Barking Death Squirrels - Softcover

Van Belle, Douglas A

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0473175398 ISBN 13: 9780473175399

Publisher: Random Static Ltd, 2010

Synopsis

In a far distant future, humans have become the rodents of the galaxy. Infesting the walls of nearly every ship that trades across the stars, thriving at the bottom of gravity wells that are too deep for the massive predatory species that rule the sky, they occupy a precarious niche as neither predator nor prey. But the place of humans in galactic civilization is the furthest thing from Constance's mind. Driven to the point of despair by a crusty old boss who is so infuriating he might very well be the embodiment of the universe's perfect jackass, she is overwhelmed by the demands of her engineering apprenticeship. She has no reason to think that the aliens on incoming ship want anything more than to barter some cheap machine parts from the vermin they derisively call barking squirrels. None of the big uglies would ever subject themselves to the discomfort of a full G. At least... they never had before. Barking Death Squirrels is a remarkable first novel from one of New Zealand's hottest SF writers, winner of Best New Talent in the 2007 Sir Julius Vogel Awards for his short stories and shortlisted for SJV Awards every year since. "...it is a pleasure to read a book that has been so deeply and intelligently thought through... Barking Death Squirrels is a complex, thoughtful novel which will leave the reader pondering our future." - Phillip Mann (Master of Paxwax, A Land Fit for Heroes) "At first glance, Barking Death Squirrels appears to be old-fashioned 'problem solving' science fiction. But Douglas Van Belle's attention to - and affection for - his characters transcends the familiar paradigm... The result is more engaging than most of its predecessors in the genre." - Stephen R. Donaldson (The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Gap series)

About this title

About the Author

Douglas A. Van Belle is a Senior Lecturer in Media Studies at Victoria University of Wellington. He was the first person to have served as the president of both the Foreign Policy Analysis and the International Communication research sections in the International Studies Association.He has also served as the Editor-in-Chief of International Studies Perspectives and Foreign Policy Analysis and has conducted extensive research on media systems and information flows in international politics. He created the press freedom data set that precedes this study, to examine the effect of media freedom on international conflict, as exemplified by Press Freedom and the Democratic Peace (Journal of Peace Research). That initial analysis was expanded to complete Press Freedom and Global Politics (Praeger), which provides the foundation for the extension conducted here. Studies of popular media and political theory led to the undergraduate textbook, A Novel Approach to Politics, which is now in its 4th edition. Also, before returning to the analysis of media freedom with this project, he conducted a series of studies examining the relationship between information flows, disasters, and foreign aid, including Media, Bureaucracies and Foreign Aid (Palgrave: With Potter and Rioux).

Edition details

• Publisher: Random Static Ltd
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0473175398
• ISBN 13: 9780473175399
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 280