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Juvenile ( )

Back when I was an impressionable young person, there was a TV movie that I saw. Well, there were a lot of TV movies that I saw back then but I'm referring to one of the few that stuck in my head. It was called Salvage One or some such and it starred Andy Griffith as a junk dealer who had a hankerin' to build a spaceship, go to the moon and salvage all the equipment that the astronauts left up there. I don't know why it touched me. Maybe it was the thought that a shade tree mechanic might be able to build a spaceship. Or maybe it was the concept of space being accessible by just plain folks. Anyway, I wonder if Mr. Varley had seen the film as well, because Red Thunder is the tale of a group of just plain folks who want to build a spaceship and go to Mars. Of course, it's done a lot better than that old movie, but the gut appeal is the same. Y'all should check it out. It makes excellent summer reading.
--J. ( )

Red Thunder is simple, basic, pop science fiction. I suppose as that goes it was probably a pretty good book. I picked it up because a book club I'm involved in wanted to read it. I don't normally get into run-of-the-mill science fiction. Because of that it's hard for me to compare it to other things that I have read. The characters in the novel were quite stereotypical and superficial. The science seemed pretty hokey and uninspired. Perhaps worst of all, the meat of the science fiction didn't even start happening until the last third of the book. Overall, I didn't enjoy it very much. ( )

All you need to build your own hyperspace ship are a couple of keen to be educated boys living near a space site in Florida, a hard-nosed sexy girlfriend, a damaged ultra-genius cajun, and an alcoholic ex-astronaut. That, and not having to spend too much time helping out at a decaying old motel, and having a few large pieces of abandoned railway metal nearby.

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2006/12/red-thunder-john-varley.html ( )