The Kinsman Saga

Kinsman #1-2

by Ben Bova

Hero or Killer?

In a startling future that's coming closer every year, Chet Kinsman is an astronaut ace who has done everything in space—including committing the first murder. It's a secret he can never escape, not even on the Moon, where he's head of the first U.S. lunar colony.

But suddenly, a series of shocking yet strangely inevitable circumstances forces Kinsman to confront his hidden past and decide Earth's destiny. In a desperate countdown to nuclear annihilation, Kinsman struggles against a deadly paradox: if he rescues the world, he may end up destroying himself.

Author Biography:

Ben Bova has been a presence in science fiction for more than four decades. He is a past president of the Science Fiction Writers of America and the former editor of Analog. The recipient of the Hugo and other awards, he has written dozens of novels, including Mars, Voyagers, and Death Dream-as well as Moonrise and Moonwar, the firsts two books of his acclaimed Moonbase Saga. He lives in Florida with his wife, Barbara Bova.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Audiobook, Science Fiction Fantasy

576 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 1, 1987

About the author

Ben Bova was born on November 8, 1932 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1953, while attending Temple University, he married Rosa Cucinotta, they had a son and a daughter. He would later divorce Rosa in 1974. In that same year he married Barbara Berson Rose.

Bova was an avid fencer and organized Avco Everett's fencing club. He was an environmentalist, but rejected Luddism.

Bova was a technical writer for Project Vanguard and later for Avco Everett in the 1960s when they did research in lasers and fluid dynamics. It was there that he met Arthur R. Kantrowitz later of the Foresight Institute.

In 1971 he became editor of Analog Science Fiction after John W. Campbell's death. After leaving Analog, he went on to edit Omni during 1978-1982.

In 1974 he wrote the screenplay for an episode of the children's science fiction television series Land of the Lost entitled "The Search".

Bova was the science advisor for the failed television series The Starlost, leaving in disgust after the airing of the first episode. His novel The Starcrossed was loosely based on his experiences and featured a thinly veiled characterization of his friend and colleague Harlan Ellison. He dedicated the novel to "Cordwainer Bird", the pen name Harlan Ellison uses when he does not want to be associated with a television or film project.

Bova was the President Emeritus of the National Space Society and a past President of Science-fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA).

Bova went back to school in the 1980s, earning an M.A. in communications in 1987 and a Ph.D. in 1996.

Bova has drawn on these meetings and experiences to create fact and fiction writings rich with references to spaceflight, lasers, artificial hearts, nanotechnology, environmentalism, fencing and martial arts, photography and artists.

Bova was the author of over a hundred and fifteen books, non-fiction as well as science fiction. In 2000, he was the Author Guest of Honor at the 58th World Science Fiction Convention (Chicon 2000).

Hollywood has started to take an interest in Bova's works once again, in addition to his wealth of knowledge about science and what the future may look like. In 2007, he was hired as a consultant by both Stuber/Parent Productions to provide insight into what the world is to look like in the near future for their upcoming film "Repossession Mambo" (released as "Repo Men") starring Jude Law and Forest Whitaker and by Silver Pictures in which he provided consulting services on the feature adaptation of Richard Morgan's "Altered Carbon".

http://us.macmillan.com/author/benbova

Reviews

[Ira (SF Words of Wonder) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Check out my full, spoiler free, video review HERE. The first half of this collection is all backstory, the second half gets to the conflict that takes place on the moon. This novel follows Chet Kinsman as he goes from Amish/elite to moon lord. Bova predictions are very close to reality as he envisions the US and Russia going through a space race and eventually using space as a place to start/prevent global war. The conflict in the second half was entertaining but the first half was a bit slow and boring in my opinion, you could just read the second half which is also a novel called Millennium. One thing is for sure, Bova is a great writer, very smart and touches on many themes that I didn’t expect. I will be reading more from Bova in the future.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

In just under the wire!

Now THAT is the reason I keep reading Bova, despite all of my complaining: when he gets it right, it’s really right!

Chet Kinsman is a long lived character. He first showed up in three short stories, collected in Bova’s Forward in Time. Then Bova wrote about him in the novel Millenium, the second half of The Kinsman Saga. THEN he wrote a prequel built around the three original stories (the first half of the Saga). The end result is an exciting portrait of a man living at the end of the twentieth century and how he comes to term with the defects of humanity, the war-mongering of nations, and his own personal weaknesses.

I don’t want to give anything away; what I will say is that The Kinsman Saga reminded me somewhat of Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, in the best possible way. The characters are fully fleshed, colorful, and easily distinguished from each other—something that isn’t always true for Bova’s writing. They are, in keeping with the worst tradition of classic sci-fi, predominantly male—but the female characters are well-written (for the most part), are fairly cliche-free (for the most part), and are extremely important to the plot (they have much more to do than dust or get coffee).

