Clarke County, Space

Rating:
Summary: Lots of fun
Review: All of Steele's books are just plain fun and this is no exception. Bizzare of course, but fun. I like his tributes to the greats and his nostaligic treatment of current scifi, "the good old days of Captain Kirk." The Elvis Cult is a riot.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but not science fiction
Review: Tis is an action/gangster story set in outer space. The setting could well take place in any small or isolated town, not necessarily a space colony. The bernal sphere has been introduced before to SF literature in "Rendevouz with Rama". apart from that, there are no new ideas or concepts. It is a good read though. The author has a talent in description and drawing characters and the events are fast paced. What I mind the most is that the cover illustration got the shape of the supposedly Bernal sphere wrong and really spoiled the way I tried to imagine it.

Rating:
Summary: Traditional story
Review: Traditional story... clearly intended as a tribute to the masters of the so-called "golden era" of SF: A.C. Clarke got the county named after him, as well as a statue in one of the colony's parks, and Heinlein got a bridge - as well as a fairly boring avatar of the intelligent computer from The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Steele has done better work, but this is still a fairly enjoyable story (with an enormous "plot hole": after knoking out cold the hit-man, why the sheriff does not check the hit-man's luggage and remove all the weaponry?)