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Coyote Trilogy #1
Coyote
After stealing a starship full of political refugees, Captain Robert E. Lee and his crew travel to a distant planetary system with a habitable moon (named Coyote) with the dream of starting a colony free from governmental and social oppression.
The trip lasts 226 years, but while everyone is in biostasis, one of the crew members is accidentally awakened. With his cell permanently deactivated by the ship's AI, communications officer Leslie Gillis is doomed to a solitary life (and death) aboard the starship. When the rest of the crew is eventually reawakened as the ship reaches its destination, what they find is extraordinary.
Once the small colony is established on Coyote, they realize just how different their new world is from Earth. Exploration begins, and although a few colonists are killed by predators, the colony survives and even begins to thrive that is, until a strange comet appears in the sky.
Leather-bound First Edition of Coyote, bound in genuine leather, personally autographed by Allen M. Steele with certificate of authenticity, and numbered as part of a limited run of 1,000. Part of the "Signed First Editions of Science Fiction" line.
This edition does not contain an ISBN code.
The trip lasts 226 years, but while everyone is in biostasis, one of the crew members is accidentally awakened. With his cell permanently deactivated by the ship's AI, communications officer Leslie Gillis is doomed to a solitary life (and death) aboard the starship. When the rest of the crew is eventually reawakened as the ship reaches its destination, what they find is extraordinary.
Once the small colony is established on Coyote, they realize just how different their new world is from Earth. Exploration begins, and although a few colonists are killed by predators, the colony survives and even begins to thrive that is, until a strange comet appears in the sky.
Leather-bound First Edition of Coyote, bound in genuine leather, personally autographed by Allen M. Steele with certificate of authenticity, and numbered as part of a limited run of 1,000. Part of the "Signed First Editions of Science Fiction" line.
This edition does not contain an ISBN code.
436 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published November 5, 2002
87 people are currently reading
2939 people want to read
About the author
Allen M. Steele
235 books413 followersBefore becoming a science fiction writer, Allen Steele was a journalist for newspapers and magazines in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Missouri, and his home state of Tennessee. But science fiction was his first love, so he eventually ditched journalism and began producing that which had made him decide to become a writer in the first place.
Since then, Steele has published eighteen novels and nearly one hundred short stories. His work has received numerous accolades, including three Hugo Awards, and has been translated worldwide, mainly into languages he can’t read. He serves on the board of advisors for the Space Frontier Foundation and is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. He also belongs to Sigma, a group of science fiction writers who frequently serve as unpaid consultants on matters regarding technology and security.
Allen Steele is a lifelong space buff, and this interest has not only influenced his writing, it has taken him to some interesting places. He has witnessed numerous space shuttle launches from Kennedy Space Center and has flown NASA’s shuttle cockpit simulator at the Johnson Space Center. In 2001, he testified before the US House of Representatives in hearings regarding the future of space exploration. He would like very much to go into orbit, and hopes that one day he’ll be able to afford to do so.
Steele lives in western Massachusetts with his wife, Linda, and a continual procession of adopted dogs. He collects vintage science fiction books and magazines, spacecraft model kits, and dreams.
Since then, Steele has published eighteen novels and nearly one hundred short stories. His work has received numerous accolades, including three Hugo Awards, and has been translated worldwide, mainly into languages he can’t read. He serves on the board of advisors for the Space Frontier Foundation and is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. He also belongs to Sigma, a group of science fiction writers who frequently serve as unpaid consultants on matters regarding technology and security.
Allen Steele is a lifelong space buff, and this interest has not only influenced his writing, it has taken him to some interesting places. He has witnessed numerous space shuttle launches from Kennedy Space Center and has flown NASA’s shuttle cockpit simulator at the Johnson Space Center. In 2001, he testified before the US House of Representatives in hearings regarding the future of space exploration. He would like very much to go into orbit, and hopes that one day he’ll be able to afford to do so.
Steele lives in western Massachusetts with his wife, Linda, and a continual procession of adopted dogs. He collects vintage science fiction books and magazines, spacecraft model kits, and dreams.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 294 reviews
May 3, 2012
Well, this was a book club read, I'm embarrassed to say. I got halfway through, and I just couldn't waste any more reading time on it. I have a lot of complaining to do, though, so...
SPOILERS FOLLOW: IF YOU WANT TO RETAIN ANY ILLUSIONS ABOUT THIS BOOK DO NOT READ FURTHER
I think perhaps what I will do is make a list of all the ridiculousness. I'm not even going to go into the politics of the book ( although I lean left myself) because the right wing villains are so very cartoonish that it's embarrassing again. Although I did like the reference to the Gingrich Moon Base (or something like it) made by the author in 2002. A bit of trivia that will undoubtedly be lost to the ages.
1. Names. There's no actual physical description of anybody except for the "icy" beauty of the evil ex-wife (hey, you married her, dude! you are not the victim here- you used her for her political connections!) but it seems the default is white, because at least the oh-so-ethnic ethnic Hispanic names try so very hard to show that the author is inclusive and trying to put people who are not of western European descent in his book. We get Jorge Montero, his wife Rita, son Carlos, and daughter Maria. Then we get the Asian doctor, the only other non-white person around that we know of. Mr. Montero didn't name his son, say, Carl and his daughter Monica? I am not disparaging the fact of Hispanic names, here, but the fact that the author is taking the short-hand of using names instead of description or any other method of inclusivity. It made the book feel dated and clunky and obvious- this was the way that people introduced non-white characters when they wanted to show that they were PC in the 80's.
2. The plan is to sleep-gas all the carefully selected colonists and replace them with people who are dissidents against the fascist government who all also happen to be scientists. One scientist is much like another, I suppose, and they all would be equally ready to help with colonization. Actually, this could be true, for a more staggeringly inept group of colonists I have never seen.
3. Everyone is put into cryogenic storage for about 250 years. In the book, cryogenic storage has never been attempted for longer than 18 months, but everyone assumes it will all turn out okay and no one is left to monitor the situation.
4. It does not go okay. One person wakes up a few months or years ( I can't remember which and it doesn't matter) into the voyage. He can't put himself back to sleep, so he uses about 1/3 of the colonists' total food supply as he hangs out over the next 30 years. He does not spend any time trying to learn about the cryogenic system or software coding so he can put himself back to sleep, though. He _does_ find out that there is a saboteur who was supposed to be woken up in order to blow up the ship if anything happened other than a normal voyage- the fascist government didn't want anybody using their ship for non-regulation purposes. So, he decides to warn his captain about this by LEAVING HIM A NOTE. That is what he does. He leaves a note.
5. Everybody gets woken up together when they get to Planet Coyote, even though the first people woken know that 30% of their food supplies have been consumed. Oh, by the way, "everybody" includes a contingent of Marines that tried to stop the hijacking of the spacecraft and were cryogenically stored against their will, and the saboteur, which the captain knew about, because he got his note.
6. The captain persuades the loyalist Marine sergeant that he might as well go along with the colonists, because the space ship "was only made to go one way" and can't take them back, and even if it could go back, it would take another 250 years. Fair enough. Then he and the Marine captain stay behind all the other colonists to confront the saboteur, who gets shot. Fade away... in the next scene the captain muses sadly over the fact the the first BBQ party on Planet Coyote is marred by him having to tell about the "accident" the saboteur had- the first colonist death besides the guy that got woken up early. The captain thinks, " I never thought I'd have to be explaining that a man died." Dude. You set it up so the man would die. You should have expected it. Captain Robert E. Lee (yes that is his name) has a real victim complex, between his ex-wife and not understanding loyalty, even if it is misplaced.
7. So, this hasn't even covered the utter stupidity of how Planet Coyote is colonized. First, they fly a surprisingly low-fueled shuttle to scope things out. Because of the surprisingly low fuel, they just pick the first flat spot near water they see and land. This is where the colony goes. Planet Coyote is amazingly hospitable. They know that it has water, oxygen, and nitrogen. So, "because they've had their shots" everyone decides that they don't need to keep on helmets or use a pressure chamber to leave the shuttle. They'll just open the big door and go on out. "After all, everyone was going to have to breathe the air eventually." Yes that was their logic. But fortunately this is a book, so they all live.
8. I get that the point of the book is to have a hardy colonization story in an earthlike world, so Planet Coyote is earthlike. The point isn't a Mars-like terraforming, but sturdy back-to-the-land colonists. Heinlein did this stuff all the time. But man, these people don't deserve to live. All the seeds they've brought will grow in defiance of any biological sanity, because this is a book. All the livestock they've brought will live, because this is a book. And even though the colonists brought only one year of food and even that was partially taken from them, they won't have too much problem with that, because this is a book.
