Dr. Phil's Dreamwidth Journal

Somewhere I think I once did a blog review of Robert Altman's Countdown. I know I've mentioned it several times, including during my review of The Martian. It's a 1968 movie with Robert Duvall and James Caan about a juryrigged mission to put an American on the Moon, using a mixture of Apollo and Gemini parts -- because the Russians were going and the full Apollo wasn't ready.

I hadn't heard of it until just a few years ago when it was on Turner Classic Movies. Pristine print in letterbox widescreen. It is by no means a great space movie -- to me it is memorable because it was a big studio production with Altman at the helm which had the misfortune to come out the same year as Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Oops.

In looking it up when I did The Martian review, I was reminded that it was based on a novel. So... off to Amazon, where I found a used copy for a couple of dollars. And it came the other day and I read it Monday and Tuesday night.

The Pilgrim Project / Hank Searls. 1964.
used via Amazon.com, paperback, $3.00 + $3.99 S+H.

Opening the package took me right back to my early SF reading. Books tended to be shorter -- this paperback was some 200 pages, with a small heavy font with very small margins and gutters. The three cut edges of the paper had been dyed a deep purple or burgundy -- the dye spreading onto the pages just a little bit. The cover art, as you can see, very stylistic and simple.

One of my favorite books in junior high school was Martin Caidin's Marooned, later made into a lackluster film much like Countdown. But Marooned comes in two versions -- the one I read was Apollo/Skylab. I finally tracked down a copy of the 1964 Mercury/Gemini version and am partway through it. (My used copy is slightly mildewed and so I can't read it in very long stretches -- one area that e-books have solved.) Marooned is much the better story, and the 1964 version is contemporary with The Pilgrim Project

This is cheap and dirty spacecraft design, a Just-in-Case Apollo isn't ready when the Russians try for the Moon. A Saturn I launch vehicle, with a Centaur third stage. A one-man Mercury capsule with extra supplies, using a Polaris solid rocket engine to get close to the surface and then a liquid fuel engine for maneuvering and landing. No launch vehicle. You're stranded on the Moon... and have to find the shelter sent up the week before and use that until Apollo is ready and you can hitch a ride on a LEM to go home. Huh. Doesn't this sound a lot like the plot of The Martian, except doing it deliberately?

This book doesn't make sense at first -- this isn't the NASA we grew up with -- until you understand the Cold War subplots between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. The Space Race wasn't just about firsts -- it was also about controlling the high ground. There really were fears that the Moon could be militarized and by the Russians if we didn't get there first!

“I do not believe that this generation of Americans is willing to resign itself to going to bed each night by the light of a Communist moon” -- Lyndon B. Johnson

And as NASA secrets go, Pilgrim makes a lot more sense as a positive thing than the conspiracy of Capricorn One when they realized their environmental equipment couldn't make it to Mars and back -- and they had to fake the Mars landing so as not to kill O.J. Simpson.

Like Capricorn One, there is a lot of lying going on. Including an abort of a manned Apollo mission for really poor reasons.

What is more unbelievable is the sort of standard issue 1950s/1960s matter of alcoholics, spies and interagency and interservice rivalries. The flight surgeon is against the whole project and behaves unprofessionally and -- in the Cold War spirit of the story -- treasonously. My take away is that Searls is a competent technical writer and researcher -- the basic parts and engineering are there. I read up on all this stuff in every book I could find in our school and public libraries when I was a kid. Today, you could research all this stuff on Wikipedia and make it sound convincing.

But technical accuracy does not necessarily a great plot make.

In the movie they used a Gemini capsule as a one-seater, so there'd be more room. But in the book, it's a Mercury capsule. Mainly for weight. But one of the things I forgot about Mercury was the periscope. If you're trying to land on the Moon and you're lying on your back facing up, it sure would be nice to see the surface. In the LEM, you're standing and looking through forward and downward canted windows.

