Re: "Mutineer's Moon (Dahak Series)" by David Weber

On 3/20/2024 12:01 AM, Bob Casanova wrote:
> On Tue, 19 Mar 2024 14:55:31 -0500, the following appeared
> in alt.books.david-weber, posted by Lynn McGuire
> <[email protected]>:
> 
>> On 3/8/2024 9:10 AM, WolfFan wrote:
>>> On Mar 6, 2024, Lynn McGuire wrote
>>> (in article <[email protected]>):
>>>
>>>> On 12/8/2021 2:35 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
>>>>> "Mutineer's Moon (Dahak Series)" by David Weber
>>>>> https://www.amazon.com/Mutineers-Moon-Dahak-David-Weber/dp/0671720856/
>>>>>
>>>>> Book number one of a three book space opera military science fiction
>>>>> series. I read the well printed and bound MMPB published by Baen. This
>>>>> is my favorite SF book and series of all time as I have reread it eight
>>>>> or ten times now. I did buy a new copy of the MMPB which is the six
>>>>> printing from 2004, the original publishing was in 1991. I am rereading
>>>>> the second book in the series now which sadly, has gone out of print as
>>>>> a standalone book.
>>>>>
>>>>> https://www.amazon.com/Armageddon-Inheritance-David-Weber/dp/0671721976/
>>>>>
>>>>> 55,000 years ago, a Fourth Imperium Utu class 2,000 km diameter
>>>>> planetoid, Dahak hull number 177291, dropped out of Euchanch drive due
>>>>> to a supposed failure. Dahak and his 250,000 person crew were headed to
>>>>> a picket post for forty years at the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy. It
>>>>> had been 7,000 years since the last genocidal invasion of the
>>>>> Achuultani, a race who periodically swept the Milky Way of all life, who
>>>>> had destroyed three Imperiums and countless civilizations. But the FTL
>>>>> drive failure was not a accident, it was sabotage. And the mutiny that
>>>>> followed exiled the mutineers and crew alike on Earth, the third planet
>>>>> of the Sol System.
>>>>>
>>>>> Today, the unmanned picket posts are warning of the imminent invasion by
>>>>> the Achuultani. And Dahak is not receiving any warnings by hypercom
>>>>> from Central Command. Nor can he transmit a warning to Central Command
>>>>> as that capability was sabotaged also. Dahak needs a crew and a NASA
>>>>> pilot on a solitary mission, Colin McIntyre, around the Moon looks to be
>>>>> a good candidate. For you see, Dahak is the Moon.
>>>>>
>>>>> I do not know why this is my favorite SF book and series of all time. I
>>>>> like the standup position of the chief protagonist, Colin the First. Or
>>>>> that there are so many different species of intelligent space races. Or
>>>>> that the book is written so tightly, especially when compared to Weber's
>>>>> later works. Or that an self aware artificial intelligence shares the
>>>>> main protagonist job in the book, much like Heinlein's _The Moon Is A
>>>>> Harsh Mistress_.
>>>>>
>>>>> I keep on hoping that David Weber will write more books in the Dahak
>>>>> series but, I doubt it. He did write the Safehold series which is along
>>>>> the same lines as this book, overpowering space aliens and self aware
>>>>> artificial intelligences. BTW, there is an ending to the Safehold,
>>>>> Honorverse, and Dahak series that David Weber wrote as joke:
>>>>> http://www.davidweber.net/posts/443-how-safehold-wont-end.html
>>>>>
>>>>> The entire series is also available in an omnibus book, _Empire From The
>>>>> Ashes_ in either kindle or trade paperback. I also own this book in
>>>>> trade paperback.
>>>>> https://www.amazon.com/Empire-Ashes-David-Weber/dp/141650933X/
>>>>>
>>>>> Here is my 2006 review of the book: "I love this book. Of my 5,000+
>>>>> SciFi books, it is my favorite. True, it is a little bit raw. But, it
>>>>> tells a SOLID story and leaves you wanting more more more at the end.
>>>>> That is the sign of a great book. A sentient ship the size of the moon
>>>>> and the unique story of the "space aliens" makes for a totally cool
>>>>> story. BTW, I am reading it for the 5th or 6th time (who keeps count
>>>>> ?). Weber owes a couple of authors for his story: Heinlein's The Moon
>>>>> is a Harsh Mistress and the Perry Rhodan series. There are two sequels
>>>>> to this book, also 5 stars. I am valiantly waiting for the fourth ..."
>>>>>
>>>>> My rating: 6 out of 5 stars (yes 6 stars, I have about 20 six star books)
>>>>> Amazon rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars (211 reviews)
>>>>>
>>>>> Lynn
>>>>
>>>> Maybe I will read this again in 2024.
>>>>
>>>> Lynn
>>>
>>> My problem with this book is the severe suspension of disbelief issues.
>>> There’s ’the Moon is really an alien warship’ bit, which is bad enough,
>>> but those who have read EE Smith and the likes of Skylark of Valeron and
>>> assorted loose planets might swallow. With difficulty. There’s the really
>>> interesting biology, in that humans are aliens, despite biology saying that
>>> they’re related to all other life on Earth, but those who have read Larry
>>> Niven and Protector can swallow that. With difficulty. There’s the secret
>>> history, and how the Big Bad was behind most of the villains in history...
>>> and let them lose..., but again EE Smith was there in Triplanetary.
>>> Swollowable, with difficulty. There’s the Really Neat Supertech, very like
>>> swarms of stories from the 1930s, 40s, 50s... and with all the problems of
>>> those stories, plus additional handicaps in that the Really Neat Supertech
>>> has to be hidden from John Public. Again, swallowable. With difficulty. The
>>> problem is, all of that is  in one story. EE Smith and Niven and Campbell and
>>> van Vogt and the rest spread things around in multiple stories, building on
>>> each, they didn’t just pile it into one huge blob and try to ram it down
>>> reader’s throats. Weber did exactly that. Plus infodumps. Nope, not buying
>>> it. Nope.
>>>
>>> And the three books in this series were an early indicator of another Weber
>>> problem: he can’t finish a series. He stopped at three here. He’s written
>>> himself into corners with Honor Harrington and Safehold... including just
>>> stopping at incredibly annoying cliffhangers. (I’ve given up on Honor, and
>>> am getting very tired of waiting for the problems dumped in the last few
>>> pages of the last Safehold to be resolved. There is, so far as I know, no
>>> planned date for the release of the next Safehold book If there ever will be
>>> a next Safehold book.) The Bloody Hand has vanished, along with an
>>> explaination for a certain wild wizard’s actions, and exactly why the
>>> Bloody Hand’s daughter is so incredibly important. After Weber spent three
>>> books setting things up. Instead we have space vampires, and I suspect that
>>> that’s going to pitter out, too.
>>>
>>> Weber is almost as bad as Ringo with respect to finishing a series. This is
>>> not a compliment.
>>
>> "Safehold" has been finished.  You just don't like the ending.
>>
> Actually, it hasn't; the last book left open what will
> happen, with the Archangel's testimony.
>>
>>     http://www.davidweber.net/posts/443-how-safehold-wont-end.html
>>
> Yeah, even David says that is how it *won't* end (although I
> enjoyed it ;-) ).
>>
>> There may be an alternate ending to "Safehold".  Time will tell.
>>
> You mean a *real* ending. It will indeed; I just hope I'm
> still around for the finish.