9. Everybody leaves the ship and comes to the planet. No one remains on their STARSHIP. Hasn't anyone read the Pern books? Or any other science fiction book?
10. This hasn't even considered the vanishingly small possibility that the people sent 250 years away to a different star system would even have found a planet remotely habitable, even if it was in the theoretical "habitable planet" range. The odds were so vastly against it that really, it was essentially a death sentence for anyone aboard their "one-way" ship with vanishingly small food supplies and no organized plans for leaving a minimum crew awake until favorable conditions could be ascertained.
After all this, I could not take any more stupidity. God knows what the characters of this book will do once they've got an actual planet to screw around on.
The fact that this author has won any awards is about as amazing an improbability as that of Planet Coyote being hospitable to human life. He has no grasp of science, of character development, or of story development. Anyone who's read any science fiction about colonization can point out dozens of gigantic plot and logic holes here. Any author who wants to write a book like this should already be miles ahead of where this author is, should have read other -any other- science fiction books about space colonization, and have something original to say. I can't find any redeeming value here.
SPOILERS FOLLOW: IF YOU WANT TO RETAIN ANY ILLUSIONS ABOUT THIS BOOK DO NOT READ FURTHER
I think perhaps what I will do is make a list of all the ridiculousness. I'm not even going to go into the politics of the book ( although I lean left myself) because the right wing villains are so very cartoonish that it's embarrassing again. Although I did like the reference to the Gingrich Moon Base (or something like it) made by the author in 2002. A bit of trivia that will undoubtedly be lost to the ages.
1. Names. There's no actual physical description of anybody except for the "icy" beauty of the evil ex-wife (hey, you married her, dude! you are not the victim here- you used her for her political connections!) but it seems the default is white, because at least the oh-so-ethnic ethnic Hispanic names try so very hard to show that the author is inclusive and trying to put people who are not of western European descent in his book. We get Jorge Montero, his wife Rita, son Carlos, and daughter Maria. Then we get the Asian doctor, the only other non-white person around that we know of. Mr. Montero didn't name his son, say, Carl and his daughter Monica? I am not disparaging the fact of Hispanic names, here, but the fact that the author is taking the short-hand of using names instead of description or any other method of inclusivity. It made the book feel dated and clunky and obvious- this was the way that people introduced non-white characters when they wanted to show that they were PC in the 80's.
2. The plan is to sleep-gas all the carefully selected colonists and replace them with people who are dissidents against the fascist government who all also happen to be scientists. One scientist is much like another, I suppose, and they all would be equally ready to help with colonization. Actually, this could be true, for a more staggeringly inept group of colonists I have never seen.
3. Everyone is put into cryogenic storage for about 250 years. In the book, cryogenic storage has never been attempted for longer than 18 months, but everyone assumes it will all turn out okay and no one is left to monitor the situation.
4. It does not go okay. One person wakes up a few months or years ( I can't remember which and it doesn't matter) into the voyage. He can't put himself back to sleep, so he uses about 1/3 of the colonists' total food supply as he hangs out over the next 30 years. He does not spend any time trying to learn about the cryogenic system or software coding so he can put himself back to sleep, though. He _does_ find out that there is a saboteur who was supposed to be woken up in order to blow up the ship if anything happened other than a normal voyage- the fascist government didn't want anybody using their ship for non-regulation purposes. So, he decides to warn his captain about this by LEAVING HIM A NOTE. That is what he does. He leaves a note.
5. Everybody gets woken up together when they get to Planet Coyote, even though the first people woken know that 30% of their food supplies have been consumed. Oh, by the way, "everybody" includes a contingent of Marines that tried to stop the hijacking of the spacecraft and were cryogenically stored against their will, and the saboteur, which the captain knew about, because he got his note.
6. The captain persuades the loyalist Marine sergeant that he might as well go along with the colonists, because the space ship "was only made to go one way" and can't take them back, and even if it could go back, it would take another 250 years. Fair enough. Then he and the Marine captain stay behind all the other colonists to confront the saboteur, who gets shot. Fade away... in the next scene the captain muses sadly over the fact the the first BBQ party on Planet Coyote is marred by him having to tell about the "accident" the saboteur had- the first colonist death besides the guy that got woken up early. The captain thinks, " I never thought I'd have to be explaining that a man died." Dude. You set it up so the man would die. You should have expected it. Captain Robert E. Lee (yes that is his name) has a real victim complex, between his ex-wife and not understanding loyalty, even if it is misplaced.
7. So, this hasn't even covered the utter stupidity of how Planet Coyote is colonized. First, they fly a surprisingly low-fueled shuttle to scope things out. Because of the surprisingly low fuel, they just pick the first flat spot near water they see and land. This is where the colony goes. Planet Coyote is amazingly hospitable. They know that it has water, oxygen, and nitrogen. So, "because they've had their shots" everyone decides that they don't need to keep on helmets or use a pressure chamber to leave the shuttle. They'll just open the big door and go on out. "After all, everyone was going to have to breathe the air eventually." Yes that was their logic. But fortunately this is a book, so they all live.
8. I get that the point of the book is to have a hardy colonization story in an earthlike world, so Planet Coyote is earthlike. The point isn't a Mars-like terraforming, but sturdy back-to-the-land colonists. Heinlein did this stuff all the time. But man, these people don't deserve to live. All the seeds they've brought will grow in defiance of any biological sanity, because this is a book. All the livestock they've brought will live, because this is a book. And even though the colonists brought only one year of food and even that was partially taken from them, they won't have too much problem with that, because this is a book.
9. Everybody leaves the ship and comes to the planet. No one remains on their STARSHIP. Hasn't anyone read the Pern books? Or any other science fiction book?
10. This hasn't even considered the vanishingly small possibility that the people sent 250 years away to a different star system would even have found a planet remotely habitable, even if it was in the theoretical "habitable planet" range. The odds were so vastly against it that really, it was essentially a death sentence for anyone aboard their "one-way" ship with vanishingly small food supplies and no organized plans for leaving a minimum crew awake until favorable conditions could be ascertained.
After all this, I could not take any more stupidity. God knows what the characters of this book will do once they've got an actual planet to screw around on.
The fact that this author has won any awards is about as amazing an improbability as that of Planet Coyote being hospitable to human life. He has no grasp of science, of character development, or of story development. Anyone who's read any science fiction about colonization can point out dozens of gigantic plot and logic holes here. Any author who wants to write a book like this should already be miles ahead of where this author is, should have read other -any other- science fiction books about space colonization, and have something original to say. I can't find any redeeming value here.
September 2, 2022
Allen Steele is an author I have followed for some time and I really love how he can tell a tale; from his 'rude astronauts' books to his Coyote yarns. Steele relies on an old trope here-- the colonization of another planet via a long interstellar journey via sublight speed. Yet, the characters and Steele's easy flowing prose make Coyote a delight to read. I believe most of Coyote was first published as a series of short stories in Asimov's Science Fiction magazine but the stories are all interconnected and the novel flows seamlessly.
The first part is set on Earth in the somewhat near future. The good ole USA has been 'hijacked' if you will by the 'Liberty party', really a fascist regime, replete with a secret police that puts 'intellectual dissonants' (D.I.s) in a gulag. For over a decade, the regime has basically starved the economy to build the first interstellar ship, the Alabama to fly 47 light years to colonize Coyote, the moon of a gas giant. Not really a spoiler, as the first chapter is called "Stealing Alabama," but the captain Robert E. Lee plans on loading the ship with D.I.s and thumbing his nose at the fascists. Indeed, they succeed, and the rest of the novel consists of various discreet adventures involving exploring and setting up a colony with a distinct lack of equipment and know how.
Again, such an old trope, but Steele pulls it off with aplomb, in part because this is really a character driven novel. Not only due the new colonialists have to deal with a new world, but some carry political baggage as well (not all the crew were D.I.s, and some were loyal to the old regime). Oh, the world of Coyote is fun, but it is really just a back drop to the drama amongst the characters. Good stuff from Steele! 4 interstellar stars!!
