From archive (archive) Subject: The Uplift War From: Cate3.PA@xerox.com Date: 27 Apr 87 16:53:19 GMT Picked up a copy of 'The Uplift War' by David Brin last friday afternoon. Finished it saturday. The bottom line is if you enjoyed 'Sundiver' or 'Startide Rising', you'll enjoy this. If you haven't read the first two, get them, they are good. Don't really need to read them to enjoy 'The Uplift War'. 'The Uplift War' is a big book, just over 500 pages. David Brin uses the same format as 'Startide Rising', of poping from character viewpoint to character viewpoint. This book is not a sequel to 'Startide Rising', so much as a story which starts about the same time at 'Startide Rising', maybe even before, then ends about a year later. The story flows very nicely. Had trouble putting it down. The first edition is less than 4000 copies. It is hardcover, at $22.00. Don't know when the next edition is planned. Miner Spoiler, not much more than the inside of the cover... The story takes place on one of the colony planets, Garth, Earth has been able to get. An alien race, Gubu, decides to capture the planet and hold the humans as hostages to force Earth to share the knowledge the 'Streaker' found in 'Startide Rising'. Unfortunatly Earth doesn't have any data. The Gubu capture just humans. The Chims, chimpaanzees, are a young race, only sapient for a couple hundred years, no threat. Ha! One human, a few aliens, and the chims cause lots of trouble. Had a problem with the story. I was expecting some resolution to the 'Streaker' discoveries. This isn't really about a war, just a couple battles on an unimportant planet. Kind of neat how the bad guys are fooled, but the tittle is misleading. Was expecting to see the future atleast five or ten years from the time of 'Startide Rising'. Over all the book is good. Now, does anyone know when the next book in the Uplift universe will be out? Have a good day. Henry III cate3.pa@xerox.com From archive (archive) Subject: "Earth" by Brin From: john@hpnmdla.HP.COM (John McLaughlin) Organization: HP Network Measurements Div, Santa Rosa, CA Date: 26 Feb 90 21:21:31 GMT Well I just finished an advanced copy of Brin's "Earth". (My brother works at a bookstore and I guess they send out advance copies to drum up interest). Some facts: The copyright date on the front of the book says "March 1990" ????? (this was a little strange since I read it in february) The copy I had was missing many of the firgures (this fact was made painfully obvious because of comments Brin put in ther like ) This was a fairly longish book (forgot the page count but it took me almost a week of fairly intense reading to finish). On the back of the book they promised "* To be released in Hardcover June 1990 * Initial printing of 50,000 * Advertising budget of $50,000" So it looks like you can expect to see it this June. In general I thought it was about an "Average" Brin, now don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed this book but compared to the rest of his work it was "Average" (of course Brin is not an average author, this book would be fantastic by an "Average" author). My main complaints were that it dragged a bit in places, and had nothing to do with uplift! :-) ** Warning a mini-review follows, possible spoilers ** In general I enjoyed the book the setting is about the year 2050 and the Earth is a mess (hence the name). The greenhouse effects has made much of the surface inhospitible, the oceans are rising, animals are becoming extinct at an amazing rate. To combat this the people of earth have created giant "Arks" to house animals. The "NET" has become worldwide with everyone getting free access (USENET has run amuck) in fact he makes a reference to some of the groups (soc.science or some such thing, not rec.sf-lovers unfortunately) Just when start getting depressed at how messed up the world is we discover that some aliens have launched a small black hole into the interior of the Earth and is silently eating until it consumes the earth. "Earth" Look for it this June. From archive (archive) From: erc@tybalt.caltech.edu (Eric R. Christian) Organization: California Institute of Technology Subject: David Brin Date: 27 Jan 89 03:54:56 GMT Someone a week ago or so asked if anyone knew what David Brin's next novel was. Well he gave a talk here last night (1/26) and did some readings from it. It's called _Earth_ and sounds pretty good. It takes place about 50 years in the future, there are 10 Billion people on the planet, and natural resources have been mostly used. They're still making it, but just barely. There's been one major war since the present, Switzerland and a few other countries against everybody else, but we final get the financial records from them. He did some really nice readings from the inter-chapter interludes which deal with the history of the earth. The book is about 90% written, and he had just sold it to Bantam. He also left a draft with the Science Fiction Club library here, so that we can read it and give him any constructive criticism we might have. As soon as I wrench it away from the Caltech Science Fiction Club's #1 (I'm #2) I'll give a more complete report. Eric R. Christian erc@tybalt.caltech.edu From rec.arts.sf.written Thu May 6 17:20:18 1993 Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written Path: lysator.liu.se!isy!liuida!sunic!pipex!doc.ic.ac.uk!