Chasing Autumn Rain

I am an avid sci-fi buff.  Science fiction films and anime comprise a significant portion of my DVD and Blu-Ray collection.  If I'm reading fiction, chances are that I'm reading something by Arthur C. Clarke, Ben Bova, Kim Stanley Robinson, or something in that mold.  I guess I like that material because it helps give me a vision of the world to come, an ideal of what I am working to build as an engineer on the space program.

That's probably why I prefer the "hard" sci-fi of Clarke, et. al.  Their writing has verisimilitude.  I can see myself where the protagonists are.  In fact, I often wish I was there.  So, I always keep my eye open for new stories.  I found one recently in a most interesting way.  In fact, the method by which I was introduced to this author quite validates the premises in his writing.

On Gmail, there is a bar that recommends links you might be interested in.  Last month, I saw a link indicating some kind of story about an attack on a space elevator.  I wondered what kind of viral marketing this was for... and followed the link.  I was rewarded with a series of short videos depicting an attack on the world's first space elevator, the rising tensions between the world's superpowers, and a threat to a massive off-world space station.

I found links describing space-based weapons platforms, a reformed United States with hegemony over the Western Hemisphere, an alliance between Russia and China giving them hegemony over the Eastern, and Europe stuck in the middle.  I made my way to author David J. Williams' main page and was convinced that his Autumn Rain trilogy was at the top of my reading list.

I ordered The Mirrored Heavens and the recently-released The Burning Skies from Amazon Prime, eagerly awaiting their arrival. I was not disappointed.

David J. Williams describes a future-imperfect where the United States has rewritten the Constitution to put political control in the hands of veterans after disastrous economic and political failures nearly destroy us.  The Russians and Chinese have formed a Eurasian Coalition to cement their own power and counter the resurgent US.  In the middle are the European Nations, eking out an existence balanced between the two superpowers.  South America and Africa become colonial pawns once again, this time because of their equatorial launch sites.

Both the United States and the Coalition have realized that their future depends on space.  The Earth itself is simply too polluted and overdeveloped to sustain humanity's growth.  The future is in the stars and the two superpowers compete heavily for its bounty.  But some, including the American President and moderates in the Coalition, realize that the Second Cold War threatens too much.  Thus, detente is pursued through the construction of the Phoenix Space Elevator - a joint project to grant cheap access to space for all.

Underlying all of this and intertwined in it is the massive expansion of digital technology and its fusion with the biological.  Each power bloc has its own future version of the Internet, called zones.  These zones are immensely protected from outside intrusion because nearly everything runs on them, from commerce to national security.  "Razors" are the savants who can access the zones through their cranial implants and conduct information warfare.  And, yes, they have both wired AND wireless access!

"Mechs" are the cybernetically enhanced operatives who work with the razors to go where they cannot.  Interestingly enough, it is the razor who is typically in tactical command.  So, while the mech engages the local physical defenses, the razor fights in cyberspace.  Together, they produce a synergy that can only be matched by the razors and mechs of the opposing team.

As I read Mirrored Heavens, I found myself impressed by Williams' attention to making the situations the protagonists encounter believable.  They don't always do the "right" things.  They do what you might expect people to actually do in high-stress encounters.  As for the conflict at the heart of the story itself,  I have to say that I suspected elements of how it would play out, but Williams brings it all together in the end with a masterful stroke that pleasantly surprised me.

There are multiple, parallel stories being told about how the world responds to the destruction of the Phoenix Space Elevator in an unprecedented terrorist attack.  Three teams of mech and razor - none of whom ever meet - respond to the crisis in their own way and from their own point of view.  And, in the end, you're still left wondering who is really pulling the strings.  How much of what the protagonists have seen is real?  How much is an elaborate construct designed to elicit the desired response?  I don't know for certain yet, but neither do those left standing in the end...

I can't wait to get started on The Burning Skies.