the sum of its weaknesses, not its strengths, and anyone who didn’t know that was doomed” (49). When I read these lines so many years ago within a faith tradition that largely thought that way, it was a bit shocking. It was one of the first times I actually realized how insular and borderline insane that sounded.

The first chapter also has a pretty insightful comment from Weber in the mouth of Courvosier: “Extremists tend to grow more extreme… as problems get closer to solutions” (15). Chapter 2 features James MacGuiness. [I edited here due to the comments from an insightful reader pointing out I missed MacGuiness in the previous book.] Having read the whole series, it’s kind of shocking to see him essentially sidelined here to such a minor role, as he was in the first book. His role, like Honor’s mother, is quite minimal. They’ll feature much larger later in the series.

Meeting and learning more about Yanakov is important, as he as a character shows the possibility of developing within the Grayson religious system into the realization that what they believed and did regarding their women actually limited women rather than cared for them (see his comments on chapter 5 vs. chapter 8). Weber does a simply fantastic job of showing how religious extremists work and think while also showing that those on the borders of extremism are capable of being challenged and going either more towards extremism or reasoning their way out of it.

Chapter 11 shows Houseman continuing to try to push for a non-military solution, and his efforts in that regard and utter disdain for Honor and others is finally, in chapter 18, literally smacked down. He’s a classic example of a person who thinks that wealth makes one smarter or better than everyone else. It turns out people who have tons of wealth can be just as foolish and reckless as anyone else. Having lots of money doesn’t mean you’re right about anything.

The sacrifice of the Manticorans, including Courvosier, is a hugely emotional moment in chapter 14 as they put their lives up to save Matthews. That, plus the assassination attempt in chapter 20 and Nimitz’s swift reaction time along with Honor’s fighting to her potential death turns the Grayson public opinion in favor of Manticore. Weber deftly shows that often, when strongly held beliefs are confronted by facts and reality that contradict them, people are capable of change. More recent years seem to prove this wrong, but there still are stories of people changing their minds. I love the scene of Honor discovering that her resistance against the assassins has been playing on the news in Grayson continuously for hours and hours. Mayhew says, after Harrington sees the news story, “And after seeing it, no one on this planet–including Admiral Garret–will ever dare to question your fitness as an officer again, now will they?” (252). Of course, this isn’t entirely true, but the for the sake of plot, it is nice to have this as a possibility for Weber to change Grayson public opinion so massively in favor of Harrington and Manticore.

Chapter 26 reveals the horrible depravity of war and the misogyny inherent not just in the Masadans, but also as is often found in warfare generally. We also get a glimpse of the fiery steel that Honor demonstrates throughout the series as she comes within inches of killing a Masadan directly after seeing what they’ve done to her people. These horrific scenes are followed by some of the more lighthearted scenes in the book as Truman jokes with her engineer and, later, Hamish Alexander about taking the safeties off the engines on her ship so they can cut hours off when reinforcements will arrive at Yeltsin. Even these funny lines, though, are found in the midst of the most desperate scenes.

The final battle between Fearless and Thunder is yet another example of Weber writing fantastic military action. It’s even better when Alexander shows up with reinforcements only to find that they thought they were in time–but weren’t. It’s a deus ex machina that gets turned on its head, only to essentially turn around and save the day after all. Frankly, it’s just a well executed sequence of events that makes it all more believable and satisfying. We also get a quick notion that “Horrible Hemphill” can think of smart ideas after all–a story that lurks in the background of both of these books and will be hugely important later in the series.

The final scenes of the novel are wonderful, as Harrington receives the highest possible honors from both Grayson and Manticore (and a reprimand for smacking Houseman). Mayhew says it well, “You see, we need you” (419). Grayson needs an example like Honor to show them what women can and should do, along with introducing them to a broader world of possibilities. The book ends on a hopeful note for future collaboration, even with the clear notion that a bigger war is coming.

How about you? What did you think of the book? What were your highlights? Leave a comment and let’s discuss it more!

Links

The Great Honor Harrington Read Along– Follow along as I read through and review all the books and offshoots in this series!

Be sure to follow me on Twitter for discussion of posts, links to other pages of interest, random talk about theology/philosophy/apologetics/movies/scifi/sports and more!

SDG.

The Great Honor Harrington Read Along

I love the Honor Harrington series by David Weber. It’s a military science fiction series that gets bigger as it goes along. Weber makes some huge political happenings take over the plot at points, and the lengthy descriptions of weaponry can be off-putting for some but others will eat it up.

For several years as a college student, I was disillusioned with reading. I kept wanting science fiction books that had big ships that were shooting at each other. (I was–and probably am–a simple man.) When I read On Basilisk Station, it was everything I’d been hoping for. It had serious political background to go with great ship-to-ship battles. The Honor of the Queen, book 2, spoke to some of the theological challenges I was facing and assessing related to women in leadership (coming from a conservative background and moving into a more liberal and egalitarian background). Long story short, I loved everything about this series. I have read it through a couple times, listened to them all at least once, and branched off and read many other works by Weber.

