Cibola Burn

Since the events of Leviathan Wakes the protomolecule has opened up a thousand new worlds to human exploration. The different powers of the Solar System all have a different idea on how they should be explored. One such world, whose name varies, orbits a star far from Earth. The UN claims to administrate it, but refugees from the upheaval in the Solar System have already established a colony. With a UN chartered company trying to enforce claim over the planet and the OPA having a stake in the outcome, each side calls on the one man who might be able to make the difference and mediate the conflict, James Holden.

This world though hides many secrets. It's an unfamiliar planet whose very nature just might be hostile to human life. The Rocinante once again rides into danger in Cibola Burn.

From wikipedia

In the fourth book of the Expanse we finally ride out of the Solar System proper for some interstellar adventure. An alien sun shines above alien soil as the problems of how we legislate the first true extra-solar colony are ironed out. Who has the rights? The "squatters" who got there first, or the charter that the UN has given some corporation to survey and mine that world's resources? It's actually a rather poignant take on the problems of colonialism, the use of force to achieve ends, and how in the face of the truly alien, humanity would be far better coming together.

However, as is so often the case, petty tribalism, jurisdiction, and plain old fashioned racism make things worse.

On the planet Ilus (or New Terra) there are two distinct factions. The first are the colonists (or squatters) that settled after the events of the war in the Solar system which started over the course of the first book. On an old freighter and desperate for survival, they've pinned everything on running to the new star system to make a new life. Opposing them is a survey team from Royal Charter Energy, originally a purely scientific mission, it is meant to claim the planet under a UN mandate. Things quickly go awry.

Basia Merton is a refugee from Ganymede briefly met in Caliban's War who just wants a new life for his family. He may have to use violence to achieve that end. Elvi Okoye, an exozoological specialist from Earth, here to study a new planet. Finally, an old side character, one Dmitri Havelock, finds himself in his old role providing security, but now he has to choose between the contract and his morality.

Before I had gotten properly into the Expanse, I heard, extremely erroneously, that it was based on the old show Firefly. The series was far too centralized in the politics of oppression, great power problems, and the nefarious actions of corporate entities. There really wasn't anything resembling a space western in the series at all. However, Cibola Burn is arguably one of the best done space westerns ever produced. With numerous allusions to the frontier, the idea of the edge of civilization, and how we bring our society past the "settled" core.

It creates a complex swirl of ideas of ownership, war, tribalism, colonization and "who owns the land" all play a big part in this story. On a world not truly natural, it also explores man against a truly alien frontier. We haven't been exposed to this planet's creatures before. That becomes an increasingly apparent problem for both humans and animals,

As usual, the series explores concepts of identity to a group, race, and morality. It's a fabulous look at what people do on the edge. I found myself sympathizing with both sides of the conflict, even though there's absolute villains on each side. It made for an interesting example of looking at each side and trying to portray the escalations as responses to something another character has to justify for themselves. 

Finally, we get some further insight into the designers of the protomolecule and their ancient civilization. It's far to intriguing to spoil so I sincerely recommend reading it for yourself!

This is an amazing fourth installment in the series, carrying the Rocinante beyond Sol and into a new world. We get a setting we aren't used to in this series and see an entirely alien planet for the first time. There's deepening mystery, high stakes, and as always, well set up surprises that you don't see coming! The Expanse continues to entice and entertain.

The 2020 Election

I actually held off publishing my opinion on the most recent American election because I had a sinking suspicion that even after November, things would get worse before they got better. Oh boy was I right about that! So let's just try and unpack this. I've got bits in here I wrote between November and now so this took some editing, but here's my thoughts.

In 2020 the United States probably had its most nerve wracking election in the last fifty years, if not the last century. Two septuagenarian white men went toe to toe for the position of the most powerful man in the United States, possibly the world. It was, frankly, an election which felt like it would never end. I can tell you that beforehand everyone felt some great anticipation for how it turned out, and now in the aftermath, I personally only feel a sense of anticlimax.

From Bloomberg

There does not need to be a divide so deep before this upcoming election. As I wrote back in 2016, Americans can still come together. They have more in common than many suppose. In the following paragraphs though, after the events of January 6th, I realize some of what I previously wrote might ring hollow, but here it is.