They used the "little Saturn" rocket for launching, just as they did to get the Apollo capsules up for Earth orbit work in Apollo 7 and the three Skylab Apollo missions. They used Launch Complex 37, not the more famous Saturn V Launch Complex 39. As they start talking about the firing of the engines, I suddenly had to remember that the Saturn IB first stage did NOT have five engines like its big brother the Saturn V Moon rocket, but eight. Off to Wikipedia where I realized they were talking about the original Saturn I, not the IB: S-I first stage with 8 H-1 engines, burning RP1 kerosene and LOX, S-IV second stage with 6 RL10 engines, burning LH2 and LOX. And the never-flown S-V (Centaur-C) third stage, with 2 RL10 engines. The Saturn I flew some of the early unmanned boilerplate Apollo capsules, such as the one in Grand Rapids MI. (grin) The Saturn IB didn't fly until 1966, with an upgraded S-IB first stage, still with 8 H-1 engines, but the second stage was the S-IVB third stage workhorse of the Saturn V rocket, with its single J-2 engine, also used in the Saturn V's second stage.

Pretty clever to manhandle the mass around to make the Saturn I a manned Moon rocket.

Technical details are easy. People are hard, especially when we all know who the Mercury Seven are. Glenn is mentioned by name, as having left the program to run for the Senate. One of the main characters is the colonel -- he talks a lot about the commander. I'm assuming the latter is Shepherd, but is the colonel Grissom? That's who I assumed in my mind the whole time. It's an almost clever way to deal with NOT inventing extra original Mercury astronauts, which is the usual conceit. It's like 555- phone numbers and the endless number of made up large airlines in stories. It's one of the reasons it's easy to write in the 29th century -- or secret kingdoms. (grin)

And then on the top of page 170 I was suddenly thrown out of the story because one of their markers was Shiaperelli crater. What, wait? Sure enough, I was right and there is a Schiaparelli crater on the Moon AND one on Mars. Now I REALLY am wondering if Andy Weir ever read The Pilgrim Project when he wrote The Martian.

If I was a few years older, I probably would've found The Pilgrim Project on my own in the mid-60s and I would've liked it okay. Today, I am really glad to have found a copy and see where the movie came from. Has some good technical stuff, but the story... seems desperately far fetched today. For my money, Marooned is far superior and the 1981 Shuttle Down by Lee Correy is a decent more modern technical and engineering romp -- but the latter also suffers from some poor writing in some places.

RECOMMENDED for its historical value

As a footnote, I should add that McDonnell-Douglas, the manufacturer of the Gemini space capsule, really was investigating post-Gemini missions and adaptations, including a 12-man Big Gemini orbital resupply ship and:

A range of applications were considered for Advanced Gemini missions, including military flights, space station crew and logistics delivery, and lunar flights. The Lunar proposals ranged from reusing the docking systems developed for the Agena Target Vehicle on more powerful upper stages such as the Centaur, which could propel the spacecraft to the Moon, to complete modifications of the Gemini to enable it to land on the lunar surface. Its applications would have ranged from manned lunar flybys before Apollo was ready, to providing emergency shelters or rescue for stranded Apollo crews, or even replacing the Apollo program.

It's like the paper I discovered last year or so about the concept of using an Apollo capsule for Mars and Venus manned flyby missions!

In other words, there were a lot of hairbrained schemes for dangerous manned flight missions talked about, so that part of the story isn't completely bonkers.

Dr. Phil

Posted on Dreamwidth
Crossposted on LiveJournal

We plan to see The Martian on Saturday. And I'm about as ready as I can be.

This was not the original weekend that The Martian was supposed to open. And it still has gotten stiffed at the local IMAX, boxed in by Everest and The Walk. So we'll go see it in 3D in Holland.

I am way behind on some of my reviews. Andy Wier's book The Martian I never got around to reviewing, because I ended up sick and in the hospital. As for the other pre-lab items...

