Here's a recording of Chopin's complete Mazurkas. Feel free to listen to a few or all. They're so cheery, how can you not be cheerful with them? Especially since here in Texas this morning it is a glorious 71 degrees.
Double Star by Robert A. HeinleinMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I like vintage Science Fiction novels and this fit the bill in every way. In many ways the science fiction of the 1950s were adventure stories that just happened to take place in outer space. The characters were even called "Space Cowboys" because the heroes did not act much differently then the romanticized versions of cattle herders.
Digression:
How did such a tedious job like taking care of cows metamorphose into a glamorous, "good guys conquering the villains" persona? Why did not skilled artisans ever develop such a reputation?
"Bif, the brick layer smelled trouble. Slowly he pulled out his trowel, and stealthily advanced toward the fast disappearing shadow just around the corner..."
Back to the review:
Double Star is a fun adventure story that had me wondering what was going to happen to the very end and, unlike some stories, resolves in a satisfying, convincing and also poignant way.
"If a man walks in dressed like a hick and acting as if he owned the place, he's a spaceman."
This is the first sentence of the story and the observation is made by our main character, Lawrence Smith, aka "the Great Lorenzo."
He might have been great but now he is an out of work actor trying to avoid creditors. He is sitting inside a bar when he sees the aforementioned man walk in. He strikes up a conversation with him and soon finds himself sucked into the vortex of an adventure.
I do not want to give anything away, but briefly, the spaceman Dak Broadbent needs the great Lorenzo to perform his greatest act ever: impersonate an intergalactic political figure for the future of the universe. If that sounds like a tall order, it is.
John Joseph Bonforte has made great strides in diplomatic dealings with Martians. So much so that the Martians want to make him one of them and have him perform a "nesting rite". Don't ask what that is. The upshot is that it will make Bonforte a fellow Martian and family. This will go far in bringing Martians into the Empire because they will see themselves as having a voice in the intergalactic government, something they don't have now, even though Earth has colonized the planet, although they apparently have not overpowered the Martians, which would make them a formidable foe if uncooperative with the empire's plans.
There is a faction, both human and Martian that are against this kind of union. They have therefore kidnapped Bonforte so he will be unable to attend the Martian rite.
Now, one thinks, so what? Surely the Martians will understand that he has been kidnapped and contrary to his own will, will not attend the ceremony.
No, they won't. Their idea of honor is that one deserves to die if they for any reason, even those beyond their control, do not follow through on their word. They are willing to die themselves for failing to follow through and would expect no less from a human.
The kidnappers know this and hope to destroy all diplomatic relations with Mars and the Empire as a result.
The solution? Hire an actor to impersonate Bonforte for the ceremony. The kidnappers won't dare reveal what they have done because it would turn everyone against them.
At first Lorenzo balks, but he soon grows attached to the idea of not only the challenge of what would undoubtedly be his greatest performance but of achieving something not just for himself but something greater for man (and Martian) kind.
The story is told in first person narrator by Lorenzo. He is a very likeable person and very human as he struggles with the part he is to play in this adventure and also how he thinks and calculates to pull everything off. We see his transformation as he "becomes" Bonforte. Heinlein succeeded in creating a character worth following around on this rather suspenseful story.
Things, naturally don't go smoothly, or it would be a much shorter story, so we get to ride along bumps and twists as unexpected plot turns arise.
This might be called an "old fashioned" science fiction story, but it is my favorite kind and they are mostly be the kind I read.
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12 comments:
i envision the inside of my brain as a sort of enormous library, similar to the one featured in the tv series, "The Librarian"... and way at the back, almost out of sight, a very faint flash of light represents my memory of reading Double Star in my teens... along with practically everything else Heinlein wrote... it was a great time for me, bookishly speaking, anyway, and those old sci fi authors were largely responsible for enabling me and many of my co-evals to survive into so-called "adulthood"... great post, Sharon, that really whooshed me back into the distant past...
Mudpuddle you are an excellent example of how voracious readers make good writers.
You put a powerful graphic in my head with your "brain library".
I had not read any Heinlein before, but my husband is a big fan and has quite a few of his books. I see myself reading many more in the future.
I know exactly what you mean about literature helping us survive adulthood. What would we do without those excursions into the imagination?
Great review Sharon.
I like Heinlein and I like old fashioned science fiction too. I have not read this book but I have seen it around for years. I also find the idea of real cowboys a little boring, though there have been good Westerns.
HI Brian. I just wonder how Cowboys came to be heroes fighting villains. Of course they also played the villains Hmmm....
I didn't realize Heinlein had written something like this, a space western...I'll have to find it and see how it compares to something like Firefly.
As to the cowboys typifying the west...well, there were range wars between ranchers (and sometimes between ranchers and farmers) that involved taking care of things "personally" -- involving hired men with guns instead of hired lawyers with guns. I don't know if we celebrate Cowboys as much as we do men of the Old West in general, but film has led us to having them all dress like cowboys. To the extent that there is a distinct American culture, I think western men - "cowboys" -- are its best example in their wariness about society and government, their self-reliance, and the sense that they were explorers. America was founded by colonists who left everything behind and tried to create a new life for themselves in a strange climate amid strange neighbors. The first westerners did, too, but they were able to stay in touch with the East, and so their stories were told and strengthened through media and such. Just a shot in the dark answer, though!
Sharon--a flash from the past. Must be decades, many decades, since I last read this one. I was on a RAH kick many years ago and read everything he wrote. But, that was long ago. Good review.
That's very interesting Stephen. What's also interesting from what I have read is that actually a third of cowboys were black or Hispanic and the vast majority came from the South driven West by the dank poverty after the Civil War. Hence the cowboy drawl is close cousins to the Southern accent.
Thanks, Fred. This is my first Heinlein and I am now encouraged to read more.
Sharon--my favorite among his later adult (in the original sense of the word) novels is _The Moon is A Harsh Mistress_.
Among his earlier juveniles it is _The Door into Summer_, primarily because of Petronius the Arbiter, the cat. If the weather was bad at the front door, he would always go to the back door, looking for the door into summer. I had a cat who did the same thing.
Interesting you should bring up the Moon book. My husband just ordered it for himself. And he has A Door in Summer. He has a lot of Heinlein's. I need to look through his collection. That's funny about the cat. It makes me think...
RT: that makes a lot of sense; politics is, imho, the art of turning simplicity into complexity...
HI R.T. I completely agree with you. I don't like any kind of political propaganda that is thinly veiled as literature. Just let me escape into the arms of alien life forms and a rollicking good adventure.
Mudpuddle: You have given me something to chew on.
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