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Getaway
Anywhere But Here
In a world dominated by America's heavy hand, an independent scientist reveals the secret of fast, cheap interstellar travel, sparking an exodus like none in history. When anyone with a few hundred dollars and a little ingenuity can build their own spaceship, even American citizens can't wait to get out from under the United States's domineering thumb.
Trent and Donna Stinson, of Rock Springs, Wyoming, seal up their pickup for vacuum and go looking for a better life among the stars, but they soon learn that you can't outrun your problems. America's belligerent foreign policy is expanding just as fast as the world's refugees, threatening to destroy humanity's last chance for peaceful coexistence. When their own government tries to kill them for exercising the freedoms that people once took for granted, Trent and Donna reluctantly admit that America must be stopped. But how can patriotic citizens fight their own country? And how can they succeed where the rest of the world has failed?
Trent and Donna Stinson, of Rock Springs, Wyoming, seal up their pickup for vacuum and go looking for a better life among the stars, but they soon learn that you can't outrun your problems. America's belligerent foreign policy is expanding just as fast as the world's refugees, threatening to destroy humanity's last chance for peaceful coexistence. When their own government tries to kill them for exercising the freedoms that people once took for granted, Trent and Donna reluctantly admit that America must be stopped. But how can patriotic citizens fight their own country? And how can they succeed where the rest of the world has failed?
384 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2005
1 person is currently reading
93 people want to read
About the author
Jerry Oltion
220 books24 followersJerry Oltion (pronounced OL-tee-un) has been a gardener, stone mason, carpenter, oilfield worker, forester, land surveyor, rock 'n' roll deejay, printer, proofreader, editor, publisher, computer consultant, movie extra, corporate secretary, magazine columnist, and garbage truck driver. For the last 37 years he has also been a writer, with 15 novels and over 150 stories published so far.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
October 18, 2022
Oltion, Jerry. Anywhere But Here. Getaway No. 2. Tor, 2005.
In The Getaway Special, Jerry Oltion tells the story of the invention of a hyperdrive that can be built cheaply from widely accessible parts. At one point a character adapts a septic tank into an interstellar craft. The inventor is a guy who thinks information wants to be free, so he releases the blueprint on the internet. In Anywhere But Here, he tells a story of some of the social consequences of making interstellar exploration available to anyone with the price of a pickup truck. I like the premise, but the book is not quite as much fun as I wish it were. I keep imagining what a writer like John Scalzi or Allen Steele could have done with this idea. 3.5 stars.
In The Getaway Special, Jerry Oltion tells the story of the invention of a hyperdrive that can be built cheaply from widely accessible parts. At one point a character adapts a septic tank into an interstellar craft. The inventor is a guy who thinks information wants to be free, so he releases the blueprint on the internet. In Anywhere But Here, he tells a story of some of the social consequences of making interstellar exploration available to anyone with the price of a pickup truck. I like the premise, but the book is not quite as much fun as I wish it were. I keep imagining what a writer like John Scalzi or Allen Steele could have done with this idea. 3.5 stars.
March 3, 2020
Takin' the truck off-roadin', but in space! With my hot wife, of course, and some good old 'Merican stoicism an' reliance, an' a big Bad Gobernmint to wrassle with! Yee haw, somehow this here tale rose above the need fer a vomit bag much a the time, so 2 stars (an' hope fer e-leck-tric trucks in the future!)
March 27, 2021
I liked the storytelling, atmosphere and the importance of lug nuts.
September 9, 2016
Jerry Oltion created a fun, very readable novel on a simple premise: a card-carrying mad scientist (really, he has a card!) invents a cheap, easy to use hyperdrive. Anyone handy with tools can build one with parts from Radio Shack (too bad they went out of business). With some way of breathing (space has no air), and some way of landing (parachutes are the preferred method), you can zip off to almost anyplace in the visible universe *zap* just like that.
In the future 20 years after 9/11, the United States has become cruel, warlike, and despotic. They have aimed most of their wrath at other countries (France is the current enemy du jour), but things at home have gotten steadily worse. Jobs have dried up, no one has any money. In Rock Springs, Wyoming, Trent Stinson can hardly afford to take his wife Donna out for burgers and a few beers on a Friday night. When he stops at the ATM for cash, a hyperdrive equipped van pulls up next to him, and zips off with part of the bank holding the vault, and a good chunk of pavement, nearly killing Trent. The arrogance of the local police convinces Trent and Donna it's time to relocate. They load up their space-equipped pickup truck, and head off for the stars. Yee-haw!