The first part is set on Earth in the somewhat near future. The good ole USA has been 'hijacked' if you will by the 'Liberty party', really a fascist regime, replete with a secret police that puts 'intellectual dissonants' (D.I.s) in a gulag. For over a decade, the regime has basically starved the economy to build the first interstellar ship, the Alabama to fly 47 light years to colonize Coyote, the moon of a gas giant. Not really a spoiler, as the first chapter is called "Stealing Alabama," but the captain Robert E. Lee plans on loading the ship with D.I.s and thumbing his nose at the fascists. Indeed, they succeed, and the rest of the novel consists of various discreet adventures involving exploring and setting up a colony with a distinct lack of equipment and know how.
Again, such an old trope, but Steele pulls it off with aplomb, in part because this is really a character driven novel. Not only due the new colonialists have to deal with a new world, but some carry political baggage as well (not all the crew were D.I.s, and some were loyal to the old regime). Oh, the world of Coyote is fun, but it is really just a back drop to the drama amongst the characters. Good stuff from Steele! 4 interstellar stars!!
August 3, 2014
Don't you just hate those space ship thieves?
Unhappy with conditions on earth, Robert E. Lee A decedent loosely related to the great Civil War General, save he's black, leads an exploratory mission to the stars. Instead of staying under the Yoke of an oppressive government, he pulls off the ultimate betrayal and fires the first shot (metaphorically speaking) of what would turn out to be a long struggle for independence.
Lee and his team of handpicked colonists put themselves into cryogenic suspension for the long trip. On the way treachery had already cost them one life. When they wake up, they reached an inhabitable world waiting to be settled. Behind them, Earth has not forgotten them and ahead of them are hardships that will test every man and woman on the team.
I enjoyed this book on audio tape. The narrators changed to match gender and in some cases the ages of those telling their story. Steele wove a collection of short linked tales together into a cohesive tale of courage, determination and danger. Each short section, told through the eyes of the different colonists fit together seamlessly, and they were a very interesting selection of narrators, a 16 year old girl, spunky as hell, Robert E. Lee, Carlos, the son of the first casualties on the new planet.
The book read like a collection of first person tales of settling the great frontier in the New World with Daniel Boone or Davy Crocket. The characters began to feel like family as the story tackles many of the more subtle issues we face today. Teen Pregnancy, the frustration of youth to be heard over the desires of their parents, war, rebellion, first contact and learning to live in harmony with an angry, alien land. There’s even one creepy story about a crazy reverend who had been surgically altered to look like a horrid demon and secretly drank blood taken from his cult of followers. Can you say “Creeeeeepyyyy”?
The entire series is good, though I didn't like the last book as much as the others and as good as the first book turned out, I think the second and third were even better.
Warnings
It's a good read for anyone, though there are some hard subjects tackled here such as teen pregnancy that might not be appropriate for youth under a certain age. People do get killed and there is plenty of action and violence.
Allen Steele does express his own thoughts and feelings about some political subjects, but not in a way that detracts from the story. His views are more in a take it or leave it, no penalty basis. You can disagree with him and still enjoy the story every bit as much as you would if you agreed with him. The focus is on "story," not on philosophy. I'm just saying it's there.
Great read. Enjoy
Unhappy with conditions on earth, Robert E. Lee A decedent loosely related to the great Civil War General, save he's black, leads an exploratory mission to the stars. Instead of staying under the Yoke of an oppressive government, he pulls off the ultimate betrayal and fires the first shot (metaphorically speaking) of what would turn out to be a long struggle for independence.
Lee and his team of handpicked colonists put themselves into cryogenic suspension for the long trip. On the way treachery had already cost them one life. When they wake up, they reached an inhabitable world waiting to be settled. Behind them, Earth has not forgotten them and ahead of them are hardships that will test every man and woman on the team.
I enjoyed this book on audio tape. The narrators changed to match gender and in some cases the ages of those telling their story. Steele wove a collection of short linked tales together into a cohesive tale of courage, determination and danger. Each short section, told through the eyes of the different colonists fit together seamlessly, and they were a very interesting selection of narrators, a 16 year old girl, spunky as hell, Robert E. Lee, Carlos, the son of the first casualties on the new planet.
The book read like a collection of first person tales of settling the great frontier in the New World with Daniel Boone or Davy Crocket. The characters began to feel like family as the story tackles many of the more subtle issues we face today. Teen Pregnancy, the frustration of youth to be heard over the desires of their parents, war, rebellion, first contact and learning to live in harmony with an angry, alien land. There’s even one creepy story about a crazy reverend who had been surgically altered to look like a horrid demon and secretly drank blood taken from his cult of followers. Can you say “Creeeeeepyyyy”?
The entire series is good, though I didn't like the last book as much as the others and as good as the first book turned out, I think the second and third were even better.
Warnings
It's a good read for anyone, though there are some hard subjects tackled here such as teen pregnancy that might not be appropriate for youth under a certain age. People do get killed and there is plenty of action and violence.
Allen Steele does express his own thoughts and feelings about some political subjects, but not in a way that detracts from the story. His views are more in a take it or leave it, no penalty basis. You can disagree with him and still enjoy the story every bit as much as you would if you agreed with him. The focus is on "story," not on philosophy. I'm just saying it's there.
Great read. Enjoy
April 9, 2013
This is good old-fashioned hard SF space exploration yarn. The first interstellar colony ship, first people on a new planet, you've read this before — colonists figuring out the climate and ecology of a new world, improvising all the things they couldn't bring from home, having fatal encounters with the native fauna, etc. Coyote is not terribly original, but lots of people like very specific genres that make no attempt to deviate from the standard tropes - how many urban fantasies or Regency romances or mysteries truly stand out as different from the rest? Well, that's Coyote — you want a sci-fi novel about colonists settling another planet, you get a sci-fi novel about colonists settling another planet.
Lest I sound too lukewarm in my praise, Coyote is quite good. The first third of the book takes place before the ship — The Alabama — leaves Earth. It is a near-future dystopia in which a right-wing United Republic of America, a single-party police state ruled by the Liberty Party, has replaced the old USA and is now building a starship as a monument to itself, to guarantee its own immortality. What they don't know is that Captain Robert Lee is planning to steal it, and replace its loyal Liberty Party crew and colonists with freed "Dissident Intellectuals" — political prisoners.
The story of how he pulls this off is the first part of the book, and was originally published as a short story. The rest of the book hangs together pretty well as a single novel, but it's clearly a composite of several short stories stitched together into a linear narrative. This is a hard SF novel, so there is no FTL travel — the colonists travel 42 light years in cold sleep. The first complication is when some URA soldiers are trapped aboard when the ship launches, and go into hibernation with the colonists. Obviously this causes tension when they arrive at Coyote, knowing that they will never see Earth again and that the government they left behind is now history, centuries in the past, but they are still divided between loyalists and dissidents/"traitors."
There are other complications, of course, and enough interpersonal conflicts to keep things cooking along. The second half of the book becomes more of a YA adventure when a group of teenagers, for various reasons, take off with a couple of boats and decide to explore Coyote. It's a stupid, reckless, ill-fated adventure, exactly the sort of thing teenagers would do. But it demonstrates dramatic character growth in two of the young main characters, and leads into the novel's final act, when another starship arrives at Coyote.
Coyote is, perhaps, not an epic, but deserves to be regarded as a mid-level SF classic, or maybe a sci-fi "comfort read" if you will. Don't expect anything daring or unprecedented, but the writing is more than competent, the story has plenty of hooks and turns, and the characters make you care whether they'll survive. This is the first book in a series, and clearly there are loose threads left dangling, and I enjoyed it enough to put the next book on my list.
Lest I sound too lukewarm in my praise, Coyote is quite good. The first third of the book takes place before the ship — The Alabama — leaves Earth. It is a near-future dystopia in which a right-wing United Republic of America, a single-party police state ruled by the Liberty Party, has replaced the old USA and is now building a starship as a monument to itself, to guarantee its own immortality. What they don't know is that Captain Robert Lee is planning to steal it, and replace its loyal Liberty Party crew and colonists with freed "Dissident Intellectuals" — political prisoners.
The story of how he pulls this off is the first part of the book, and was originally published as a short story. The rest of the book hangs together pretty well as a single novel, but it's clearly a composite of several short stories stitched together into a linear narrative. This is a hard SF novel, so there is no FTL travel — the colonists travel 42 light years in cold sleep. The first complication is when some URA soldiers are trapped aboard when the ship launches, and go into hibernation with the colonists. Obviously this causes tension when they arrive at Coyote, knowing that they will never see Earth again and that the government they left behind is now history, centuries in the past, but they are still divided between loyalists and dissidents/"traitors."