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!decwrl!netcomsv!netcom.com!dani From: dani@netcom.com (Dani Zweig) Subject: David Brin: "Glory Season" Message-ID: Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest) Date: Wed, 5 May 1993 08:05:24 GMT Lines: 65 Glory Season was the youngest daughter of Ida and Melvin Season. One day she was walking to market, when Oops, sorry, wrong Glory Season. "Glory Season", David Brin's new book, may or may not be the best science fiction book of 1993: We'll have to wait eight more months to find out. Certainly it'll be one of the best. Brin has done it again. Stratos is a world settled long ago by a visionary who sought a stable and peaceful society, and sought to achieve it by changing some of the settlers' biological imperatives. The main change was that most children are (female) clones of the mother. Multiple generations of clones tend to form clans which take a long view. About twenty percent of the population is created the old-fashioned way -- boys and non-cloned girls -- which makes for continuing diversity and flexibility. The girls -- 'vars' -- are tossed out to sink or swim. Maia, the protagonist, is tossed out at a particularly unsettled time. The outside universe has come knocking, and Stratos's isolation is about to end. A key entry in the visitor's diary begins "I might have it all wrong. This grand experiment isn't about sex, after all. The goal of minimizing the danger and strife inherent in males...that was all window dressing. The real issue was cloning. Giving humans an alternative means of copying themselves." A useful thought for a reader who tries to focus upon "Glory Season" as a book about, or in response to, some flavor of radical feminism. The book is nothing so simple. Rather, it's in the best sf tradition of taking an idea and seeing how far it's possible to run with it. The book does a masterful job of world-building, and an even better job of pacing the reader's exposure to this world. We don't learn too much about the physical world of Stratos, but we keep digging deeper and deeper into the society. Not that Brin doesn't do a fine job of dropping interesting physical tidbits. Somewhere near the end of the first chapter -- easy to miss -- we learn in passing that the people of Stratos have given themselves nictitating membranes. (I think their color vision is also skewed.) But most of the attention is on the social world the inhabitants have made for themselves. At the start of the book an astute reader will notice that Stratos society is under stress, that the traditional ways aren't working so well any more. But there's such a thing as being too astute: Brin hasn't gone to all this trouble just to set up a straw man. We subsequently learn that the society is a highly resilient one, that it has been under far worse stress in the past, and that it has always adjusted. Of course, they haven't had the outside universe at their doorstep before. Excellent book. Thoughtful and thought-provoking. Though, just so the reader won't get bored, the protagonist spends most of her time getting drowned, shot, kidnapped, drugged... well, let's just say she's a tad accident-prone. This book *is* worth hardcover prices. ----- Dani Zweig dani@netcom.com "The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity." -- W.B. Yeats From rec.arts.sf.written Tue Nov 16 12:02:27 1993 Xref: liuida rec.arts.sf.written:40066 rec.arts.books:69490 alt.books.reviews:1646 Path: liuida!sunic!EU.net!uunet!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!news.umbc.edu!haven.umd.edu!cville-srv.wam.umd.edu!cbaker From: cbaker@wam.umd.edu (C. Douglas Baker) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written,rec.arts.books,alt.books.reviews Subject: THE POSTMAN by David Brin Book Review by C. Douglas Baker Date: 15 Nov 1993 20:52:19 GMT Organization: University of Maryland, College Park Lines: 89 Message-ID: <2c8q63$32r@cville-srv.wam.umd.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: rac1.wam.umd.edu THE POSTMAN by David Brin Book Review by C. Douglas Baker THE POSTMAN is set sixteen years after a cataclysmic event (presumably a nuclear war although there is room for speculation that it may have been some other disaster such as a large comet hitting the earth) has plunged the world to the brink of a dark age. Trying to survive in Oregon's Cascade Mountains, Gordon Krantz happens upon a run-down United States Postal Service jeep while trying to find a warm place to sleep and spends the night. Taking the leather jacket and cap off the skeleton of his unfortunate bunk-mate, with the full regalia of the U.S. Postal Service as accoutrements, and a sack full of old mail, Gordon sets off to hunt supplies. Thus begins Gordon's almost unconscious generation of a false legend. Attempting to extort supplies from settlement in the mountains, Gordon comes up with a story about a "Reformed United States" to the east and the reorganization of a Postal Service. Using his newly acquired postal gear as props, Gordon takes upon himself the role of a "postal inspector" who