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Near Space #1
Orbital Decay
The government and military think they have a handle on the "beamjacks" - special zero-gravity construction workers recruited to build giant orbital platforms--but the workers have an agenda of their own. Reissue.
324 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
71 people are currently reading
938 people want to read
About the author
Allen M. Steele
235 books418 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 82 reviews
July 18, 2020
Steele's first novel has some rough spots, and the tech feels a little dated, but overall, a fantastic read! Orbital Decay was published in 1989 and is set around 2016. Space has been opened up via public-private partnerships and most of the action takes place aboard a space station Olympus, where a blue collar crew are housed when not actively working on a power satellite for Skycorp. The 'powersats' will eventually beam energy down to earth and are huge-- several miles long.
Very few science fiction novels take up the tale of the workers who actively build objects in space, but the main characters involved here-- 'Popeye', Virgin Bruce, Sam Sloane and Jack Hamilton-- all are cogs in the wheel for Skycorp. Popeye and Virgin Bruce run 'pods' that help weld the powersats together; Sam Sloane maintains the computers on Olympus, and Jack works in the hydroponic section.
There are several subplots, and some great backstories regarding _why_ these guys (and some gals) are working in space, but the overall story concerns the US government, in conjunction with Skycorp and the NSA, building the 'big ear'-- a set of satellites used for communication around the world, but with the NSA being able to tap any conversation. This is one place where the novel feels a little dated, as the NSA has the means to do so today (thanks to Bush II and Obama) in the name of fighting terror. To some of the workers on the station, however, this smacks of several violations of the US constitution and they devise a means to thwart Big Ear. It would be really nice not to live in a surveillance state!
What is so much fun with the novel concerns the day to day existence of the workers; their frustrations, Skycorps policy (like muzak piped in everywhere), the bad food, and how to combat boredom. (One way to combat boredom emerges with Jack bringing some high-powered seeds to grow some weed in the hydroponic section!) Virgin Bruce is a former biker who love the Grateful Dead, and several of their songs make the pages of this volume. There are also a host of references to classic science fiction novels and movies, and you can tell that Steele really loves the genre.
The quality of the writing and the story lets one over look the dated tech-- cassette tapes and wrist phones for example-- and Steele tells a vivid story of how space might actually be 'manned' in the first place in the near future. This was the first novel of his I read a few decades ago, and rereading now made me realize how much I like Steele! 4.5 stars.
Very few science fiction novels take up the tale of the workers who actively build objects in space, but the main characters involved here-- 'Popeye', Virgin Bruce, Sam Sloane and Jack Hamilton-- all are cogs in the wheel for Skycorp. Popeye and Virgin Bruce run 'pods' that help weld the powersats together; Sam Sloane maintains the computers on Olympus, and Jack works in the hydroponic section.
There are several subplots, and some great backstories regarding _why_ these guys (and some gals) are working in space, but the overall story concerns the US government, in conjunction with Skycorp and the NSA, building the 'big ear'-- a set of satellites used for communication around the world, but with the NSA being able to tap any conversation. This is one place where the novel feels a little dated, as the NSA has the means to do so today (thanks to Bush II and Obama) in the name of fighting terror. To some of the workers on the station, however, this smacks of several violations of the US constitution and they devise a means to thwart Big Ear. It would be really nice not to live in a surveillance state!
What is so much fun with the novel concerns the day to day existence of the workers; their frustrations, Skycorps policy (like muzak piped in everywhere), the bad food, and how to combat boredom. (One way to combat boredom emerges with Jack bringing some high-powered seeds to grow some weed in the hydroponic section!) Virgin Bruce is a former biker who love the Grateful Dead, and several of their songs make the pages of this volume. There are also a host of references to classic science fiction novels and movies, and you can tell that Steele really loves the genre.
The quality of the writing and the story lets one over look the dated tech-- cassette tapes and wrist phones for example-- and Steele tells a vivid story of how space might actually be 'manned' in the first place in the near future. This was the first novel of his I read a few decades ago, and rereading now made me realize how much I like Steele! 4.5 stars.
August 31, 2014
-Más “realista” que estrictamente Hard.-
Género. Ciencia-Ficción.
Lo que nos cuenta. Samuel K. Sloane es un trabajador especializado en la construcción y mantenimiento en gravedad cero que tras un accidente cerca del cráter Rayo Sur en la Luna comienza a recordar (y a grabar para la posteridad por si no consigue ser rescatado) sus recuerdos sobre lo que ocurrió en una estación espacial en la que trabajaba y que tenía un módulo secreto controlado por la NSA para labores de espionaje.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
Género. Ciencia-Ficción.
Lo que nos cuenta. Samuel K. Sloane es un trabajador especializado en la construcción y mantenimiento en gravedad cero que tras un accidente cerca del cráter Rayo Sur en la Luna comienza a recordar (y a grabar para la posteridad por si no consigue ser rescatado) sus recuerdos sobre lo que ocurrió en una estación espacial en la que trabajaba y que tenía un módulo secreto controlado por la NSA para labores de espionaje.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
June 16, 2007
Steele's debut novel was a wonderfully-written, wonderfully-realistic portrayal of near-future space exploration when it appeared in 1989. It's the blue-collar side of how the future should have been. The ending makes you pump your fist and say; "Yeah, they don't write 'em like -that- anymore!" (Best with a Greatful Dead CD playing as background.)
