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Space Vulture
They grew up together in a tiny Illinois town and together discovered the special thrills, the magic and wonder, that only science fiction and fantasy can offer. Half a century later, Gary K. Wolf (creator of Roger Rabbit) and John J. Myers (Roman Catholic archbishop of Newark, New Jersey) are still the best of friends. They still love fantastic fiction and its ability to stretch the mind, enrich the spirit, and warm the heart.
Determined to recapture the exhilarating science fiction of their youth, not just as it was, but as it should have been, they will transport us to the far reaches of the galaxy, where the mere mention of the interstellar pirate known as Space Vulture strikes fear into every heart and where a pioneering settler’s only hope on a hardscrabble colony world is that the dauntless lawman, Marshal Victor Corsaire, will rocket to the rescue.
Come along for the ride and discover all the adventure, suspense, action, and fun that Gary and John first found in science fiction fifty years ago and share with you now in this rollicking tale of the spaceways.
Determined to recapture the exhilarating science fiction of their youth, not just as it was, but as it should have been, they will transport us to the far reaches of the galaxy, where the mere mention of the interstellar pirate known as Space Vulture strikes fear into every heart and where a pioneering settler’s only hope on a hardscrabble colony world is that the dauntless lawman, Marshal Victor Corsaire, will rocket to the rescue.
Come along for the ride and discover all the adventure, suspense, action, and fun that Gary and John first found in science fiction fifty years ago and share with you now in this rollicking tale of the spaceways.
- GenresScience Fiction
333 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 24, 2007
8 people are currently reading
97 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
October 16, 2012
Pop culture is often dismissed as simply low culture – in contrast to the high art of opera or classical music or abstract expressionism. And there’s good reason: As long-ago scifi author Theodore Sturgeon once pointed out, “Ninety percent of everything is trash.”
A simple tour through the cable channels, or spin of the radio dial, will prove Sturgeon right, and in the mass of modern pop culture it’s much harder to filter out the signal from the noise. In classical music, for example, the bad symphonies simply never get played because time has winnowed the field to only the best.
But even if pop culture doesn’t always deliver quality, it does have something else to offer: a window on the modern world. Though movies, books and music take time to work their way from inspiration to dissemination, they still have a relatively brief gestation, and taken as a whole, they reflect and amplify some oftentimes hidden aspects of our culture.
Since this is a science fiction and fantasy column, it’s pretty obvious what the focus will be, but the same arguments apply across a much broader spectrum – and the same insights emerge.
Recently, publishers sent me a couple of books by writers from the so-called Golden Age (which shines much more brightly because, like classical music, the trash has been forgotten). The first, “The Voyage of the Space Beagle” (Orb, $14.95, 215 pages), by A.E. Van Vogt, holds up remarkably well, while Robert Heinlein’s “Time for the Stars” (Orb, $14.95, 244 pages) shows it age. Nonetheless, both share a quality that is almost always missing from modern scifi: optimism.
In both books, there’s a sense that problems will be solved, both individually and collectively. The future is bright, human beings are capable (if not exceptional) and the triumph of progress (and thus the good) is inevitable. You can read far and wide in 21st century scifi (especially that with a serious intent) and not find much to bolster any of those beliefs.
Two other veterans who worked in the 1950s (“The Voyage of the Space Beagle” came out in 1950, “Time for the Stars” in 1956) combined for a new book, “The Last Theorem” (Ballantine Books, $27, 299 pages). It’s not up to their best work, which is not surprising, but even so, that sense of optimism shines through. Human beings will still struggle and make mistakes but Arthur C. Clarke (who died recently) and Frederick Pohl not only acknowledge, but celebrate, humanity’s abilities.
Most writers whose careers are firmly rooted in the 21st century have little truck with such sunny outlooks. At a surface level, the books are full of blood and pain. Authors make sure that their heroes fight realistically – the crunch of bone, the burst of blood, the tide of pain, are always meticulously recounted. But beyond that, there is an underlying despair that humanity will ever get it right. If it’s not environmental disaster, it’s the inability to control technology; if it’s not escaped microbes gone wild, it’s war with civilization-destroying weapons.
