 First edition | |
| Author | Max Barry |
|---|---|
| Subject | Interstellar War |
| Genre | Science Fiction |
| Set in | Computer controlled starship |
| Publisher | Putnam (US) Hodder & Stoughton (UK) |
Publication date | 31 March 2020 |
| ISBN | 978-0-593-08517-2 |
| Preceded by | Lexicon |
Providence is the sixth novel by Australian science fiction author Max Barry. [1] It was published in March 2020 by Putnam.
Humans have been exploring other star systems for some time, prior to encountering another race of intelligent space travelers. [1] The aliens are hostile, and war broke out seven years prior to the departure of the warship Providence, and its crew of four, composed of Gilly, Talia, Anders, and Jackson. The crew were partially chosen for the attractive image they will project in the social media messages they transmit back to the home front, while a computer actually runs the ship. Two years into the mission, after the ship has already destroyed one alien colony, mental instability begins to affect the crew.
When it compared Providence with other recently published science fiction novels, the Financial Times wrote "Providence is smart and fun but it's no classic". [2]
A review by The Associated Press compared the novel to Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers and Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow - although updated "for the internet age". [3]
The review in Locus compared the novel to Starship Troopers, Barry N. Malzberg's Galaxies, Michael Moorcock's The Black Corridor , the television show Red Dwarf, and Ridley Scott's Alien. [4]
Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction author, aeronautical engineer, and naval officer. Sometimes called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was among the first to emphasize scientific accuracy in his fiction, and was thus a pioneer of the subgenre of hard science fiction. His published works, both fiction and non-fiction, express admiration for competence and emphasize the value of critical thinking. His plots often posed provocative situations which challenged conventional social mores. His work continues to have an influence on the science-fiction genre, and on modern culture more generally.
Starship Troopers is a military science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein. Written in a few weeks in reaction to the US suspending nuclear tests, the story was first published as a two-part serial in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction as Starship Soldier, and published as a book by G. P. Putnam's Sons on November 5, 1959.
Starman Jones, a 1953 science-fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein, features a farm boy who wants to go to the stars. Charles Scribner's Sons published the book as part of the Heinlein juveniles series.
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Mary Doria Russell is an American novelist.
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The Sparrow (1996) is the first novel by author Mary Doria Russell. It won the Arthur C. Clarke Award, James Tiptree, Jr. Award, Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis and the British Science Fiction Association Award. It was followed by a sequel, Children of God, in 1998. The title refers to Gospel of Matthew 10:29–31, which relates that not even a sparrow falls to the earth without God's knowledge thereof.
Starship Troopers is a board wargame by Avalon Hill based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert A. Heinlein. It was originally released in 1976 and designed by Randall C. Reed. Twenty years later, Avalon Hill redesigned and re-released a "movie" version in 1997 to coincide with the movie's release.
Footfall is a 1985 science fiction novel by American writers Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. The book depicts the arrival of members of an alien species called the Fithp that have traveled to the Solar System from Alpha Centauri in a large spacecraft driven by a Bussard ramjet. Their intent is conquest of the planet Earth.
The exploration of politics in science fiction is arguably older than the identification of the genre. One of the earliest works of modern science fiction, H. G. Wells’ The Time Machine, is an extrapolation of the class structure of the United Kingdom of his time, an extreme form of social Darwinism; during tens of thousands of years, human beings have evolved into two different species based on their social class.
The science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein (1907–1988) was productive during a writing career that spanned the last 49 years of his life; the Robert A. Heinlein bibliography includes 32 novels, 59 short stories and 16 collections published during his life. Four films, two TV series, several episodes of a radio series, at least two songs and a board game derive more or less directly from his work. He wrote a screenplay for one of the films. Heinlein edited an anthology of other writers' science fiction short stories.
Starship Troopers is a six-part anime OVA produced by Sunrise and released in 1988. It is based on the 1959 book Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein. The OVA was dedicated to Heinlein, who died before the first part of the series was released.
The Heinlein juveniles are the science-fiction novels written by Robert A. Heinlein for Scribner's young-adult line. Each features "a young male protagonist entering the adult world of conflict, decisions, and responsibilities." Together, they tell a loosely connected story of space exploration. Scribner's published the first 12 between 1947 and 1958, but rejected the 13th, Starship Troopers. That one was instead published by Putnam. A 14th novel, Podkayne of Mars, is sometimes listed as a "Heinlein juvenile", although Heinlein himself did not consider it to be one.
Robert Buettner is an American author of military science fiction novels. He is a former military intelligence officer, National Science Foundation Fellow in Paleontology, and has been published in the field of natural resources law. He has written five volumes of the Jason Wander series, three volumes of the Orphan's Legacy series, the stand-alone novel The Golden Gate, numerous short stories and novellas, and the afterword to an anthology of stories by the late Robert Heinlein. Buettner currently lives in Georgia.
Saturn's Children is a 2008 science fiction novel by British author Charles Stross. Stross called it "a space opera and late-period [Robert A.] Heinlein tribute", specifically to Heinlein's 1982 novel Friday.
Ancillary Justice is a science fiction novel by the American writer Ann Leckie, published in 2013. It is Leckie's debut novel and the first in her Imperial Radch space opera trilogy, followed by Ancillary Sword (2014) and Ancillary Mercy (2015). The novel follows Breq—who is both the sole survivor of a starship destroyed by treachery and the vessel of that ship's artificial consciousness—as she seeks revenge against the ruler of her civilization. The cover art is by John Harris.
Marko Kloos is a German author of military science fiction and high fantasy. Born in Germany, Kloos lives and works in the United States.
Starship Troopers is an American military science fiction media franchise based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert A. Heinlein and the satirical 1997 film adaptation by screenwriter Edward Neumeier and director Paul Verhoeven.
Galaxies is a science fiction novel written by Barry N. Malzberg. It was first published in 1975. Galaxies is a metafictional work in which the writing of a science fiction novel becomes entwined with the novel being written.
The Final Architecture is a series of science fiction novels by British writer Adrian Tchaikovsky. It comprises Shards of Earth, Eyes of the Void, and Lords of Uncreation. The series focuses on a group of humans fighting against the mysterious Architects, who destroy inhabited planets. The series has been well-received critically, with Shards of Earth winning the 2021 BSFA Award for Best Novel.
Putnam said the title, set in the near future, follows "four astronauts sent to space to confront a planetary threat... only to find their mission undermines everything they knew of reality."
Max Barry's Providence (Hodder and Stoughton, RRP£16.99) sees the four-strong crew of an AI-controlled spaceship shot into deep space to take part in a war against a reptilian extraterrestrial species nicknamed salamanders.
Barry mixes the classic sci-fi novels of Robert Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke and updates them for the internet age. At times the story is reminiscent of Mary Doria Russell's "The Sparrow" and Heinlein's "Starship Troopers," but Barry makes the story compelling and innovative. In unpredictable ways,
Barry's new novel, Providence, fully inhabits such a category. Distinct from all his previous ones, it's a blend of Starship Troopers, UK cult TV show Red Dwarf and the cinematic Alien franchise, with Barry's own unique slant and voice.
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