David Weber gave a list of his next twenty-five books plans on Facebook 
on Aug 29, 2022.
 
https://www.facebook.com/david.weber.5621/posts/pfbid02FjnvX56nzzcej5PLiPn6n4fy6KHygEm2LVihw38KXcGyYLAD1sDCSaQpLPoXWKuDl

"Okay, I am looking to the future of the Honorverse and several of the 
other series I have going. There almost certainly WILL be at least one, 
and probably 2-3, more novels in the Honorverse, following END IN FIRE's 
merger of the main series and the Crown of Slaves series. They won't be 
written with ERIC (which i hate) but he and I always knew exactly where 
the books were going, and they will go there. It is possible that the 
collaborator I have in mind will also replace ME before the end of the 
journey (as someone said, I am --- alas --- mortal, and I am one of 
those writers who will never be "done"), but the end will be reached,
Tim Zahn, Tom Pope, and I will be wrapping the MANTICORE ASCENDANT 
series in the next couple of books, at which point we will tie it off 
with a bow. Jacob Holo and I will be writing the story of Edward 
Saganami shortly. Joelle and I are working on the next MULTIVERSE/HELL'S 
GATE book, and we know precisely where that series will ultimately end 
up. I don't know that I'll be here to see the final book, but I know 
what will be in it and I totally trust Joelle, Sharon, and Toni 
Weisskopf to get the series there with quality writing. Richard Fox and 
I have about 3 more books to bring Terrence Murphy's immediate story to 
a close, though we may go a tiny bit farther than that. We are looking 
at doing the second book in the Murphyverse later this fall/winter. It's 
already plotted and ready to go. Chris Kennedy and I just handed in the 
sequel to INTO THE LIGHT, and I think it's solid. I'm not sure how far 
we're going to get into that one, but I think we can keep our readers 
satisfied. And the only reason I'm not sure how far we'll get is that I 
set up a heck of a big enemy when I created the Hegemony, and it's 
likely to "end up" with a case of Mutually Assured Destruction rather 
than a clear cut military victory. Can't say that for sure; we got 
farther in the current book than we'd really expected. I need to sit 
down with Jane Lindskold some time in the next couple of months and lay 
out the writing outline for the next STAR KINGDOM novel. We are 
envisioning three more in that series, too. I have at least two more 
novels in SAFEHOLD (might be 3) at which point I will be at a thoroughly 
satisfying stopping point. (Could go farther if I brought in the right 
collaborator, but I don't think it's likely.) 3-4 more books in the 
SWORD OF THE SOUTH series, and then that's done.
So, by my calculations, that's another 22 books I need to get written to 
wrap up my current series plans.
I'm 70 this October. I sold the first novel thirty-three years ago. 
Since then, I have published (or have currently turned in, awaiting 
production) 74 solo and collaborative novels, which works out to roughly 
2.24 per year. That doesn't count the anthologies, of course.
I lost roughly 2 years to the concussion, and about a year and a half to 
the Covid, so let's call it 30 years, not 33, which brings the 
production up to 2.5 per year. And let's assume that I write for another 
ten years, which (at the moment, and barring any anticipated encounters 
with mortality) seems entirely plausible. By my calculations, that comes 
to another TWENTY-FIVE solo and collaborative novels, in the process of 
which I will be working with some of my collaborators to establish them 
firmly in the existing universes going forward.
People, like the characters in Richard Adams' PLAGUE DOGS, I'll probably 
still be writing "when the dark comes down." That means, obviously, that 
I won't be "finished" when I leave, but don't go around thinking that 
you're getting rid of me next week!
Just saying."

That is an incredible amount of work for an old man who has already 
published 74 books in 33 years to that Aug 29, 2022 date.

Lynn