military SF

Old Man’s War

Posted on March 4, 2014

We’re back with what is becoming something of a modern science fiction classic, Old Man’s War by John Scalzi. This is a book where humanity is defended by soldiers over the age of seventy-five and under the age of ten. Listen to the episode to hear us discuss universe building, characterization, imperialism, and bioethics. We also talk about the fuuuuture, quip machines, strange alien religions, and, of course, boobs.

Also, next week will be our year in review episode. If you have any last minute comments or questions about anything we’ve covered in the last year, get them in ASAP! If you’re not sure what we’ve covered since last March, go to the Episodes page and look at the titles in “Season Two.”

The music bump this week is a Carl Reike march called “Old Comrades,” performed by a tuba quartet because who doesn’t love that?

Old Man’s War – Six Year Old Adults

Recommendations:

Gabs: 6/10. Easy to read, but probably best recommended to science fiction fans.

Ben: 8/10. Solid writing and an interesting universe, plus it made me laugh a couple of times.

This entry was posted in Episodes and tagged alien religions, Atticus is also a puppy, banter, bioethics, boobs, Brainpal books, characterization, creative violence, futurewar, gender equality, good battle writing, humanity, imperialism, John Scalzi, military SF, Old Man's War, overcompetent protagonists, powerful neighbors, pro- v. anti- military, pronouncing names, quip machines, relationships, sci fi philosophy, soldiers with perspective, Starship Troopers parallels, the fuuuuture, universe building, who owns your genes.

Starship Troopers

Posted on October 10, 2013

Banned Book Month is over! Novel Ideas returns with the granddaddy of military science fiction, Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein. Or possibly Bobby H. In this week’s episode we discuss the politics of authors as represented by their books, the lack of characterization in this book, the strange lack of war in a book about war, and how despite a paucity of women, this book still acknowledges women better than most classic sci fi. We also talk about the fun, if not so good, movie, colorful windbags, people and their similarity to potatoes, puppies, and other “P” words, and how we would react to giant spiders holding guns.

The music bump this week is “The Ballad of Rodger Young” by Frank Loesser, the sweetest sound in the galaxy.

Starship Troopers – The Fault In Our Starship Troopers

Recommendations:

This is definitely a Ben book rather than a Gabs book. Be warned, there are two chapters of actual war in this book about war, most of the rest is conversation.

Gabs: 7/10 for someone looking for science fiction, 4/10 for someone who doesn’t usually read that genre.

Ben: 9/10 for someone like me, which is to say someone with a prior interest in military minutiae and science fiction. Then again, this is one of my favorite books. Maybe closer to 7/10 for a generic sci fi fan.

This entry was posted in Episodes, Movies of books and tagged asides, author politics, Ben references, Bob Heinlein, Bobby H, brotherhood, colorful windbags, conservatism, consistency, crime and punishment, favorite books, giant spiders, government that works, harcore old guys, Hollywood whitewashing, interesting narration, lack of characterization, lack of female characters, listener suggestions, military philosophy, military SF, movies of books, nature of war, people aren't p---, Robert Heinlein, Starship Troopers, Starship Troopers remake, where's the war?.