Probably one of the best takes on the face of future combat. If you are a fan of Cyberpunk, this is a great one to read.w/out giving away too much, Colonization has begun and since the overcrowding of the earth is mainly due to the overpopulation of Third World Countries, they are the only one allowed off of Earth. But the way for people of countries like American and Great Britain to leave earth is to join the Colonial Defense Forces on or about their 75th Birthday. If they survive Training and your slot on the front, you’ll be given a generous homestead on a new world.
From there it gets kinda strange.
It’s a short read ( one rainy day for me …) and well worth it. There is a sequel but i dont have the title handy right now.
Read, enjoy and get back w/ me.
Thank you all for the excellent suggestion. I just couldn’t stand to look at Dune for one more minute, so I picked this up over the weekend and really enjoyed it. I’m now halfway through the first sequel. I’ve even passed my copy on to a scifi fan friend at work.
Thanks for making me awere of ta new favorite author.
— Dismal who continues to make gradual progress through Dune
I finished all three books in the series, and they were great… I gave them to another guy in the office and he found they dimished in quality as he went on, but I found rather that the scope restricted with each book… The first was the universe, the second was a few planets, and the last basically took place on a single colony… I enjoyed all of them, and actually found the variety interesting… Anyway, I would recommend all three, and I hope he writes more…
I just finished reading the first two books in this series, and wow. I really wasn’t expecting much, but this has been one of the better book series I have read in a while. My favorite parts so far have been when Perry named his Brainpal—the humor was unexpected—and the drill instructor. I am just about to crack open “The Last Colony.” Thanks for recommending this series L33tG33k; if I hadn’t seen this book on the forums, I probably wouldn’t have given it a chance.
There’s now a free (I love free!) e-book version that you can get by signing up for Tor’s newsletter. It sounds like a limited-time promotional thing, so do it now. Details are at Scalzi’s blog.
I’ve been reccin this book for months in the book club threads…<3 Scalzis work. He’s a consultant on Stargate Universe so I finally have some faith that it won’t suck
In computer terms, a MOVE is actually a COPY and then a DELETE. Which gives a slightly different view of what’s going on with the “Old Man’s.”
I actually wrote a story on that premise… wait, here it is.
OK, it makes way more sense if you’ve read “Old Man’s War.” But I think it stands alone well enough.
“Old Man”
By Church H. Tucker
I gasp.
My eyes are open, and I can see the… I don’t know.
I hear voices, but I can’t make sense of the sounds.
I try to shake my head clear, but I can’t move it. I can’t move anything.
I remember the new, young, clone body that was meant to replace my aging one. A younger me, or it would have been if I had been an athlete at that age. Also, it was green.
Wait. Green?
I gasp again. I’m breathing. Barely enough, but I’m breathing.
Right. Army green. It is a body designed for fighting. I can’t remember why it is green. But they don’t tell you that when you sign up. They don’t even tell you it’s a clone body. They just say you’ll get a new lease on life. I thought they had some kind of fountain of youth. Which I suppose they do. Just not what I expected.
Those eyes.
I gasp again.
Those eyes weren’t human. They looked more like a cat’s. There was some kind of fad for contacts that looked like cat’s eyes a while ago. But those weren’t contacts. Those were the eyes in my head.
In my head.
That’s right. There was a procedure. The doctor was transferring my consciousness to the clone body. It was surreal. I was aware the entire time. I was lying on the bed.
Deep breath. That’s better.
I’m still on the bed. That’s not right.
Wait a minute. Think.
There was a procedure. The doctor… What was his name? Nevermind. The doctor hooked me up to a machine and I was out of myself. No, I was in myself and in… it. Me. The new me. For a few seconds I was seeing out of two sets of eyes, and hearing myself speaking out of two mouths. With two sets of ears. I didn’t know where me was.
Deep breath.
Something went wrong. I was back in the old me. The now me. I remember looking at those eyes. Those cat’s eyes. And they were looking back.
I don’t remember after that. Did I black out?
There’s a light.
Deep breath.
The doctor is here. Shining a light in my eyes. I blink.
I can blink.
I try moving my head again. I don’t think I can. All I can do is look at the doctor.
Russell. His name is Russell.
Deep breath.
“John?” he says.
I try to speak. I can’t.
“John, can you hear me?”
I try to move my lips. They quiver. But I can’t make them work.
Dr. Russell. Russell is his last name. What’s his first name? Nevermind.
“John, if you can hear me, blink.”
I can blink. Once.
Deep breath.
“Can you move anything else? Blink twice for no.”
I blink twice.
He sighs.
“I’m sorry,” he says.
“It didn’t work,” I want to say, “Why didn’t it work?”
He’s holding a needle. “I’m going to need to take some blood. This may hurt.”
It does. I hiss.
Deep breath.
He does something off to the side. I can’t turn my head.
He’s over me again. He looks grim.
“You’ll be happy to know that the transfer was a success.”
I blink. Twice.
“You’re still getting used to your new body.”
Deep breath.
I don’t understand. He’s talking to me now. He knows it didn’t work.
“Unfortunately, a ‘move’ command is something of a cheat.”
Wait. What?
“What really happens is that the data is copied.”
I don’t understand.
“A move is really a copy and a delete.”
Deep breath.
“You’ve been copied successfully. You should have been deleted already.”
I blink twice.
“I know, but you agreed to this when you signed the enlistment papers. I’m sorry.”
I blink twice.
“Of course, your clone will have no idea that his mind is not the original one. And nobody will disabuse him of that idea.” He grimaced.
Deep breath.
“If it makes you feel any better, and it probably won’t, I’ve been through it twice. So I’m more removed from the original me than your clone is. Naturally, they–we don’t like to talk about the dynamics of this. You are an unsual case.”
I blink twice.
He tilts his head to the side. “We will study you, of course, since it’s very rare for someone to resist the effects of these drugs.” He brightens, “Your genes may end up in future clones. From a genetic standpoint, you might be a very successful specimen.”
I blink twice.
His face falls. “I’m sorry.” He has another needle. “I want you to relax.”
When I feel the pain of the injection, I hiss.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Scalzi.” he says, as my chest tightens.
I had the exact same thot when I read that part, and thot it might be part of the story. What happens to the “Old Man’s” after their consciousness has been “moved”?
Why you kill my favorite new author guy. Not cool.