Allen Steele

Allen Steele’s first novel, Orbital Decay, is the kind of book I wish Heinlein had continued to write in his last two decades. It is sci-fi with a strong engineering component and characters with slangy, individual voices. It is not really future history but wishful speculation that our space program would advance faster than was credible to think three years after the Challenger disaster. Sadly, near-Earth orbit is still not accessible to blue-collar guys in spacesuits escaping from biker show more gangs.

Like most writers of the time, Steele underestimated the speed with which communication technology would develop as much as he overestimated the expansion of our crewed space program. But we can wish for the day when a future version of the ISS will have its own little marijuana patch.

The book gets meh reviews because it is so episodic, seems dated, and does not have the cultural diversity we expect these days. But I have a forgiving nature. show less

Nathan Arkwright is an aging science fiction writer with a dream.

One of the Big Four of the Golden Age of science fiction (along with Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, and Arthur C. Clarke), Arkwright wrote the Galaxy Patrol series, which became a tv show and a movie franchise. In his waning years, he wants what he's always wanted: real, manned space exploration.

He's also worried that an asteroid collision could cause another mass extinction, this time wiping out humans.

During the first World show more Science Fiction Convention in 1939, Nathan and three friends formed a club they called The League of Tomorrow. In the early 2000s, it becomes the Arkwright Foundation, Estranged from his daughter and other remaining family, he leaves his wealth to the Foundation, along with an ambitious plan for human colonization of the stars.

The story is told episodically--Nathan's granddaughter Kate, and her descendants, tell the story of the rising and falling fortunes of the Arkwright Foundation and its ambitious plans. There's family conflict as well as the building and launching of the ship, and the struggle to maintain contact with it on its journey. And the last part of the story takes place on Eos, an super-Earth lit by three red dwarf stars.

All of this could be very dry. It's not. I connected with the characters and their stories in each section. They're human and relatable, and, heck, Nathan and his friends are fans! There are some very familiar names in Nathan's section of the book.

There's also a great, big, huge, hand-wave in the Arkwright project, which is never really addressed, possibly because it can't be. That's all right. Steele is a fine storyteller, and I'm willing to grant him his hand-wave, but honestly, I had to give it some thought before I did. Some people may find it a bridge too far.

Recommended, with that caveat.

I bought this audiobook. show less

Satisfying conclusion to the Coyote Trilogy.

Steele has done a masterful job of world-building with his imagining of Earth's first attempt to colonize a planet outside the home solar system, and turns his lens this time on what might happen to the tough little world if it had to grow up and put on shoes.

Technological advances since the original colonizing ship left Earth have broken the FTL barrier, and what had been a remote and struggling society now must cope with becoming a functioning show more member of a galactic partnership. Their ability to export raw materials to a dying Earth, and to import technologies to solidify their foothold on Coyote bring both practical and ethical challenges. And just to put the cherry on top, Steele harkens back to something planted early in the first novel, which sends things spinning off in an entirely new plane, even as the trilogy's basic story is winding down. show less

I had high hopes for Arkwright by Allen Steele because the premise sounded so promising. A sci-fi book about a sci-fi author (touted as being a contemporary of Isaac Asimov) that bankrolled a gargantuan scientific project that could only be cooked up by a sci-fi enthusiast? Yes, please! The basic outline of this book is that through multiple generations of one family, the Arkwright clan, an interstellar space craft would be created and launched into the vast reaches of space in the hopes of show more colonizing a distant planet for future human inhabitation. Each section of the book focused on a different descendant of the original creator, Nathan Arkwright. The major problem for me was that I didn't especially like any of these characters. It isn't a necessity to like the characters you read about of course but it helps if you feel invested in them because otherwise their actions make no difference to you one way or the other...which is what happened to me. Halfway through, I almost gave this book up as a lost cause but I decided to soldier through in the hopes that the ending would knock my socks off. It did and it didn't. You can probably guess what the last chapter of a book about interstellar travel will contain but if you're looking for a huge crescendo then you're going to be disappointed. When I was contemplating giving this one up I looked up other reviews and someone mentioned how it would have been better if the ending had been expanded further. I agree. By focusing on the management of the company, the fiscal pitfalls, the construction of the ship, and the foibles of each of the family members Steele missed an opportunity to really knock it out of the park. If you're a huge sci-fi nerd (as I am) then you most likely won't fall in love with this book but if you're new to the genre or a fan of the generation ship trope then maybe this one will be a win for you. 4/10 for a great concept that didn't really deliver. show less