What a book.

[mike wightman]

It landed today.

I am in geek heaven. The book the foldout the SEH

Don't know if I should read it or lock it in a vault...

 

[Cryton]

It landed today.

I am in geek heaven. The book the foldout the SEH

Don't know if I should read it or lock it in a vault...

Read it. Definitely read it if you haven't read a copy already. In any case...read it!

 

[maksimsmelchak]

It landed today.

I am in geek heaven. The book the foldout the SEH

Don't know if I should read it or lock it in a vault...

Fold-out?

SEH?

Shalom,
M.

 

[aramis]

Fold-out?

SEH?

Shalom,
M.

Most purchases from Marc come with a patent card or an imperial award card.

Many of us have taken to listing them in our signatures as we collect more over time.

 

[maksimsmelchak]

Most purchases from Marc come with a patent card or an imperial award card.

Many of us have taken to listing them in our signatures as we collect more over time.

Thank you, Aramis.

I have a long absent gap from Traveller from time spent overseas and in the military. I appreciate you filling me in.

I suppose at some point, I should collect mine and make a signature block. I have a few officially from FFF purchases.

Shalom,
M.

 

[Hyphen]

Mine arrived today, with inscription and SEH.

 

[Blue Ghost]

I'll be blunt. I thought it was exceptionally poorly written. I couldn't get past the first few pages. No description whatsoever. I had no idea where I was, what thing or people looked like, what was where, and everything else.

 

[Whipsnade]

I wasn't expecting a literary triumph, Blue. Nor was I expecting an "important" novel. I didn't want Traveller by Conrad, James, Faulkner, Nabokov, or Franzen. Hell, I didn't even want Traveller by Koontz, Patterson, King, or Michener.

What I did want was Traveller by Marc W. Miller and that AotI delivered in dTons.

The prose style didn't matter one whit next to the ideas and insights. AotI was incredibly thought provoking and thought provoking was precisely what I wanted it to be.

 

[McPerth]

I couldn't get past the first few pages. No description whatsoever.

This happened to me the first times I tired to read The Name of the Rose, by Umbero Eco, but, when I preseverated I found a great book on it.

I cannot talk about AotI, as I have not read it, but have you finally passed the first few pages to see what do you find on it?

 

[mike wightman]

I'm glad Marc opted to focus on the characters and their interactions rather than describe the background scenery.
I already know what I think the bridge of an Imperial capital looks like, I don't want Marc's book saying "hah ha you got it wrong" - I hope this makes sense.

 

[GypsyComet]

No description whatsoever.

As a near life-long fan of the fiction Marc is emulating in this book, I do not need lengthy place-setting description, and the narrator is not psychologically disposed to provide it. He lives in his world, even as it moves forward without him, and he need not describe it beyond what we would say to set a scene today: "Typical office building".

The modern tendency to drown the reader in description is a regrettable cross contamination from that least-respected branch of genre fiction, the Romance Novel.

 

[hirch duckfinder]

I think MM delivered what I crave - that juxtaposition - which is traveller - of warm humanity in a cold universe.
The form fitted the content - a sign of good writing to me. Description was unnescessary. Its about the small pockets of flesh and metal in oceans of nothing.
The imperium smelled just like it did when Marc set it up back in the day.
The tiny specks of warm humanity were cooly reported. They are only small.
And the humanity of the main charcter had a twist of course...his heat boxed down into a very small but consistent package - but it was still human and sought more warmth.
Worked brilliantly.
Razor sharp.
I loved it.

 

[maksimsmelchak]

As a near life-long fan of the fiction Marc is emulating in this book, I do not need lengthy place-setting description, and the narrator is not psychologically disposed to provide it. He lives in his world, even as it moves forward without him, and he need not describe it beyond what we would say to set a scene today: "Typical office building".

Jim,

*** Do you mean space opera? Or a different genre or sub-genre? ***

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

 

[GypsyComet]

Space Opera is certainly one word for one part of it, but Traveller arises from the 50 years of SF, from Pulp to Spec Fic, that preceded its release. AotI would have felt right at home being serialized in Analog

 

[maksimsmelchak]

Space Opera is certainly one word for one part of it, but Traveller arises from the 50 years of SF, from Pulp to Spec Fic, that preceded its release. AotI would have felt right at home being serialized in Analog

*** How would you describe the greater genre? Or typology? ***

I definitely agree with your sentiment.

Shalom,
M.

 

[Nathan Brazil]

I thought his book to be a little on the Hard SF side.

If you look at it from a linear sequence with touchy feely SF Bradbury stories on left, Space Opera as the midpoint and Larry Niven/Stephen Baxter on the other end I felt Mr. Miller's book to be closer to the Baxter end of the line, right of Space Opera.

Pointing to this was his adherence to explaining overtaking the Imperial fleet to get to the Geonee homeworld first. A non-tech or Space Opera would simply say we had a faster or more efficient ship. A Hard SF explains the rules and then examines the minutiae of using gas giants in the routes and the other efficiencies to twist things a bit yet not violate the established rules.

'cause as Scotty once said, "I canna break the laws of physics."

 

[mike wightman]

Can you imagine the great cry in the ether there would have been if Marc had solved the overtaking issue by saying the engineers in the ship rigged the jump drive to be just a little bit quicker than the normal?
It's not hard sci fi to remain consistent with the make believe physics you invent for your setting, that's just good writing.

 

[GypsyComet]

I thought his book to be a little on the Hard SF side.

I recently saw someone distinguish between Hard Science SF, which is usually defined as breaking as few of the established laws of physics as possible, and "Hard Detail" SF, which is more like you describe. There are rules, but they are not necessarily modern physics.

 

[Orion Shipyards]

What I did want was Traveller by Marc W. Miller and that AotI delivered in dTons.

Exactly.

I saw this sub-section last night, and learned there was such a book - I bought it on Amazon about three minutes later, and then read the first bit on my Kindle before bed.

I wasn't expecting -great- writing, and, given all the complaining I've heard about the T5 book, and the kinds of errors and errata I've seen in some other rule sets, I thought there was a fair chance it'd be a train wreck.

And that didn't matter one bit. Marc freekin' Miller wrote it. I don't know how you say feel like you know the Traveller universe without having read a novel it's creator wrote set in that universe. It didn't really matter how "good" it was, I knew I had to read it, to see the Traveller universe through his eyes in another way.

And, after only the first little section, I'm happy to say I'm not one bit disappointed. So far, I love it. Not only can it not help but deliver on the part I wanted most - MM's views of the Traveller universe - but it's turning out (at least so far) to be quite pleasant to read, too.

If only I'd known about where to buy stuff to get cards to put in my sig block.

 

[Imperium2016]

Congrats!!! you will be loving it