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by Fodor's
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by Donald R. Sweeney
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by Bil Keane
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by Edgar Rice Burroughs
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(Larger Image)
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Clarke County, Space
by Allen Steele
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Ace (1990-12-01)
ISBN: 0441110444
EAN: 9780441110445
Dewy Decimal #: 813.54
Paperback: 240 pages
Edition: Reissue
Release Date: 2000-06-05
SKU: mon0000047521
Condition: Very Good
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
The citizens of mankind's first orbiting space colony want independence--at any cost.
"The best hard SF writer to come along in the last decade."--John Varley
"[Allen Steele]...successfully strides the turf that was once the exclusive domain of the legendary Robert A. Heinlein."--Locus
Allen Steele is a two-time Hugo Award winner and nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award
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Customer Reviews
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Not Free SF Reader
Rating  (3)
Date: 2007-09-25
A sheriff in a space habitat has to stop a hitman. A few of his other problems include a whole passel of Elvis nuts, an AI that has its own ideas on what it wants to do with colony, and a time traveller.
Even though the name of this sounds like Nowheresville, USA, it is supposed to be named after Arthur C. Clarke, this settlement.
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A very funny tribute to Heinlein and Clarke
Rating  (5)
Date: 2005-06-26
6 out of 6 customers found this reveiw helpful
Clarke County - well, sounds like an all-American name, doesn't it? As it happens, the colonists have apparently named it after Arthur C. - if you're skimming through the book, you'd miss the brief mention of his statue. That said, yes, the rest of the plot does have more to do with Heinlein's books than Clarke's. It's a rousing story, plenty of action, several connected threads. I *would* recommend reading "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" by Heinlein before you read this, especially to refresh your memory of Mycroft.
The Church of Elvis provides a lot of the fun - but so does Blind Boy Grunt. Even the more serious characters have their moments of fun. Police chief Bigthorn, of Native American ancestry, has a sense of humor, even when he's being almost blown up. We also have some villains we can enjoy - heartless lawyers representing soulless corporations, that sort of thing, that we can unabashedly revile. A hired killer code-named the Golem, complete with an explanation of the original Golem and some scary insight into the assassin's psychology.
The only disappointment in the book is the very end - involving Simon McCoy. I thought this particular bit of explanation to be rather out-of-nowhere and arbitrary. Works as a plot device, but not as a plot or a character, in my opinion. However, it's quite possible to just ignore that part.
If what you know of Allen Steele is his more recent Coyote series, you will find this book to be both similar and different. There's some of the same questions of exactly what constitutes patriotism, and when is it correct to decide that one's patriotism should be devoted to creating a new country. There are also the same Heinleinian issues of figuring out what it takes to be self-sufficient, and how big a political/geographical entity do you need to have to be self-sufficient. (Steele poses these questions in the spirit of Heinlein, but the answers to these questions are not the same as Heinlein's.) There is more humor in this book than in the Coyote series, rather less time spent on assorted military preparations.
All in all, while not a complete masterpiece - it's a little too lightweight for that - it is a worthwhile, fun, read, and gets five stars for being accessible, funny, not as politically strident as some books in the same vein, and having lots of in-jokes for science fiction fans.
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Good, but not science fiction
Rating  (4)
Date: 2002-04-30
3 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
Tis is an action/gangster story set in outer space. The setting could well take place in any small or isolated town, not necessarily a space colony. The bernal sphere has been introduced before to SF literature in "Rendevouz with Rama". apart from that, there are no new ideas or concepts. It is a good read though. The author has a talent in description and drawing characters and the events are fast paced. What I mind the most is that the cover illustration got the shape of the supposedly Bernal sphere wrong and really spoiled the way I tried to imagine it.
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Traditional story
Rating (3)
Date: 2001-07-18
1 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
Traditional story... clearly intended as a tribute to the masters of the so-called "golden era" of SF: A.C. Clarke got the county named after him, as well as a statue in one of the colony's parks, and Heinlein got a bridge - as well as a fairly boring avatar of the intelligent computer from The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Steele has done better work, but this is still a fairly enjoyable story (with an enormous "plot hole": after knoking out cold the hit-man, why the sheriff does not check the hit-man's luggage and remove all the weaponry?)
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Lots of fun
Rating (4)
Date: 2001-07-12
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
All of Steele's books are just plain fun and this is no exception. Bizzare of course, but fun. I like his tributes to the greats and his nostaligic treatment of current scifi, "the good old days of Captain Kirk." The Elvis Cult is a riot.
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