Human Resource : Inconstant Moon #1 (Inconstant Moon)

Rating:
Summary: Top Notch Sci-Fi
Review: Great Novel. Askegren managed a remarkable feat creating a future world that doesn't beat you over the head with the standard "it's better in the future" sci-fi cliches. The moon base the author has created is very much one I could envision in the not too distant future. The characters are interesting and the plot is intriguing even if a tad plodding at times. Especially enjoyable is the character of Erik Morrison. Morrison is the central figure in Human Resource, and again, the author manages to avoid some of the standard cliches. Erik Morrison is a heroic figure without some of the over the top nonsense found in similar novels. I felt as if I knew Erik and found myself rooting for him. Were he a real person and not some fictional character, I'm sure he would prove a remarkable friend or even a world leader. I look forward to seeing what Askegren has in store for this fascinating man in the next installments. Hopefully something good! Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: A good sf novel
Review: The moon has been colonized with most of the residents working for Allied Lunas Combined (ALC), a conglomerate of corporations that spy on one another to steal the latest research and development designs. Erik Morrison is the new site coordinator for EnTek, a position he does not want and hopes is temporary.

Morrison's predecessor Roger Caspian works for a rival firm, a taboo under the unwritten rules the corporations have established on the moon. Wendy Sheer of the Halo Base is involved in SETI (sentient extraterrestrial intelligence), who will use any means or method to find an ET out there. She has psionic power that makes people want to please her and uses her skill for intelligence gathering. She, Erik and others seeks Keith Ramirez, who possesses something that everyone covets.

Book one of the Inconstant Moon trilogy explores living on the moon in e minute detail from traveling in domed "atmospheric" cars on the surface to residing underground and critically adjusting to much lower gravity than earth. Though a few readers will feel that this much insight overwhelms the action, most of the audience will be in awe of Pierce Askegren, who obviously has first hand knowledge of lunar residency. Morrison and Wendy are intriguing enigmatic characters who not quite antagonists, but come close at times. Readers who appreciate the depth of life on the moon will anxiously await the next tale from what looks like a terrific miniseries.

Harriet Klausner