has come to reestablish postal routes and "inspect" local governmental institutions. He even, luckily, comes up with a few letters from the mailbag addressed to relatives of people in the community as a ruse to bolster his story. Through this reckless prevarication Gordon weaves his way into the good graces of the people he comes into contact with, simply by being a catalyst to their nostalgic remembrance of a time when the United States was a superpower and the postal service was so reliable as to be taken for granted. Gordon's "big lie" offers hope of a return to better times. Traveling around in this persona, Gordon lets the legend grow, even appointing "postal inspectors" in various areas as he goes along, creating a loyal cadre of "followers". As the legend takes hold, Gordon finds that he cannot tell the truth or back out of the duty that communities impose on him--that being giving them some hope that a better world is ahead and doing something to bring that future about. They believe in Gordon and his "Reformed United States" and he cannot let them down. Despite a very promising plot, THE POSTMAN is a bit frustrating. Authors using a post-holocaust world as their setting must viscerally convey the extent of the catastrophe and the eeriness of a post-technological world. Brin in THE POSTMAN fails to do so. The reader never really emotionally feels the impact of the disaster and the odds facing the main character, Gordon. As a result, the book never delivers the emotional blow that is necessary to make the struggle back to a semblance of civilization satisfying to the reader. Brin is too contrite in his brief descriptions of run down cities, empty wildernesses, and struggling communities. The novel just does not "feel" like it is set in a post-holocaust society, despite that the characters and actions take place there. Brin also fails to bring life to his characters. Even the main character, Gordon, is not as well drawn as he could be. Brin does an even less stellar job at developing his peripheral characters. When important persons are suddenly killed the reader does not feel the sense of grief that great authors can convey, because the reader never really "knew" the character. This is particularly true of his female hero Dana. Her attempts to save her community and the fate of her band of "scouts" does not touch the reader because Brin never fully cultivates the reader's sympathy or understanding for her or her comrades. That being said, I actually enjoyed the novel (surprise!). Despite feeling estranged from the characters and plot, Brin's prose and ability to write action scenes and keep the story moving made it an enjoyable reading experience. There is also one nice quote that sums up the point of the story: "Freedom was wonderful beyond relief. But with it came that bitch, Duty (p. 270). (Although this may be Brin's attempt to paraphrase someone else.) %T The Postman %A David Brin %C New York %D 1985 %I Bantam Books $5.99 (pbk) %G ISBN 0-533-27874-6 (pbk) %P 321 Doug Baker cb52@umail.umd.edu cbaker@wam.umd.edu From rec.arts.sf.reviews Sun Mar 6 01:02:37 1994 Path: liuida!sunic!pipex!howland.reston.ans.net!math.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!news.kei.com!hookup!news.sprintlink.net!dg-rtp!sheol!dont-reply-to-paths From: aaron@amisk.cs.ualberta.ca (Humphrey Aaron V) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Subject: Prograde Reviews--David Brin:Glory Season Approved: sfr%sheol@concert.net (rec.arts.sf.reviews moderator) Message-ID: <94Mar4.103717-0700.138984@amisk.cs.ualberta.ca> Date: 05 Mar 94 20:26:18 GMT Lines: 66 David Brin: Glory Season [Some spoilers] _Glory Season_ is a book that belongs up there with Tepper's _The Gate To Women's Country_ and Vonarburg's _In The Mother's Land_(a.k.a. _The Maerlande Chronicles_) What do these books have in common? Examination of gender roles, in a society where women are in control and men in a subordinate role. In _Glory Season_, there are three kinds of people--men, clones, and vars. Clones and vars are both female, but with a difference. Vars and males are the product of sexual reproduction, clones of amazonogenesis, where the male is necessary for conception but contributes nothing genetically to the child. Reproductive systems have been tied to seasonal cues so that in the summer, men are more inclined towards sex and violence, and women will produce vars or male children; in the winter, men are more docile, but the women are more eager to reproduce, since at this point they will produce clone-children. (Winter is also called "Glory Season", because of an iridescent substance called glory that falls from the sky during these times. Hence the title.) Vars, if they can find an unused niche and thrive, can found clone-families of their own, which is every var's ambition, and one in which few succeed. Males tend to be sailors; in some parts of the world, they're shut away in the summer so they don't cause trouble. They also play various versions of Conway's Game of Life as a form of recreation. The main character is a var named Maia, who has a twin sister Leie, which makes them somewhat of an oddity--not quite clones, but closer than most vars. They leave their clan-home