Rolling Thunder - Hardcover

Varley, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0441015638 ISBN 13: 9780441015634

Publisher: Ace Books, 2008

Synopsis

Lieutenant Patricia Kelly Elizabeth Podkayne Strickland-Garcia-Redmond - otherwise known as Podkayne - is a third-generation Martian with a planet-sized chip on her shoulder. Her grandfather Manny was one of the first men to set foot on Mars. So Poddy has some equally planet-sized shoes to fill.
That's why she's joined the Music, Arts, and Drama Division of the Martian Navy. Though some may say her voice is a weapon in itself, Poddy passed the audition with a little help from some higher-ups. And now she's going to Europa, one of Jupiter's many moons, to be an entertainer. But she's about to learn that underneath the song and dance routines, there can be plenty of danger to go around in the Martian Navy, even if you've just signed on to sing.

About this title

About the Author

John Varley is the author of the Gaean Trilogy (Titan, Wizard, and Demon), Steel Beach, The Golden Globe, Red Thunder, and Mammoth. He has won both the Nebula and Hugo Awards for his work.

Reviews

Nebula and Hugo–winner Varley continues the space opera saga of the Garcia-Strickland clan (last encountered in 2006's Red Lightning) in this enjoyable if simplistic tale. Patricia Kelly Elizabeth Podkayne Strickland-Garcia-Redmond, daughter of an earlier series hero, Ray Garcia-Strickland, is glad for any excuse to escape her job as the Martian consul in California, but the news calling her home is dire: her great grandmother is ill and about to go into suspended animation. After a family reunion, Podkayne heads to Europa, where a disaster forces her own suspension. The solar system she awakens to 10 years later is radically different. Podkayne learns of looming trials threatening the survival of mankind and tackles them with undiminished determination. Varley has deliberately made Podkayne an uncomplicated figure who lets major events and traumas roll right off her, rendering her a less than satisfying protagonist despite her heroics. (Mar.)
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Varley concludes the solar system exploration trilogy of Red Thunder (2004) and Red Lightning (2006) with a zany Heinlein homage, whose immediate tip-off for the fans comes with the disclosure that the protagonist prefers to be called by one of her middle names, Podkayne (see Heinlein’s Podkayne of Mars, 1963). Assigned to the cultural affairs wing of the Martian Navy, she is sent to the Jovian satellite Europa, nominally as an entertainer. She is shortly hip deep in intelligence work, for which she has hardly any training, but also for which she could end up paying with her life. Meanwhile, she becomes the erotic mentor of young Juba, a role for which she has more qualifications and more interest. Readers who have by this time stopped giggling won’t stop reading until they reach the end, where they may launch a peroration largely composed of the titles of the classic Heinlein juveniles, on which at least two generations of readers cut their sf teeth. Not for the humor-impaired, definitely for Varley fandom. --Roland Green

Edition details

• Publisher: Ace Books
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0441015638
• ISBN 13: 9780441015634
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 344