There are other complications, of course, and enough interpersonal conflicts to keep things cooking along. The second half of the book becomes more of a YA adventure when a group of teenagers, for various reasons, take off with a couple of boats and decide to explore Coyote. It's a stupid, reckless, ill-fated adventure, exactly the sort of thing teenagers would do. But it demonstrates dramatic character growth in two of the young main characters, and leads into the novel's final act, when another starship arrives at Coyote.
Coyote is, perhaps, not an epic, but deserves to be regarded as a mid-level SF classic, or maybe a sci-fi "comfort read" if you will. Don't expect anything daring or unprecedented, but the writing is more than competent, the story has plenty of hooks and turns, and the characters make you care whether they'll survive. This is the first book in a series, and clearly there are loose threads left dangling, and I enjoyed it enough to put the next book on my list.
July 27, 2009
4.5 to 5.0 stars. This is the first Allen Steele novel I have read and I was very impressed. I found myself engaged in the book from the very first pages all the way to the end, with no periods of boredom or loss of interest. That says something about Steele's ability to tell a good, well-developed story without getting get too bogged-down in mundane matters. In the end, I can say that it was a thouroughly enjoyable read and I will certainly read the next book in the series.
January 23, 2022
Continua la mia infaticabile lettura degli Urania Mondadori, ovvero la più antica collana di fantascienza che esiste in Italia e da sempre presente nelle edicole (non vi nascondo un mio desiderio: spero un giorno di riuscire a recuperarli tutti, ma so bene che sono tantissimi!).
Coyote è il primo volume di una trilogia, e ci narra la conquista, da parte di un gruppo di astronauti terrestri in fuga da una dittatura sulla Terra, di una luna del remoto pianeta Orso, che viene appunto chiamata Coyote, dove essi proveranno a vivere e a fare lì le radici. Ma saranno davvero soli?
Prima opera che leggo di questo talentuoso autore americano e devo dire che mi ha piacevolmente sorpreso. Si lascia leggere, nonostante la storia sia narrata in forma di racconti, ma tutti collegati fra loro e con diversi punti di vista (ovvero cambia il protagonista di volta in volta). Molto forte la protagonista Wendy che, nonostante le contrarietà, decide di tenere il bambino visto che rimane incinta. I romanzi dove i protagonisti si ritrovano, come nel Far West, a dover iniziare una nuova vita in luoghi lontani e pericolosi, mi sono sempre piaciuti, infatti la storia mi ha subito preso, anche se prima di giungere in quel remoto angolo dello spazio vedremo la vita all'interno delle astronavi (con alcuni colpi di scena, come il risveglio, per sbaglio, di un povero terrestre che, per trascorrere il tempo, decide di scrivere un romanzo di fantascienza). Bella anche la parte finale (non posso descriverla per non fare spoiler, ma ci sarà un interessante colpo di scena) e quella in cui il ragazzo decide, da solo, di esplorare la parte della luna e scoprirà altri abitanti.
Beh, sicuramente recupererò anche gli altri due volumi della trilogia, non potrei farne a meno.
Coyote è il primo volume di una trilogia, e ci narra la conquista, da parte di un gruppo di astronauti terrestri in fuga da una dittatura sulla Terra, di una luna del remoto pianeta Orso, che viene appunto chiamata Coyote, dove essi proveranno a vivere e a fare lì le radici. Ma saranno davvero soli?
Prima opera che leggo di questo talentuoso autore americano e devo dire che mi ha piacevolmente sorpreso. Si lascia leggere, nonostante la storia sia narrata in forma di racconti, ma tutti collegati fra loro e con diversi punti di vista (ovvero cambia il protagonista di volta in volta). Molto forte la protagonista Wendy che, nonostante le contrarietà, decide di tenere il bambino visto che rimane incinta. I romanzi dove i protagonisti si ritrovano, come nel Far West, a dover iniziare una nuova vita in luoghi lontani e pericolosi, mi sono sempre piaciuti, infatti la storia mi ha subito preso, anche se prima di giungere in quel remoto angolo dello spazio vedremo la vita all'interno delle astronavi (con alcuni colpi di scena, come il risveglio, per sbaglio, di un povero terrestre che, per trascorrere il tempo, decide di scrivere un romanzo di fantascienza). Bella anche la parte finale (non posso descriverla per non fare spoiler, ma ci sarà un interessante colpo di scena) e quella in cui il ragazzo decide, da solo, di esplorare la parte della luna e scoprirà altri abitanti.
Beh, sicuramente recupererò anche gli altri due volumi della trilogia, non potrei farne a meno.
July 30, 2013
I can't believe this was rated a 4 by this community. Reads like a disjointed YA novel. The science is bad, the characters are paper thin, the drama is artificial with no real stakes. Possibly the worst part is the obvious liberal masturbation fantasy/republican bashing that opens the book. I as any good liberal I have no love for the GOP but this went to absurd lengths to demonize them to the point of it being off-putting.
I'll give him credit, he hangs a lantern on every absurdity so he closes the holes but the explanation is far from satisfying. Example: they build an interstellar ship but fail to provide them with anything but the most modest of survival equipment and supplies. Reason? Republicans wouldn't pay for it because they are dumb. That is the ACTUAL explanation. Last I checked republicans like guns, they probably should have had a few more or a way to make more ammo. Also, I'm pretty sure you can't colonize another planet with 100 people. Human kind reached a bottle neck 70k years ago when the population was reduced to 10k. So eh, good luck with that.
Go to your bookshelf and look around. I'm sure you have something better to read.
I'll give him credit, he hangs a lantern on every absurdity so he closes the holes but the explanation is far from satisfying. Example: they build an interstellar ship but fail to provide them with anything but the most modest of survival equipment and supplies. Reason? Republicans wouldn't pay for it because they are dumb. That is the ACTUAL explanation. Last I checked republicans like guns, they probably should have had a few more or a way to make more ammo. Also, I'm pretty sure you can't colonize another planet with 100 people. Human kind reached a bottle neck 70k years ago when the population was reduced to 10k. So eh, good luck with that.
Go to your bookshelf and look around. I'm sure you have something better to read.
May 19, 2019
Finished this one so it got a Two dim Red Dwarf Stars rating. But just barely. A group of libertarian conspirators "hijack" a colony starship from a repressive socialist government, travel 250 years in hibernation, arrive at a large moon of a planet, colonize the planet with just over 100 people only to have a . His characters are forgettable and unlikeable. The science is not very believable and the colonization of the planet is not exciting. These people are dumb even though they are mostly highly intelligent scientists. Almost one third of the book is an unexciting Huck Finn story floating on rivers around the new world. What this book taught me is don't buy the trilogy until you have read Book One (or read Jacqie's review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) Unfortunately I read a bunch of 4-5 Star GR reviews previously and elected to buy the following two books before reading the first. I don't think I will be finishing the trilogy but I hate to pass books on without at least an attempt. So disappointed in this one.
October 12, 2024
In sci-fi, there are numerous stories about Interstellar migration, some driven by scientific exploration, others by imperial expansion, and also by commercial interests. Coyote takes a different approach, where the immigration is initiated by rebellion. People yearning for freedom escape the tyranny of Earth and flee to unclaimed lands.
This backdrop echoes the historical context of European immigration to the ‘new world’ 500 years ago. The immigrants who fled to the new world naturally desired independence, while their mother countries sought to maintain control over the new lands.
Similarly in Coyote, those seeking freedom managed to escape to Coyote, an unclaimed planet, which they naturally regarded as their own. They believed they could break free from their former rulers and become a new, independent planet.
However, the Earth government naturally viewed Coyote as newly discovered territory and sought to claim it for its own. This sets the stage for the subsequent narrative. This series can be seen as a futuristic, sci-fi version of American history.
The first book in this series primarily focuses on the journey of the rebels as they flee to the new planet and their subsequent exploration of Coyote in search of survival.
How do humans live on a new planet? How do they deal with various strange new creatures? How can they utilize these alien organisms for survival? These questions are addressed in great detail, making this book quite captivating.
A new world is always perceived as full of hope, and the Coyote is no different. It offers humanity a vast new frontier. How to properly utilize this new living space and how to adapt to the environment of a new planet will be major challenges as humans enter the space age. Coyote provides a valuable reference.
3.2 / 5 stars
This backdrop echoes the historical context of European immigration to the ‘new world’ 500 years ago. The immigrants who fled to the new world naturally desired independence, while their mother countries sought to maintain control over the new lands.