What follows is one darned thing after another. The United States has taken to bombarding extrasolar colonies it suspects might be disloyal. It does so by popping a big, high velocity rock into orbit over the target via hyperdrive. Voila, instant meteor. Possessing and using a hyperdrive puts the Stinsons on the naughty list. Taking mail to a French colony makes them targets. A computer malfunction drops them thousands of light years from any familiar stars, with dwindling battery power and air.
I had a great deal of fun reading this. I was in the middle of another novel, wordy, serious, dense, and having no fun at all. I read this in one in an afternoon, and smiled the whole time. Daffy, goofy, totally improbable, zipping through space in a 4X4 pickup truck with a gun rack, while wearing a Stetson hat. Yee-haw!
In the future 20 years after 9/11, the United States has become cruel, warlike, and despotic. They have aimed most of their wrath at other countries (France is the current enemy du jour), but things at home have gotten steadily worse. Jobs have dried up, no one has any money. In Rock Springs, Wyoming, Trent Stinson can hardly afford to take his wife Donna out for burgers and a few beers on a Friday night. When he stops at the ATM for cash, a hyperdrive equipped van pulls up next to him, and zips off with part of the bank holding the vault, and a good chunk of pavement, nearly killing Trent. The arrogance of the local police convinces Trent and Donna it's time to relocate. They load up their space-equipped pickup truck, and head off for the stars. Yee-haw!
What follows is one darned thing after another. The United States has taken to bombarding extrasolar colonies it suspects might be disloyal. It does so by popping a big, high velocity rock into orbit over the target via hyperdrive. Voila, instant meteor. Possessing and using a hyperdrive puts the Stinsons on the naughty list. Taking mail to a French colony makes them targets. A computer malfunction drops them thousands of light years from any familiar stars, with dwindling battery power and air.
I had a great deal of fun reading this. I was in the middle of another novel, wordy, serious, dense, and having no fun at all. I read this in one in an afternoon, and smiled the whole time. Daffy, goofy, totally improbable, zipping through space in a 4X4 pickup truck with a gun rack, while wearing a Stetson hat. Yee-haw!
August 18, 2012
I'm left with mixed feelings on this one.
The general idea is fairly interesting, and some of the details are too. Some of the details of travel in the specified way are well thought through.
The political comments are gentle but clear, and the characters aren't going to offend many readers in that way. The position of the U.S. is sort of plausible, if certain trends were to continue unchanged for a long time. Maybe.
The "aw, shucks" male lead is unusual, but starts to grate after a while. In his actions, he's just another Heinlein hero. Ain't got no book larnin', but "ah reckon ah can whomp up an XYZ from these here li'l ole bent spoons and these thingamajigs and a tiny bit of glue". His wife gets lots of the smart and capable too, but not too much.
And their pickup truck is the third character. If you're one of those folks who really enjoy buying extras for your truck, you'll like this book.
The whole plot seems to take place in the life span of a bunch of ham sandwiches. Unusual, but OK.
Late in the book we are told that the sun is setting in what Hero calls east, so he deduces that they're in the southern hemisphere. A few pages later, he's seeing no signs of morning in the eastern sky. Tsk.
After going from crisis to crisis a lot, with a great deal of reminding the reader how desperately short of A, B and C they are, Oltion uses a slight variation of pulp fiction's "with a mighty leap, Hero exited the inescapable pit" to get them to a safe place, then wraps it u pwith a very, very weak ending.
Go ahead and read it, I guess, but don't hesitate to skim. This isn't a demanding book.
The back cover has blurbs from Bear, Poul and Kevin J Anderson, Knight and Sheffield. OK, but Knight died three years before this book and was probably talking about Oltion's shorter work (including a Nebula novella). I think I'll look for some of the shorter stuff before tackling another Oltion novel.
The general idea is fairly interesting, and some of the details are too. Some of the details of travel in the specified way are well thought through.
The political comments are gentle but clear, and the characters aren't going to offend many readers in that way. The position of the U.S. is sort of plausible, if certain trends were to continue unchanged for a long time. Maybe.
The "aw, shucks" male lead is unusual, but starts to grate after a while. In his actions, he's just another Heinlein hero. Ain't got no book larnin', but "ah reckon ah can whomp up an XYZ from these here li'l ole bent spoons and these thingamajigs and a tiny bit of glue". His wife gets lots of the smart and capable too, but not too much.
And their pickup truck is the third character. If you're one of those folks who really enjoy buying extras for your truck, you'll like this book.
The whole plot seems to take place in the life span of a bunch of ham sandwiches. Unusual, but OK.
Late in the book we are told that the sun is setting in what Hero calls east, so he deduces that they're in the southern hemisphere. A few pages later, he's seeing no signs of morning in the eastern sky. Tsk.
