Fallen Angels, by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Michael Flynn

Rating: 1
Pages: 359

Plot synopsis
Anti-science greenies seize control of the world as a new Ice Age descends upon the globe. When science and technology are outlawed the Russian and American crews of the space station declare their independence from Earth. Back on Earth, persecuted science fiction fans form secret societies and struggle with the knowledge that they are the last hope for mankind. Then one day a space ship from the space station crashes on Earth. The crew is rescued by science fiction fans who decide to use the fullest resources of fandom to build a rocket and send the stranded astronauts back home to their space station.

Things I learned from this book
Inside jokes are fun. You can sustain an entire book on the strength of inside jokes about science fiction fandom. Throwing in sly references to famous geeks like Richard M. Stallman increases the awesomeness factor of any story.

Other neat ideas in this book: only science fiction fans have the brains and the clearheadedness to keep the world from strangling itself by following the shortsighted goals of the Environmentalist movement.

Technology can do no wrong. If it weren't for the millions of tons of air pollution generated by coal-burning power plants the Earth's clear skies would allow heat to radiate off into space, causing a new Ice Age.

There were some good parts to this book. I even understood most of the inside jokes and science fiction references. It was amusing for the first couple of chapters, but not for 359 pages. By the end of the book I hated all the characters. I prayed that their rocket ship would blow up on the launch pad and kill everyone. Alas, it was not to be. So I ripped the last page out of the book and wrote this new ending on the inside of the back cover:

The rocketship exploded and killed everyone. The science fiction fans lost and the evil Environmentalists won. Earth froze and everyone died. And the authors of the book got food poisoning and died. The End.

The full text of Fallen Angels (sans my improved ending) is online at the publisher's website: Baen Books - Fallen Angels

The Flight of the Horse, by Larry Niven

Pages: 212

I despise time travel, but these whimsical stories by Larry Niven are an exception. They're funny, not serious. And they're fantasy, not science fiction. The only science fiction story in this collection is Flash Crowd, which I remember reading years ago. It was good then, and only slightly less so now.

What Good is a Glass Dagger? is the best story of the collection, about a young werewolf who attacks a warlock and is rewarded with an invisible glass dagger stabbed into his heart. If he ever leaves a mana-rich area, the magic dagger will materialize in his chest and kill him. Larry Niven's concept of mana as a limited resource require for magic is the basis for many role-playing games. So perhaps it may seem cliche now, but hey, Niven used it first.

• The Flight of the Horse: Svetz goes back in time to capture an extinct animal--a horse. He captures one, but it nearly gores him to death with its horn.


• Leviathan: Svetz travels back in time to collect a whale, and runs into the biblical leviathan.


• Bird in the Hand: The Secretary-General desires a roc, so Svetz sees what he can do to turn an ostrich into a giant mythical bird.


• There's a Wolf in My Time Machine: Svetz's time machine slips sideways into another universe where men evolved from wolves.


• Death in a Cage: Svetz's time machine is hijacked by a man who wants to change the history of his time line to prevent nuclear apocalypse.


• Flash Crowd: Matter displacement booths allow instant easy travel all over the world; roving mobs and floating riots abound.


• What Good is a Glass Dagger?: Magic requires mana to work, but mana is a finite natural resource; when it is used up in one place, magic will never work there again.