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

On Wed, 20 Mar 2024 13:35:04 -0500, the following appeared
in alt.books.david-weber, posted by Lynn McGuire
<[email protected]>:

>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."
>
2-3 more novels until Safehold finishes sounds about right.
And I'd *really* like to see a Prince Roger sequel or 3.
>
>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.
>
It is indeed.

(Whaddya mean, "old man"?!? He was born when I was 7! ;-) )
>
-- 

Bob C.

"The most exciting phrase to hear in science,
 the one that heralds new discoveries, is not
 'Eureka!' but 'That's funny...'"

- Isaac Asimov