And that, to this American who remembers when the United States did not invade foreign countries for no apparent reason (from Vietnam to Iraq), when the promise of technology was greater than the dangers of terrorism, when Mother Nature seemed to be kind rather than vengeful, is more than a little depressing. For if the light shone on modern culture by science fiction in particular and pop culture in general is so obscured by the grey fog of despair, does it mean that the 21st century world is on the way to giving up? If the heroes can’t solve the problems, or are turned into antiheroes who cannot find a way to glory without compromising their ideals and values, then who will stand up and lead? If these dark visions are correct, what will the world our children and grandchildren inherit really look like?
Of course, every older generation always thinks the world is going to hell in a hand basket – and the phrase itself gives the lie to its prediction. I don’t even know what a hand basket is, which reminds me that the pessimism of the elders does not necessarily doom the young ones. And in fact, there are some science fiction authors who still cling to the old tropes, the vision of humans as problem-solvers and not carriers of a culture-killing disease.
At the top of that list for me is John Scalzi, who has a new book out (“Zoe’s Tale” (Tor, $24.95, 336 pages)) that brings a different narrator to some of the events from the satisfying “The Last Colony.” “Zoe’s Tale” isn’t completely successful, as its depiction of its female teen-age heroine seems to me – someone who has coached teen-age girls for more than 20 years – impossible to credit, but it is still a book in which problems are solved, and positive resolutions are reached.
The same is true Scalzi’s “Agent for the Stars” (Tor, $14.95, 352 pages), which he wrote more than a decade ago but is just now getting widespread distribution. “Agent for the Stars” is also funny, and not in a dark, vein-slicing way, which is another rarity as the young century wears on.
A pair of writers – Gary K. Wolf and Archbishop John J. Myers – went all-out for the past with “Space Vulture” (Tor, $24.95, 333 pages), an unabashedly old-fashioned space opera with heroes, villains, coincidences, and all the trappings of old-time science fiction – and old-time westerns, as far as that goes. But simply re-working the old themes doesn’t make this book more than just a diversion, while the Isaac Asimovs and Clifford D. Simaks of the ’50s and ‘60s were reflecting the underlying positive attitudes of an entire culture.
Scalzi echoes that optimism, but the vision of most of the writers working in this pop culture field is generally darker, more depressing and seldom ends well. Even when the heroes win, the scars take long to heal, and there’s no sense that the most serious problems will be solved, or that progress has been made. Usually, in fact, the protagonist is pretty much back where he started, after much pain and suffering, and more blows to any belief that the world can be made a better place.
Of course, it’s not possible for scifi and fantasy writers, or anyone involved in pop culture, to truly shift the direction of the great mass of people, and if they are too far from the edge of the pack, they will simply be ignored. Nonetheless, the message that’s being sent – that the future is dark and getting darker -- is not one that should be ignored, as it’s just one more warning sign that the road the worldwide culture has been traveling does not appear to lead to many happy endings.
A simple tour through the cable channels, or spin of the radio dial, will prove Sturgeon right, and in the mass of modern pop culture it’s much harder to filter out the signal from the noise. In classical music, for example, the bad symphonies simply never get played because time has winnowed the field to only the best.
But even if pop culture doesn’t always deliver quality, it does have something else to offer: a window on the modern world. Though movies, books and music take time to work their way from inspiration to dissemination, they still have a relatively brief gestation, and taken as a whole, they reflect and amplify some oftentimes hidden aspects of our culture.
Since this is a science fiction and fantasy column, it’s pretty obvious what the focus will be, but the same arguments apply across a much broader spectrum – and the same insights emerge.
Recently, publishers sent me a couple of books by writers from the so-called Golden Age (which shines much more brightly because, like classical music, the trash has been forgotten). The first, “The Voyage of the Space Beagle” (Orb, $14.95, 215 pages), by A.E. Van Vogt, holds up remarkably well, while Robert Heinlein’s “Time for the Stars” (Orb, $14.95, 244 pages) shows it age. Nonetheless, both share a quality that is almost always missing from modern scifi: optimism.
In both books, there’s a sense that problems will be solved, both individually and collectively. The future is bright, human beings are capable (if not exceptional) and the triumph of progress (and thus the good) is inevitable. You can read far and wide in 21st century scifi (especially that with a serious intent) and not find much to bolster any of those beliefs.
Two other veterans who worked in the 1950s (“The Voyage of the Space Beagle” came out in 1950, “Time for the Stars” in 1956) combined for a new book, “The Last Theorem” (Ballantine Books, $27, 299 pages). It’s not up to their best work, which is not surprising, but even so, that sense of optimism shines through. Human beings will still struggle and make mistakes but Arthur C. Clarke (who died recently) and Frederick Pohl not only acknowledge, but celebrate, humanity’s abilities.