I'll insert my perennial complaint about the year when Mission to Mars and Red Planet came out -- the last time we had big budget Mars manned mission movies. Both were flawed and both felt that going to Mars wasn't interesting or exciting enough, so they had to invoke aliens.

Sigh.

And there were technical flaws, too. Still, they were pretty films. Just wasted good casts on dumb scripts.

A few weeks ago we bought a DVD of Race to Mars -- a Canadian/French production that we hadn't heard of. But Martin Shoemaker mentioned on Facebook that it was on sale at Amazon and wasn't half bad. They did a nice job for not having a huge budget, though I do have some comments and crits to make when I get around to do a review Real Soon Now. But if you're a space bug, you should check it out.

And then there's the webcomic Mare Internum by Der-shing Helmer. It's updating slowly and I'm not sure where the hell it's going -- but it is beautiful to look at and mesmerizing. Check it out and stick with it. It's very much worth it so far. Even better after NASA's announcement about water on Mars this week... As with a lot of slowly evolving webcomics I read, you might want to stay for the comments to get insights on what's going on.

I even just finished tonight revising my Mars story "Billionaire" which earned an Honorable Mention in the WOTF Q3 2015 contest. Plan on sending it out to F&SF and Analog Real Soon Now. We were out of town when the 30 June deadline came along and I didn't have a printer, so Mrs. Dr. Phil hasn't read that story yet.

I've not dwelt much on reviews, either print/online/friend, but plenty of comments that it is as good as the trailers were looking. So we are very excited.

I have a bad feeling I'm going to read a lot of science literacy book reports on The Martian this semester... (evil-grin)

Dr. Phil

UPDATE: Oh, I was going to mention that I ended buying an eBook of The Martian for the Kindles. Had intended to finish it before the movie, but didn't. Forgot about Amazon's Matchbook program, where they discount Kindle books you've bought from them in print -- and they don't make it easy to find. I bought The Martian on sale, but would've saved like two bucks if I'd remembered Matchbook. I think this is the second time I've used Matchbook.

Posted on Dreamwidth
Crossposted on LiveJournal

Physics Consultant

Back in December, Nick Mamatas at Haikasoru -- an imprint that is bringing Japanese SF translated into English -- asked if I would be willing to look at the math and science translations of this very unusual and complicated SF novel. I said sure, sounds like fun. And it was.

Now, as Haikasoru is getting ready to release Toh EnJoe's Self-Reference ENGINE, Nick asked me to do a Q&A about SRE, which you can read here.

Q: Hard SF is supposed to be the subgenre of science fiction in which the laws of physics are held to. Of course, a lot of hard SF is really just science fiction that pretends toward rigor in its exposition—hard choices, Cold Equations, and tough guy/engineering stuff. Is Self-Reference ENGINE hard SF?

A: As a physics professor I’m all for holding to the laws of Physics, up to the practical limit of the story. Self-Reference ENGINE bends hard what we are sure can happen. It’s more thoughtful and cerebral than most hard SF, but if you consider Frank Herbert’s Destination: Void and The Jesus Incident hard SF — and I do — then SRE clearly fits in. Same with the Ghost in the Shell series. You can have drama through interesting discourse in hard SF. Part of what makes hard SF “hard” is the discussion of difficult technical concepts. This doesn’t mean every space marine or future cop has to have long debates on scientific minutia. But hard SF doesn’t have to be cliffhanger action or military space battles or impossible choices for the protagonist, as fun as those can be. Indeed, it’s hard to figure out who would be the protagonist in SRE, since there are so many entities — I’m thinking the concept is the star here.

This is an amazing meta novel, quite unlike anything I'd read before. And the science and math managed to survive the translation pretty well. Sometimes absurd and sometimes quite thought provoking and sublime, Haikasoru posts this amusing blurb on their webpage:

This is not a novel.
This is not a short story collection.
This is Self-Reference ENGINE.