It’s time to start again, and I want to bring readers along with me. My intent is to read at whatever rate I want and provide deep reviews of the books as I go, commenting not just on the content of the book but also how it impacted my life at the time (if it did) and other asides. This go-through, I’ll be reading all the related books as well, and trying to do it in approximately publication order, though I’ll diverge if it makes sense with some of the prequels.

Please let me know if you’re reading and if you’d like to read along. I’d be so happy to have others to read along with, and would work to match my rate to others’ if necessary. My plan is to start reading On Basilisk Station today, with a goal of finishing it sometime around the end of the month (February 2022). This post will be updated with links to all my reviews for the series.

All Links to Amazon are Affiliates

Links

Science Fiction Hub– I have scores of reviews of Hugo nominees, Vintage Sci-Fi, modern sci-fi, TV series, and more! Check out my science fiction related writings here.

Be sure to follow me on Twitter for discussion of posts, links to other pages of interest, random talk about theology/philosophy/apologetics/movies/scifi/sports and more!

SDG.

“The Guns Above” by Robyn Bennis – A Steampunk Delight

It’s no secret: I love steampunk. The thing is, I’ve struggled to find novels that capture the feel I really, really want out of the subgenre. The Leviathan Trilogy by Scott Westerfeld is one prime example of an excellent series. Then, I saw The Guns Above by Robyn Bennis. It had a blurb from my favorite author, David Weber on it. Surely, he would not lead me wrong! Would he?

No, he wouldn’t.

Robyn Bennis’s The Guns Above is the beginning of what I hope becomes a lengthy fantasy series. Bennis doesn’t do much experimental here. No, she instead delivers to readers an extremely sound, tight, action-packed steampunk novel. Do you want harrowing air battles? Do you want some political intrigue? Character development? Check all the boxes, it’s all here.

The story centers around Josette Dupre,who is the first woman airship captain in her nation. Some doubt her abilities. Upping the drama is the addition of Lord Bernat, a love-to-hate aristocrat with a gambling and womanizing problem. These might sound like familiar tropes, but Bennis develops them so well and adds just enough twists and turns in the overall plot and world to make it a novel that I churned through not once, not twice, but three times already. I’m thinking about adding the audiobook to my collection because it’s that good. It’s a lengthy read, but one that is so quick to pass by that I sat and read it in a day the first time.

Character development is clearly one of Bennis’s strengths. I know that term gets thrown around a lot. Too many times it means a character is interesting throughout the book. Here, the mains truly develop. They change in meaningful ways that make sense within the plot. They’re not static, but living and breathing.

The blurb from David Weber is spot-on as there are many parallels here, from the military trappings to the character development. It’s a debut novel that not only shows a ton of promise but also absolutely delivers the goods. And it has airships. AIRSHIPS, people. This is the kind of novel that fans of older JRPGs like Final Fantasy IV-IX and their like have longed for. Go get it. Read it. Love it. Share about it. And then come here and talk to me about it. Oh, and good news: the second book is already out!

Tell me what you think of The Guns Above in the comments!

Links

J.W. Wartick- Always Have a Reason– Check out my “main site” which talks about philosophy of religion, theology, and Christian apologetics (among other random topics). I love science fiction so that comes up integrated with theology fairly frequently as well. I’d love to have you follow there, too!

Be sure to follow me on Twitter for discussion of posts, links to other pages of interest, random talk about theology/philosophy/apologetics/movies/scifi/sports and more!

SDG.

MantiCon 2015: After-Action Report (David Weber, Timothy Zahn, Eric Flint, + More!)

Dreams do come true. Here I am with my new Treecat (name pending) and David Weber!

I spent Memorial Day Weekend having the absolute time of my life at a science fiction convention, MantiCon 2015. It was the inaugural MantiCon, a convention based on the universes of author David Weber. Weber, Timothy Zahn, Eric Flint, Joelle Presby, and other authors were in attendance. It was the most fun I’ve had in some time!

Overview

When I first arrived, the events hadn’t started yet, so I scoped out the rooms and the fan tables (AKA places with everything I wanted to buy). After I bought some sweet stuff (a lanyard, a Grayson Space Navy patch, and a War Officer’s pin), I went to the “Meet the Authors” session, then the Opening ceremony. After that, it was a string of sessions, meeting authors, and chatting science fiction with other excited people. Here, I’ll go over a few sessions and some cool stuff.