Similarly in Coyote, those seeking freedom managed to escape to Coyote, an unclaimed planet, which they naturally regarded as their own. They believed they could break free from their former rulers and become a new, independent planet.
However, the Earth government naturally viewed Coyote as newly discovered territory and sought to claim it for its own. This sets the stage for the subsequent narrative. This series can be seen as a futuristic, sci-fi version of American history.
The first book in this series primarily focuses on the journey of the rebels as they flee to the new planet and their subsequent exploration of Coyote in search of survival.
How do humans live on a new planet? How do they deal with various strange new creatures? How can they utilize these alien organisms for survival? These questions are addressed in great detail, making this book quite captivating.
A new world is always perceived as full of hope, and the Coyote is no different. It offers humanity a vast new frontier. How to properly utilize this new living space and how to adapt to the environment of a new planet will be major challenges as humans enter the space age. Coyote provides a valuable reference.
3.2 / 5 stars
December 12, 2023
Now that was some great colony sci fi. Wish I'd read this years ago. I think that this is one of the first books I ever added to my To Read List on Goodreads, more than a decade ago.
I love a colony story. Setting your hand full of rugged tech and your skill and determination against the unforgiving wilderness and alienness of a new world. Hell yeah. That's my jam. And Coyote did not disappoint. Each interconnected novella added a new dimension to the story.
All in all a very satisfying story. I will soon be starting the next one.
I love a colony story. Setting your hand full of rugged tech and your skill and determination against the unforgiving wilderness and alienness of a new world. Hell yeah. That's my jam. And Coyote did not disappoint. Each interconnected novella added a new dimension to the story.
All in all a very satisfying story. I will soon be starting the next one.
April 11, 2011
I'm a sucker for some good planet colonization sci-fi and Steele has delivered ten fold in "Coyote"! The story takes some jumps in the time line, which after doing some post reading research shows that it was originally published in a series of shorts and novellas. So, it all works out good! In fact, the jumping nature of the narrative makes the story a bit less dense and plays well to the entertainment value.
The characters are strong and enjoyable though Steele's politics bleed through pretty heavily. That's not to say it's a hindrance to the story; it's just very very clear where the author's thoughts lie. It doesn't dilute the solid hard science fiction edge to the books at all and the good old fashioned frontier/manifest destiny of planet colonization is at the fore front where it should be.
If I had any big complaints for "Coyote", it would be for a lack of diversity for alien life forms that inhabit the moon. The critters that we were given, a rough handful of what you would expect on an alien planet, are re-used heavily throughout the book. It would have added to the high sense of adventure to come across ever stranger beasts and plant life as the crept around the planet. Then again, there's two more books in the series and our favorite characters have yet to adventure too far from home!
All in all, a great sci-fi read in the vein of Heinlein and the more modern Scalzi!
The characters are strong and enjoyable though Steele's politics bleed through pretty heavily. That's not to say it's a hindrance to the story; it's just very very clear where the author's thoughts lie. It doesn't dilute the solid hard science fiction edge to the books at all and the good old fashioned frontier/manifest destiny of planet colonization is at the fore front where it should be.
If I had any big complaints for "Coyote", it would be for a lack of diversity for alien life forms that inhabit the moon. The critters that we were given, a rough handful of what you would expect on an alien planet, are re-used heavily throughout the book. It would have added to the high sense of adventure to come across ever stranger beasts and plant life as the crept around the planet. Then again, there's two more books in the series and our favorite characters have yet to adventure too far from home!
All in all, a great sci-fi read in the vein of Heinlein and the more modern Scalzi!
January 28, 2024
হঠাৎ করেই একটা sifi বই পড়তে ইচ্ছা হলো যার বিষয়বস্তু হবে inter galactic colonization. ইন্টারনেট ঘেঁটে Coyote নামক বইটি নির্বাচন করলাম।
ভবিষ্যতের আমেরিকা, রাজনৈতিক দৃষ্টিভঙ্গির জন্য দু ভাগে বিভক্ত হয়েছে। ইউনাইটেড রিপাবলিক অফ আমেরিকার স্বৈরশাসক হ্যামিলটন কনরয় সিদ্ধান্ত নেন পৃথিবীতে তার জাতির শ্রেষ্ঠতের দৃষ্টান্ত স্থাপন করতে সৌরজগতের বাইরে মানবজাতির প্রথম আন্তমহাজাগতিক কলোনি স্থাপন করবে তার দেশ। পৃথিবীর প্রায় এক বিলিয়ন মানুষকে মৌলিক অধিকার থেকে বঞ্চিত রেখে বিলিয়ন বিলিয়ন অর্থ খরচে মহাকাশ যাত্রা মানবজাতির সবচেয়ে বড় cliche.
ক্যাপ্টেন রবার্ট ই. লই'র নেতৃত্বে মহাশূন্যযান "Alabama" ২২৬ সূর্য বছর যাত্রা করে ৪৬ আলোক বর্ষ দূরে "Coyote" নামের উপগ্রহতে পৌঁছে, সাথে কলোনি তৈরির মৌলিক সরঞ্জাম এবং খাবার।Coyote হলো 47 Ursae Majoris B ওরফে Bear নামক গ্রহের উপগ্রহ। মধ্যাকর্ষণ শক্তি পৃথিবীর চেয়ে কম এবং ঠান্ডা পৃথিবীর চেয়ে বেশি হলেও বায়ুমণ্ডলের গঠন পৃথিবীর মতো। ছোট বড় অসংখ্য নদী ভূখণ্ডকে ছোট বড় অগনিত দ্বীপে পরিনত করেছে।
অচেনা দুর্গম এই উপগ্রহতে উপনিবেশ স্থাপনে সবাইকে একসাথে জীবন যুদ্ধ করতে হবে এই উপলব্ধি থেকে স্বৈরশাসকের সমর্থক এবং বিরোধী Alabama এর যাত্রীরা বিভেদ ভুলে গ্রহান্তরে মানুষের কলোনি স্থাপনের অভিযানে নামে।
কিন্তু অচিরেই বিদ্রোহীদের শায়েস্তা করতে ইউনাইটেড রিপাবলিক অফ আমেরিকা আরেকটি মহাকাশযান পাঠায়। স্বল্প সময়ের স্বাধীনতা বিসর্জনে কিংবা রক্ষায় Alabama এর যাত্রীরা কতটা প্রস্তুত!
ভবিষ্যতের আমেরিকা, রাজনৈতিক দৃষ্টিভঙ্গির জন্য দু ভাগে বিভক্ত হয়েছে। ইউনাইটেড রিপাবলিক অফ আমেরিকার স্বৈরশাসক হ্যামিলটন কনরয় সিদ্ধান্ত নেন পৃথিবীতে তার জাতির শ্রেষ্ঠতের দৃষ্টান্ত স্থাপন করতে সৌরজগতের বাইরে মানবজাতির প্রথম আন্তমহাজাগতিক কলোনি স্থাপন করবে তার দেশ। পৃথিবীর প্রায় এক বিলিয়ন মানুষকে মৌলিক অধিকার থেকে বঞ্চিত রেখে বিলিয়ন বিলিয়ন অর্থ খরচে মহাকাশ যাত্রা মানবজাতির সবচেয়ে বড় cliche.
ক্যাপ্টেন রবার্ট ই. লই'র নেতৃত্বে মহাশূন্যযান "Alabama" ২২৬ সূর্য বছর যাত্রা করে ৪৬ আলোক বর্ষ দূরে "Coyote" নামের উপগ্রহতে পৌঁছে, সাথে কলোনি তৈরির মৌলিক সরঞ্জাম এবং খাবার।Coyote হলো 47 Ursae Majoris B ওরফে Bear নামক গ্রহের উপগ্রহ। মধ্যাকর্ষণ শক্তি পৃথিবীর চেয়ে কম এবং ঠান্ডা পৃথিবীর চেয়ে বেশি হলেও বায়ুমণ্ডলের গঠন পৃথিবীর মতো। ছোট বড় অসংখ্য নদী ভূখণ্ডকে ছোট বড় অগনিত দ্বীপে পরিনত করেছে।
অচেনা দুর্গম এই উপগ্রহতে উপনিবেশ স্থাপনে সবাইকে একসাথে জীবন যুদ্ধ করতে হবে এই উপলব্ধি থেকে স্বৈরশাসকের সমর্থক এবং বিরোধী Alabama এর যাত্রীরা বিভেদ ভুলে গ্রহান্তরে মানুষের কলোনি স্থাপনের অভিযানে নামে।
কিন্তু অচিরেই বিদ্রোহীদের শায়েস্তা করতে ইউনাইটেড রিপাবলিক অফ আমেরিকা আরেকটি মহাকাশযান পাঠায়। স্বল্প সময়ের স্বাধীনতা বিসর্জনে কিংবা রক্ষায় Alabama এর যাত্রীরা কতটা প্রস্তুত!