I grow sad when I watch members of the left reach out and attack anyone who supports Trump. Not just his rabid supporters who flock to rallies, but even people who identify as Republican or who say they voted for Trump. There does not need to be this kind of divide, and it is a divide which only benefits Donald Trump. It is the sort of rhetoric that he, and demagogues like him, thrive on. You are either with him or against him, there is no middle ground. It breeds division and disunion, something which Trump needs to even survive.

I'm not saying this because I condone the actions of Trump, or even think his supporters are right for supporting him. I merely say this because I believe two things. One is that I think very few people stop to take a moment to realize how dangerous and isolating the current American political divide is. So many people create, intentionally or not, echo chambers for themselves on social media and in the news they choose to consume. Speaking as someone who grew up consuming a lot from both the left and the right (watching John Stewart and Stephen Colbert in the evening and checking the Conservapedia and Fox News trackers afterwards) it's very easy for me to understand how the messaging gets mixed and right wing propaganda is shoved down people's throats. This meant that many people who voted for him did so because they really didn't know another opportunity existed, and that's been the danger of media bubbles and propaganda - people who might otherwise make another decision simply did not. There's more to that, but I'll address that in a moment.

Like I said in 2016, yes there's racism, populism, and white supremacy, but in 2020-21 it's important to acknowledge that there are people on the right side of the aisle who aren't complete monsters. There were those who were conservative who condemned Trump, and whether you believe that the Lincoln Project accomplished anything or not it did show that members of the Republican Party are not a monolithic bloc bound to vote for the orange maniac. Even after the disturbing events of early January, a majority of Republicans polled did not support those actions. 

The second reason I'm hopeful people can reach out is because solidarity is an extremely important aspect in making democracy work. People who want a New Green Deal don't want miners to lose their jobs and have no alternatives, they want them to have other options, not be forced to stay put in dying towns. People who want Medicare for all want everyone regardless of political party to have access to affordable healthcare and not be driven to poverty over medical expenses. At a certain level, most people realize that we're all human beings. 

All that said, this election brought out a far, far darker side of American politics too. 

I confess it shouldn't be surprising. The signs were there in 2015, with people being assaulted at Trump rallies, Trump creating divisive rhetoric, he began to call the media the enemy of the people, he proposed 'alternative facts' and made a marching cry out of fake news. It only got worse from 2017 onwards. His erratic behavior, wannabe authoritarianism, and his gradual laying of the groundwork to undermine the democratic process and people's faith in it. It all led to the mass conspiracy theories in 2020 that were being spread before the election, and all the desperate, flailing and almost comedic actions afterwards. From spreading lies about voting fraud all the way to the courts, to the tragicomedy of his desperate calls to the Georgia secretary of state.

The counting process though was scrupulously and painstakingly carried out. A record number of Americans turned out to vote (which in the middle of a Pandemic killing over 1,000 a day by that point, no mean feat). It took a long time to crunch the numbers right, and many made comparisons to Bush v. Gore in 2000. In the end though, despite a less than stellar performance, Joe Biden and the Democratic Party won the election. There was a concerted effort to create a feeling that the system was rigged, or that it was unfair for Trump though. A narrative was spun almost from day one to suggest that if Trump didn't win it was because there was fraud.

I remember where I was though when the election was finally called for Biden. Someone told me they'd called Georgia, and Biden had won. I was briefly ecstatic, then suddenly nervous. I had seen the reports of disbelief from Trump voters, just as I saw the jubilation from millions who felt a great fear lifted from their shoulders. For others though, a great weight had been fraudulently placed upon it as Trump's insidious narrative wormed it's way through their brains. Between 50-70% of Republican voters believed the narrative that Biden had cheated and they protested, or demanded to see the ballot counting. Trump launched a blizzard of ineffectual lawsuits to overturn the results, and there were fears he might command enough clout to get state electors to simply make up voting fraud and cast their electoral votes for him.

