In the introduction to this Audible.com audiobook, author Allen Steele states that he wanted to write a space colonization story as he imagined it would really take place. Rather than arriving with technology and terraforming, the colonists would travel much as the Pilgrims journeyed to America. They would be under-equipped, under-trained, and under-prepared for an unknown environment. For the most part, Steele has succeeded in writing that story, and it’s pretty enjoyable. It brought back to me the feel of science fiction that I loved as a youth.

(Full review at my blog) ( )

Very enjoyable story about interplanetary colonization, with political themes ( )

A rather good tale that beings with a tense and exciting mission of subterfuge to escape from a very fascist dystopia to start a colony in interstellar space.
This involves stealing a centrepiece of government progapanda though, the Starship Alabama. The first two stories involve the escape, and travelling, and are the best part of the book (also garnering award-type recognition).

As you can see from the story titles, they do make it, and a majority of the rest of this first part of the Coyote saga deals with struggling to get the colony started, exploration, interpersonal conflicts, and dealing with the local conditions and wildlife.

Coyote : Stealing Alabama - Allen M. Steele
Coyote : The Days Between - Allen M. Steele
Coyote : Coming to Coyote - Allen M. Steele
Coyote : Liberty Journals - Allen M. Steele
Coyote : The Boid Hunt - Allen M. Steele
Coyote : Across The Eastern Divide - Allen M. Steele
Coyote : Lonesome and a Long Way From Home - Allen M. Steele
Coyote : Glorious Destiny - Allen M. Steele

The brave leaving Liberty as Liberty no longer leading the brave.

4.5 out of 5

Early rising not a good idea.

4.5 out of 5

Putting the survival training to work.

3.5 out of 5

Coyote dangerous living.

3.5 out of 5

Hope they taste like chicken.

3 out of 5

Coyote teenage bailout.

3 out of 5

Boidkill dad return.

3.5 out of 5

Coyote gets some more ship visitors, not going to get along.

3.5 out of 5

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2008/06... ( )

In the year 2070, America is in the grip of a right-wing dictatorship. A group of rebels steal a prototype starship, which reaches Coyote, a moon of Bear, a gas giant planet orbiting 47 Ursa Majoris, 230 calendar years and 46 light-years later. The crew and colonists are revived and begin life on their new home.

At over 400 paperback pages, Coyote is a wide-ranging tale told from differing viewpoints. It works, at least for me. All of the pieces save one originally appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction magazine between January 2001 and December 2002. ( )

There's a lot that can be said about this book. Style is first and foremost: there's a certain ease to Steele's writing that blows me away and reminds me of my own and what I'd like it to be. He ignores conventions such as chapters, presenting the novel in chunks, and writes in all kinds of point of view: third person present, third person past, first person past...and it works. Amazingly, this works. Maybe it's because he was already an established writer when he pulled this sucker off, but Coyote will remain, to me, an example that you can do whatever the hell you want stylistically, and you can pull it off, as long as it's good.

And Coyote is so good. While my absolute favorite part was the first chuck, "Stealing Alabama", other chunks also gripped me: "Across the Eastern Divide" and "The Days Between" stand out particularly. But in truth, this book...gah, it's hard to articulate: it's a large cast list, but you're never confused, and all the characters just work. You never feel at a loss for connecting with a particular character, because that's how well drawn each and everyone of them is.

The politics. The world-builiding. Wow. Granted, thanks to Steele's lecture, I know the work that went into this novel, but even the political situation on Earth, which he didn't talk about in his lecture, blew me away. Maybe because it strikes close to home these days, on some level, but it was everything a dystopic society should be. And then there was hope. The only thing that actually threw me was the ending: it was the last thing I expected, even though Steele prepared me for it. And it didn't throw me in a bad way: I just didn't expect the direction, even though I had no idea how the book would end.

I would disagree with people who say this is actually more science fantasy than science fiction. Granted, the hard science stuff (or some soft science stuff) is solely and the beginning and the end, bookmarking the tale, but this is by no means a fantasy. Frontier fiction? Maybe. Ultimately, this is simply solid character-driven work that made me incredibly happy to read. People talk all the time about what they want out of their science fiction, and for my two cents, at least at this venture, I will be a very happy devil to get more science fiction like this. ( )