Instructions for Use: Read chapters in order. Contemplate the dreams of twenty-two dead Freuds. Note your position in space-time at all times (and spaces). Keep an eye out for a talking bobby sock named Bobby Socks. Beware the star-man Alpha Centauri. Remember that the chapter entitled "Japanese" is translated from the Japanese, but should be read in Japanese. Warning: if reading this book on the back of a catfish statue, the text may vanish at any moment, and you may forget that it ever existed.

From the mind of Toh EnJoe comes Self-Reference ENGINE, a textual machine that combines the rigor of Stanislaw Lem with the imagination of Jorge Luis Borges. Do not operate heavy machinery for one hour after reading.

Dr. Phil

As Grade-a-Thon Continues...

I find myself about two-thirds through the Topic 1 Science Literacy Book Report papers. I was struck by the reason one student gave for reading Frankenstein. As an older title, it was available as a free e-book.

A lot of students choose their books based on which titles are left to check out from the WMU Waldo Library, again for free. A few bum the books off of friends and family. Sometimes there's a book sitting on their shelves which they've "been meaning to read" for a number of years.

And while I wouldn't advocate theft, free books are good.

But what struck me is this is the first definite example of someone reading an e-book, as opposed to hardcover, trade, paperback or audio book. Frankly I've been expecting people to say they've read them electronically, on iPod, iPad, iPhone, Kindle, Nook, Sony, laptop or what have you. But this is the first one.

And then they didn't mention the platform. (grin)

Perhaps next semester I'll do a survey about where they got their books.

On The Other Hand...

Disappointed with many of the Topic 2 Worksheets whereupon the students use their car to take real world data and then analyze it. I'd warned them once that Physics pedagogy research shows that many Physics students believe one thing in the classroom and then forget it outside. And the lousy use of calculations, significant figures and just wrong application of Physics equations and variables afflicted maybe half the class.

And yet as a class they did outstanding work on their Final Exam, taken the day after they turned in their worksheets. I guess it is true -- Physics doesn't apply to the real world. (NOT)

Sigh.

Dr. Phil

We Have No Kids

So maybe this is funnier for us -- and horrifying to others. Except some of the parents I know have been delighted with the "children's" book Go The F*ck To Sleep. And yes, it is a real book. But on Facebook, a friend let me know of a YouTube video... of a reading of this book... by the ONE person who, if I'd have thought of it, I'd WANT to read this book!

Go the F**k to Sleep - read by Samuel L. Jackson



Oh my. (grin)

Dr. Phil

After That Last Rant...

Here's a link to a page of redone Romance Novel covers... via a friend on Facebook.

Have a laugh.

Dr. Phil

Writers of the Future Volume XXV

Diabolical Plots posted a review of the most recent WOTF XXV anthology. Frank Dutkiewicz also reviewed "our" WOTF XXIV back in September, just about the time I posted my review of WOTF XXV. Both the volume XXIV and XXV reviews cover all the stories and are pretty thorough.

First Rule Of Reviews

"Do not argue with reviews." Nope, that's not my issue here. Frank is entitled to his opinion and I appreciate the thoroughness of his work. No, what I wanted to talk about was the fact that (a) Frank disagreed with the WOTF XXV Gold Award decision and (b) then went back and analyzed his own thinking about it. In particular he felt that another story was much more amazing and stayed with him longer... in his opinion. But in reading his meta-reviewing, I think that the very aspect of the winning story which he didn't like, was probably the feature which bowled over the judges. When I looked back at my own, less thorough, review of WOTF XXV, I noted that I didn't find the Gold Award story the best either -- but that takes nothing away from Emery Huang's achievement. Personal opinions are just that -- personal and opinions.

