Author Topic: New book(and movie?) about Moon colony -- Artemis  (Read 12485 times)

Offline Oli

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Re: New book(and movie?) about Moon colony -- Artemis
« Reply #20 on: 11/12/2017 05:10 pm »
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I think that neither Musk nor anybody else seems to be considering, what economic reason is there to go to this other planet? So far, I’ve never heard an answer to that. It’s like, “We can put people on Mars!” And I’m like, “Why? So they’ll be there? Well, we can put people on Antarctica, why not do that?”

It's disappointing that the author seems to be unaware that we have put people on Antarctica, the population is between 1000 in winter and 5000 in summer, bigger than his hypothetical Moon city.

None of them are permanent residents, so technically it's not a colony.

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Re: New book(and movie?) about Moon colony -- Artemis
« Reply #21 on: 11/13/2017 05:35 pm »
None of them are permanent residents, so technically it's not a colony.

I suspect that there are a few people who stay for a number of years. You'd want your facilities people to be experienced, for instance. But nobody is born, grows up, and retires there. It's a research station.

Offline su27k

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Re: New book(and movie?) about Moon colony -- Artemis
« Reply #22 on: 11/17/2017 03:53 am »
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I think that neither Musk nor anybody else seems to be considering, what economic reason is there to go to this other planet? So far, I’ve never heard an answer to that. It’s like, “We can put people on Mars!” And I’m like, “Why? So they’ll be there? Well, we can put people on Antarctica, why not do that?”

It's disappointing that the author seems to be unaware that we have put people on Antarctica, the population is between 1000 in winter and 5000 in summer, bigger than his hypothetical Moon city.

None of them are permanent residents, so technically it's not a colony.

No, it's not a colony, but the paragraph I quoted is not talking explicitly about colony, he is doubting human will ever reach Mars, which is an absurd position. Colonization is not the only reason for going to another planet.

Offline su27k

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Re: New book(and movie?) about Moon colony -- Artemis
« Reply #23 on: 11/25/2017 03:44 am »
Finished the book, not impressed, it's mediocre at best, 3 out of 5 stars. Looks like the author is incapable of writing any other types of character except a smartass, the story is uninspiring now that the imminent sense of urgency in the Martian is gone, all that was left is your average self-published novel in the internet age.

Offline KelvinZero

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Re: New book(and movie?) about Moon colony -- Artemis
« Reply #24 on: 11/25/2017 03:55 am »
Im going to get it anyway. I didn't really like "The Martian" as a literary work but it was a good asset to be mined for a movie. I read the first sample chapter of this and it also seemed to have a bunch of good nuggets. I will probably read the book, end up agreeing with you, but still really want to see the movie made.

Offline philw1776

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Re: New book(and movie?) about Moon colony -- Artemis
« Reply #25 on: 11/25/2017 02:59 pm »
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I think that neither Musk nor anybody else seems to be considering, what economic reason is there to go to this other planet? So far, I’ve never heard an answer to that. It’s like, “We can put people on Mars!” And I’m like, “Why? So they’ll be there? Well, we can put people on Antarctica, why not do that?”

It's disappointing that the author seems to be unaware that we have put people on Antarctica, the population is between 1000 in winter and 5000 in summer, bigger than his hypothetical Moon city.

What's the economic reason for the scientific research bases on Antarctica?

There isn't one, at least not in the short term. Which is the point: The author's single minded focus on short term economic return is misleading, it is possible to sustain a base or small city without any immediate economic return.

Interesting.  What or who will pay to sustain a base or small city on Mars?

Answers for the moon are easier...

1) Adventure tourism, a week or 2 in low gravity pool diving, limited personal flight, etc.

2) Wealthy retirees with physical issues ameliorated by living in a low gravitational field

3) Wealthy people with $$$ to spend on an exotic "prestigious" vacation home

For these or anything else to work economically someone needs to make transport costs really low

For Mars, even with reasonable transport cost there needs to be some massive Foundation underwriting most of the underlying base sustaining funds since long transit times rule out money raising things like vacation tourism, etc.
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Offline yg1968

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Re: New book(and movie?) about Moon colony -- Artemis
« Reply #26 on: 11/30/2017 09:39 pm »
Finished the book, not impressed, it's mediocre at best, 3 out of 5 stars. Looks like the author is incapable of writing any other types of character except a smartass, the story is uninspiring now that the imminent sense of urgency in the Martian is gone, all that was left is your average self-published novel in the internet age.

I give it 3 stars also (which is good but not great). I prefered the Martian (although I thought that there was too much swearing in the Martian). If this (Artemis) story took place on Earth, I wouldn't have read the story. If it wasn't for the Martian, nobody would have talked about this book. It's enjoyable enough to read but it's not a book that will stick in your mind after you finished it.

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Re: New book(and movie?) about Moon colony -- Artemis
« Reply #27 on: 12/02/2017 02:24 am »
Finished the book, not impressed, it's mediocre at best, 3 out of 5 stars. Looks like the author is incapable of writing any other types of character except a smartass, the story is uninspiring now that the imminent sense of urgency in the Martian is gone, all that was left is your average self-published novel in the internet age.
Could you provide an example of what book you do like? As an author myself, I would appreciate not only the critique, but a reference as a counterpoint.
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Offline su27k

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Re: New book(and movie?) about Moon colony -- Artemis
« Reply #28 on: 12/02/2017 03:35 am »
Finished the book, not impressed, it's mediocre at best, 3 out of 5 stars. Looks like the author is incapable of writing any other types of character except a smartass, the story is uninspiring now that the imminent sense of urgency in the Martian is gone, all that was left is your average self-published novel in the internet age.
Could you provide an example of what book you do like? As an author myself, I would appreciate not only the critique, but a reference as a counterpoint.