Most writers whose careers are firmly rooted in the 21st century have little truck with such sunny outlooks. At a surface level, the books are full of blood and pain. Authors make sure that their heroes fight realistically – the crunch of bone, the burst of blood, the tide of pain, are always meticulously recounted. But beyond that, there is an underlying despair that humanity will ever get it right. If it’s not environmental disaster, it’s the inability to control technology; if it’s not escaped microbes gone wild, it’s war with civilization-destroying weapons.
And that, to this American who remembers when the United States did not invade foreign countries for no apparent reason (from Vietnam to Iraq), when the promise of technology was greater than the dangers of terrorism, when Mother Nature seemed to be kind rather than vengeful, is more than a little depressing. For if the light shone on modern culture by science fiction in particular and pop culture in general is so obscured by the grey fog of despair, does it mean that the 21st century world is on the way to giving up? If the heroes can’t solve the problems, or are turned into antiheroes who cannot find a way to glory without compromising their ideals and values, then who will stand up and lead? If these dark visions are correct, what will the world our children and grandchildren inherit really look like?
Of course, every older generation always thinks the world is going to hell in a hand basket – and the phrase itself gives the lie to its prediction. I don’t even know what a hand basket is, which reminds me that the pessimism of the elders does not necessarily doom the young ones. And in fact, there are some science fiction authors who still cling to the old tropes, the vision of humans as problem-solvers and not carriers of a culture-killing disease.
At the top of that list for me is John Scalzi, who has a new book out (“Zoe’s Tale” (Tor, $24.95, 336 pages)) that brings a different narrator to some of the events from the satisfying “The Last Colony.” “Zoe’s Tale” isn’t completely successful, as its depiction of its female teen-age heroine seems to me – someone who has coached teen-age girls for more than 20 years – impossible to credit, but it is still a book in which problems are solved, and positive resolutions are reached.
The same is true Scalzi’s “Agent for the Stars” (Tor, $14.95, 352 pages), which he wrote more than a decade ago but is just now getting widespread distribution. “Agent for the Stars” is also funny, and not in a dark, vein-slicing way, which is another rarity as the young century wears on.
A pair of writers – Gary K. Wolf and Archbishop John J. Myers – went all-out for the past with “Space Vulture” (Tor, $24.95, 333 pages), an unabashedly old-fashioned space opera with heroes, villains, coincidences, and all the trappings of old-time science fiction – and old-time westerns, as far as that goes. But simply re-working the old themes doesn’t make this book more than just a diversion, while the Isaac Asimovs and Clifford D. Simaks of the ’50s and ‘60s were reflecting the underlying positive attitudes of an entire culture.
Scalzi echoes that optimism, but the vision of most of the writers working in this pop culture field is generally darker, more depressing and seldom ends well. Even when the heroes win, the scars take long to heal, and there’s no sense that the most serious problems will be solved, or that progress has been made. Usually, in fact, the protagonist is pretty much back where he started, after much pain and suffering, and more blows to any belief that the world can be made a better place.
Of course, it’s not possible for scifi and fantasy writers, or anyone involved in pop culture, to truly shift the direction of the great mass of people, and if they are too far from the edge of the pack, they will simply be ignored. Nonetheless, the message that’s being sent – that the future is dark and getting darker -- is not one that should be ignored, as it’s just one more warning sign that the road the worldwide culture has been traveling does not appear to lead to many happy endings.
May 23, 2011
Pretty much what you would expect from space pulp fiction written by an archbishop.
October 5, 2020
Let me state right of the bat that science fiction is not one of my go-to genres. I prefer mysteries and westerns. Still, the cover of this book caught my eye and I thought it sounded like fun. That it is. Co-written by two boyhood friends (one the creator of Roger Rabbit and the other a Catholic archbishop), this is a loving throwback to the space operas of their youth. There is a strong hints that Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers were formative influences on both men. The plot is unremarkable, mostly a showdown between the galaxy's greatest straight-arrow hero and a Snidley Whiplash-esque, mustache-twirling supervillain. There are a damsel in distress (and her two sons, also in need of some rescuing) and a con man so adept at dreaming up schemes that you know he will be reformed by story's end. My biggest disappointment was that there was not enough action for this kind of pulpy throwback. Since it was published 12 years ago I assume the sequel set up in its final chapter will never come to pass; this would have increased my enjoyment of the book as well. This is a fun homage to the good old days of the genre and an excellent time-passer. Three and a half stars.