After going from crisis to crisis a lot, with a great deal of reminding the reader how desperately short of A, B and C they are, Oltion uses a slight variation of pulp fiction's "with a mighty leap, Hero exited the inescapable pit" to get them to a safe place, then wraps it u pwith a very, very weak ending.
Go ahead and read it, I guess, but don't hesitate to skim. This isn't a demanding book.
The back cover has blurbs from Bear, Poul and Kevin J Anderson, Knight and Sheffield. OK, but Knight died three years before this book and was probably talking about Oltion's shorter work (including a Nebula novella). I think I'll look for some of the shorter stuff before tackling another Oltion novel.
September 1, 2008
You have to read your local authors, and this science fiction outing was an entertaining read—a sequel of sorts to The Getaway Special. Since the invention of the hyperdrive engine allowed anyone to construct a spaceship for a few hundred bucks, people have been setting out to colonize space and escape the imperialist, repressive U.S. government. A country couple from Colorado take off in their modified 4X4 to explore and wind up attacked by the government. They have adventures when they get lost and eventually seek the help of the inter-galactic version of the U.N. to stop the U.S, though tit declines. The neat parallels to current times were good, as were the characters and descriptions. I know the book was meant to be fun, but I thought there should have been some examination of colonization: how it went on earth, especially in North America, and how moving on to colonize other planets is different—or not—from the U.S. government’s imperialist projects. Ultimately, the characters only came back to earth and decide to participate in the political process. Weak ending, but a decent read.
December 2, 2014
Jerry Oltion has developed the most fascinating space travel method that I've ever come across in SF!
This book is actually the sequel to "The Getaway Special", but I read this one first, as I bought them in reverse order. So you definitely can enjoy this without reading the first book, but there will be a couple minor characters you might wonder about.
More about spaceflight: in this book, all they needed was a pick-up truck sealed against vacuum! But, of course, this will lead to some misadventures along the way.
Oltion deftly manages the mechanics of this book. For example, if the truck is falling to earth, a quick hop can put it on the other side of the planet, but due to conservation of momentum it is now falling away from the planet. So a series of hops can bring the truck close to earth with minimal velocity just by letting gravity do the work.
Highly recommended for hard-SF fans and people who enjoy something a little more offbeat.
This book is actually the sequel to "The Getaway Special", but I read this one first, as I bought them in reverse order. So you definitely can enjoy this without reading the first book, but there will be a couple minor characters you might wonder about.
More about spaceflight: in this book, all they needed was a pick-up truck sealed against vacuum! But, of course, this will lead to some misadventures along the way.
Oltion deftly manages the mechanics of this book. For example, if the truck is falling to earth, a quick hop can put it on the other side of the planet, but due to conservation of momentum it is now falling away from the planet. So a series of hops can bring the truck close to earth with minimal velocity just by letting gravity do the work.
Highly recommended for hard-SF fans and people who enjoy something a little more offbeat.
July 26, 2016
This is a weaker sequel to his lively and entertaining The Getaway Special (2002, recommended), which, you may recall, was cheap star travel in septic-tank spaceships. Here they've advanced to sealed-cab electric pickups, with the Secret Stardrive™ module hidden inside. Which is illegal in a cartoonishly-obtuse USA. Does have a nice Heinleinian wild-planet romance/problem-solving story nested within. C+, has moments.
September 12, 2011
If you liked Getaway Special, you'll enjoy this sequel too. Great fun to go off-planet in a converted camper; not so much fun to be bombed by the US, the empire that is losing control and getting meaner by the minute. Jerry Oltion writes a highly entertaining story laced with sharp observations of the world today.
August 9, 2012
A good story, kinda bogs in the middle in some details and never really realizes the story potential it projects from the jacket summary. Second in a series (didn't know that when I started and it really didn't make a difference) and sets up for more. Will look for the first and read more if their available.
June 4, 2008
This was a good book about ordinary people in extraordinary times/situations. The concept was very interesting...space travel for all and what that means and how the gov't tries to regulate it (by making it illegal of course!)
December 21, 2008
This could be a tale from my marriage...if I was still married & if you could actually retrofit pickup trucks for interstellar space travel. Some clichéd jokes, dubious science, nothing unexpected, but overall a cute diversion.
January 5, 2017
Not particularly well-written. I bailed at around page 70. I was kind of interested in finding out what happened to these people, but not interested enough to continue. I had origiannly picked it up because the author also wrote the wonderful short story "Abandon in Place."
January 3, 2008
Hilarious. Cheap interstellar travel allows hobbyists to travel the stars. But the US government doesn't like it!
March 1, 2008
Very good sequel to Getaway Special. One of the few books that could tear me away from the 40k universe.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews