Tag: space

The Six by Loren Grush (Non-fiction)

This is the story of the first six women admitted to NASA’s astronaut corps. Drawn from extensive research, interviews, personal papers, etc, it is a blended story that follows each woman from an initial interest (often as children) through to the 1986 Challenger disaster. The narrative focus moved between what it meant for women to (finally) be allowed into the profession, and what it meant to be an astronaut regardless of gender or race. I much preferred the second theme as the level of detail — the (long) training regimen, the detailed prep for each mission, the nightmarish (for some) experience of requisite PR duty, and the actual experience of being in space and on a mission was completely engaging and well documented without a lot of extraneous agenda or overwrought emotion.


The focus on the barriers the women faced and how they were treated as women was actually well done. NASA made a decision to encourage women and minorities to apply to their historic recruitment of Mission Specialists for the new space shuttle program. The focus was completely on the competency of the women under consideration, who were put to the same tests and held to the same expectations as the men. They passed with flying colors — without the need to make changes to the requirements in any way in order to accommodate women. There were a few stories about pranks, teasing, and a Playboy centerfold or two, but nobody got “offended”and everybody simply focussed on doing a great job. The media was irritatingly focussed on asking about “romance in space,” whether the women “weeped” during training, or attacking the morality of a mother for considering such a career, but the women took these questions in stride, answering calmly and rationally and letting the ridiculous questioners look like the fools (IMHO). I was annoyed by the commentary in the prolog and epilog about the need for achieving representation of women and minorities in the astronaut corps — something I disagree with completely. I’m all for equal opportunity, equal pay, and equal recognition — I see no reason for any profession to have its practitioners exactly mirror the gender and racial makeup of the population at large. Get the best! And certainly none of “the six” were turned away from their space dreams by the lack of women role models. So there!


I particularly enjoyed all the details about the space flights — the (multi-year) training routines, the detailed prep for each mission, and the individual experiences on board — both the awe and the practical details on how difficult every day tasks such as movement, eating, and yes, toileting, becomes when one is weightless. I was also intrigued by the medical experiments designed to understand the impact of weightlessness on our internal fluid systems (think blood and a pumping heart). Not something I had considered before. Overall, a clear, engaging description of what it is like to be an astronaut, with personal focus on the journeys of the first six women to take the plunge.

(SF) Atlas Alone by Emma Newman

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Berkley Publishing Group — Ace through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The book will be published on April 16, 2019.
Writing: 3/5 Plot: 3.5/5 Characters: 4/5

Elite gamer Dee Whittaker is 43 years old when she finds herself on a ship headed to the outer galaxies on a 20 year trip. She and the other 10,000 people on board are probably all that’s left of humanity as a nuclear war was launched by someone on the ship as a parting gift. Now she has just one mission left — find out who launched that strike. She gets help from an unexpected place…

The novel is for gamers — most of the action transpires under the guise of mysterious games she plays on board at the invitation of “a friend.” The games are very personalized — too personalized. She finds herself in game situations that are far too close to her own traumatic past. Our first-person narrative heroine has some real trust issues — her line: “I smirk at the way life always finds a way to remind me that I am fucked” says it all. As we play the games with her and are treated to scenes from her past, we come to understand this sentiment.

Triggered by these unwelcome reminders of where she came from, she works towards her goal of identification and retribution while simultaneously and studiously *not* dealing with the emotional detritus of her experiences. The ending is a big surprise (at least I didn’t see it coming) and there are some interesting themes of sentience vs programming for both AIs and human beings.

From a literary perspective, this is a good book. Great pacing, a Heinlein-style straightforward writing style and story elements that remind me of Wool, Neuromancer, and Diamond Age. From a “mood enhancing” perspective, it’s pretty sucky. The author makes no bones about writing “dark” fiction, and this book is plenty dark. There is more negative stereotyping than I like — Americans are all tarred with the religious nut brush: “To be American is to be openly, passionately, religious” and “What exactly do they mean by the American way of life? Hypocrisy? Lack of respect for anyone or anything that refuses to adopt its culture? Institutional racism and misogyny? Which Christian values exactly? What sort of religious observance?” To be fair, I realized that if the “bad guys” had been Muslim fanatics I probably wouldn’t have noticed so that was an eye-opener for me.

Bottom line — a fast, engaging read. Mostly action with threads of exploration of sentience, morality and ethics, and self-exploration.