President Joe Biden (from wikimedia)

Tragically though, it all came together in the dramatic and terrifying scenes of January 6th 2021. While holding a "stop the steal" rally in Washington exhorting his supporters over his lost election and the voting fraud, he and his sycophants egged on a crowd of people who genuinely believed that the election had been stolen. They had been lead to believe, as early as 2019 that the Democratic Party would be plotting to steal the election through rigging. Hell, even as early as 2016 when Trump claimed he only lost the popular vote by millions of fraudulent votes cast for Hillary Clinton. They had been primed to believe that democracy was in peril, and the election was being stolen from them!

So being exhorted to go to the Capitol to cheer on some lawmakers (but not others) with a farcical cry of "trial by combat" ringing in their ears, a crowd of thousands marched on Capitol Hill. After screaming at police for being traitors and demanding that they be let in, they overran the pitiful police presence and smashed their way into the Capitol building, causing Senators and Congressmen to shelter in place or flee for their lives as they were preparing to count the electoral votes. After a few hours of wandering, brawling with security and petty vandalism, the rioters were forced out.

It was a sad day for American democracy. The untarnished dream and peaceful transition of power had been shattered in the most offensive way possible.

Worryingly though, after the fact 45% of Republicans polled said they supported the actions of the rioters. Many said they'd be back. Many other people praised the act, and when I went trawling through the right wing internet, you had people either saying it was a "false flag", supporting it wholeheartedly, or suddenly being very quiet. There was rage from his adherents, but he gave them hope again. Until he was banned from Twitter.

There's no doubt Trump relished the riot though. He was tardy in calling in the National Guard, there had been no plans for any sort of security from the rally. He told his supporters they were special, and they loved them. The backlash though, was swift, his sycophants began tripping over each other to either resign from his administration or disown him. We shouldn't let them. There were calls for the 25th Amendment to be invoked and another push for impeachment, which succeeded, and is bringing on a second trial, making Trump the only President in history (so far) to be impeached twice.

In spite of all this though, I still believe that people in the US should try to embrace solidarity. It's so easy to get caught up in social media bubbles, and far too many Americans are! It breeds division, dissent, and terrifying alternate realities. It creates an overwhelming sense of alienation and hostility, whether on Twitter or in the work place. I know it does sound naive, or a tall order from people who are hostile to your existence, but one reason I hope is because the only other outcome is a further decline into political dysfunction and violence.

However, Trump's lies may make that inevitable. There is now a core of Republican voters who simply believe the 2020 election was stolen, and Biden is not a legitimately elected president of the United States. Here is a ready made narrative for the far-right to milk for years to come.

This all said, Biden is hardly something to write home about. I'd hazard a wager the Democratic Party could have run a dead mule and still won this election. Despite getting a truly enormous share of the popular vote, he still underperformed compared to Hillary Clinton on certain demographics. His campaign was largely uninspiring and perfunctory, and his victory belongs far more to grassroots organizers who got people out to vote in a time of pandemic and political repression for poor voters and people of color. These organizers also flipped Arizona for the first time in 20 years, secured Georgia, and enabled the Democrats to (barely) control the Senate.

Add that to his goal to pander to rich donors and a promise that "nothing will fundamentally change" and you have a bog standard Democrat whose only real selling point is that he isn't Donald Trump. While he did deliver a beautiful speech on the 20th, and there was a truly heartwarming ceremony to bring him in, it had many reminders that the US stands on the brink as a nation that is, at a more than one level, divided. Whether Biden can alter the trajectory of American politics remains to be seen. Personally, I wouldn't bet on it. However, we can all maintain some hope that the US will not slip further into dysfunction and there will be some way to bind up the nation. 

Otherwise, things get crazy.

That's all my thoughts on the craziest race for American democracy I've ever known, but I'm still not done talking about 2020! Stay tuned for my thoughts on a very crazy year.

Artemis

In the 2080s, the only city on the Moon, Artemis, is a bastion of the future frontier. Catering to upper class tourists, eccentrics, and people who just want to get away from Earth. Due to being located on the Moon though, it has some strict rules about what can and cannot come into the domed community providing for the two thousand permanent inhabitants and varying numbers of tourists. Fortunately, Jasmine "Jazz" Bashara is the smuggler extraordinaire who provides everything you might want or need. She spends most of her time dodging former RCMP constable Rudy DuBois while trying to get rich in a notoriously stratified Lunar society. When she comes across a job too good to be true, she finds herself in over her head.

