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I went on a shopping spree recently and bought these two much-recommended (on rec.arts.sf.written, where the first version of this review appeared) and hard-to-find books.
The Also People, Ben Aaronovitch, a Doctor Who New Adventures book. Famous for being a blatant steal of Iain Banks's Culture. And I mean blatant: the introduction has the line "talent borrows, genius steals, New Adventure writers get it off the back of a lorry, no questions asked." And Ben's posted to Usenet, saying "I prefer the word 'steal'."
But word was that this was a well-done heist, and many even said it was *better* than the originals, which aren't so numerous that they couldn't use some high-quality addition to their numbers. Since one of the '*better*' advocates was Mark Atwood (rasfw personality, libertarian, attacks the foofy socialism of the Culture), I'd had the impression that it was supposed to be better in the economics, having allocation be less vague and handwavy.
Conclusion: It is indeed well done. It's not just that it has the People (mostly lowercase "the people" in my copy) living in a paradisical Dyson sphere with smartass drones, smartass ships, and a maternal and whimsical overcomputer named God, or that the People are a genofixed blend of multiple alien races with mentally controlled sex change and reproductive control; much of the writing itself seems Banksian in style, as do the chapter titles, in a "kind of forgettable and I don't care but good job anyway" way. It wasn't necessarily worth the $40 I paid for an out-of-print paperback -- I think it's time for some back of the lorry scanning -- but I'd have no regrets about paying normal price for it.
It did not have an elaboration of the economics. (Nor did it have funny ship names; reportedly the publisher thought that was too much of a rip.) It did have more time spent in the Culture -- excuse me, People -- than any actual Culture book, though Excession and then Look to Windward have spent more time there than earlier ones. But it actually came out before Excession did, when our direct exposure to life in the Culture was the beginning of Player of Games and a few scenes in Use of Weapons. It does have a nice elaboration on People self-organization: Interest Groups, lots and lots of Interest Groups. Including the Interpersonal Dynamics IG (murder investigation, among other things), Xeno-Relations (Normalization) IG, (Contact/Special Circumstances), a Weird Cooking IG... this is in the finest tradition of old fashioned anarchism: society run by people getting together and doing things, and the Culture probably has a lot of these, but not much was ever spelled out besides Contact.
Some people say the characters are better, or the book warmer, than Culture books; certainly it's not as dark. Others have said it makes a mistake of taking the Culture seriously, whereas it's supposed to be an ironic utopia, held at arms-length; having read "A Few Notes on the Culture", I don't think Banks is all that ironic about the Culture. It may have some flaws, but compared to the alternatives?
I can't evaluate it as a Doctor Who book. Reportedly it's lighter in tone than most, lacking a death scene, and despite a few plot-related and relationship-related moments of tension or disappointment it pretty much is a happy holiday in paradise. Especially compared to the blurbs in the back for other books.
First Contract, Greg Costikyan
First contact, economics style. Aliens come to Earth, buy Jupiter for the equivalent of a good technical encyclopedia (with how-to's on fusion, life extension, aircars, and all that jazz) and the economy collapses under the weight of vastly superior high-tech products, while aliens come and buy things like "Dogs playing poker" paintings for vast sums. The protagonist eventually figures out Earth can claw its way up by exporting cheap plastic gimcrackery, like zero-gee drink bulb holders. The aliens could make them too, but they hadn't thought of it, and have better things to do, especially if any labor is involved. The words "comparative advantage" are not mentioned but underlie the novel.
Much recommended by some for showing the economics of a first contact situation; I find it okay. Once you have the basic idea, that's pretty much the book, plus some tension and action fueled by well-meaning inadvertent financial fraud and escapes from the Law. We get some practical economics, like how well-designed packaging 10x the cost of the product may boost sales enough to be worth the cost. And some implicit advice, that spouses with joint accounts should maybe also have some isolated money of their own, just in case the other partner suddenly tries to make off with everything. A decent light read, but I can't see re-reading it, not really finding it up to the hype.
But word was that this was a well-done heist, and many even said it was *better* than the originals, which aren't so numerous that they couldn't use some high-quality addition to their numbers. Since one of the '*better*' advocates was Mark Atwood (rasfw personality, libertarian, attacks the foofy socialism of the Culture), I'd had the impression that it was supposed to be better in the economics, having allocation be less vague and handwavy.
Conclusion: It is indeed well done. It's not just that it has the People (mostly lowercase "the people" in my copy) living in a paradisical Dyson sphere with smartass drones, smartass ships, and a maternal and whimsical overcomputer named God, or that the People are a genofixed blend of multiple alien races with mentally controlled sex change and reproductive control; much of the writing itself seems Banksian in style, as do the chapter titles, in a "kind of forgettable and I don't care but good job anyway" way. It wasn't necessarily worth the $40 I paid for an out-of-print paperback -- I think it's time for some back of the lorry scanning -- but I'd have no regrets about paying normal price for it.
It did not have an elaboration of the economics. (Nor did it have funny ship names; reportedly the publisher thought that was too much of a rip.) It did have more time spent in the Culture -- excuse me, People -- than any actual Culture book, though Excession and then Look to Windward have spent more time there than earlier ones. But it actually came out before Excession did, when our direct exposure to life in the Culture was the beginning of Player of Games and a few scenes in Use of Weapons. It does have a nice elaboration on People self-organization: Interest Groups, lots and lots of Interest Groups. Including the Interpersonal Dynamics IG (murder investigation, among other things), Xeno-Relations (Normalization) IG, (Contact/Special Circumstances), a Weird Cooking IG... this is in the finest tradition of old fashioned anarchism: society run by people getting together and doing things, and the Culture probably has a lot of these, but not much was ever spelled out besides Contact.
Some people say the characters are better, or the book warmer, than Culture books; certainly it's not as dark. Others have said it makes a mistake of taking the Culture seriously, whereas it's supposed to be an ironic utopia, held at arms-length; having read "A Few Notes on the Culture", I don't think Banks is all that ironic about the Culture. It may have some flaws, but compared to the alternatives?
I can't evaluate it as a Doctor Who book. Reportedly it's lighter in tone than most, lacking a death scene, and despite a few plot-related and relationship-related moments of tension or disappointment it pretty much is a happy holiday in paradise. Especially compared to the blurbs in the back for other books.
First Contract, Greg Costikyan
First contact, economics style. Aliens come to Earth, buy Jupiter for the equivalent of a good technical encyclopedia (with how-to's on fusion, life extension, aircars, and all that jazz) and the economy collapses under the weight of vastly superior high-tech products, while aliens come and buy things like "Dogs playing poker" paintings for vast sums. The protagonist eventually figures out Earth can claw its way up by exporting cheap plastic gimcrackery, like zero-gee drink bulb holders. The aliens could make them too, but they hadn't thought of it, and have better things to do, especially if any labor is involved. The words "comparative advantage" are not mentioned but underlie the novel.
Much recommended by some for showing the economics of a first contact situation; I find it okay. Once you have the basic idea, that's pretty much the book, plus some tension and action fueled by well-meaning inadvertent financial fraud and escapes from the Law. We get some practical economics, like how well-designed packaging 10x the cost of the product may boost sales enough to be worth the cost. And some implicit advice, that spouses with joint accounts should maybe also have some isolated money of their own, just in case the other partner suddenly tries to make off with everything. A decent light read, but I can't see re-reading it, not really finding it up to the hype.