A Message from SFBook

In a brick—and—mortar store, your book ends up on precisely one shelf, for instance either science fiction or mystery. But online booksellers let you be on as many virtual bookshelves as you wish, allowing you to reach varied readers in ways never before possible. I love reading mystery as well as science fiction, and I wanted to reach across to those, like me, who appreciate detective stories and intricate whodunits. I,ve always felt that science fiction has much more in common with mystery than with fantasy, anyway. Science fiction, after all, is about things that plausibly might happen; fantasy is about things that never could happen—in that sense, they,re antithetical genres.

But science fiction and mystery both prize rational thought, and both ask the reader to carefully pick up the clues the author has salted into the text—in mystery, of course, to solve the crime, and in science fiction to puzzle out the unfamiliar backdrop against which the story is being told. My first novel, ,s Golden Fleece , was a murder mystery set aboard a starship.

And Ace recently reissued my Nebula Award—winning The Terminal Experiment , which is a high—tech whodunit, and my Seiun Award—winning Illegal Alien , which is a courtroom drama with an extraterrestrial defendant. But Red Planet Blues is the first novel in which I,ve made a professional detective the main character. And having a science—fictional detective does make sense. It,s become increasingly hard to tell traditional detective stories set in the present day. Everyone knows about CSI —style forensics: And our public and private spaces are increasingly covered by surveillance cameras; there,s almost no room left—on Earth anyway—for the traditional whodunit.

But Red Planet Blues is set on a lawless frontier Mars—where the security cameras have been smashed—and it involves a technology that lets people transfer their consciousnesses into gorgeous android bodies, which don,t have fingerprints and don,t shed DNA. But who is actually inside any given body is anyone,s guess, letting me tell a good—old fashioned mystery … out on the final frontier. I certainly didn't expect the sexism at all. I was impressed that he wrote such a great teenage girl character for his WWW series, I liked Flashforward and don't remember having any concerns about the balance between make and female characters.

And not only that, but this book felt quite amateur, like he didn't put any effort into it. It felt like someone copying what Asimov did in Caves of Steel way back in Timothy Zahn did a great job in his Quadrail series without the gimmicky attempt to be old-fashioned, he makes me feel like the books are set far in the future while maintaining a cool classic noir mystery feel to the tales. Or if you want to read a really great mystery about people transferring minds and that actually got into the implications of it, read Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon.

This just felt awkward and lacking depth. It felt like really shallow fanfic, to be honest. Clearly I'm not having a hard time being honest here. But it is hard. I don't give many bad reviews, I don't recall ever giving one this specifically harsh. This isn't one of those snarky reviews where the writer has fun writing and posting it. I kept reading the book because I was sure I must be missing something, that he would pull it together for me and that something wound happen that would make it all make more sense.

He was very consistent this time out. Unfortunately, it was consistently bad. Feb 25, Ernest rated it it was ok. Decant onto pulp paper, and knock the concoction back like cold Sarsaparilla in a dirty glass. The problem for me is that there's really nothing Martian about it. It's clearly a cross between the Klondike and Treasure of the Sierra Madre, but putting a falling down prospecting town under a dome doesn't add much to it. Really, the story is more about uploading into android bodies than anything else, and there's no real there, there.

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It's a read, but the author has done much better work, like the WWW trilogy, or those books about Neanderthals, or my favorites The Quintaglio Ascension. A very enjoyable read. Please see my review at my blog, The Next Fifty, at: I totally get it. It's a mashup of 2 genres I love, Noir detective and Science Fiction I had every expectation that I was going to love this book. Maybe they were a bit too high, dreams of a Martian Blade Runner type of experience perhaps but this was definitely not the case.

By the end I was forcing myself to suspend disbelief just so I could get to the end. I won't give out spoilers abou I totally get it. I won't give out spoilers about what the Mars of tomorrow is like but I'll just say: I like Robert J. Sawyer but this one kind of left me for dead on the cold Martial sand. I managed to get a hold of one of the ARCs of Red Planet Blues that were handed out at the World Fantasy Convention in Toronto this year part of the big bag-o-books that every attendee received , and had to read it almost immediately.

