Sci-Fi Group Book Club discussion

Hi, guys. Since this is about sci-fi, of which I am a fan, can I recommend my own novel? It is called "The Dolphin Code" and is by WiDo Publishing and also available inn print and kindle at Amazon. Help a fellow reader and author, okay? Thanks.

Not only can you, Joe, but you have :-) For those who want some hard sci-fi, from my novels (see www.ianmiller.co.nz for the lot) try "Red Gold" for colonization of Mars and some real science about the nature of Mars, and for those who would like to know the route to scientific theory (which is often a little more messy than you might think) try "Athene's Prophecy", which gives you as a side plot the problem of how to confirm the heliocentric theory in the first century, with the eventual answer in the next novel. As a bonus, you get to see a part of Caligulae I really doubt you knew about.

Okay, Ian, I will follow up on those. Thanks. I thought that Kim Stanley Robinson wrote the definite novels trilogy) on the colonization of Mars. And Neil Stephenson certainly did European and early American history good in his novels... My "The Dolphin Code" is set on earth and deals with real science as it applies to communications between humans and dolphins and what those smart sea mammals might be up to... Want to give it a go?

Kim Stanley Robinson gave an excellent account of Mars using the knowledge that was available following the Viking program, the calculations of some terraforming enthusiasts, and with some assumptions. However, since then it has become apparent that the amount of volatiles there (for air and water) is much less than previously estimated. It was assumed the riverbeds there were formed when there was a huge CO2 greenhouse atmosphere, but we know that never existed, and moreover, even had there been that much CO2, it would have rained out (the pressure would be high enough to have liquid CO2), and then snowed out. We also know that Mars never got above minus 60 C for any tolerable length of time, which leaves open the question, how did such rivers flow? You may be a little surprised my answer.

Yes, that's probably right, Ian. I suppose Robinson was speculating (with literary license) about a possible technology by then which would allow terraforming to happen. What I liked about his Mars trilogy was how he took into account ALL the factors, especially the psychological ones about humans in close quarters and in a new environment. And how conglomerates would give their life-extension medicine only to the rich who could afford it.

I didn't know that you're such a prolific writer! I am looking at your novels and will certainly soon start to read some of them, especially the Mars ones. Your informed POV will be valuable. I think my single novel (The Dolphin Code) is in the category and status of yours, and the responses so far are about the same; 8-10 reviews, tho good ones. Good for you, Ian. If you have a go at mine, I hope you might appreciate my science in it...

Joe, I'll check it out some time. I do some reviews and I get a number of requests, so it will take a while to get through the backlog. If anyone else is reading this too, if you get something from an indie author, please leave a review. Authors need them :-)

As for the Mars ones of mine, "Red Gold" is the start of colonization there, and focuses mainly on the anatomy of the sort of fraud that was going on prior to the 1980s crash, and the later boiler room frauds, as well as what Mars is probably like. I look at the psychological factors too, but perhaps more into, "Oh dear, this place is not what I thought. What have I done?" sort of thing.