March 6, 2014
fraudio
sci fi> space opera
TBR busting 2013
pub 2002
winter 2012/2013
grand theft
Republic of America with one star on the flag - supposed to denote one united people but is more akin to just one political party
3* Galaxy Blues
3* Coyote
December 20, 2017
Finalmente un Urania decente. E quelli si contano sulla punta delle dita. Il 90% di solito fa schifo ma Coyote mi ha sorpreso e preso subito.
October 16, 2020
second read - 11 November 2011 - ****. I have read this one book again, because it was the book of the month selection of the yahoogroups/goodreads hardsf group. It was only about three years ago that I last read this, so the book was very familiar, to the point where I remembered even minor events and dialog.
On this re-read, I was interested to see the major characters back in their childhood again. It is clear that Steele already knew what he wanted to do with them eventually, as the hints are all over. I was a little irritated at the need to repeat critical items of character and event background in each of the eight stories. That made sense when I read them in different months in a magazine, but should have been cut in this fix-up novel version. The stories themselves are diverse in writing style and point of view, which remains interesting in a fix-up, and makes it difficult to rate the book as a whole. I like "Stealing Alabama" and "Across the Eastern Divide" best, but was bored by "The Days Between", "Liberty Journals", and "The Boid Hunt".
Probably I will not be re-reading the rest of the trilogy at this time. I see that Steele now has more than three books in the series, so at some point I may return to read the whole thing from beginning to end. But it's too soon after my last read.
first read - 9 August 2008 - ****. I first read Allen Steele's Coyote stories individually as they were published in Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine during 2001 and 2002. Then in 2008, I read the trilogy that starts with this fix-up novel made from eight of the stories.
On this re-read, I was interested to see the major characters back in their childhood again. It is clear that Steele already knew what he wanted to do with them eventually, as the hints are all over. I was a little irritated at the need to repeat critical items of character and event background in each of the eight stories. That made sense when I read them in different months in a magazine, but should have been cut in this fix-up novel version. The stories themselves are diverse in writing style and point of view, which remains interesting in a fix-up, and makes it difficult to rate the book as a whole. I like "Stealing Alabama" and "Across the Eastern Divide" best, but was bored by "The Days Between", "Liberty Journals", and "The Boid Hunt".
Probably I will not be re-reading the rest of the trilogy at this time. I see that Steele now has more than three books in the series, so at some point I may return to read the whole thing from beginning to end. But it's too soon after my last read.
first read - 9 August 2008 - ****. I first read Allen Steele's Coyote stories individually as they were published in Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine during 2001 and 2002. Then in 2008, I read the trilogy that starts with this fix-up novel made from eight of the stories.
August 24, 2007
Originally written as a series of short stories for Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, the book does have a bit of a jarring lack of continuity because of its original format. Set in a future where America's gone down the extremist right-wing toilet and speaking out against the government gets you put in internment camps, I think the author did a good job of creating believable characters who would get desperate enough to engineer a plot to steal a starship and escape to their own colony. Unfortunately, the short story origin rears its ugly head in having too many POVs for true enjoyment, but definately a good read.
March 14, 2016
Free thinking Partridge Family and Brady Bunch escape evil Progressive Marxist regime on earth and colonize Planet Alienless where Danny and Jan get naughty. Mehhh. Very disappointing considering how much I enjoyed Steele's short story The Death of Captain Future.
August 19, 2018
Un gruppo di ribelli, per sottrarsi alla dittatura terrestre, s'impadronisce dell'astronave in partenza per un nuovo mondo (la prima) e si lancia verso un nuovo inizio. Il mondo alieno sarà la loro nuova casa, non senza molte difficoltà. Non c'è nulla di davvero originale o straordinario in questa storia, eppure Steele la racconta benissimo, avvolgendoti nella sua narrazione scorrevole e coinvolgente. Consigliato.
July 30, 2009
In Coyote, Allen Steele demonstrates the versatility of science fiction as a medium for storytelling. There are no advanced alien species (that we know of so far), no ray guns, and no evil battle droids. Instead, Coyote is a pioneer tale set in a very distant, very exotic locale. In fact, it's interesting that I chose to read it, considering my distaste for "pioneer" and "survival" type literature. Nevertheless, Steele's writing and the story kept me interested enough to see it through until the end.
Still, I must confess that my favourite part of the book is the first part, which concerns the take over of the URSS Alabama by her own crew! They do this to escape a totalitarian government that now rules most of what was once the United States of America. There was considerably more tension in this part of the book, at least on a large scale, than in other parts. Once the colonists arrived on Coyote, I was fairly certain their colony would survive, since ... well, otherwise, there wouldn't have been a story. The politics of Coyote are rather two-dimensional, unfortunately; I tolerated them at first because I thought we would leave them behind once the Alabama left orbit. And we did, until the end of the book, where new developments herald the arrival of "social collectivism" on Coyote. I tried to avoid my eyes and read on....
That doesn't mean the rest of the book is a disappointment. Steele continues to inject a sense of suspense and adventure, but after the departure of the Alabama, he narrows the scope to individual characters. First we watch the communications officer, Les Gillis, awaken prematurely from "biostasis" only to find he can't return to stasis--he's stuck on the ship, conscious and alone, for the rest of his life. We watch him go insane, then sane again, then grow old ... and after he is long dead, we are still present to witness the consequences of his residence on the Alabama for the rest of the colonists when they awaken 200 years later.
As much as Coyote is a novel of exploration and colonization, toward the end there's less discussion of the state of the colony as Steele shifts focus to individual characters' exploits. The small size of the colony magnifies the smallest of conflicts. We grow close to Wendy and Carlos, teenagers when the Alabama leaves Earth who eventually mature into adults. Everyone on Coyote is flawed; Wendy and Carlos are no exceptions. Both of them lose their parent(s) in separate accidents shortly after the Alabama arrives at Coyote; perhaps inevitably, they grow closer and have a child. Yet Wendy seems burdened by the death of her father and a lack of close relationships with her peers and adults--she seems close only to her surrogate mother, the colony's doctor, and Carlos himself. Carlos, on the other hand, traumatized by the death of his parents and a few others close to him, sets off on an ill-advised solo journey along Coyote's unexplored equator. I enjoyed Carlos' journey as a parallel story to that of Gillis on the Alabama. However, I think I like Wendy better. She always seemed more mature.
Coyote contains great storytelling with a fascinating alien setting and interesting characters. It's not perfect--its politics are somewhat shallow, and I found the first part of the story more interesting than any adventures that followed. However, it's certainly good enough that I'll read the next instalment in the series. Anyone interested in "a novel of interstellar exploration," as the cover of my edition proclaims itself, would do well to try this book.
Still, I must confess that my favourite part of the book is the first part, which concerns the take over of the URSS Alabama by her own crew! They do this to escape a totalitarian government that now rules most of what was once the United States of America. There was considerably more tension in this part of the book, at least on a large scale, than in other parts. Once the colonists arrived on Coyote, I was fairly certain their colony would survive, since ... well, otherwise, there wouldn't have been a story. The politics of Coyote are rather two-dimensional, unfortunately; I tolerated them at first because I thought we would leave them behind once the Alabama left orbit. And we did, until the end of the book, where new developments herald the arrival of "social collectivism" on Coyote. I tried to avoid my eyes and read on....
That doesn't mean the rest of the book is a disappointment. Steele continues to inject a sense of suspense and adventure, but after the departure of the Alabama, he narrows the scope to individual characters. First we watch the communications officer, Les Gillis, awaken prematurely from "biostasis" only to find he can't return to stasis--he's stuck on the ship, conscious and alone, for the rest of his life. We watch him go insane, then sane again, then grow old ... and after he is long dead, we are still present to witness the consequences of his residence on the Alabama for the rest of the colonists when they awaken 200 years later.