Red Planet Blues originally titled The Great Martian Fossil Race takes a previously published story Identity Theft as the first quarter of the book, and then continues the story. The story in que I managed to get a hold of one of the ARCs of Red Planet Blues that were handed out at the World Fantasy Convention in Toronto this year part of the big bag-o-books that every attendee received , and had to read it almost immediately.

The story in question is set on Mars duh , and follows an amoral private eye named Alex Lomax on the mean streets of Mars, where almost everyone is hunting for fossils of ancient martian life. The motherlode would be the Alpha Site, discovered by a pair of explorers decades ago, which holds the largest, most complete fossils seen.

RED PLANET BLUES

In the original story, a gorgeous woman walks into his office, asking him to find her missing husband. Her husband runs the NewYou franchise, which lets people transfer their minds into perfect android bodies which is why she is drop-dead gorgeous. He quickly finds her husband, who has managed to find a way of committing suicide, even if he is an almost indestructible android.

Of course, nothing is ever so simple. It also ties back to a scientist who has found the Alpha Site, and who is pretty much the only person who doesn't want to get rich off of it. And in the extension, you throw in a writer from Earth, a punk kid, the grand-daughter of one of the two men who found the alpha site and has his diary of clues, the sexy waitress, the man who got filthy rich buying and selling fossils, the scientist, and others. There is also the truth of what happened to the two explorers neither died for the expected reasons.

In fact, by the end things got so complicated that I was really having trouble keeping things straight. There's also a lot of consideration of souls. If you transfer your mind to an android body your flesh body is destroyed immediately , what about your soul? What happens if your body is transferred to more than one android body? Which one is 'real'? While this isn't my favorite of Mr.

Sawyer's books, especially with the spaghetti strands of plot at the end, I still found it an enjoyable read, and I look forward to reading his next book. Jun 14, P. Baines rated it did not like it. I really, really wanted to like this book.

D-Rok - Red planet blues

The premise was intriguing and the idea of combining an old-school detective story with sci-fi sounded like fun. Sadly, I was reminded why it is I don't read much sci-fi. There were a few laughs, but not enough to keep my interest. By the end, I felt as if I had just wasted a week. A very disappointing effort from an award-winning novelist. I was expecting a lot more. I laughed out loud a couple of times. What I didn't like: Anger and frustration were shown by a swear or blaspheme. This started to annoy me after a while because this doesn't work.


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The author might as well have a character say: Feel empathy for me. It was like being on a roller coaster that only goes downhill. The initial excitement was soon replaced by a sense of tedium. Too many names were thrown about and I soon lost track because there was no attention to detail. All the women were supermodel clones. While this stays true to the P. It was like listening to a series of stage instructions. She fell to the floor.

It’s noir fiction on the red planet, but it loses its orbit - The Globe and Mail

The blonde reached for the gun and took aim This is described as being little more than an advantage for fossil-hunting!! The author missed the mark here. This is a major plot point treated as an aside. If he wanted to incorporate something as desirable as immortality, he should have included some serious disadvantages, otherwise it just does not ring true. I was very disappointed.

Dedication

Judging from the other reviews, most people really like this book. I just didn't enjoy it at all. Some of the jokes were great, but the book as whole did not work for me. Aug 18, [Name Redacted] rated it really liked it Shelves: A fun, solid sci-fi detective novel set in a future in which fossils have been discovered on Mars and human consciousnesses can be transplanted into immortal machines.

