Triffids Beard 2 - The Bearded Triffid

With Higher Education, Sheffield and Pournelle venture into the territory of the Heinlein juvenile, an
honourable tradition. Nobody did it as well as Heinlein did. Whole generations of us grew up on those
brilliant books and they will be remembered and cherished and re-read long after the excesses of his
later career are forgotten. But now, for the first time in forty years, Heinlein has a rival. Higher
Education is enthralling in the same way that those early Heinlein novels were enthralling. Rick Luban
gets kicked out of school when a practical joke backfires. He has nowhere to go and it seems he is
destined to be a bum. But he gets a second chance when he is persuaded to sign up for a career in
asteroid mining. The novel details his days in the training school and on the asteroids. It is a typical rite of
passage novel (Heinlein wrote it a thousand times) but familiarity with the theme doesn't destroy the
magic. The book is powerful, moving and above all FUN.
Allen Steele's new novel The Tranquillity Alternative is an alternate world novel set in the near future.
In this alternative twentieth century, the second world war culminated with a battle in low Earth orbit as a
Nazi spaceship heading for America is destroyed. This boost to America's space effort paid dividends in
the immediate post war years, although military applications took priority of course. But now it is the
1990s and space is old hat and expensive and America is tired. On the dark side of the moon six missile
silos stand in silence. The war they were built for never happened. The moonbase has been sold to
private interests in Europe and one last American mission will be flown to disarm the missiles. But a
terrorist group has other ideas...
It's just a thriller really. The alternate history is well worked out and convincing, but it's only window
dressing. The book is just a very ordinary thriller. Steele is seen in much better form in his anthology All
American Alien Boy. The stories all take place on Earth, in the American mid-west and each is prefaced
with a little autobiographical squib discussing how the story came to be written. The stories and articles
complement each other well and the collection is a very satisfying read.
The Ringworld Throne is boring.
The Encyclopedia of Fantasy is the companion volume to the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.
Like the earlier volume it is a superb work of scholarship, a brilliant reference book and a damned good
read. What more do you want, for heaven's sake?
The vet expressed admiration at Milo's stylish new pullover and wielded the cortisone needle again. The
wound was healing well; the scabs were almost gone and hair was starting to grow again. The pullover,
however, should remain for at least another week. Milo drooped visibly when he heard this. For the next
three or four days all was as before while (as became obvious in retrospect) Milo hatched his cunning
scheme.
One morning he ate breakfast as normal and stared in utter bewilderment at the cat flap as usual (he
has always found the cat flap an intellectual challenge) and then went outside. A little later he returned
strutting proudly without his pullover. I have no idea where it went (or how) but it seemed best to accept
the status quo.
That was a week ago. Today the site of his wound started to bleed again. Another pullover would appear
to be indicated. It only remains to decide on a colour...
Jan Needle A Fine Boy for Killing Harper Collins
James White The Galactic Gourmet Tor
Mike Resnick and Martin H. Greenberg Return of the Dinosaurs DAW
John Barnes Washington's Dirigible Harper Prism
Terence M. Green Shadow of Ashland Tor
Joe Haldeman None so Blind AvoNova
Vietnam and Other Alien Worlds NESFA Press
Nevil Shute Slide Rule Pan
Charles Sheffield and Jerry Pournelle Higher Education Tor