No, he's not quite like Golden Age Heinlein. I doubt GA Heinlein would've had anything like a biker in his work. Nor would he have approved of weed in the hydroponics chamber. But he fits into the hard-SF groove, and y'know, he's just much less depressing than Gibson, too.

"Reads like Golden Age Heinlein" my butt. It's a down-to-earth (eventually) yarn about a blue-collar construction crew in orbit, a pack of misfits as fascinating as they are bored. They happen to save the free world but, honestly, that's incidental to the drift. A treat for anyone who can't stand swords, sorcerors or space opera.

Steele brings us a collection of shorts in Rude Astronauts, some of which are excellent. The besst of them are set in his alternate history where spaceflight was first acheived in WW2. These stories capture the feel of early genre hard sf, but stick to the reality of the science tightly. The remainder or the book is devoted to a trio of stories in the vein of 'Orbital Decay' and 'Lunar Descent', an optimistic nuts n' bolts near future. Though it as if the seventies never ended in these stories it adds a down to earth quality. An excellent read

I just can't believe some of the reviews this book has received. Obviously, these poor misinformed fools thought this was related to something else, or they are completely ignorant of the impact cyberpunk has had conceptually and thematically across all mediums of expression...not to mention the impact on the technologies of those mediums.
This is an excellent short story collection...

This book is not a novelization of the movie Hackers, it is a collection of short stories by some of the best SF writers (cyber or otherwise) out there today. Fans of Gibson's Neuromancer "series" will definitely approve, and Sterling is getting better with age if not his exposure to REAL technology. Heavy Weather ROCKED!!!!

This is just a book of stories. I don't like cyberfiction, but it is just fiction. Plus since they are science fiction they are about hackers of the future or something not real ones. I don't know what kind of people hackers "really" are & I don't think the point of a FICTION collection is to tell me. As for the lame movie I don't think the stories are related to it.

The "unraveling of america" was by far the most illrepresented mind jarble i have ever read. The authors uncanny ability to misconstrue the facts dealing with the Great Society was so incrediable it actually made me laugh out loud in mid sentence. For all of you considering to by this book my best advise would be to instead purchase a copy of charles murray's book "losing ground".

A very good review of the most turbulent decade in the 20th Century. Matusow encapsulates all of the major policy areas that the government dealt with, showing successes and failures as well as his analysis of the situation. For the book's second part, he writes about the left's reactions to these moves and how the various radical groups took certain aspects and focused their discontent upon them. Overall, well-written, very readable, and gives enough detail to satisfy most basic questions the reader might have regarding the issues he covers.

This one is a real dog. The story line doesn't hold up. OK, St. Louis is wrecked. Where is the rest of the country? If S.L. is the only major city devastated why wouldn't it be rebuilt like L.A. after the quake? Don't any of the people in St. Louis have relatives in the rest of the country that they can go live with? Can ALL of the National Guard types be vicious thugs? Steele obviously has some unresolved issues with the military.

Gerry Rosen clearly has more problems than an ordinary joe should have to deal with. There's the wife he's lost, the deceased son's recurring memory, and the boss from hell. I enjoyed the characterizations, which are seen through Gerry's eyes. The images of St. Louis following a cataclysmic earthquake were compelling. And I was captivated by Gerry's palmtop which might well have been as wondrous as "Box" from "Star Cops" (except it didn't do searches quite so impressively). I'm most critical of Steele's choice of the military, first as rescuers, then as treasonous villains. Surely, there would be huge numbers of Paul Revere's out there to wise the public up to the coup about to happen. What's the Internet good for, otherwise?

Steele weaves an imaginative story of government corruption and corporate intrigue with The Jericho Iteration. I wasn't completely satisfied with his characterizations of the AI. It seemed a bit too human in it's reactions, but Steele's style and tightly paced writing delivered the goods in the end.

Just finishing Allen Steele's book Oceanspace, and while it does manage to keep the reader interested with well researched informatation regarding crush depths, and breathing mixtures, and undersea research platforms. It was not a book that i would consider reading a second time. The story is good, and the reader indoctrinated into the world of undersea mining, and experimental naval subs, (um that seemed a little unlikely, but anyway) The book's characters are easy to visualize, but lack the depth to make them really interesting. The teenager in the story is yes one big stereotype, but then so is the reporter who not only snoops around the station freely, and manages to gain acess to a high security sub bay with no problem, but also tries to seduce the story's hero in a clumsy attempt. Oh yeah there is a sea monster in the book but only for about 10 collective pages so don't blink. Had Steele put more time, and effort into the story and the characters. i feel that he could have given the reader a much better, and more in depth story then this little "puddle-jumper" read. Too bad it seemed to have a lot of potential, but then that is just my opinion.

OceanSpace by Allen Steele takes place in the mysterious environment of the deep sea. The crushing ocean depths are as challenging an environment as the moon or deep space. Allen, in the tradition of hard science fiction, gets the details right. But never mind that. Textbooks get the details right. Allen knows how to tell a story, and that's what matters. There is something special about a story that can quote Buckaroo Banzai, recite Tennyson in a helium enhanced Donald Duck voice, and create a new verse to the Drunken Sailor sea chantey. Oh yeah, there's even a sea monster. . . if the photos and sonar readings can be trusted. Allen's characters are intelligent and resourceful people, with enough flaws to make them human. The plot has some surprises but never cheats the reader. The story takes place over seven hectic days, but few readers will take more than a sitting or two to finish it.

Under the sea, in the depths of the ocean, a completely submerged research station called Tethys exists, and goes about its work hoping to explore the true final frontier, the mysterious world of the ocean. But the station is disturbed by what Joe Niedzwiecki can only describe as a sea serpent. His report spawns a barrage of interested parties, some in search of knowledge, others in search of much baser booty.

Allen Steele has undertaken what he himself calls a departure, a state of the art undersea book. His efforts have resulted in a high impact adventure, featuring Steele's excellent description and impressive writing skills. A cast of characters worth caring about (and a couple worth despising) round out this exciting book which Steele describes as a homage to Arthur C. Clarke's The Deep Range.

Rickey R. Mallory

This seemed to have great promise; the face, pyramids, exploration but it all fell apart shortly into the story and turned into the typical government intervention and conspiracy book, with Mars as the minor story line...disappointing.

The plot was not very interesting. The aliens even less interesting. The ending was a disappointment.

I really enjoyed it! I read this book about 6 years ago and still remember it fondly.