As much as Coyote is a novel of exploration and colonization, toward the end there's less discussion of the state of the colony as Steele shifts focus to individual characters' exploits. The small size of the colony magnifies the smallest of conflicts. We grow close to Wendy and Carlos, teenagers when the Alabama leaves Earth who eventually mature into adults. Everyone on Coyote is flawed; Wendy and Carlos are no exceptions. Both of them lose their parent(s) in separate accidents shortly after the Alabama arrives at Coyote; perhaps inevitably, they grow closer and have a child. Yet Wendy seems burdened by the death of her father and a lack of close relationships with her peers and adults--she seems close only to her surrogate mother, the colony's doctor, and Carlos himself. Carlos, on the other hand, traumatized by the death of his parents and a few others close to him, sets off on an ill-advised solo journey along Coyote's unexplored equator. I enjoyed Carlos' journey as a parallel story to that of Gillis on the Alabama. However, I think I like Wendy better. She always seemed more mature.
Coyote contains great storytelling with a fascinating alien setting and interesting characters. It's not perfect--its politics are somewhat shallow, and I found the first part of the story more interesting than any adventures that followed. However, it's certainly good enough that I'll read the next instalment in the series. Anyone interested in "a novel of interstellar exploration," as the cover of my edition proclaims itself, would do well to try this book.
July 15, 2007
This first volume of the Coyote trilogy collects eight stories, all but one of which originally appeared in Asimov's magazine. It's the best science fiction that I've read in years, and portrays colonization with a realistic feel. The science and politics seem meticlously thought-out, and the characters are wonderfully drawn. I was amazed by the second section, which explores the idea of the boredom inherent with slow interstellar travel: one of the most interesting stories I've read is on the topic of boredom! Steele is terrific.
May 18, 2023
My 2 stars (rather than 1) are because sometimes I enjoy watching TSTL (Too Stupid To Live) characters meeting their demises. There are so many idiots and illogical decisions here.
April 18, 2017
This isn’t a bad read, but a particular fondness for colonization science fiction will help to get past unexceptional writing, weak characterization and shallow world-building, not to mention many implausible aspects of the plot. It’s a collection of short stories, but they all feature the same characters and are part of the same story, so it works fine as a novel.
This begins in a relatively near future where the United States has splintered into multiple countries, and the South, of course, has formed a fascist and anti-intellectual “republic”. The details are vague, but we can tell the government is evil because it has named things after Jesse Helms and George Wallace and Newt Gingrich. Somehow this republic has managed to build an interstellar spaceship, but its plan to spread fascism and anti-intellectualism to a new planet is disrupted when the ship’s crew and a handful of scientists rebel and steal the ship for themselves. (I alternated between squirming at some of the hokeyness, and being pleased that the ship is named Alabama and the “dissident intellectuals” are from Huntsville.)
The first story is about the actual theft of the ship. The second is about a lone crewmember who wakes up from hibernation too early, with more than 200 years left in the ship's journey.
The rest of the stories take place after the ship arrives at the new planet and everyone else wakes up. They easily locate a hospitable spot for their colony, which is fortunate since they have no plan B. There are only about 100 colonists, including children, teenagers and many scientists with no training in construction or farming or or any other skill useful for creating a new home under primitive conditions.
One of the more interesting aspects is that there are a handful of people who were not a part of the conspiracy to steal the ship, and who are (were) loyal to the old government. They’re now trapped with a bunch of people they consider traitors, and they are viewed with understandable suspicion by the majority.
I did not particularly like the ending, which seems forced in order to provide a balance to the ultra-conservatism of the old government; as if the author is saying, hey, you can take liberalism too far, too.
This begins in a relatively near future where the United States has splintered into multiple countries, and the South, of course, has formed a fascist and anti-intellectual “republic”. The details are vague, but we can tell the government is evil because it has named things after Jesse Helms and George Wallace and Newt Gingrich. Somehow this republic has managed to build an interstellar spaceship, but its plan to spread fascism and anti-intellectualism to a new planet is disrupted when the ship’s crew and a handful of scientists rebel and steal the ship for themselves. (I alternated between squirming at some of the hokeyness, and being pleased that the ship is named Alabama and the “dissident intellectuals” are from Huntsville.)
The first story is about the actual theft of the ship. The second is about a lone crewmember who wakes up from hibernation too early, with more than 200 years left in the ship's journey.
The rest of the stories take place after the ship arrives at the new planet and everyone else wakes up. They easily locate a hospitable spot for their colony, which is fortunate since they have no plan B. There are only about 100 colonists, including children, teenagers and many scientists with no training in construction or farming or or any other skill useful for creating a new home under primitive conditions.
One of the more interesting aspects is that there are a handful of people who were not a part of the conspiracy to steal the ship, and who are (were) loyal to the old government. They’re now trapped with a bunch of people they consider traitors, and they are viewed with understandable suspicion by the majority.
I did not particularly like the ending, which seems forced in order to provide a balance to the ultra-conservatism of the old government; as if the author is saying, hey, you can take liberalism too far, too.
May 20, 2011
It’s been quite a while since I’ve read any science fiction, and being normally quite picky with what I like in the science fiction world, the title of this novel was a let down, while the subtitle piqued my interest. After reading Coyote, I can say it truly is a great science fiction novel of interstellar exploration.
The time is about sixty or so years in the future. The American system of government has gone to hell, and there is only one party and it’s basically one big ugly dictatorship, much like 1984. The American government has bankrupted the country to build a great spaceship which will travel across the galaxy to a distant star where there is a distant planet (much like Saturn) with a distant moon called Coyote that is just like Earth.
But Captain Robert E. Lee has plans to hijack the ship and get a bunch of illegal people aboard to start a new world and life in the stars away from this terrible excuse for a nation. Everything goes according to plan and they are off on the two hundred year journey in safe biostasis. Except something goes wrong with one man whose tube opens for some unknown reason, and he is left to the horrors of living on a ghost ship for the rest of his life while the crew remain in comfortable biostasis. He does not survive.
Upon arrival on the planet, the hundred or so pioneers begin to start their new lives, as they deal with this new world, new plant life, and new predators. Lives are lost and times are hard for them in the first few years. And just when a system of order is created, the greatest shock of all happens: people from Earth show up on Coyote’s doorstep.
It is not surprising that Steele has won the Hugo Award two times, and after reading Coyote, I only hope there is a sequel and I will keep a lookout for one of his earlier novels, Chronospace. Coyote is what I always dreamed ideal science fiction to be like, and it happens to be one of the best science fiction books I’ve read.
Originally published on February 3rd, 2003.
For over 500 book reviews, and over 40 exclusive author interviews (both audio and written), visit BookBanter.
The time is about sixty or so years in the future. The American system of government has gone to hell, and there is only one party and it’s basically one big ugly dictatorship, much like 1984. The American government has bankrupted the country to build a great spaceship which will travel across the galaxy to a distant star where there is a distant planet (much like Saturn) with a distant moon called Coyote that is just like Earth.
But Captain Robert E. Lee has plans to hijack the ship and get a bunch of illegal people aboard to start a new world and life in the stars away from this terrible excuse for a nation. Everything goes according to plan and they are off on the two hundred year journey in safe biostasis. Except something goes wrong with one man whose tube opens for some unknown reason, and he is left to the horrors of living on a ghost ship for the rest of his life while the crew remain in comfortable biostasis. He does not survive.
Upon arrival on the planet, the hundred or so pioneers begin to start their new lives, as they deal with this new world, new plant life, and new predators. Lives are lost and times are hard for them in the first few years. And just when a system of order is created, the greatest shock of all happens: people from Earth show up on Coyote’s doorstep.
It is not surprising that Steele has won the Hugo Award two times, and after reading Coyote, I only hope there is a sequel and I will keep a lookout for one of his earlier novels, Chronospace. Coyote is what I always dreamed ideal science fiction to be like, and it happens to be one of the best science fiction books I’ve read.
Originally published on February 3rd, 2003.
For over 500 book reviews, and over 40 exclusive author interviews (both audio and written), visit BookBanter.
January 5, 2016
A really good story with a couple of dings (I'm calling this a 3.75 and rounding up). Basically, it's a story about a ship of humans who go to colonize another planet 46 light years away. It's told in vignettes, quite a bit like Foundation. In fact, the style is like Asimov in general, especially in the way the Eric Gunther subplot is handled.
The stories told in this book are varied and interesting. From trying to alleviate boredom and lonesomeness on an interstellar ship to exploring a completely unknown and dangerous but habitable planet, there's a lot to think about. And come on; you knew the planet was going to be habitable. I didn't spoil anything! Anyway, the characters are decent and the stories are plausible yet not predictable, which I like.
