Insta-review
Posted on October 28, 2006 Posted by John Scalzi 9 Comments
Glenn “Instapundit” Reynolds has nice things to say about The Android’s Dream:
I thought it was quite good, though it was nothing like Old Man’s War or Ghost Brigades, it was more lighthearted and focused on interstellar diplomacy. Not quite in the vein of Keith Laumer’s Retief stories, but occasionally I got a bit of that feel.
I think that’s about right. It’s also not the first time that Laumer and Retief have been namechecked vis a vis Android’s Dream. Glenn’s right in that the storytelling is rather different than in the Retief series, but inasmuch as that series is science fiction’s best-known series involving interstellar diplomacy, SF-oriented reviewers are likely to triangulate off of it when talking about TAD, especially since both have a satirical edge to them. Not counting Baen’s 2002 posthumous collection of Retief stories, it’s been more than a dozen years since the last novel featuring the character. This particular SF field has laid fallow for a bit, which makes it fun to play in.
Those of you who have not heard of or read the Retief series, the Baen Free Library has the 2002 Retief! compilation for your perusal. Have fun with it.
And now we watch the Amazon rating for the Insta-bounce. At this moment: 3,265.
I suspect the bounce will be smaller this time around — lots of folks hit it the first time Glenn mentioned it, and it’s also the weekend.
That’s a good justification for keeping your expectations low. ;)
Interstellar diplomacy isn’t completely gone.
Bujold’s Vorkosigan stuff — especially the later novels — certainly fall under this category. A number of Resnick’s tales are very similar to Retief in tone and subject matter (although often more fatalistic).
But now I want to read TAD even more!
So. When does the Last Colony come out?
May.
John Scalzi:
Does your publisher line up the usual dog/pony shows in the national media?
Just curious if the SciFi world works the same as nonfiction trade…
Mactavish
I do a fair amount of national publicity for SF, but it’s a different deal than for non-fiction. It’s easier to get bookings in non-fiction than in genre, particularly SF.
Okay, when may the Last Colony come out?