The Ingenious Gentleman of La Mancha

[Danik 2016]

The Long Way To A Small, Angry Planet, by Becky Chambers. Sounds interesting, Sancho!

[Sancho]

I’ve been having much fun reading this book so far. It’s a first novel by a young writer who originally self- published it. When I read sci-fi, more than probably any other genre, I just let go of the reality of the daily grind and go wherever the writer’s imagination wants to take me. And in this particular case we’re going on a somewhat Quixotic journey on the starship Voyager with a multi-species crew - Rosemary, Kizzy, Capt Ashby, Dr Chef, Sissix, Jenks, Lovelace, Ohan, and Corbin.

Here’s a sample. They’re discussing weapons proliferation and the development of a new weapon that targets genes:

Jenks shook his head. “Why can’t people just stick with bullets and energy bursts and be happy about it?”

“Because people are a**holes,” said Bear, dutifully keeping his head down. “Ninety percent of all problems are caused by people being a**holes.”

“What causes the other ten percent?” Asked Kizzy.

“Natural disasters,” said Nib.

I’m about halfway through the book and things are starting to look a little dicey for the crew. I’m not sure they know it yet, but I think they’re heading for an angry planet.

[Danik 2016]

There is something familiar about them. Are they inspired by Star Wars?

[Sancho]

Woo - tough question. There is a chapter in the book where the Voyager goes to Port Coriol for supplies and and a little R&R. Once there it sort of had the feel of the bar scene in the first Star Wars movie, but a lot of things remind me of the bar scene in Star Wars — New Orleans for instance. Or maybe a combination of smugglers in Star Wars and sailors at port in Shanghai in the 19th century. Anyway in tone the book feels much more like the cooperative/compassionate theme of Close Encounters than the good vs evil theme of Star Wars. Or perhaps it’s a little more Odyssey than Iliad. At any rate the writer is good at imagining different species, cultures, languages, and interspecies communication with a tilt towards getting along with each other rather than wiping out each other.

I’ll see where it goes. This book has kicked off a series of Voyager books by Ms Chambers. I think I may be hooked.