{"id":1103,"date":"2015-02-28T11:02:06","date_gmt":"2015-02-28T17:02:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adventuresfantastic.com\/futurespastandpresent\/?p=1103"},"modified":"2015-02-28T11:02:06","modified_gmt":"2015-02-28T17:02:06","slug":"conspiracy-theories-and-moon-landings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/adventuresfantastic.com\/futurespastandpresent\/conspiracy-theories-and-moon-landings\/","title":{"rendered":"Conspiracy Theories and Moon Landings"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a>The Cassandra Project<\/a><\/em>
\nJack McDevitt<\/a> & Mike Resnick<\/a>
\nAce Books<\/a>, mmp, 343 p., $7.99
\nebook $7.99\u00a0 Kindle<\/a> Nook<\/a><\/p>\n

I’ve been a big fan of both of these authors for years, so it was with high expectations that I approached The Cassandra Project<\/em>. Now the thing to keep in mind is that collaborations rarely read like the work of either author involved. In the best cases, the result is something that surpasses what either author could produce on their own. A prime example of this would be the works of Niven and Pournelle or Pohl and Kornbluth. On the other hand, when the collaboration doesn’t work, the results can be downright awful.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, the work under consideration here is much more of the former than the latter, even if it doesn’t quite rise to the level of Niven\/Pournelle or Phol\/Kornbluth. I’ll say more about that shortly. First, here’s the setup.<\/p>\n

Jerry Culpepper is the face and voice of NASA.\u00a0 His job as press agent puts him in the spotlight.\u00a0 So when a reporter asks him a question about some recently released tapes from the Apollo program and the possibility that Neil Armstrong wasn’t the first person to walk on the Moon, he inadvertantly opens a door that will change his life and history forever.<\/p>\n

Bucky Blackstone is a self-made billionaire who is planning his own Moon launch.\u00a0 His imagination is fired with the possibility that there could have been Moon landings earlier than what is recorded in the historical record.\u00a0 He sets out to prove that the government is lying when it denies Americans walked on the Moon before Neil Armstrong.<\/p>\n

McDevitt’s novels are often mysteries in science fiction drag (that’s a compliment, btw), with intricate plots that unfold in a highly satisfying way.\u00a0 Resnick’s work is usually pretty fast paced.\u00a0 So I was a little surprised to find The Cassandra Project<\/em> to be something of a slow read.\u00a0 The way the story initially develops, something is discovered that raises questions about the historically accepted narrative.\u00a0 Those questions are dealt with, but then something about the explanation raises more questions.<\/p>\n

I think the pace may be in part due to the type of novel this is.\u00a0 The authors strive for a sense of realism, and for the most part, they succeed.\u00a0 Things do begin to pick up.\u00a0 The ending resolves the main mystery but leaves enough unanswered questions to be both satisfying and leave the reader wanting more.<\/p>\n

While not quite the type of novel I expect from either McDevitt or Resnick, I found The Cassandra Project<\/em> to be enjoyable and satisfying.\u00a0 I’m hoping the authors will collaborate again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Cassandra Project Jack McDevitt & Mike Resnick Ace Books, mmp, 343 p., $7.99 ebook $7.99\u00a0 Kindle Nook I’ve been a big fan of both of these authors for years, so it was with high expectations that I approached The Cassandra Project. Now the thing to keep in mind is that collaborations rarely read like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[736,14],"tags":[734,735,733,761,758],"class_list":["post-1103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jack-mcdevitt","category-mike-resnick","tag-ace-books","tag-appollo-program","tag-jack-mcdeviit","tag-mike-resnick","tag-neil-armstrong"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3P5pJ-hN","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/adventuresfantastic.com\/futurespastandpresent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/adventuresfantastic.com\/futurespastandpresent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/adventuresfantastic.com\/futurespastandpresent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/adventuresfantastic.com\/futurespastandpresent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/adventuresfantastic.com\/futurespastandpresent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1103"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/adventuresfantastic.com\/futurespastandpresent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1109,"href":"http:\/\/adventuresfantastic.com\/futurespastandpresent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1103\/revisions\/1109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/adventuresfantastic.com\/futurespastandpresent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/adventuresfantastic.com\/futurespastandpresent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/adventuresfantastic.com\/futurespastandpresent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}