[Moonbase-discuss] Re: Vol 1 #22 - Unfettered free enterprise

[spaceman@mindspring.com]

I also recommend Pournelle/Niven's book "Fallen Angels."  A rag-tag group of science fiction fans struggle to build a rocket ship to send two astronauts back to the space station (which declared independence from Earth).  The luddite government on Earth destroyed all rocket technology except for one, and a character (a thinly veiled Gary Hudson) helps the fans rebuild The Phoenix, a rocket he was never allowed to fly.

Sam

On Thu, 16 May 2002 12:45:10 -0700 Randall Clague <rclague@rclague.net> wrote:

At 11:22 AM 05/16/2002, Marc Majcher wrote:

>:The screenplay I'm currently writing involves a billionaire 
>capitalist(read: Bill Gates crossed with Richard Branson) building a 
>private colony on the moon to spur space tourism and exploration. I want 
>to dramatically explore the different perspectives on the 
>commercialization of space, pro and con.
>
>If you haven't already, you should check out Stephen Baxter's books
>"Manifold: Time" and "Manifold: Space".  While the story doesn't
>strictly deal with that (the plot gets really wacky pretty fast),
>there are central characters and themes that deal relatively
>realistically with those very issues.  I just finished the second one,
>and I'm starting to get pissed.  We should be there already.

Don't give anything away, I'm only 2/3 through M:T, and I haven't even 
bought the sequels yet.

Another relevant series is Michael Flynn's Firestar saga.  Firestar, Rogue 
Star, Lodestar, and Falling Stars, IIRC.  Similar meta-plot; billionaire 
industrialist force-grows Earth's spacefaring capability to meet an 
external threat only she takes seriously.  As I read Firestar, I was 
thinking, "It better not be this hard in real life - we don't have a 
motivated champion."

-R

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Randall Clague                                rclague@rclague.net

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