and set off in search of their fortunes. They quickly get separated when their ships are attacked by pirates, and for most of the book Maia thinks Leie is dead. Maia ends up working inland, where she stumbles onto some unsavoury activities involving a drug that makes men more enthusiastic in the winter; she is found out and thrown into a prison. There she makes the acquaintance of [], whom she later(when they are both rescued)finds out is a male. And not just any male--a male from space. The rest of the book involves their attempts to get [] back to the capital. In the process, they stumble on the remnants of an ancient stronghold of men, and then of ancient technology, and try to escape from their numerous enemies. Then they have to start deciding how to deal with rejoining the rest of humanity. It starts a bit slowly, but once Maia gets herself into trouble it doesn't let up much. Brin avoids a few of the more obvious things he could have done, and pulls out a surprise or two before the end. And it has a fair bit to say about relations between the sexes, too, though it rarely or never descends into didacticism. %A Brin, David %T Glory Season %I Bantam Spectra %C New York %D June 1993 %G ISBN 0-553-07645-0 %P 564 pp. %O Hardcover -- --Alfvaen(Editor of Communique) Current Album--Chris de Burgh:Flying Colours Current Read--Joan D. Vinge:The Summer Queen "Hold on to yourself--this is gonna hurt like hell." --Sarah McLachlan From rec.arts.sf.reviews Wed Apr 6 14:17:40 1994 Path: liuida!sunic!trane.uninett.no!eunet.no!EU.net!howland.reston.ans.net!gatech!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!zip.eecs.umich.edu!yeshua.marcam.com!hookup!news.sprintlink.net!dg-rtp!sheol!dont-reply-to-paths From: terman@rossi.astro.nwu.edu (James Terman) Organization: Northwestern University, Evanston, IL Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Subject: Review of GLORY SEASON by David Brin Approved: sfr%sheol@concert.net (rec.arts.sf.reviews moderator) Message-ID: <2nsm7g$emg@news.acns.nwu.edu> Date: Tue, 05 Apr 1994 23:24:20 GMT Lines: 184 Review of GLORY SEASON by David Brin No doubt every struggling science fiction author dreams of establishing a popular series that will cause their publisher to offer lucrative advance after advance in hope of getting more stories. This fantasy must get ever more appealing as the rejection notices pile up. However, I suspect the reality of creating a popular series can grow to be more frustrating than even a stack of rejection notices piled to the ceiling. At least when a story has been rejected, one can start afresh on a brand new story. By contrast, a successful series leads to clamor for story after story from fans even if (1) there are no new stories to be done in this series, (2) the author would like to try something new, (3) the author is getting heartily sick of this series whatever the financial rewards, (1) and (2), (2) and (3), (1) and (3), or (1), (2) and (3). Of course, we fans have no sympathy with this attitude. We have paid good money for all the previous books in the series and we want new ones! The sooner the better! And it should be better than the previous one, or we'll say that he's lost it! Even neglecting the author's artistic feelings (or pretensions as the case may be), this attitude has many dangers. The least of these dangers is not reading an excellent novel in a fit of pique because its not the latest installment in a series that you have been breathlessly awaiting. Such is certainly the case with David Brin, whose previous book, EARTH, was quite neglected and unfairly criticized for no reason, I believe, other than it was not an Uplift series book. It would be a shame if GLORY SEASON was not read for similar reason as I believe this one of the best examples of world-building in SF that I have read in awhile. One reason that SF lends itself to series-building (and there are those who heavily criticize this trend) is that one has to not only create characters and a plot but also a whole world as well. If one wants to make this world be realistic, three-dimensional and rich, one could easily spend more time on world-building than writing the story itself. GLORY SEASON describes a world that is such an excellent example of world-building that many an author would be happy to build a whole series of books around it rather than just one. GLORY SEASON takes place on Stratos, a world settled as a radical experiment in social and genetic engineering. The women have two ways to reproduce. If they mate in the planet's winter (both techniques require actual intercourse with a man), the child will be a clone of the mother. Mating in the summer will produce an ordinary child with the usual mix of genes from the mother and father. Such children are known as "vars" and have a precarious position in the planet's society. Most of the planet's social structure is made up of clone families of women who have established a niche for themselves. Obviously, such a society is very stable as each clone line passes down from one genetic copy to the next. Since there is no place for vars in a clone line, most vars are educated by their families until they come of age and have to go out and find a place for themselves. Only