We see this all the time with our stories. You may belong to a crit group where some of the writers "don't get" your stories. That doesn't make either you or them wrong, or right. An editor rejects a story you're sure would be a good fit to their market. But you're neither right or wrong. The editor is using a larger metric in deciding whether to buy your work. It's why we accumulate hundreds of rejections, because it takes a confluence of events and an alignment of the stars for a good story to get sold. That 12 or 13 stories show up in the Writers of the Future anthology each year, after they've slogged through thousands of entries, means that the judges have labeled these the best at a particular time with a particular set of judges.

And I'm okay with that.

I would rather hate living in a world in which there WAS a standard for writing. A website where you could submit your work and it could be run through a computer or passed in front of a committee and get a score. And then that score would determine when and where it was sold. Which stories would be "better" than others for all time. Because such a score would be arbitrary and subjective from the get-go.

Also Rans

Indeed, it is the very subjectiveness of the process which I believe is the reason that Writers of the Future bothers to let people know that they are Honorable Mentions (and Silver Honorable Mentions), Semi-Finalists and Finalists. These are the good stories, the better stories. This is where the real competition rests, between these stories. Winning is great. But in the end I don't envy the judges each quarter, or for the Gold Award, having to decide which stories are "better" and "best".

As for reviews, they serve their purpose when people use them to buy -- or not -- a work. The very things that one reviewer might not like, I find myself saying sometimes, "gee, I think that might work -- I'd like to read that story". And Your Mileage May Vary.

Anyway, that's my two cents.

Dr. Phil

Book Stores -- The New Conservative Meeting Place

Tuesday Mike Huckabee was in Grand Rapids, having a book signing at Schuler's Books & Music for his non-political A Simple Christmas. Twelve short stories about Christmas. Of course if you were really cheap and didn't care about whether it was signed or not, this is one of Amazon's $10.00 deep discount titles.

Tonight, Wednesday, the Barnes & Noble at Woodland Mall was drawing huge lines -- maybe 1200 1500 people, with the line starting over twelve hours ago at 7am EST -- for Sarah Palin's first book signing for Going Rogue. Though this second book signing has much larger crowds, there is some known overlap, with several of the people interviewed from Tuesday saying that they were going to go early for Palin's line. In the Grand Rapids Press there was someone saying that Palin is "young and beautiful and she shoots moose -- what's not to like?"

MSNBC was just saying that it isn't just a book signing, but there's a stage set up outside and she'll be making an address... a speech? I don't do Barnes & Noble*** and I don't do malls, so I'm definitely not there. (grin)

Not Sure I Want To Analyze This But...

Looking at the Amazon listing for Huckabee's Christmas stories, they had one of their mulitple-books-with-one-click deals, tripling up A Simple Christmas and Going Rogue with Glenn Beck's Arguing With Idiots. So much for the spirit of Christmas, I guess.


Dr. Phil

*** It is interesting that this shoot-out of two big book signings on two days is between Schuler's Books and Barnes & Noble. We found Schuler's soon after we got to West Michigan and have been going to their two Grand Rapids stores, and I've been to their Lansing stores, ever since. They expanded to a new location in part because the old two-level store was crowded, but also because Barnes & Noble was moving into West Michigan with a giant stand alone store. Well, that B&N, which I was never in, is now closed, because B&N decided to build a bigger store attached to Woodland Mall, next to the discount Celebration Woodland movieplex. I'm sure Schuler's is happy to let B&N have the circus at the mall.

It's not that I've never been to or bought things at a Barnes & Noble -- Chicago IL, Holland MI and Greensboro NC are ones I've been in -- but to me they are something of the Walmart of booksellers. Crossing the line between mall/big box bookstores and the locally owned quality bookstore.

Just sayin'.

Books Are Good

"List 15 books you've read that will always stick with you -- The first 15 you can recall in 15 minutes."

Well, I'm not sure about 15 minutes. I started making the list while flipping between reruns of Stargate SG-1 and Top Chef Masters, but perhaps I spent less that 15 minutes actually composing the list. Then I looked up a couple of authors. Also I write long, so I've "extended" the list a little bit. (grin) Couldn't possibly not add the last one when I thought of it. (double-grin) These are all titles I read and re-read growing up.

