Eternity's End; Jeffrey Carver; 2000; 3/27/2012

This is another Nebula finalist.  I'm finding, as a general rule, that I don't enjoy the hard SF books that are finalists, but do not win.  Why am I having trouble enjoying this particular book?  Let us count the ways (I was reading the 2000 Tor hardcover):

1. The prologue gives an eerie feel of the ghost ship Impris, so we're primed and ready for Chapter 1 (pg 15), which begins, "Renwald Legroeder's eyes darted frantically--" Wait, what?   "Legroeder"?   "Renwald"?  That's getting a little close to Renfield for comfort.  Worse, on page 306, the actual love interest (after a couple of false starts), insists on using his first name, cooing through their implants "I like Renwald, I like the way it rolls off my tongue..."    Is this a parody or serious SF?  
   
2. Still shaken from the name our hero is saddled with, we find that Legrover is making his daring escape from pirate activity, making a dangerous flight through flak and fire, when, on page pg 18, "he heard a voice softly, distantly, in his mind.  You must keep your center . . . stay calm.  Legroeder, you'll find the way through."  Use the Force, Renwald?  He's actually just thinking of an old friend, whom we never meet, and is never mentioned again in this novel.  Again, is this parody or serious SF?
   
3. The very next page, we find that Legrider was able to effect his daring escape "when a Flux capacitor in the main docking room blew."  Srsly?  Flux capacitor?  Now, to be fair, the first three books in Carver's Star Rigger universe pre-date Marty McFly, but the damage is done.  Only Marty and Doc Emmett Brown can say "flux capacitor" with a straight face, and even then it's in the service of comedy.

But this isn't comedy; it's deadly serious SF.  I actually do like the way the starship riggers work in concert to pilot a ship, and the book is most effective when describing the riggers' experiences as they move through the Flux, but it's otherwise a very average SF book, and at 555 pages, I couldn't wait to reach Eternity's End.

Three possible local headlines for tomorrow

"Kurt Wright wins narrow victory; Hinda Miller admits maybe IRV wasn't such a bad thing"**


"Miro Weinberger wins narrow victory; Republicans blame IRV"


"Wanda Hines wins miracle victory; God smiles on the People's Republic"***




** Hinda Miller lost the 2006 election for mayor; even though she trailed eventual winner Bob Kiss in votes after the first round and therefore was entirely likely to have lost a traditional runoff, she blamed her loss on IRV because Republican Kevin Curley mind-controlled his supporters into casting their second-choice votes for Progressive Kiss.  I was ashamed to have had Miller on my ballot at all after that display of poor sportsmanship.


*** This is not an endorsement of Wanda Hines by myself (or God), but merely an observation that she is the candidate closest to the Progressive values that have defined the People's Republic of Burlington for the last 30 years.  The global economic meltdown has helped kill the People's Republic, and whoever we elect is going to have to cut budget to the bone.

Another reason to curse the mild winter

There seem to be more election signs and more people out waving election signs than in any other year leading up to town meeting day.  I'll admit it *is* a big election year, as we are all-but-certain to have the first major-party mayor in many years.  I'm a little sad to see the end of the People's Republic of Burlington.