Antares Dawn, Antares Passage

In a recent email exchange with Kew Soon, I was reminded of 'Antares Dawn' and Antares
Passage' due to my perception of the realism in the space warfare and propulsion systems described, and also based on what I know and have read. I had read the two volumes almost two decades ago when I was in university and they had left an impression. A few nights ago, I took them out of my shelves and re-read them. It was a pleasure.

Michael McCollum, the author of both volumes, was an aerospace engineer and also a nuclear engineer. He had consulted and as such is an expert in those fields.

'Antares Dawn' and 'Antares Passage' are traditional space opera with described highly plausible starships (in terms of design), propulsion systems, space combat. There is no Warp 12, photon torpedos, lovable furry crossbow-wielding aliens in them. The logistics trail, the need for a supply fleet, and more made for very interesting problems. In addition, there is a full-fledged interplanetery political system (including various factions within one)...

These are novels of first contact in a certain form. And there are ample descriptions of a supernova, neutron star, foldpoints, detection systems, etc. The ship design, the spin, the gravity, etc. You don't need first year or second year university physics to enjoy this but you will appreciate it more if you do know a little physics.

I would recommend the two volumes to Dennis, Kelvin, Kew Soon and Wei Yi. For Siu Hean, I would point you to the descriptions of the star travel and the need to maintain pickets for communications. For the Huge Sumo Wrestler of Nippon, I would not recommend them to you because you are seasoned reader and of your acquaintance with the subversion of Banks. (though Wei Yi and Kelvin have read almost everything Banks, I would still recommend them). For Chris, despite your familiarity with SF, speculative fantasy, literature along the lines of Burroughs, Ellis, Vance (I'm impressed!), and more, and you being quite an advanced reader, I think you may enjoy this. It has elements which I think will interest you. I don't think I would recommend this to Mister Paradox and Mister Mreh.

The two volumes are straight-forward, highly enjoyable works. Don't expect sophisticated literary devices, exciting prose and more though. A third volume has just been released after twenty years.

"When the supergiant star Antares exploded in 2512, the human colony on Alta found their pathway to the stars gone, isolating them from the rest of human space for more than a century. Then one day, a powerful warship materialized in the system without warning. Alarmed by the sudden appearance of such behemoth, the commanders of the Altan Space Navy dispatched one of their most powerful ships to investigate. What ASNS Discovery finds when they finally catch the intruder is a battered hulk manned by a dead crew.

That is disturbing news for the Altans. For the dead battleship could easily have defeated the whole of the Altan navy. If it could find Alta, then so could whoever it was that beat it. Something would have to be done. ..."

I had to re-type this from memory as Blogger swallowed my first posting! UGH! Blogger seems to be fucked tonight. I can't seem to upload certain images. This has happened quite a bit.