1. Dune / Frank Herbert.
2. 2001: A Space Odyssey / Arthur C. Clarke
2a. The Lost Worlds of 2001 / Arthur C. Clarke
3. Marooned / Martin Caidin
3a. FYI: Marooned (1964) / Martin Caidin just acquired
4. Almost Midnight / Martin Caidin
5. Andromeda Strain / Michael Crichton
6. Lord of the Rings / J.R.R. Tolkein
7. The Mysterious Island / Jules Verne
8. Have Space Suit, Will Travel / Robert Heinlein
9. Gateway / Frederick Pohl
10. Janissaries / Jerry Pournelle
11. Time Enough for Love / Robert Heinlein
12. A Wrinkle in Time / Madeline L'Engle
13. Congo / Michael Crichton
14. Ringworld / Larry Niven
15. Star Surgeon / James White
16. The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet / Eleanor Cameron

Dr. Phil

A Change In Status


Thanks to j_cheney who spotted this: Amazon.com is listing Writers of the Future, Volume XXIV as IN STOCK.

Yes, I know that we were talking about this back in August 2008, but wide release of the anthology was much delayed. Recently we heard that "March 2009" was the new target date -- and if Amazon.com is listing it as IN STOCK, then I think we have finally achieved a real release date. And Powell's lists in stock with 25 copies, ships in 1-3 days. And Borders.com.

Plus you can check your local purveyor of fine SF/F books. In my case, that would be Schuler's Books, whose online site still says Special Order. Haven't been to any of their Grand Rapids stores in a few weeks. Admittedly Grand Rapids won't help many of you find a book. (grin) But they only charge a buck for shipping online.

The Most Excellent First Story in the Anthology


Of course from my point of view, "A Man in the Moon" by Dr. Philip Edward Kaldon is the featured first story. (grin)

The Other Also Most Excellent Stories in the Anthology

Besides getting to meet the other authors in Volume XXIV, I've been so impressed with the quality of the stories in this collection. But I note that most of the online sites list L. Ron Hubbard as Author and Algis Budrys as Editor -- and I'm not seeing a Table of Contents or listing of the WOTF Volume XXIV short stories, authors and illustrators. So I am rectifying that:

Writers of the Future Volume XXIV Table of Stories

• "A Man in the Moon" by Dr. Philip Edward Kaldon
  illustrated by William Ruhlig
  
• "Bitter Dreams" by Ian McHugh (Gold Prize Winner)
  illustrated by Robert J. Hall, Jr
  
• "Taking a Mile" by J. Kathleen Cheney
  illustrated by James Galindo
  
• "Crown of Thorns" by Sonia Helbig
  illustrated by William Ruhlig
  
• "Hangar Queen" by Patrick Lundrigan
  illustrated by Robert Castillo
  
• "Snakes and Ladders" by Paula R. Stiles
  illustrated by Gustavo Bollinger
  
• "Epiphany" by Laura Bradley Rede
  illustrated by Alexandra D. Szweryn
  
• "Cruciger" by Erin Cashier
  illustrated by Stephen R. Stanley
  
• "Circuit" by J.D. Everyhope
  illustrated by Brittany J. Jackson (Gold Prize Winner)
  
• "A War Bird in the Belly of the Mouse" by David Parish-Whittaker
  illustrated by Sean Kibbe
  
• "Simulacrum's Children" by Sarah L. Edwards
  illustrated by Kyle Phillips
  
• "The Bird Reader's Granddaughter" by Kim A. Gillett
  illustrated by Ilya Shkipin
  
• "The Girl Who Whispered Beauty" by Al Bogdan
  illustrated by Stephen Knox
  

corrected 3-8-09

Anyway, for all of you who have been waiting to read this anthology -- it's coming now. Enjoy.

Dr. Phil