Welcome to the Moon, welcome to Artemis.

From wikipedia

Weir sets up a meticulously detailed city on the Moon. He finds justifications for why things are the way they are, how the economy runs, and why people might want to come to Luna to settle and work their way towards a very specific future. From why certain goods are contraband, the economics of being in a business guild to being independent, and all the sundry details in between, Weir does a phenomenal job of making you believe that someone managed to set up an international space conglomerate in Kenya and get the funding to build an entire city on the Moon!

From welding to worries of space extravehicular activity, I felt like I could be seeing a real place off Earth. There's even a very cleverly done essay detailing his reasoning for the space economy. I'm the nerdy sort that reads that type of thing so it really appealed to me. From launch costs to tourists at the Apollo 11 landing site, you really see how this society ticks.

Jazz is also a real gem of a character. The entire story is told from her perspective and her head is a hilarious place to be. She's enmeshed in Lunar society and always trying to climb to the next rung. Her caustic attitude and rapier wit make her a joy to live through. The way she interacts with other characters from her accomplices, her friends and family, and her adversaries are so human and believable that you can't help but be impressed by her 'get it done' attitude and willingness to do what's right. 

Supporting her are her Earthbound pen pal Kelvin in Kenya, the eccentric scientist Martin Svoboda, and millionaire Trond Landvik who is one of her high paying repeat customers. He comes to her with a very strange plan that is outside Jazz's normal routine. However, when he offers her more money than she can possibly make in her usual honest (or dishonest) work, she can't help but accept.

From there though, things get crazier than she can imagine. It's a very lethal case of follow the money!

The story is one of suspense and mistrust as Jazz flees her semi-comfortable existence in the city and has to go on the run in its' underbelly so she can find out who is and isn't on her side. There's tense Lunar surface chases, games of cat and mouse in cramped passageways and tourist thoroughfares, and an ever unfolding chain of events over who really controls the city. It was fascinating the way that real science was rolled into the plot and used to generate tension and seriously raise the stakes along the way.

This is a fun and suspenseful science fiction read grounded in realism and witty characters. It's not a long read, so pick it up if you have the chance!

Abaddon's Gate

After the events of Leviathan Wakes and Caliban's War the powers of the Solar System, Earth, Mars, and the Outer Planets Alliance are all in an uneasy coexistence as the dangers of the protomolecule appear ever more apparent. A mysterious object has formed around Uranus, and everyone is afraid of potentially waking a sleeping giant. So someone decides to do just that, and now humanity wants to investigate this strange phenomenon in our Solar System.

We're going to explore Abaddon's Gate, but on the other side, will we find heaven, or hell?

From wikimediacommons

The third book in the Expanse series of novels, it follows the crew of the Rocinante and a small cast of new characters as they head out to the void beyond Uranus. James Holden is back, and ever since the events of the last two books, he's just trying to keep his head down and keep his little clan of Naomi, Alex and Amos on the Roci alive. There's one small problem with that though, he's being haunted by a ghost. Torn between madness and curiosity, he's finding it impossible to stay out of the spotlight and more sinisterly, someone might be guiding his actions to get him there.

In this story we're joined by a new cast of minor characters. In one corner you have Earth born member of the OPA, Carlos "Bull" de Baca. A long time subordinate of OPA head honcho Fred Johnson, he's been chosen to help keep a disparate crew of Belters together as they try to show the flag in an upcoming mission on the OPA's new dreadnaught. The only problem is, due to political necessity, he's been placed as third in command. With an egomaniac as a captain, and an XO of uncertain loyalties, he's going to have a hell of a time keeping the ship together, not to mention himself out of trouble.