if they succeed in finding a place for themselves do they have any hope to get rich enough to start their own clone line. Most vars live their life without succeeding dying childless (of either type). Only vars act as any force for change and most vars are anxious to be founders of their own clone families. Vars to a certain extent are an expendable safety valve for Stratos. If times are good, than most vars will live on the fringes of society. Only in a crisis, when flexibility is most needed, will vars have a chance of establishing themselves. Women are most interested in sex during the Winter while men are most interested in sex during the summer. Obviously, they each have biological reasons for behaving this way, but their interest in sex is also governed by environmental clues that take place during the planet's seasons. One Stratos years is about three to four Earth years. Since each sex is clued to reproduce when its in its genetic interest to do so (Men obviously don't get anything out of trying to reproduce in the winter and women are 50% related to a summer child rather than 100% to a winter child), the set up on Stratos is inherently stable and has remained mostly unchanged for several thousand years. According to their own history, the society of Stratos was set up in reaction to domination of women by men on Earth. On Stratos, the society is dominated by female clone lines. Men live somewhat rootless lives as sea-goers although each ship tends to have a group of women that they return to during each gender's mating season. The subordination of men is achieved by cultural conditioning and emphasized by the fact that men are only aggressive as Earth men during the summer mating season. However, each sex has an interest in being nice to each other. If men want to get laid during the summer (when they want it as much as Earth men do), they better do their duty in the winter (when they just as soon be bowling :-). While most groups on Stratos follow the pattern mentioned above, there are minority groups that follow alternate patterns. There are a few groups where it is the clone children who leave and the var children who stay. There is a larger (and more persistent) group, Perkenites who try to live without men as much as possible. Every once in awhile, the Perkenite clans use a drug that turns men randy year around so that they may produce only clone children. This is an illegal abuse of a drug that was intended to be used only when it was deemed that normal male aggression was necessary. This did happen once early in the colony history when a ship of the Enemy (which seems to be a mysterious opponent of the human race) happened upon their planet. It was decided that male warriors were needed and the drug was used. Afterwards, the men tried to establish themselves a greater role in Stratos society which was eventually stamped out. The official history is that this group of men, called the Kings, wanted to establish Earth-style domination of women, although it is hinted that this might be victor's history. In any event, it explains why the role of men in Stratos society is as submissive as it is. I have devoted a lot of space to the world of Stratos rather then summarizing the plot because I feel that this is the most interesting part of GLORY SEASON. Engineered societies have a long history in SF from Heinlein's BEYOND THIS HORIZON to LeGuin's LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS. Most seem to be shallow utopias to illustrate some point that is uppermost in the author's mind. Stratos, while obviously engineered, does function as real three-dimensional society with real people, both good and bad, in it. Stratos is better in some ways than Earth, worse in others. Whether you would prefer to live in Stratos or on Earth would depend on your personal tastes (and probably your gender!). Equally as important, the biology of the people in Stratos was set up well that I could not think of any loopholes in it. All obvious consequences of such a change in human reproduction seemed to be explored in the story. This is important, for if the world of Stratos does not make sense, the story itself will be hard pressed to make sense itself. The plot of GLORY SEASON is a coming of age story that centers around the character of Maia. Maia is a var with an identical twin (a form of cloning that happens both on Earth and Stratos). At the beginning of the story, she leaves the clone family that raised and educated her (in a rather institutional creche) to try to carve out her own niche in the world. For Stratos this is pretty standard pattern that millions of vars before her have followed. But Maia gets caught up, quite by happenstance, in the greatest crisis her planet has had since they drove off the Enemy. A representive from the Human Phylum (a term that indicates that Stratos is only one of many genetic experiments to take place in human history), the Outsider, has found Stratos. Renna (an unmodified man!) is part of a group of explorers that is determined to bring together all the scattered human populations in the Galaxy. In fact, he is the only forward scout for a load of colonist already on their way. Curiously, not much changes in