February 27, 2018
This is a book whose selling point is its origin story: two childhood friends who grew up to have very different careers reunited to recreate the type of pulpy sci fi they'd enjoyed as kids.
I discovered this book because I was reminiscing last year about the novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, a book I read almost thirty years ago. (The movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit? was based on very weird source material.) I looked up the subsequent works of the author, Gary K. Wolf, and this caught my eye because its co-author, John J. Myers, was the coadjutor bishop who confirmed me when I was seventeen and still a Catholic in rural Illinois. He went on to become the Archbishop of Newark. (On the one hand, I hate Myers' politics. On the other hand: hey, it's a book written by kids who grew up near me in rural Illinois!)
This book works, for the most part. It tries to emulate the cheesy style of science fiction novels of the 1950s. Each chapter plays like a serial film, featuring a set of characters solving a problem and then a cliffhanger. The first character we meet is the thief Gil, who is trying to earn money to pay his bookie so he can get back his right arm and one of his eyes, since they're being kept as collateral. Gil has insect parts as temporary replacements: a cricket arm and a beetle eye on a stalk. He is trying to steal some valuable mushrooms from a remote colony planet when he's apprehended by Captain Victor Corsaire, a noble hero, but then Corsaire, Gil, and nearly everyone in the colony are captured by the villainous Space Vulture. Space Vulture is the galaxy's master criminal, a sociopathic genius who has altered his body and mind to perfection, the kind of guy who saves trophies from his vanquished foes and implants devices into captured aliens and humans so they're forced to be his slaves.
Seeing the word "Archbishop" on the cover before one of the author's names might make a reader concerned that the book will be preachy, but--although it certainly has a moral or two and characters who learn lessons--the book is really no worse than a lot of mainstream science fiction. In terms of world-building, you might get annoyed at the way the omniscient narrator just fills you in on the backstory of whatever is going on, but I think the constant exposition is meant to be a feature, not a bug. The book is campy fun.
I discovered this book because I was reminiscing last year about the novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, a book I read almost thirty years ago. (The movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit? was based on very weird source material.) I looked up the subsequent works of the author, Gary K. Wolf, and this caught my eye because its co-author, John J. Myers, was the coadjutor bishop who confirmed me when I was seventeen and still a Catholic in rural Illinois. He went on to become the Archbishop of Newark. (On the one hand, I hate Myers' politics. On the other hand: hey, it's a book written by kids who grew up near me in rural Illinois!)
This book works, for the most part. It tries to emulate the cheesy style of science fiction novels of the 1950s. Each chapter plays like a serial film, featuring a set of characters solving a problem and then a cliffhanger. The first character we meet is the thief Gil, who is trying to earn money to pay his bookie so he can get back his right arm and one of his eyes, since they're being kept as collateral. Gil has insect parts as temporary replacements: a cricket arm and a beetle eye on a stalk. He is trying to steal some valuable mushrooms from a remote colony planet when he's apprehended by Captain Victor Corsaire, a noble hero, but then Corsaire, Gil, and nearly everyone in the colony are captured by the villainous Space Vulture. Space Vulture is the galaxy's master criminal, a sociopathic genius who has altered his body and mind to perfection, the kind of guy who saves trophies from his vanquished foes and implants devices into captured aliens and humans so they're forced to be his slaves.
Seeing the word "Archbishop" on the cover before one of the author's names might make a reader concerned that the book will be preachy, but--although it certainly has a moral or two and characters who learn lessons--the book is really no worse than a lot of mainstream science fiction. In terms of world-building, you might get annoyed at the way the omniscient narrator just fills you in on the backstory of whatever is going on, but I think the constant exposition is meant to be a feature, not a bug. The book is campy fun.
December 2, 2012
In my travels through the internet some time ago I came across mention of a certain German word(*): "backpfeifengesicht", which translates roughly as "a face badly in need of a fist". I immediately squirreled it away in case I ever needed a name for a Teutonic death metal band. But the cover art depiction of the eponymous character demands its use. This is a sneer, an arched eyebrow, and a gimlet stare that dares the viewer to discover that fist's circumstances, raw physical force, and effect upon delicate cheekbones.