Then we have Annushka "Anna" Volovodov, a Methodist preacher who along with her wife and child have been doing a tour of duty on Jupiter's icy moon Europa. Always one to do first and ask forgiveness later, her own curiosity is getting the better of her when she agrees to join an interfaith mission accompanying the fleet heading out to possibly one of the greatest missions in human history. As one who identifies as a Methodist myself, I found her character to be one of the most fascinating to read as she not only accurately reflected much of my own relationship with the divine, but was a human, fallible, and great to view the story through.

Finally, we have the mysterious Melba. She's nobody, trying to hide and keep her head down. She has her own mission to the stars. One which might end up getting a lot of people killed.

Like the previous installment, the book focuses less on the aliens we might encounter in the stars, but more on the human reactions to what happens when we face something down we know precious little about. As poor Anna discovers, the Earth, despite being under the ostensible aegis of the UN, is just as factionalized as it was pre-unification. Similarly, Bull struggles with his own erstwhile comrades of the OPA. Factionalism, competing agendas, and just plain old petty grudges bog down as much of the human endeavors as anything the aliens do.

Taking place largely in one location, this novel was also a bit different from the last pair of books which included chases around the Solar system, battles over multiple moons and planetoids, and a lot of what you'd call rock hopping. Here though, it's all set in one main location. It was very easy to follow the trajectory of the action and you don't find yourself consulting a map of the planets for a while. Not that I mind that, but one location can be a nice breather from stellar wide action.

As I mentioned with Anna being a fascinating character to read about, I enjoyed that this book was also looking at what humans could accomplish when they pulled together and didn't try to mess each other up. The humanitarian element was warming, especially in a pretty potent speech Anna gives to try and keep everyone together, decrying racism and the silly ideas that just because someone was born on Mars or in the Belt that they're somehow fundamentally different from people who grew up on Earth. Despite the inhuman ways people can act towards one another, we can still come together.

It's a supremely strong third installment to this series, and well worth picking up.

What I Read in 2020

The year 2020 was a long, long year for me. Quite honestly it almost feels like the period between January and March was one year, between March and June was another and then June to September, and finally October to January. So, I feel like I've been through four years when its been just one. Thankfully though, I read a lot in the four years of 2020!

I managed to read 72 books and 34,204 pages between them. I'm not sure if that's a record for me or not, but it certainly outpaced what I read last year. I had actually planned 2020 as a fresh start in a new decade, especially for reading. I had started the year with the goal of doing a massive re-read of my favorite book series for the year. I had dedicated myself to re-reading a lot of my old favorites to see if they stood up, and then to maybe, maybe downsizing my collection. I mostly expanded it though. In the course of my re-read I went back to a few of my old favorites, The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, Leviathan Wakes, Jennifer Government, and then branching into some of my favorite fantasy series. A re-read of Joe Abercrombie's amazing First Law series, then re-reading all of the Stormlight Archive so far in anticipation of the release of Rhythm of War this year. Finally I re-read, perhaps the perfect trilogy in the first three books of A Song of Ice and Fire. Though I had to put off my combined reading of A Feast for Crows and A Dance With Dragons until 2021.

On the whole, the re-read was highly successful. I didn't get to all of what I wanted, but I managed to read a lot of new books too.

Normally my year has pretty bog-standard reading. Fantasy, science fiction, and the occasional mystery, historical fiction or alternate history. This year however, I was committed to reading more on social issues, some on political issues, and generally more books by authors I had not yet read, but especially by women and people of color. 

A small cross section of what I read!

One of the first books I branched out on and took a chance with was The Secret History by Donna Tart. It's a novel set in the 1980s in Vermont at Hampden College. Young Richard Papen leaves his home in California to study Ancient Greek, and while there he meets an eccentric group of wealthy students partake in an almost cultish devotion to the art. From there, dark things transpire and poor Richard is thrown into a world well beyond his understanding. It's honestly one of the most fascinating and frustratingly good books I've read in years. Well recommended!

Something more in my usual wheelhouse that I read for the first time was 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson. Originally written in 2012, it was the authors attempt to reach 300 years in the future and grapple with what humanity might look like. It tells a compelling story of love, loss, and a humanity startlingly distinct, yet also depressingly still similar to our own 21st century selves. It's an old planetary romance novel in the style of recent reads. A solid piece of science fiction literature!