It feels a bit cluttered and haphazard, what with the fusion of classic noir, Canadian gold rush, paleontology and Asimovian sci-fi elements, but that odd, incongruous melange is also what makes it so engaging. The protagonist is definitely not a GOOD man, but he's got a sense of honor and obligation to his clients which makes him A fun, solid sci-fi detective novel set in a future in which fossils have been discovered on Mars and human consciousnesses can be transplanted into immortal machines. The protagonist is definitely not a GOOD man, but he's got a sense of honor and obligation to his clients which makes him worth following throughout the story.

This is my second Robert J. Sawyer novel in as many weeks, and I think I'm picking up on a few constants which take me out of his stories. I enjoy his novels, but we'll see how long I can stand his repeated contentions that Canada is and will be! It's one thing to love your homeland and sing its praises, but there's such a thing as going too far.

View all 14 comments. Oct 01, David rated it really liked it Shelves: Classic Science Fiction with a touch of a private eye novel slammed together filled with clever Science Fiction ideas Why do people want to go to Mars? For the fossils, of course None of this mining for minerals-- but ancient Martian fauna fossils are worth megabucks on Earth People transferring to new robotic bodies that don't need to breathe or eat, but have superhuman strength!

The big red dome On top of that-- enough dead bodies to fill a Humphrey Bogart movie Clever at quips and gags A semi-adversarial relationship with the local desk sergeant.. A machine that shuts down robotic bodies, thereby ending the hope of eternity Enough chicks and romantic entanglements.. The first part of this novel was obviously a novella, as our hero solves a complex murder mystery and then watches it lead to a number of killings, etc.

Dec 14, Banner rated it liked it Shelves: Bottom line, this is a solid average work for Sawyer. Don't mean that as an insult, just an informed opinion. I recommend this as a fun, quick read; however, you will not find the depth and characterization that we come to expect from Mr Sawyer.


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  • This reads a little bit like a average Larry Niven story. A common theme is present, consciousness. The ideas presented are interesting, but they are not as integral as I would have liked. The "gumshoe" aspect of the character was charming. Imagine Phili Bottom line, this is a solid average work for Sawyer. Imagine Philip Marlowe on Mars. Jun 04, Kurt Springs rated it really liked it. This review was first published on Kurt's Frontier. Alex Lomax is the only private eye on Mars.

    People with enough money can transfer their conscious minds into an immortal, android bodies. This is an age where anything can be replicated. Much that was once valuable is now worthless. Their site has been lost for decades.


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    • Alex is a biological: He fled Earth to escape justice. The action is suspenseful, and some of the concepts are interesting. It once had liquid water and an atmosphere to support it. It may once have been home to primitive life. Evolution on Mars came to an end billions of years ago. What if fossils of that life remained? What would they be worth to researchers and collectors? What if a mind could be copied onto computer chips?

      Would the android be the same person as the original? Then add in the fact that the body is destroyed afterward. The background is interesting on the technical and scientific level. However, like many detective noir stories, the characters are formulaic and two-dimensional. This can either make the story boring or make it fun. There is suspense, where anything can be waiting around the corner.

      While it was hard to get into, the story proved to be a fun read. Jun 05, Bryan Schmidt rated it it was amazing. Solid mix of noir and SF with captivating narrative voice and setting. Jun 08, Sooz rated it liked it. AND, i suspect he had a lot of fun doing so. Jun 20, Jennifer rated it it was ok Shelves: Alex Lomax is the only private eye on the planet, working the streets of New Klondike - a city that sprung up after Simon Weingarten and Denny O'Reilly discovered the first batch of fossilized Martian creatures. His work is complicated by the increasing popularity of "transfers" - people who have transferred their consciousness into a new artificial body.

      These transfers reach a level of immortality with bodies that can be stronger, faster and more attractive than the original. They can be repaired quickly and moved to another body should one become too worn or damaged. Many have attempted a wild west enthused science fiction and almost all have resulted in a horrible mess. Red Planet Blues manages to avoid this completely - it really does feel incredibly inviting and natural. Partly this is due to the fact that the author doesn't try and make the book a futurist western.

      Instead we have a style that feels much like firefly, all dusty and earthy and realistic.