Simon’s Comments (group member since Jan 02, 2026)

Simon’s comments from the Techno-Thrillers group.

I have finally made a dent in this one!

I should be finished in the next couple of days. I appreciate the tech realism he brings to space launches and orbital practicalities - as well as eyebrow raising details on the biological realities of space travel - from 'space condoms' for urine management to the grim reality of having to keep working while throwing up inside your own pressure suit... the 'Right Stuff' indeed. I'm deleting space travel off my bucket list, let me put it that way.

Anyone else left on this one except myself and Steve? There was about 150 pages + of set up on this novel to get through, very easy to drop out of it. The opening dramatic scene where he loses an eye was hardly enough plot, excitement, or character momentum to carry you through the next 150 pages to when things get going again.

I will hold off final opinion until I have finished the whole thing.

Oh boy. I’m still struggling as well, still not cleared the tower and now in danger of a failure to launch / hit the abort button. It must surely get engaging at some point, there are a lot of accolades and good reviews associated with it - maybe I’m the problem! I’m going away for a few days so perhaps I will make a dent in it then.

Fifteen to twenty tonnes a second (yep you read that right) is the fuel burn rate for a Saturn 5 stage 1. I have been obsessed with energy burn rates of late. A mid range jet engine in cruise mode - about 1 litre a second per engine and 3 to 4 l/s at take off. A D10 bulldozer - about a litre a minute in high range mode.

The pumps they use to push that volume of fuel into the ignition chambers of Sat 5 or Raptor engines are CRAZY. Basically jet engine type mechanics but instead of air, cryo fuel is being pushed out at unfathomable rates. The slightest imperfection in the components and they tear themselves apart instantly.

As for this book, I feel like I'm burning a fair bit of fuel and have not 'cleared the tower' yet. I'm not finding it as engaging as Ubik. The raw oddness of Ubik kept me going. I will keep on though.

To answer the questions methodically (as engineers do).

This is the only book group I am active in, so I don't have anything to compare with, although the ones I have drifted through, all look very similar on Goodreads - that's the standard Goodreads format by the looks of things, which is a leveller I suppose. So I guess it just comes down to the active users and moderator.

This one is perfect for me. I would rather fully engage with one small group than get lost in a multitude of competing voices and content. I'm quite happy here! If it gets too popular, I may bugger off and try to find another interesting quiet corner somewhere.

I appreciate the straightforward no nonsense way it's set up and moderated with no hidden 'angle' being worked. It's just a small bunch of people chatting about techno-thrillers. It does what it says on the tin. That's refreshing to me.

Don't change a bloody thing!

I'm only maybe 50 pages in. There is a lot of plot and character set-up going on. I guess only writers with established credentials can get away with that. It will take me a while I think to get through it.
How is everyone else going with it?

Arrived today, let’s see how far I get before I slip
Into the arms of Morpheus this evening. I’m pretty tired so anything beyond 15 mins will be a positive opening.

I just ordered a copy. I will make a start in a few days. Artemis 2 is bright spot in a darkening world. I look at the NASA tracker every now and again to cheer myself up!

I will watch it for sure. I will probably have to wait for it to be streamed though, such is life atm. It seems to have generated a lot of hype and hopes for a resurgence of cinema. I do miss those times when a cinematic release prompted queues around the block to get in and had the ability to shift the cultural dial. Everything seems so fragmented nowadays and personalised to an extent that there is a loss of broader connection. Social media should perhaps be better termed anti-social media.

At last! When can I move!

Sounds intriguing. I won't get on it for a couple of weeks though.

That's a great round up of this work. I'm on board with that assessment for sure. 'Ubik is God' - a great illustration, it prompts thought (it got me thinking), it does not give answers - I'm ok with that. Maybe its one of those that sits in your head and gets better over time.
Personally I think having such books as part of this group's repertoire, only adds to it. The Techno Thriller genre is a broad church and like Ubik is - as it should be - open to interpretation.

Leading question - I really like the Alex Garland 2007 movie 'Sunshine' - one of my favs actually, an edgy techno thriller / sci fi / philosophical journey with notes of horror thrown in (ticks all my boxes). Hail Mary - the basic premise seems very similar but with cutesy aliens and 'Ken from barbie' thrown in - like 'Disney does Sunshine'. That thought, like a dying sun, leaves me feeling a bit cold about going to see it.

I am happy to be proven wrong and 'give it a go' - thoughts / guidance welcome.