Overall, highly recommended, especially for lovers of space opera, tales of revolution, and champions of the human spirit.

[Megan Baxter · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a reread, and one that took me an ungodly long amount of time. I tend to put my rereads up in the bathroom, and get through them that way, but this time, I kept getting distracted by the graphic novels my husband had up there as well. I just wasn't that into it.

Of the two Ben Bova Cold War In Space novels I've read, this is definitely the better and more nuanced of the two. In this form, the book is made up of two previously published novels about the same character, Chet Kinsman, military astronaut, former Quaker, eventually, commander of the American moonbase.

The first novel is really good. But I find the second drags. A lot. Once I got about fifty pages from the end, the urgency picked up in the second novel a lot, and I had no problem convincing myself to pick it up and read more. I'm not sure why the middle section feels so draggy.

Let's see, the characters are interesting, but, other than Chet, not that deep and intriguing. Which is to say, they're not cardboard, but I didn't really feel like I knew them, either. Also, if you want to paint Diane as the big love of Kinsman's life, we need more time with her. And before there is an actual threat, the pacing just seems off. I get what he's trying to build up to, which is, in some ways, a nod to Heinlein's Lunar Revolution.

So The Kinsman Saga was good enough to read once, even good enough to read twice, but I don't think I'll bother again. If you like hard sf in a Cold War setting, with quite realistic challenges and responses, it's pretty good.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you like Ben Bova's books you should like this one. I do and I did. It is everything you would expect, not more, no less.

[Richard Federline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ben Bova is a genius. Particularly enjoyed his The Hittite.

This work explores man's desire to be free and self determination. Faced with a world on the road to self destruction, a dream to not only live life without war but for the betterment of everyone, Kinsman defies convention and the US military

This book deals with conscience and how far do you go to compromising your beliefs.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heinlein did it with "The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress", but an independent lunar nation seems to require military actions against the Earth. Bova's protagonist, Kinsman, approaches human dimensions in a few parts of the story, but he is stereotypical of many of the heroes of Bova's other works.
A good read.

[Terry Grignon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two stories that I enjoyed despite it being a combination of two out of sequence novels in a series (Millennium (1976) and Kinsman (1979)). It's somewhat dated but I still enjoyed it.

[Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first Bova book since '79 or '80. There's some interesting ideas here, but many acts of the book were too long for me. I especially hated the nearly worst girlfriend ever. I wonder if she was based on someone Bova knew.

REALLY good narrator

[Richard · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh. Wanted something entertaining and got a misogynistic, homophobic, racist book straight from the 80s.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Retro technology since it was written in 1987, but still a good story line.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Duration: 19:18:39

[Serge Trofimencoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely love this series. It unites the nerd, the adventurer and geopolitical enthiusiast in me. A rare combination of the three.

[Cesar Matamoros · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was entertaining. I had to keep going back to some previous chapters to verify the amount of time that had passed with the start of the new chapter. The main character was developed in depth, unfortunately some of the other 'main' characters were left too shallow. In particular was Diane and only at the end did we get a glimpse of just the type of person she was and how she connected to the main character.
The one thing that bothered me was how Kinsman was constantly battling over a 'single' issue that occurred in his life and how much it affected him. Perhaps it was due to the conflict in upbringing that caused this, I will concede this but still it became, somewhat irritating to me. This was especially brought to light at the very end with what a general had to say to Kinsman.
The reflection of human nature and its suspicions and the battle between nations was well represented.
Even with the caveats it was an entertaining and believable novel.

[Keith B]

Re-read for the 3rd or 4th time. Great book. Surprised by the influence in had on me when I first read it 22 yrs ago. I found themes and ideas in here that I have used in many of my discussions over the years. Also found many similar scenes and themes that must have inspired parts of Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy (perhaps my favourite series of all). Glad I dug back into this story.

[Samuel Lubell · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is amazing how much older SF resembles alterntive history. I don't think I'd trade lunar colonies by @000 for the dismal future and cold war in the book. Great characterization of Kinsman and Colt, but not for the female characters.

[James]

Audiobook read by Stefan Rudnicki. Written in the 70s with a great life story of Chet Kinsman who becomes an Air Force astronaut caught up in the cold war tit-for-tat, while aiming to get to the moon.

[Brett]

Science Fiction

[Randy · Rating 5 out of 5]

the complete edition with both books made into one story. Previously published as two books in 1976 and 1979.

[Kirsten Chmielewski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome book, true character building, but confusing as to the date it is set. I know its supposed to be the "future" but the main character was a kid when we first walked on the moon....

[Jirnsum · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not my cup of tea, as the Kinsman character makes you want to scream "Get over it already" at more than one occasion

[Chez Nash · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always enjoy Ben Bova's works because he blurs the lines between science fiction and science fact.

[Dennis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, but wish they explored past the end another 10-20 years.

[Amloid Mesa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seriously good book. A bit slow at times but a very good book