The most amusing thing about the entire book is the nature of Space Vulture himself, whose name is rightly used as the title and around whom the rest of the story orbits. He is a figure of unrelenting, unambiguous, unmitigated evilness, unleavened by any sort of redeeming quality. The authors spare no literary expense in describing the depths of his villainy, and even more to describe his tacky self-involved opulence and hyperbolic abilities and resources. His purpose is to do the most outwardly, flamboyantly evil things possible at every available moment, and as such he's utterly ridiculous--at one point, striding around in skull crown, human-facial-skin cape, and battle axe. He is so evil, so perfectly self-centered, that it's impossible to take him seriously.
----
(*) Assuming that it actually is a word, and that it is actually German. This being the internet, of course.
The most amusing thing about the entire book is the nature of Space Vulture himself, whose name is rightly used as the title and around whom the rest of the story orbits. He is a figure of unrelenting, unambiguous, unmitigated evilness, unleavened by any sort of redeeming quality. The authors spare no literary expense in describing the depths of his villainy, and even more to describe his tacky self-involved opulence and hyperbolic abilities and resources. His purpose is to do the most outwardly, flamboyantly evil things possible at every available moment, and as such he's utterly ridiculous--at one point, striding around in skull crown, human-facial-skin cape, and battle axe. He is so evil, so perfectly self-centered, that it's impossible to take him seriously.
----
(*) Assuming that it actually is a word, and that it is actually German. This being the internet, of course.
February 3, 2024
I haven't read enough to be picky with ratings. It was easy to read and full of action. Great ending I somehow didn't see coming. If there's a sequel, I'll probably read it. Highly recommend.
May 27, 2008
Space Vulture is a deceptively simple seeming tale of high adventure in the spaceways. The characters are armed with ray guns and fight zombie armies, all the while flitting from world to world, out of the frying pan and into the fire.
Its men are real men, its women real women and its little furry creature creatures from Alpha Centauri REAL little furry creature creatures from Alpha Centauri.
But at it's core, it's a love letter to a perceived simpler time and simpler stories that proves to be more complex than it's purposely streamlined prose would indicate, and populated by better, more nuanced portrayals of people than its source materials required.
Good fun, and good reading
Its men are real men, its women real women and its little furry creature creatures from Alpha Centauri REAL little furry creature creatures from Alpha Centauri.
But at it's core, it's a love letter to a perceived simpler time and simpler stories that proves to be more complex than it's purposely streamlined prose would indicate, and populated by better, more nuanced portrayals of people than its source materials required.
Good fun, and good reading
October 4, 2017
Amusing with a few good turns, but ultimately flawed. Even for a pulp novel, the characters are paper-thin.
February 11, 2009
This book was just retro for retroness' sake, rather than taking the good parts of old-fashioned space opera and mixing them with all the progress that's been made in the past 50 years of SF.
April 24, 2013
And by finished I mean I stopped.
March 12, 2023
I appreciate that this book tries to bring the feel of old B science fiction film serials in the style of Flash Gordon, but this just didn’t work for me. I *LOVE* B science fiction film serials on tv and in the cinema (and on stage), but when I found myself reading the words “Space Vulture” at the beginning of 12 out of 14 paragraphs in 4 pages, and 29 total “Space Vultures” in those same 4 pages (yes, I counted), I gave up and started skimming. Alas, this seemed like a fun idea but I just couldn’t get into it.
March 30, 2020
Just can’t continue reading this pointless little book. The bad guy is the best bad guy in the universe but rather than just be bad he gathers together a dozen hard cases to bid on and then painfully execute the best good guy ever. Then he goes back to his ship that for eight hours a day rejuvenates him into maintaining bad guy status. Reminds me of the cartoon Space Ghost in many ways.
February 24, 2022
This book took me a little while to “get it”. I realized about 1/8th in that this was a western gun slinger in space, that some how, to a very laughable degree at times, remained G to light PG. This book on its own I would give three stars. But I really felt the target audience for this book is actually 8-15 boy. My husband is going to read this aloud to our eight year old son and he is going to be obsessed with it. It has a constant flow of action, good guys that are squeaky clean and fun romps. I do have to laugh out loud at the over the top part where our super baddy villain has kidnapped the babe and likes to dress her when he’s in a “romantic mood”. My brain pictures playboy bunny outfit? Lingerie? Nah. A ball gown. It was so dumb I just had to laugh. Overall it’s very campy, and makes a fun kids adventure story.