The dings: a very new plot begins right at the end, taking away this novel's ability to stand on its own which is a pet peeve for me. Worse is the setting on Earth when this takes place: the U.S. has fractured and the red states have become a nominal "theocracy" in the standard liberal nightmare format. One of the space centers is named after Gingrich, and a shuttle is named the Jesse Helms. Thank goodness I don't know who George Wallace (the other shuttle) is, and why am I not surprised this was written in 2001? I don't have problems with setting a story under an oppressive government, but I have never seen one modeled after the complete success of an American right-wing conspiracy that was plausible. That approach ought to come with a warning: "you can do it, but it's very hard to do it well and if you don't get it right your story will stink". At least Steele got away from it and hightailed his story into space.
The stories told in this book are varied and interesting. From trying to alleviate boredom and lonesomeness on an interstellar ship to exploring a completely unknown and dangerous but habitable planet, there's a lot to think about. And come on; you knew the planet was going to be habitable. I didn't spoil anything! Anyway, the characters are decent and the stories are plausible yet not predictable, which I like.
The dings: a very new plot begins right at the end, taking away this novel's ability to stand on its own which is a pet peeve for me. Worse is the setting on Earth when this takes place: the U.S. has fractured and the red states have become a nominal "theocracy" in the standard liberal nightmare format. One of the space centers is named after Gingrich, and a shuttle is named the Jesse Helms. Thank goodness I don't know who George Wallace (the other shuttle) is, and why am I not surprised this was written in 2001? I don't have problems with setting a story under an oppressive government, but I have never seen one modeled after the complete success of an American right-wing conspiracy that was plausible. That approach ought to come with a warning: "you can do it, but it's very hard to do it well and if you don't get it right your story will stink". At least Steele got away from it and hightailed his story into space.
November 11, 2018
Ho finalmente iniziato il ciclo di Coyote di Allen Steele, una volta avuti tutti i principali volumi a disposizione. Grande SF di esplorazione e colonizzazione, uno dei sottogeneri da me preferito. La storia ha un'impostazione molto classica nella trama ma sia i personaggi che la trama non sono mai banali e tengono sempre il lettore sulle pagine. Il world building fatto da Steele è decisamente soddisfacente, proponendo per ora un mondo molto simile alla Terra ma con quelle differenze che rendono la lettura intrigante. Solido background scientifico che viene a galla nella narrazione senza disturbare la lettura né richiedere ricerche su altri testi. Al momento sono veramente soddisfatto di questo testo e spero che i prossimi siano all'altezza se non migliori.
Ho particolarmente apprezzato (e dovrebbe essere istruttivo per molti autori nostrani) i ringraziamenti dell'autore in coda al testo, dove sono citati numerosi altri autori di SF che hanno collaborato con l'autore, segno di una positiva sinergia dell'ambiente SF americano, che non perde occasione di promuoversi in blocco ai lettori.
Ho particolarmente apprezzato (e dovrebbe essere istruttivo per molti autori nostrani) i ringraziamenti dell'autore in coda al testo, dove sono citati numerosi altri autori di SF che hanno collaborato con l'autore, segno di una positiva sinergia dell'ambiente SF americano, che non perde occasione di promuoversi in blocco ai lettori.
January 15, 2014
This book is actually a series of novellas and short stories about Earth's first interstellar Colony.
This leads to some repetition and changes in points of view to several different narrators, but the stories still mesh well together. I had no trouble following the changing points of view.
All eight stories (chapters) are well written and interesting. I found a few events slightly implausible---and a few things I would have liked clarified. But I still give it four stars and will not bother to quibble on a few items. It is definitely worth your time---I am already planning to buy more books in the series.
A good readable adventure---not drowned in too much science--decent characterization and good pacing. Recommended for all science fiction fans.
This leads to some repetition and changes in points of view to several different narrators, but the stories still mesh well together. I had no trouble following the changing points of view.
All eight stories (chapters) are well written and interesting. I found a few events slightly implausible---and a few things I would have liked clarified. But I still give it four stars and will not bother to quibble on a few items. It is definitely worth your time---I am already planning to buy more books in the series.
A good readable adventure---not drowned in too much science--decent characterization and good pacing. Recommended for all science fiction fans.
September 15, 2015
Why do all space colonisation books end up reading like teen dramas!?
Nevertheless, rather enjoyed Coyote.
Nevertheless, rather enjoyed Coyote.
February 5, 2018
Meh. This book is all over the place, mixing multiple narrative styles, and ending without a satisfying conclusion.
December 22, 2022
the science feels very impossible but I’m just dumb enough to get to enjoy the plot without caring about that! 3.5/5
January 3, 2019
I both enjoyed and was exasperated by this book.
On the one hand, it's a terribly interesting premise, and I love first contact and alien planetary exploration books. The characters aren't awful, and I enjoyed some of the adventures.
On the other, I was frustrated by the surface-level development of the characters, and some of the staggering oversights on the part of the author. He clearly has a good grasp of launch politics, and some of the details on that side were interesting. At the same time, the colony and the mission, as he wrote them, were almost ludicrously badly planned. The balance of the colonist, the number of colonists, their training (they didn't send any farmers?? Farming is not something you can learn out of a book!), and their woeful unprepared status to actually create a colony were so laughably badly executed that it was only by authorial fiat that the colony survived at all. How did they get livestock? Don't tell me mumbo-jumbo about "decanting." If they had incubators, they ought to work for humans, too, and that's never mentioned. No one was at all worried about ecological disaster? They just started burning the landscape and freaking introducing dogs and cats at random?? There was no plan if the amino acids went the other way?? They didn't send any ecologists or molecular biologists? They sent no way to replenish their medical supplies?? The longer I think about the book the more incredulous I get.
The other thing that really killed me was the lack of diversity. This book flashes back to when SF was mostly male and predominantly white. You know what? It was boring. We're in a different era now. Diversity is the way things are and the only way to write an interesting cast of characters. Not to mention that you cannot expect me to believe that, no matter how "closed" the borders are, the other countries of the world are going to let America get so isolated that we can launch an interstellar mission without other people 1. noticing and 2. launching their own. That's not even touched on. The book is written as if the world is America and America is the world and that is all there is.
And do not even get me started on the staggering lack of awareness it takes to name a landing site on a new, pristine world "Plymouth" or "Mayflower."
Huh. Maybe I didn't like this book as well as I thought I did. Most of this stuff nagged at me while I was reading it, but didn't very much inhibit my enjoyment of the book.
I'll likely read the next one just to see what happens. Maybe Steele matured. We'll see.
On the one hand, it's a terribly interesting premise, and I love first contact and alien planetary exploration books. The characters aren't awful, and I enjoyed some of the adventures.
On the other, I was frustrated by the surface-level development of the characters, and some of the staggering oversights on the part of the author. He clearly has a good grasp of launch politics, and some of the details on that side were interesting. At the same time, the colony and the mission, as he wrote them, were almost ludicrously badly planned. The balance of the colonist, the number of colonists, their training (they didn't send any farmers?? Farming is not something you can learn out of a book!), and their woeful unprepared status to actually create a colony were so laughably badly executed that it was only by authorial fiat that the colony survived at all. How did they get livestock? Don't tell me mumbo-jumbo about "decanting." If they had incubators, they ought to work for humans, too, and that's never mentioned. No one was at all worried about ecological disaster? They just started burning the landscape and freaking introducing dogs and cats at random?? There was no plan if the amino acids went the other way?? They didn't send any ecologists or molecular biologists? They sent no way to replenish their medical supplies?? The longer I think about the book the more incredulous I get.
The other thing that really killed me was the lack of diversity. This book flashes back to when SF was mostly male and predominantly white. You know what? It was boring. We're in a different era now. Diversity is the way things are and the only way to write an interesting cast of characters. Not to mention that you cannot expect me to believe that, no matter how "closed" the borders are, the other countries of the world are going to let America get so isolated that we can launch an interstellar mission without other people 1. noticing and 2. launching their own. That's not even touched on. The book is written as if the world is America and America is the world and that is all there is.
And do not even get me started on the staggering lack of awareness it takes to name a landing site on a new, pristine world "Plymouth" or "Mayflower."
Huh. Maybe I didn't like this book as well as I thought I did. Most of this stuff nagged at me while I was reading it, but didn't very much inhibit my enjoyment of the book.
I'll likely read the next one just to see what happens. Maybe Steele matured. We'll see.
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