Totally! Ubik was not 'bad' really. I can understand why it would be a homerun in its time, but it has dated somewhat. Its still interesting though. Blade Runner is an all time favourite of mine. I'm pretty sure I read the book too (after I saw the film), but it was a long time ago and obviously the printed version did not leave as strong an impression compared to the movie.

I liked Minority Report too (not read the book though). They all have similar themes running through, which ties into PK Dick's own life experiences and influences. I think that's why his prose seems so raw and edgy, there's no filter. It reads more like a neurotic stream of consciousness he is experiencing himself as he wrestles with this stuff, which makes it kind of interesting- albeit hard to read.

Onwards! What's next!

Hmm. I struggled with it throughout. My speeding up towards the end was more about 'getting it over with', like ripping a plaster off. A weird dated story is about right for me too. I respect the raw originality of it, but the style was hard. I felt like I was living inside the head of a person in the midst of a neurotic episode. I'm not sure if that was the intent or not, but the prose was endlessly feverish and erratic to me, albeit colourful - but it felt too disjointed for the 'colour' to be experienced as a thing of beauty - for me anyway.

For all that, I'm glad I read it too, but no way I will re-read it. I enjoyed some aspects. Observing just how wrong he got it in 1969 trying to predict 1992 was kind of fun. Coin operated 'everything' - on demand physical newspapers printed on the spot - and yet colonies on the Moon and Mars and domestic rocket ship travel. Kind of delightfully about as wrong as one could get to how the modern world has turned out. I noted Carl Jung got a nod in there too near the end. I don't think Carl's ideas of a 'collective consciousness' is interpreted in the same way today, but they were very powerful ideas at that time and I'm guessing a big influence in a few of his works.

Hmm, I have a way to go yet, but I did pick up the pace a bit last night (Aus time) having gotten used somewhat to the jargon and style - also ‘stuff’ has started to happen. A lot of high profile books lean towards literary fiction that often leave me a bit disappointed. Commercial fiction speaks for itself, it does not need the intelligentsia to get behind it.

Anyhow, I will leave any more predictions to the precogs….

Until I finish this thing.

I'm struggling a little bit.

My reading is patchy and forced. I feel a bit bogged down in the assumed vision of the time; that paranormal human capabilities would be proven, become a part of everyday technology and that shadowy gov organisations already had secret folks who could read minds and see into the future, and such. It reads more like an interesting historical window into a past when Carl Jung's 'Collective Consciousness' felt accepted both scientifically and as part of a cultural movement - ( a very different more hopeful time through the 60s and early 70s). Still two weeks left on this one and I am confident I will finish it within the month. I will be very pleased if by the end of the book I get something different to the way I feel I am heading with it at the moment.

How are you guys going with it?

Me too, then the real world chaos distracted attention away, to the extent that three chapters in, I feel I need to start it again.
There is an endearing particular style to science fiction of this time. You can feel the psychotropics permeating the subject matter and vernacular. The endless cigarette smoking too as ubiquitous action tags to break up the structures into digestible chunks is oddly reassuring to me.

In many ways I think the spec fic and sci fi writers of that age - even the ones that were bleak , paint a more optimistic picture than what actually seems to be unfolding. It is happening very quickly now and the brakes are off as it is seen as an all or nothing competition between firms and nations. I know folks high up in tech firms and the initial reservations have been replaced with a ‘if you are not at the table - you are on the menu’ mindset.

Ha ha, yes, I can see how you ended up there! It's very much commercial fiction from a commercial writer. Nothing wrong with that if done well, but you can almost feel the narrative hooks being inserted into you and if at any point you decide you don't care - it's over! It's a 3.5 ish stars for me. A reasonable choice as literary chewing gum if stuck in an airport lounge or something, but not something that will stay with you. Onto the next then.

Just ordered a copy - paperback again of course. I want to feel and hear the paper, and have those moments when I look upon it as a physical manifestation of the ideas contained within.

It's one of those where I am surprised I have never heard of it or read it before. I like to think I have read most of the notable works (and a lot of un-notable ones too) in the area, but this one slipped through unnoticed, for no reason I can think of.

No need to over think this thing - a thriller with technological elements embedded throughout as a core plot theme and / or narrative backdrop - no?

There may be an argument for a 'techno-horror' genre or 'techno-adventure' or 'techno-mystery', but it does not trip off the tongue so pleasingly as techno thriller, which covers a lot of bases and gives the reader a strong signal about the content, even if the 'thriller' part can be quite broad.