January 29, 2019
Corny fun.
October 1, 2013
Hay dos amigos de la infancia, uno un escritor famoso por la novela Who Censored Roger Rabbit? que se convertiría en un clásico ochentero; el otro el Arzobispo de Newark, Nueva Jersey. Juntos crecieron leyendo ciencia ficción de lo más cheesy imaginable y, años después, cuando ya se dedicaban a cosas más serias, decidieron juntarse a escribir una novela del mismo tipo y tono.
El resultado es cheesy, cheesy, cheesy. Es decir, excesivamente melodramático, cargado de clichés, trillado, forzado y en general de poca calidad. Como para leerse, ni siquiera en la playa, sino en el autolavado o en la cola del súper. El problema fundamental es que la novela no sabe precisamente qué es lo que quiere ser. Si un homenaje a un subgénero o un intento de hacer algo serio bastante descarrilado.
Los personajes parecen sacados de una caja de cereal: el malo-malísimo, cuyo nombre da nombre a la novela es de risa. El personaje principal es algo así como Buzz Lightyear con los mismos modos y straight-face más bien cómicos. El amoral buscador de tesoros tipo Han Solo, con un ojo y un brazo de escarabajo. Los secuaces, uno parecido a los malos de Zathura o de Flash Gordon, otro más del tipo Héctor Hammond (de Linterna Verde). Ah, y los dos niños cuyas relaciones y actuar parece que vienen de un serial de televisión de sábado en la mañana.
Hay visos de moralina bastante esperados de un arzobispo, que se sienten forzados en la trama. El resto es puro goofy fun, como comerse un chicle bomba.
Ah, y el final es malito.
El resultado es cheesy, cheesy, cheesy. Es decir, excesivamente melodramático, cargado de clichés, trillado, forzado y en general de poca calidad. Como para leerse, ni siquiera en la playa, sino en el autolavado o en la cola del súper. El problema fundamental es que la novela no sabe precisamente qué es lo que quiere ser. Si un homenaje a un subgénero o un intento de hacer algo serio bastante descarrilado.
Los personajes parecen sacados de una caja de cereal: el malo-malísimo, cuyo nombre da nombre a la novela es de risa. El personaje principal es algo así como Buzz Lightyear con los mismos modos y straight-face más bien cómicos. El amoral buscador de tesoros tipo Han Solo, con un ojo y un brazo de escarabajo. Los secuaces, uno parecido a los malos de Zathura o de Flash Gordon, otro más del tipo Héctor Hammond (de Linterna Verde). Ah, y los dos niños cuyas relaciones y actuar parece que vienen de un serial de televisión de sábado en la mañana.
Hay visos de moralina bastante esperados de un arzobispo, que se sienten forzados en la trama. El resto es puro goofy fun, como comerse un chicle bomba.
Ah, y el final es malito.
August 21, 2013
I should've been wary when I realized this was endorsed by members of the Vatican. I guess I thought maybe Wolf's influence would be heavier. But, well... see for yourself, pg. 26:
"Cali and her husband Bob, the colony's cheif agricultural engineer, had met in college, one Sunday morning at church. They had a lot in common. Along with their deep religious faith, they shared a strong work ethic and whimsical, almost goofy sense of fun. They were each other's first and only loves. They went from their graduation straight to the college chapel, where they married, still in their caps and gowns,"
Look, I've read a Koontz novel or two, and even that doesn't compare to the heavy handed moral lessons heaped upon the reader. The high spirited adventure comes off slanted with the moral voice and...I dunno, even a pirate couldn't improve this one for me. Don't buy the "Sci Fi Essential" by line, there's nothing essential to the genre in this novel.
"Cali and her husband Bob, the colony's cheif agricultural engineer, had met in college, one Sunday morning at church. They had a lot in common. Along with their deep religious faith, they shared a strong work ethic and whimsical, almost goofy sense of fun. They were each other's first and only loves. They went from their graduation straight to the college chapel, where they married, still in their caps and gowns,"
Look, I've read a Koontz novel or two, and even that doesn't compare to the heavy handed moral lessons heaped upon the reader. The high spirited adventure comes off slanted with the moral voice and...I dunno, even a pirate couldn't improve this one for me. Don't buy the "Sci Fi Essential" by line, there's nothing essential to the genre in this novel.
May 19, 2008
A lesser man would have ditched this book after about forty pages. But not me. I stuck around until the very end. Was it worth it? Yes. I guess. Maybe. I don't know. Probably not.
I grew up reading science fiction pulp fiction. In fact I still prefer it to the highbrow stuff. But I couldn't tell whether SPACE VULTURE was a loving tribute or merely a winky-winky parody of those old slam-bang outer space adventures. The authors' preface says one thing, but the ensuing novel says another. Heck, I didn't even like the Glen Orbik jacket painting. What a misfire.
I grew up reading science fiction pulp fiction. In fact I still prefer it to the highbrow stuff. But I couldn't tell whether SPACE VULTURE was a loving tribute or merely a winky-winky parody of those old slam-bang outer space adventures. The authors' preface says one thing, but the ensuing novel says another. Heck, I didn't even like the Glen Orbik jacket painting. What a misfire.
November 19, 2008
Discussed at SF Gospel:
"It's a deliberate throwback to an era where most SF didn't try to have thematic depth. But Myers and Wolf wrote this book after being disappointed to re-read some of their favorite space operas and find they didn't hold up. They hoped to make Space Vulture a more satisfying approach to the tropes of the '40s. It's nice to see that religious depth is one aspect of that re-imagining."
Full review here:
http://sfgospel.typepad.com/sf_gospel...
"It's a deliberate throwback to an era where most SF didn't try to have thematic depth. But Myers and Wolf wrote this book after being disappointed to re-read some of their favorite space operas and find they didn't hold up. They hoped to make Space Vulture a more satisfying approach to the tropes of the '40s. It's nice to see that religious depth is one aspect of that re-imagining."
Full review here:
http://sfgospel.typepad.com/sf_gospel...
April 11, 2010
I really never actively read this until the very, I left it laying around my house, picking it up, reading a chapter, and letting it sit for a few days. Being a throwback to the serialized novels of the pulp days made it feel appropriate and the book stayed compelling. No grand new ideas here, just solid space action and some pretty good characters. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed for a sequel.
May 27, 2008
It's cheesy but in the best way! The title and cover illustration say it all. If you like Flash Gordon, Star Wars, or other space operas, you're likely to enjoy this novel, though it can be slow moving at times, I am still constantly being re-hooked on it as I go. I think it is one of those books that keeps growing on you.
October 28, 2008
Got this one for my boyfriend to read, reminded me of the old comic book adventures. Well, what's a book to do, if it's in my house, I'm going to read it! What fun this was - made me feel like a kid again. Camp? OH yeah. You could almost hear the voices (and they sounded like they'd be on an old black and white movie!) I loved it, was a great fun quick read.
May 22, 2015
All the classic elements of Space Opera"," both written and filmed. Stalwart hero"," vain and totally evil villain"," expendable minions"," robots"," aliens"," frontier widows"," brave children"," et cetera. Totally predictable plot"," even to the teaser at the end. I had tears in my eyes at the end. Which is why I will never be a serious literary critic.
July 3, 2008
So very silly. Trashy sci-fi straight out of the 50s, although at least it has a fairly (if, of course, quite good looking) strong female character as one of the half-dozen protagonists. Great reading for the bathtub or while laying under a tree on a hot summer day, though.
August 17, 2008
This is a great novel in the classic style of Flash Gordon or other swashbuckling space operas. It does turn some of the cliches on their heads but always treats the genre with respect and really is an effective homage to the originals.
December 29, 2011
I'm in the middle of it, but it's just not grabbing my attention yet. Maybe I'm not in the right mindset for sci-fi at the moment. I'll give it another chance when I have time to just sit down and give it a go.
August 20, 2013
For any fan of the hitchhikers guide or Gary k wolf this is a great book and can be found cheaply anywhere on amazon or a local dollar general store occasionally. A great book and fun read highly recommended .
September 23, 2013
Hahaha. Really hokey dialog. Other reviewers have compared this to Flash Gordon.It's most definitely like a 50's melodrama. This could possibly make a good sci-fi adventure series for TV with major editing of the dialog.
June 22, 2008
Could not get past page 47 it was so boring, so I give up there are too many good books to waste on this garbage.
November 2, 2008
A tremendous amount of fun. A loving tribute to the rip-roaring space opera juveniles of yore.
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