A non-fiction book I distinctly enjoyed was The Global Crisis by Geoffrey Parker. It's a fascinating look at war, religion and climate change in the 17th century. It supposes an idea of a "general crisis" taking place across the globe brought about by previous socioeconomic conditions, religious awakenings and social upheaval, but most of all, by climate change. The 17th Century was a genuine era of emergency, encompassing the whole world with events like the Thirty Years War in Europe, the collapse of Ming China, the near extinction of the Virginia Colony, the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate, and the Puebla Revolt. It was referred to by some as the "Age of Iron" due to there being a genuine sense of global calamity. It's a very academic work (and I read the abridged version!) but it is chock full of information, research and first hand accounts of the people of the era. It established to me that this was one of the most fascinating periods in human history. 

In other realms of non-fiction, I also read The Sport and Prey of Capitalists by Linda McQuaig. It's a very short, but spectacularly enlightening read. It details the history of public ownership of utilities and natural resources in Canada, while also detailing long campaigns of poor deals and mismanagement by private entities. It compares and contrasts the systems here with those of other countries. There's notes on missed opportunities and possibilities for how we can make our own institutions better.

A book which acted as a real eye opener for me was Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism by Kristen R. Ghodsee. From showing how many early socialists were women, to the egalitarian thinking of other socialists and socialist writers, it also highlights how modern liberal democracy, and capitalism in particular, has made women less free and arguably less equal as well. It's a spectacular examination of how in Eastern Bloc nations, there was a long history of, at the very least, pandering to women's rights, establishing job and childcare opportunities to make something of a more level playing field among men and women, and makes a compelling argument that had the Eastern Bloc not adopted such policies, there would have been little impetus for Western nations to adopt them as well. Far from cheerleading for the East Bloc however, it rightly points out their flaws and failings, while also arguing that the ideas behind socialism could do a lot for our economic lives, and even our love lives.

I think the most shocking, if not the most radical book I read in 2020 though was The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming by David Wallace-Wells. It fleshes out what he wrote in a 2017 article, and runs the range of possible global outcomes across various levels of warming. He points out that with rising temperatures - and they will rise, it's only a matter of by how much - there's a gambit of problems which will impact across multiples spheres. Mass extinctions, spreading disease, rising sea levels, frequent natural disasters and increased risk of internal and external conflict between peoples. It's a grim read, but with a hopeful message. It pairs really well with another novel I read this year, The Ministry For the Future. Both are somewhat shocking examinations of the potential ramifications of climate change, and frankly, I would advertise them as must reads.

On a more fictional note, I also read Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. I've done a longer review for this one, but in brief; it takes the usual horror of Gothic fiction and transplants it to the highlands of Mexico. The story has everything you love from Gothic literature, creepy old houses, a reclusive family, and a very deep and disturbing mystery.

Another author who I was very fortunate to run into again was Max Brooks. I was able to re-read his cult classic World War Z, and his new, unique work Devolution. It was amusing to discover this year as well that the one movie monster my dad has a fear of is bigfoot. I got more than a little mileage out of this book by describing it to him. A fun and very unique take on the monster horror style, I definitely recommend this to horror buffs everywhere!

I also caught up with Brandon Sanderson's works by reading Rhythm of War. This is the latest work in the Stormlight Archive and a very well done piece. It defies a lot of your expectations and takes you deeper into the world of Roshar and his fictional cosmere as a whole.

Finally, one of the best novels I read this year was The Parable of the Sower. In my bid to expand beyond works I'd already read, I tried to find works recommend by others. This novel by Octavia Butler was highly recommended in many different circles and by many different authors. I dove in to this world in our near future and found myself entranced. It was a phenomenal read and one which I have to recommend to anyone who loves science fiction. Tracking down the sequel is one of my main reading goals for 2021, along with the rest of my reading list.

Of course, I did read 72 books this year, so I had a lot to choose from to celebrate. These books specifically though, were easily in the top ten of what I read among the re-reads to start the decade. I managed to reconnect with old favorites, while finding lots of new work which I could enjoy! I'm happy for what I accomplished this year, and I'm hoping I can read more next year!