Sessions

Women in Science Fiction

I went to the panel on women in science fiction and the discussion was broad, but deep. We discussed things like whether the concept of a “strong female lead” is actually helpful in forwarding equality of the sexes, the notion of a “strong” character in general, the notion of women as “background” rather than characters in science fiction, favorite women in science fiction, and more. It was a fast-moving panel and it was clear that all the panelists had different perspectives that were each valued and mutually overlapping without being contradicting each other. Panels like this need to keep happening until we get to the point that we don’t need them any more.

Kinetic & Energy Weapons

This was one of several more technical sessions I went to and it was exciting. The speaker talked about some of the ways science fiction weapons are being adapted now, along with theoretical and mathematical data to talk about weapons in science fiction. It was  fun and more interesting than I thought it would be. Lots of thought goes into weapons development–even of the fictional variety!

Getting your Dream Job

I had the pleasure of going to a session that was basically about getting to be an author. It turned largely into a Q+A with me asking the questions because no one else was asking any. Several people told me after I was asking the questions they would have liked to but couldn’t think of them. I was pleased to help others–and myself–learn more about writing and becoming an author. Now to pound the keyboard to pulp cranking out some books!

Authors

Weber Q&As

David Weber outlined his publishing schedule, talked about his plans for where he wants to take various series, and took a number of questions. He was extremely gracious, and his answers were informative and interesting. One of the main themes of both of the Q&A sessions I went to was that his goal at this point in his life is to try to finish the series he has going right now. He said he wants to make sure his fans get to read the endings and get closure. Of course this means that he won’t be able to write the million other series he has just floating around in his head. He told us about one that sounded awesome but it was historical fiction and he felt he just won’t have time to get into it, unless he lives for 90+ years.

I was glad to hear that it sounds like he’ll be wrapping up the main Honor Harrington storyline within a couple books. He might even write more later about the Alignment and other issues, but again his goal is to try to tie as many loose ends as he can. It sounds like he’s going to really explore the universe a bunch more with the offshoot series once he’s done with the main Honor books.

Safehold! Safehold! I was pretty excited to hear him say that after the one coming up (Hell’s Foundations Quiver) and the one after that, we’ll have some kind of time jump ahead. Again, it sounds like we’re going to get this series wrapped up within 10 years or so, with books coming out all the time. To me, that’s an awesome thing. I can’t wait for more. I’m a huge fan of the Safehold series.

He also talked about many other series he’s working on and his plans for wrapping them up. It sounds like his fantasy series (starting with War God’s Own)–one I haven’t read yet–is wrapped up, but had some loose ends that he is going to write somewhere around four books to finish. His Multiverse series is going to start once more after a decade-long hiatus. Other series may see returns and completion as well. Weber was clearly dedicated to trying to wrap up as many stories he’s telling as he can. I think this is a very kind thing for an author to do, and Weber is a pretty awesome guy!

I had a chance at a few of the signings to ask questions, and one was to ask what his favorite hymn is. His Safehold series has had either hymn titles or lines of hymns as titles for all but the first book, and he’s a Methodist lay minister, so I was wondering what his favorite was. It was “Amazing Grace,” which was also my grandpa’s favorite hymn (my Grandpa was a Methodist minister)! I told him he should title the last book of the Safehold series Amazing Grace. It would be awesome if he did.

Timothy Zahn Q&A

Zahn talked Star Wars and his thoughts about the upcoming movie, which was largely “I will go see it, but I’m not sure if it will be good.” He also talked about whether he might write Star Wars again (seems unlikely) and the possibility of whether they will wrap up the Expanded Universe–everyone hopes so.

After that, it was discussion of many of his series and what he’s going to do with them. He has some more Cobra books coming out, a few ideas for a Young Adult series, and many ideas for more in various universes he’s written. I am not as familiar with some of these, because I read pretty much everything by Zahn but I did so 15 or more years ago. Thus, it’s hard to remember anything. I’ve decided to go back through Zahn’s corpus though. It’s been too long since I read his stuff.

Swag

Got some pretty cool T-shirts at the vender tables, including both a Royal Manticoran Navy and Grayson Space Navy shirt. But the pride and joy of my MantiCon experience (apart from my loads of autographed books) was to get, at last, a Treecat! They had just 25 available and announced them at the opening ceremony, so I pretty much ran to the store they were going to be available and got one!

Conclusion

I can’t emphasize enough how much fun MantiCon 2015 was. It really solidified in me the notion that I want to be a science fiction author, but more than that, it was an absolutely awesome time. How often do you get the chance to hang out with hundreds of people with the same interests you have, talking about science fiction? Not often enough, I tell ya. Moreover, the authors were all extremely gracious and frankly amiable. It was a great lineup of guests and they were very kind. Here’s hoping MantiCon 2016 will happen, and be somewhere close to me!

SDG.

Microview: “Off Armageddon Reef” by David Weber

David Weber is probably my favorite author as far as fiction is concerned, but I admit that I had put off starting his “Safehold” series for a while because I was afraid it’d ruin my perception of him–that is, as the author of the greatest military sci-fi I’ve read, the Honor Harrington series (see a discussion of one of the books here). Finally, I gave in and read it and just had to share my thoughts here.

