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Escape Plus
No one could move without being followed.
No one could speak without being overheard.
The almost sentient computer system was everywhere.
The prison was billed as "escape-proof," and sofar that was true.
But Danny Romano was not about to believe it... the jail hadn't been built that could hold him. Danny would escape.
Even if he had to permanently change his identity to do it.
No one could speak without being overheard.
The almost sentient computer system was everywhere.
The prison was billed as "escape-proof," and sofar that was true.
But Danny Romano was not about to believe it... the jail hadn't been built that could hold him. Danny would escape.
Even if he had to permanently change his identity to do it.
285 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
2 people are currently reading
106 people want to read
About the author
Ben Bova
715 books1,040 followersBen 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
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
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 21, 2023
Brilliant!
You should seek out a copy of this wonderful collection of short stories immediately and consume it forthwith. This is classic sci-fi from the golden age of the genre. These tales will delight and astound you and you will thank me for introducing you to it (you're welcome in advance).
Brilliant!
You should seek out a copy of this wonderful collection of short stories immediately and consume it forthwith. This is classic sci-fi from the golden age of the genre. These tales will delight and astound you and you will thank me for introducing you to it (you're welcome in advance).
Brilliant!
July 11, 2020
Short SF stories: some good, some not so good. An old book I discovered at the back of my shelf. Decided to give it a bash, and quickly it was done. Don't remember much.
September 4, 2021
Better than the average Ben Bova novel.
April 5, 2012
Collection of some very lackluster Bova shorts. The main piece is Escape, which is about a young thug being inducted into a prison guarded by a supercomputer. It's the perfect prison, can he escape?
Sounds good, right? But it's not. It's incredibly simplistic, one-sided, and the science fiction aspect barely matters. It's too optimistic-most of us know that even the best intentions often have negative side-effects, and a prison with that level of control, even for a good purpose, will have them. Also, anyone who did the protagonist's crimes would be a lot angrier and take a lot longer to heal than in the novella. Not good at all.
There are other stories included, but the collection is more like your favorite artist releasing z-grade stuff. There's another story with the protagonist of Escape, done in a weird pseudo-screenplay format with just INT/EXT markers. Mr Bova I guess never realized you also separate dialogue in it, too. There's some generic SF stories, some very brief. The best is the "Mafia Dragon" one, but you can get that almost anywhere. There's even a brief non SF story about fencing.
Just really bad, yard sale SF. Bova completionists might raise this rating a star, and maybe a 3rd star if you want to give this to your kid, as several of the stories either were intended for young adults or are brief enough for them not to be dissuaded by it. But this particular collection isn't that good, and he's written enough where you can find much better.
Sounds good, right? But it's not. It's incredibly simplistic, one-sided, and the science fiction aspect barely matters. It's too optimistic-most of us know that even the best intentions often have negative side-effects, and a prison with that level of control, even for a good purpose, will have them. Also, anyone who did the protagonist's crimes would be a lot angrier and take a lot longer to heal than in the novella. Not good at all.
There are other stories included, but the collection is more like your favorite artist releasing z-grade stuff. There's another story with the protagonist of Escape, done in a weird pseudo-screenplay format with just INT/EXT markers. Mr Bova I guess never realized you also separate dialogue in it, too. There's some generic SF stories, some very brief. The best is the "Mafia Dragon" one, but you can get that almost anywhere. There's even a brief non SF story about fencing.
Just really bad, yard sale SF. Bova completionists might raise this rating a star, and maybe a 3rd star if you want to give this to your kid, as several of the stories either were intended for young adults or are brief enough for them not to be dissuaded by it. But this particular collection isn't that good, and he's written enough where you can find much better.
August 29, 2013
Like many short story collections, this is a mix of quality. It ranges from the "rather good" at the high end to the "rather mediocre" at the low end -- or, in the rating parlance of the goodreads star system, from "really liked it" to "it was ok", because nothing in it was so bad as to deserve the worst possible rating (one star) nor so good as to deserve the best possible rating (five stars).
Some of the stories are a bit naive in concept; others a bit trite; others inspiring or very thought-provoking. Still others were entertaining, but not particularly special beyond that.
Some insight into the mind of the author (Ben Bova) is offered via the introductory text he wrote for each story in the collection, which is an interesting contextual addition to the value of the stories themselves.
There are many books I would recommend before Escape Plus, but it was not a waste of time, so I do not regret the read. I think I found the last story in the book the most interesting, more for the ideas that were not well explored than for the content and construction of the story itself.
Some of the stories are a bit naive in concept; others a bit trite; others inspiring or very thought-provoking. Still others were entertaining, but not particularly special beyond that.
Some insight into the mind of the author (Ben Bova) is offered via the introductory text he wrote for each story in the collection, which is an interesting contextual addition to the value of the stories themselves.
There are many books I would recommend before Escape Plus, but it was not a waste of time, so I do not regret the read. I think I found the last story in the book the most interesting, more for the ideas that were not well explored than for the content and construction of the story itself.
Read
August 25, 2010EX-LIB. COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES FROM 'HUGO AWARD WINNING AUTHOR OF COLONY'
June 24, 2013
Interesting collection of stories.
I liked Slight Miscalculation the best. I love sci-fi comedy and Bova does a good job with it.
I liked Slight Miscalculation the best. I love sci-fi comedy and Bova does a good job with it.
October 5, 2016
Decent group of stories. A nice read while on a flight or in a waiting room.
December 18, 2007
read 07.25.87
October 4, 2013
A fairly okay anthology of Bens work, the introductions could have been shortened a fair bit.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews