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charles__ 's review for:
The Killing Star
by George Zebrowski, Charles Pellegrino
Twenty-five (25) year old, collection of Humans Are Survivors stories set in the aftermath of an Absolute Xenophobic Alien genocidal strike on a Colonized Solar System.
My dead tree format version was a modest 340-pages. It had a 1995 US copyright.
Charles Pellegrino is an American author of science fiction and non-fiction as wells as a screenwriter. He’s written five (5) science fiction novels and more than ten (10) non-fiction books. The last novel of his I read was [b:Flying to Valhalla|190705|Flying to Valhalla|Charles Pellegrino|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1206669451l/190705._SY75_.jpg|184374], which I remember liking.
George Zebrowski is an American author and editor of science fiction. He’s written more than twenty (20) science fiction novels. This is the first novel I’ve read by him.
A technically more advanced, race of uncontacted, xenophobic, aliens perform a genocidal first-strike on a future humanity which has colonized the solar system and begun interstellar exploration. The stories of five (5) separate groups scattered across the solar system surviving the strike and it's subsequent 'mop up' were chronicled. The book was best thought of as related short stories stemming from a common event and sharing world building. Some of the stories were better than others. There were also some inconsistency between the stories. At the time written, the science and world building were technically rigorous. (This was a hard-ish science fiction space opera.) For example, it’s an early use of the Interstellar Weapon trope in science fiction. None of the stories was particularly hopeful. This left me to believe a sequel was planned. However, one was never written.
Parts of the book were really good. For example, the Extinction Event was meticulously planned and described. I suspect I liked the stories that were largely written by Zebrowski, versus Pellegrino. For example, the ‘last couple’ on Earth story was primarily Pellegrino’s based on the Titanic theme; an event he specializes in. Word usage was complex. I also thought that in places the narrative to be too pedantic. In particular, the long polemics on religion and Intellectual Property were of no interest to me. 'Name Dropping' on quotes by obscure real-world personalities was also annoying. (The authors had aphorisms for every situation.) There were also slight differences in the world building of the stories. For example, the alien star ships were too inexplicably different between the 'Hide in the Sun' and 'Last Couple' stories. This led me to think the author's organization of the book included a tacit agreement for them to 'go their own way'?
It’s best to look at this book as five (5) interleaved short stories with separate sets of characters and each with a separate narrative and plot. None of the stories end well for the survivors. I frankly thought all the stories to have been flawed in one way or another. The stories were:
• The Last Couple on Earth get captured (Titanic theme)
• Best and Brightest Hide in the Sun
• Asteroid Belt: Ceres Gets pwned
• Outer Solar System: Scientific party escapes into Neptune’s atmosphere
• Outer Solar System: Space station escapes Saturn’s orbit for Oort Cloud
My favorite was the story of a comet re-fashioned into a spaceship by a dissident sect, which seeks to hide from the alien ‘mop-up’ by orbiting within the sun. However, even this story ended badly for the survivors.
World building in the book was quiet good, considering its 25-years old. The authors were using the best space science available to them. In particular, a lot of the space operatic scenes in the outer solar system pre-date Cassini and the other probes of the outer solar system from the last two (2) decades. The story's astronomy and planetary science holds up fairly well. The astronavigation, and space science were also excellent, and would have been advanced for the time of writing. In addition, there were several, early examples of science fiction literary devices which have since achieved trope status. For example, anti-matter spaceship propulsion, weaponized nanotech, and cloning through DNA scavenging.
I’d like to think of this book as an anthology on science fiction survival short stories written by two (2) authors. (As a novel, it would be crap.) The book felt like a sequel was planned. It was never written. So, it ended feeling unfinished. The stories were not hopeful for humanity. At best in a couple of the stories, the survivors don’t die, but have an uncertain future. [a:Annalee Newitz's|191888|Annalee Newitz|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1518708368p2/191888.jpg], Scatter, Adapt, and Remember was brought to mind reading this. In addition, in several stories there was a too obvious doctrinaire attitude that should have been edited out. In terms of the plotting for the genocide of humanity and the world building, the story was quite good. I can’t recommend this book for easy and uplifting reading. However, it was of historical interest in terms of its early use of the tropes that developed later.
My dead tree format version was a modest 340-pages. It had a 1995 US copyright.
Charles Pellegrino is an American author of science fiction and non-fiction as wells as a screenwriter. He’s written five (5) science fiction novels and more than ten (10) non-fiction books. The last novel of his I read was [b:Flying to Valhalla|190705|Flying to Valhalla|Charles Pellegrino|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1206669451l/190705._SY75_.jpg|184374], which I remember liking.
George Zebrowski is an American author and editor of science fiction. He’s written more than twenty (20) science fiction novels. This is the first novel I’ve read by him.
A technically more advanced, race of uncontacted, xenophobic, aliens perform a genocidal first-strike on a future humanity which has colonized the solar system and begun interstellar exploration. The stories of five (5) separate groups scattered across the solar system surviving the strike and it's subsequent 'mop up' were chronicled. The book was best thought of as related short stories stemming from a common event and sharing world building. Some of the stories were better than others. There were also some inconsistency between the stories. At the time written, the science and world building were technically rigorous. (This was a hard-ish science fiction space opera.) For example, it’s an early use of the Interstellar Weapon trope in science fiction. None of the stories was particularly hopeful. This left me to believe a sequel was planned. However, one was never written.
Parts of the book were really good. For example, the Extinction Event was meticulously planned and described. I suspect I liked the stories that were largely written by Zebrowski, versus Pellegrino. For example, the ‘last couple’ on Earth story was primarily Pellegrino’s based on the Titanic theme; an event he specializes in. Word usage was complex. I also thought that in places the narrative to be too pedantic. In particular, the long polemics on religion and Intellectual Property were of no interest to me. 'Name Dropping' on quotes by obscure real-world personalities was also annoying. (The authors had aphorisms for every situation.) There were also slight differences in the world building of the stories. For example, the alien star ships were too inexplicably different between the 'Hide in the Sun' and 'Last Couple' stories. This led me to think the author's organization of the book included a tacit agreement for them to 'go their own way'?
It’s best to look at this book as five (5) interleaved short stories with separate sets of characters and each with a separate narrative and plot. None of the stories end well for the survivors. I frankly thought all the stories to have been flawed in one way or another. The stories were:
• The Last Couple on Earth get captured (Titanic theme)
• Best and Brightest Hide in the Sun
• Asteroid Belt: Ceres Gets pwned
• Outer Solar System: Scientific party escapes into Neptune’s atmosphere
• Outer Solar System: Space station escapes Saturn’s orbit for Oort Cloud
My favorite was the story of a comet re-fashioned into a spaceship by a dissident sect, which seeks to hide from the alien ‘mop-up’ by orbiting within the sun. However, even this story ended badly for the survivors.
Spoiler
In the narrative of another story the reader learns that later the sect suicides by taking the Sun nova.World building in the book was quiet good, considering its 25-years old. The authors were using the best space science available to them. In particular, a lot of the space operatic scenes in the outer solar system pre-date Cassini and the other probes of the outer solar system from the last two (2) decades. The story's astronomy and planetary science holds up fairly well. The astronavigation, and space science were also excellent, and would have been advanced for the time of writing. In addition, there were several, early examples of science fiction literary devices which have since achieved trope status. For example, anti-matter spaceship propulsion, weaponized nanotech, and cloning through DNA scavenging.
I’d like to think of this book as an anthology on science fiction survival short stories written by two (2) authors. (As a novel, it would be crap.) The book felt like a sequel was planned. It was never written. So, it ended feeling unfinished. The stories were not hopeful for humanity. At best in a couple of the stories, the survivors don’t die, but have an uncertain future. [a:Annalee Newitz's|191888|Annalee Newitz|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1518708368p2/191888.jpg], Scatter, Adapt, and Remember was brought to mind reading this. In addition, in several stories there was a too obvious doctrinaire attitude that should have been edited out. In terms of the plotting for the genocide of humanity and the world building, the story was quite good. I can’t recommend this book for easy and uplifting reading. However, it was of historical interest in terms of its early use of the tropes that developed later.