the story. Maia changes a great deal which is why I say the plot of GLORY SEASON is a coming of age story. Stratos, however, changes little. It is certainly clear the planet will have to change a great deal in the future, but by the end of the story Stratos still has not gotten over its cultural shock enough to know what to do. The end of the story is definitely left open for a sequel, and it would certainly be tempting for Brin to come back to world he has so richly constructed. The world of Stratos is not some feminist utopia (or distopia that would please Rush Limbaugh). Although, the perkenites would certainly like to make it a world that Andrea Dworkin would consider paradise, the people in it are not ideological straw figures to be knocked down or lauded as the case may be. They are human beings who have culturally adjusted to a different way of reproducing. Feminist issues are certainly discussed, but if there is a hidden agenda in GLORY SEASON, the only one that I could find was the rather obvious idea that men and women do need each other, no matter how much they might try to deny it. GLORY SEASON is an excellent book, and the best non-Uplift series book Brin has written in quite awhile. I heartily recommend it for all Brin fans, even those who were disappointed with EARTH. And for those of you still unmollified that GLORY SEASON is not an Uplift series book, Brin has stated several times (once to me at an autograph session), that he intends to write one Uplift book after every two non-Uplift books. I think he loves the Uplift series as much as any of his fans but is afraid that if he just cranks out book after book he could grow stale. I find it hard to disagree with such a strategy even if it does mean that I only get an Uplift book every 9 years. So the good news is that Brin's next book is definitely an Uplift book, tentatively titled BRIGHTNESS REEF. It is rumored to pick up the story of the crew of the Streaker from STARTIDE RISING. And it cannot come into the bookstores soon enough for me! As a sort of postscript to this review, I would like to mention that there is a 10th Anniversary edition of STARTIDE RISING out. The foreword mentions that this is a revised version although I was very hard pressed to find any differences (STARTIDE RISING is one of my favorite books and I have reread it several times). However, I think any excuse to reread STARTIDE RISING is a good one, and I recommend it to any Uplift series fan. %A Brin David %T Glory Season %I Bantam %C New York, NY %D June, 1993 %G ISBN 0-553-07645-0 %P 564 pp. %O Hardback, US $22.95, Can $27.95 %O Paperback, US $5.99, Can $6.99 %A Brin David %T Startide Rising, 10th Anniversary Edition %I Bantam %C New York, NY %D September, 1993 %G ISBN 0-553-27418-X %P 460 pp. %O Paperback, US $5.99, Can $6.99 From: Mysterious Galaxy Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: REVIEW: HEAVEN'S REACH [was Are Brin's uplift novels any good Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Date: 07 May 1998 13:43:15 -0400 Organization: Mysterious Galaxy Lines: 37 Approved: wex@media.mit.edu Message-ID: References: <051ca4247221c48UPIMSSMTPUSR05@email.msn.com> <3546B89F.64EB@earthlink.net> <6i84ra$eoe$1@nntp-2.io.com> Reply-To: mystgalaxy@ax.com NNTP-Posting-Host: tinbergen.media.mit.edu X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.3/Emacs 19.34 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!genius.dat.hk-r.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!cam-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!dallas-news-feed2.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!newsfeed.gte.net!eecs-usenet-02.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!not-for-mail Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.sf.reviews:1895 _Heaven's Reach_ by David Brin Review Copyright 1998 Patrick Heffernan The Terran spaceship *Streaker* has escaped the confines of the sooner planet, Jijo. It is now desperately trying to reach its transfer point before the dreaded Jophur, who are in hot pursuit, can effect capture; and in so doing, confiscate the *Streaker's* much sought-after treasure. This, in itself, would be enough to keep the beleaguered crew busy, but *Infi* isn't about to let them off the hook that easily. The Time of Changes is at hand. From "savage" Jijo to a Fractal World to a "backwater" Earth under siege, and even beyond _Heaven's Reach_, David Brin once again takes us on an incredible journey. Not satisfied to change a planet or two, or even a galaxy or two, Brin brings us the Time of Changes -- the end of the entire cosmos as we Uplift fans know it. Will the wow-wonders never cease? Sentients and gentlebeings, a master storyteller has delivered. The wait is finally over, the Uplift Storm Trilogy is now complete; the fate of the *Streaker* is, at long last, known. Rejoice, however, for this space opera is not yet at an end; the fat lady is nowhere near her final song. Praise *Infi*. Bantam Spectra hardcover, $24.95. --Patrick Heffernan Mysterious Galaxy http://www.mystgalaxy.com 3904 Convoy St, #107 San Diego, CA 92111 619-268-4747 800-811-4747 619-268-4775 FAX mgbooks@ax.com %T Heaven's Reach %A David Brin %I Bantam Spectra hardcover %O US$24.95.