Seveneves by Neal Stephenson would be a recent example of 5 stars near term realistic space travel SF.

Offline MATTBLAK

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Re: New book(and movie?) about Moon colony -- Artemis
« Reply #29 on: 12/02/2017 03:57 am »
Check out Allen Steele's novels 'Lunar Descent' and 'The Tranquility Alternative' for semi-hard SF stories set on the Moon. 'Tranquility Alternative' is an alternate history set in a Von Braun/Chesley Bonestell universe. I love it and it would make a decent movie!
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Re: New book(and movie?) about Moon colony -- Artemis
« Reply #30 on: 12/02/2017 03:46 pm »
I got me a signed copy!!

Several were at the Palm Springs mall's Barnes & Noble.
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Offline bad_astra

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Re: New book(and movie?) about Moon colony -- Artemis
« Reply #31 on: 12/06/2017 07:04 pm »
I am enjoying the book quite a bit. The lunar seem realistic. don't want to give anything away. I can already imagine it as a movie.

Rosario Dawson does a great job with the audiobook, I could see her in the main role.
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Offline bad_astra

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Re: New book(and movie?) about Moon colony -- Artemis
« Reply #32 on: 12/06/2017 07:06 pm »
Finished the book, not impressed, it's mediocre at best, 3 out of 5 stars. Looks like the author is incapable of writing any other types of character except a smartass, the story is uninspiring now that the imminent sense of urgency in the Martian is gone, all that was left is your average self-published novel in the internet age.
Could you provide an example of what book you do like? As an author myself, I would appreciate not only the critique, but a reference as a counterpoint.

Seveneves by Neal Stephenson would be a recent example of 5 stars near term realistic space travel SF.

Seveneves starts out with a bizarre premise but then handles it as realstically as it can except for some things where it begins to jump off the rails. I can't go into that without spoilers, but some of the decisions made such as not pushing for going to mars simply make no sense. He wrote it as he wanted the story to play out, I suppose. The second part of the book is a bizarre mess that has no connection to the first. I felt like I had read two books, but I really liked the first one.
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Offline clairm

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Dang it, now I'm going to have to go back and read "Gateway"...
« Reply #33 on: 12/06/2017 07:19 pm »
...for the umpteenth time. My favorite SF by far, along with the early Niven stuff, way better than 2001, great story of man meets alien tech. Even several credible sequels. Hollywood should love this, why a movie has never been made of Frederik Pohl's masterpiece, I have no idea.

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Re: New book(and movie?) about Moon colony -- Artemis
« Reply #34 on: 12/06/2017 09:55 pm »
These books came out in 2016 and 2017. Anybody who has read them might want to compare them to Artemis.

Offline su27k

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Re: New book(and movie?) about Moon colony -- Artemis
« Reply #35 on: 12/07/2017 01:40 am »
Seveneves by Neal Stephenson would be a recent example of 5 stars near term realistic space travel SF.

Seveneves starts out with a bizarre premise but then handles it as realstically as it can except for some things where it begins to jump off the rails. I can't go into that without spoilers, but some of the decisions made such as not pushing for going to mars simply make no sense. He wrote it as he wanted the story to play out, I suppose.

Actually I thought the Mars decision makes sense, it's similar to Musk's logic on why we need to setup a colony as soon as we are able, because if you wait until your civilization is disintegrating to setup a Mars colony, it would be too late.

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The second part of the book is a bizarre mess that has no connection to the first. I felt like I had read two books, but I really liked the first one.

The jump can be disorienting if you're expecting a pure near term SF, but I like it. And I think in this case it's necessary since part 1 ends in a very dark and depressing place, part 2 is like an extended epilogue that shows all is not lost.

Offline david-moon

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Re: New book(and movie?) about Moon colony -- Artemis
« Reply #36 on: 12/07/2017 02:18 am »
You gotta love the inexpensive space launch technology in part 2.

Offline Augustus_

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Re: New book(and movie?) about Moon colony -- Artemis
« Reply #37 on: 12/07/2017 02:43 am »
Both of the "inciting incidents" if you will - the dust storm on Mars that strands Watney and the Moon base being built for tourism - in his novels are either impossible or he doesn't believe so - i.e. they're created for the sake of the plot. I really don't get that.

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Re: New book(and movie?) about Moon colony -- Artemis
« Reply #38 on: 12/07/2017 02:54 am »
Both of the "inciting incidents" if you will - the dust storm on Mars that strands Watney and the Moon base being built for tourism - in his novels are either impossible or he doesn't believe so - i.e. they're created for the sake of the plot. I really don't get that.

He's given interviews about writing Artemis. His explanation was pretty simple: he thought about a "moon colony" a lot and could not come up with a realistic explanation for it to happen. It made no sense. So he invented an unrealistic explanation: space tourism.

As for the Martian dust storm, I think he said in interviews long after the book became a major hit that he came up with a plausible idea to strand Watney only after he had published it.

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Re: New book(and movie?) about Moon colony -- Artemis
« Reply #39 on: 12/07/2017 09:48 pm »

 

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