Fallen Angels

I have a soft spot for this book, in part due to one of the minor characters in it; but it's not terribly good, I'm afraid.

This is sci-fi written with a plot involving fictional sci-fi enthusiasts. Part of the book is set inside of a sci-fi convention.

I can't emphasize how dorky this is--it's even dorkier than it sounds (if that's possible).

Larry says: Save the planet- kill an environmentalist.: Ever said that you're a science fiction fan, and been called a geek? Ever wanted to be able to save the world? Read Fallen Angels. But don't take it too seriously. Fallen Angels is a rather scizophrenic book- it seems unsure as to what it

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wants to be. On the one hand, it's a fast-moving romp through an interesting future world- a world where an extreme radical Green party has gained power in America, and, in effect, banned science. In this future world, scientists, and science fiction fans have much the same status as Communists did in 1950's America. However, the authors (noted opponents of Green politics) go absolutely overboard on the politicaL side of the book, meaning that every good character spouts Nivenist Politik, and every bad character is a stupid, blinkered Green Nazi. This total polarisation of character makes the book hard to take seriously- a political discussion is boring when one party is shown to be so obviously right (in the authors view, anyway). In fact, considering the authors fine scientific background, the science in the book is perilously dodgy- Biomass fuel is not produced through burning farm produce, and I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who'd think it's a good idea to pump CO2, and CFCs into the atmosphere "in case there's an ice-age". In case you're wondering why I gave this book three stars after the hammering I've just given it, I did actually quite enjoy it. Despite the heavy didactism, the book is funny, fast-moving, and had engaging central characters. It at least makes you think about what you're reading, which is more than I can say about most books I've read. Overall- recommended. But don't let it change your life.

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The Earth has gone into another iceage. The gletchers have entered North-America and nothing can stop them. The USA is governed by the Greens who lay the blame at technology and science. Even justice is all to often dispensed with the aid of astrology. Computers are rare and SciFi has become an

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underground movement. Members of this movement have to be on their guard for re-education by the government. In this country two astronauts from the independent spacestations crash. The "enemies of the world" have to be saved... by a crazy bunch of fans.

Frightening glimpse of the future and at the same time the warm glow of being one of "them".

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I read around a quarter of this book before leaving it in a coffee shop for some other unfortunate to pick up. As a child as was an SF fanatic, I've read hardly any for the last 30 years, and this book reminded me why I stopped reading it when I grew up. To say the writing is poor is to be too

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kind, the plot is absurd, the characterisation is risible and never have I wanted to punch fans as hard as I wanted to punch the ones in this book.

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My reactions to reading this book in 1991. Some spoilers may follow.

This novel was a big disappointment. All these authors are capable of good work, and Niven and Pournelle together have done some great stuff. It's not that I think these authors can't work together; it's that I don't like what they

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set out to do -- and probably succeeded in doing.

This book is dedicated to Science Fiction Fandom and that is the main focus of the book. This book panders to fandom's lofty notions of itself. To be sure, fans are shown as bickering, silly, obnoxious but ultimately effectual. I did like some fannish bits: the thinly disguised Forest J. Ackerman character (here Tremont J. Fielding) and his Minneapolis mansion (as far as I can tell, the authors got all the Twin Cities details right but you'd expect these guys to) and the allusions to Pournelle's and Niven's alter egos (Pournelle is a drunk, Niven has been exiled to Australia).

However, the book contained many allusions to people, places, and works in the real and fictional sf world which were not really necessary but just a fannish exercise in spot the allusion. Some, like Army Engineer George Scithers, were fun. Most were pointless like Wisconsin farmer Enoch Wallace named after the main character in Clifford D. Simak's Way Station. I did like some of the characters: Gordon Tanner, spacer and enthusiastic amateur poet was my favorite. Though I liked policeman Lee Arteria; however, the authors blow her portrayal with their final, one-paragraph explanation on why she switched from sf fan and aeronautical engineer to Green police investigator, albeit for the Air Force. Very unconvincing. I also liked the Alderman (no doubt a Pournelle invention and reminiscent of the Boss in H.G. Wells' film version of Things to Come) of dying Milwaukee.

It was that bit in Milwaukee that I hoped the rest of the book would be like: a wide portrait of industrial society meeting an ice age and a satire on radical environmentalism. The book had just a bit of that. To be sure, the stupidity of the Greens was not exaggerated over what they're like now. But if the authors were trying to make a propaganda point similar to Pournelle and Niven's Lucifer's Hammer (which I think they were) -- that industrial civilization is worth saving -- they failed. Their message was not frequent enough and buried under fans on a quest for a spaceship. The need for space was even less effectively argued for here though NASA was bashed frequently -- and, probably, deservedly so. The intents of the book -- satirical and propaganda -- are clear from the acknowledgements. They are less well handled in the text. In short, fandom killed a story that could have been better satire and propaganda.

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This was a fun book to read, with a serious undertone. Although I was never big on the whole fan side of SF, I did attend a couple of conventions in my younger days, enough so that I could really enjoy some, maybe many, of the references to fandom.

This book is both fun and depressing. Fun because of quirky characters and snappy dialogue. Depressing because of the setup- humanity, in particular the United States, having turned their back on technology, is fighting a losing battle against an Ice Age. The government writes off whole regions and

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populations, spending resources instead on persecuting fans of science fiction as subversives. In different hands, this premise could create a dystopia in some ways bleaker than 1984. Instead, the cautionary tale is simply the backdrop for what is best described as a caper novel: a group of ragtag misfits staying one step ahead of the law. It's not a page turner, but I found it enjoyable. I find it hard to imagine the government coalition described here (Greens, feminists and... Christians? O-kay), but Greens are the main baddies, at least that we get to see. There are a couple of scenes towards the end that, literally, had my jaw dropping. If I were a feminist, I would get hopping mad; since I'm not, it was just hilarious and satisfying. I will definitely be checking out all three authors separately (I've only read one book by Michael Flynn), to see what kind of stuff they write on their own.

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The premise of a glacier slowly expanding down into the continental US is a lot more interesting than the book ended up being. There's a lot of dated anti-environmentalist ranting, which I might not have minded when it was written in 1991 but bugged me given current politics, and a lot of inside

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jokes about fan culture, which I didn't find especially interesting. And I don't know about the print editions, but the copyediting of the ebook was not very good.

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