Let’s get it out of the way: this a phenomenal way to start a series. Humanity has been all but destroyed by the alien threat known as the Gbaba. The last vestiges of humanity have been brainwashed (voluntarily) into losing all memory of technology–the way that humans were discovered by the Gbaba–and were then established on a planet, Safehold, to try to start afresh.

Some of the humans who went with them as these memory-altered humans were being sent to their planet, however, changed the programming to include an extremely powerful church hierarchy. Other humans want to stick with the game plan and have the last home of humanity be a place where they could regrow and develop technology planetside to avoid detection by the Gbaba.

These factions clashed, and from the ashes came Merlin–the main character–a kind of human-robot whose goal is to guide humanity along the second path and away from the hierarchy established by others. And that’s where this book takes off.

Weber does a masterful job interweaving elements of fantasy, political drama, and science fiction in what was one of the most exciting experiences I’ve had reading a book. He sets the table for a truly epic series–one I hope will develop towards an ultimate battle with the Gbaba.

As is typical with Weber, lengthy conversations and insights into politicking are interspersed with battles–here they are battles on the high seas instead of in space. In-depth descriptions of new technology are also offered, but they add to the depth of the story rather than ever seeming dry. There are also a number of questions related to theology, philosophy, and politics that come up simply as aspects of the plot. This adds another layer of depth to a book already brimming with awesome.

When I finished this book, I stood (I was rocking my sleeping baby in a front baby carrier) and smiled as I contemplated the breadth and depth of the new world that David Weber had just introduced to me. It was an amazing moment as I realized the true scope of the plot to which I had been introduced. I hope the rest of the series cashes in on this promise, and that we get a centuries-long epic.

The Good

+Vast world with great depth to individual nations
+Huge potential for later in the series
+Seamlessly interwoven questions of philosophy, theology, and more

The Bad

-Perhaps just a bit too much technical language interwoven into the story
-A very steep initial learning curve

Overall

Grade: A 

Off Armageddon Reef is an awesome beginning, and I can’t wait to read more of Weber’s Safehold series. I’m hoping it’s going to be a centuries-spanning epic that the introductory portion seemed to promise.

Links

J.W. Wartick- Always Have a Reason– Check out my “main site” which talks about philosophy of religion, theology, and Christian apologetics (among other random topics). I love science fiction so that comes up integrated with theology fairly frequently as well. I’d love to have you follow there, too!

Be sure to follow me on Twitter for discussion of posts, links to other pages of interest, random talk about theology/philosophy/apologetics/movies/scifi/sports and more!

Microview– Read more microviews to discover more materials to experience! (Scroll down for more)

SDG.

Science Fiction- One of my loves.

Science fiction is, in my opinion, the most malleable genre for writers to play with. One can hypothesize about the science of the future, or make up magic; one can explore the stars, or have the stars come to destroy you; one can contemplate the human condition, or ignore it and charge forward to meet one’s destiny. It is beautiful and frightening all at once.

This was a long time ago... I look much different 😉

I love science fiction. I don’t often read anything but philosophy, but when I do, sci-fi is my genre of choice. (Okay, so I’m not exactly the most interesting man in the world.) I have read almost every Star Wars novel which is post-movie canon. I love Orson Scott Card anything. He is a simple genius with words and worlds. I know he’d cringe to be grouped with Star Wars because I met the man once, and he is one awesome guy [proof in the picture!]. David Weber is also growing on me of late, I find his military sci-fi fascinating. Ben Bova is also captivating. His speculation about the future of our technology and expansion across the solar system is gripping. I recommend his works highly. I remember still the day that I picked up Moonwar and couldn’t stop reading it.

I’ve been writing my own science fiction novel, playing with the malleability I’ve already noted. One can speculate not just about future technology, but also about future theology. Writing sci-fi, one can speculate on the “What if?” questions that we so often ignore. Thus, in a way, it seems to me that science fiction just is philosophy. Authors frequently contemplate the big questions, and their stories and characters are their answer to these questions. This, I think, is what makes science fiction so great. It’s not just storytelling; it’s future-making. Science fiction strives to point humans in the direction the author thinks is best. The genre is worldview-laden. Authors cannot write without a worldview, and the fact that science fiction tells the future means that authors frequently inject their worldview into the story. Their vision for the future is the ideal society; the author’s fears are reflected in a dystopia.

For all these reasons, I say that science fiction is one of my loves. Perhaps one day I’ll finish the book I’ve been working on for years (at one point it was over 80 pages–I’ve since edited it down to 30) and then I’ll be able to offer my own vision of the future. Until then, I’ll enjoy the masterworks others have created.

Do you love sci-fi as well? If so, who do you read? Why?