United States of America - Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir

There are dozens and dozens of Science fiction titles of my bookshelf and in my audio books library, that are written by American authors. I originally picked Rey Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, as it's an absolute classic and one of my favourite books. But once I read Project Hail Mary, I realised that this is brilliant representation of American science Fiction. Even the title is pure stars and stripes, referencing American football! 

I'm going to be as polite as possible to America and Americans. But I will be  throwing no end of stereotypes and  misconceptions. Firstly when I visited America, I had a great time, I only scratched the surface with a couple of weeks based around LA and then 10 days in New York. But it was a great part of my trip. I know it's easy to paint Americans as dumb gun toting meat heads, and there are definitely a few of those. But there are far more kind generous and funny people!

The Physical Book:

I pre-odered this when it was available to do so, after enjoying The Martian so much. My local bookstore excelled themselves and managed to get me a signed copy of the hardback! Boom! The book itself is a nice, a good cover. Nothing outstanding, just does the job nicely.

The Story:

Love it, and this is were the true America heritage comes at you with all guns blazing. And that is a hell of a lot of gun! Basically a white, young America saves the world, by using good ol' gumption, grit and common sense! Even though the mission was a joint mission with China and USA, only our Anglo pretty boy survived! The alien interactions in the book are great fun, and very very 'alien' which was really cool. It was refreshing to see an Earthling, learn the alien language rather than the usual trope of teaching the Alien how to speak English! Because all Aliens speak the same language and all earthlings speak English!

I can't wait for the film in 2027

Cuba - Super Extra Grande - Yoss

The Story: I love his book. It's funny and witty, and I'm absolutely in love with the universe it's set it. With 7 species all discovering Faster Than Light (FTL) travel around the same sort of time and all of them heading out into the milky way to start exploring and colonising. The fact that FTL development was discovered as a breakthrough in isolation goes against what other authors do, where technology in general is hugely advanced at the same time. But what I love about Super Extra Grande is that it mirrors exploration from 300 plus years ago with the French, British, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish all building boats and exploring the world. They had abilities to travel faster and further than ever before, but communications hadn't developed at the same rate, to cover the new distances they could travel. This premise has really stuck with with me, more so than the other ideas in the book. I love the idea of FTL travel without FTL communication, and it does occur in other books I've read. But in Super Extra Grande it's just so funny and so many people are just bumbling around the universe blindly.

It's only a fairly short novel, with only one thread, but that makes it a really enjoyable read, nothing heavy, just indulgent fun. I was quite worried about this book, as I'd read a couple of reviews mentioning how misogynistic Yoss is. And was put off early on in the story when one of the female aliens has 6 boobs. And I guess the main female characters are hopelessly in love with the main character, and obviously they have a three way relationship. So maybe the books isn't the best book for promoting strong female characters. But not every book has to do that either. Accept it for what it is, and what it isn't, and go along for the ride.

Canada (French) - A Strange Manuscript found in a Copper Cylinder - James De Mille

How I found the book:

I found this book in a super cool second hand book stall by the canal in a large gentrified courtyard near Camden Market in London. Now I know French Canada isn't a country in it's own right. But my other half is half French and and would love to visit the French parts of Canada and the French parts of the USA also. So for this project i'm happy to split Canada and French Canada. And this book looked very intriguing due to is age, having been published in 1888! And i'm becoming quite the fan of 19th century science fiction.

The Physical Book:
The book did stand out to me, as i was just browsing the uber cool, gentrified second hand book store. The store was frequented with young hip dudes, with wispy moustaches, bad haircuts, piss poor tattoos of cartoon characters. These dudes were probably on dates, trying to impress their partners, who had equally bad haircuts and awkwardly worn clothes. Impressing each other and trying to find old copies of Kafka, and dismissing digital books and audio book, as they don't have the 'same vibe'. After picking the book after being struck by the authors name. A quick look at the inside cover told me it was Canadian, and a quick google lead me to French Canada, so it was a easy purchase.

The Story:
It was a proper old school adventure story, with shipwrecks, cannibalistic tribes, dinosaurs, love triangles and flying beasts. But their is also a touching love story interwoven with all the adventuring. There is some deeper satirical content dealing with greed and desire to better ones self at the cost of others. I raced through the book and when I only had about 30 pages left I had no idea how it was going to end, and was concerned the ending was going to be awful. But the ending fitted with the rest of the book, and was nicely wrapped up, but with the possibility of more. But the book was published posthumously so there was no sequel.

How Canadian:
I'm not sure, it had a definite first world feel to the story with plenty of 'By Jove' comments made by the characters. I guess it felt more British to me. But i don't really know much about Canada

Conclusion:
I really enjoyed this, and it was a great example of a 19th century science fiction adventure story. I hate making comparisons when writing about books, but I think I preferred this to some Jules Verne stories. Jules Verne's ideas and stories were more exciting, but too many lengthy scientific explanations. 

Read it, enjoy it!

Canada - The Apollo Murders - Chris Hadfield

I ordered my copy, after listening to a review by the brilliant hosts of the Science Fiction 101 podcast.

There is something about a book, written by an actual astronaut that really appeals to me. I enjoyed the Buzz Aldrin co authored book. And I've also really enjoyed books written by physicists and accomplished scientist. There is always that extra layer of "I know what I'm talking about". And Chris Hadfield delivers that knowledge in spadefuls. 

Took this book on holiday with me, and polished it off in a few days. A very technical and exciting book. Sometimes it jumped around quite a bit and left me a bit confused, like I'd skipped a few pages or just completely missed something. But overall the story was a great murder mystery with the added excitement and peril that come with everything happening in space. 

Probably the greatest part of this book is the afterward / glossary. It basically breaks down the facts that the story was based on. Yes the Russians DID TAKE A GUN to the international space station.

How Canadian? Narr not really a 'Canadian' story, but still a great book, especially if you like a good dose of fact in your fiction!

USA - Rendezvous with Rama - Arthur C Clark

I haven't read any Arthur C Clark for a while, and I was read for a big hitter. Rendezvous with Rama has been on my periphery for ages, and then I picked up a copy from a charity store for a few pounds, and it made it's way to the top of my 'to read' pile. Clark is just such a great writer, everything is just so smooth and relaxed, you just want to keep on reading despite needing sleep, or to go to work, or eat, or have poo.

Looking back, not really much happens in the book, not great adventure or journey, but each chapter is so engaging. It's quite the opposite of the old phase 'great than the sum of its parts'. There are loads of concepts that are clever and come across (to a layman like me) scientifically sound and plausible. I did hear they are making this into a film. Not sure why, or how. But i'm looking forward to it!