October 31, 2017
I read this book many years ago in 1989 when it first came out. It is part of a series and I had meant to read the other books but life interfered and while waiting for the other books to come out I forgot about the series and never read them. I am now going to read the series after all these years. I re-read this book having forgotten many of the details and I once again enjoyed it greatly. This book is set in the year 2016 and is about mankind's future in near space. Unfortunately many of the things that Mr. Steele thought would come to pass didn't. The technology has changed in unforeseen ways also and the book is a little dated. One thing he did get correct is the importance that commercial companies will play in modern space flight. This book is about the building of our space infrastructure and about the blue collar workers who live and work in space. It is also about how some unlikely people decide to be heroes even if it may kill them. This book is a great read and I am looking forward to reading the rest of this series.
November 30, 2023
A book from the eighties, describing a mid-2010s future we already lived through. It didn't age well.
To make it worse, neither the plot nor the characters are very good -- there's one or two exceptions, but they don't make up for the rest.
The only reason I give this book 2 stars and not one is because it has some rare but good moments, like this:
He touched his helmet to Hamilton’s and his voice vibrated through—barely. “Mmmummarm mummum rarumrum mmma-murum rum!” was what Hamilton heard.
“What?” Hamilton shouted back.
“Whomm! Mamarum rum rum whap aharumra!” the crewman said, and jabbed his finger toward the airlock at the forward end of the cargo bay leading into the Willy Ley’s crew compartment.
“Oh, okay,” Hamilton said. “You want to take me to your rum rum.”
And then, after entering the spaceship and removing helmets,
“Babe! Two for tea!”
“First intelligible thing I’ve heard you say,” Hamilton said as he pulled off his own helmet.
“Sorry,” Coffey said with a grin. “It always works in the science fiction novels. I didn’t have your frequency.”
Anyway, despite these few moments, I do not recommend this book, as it was definitely not worth my time -- I read it as it was among a dozen or so books that were once [1] highly recommended by @John_Scalzi, an author I like very much -- From now on, I guess I better spend my time reading his own books than the ones he recommends.
[1] https://whatever.scalzi.com/2004/12/1...
To make it worse, neither the plot nor the characters are very good -- there's one or two exceptions, but they don't make up for the rest.
The only reason I give this book 2 stars and not one is because it has some rare but good moments, like this:
He touched his helmet to Hamilton’s and his voice vibrated through—barely. “Mmmummarm mummum rarumrum mmma-murum rum!” was what Hamilton heard.
“What?” Hamilton shouted back.
“Whomm! Mamarum rum rum whap aharumra!” the crewman said, and jabbed his finger toward the airlock at the forward end of the cargo bay leading into the Willy Ley’s crew compartment.
“Oh, okay,” Hamilton said. “You want to take me to your rum rum.”
And then, after entering the spaceship and removing helmets,
“Babe! Two for tea!”
“First intelligible thing I’ve heard you say,” Hamilton said as he pulled off his own helmet.
“Sorry,” Coffey said with a grin. “It always works in the science fiction novels. I didn’t have your frequency.”
Anyway, despite these few moments, I do not recommend this book, as it was definitely not worth my time -- I read it as it was among a dozen or so books that were once [1] highly recommended by @John_Scalzi, an author I like very much -- From now on, I guess I better spend my time reading his own books than the ones he recommends.
[1] https://whatever.scalzi.com/2004/12/1...
June 26, 2017
Definitely a winning concept: Blue-collar construction workers in space. The idea is a fun twist on Star Trek or others: Instead of the world's best and brightest on some noble quest, the people working in space are there to escape earth and work shifts.
However: The book drags on. I think this needed significant editing.
Why couldn't the whole thing start with the hydroponics scientist coming up to the station? That's about two thirds of the way in, and the entire 'plot' seems to happen from that point on....
Frustrating read because it's promising enough to keep you going, but drags on and on....Satisfying ending at the end of it all though
However: The book drags on. I think this needed significant editing.
Why couldn't the whole thing start with the hydroponics scientist coming up to the station? That's about two thirds of the way in, and the entire 'plot' seems to happen from that point on....
Frustrating read because it's promising enough to keep you going, but drags on and on....Satisfying ending at the end of it all though
December 29, 2021
I met Allen back at an Orlando con in 2004 and we chatted at the end for a half hour. I was working for NASA at the time so we had a very common interest in space, and scifi, to chat about. I have read most of his books and enjoyed them. This apparently was his first book and it shows somewhat while being reasonably good for a first book. He is good with the hard science, although dated now rather badly, but at this point wasn't as good with the personalities and personal interaction. I do admit to being somewhat bored during the first 60% or so but becoming more interested after that as the story got a bit more exciting. There was also a background story that popped up on a few occasions that kind of got resolved right at the end. I really never understood that character much and still don't as being the primary story teller or just a character in the front background. The very last, kind of chapter although it didn't show that way really in the library eBook I read, was sweet because of my love of dogs I suppose. I am going to take a look at his other early works I haven't completely read when I am looking for a read and don't have one in mind but that's difficult these days.
August 10, 2018
This is basically about construction workers in Earth orbit. Character development is deep and entertaining. Some of the technology is old (such as music cassettes in space), and the idea of the NSA monitoring our phone calls is passe'. Nonetheless, the book relates a fine adventure.
September 2, 2013
When my friend loaned me his copy of The Eternal Champion by Michael Moorcock, I effectively stopped reading hard SF. Where I once read Heinlein, Clarke, Benford, Bear, etcetera, I starting reading more esoteric, less fact based SF where technological is so advanced it is often indistinguishable from magic, following the literary inspiration genealogy stemming from British New Wave authors. It's been a while I've experience the vacuum of hard SF, and Allen Steele's Orbital Decay was a good place to start.
I've since become bored by grounded in fact descriptions you find in hard SF, but Orbital Decay seemed imminent enough to reality that I appreciated it more than I expected to. There's also the matter of characterization (God forbid I use this term, because that's never been an issue for me in a good novel), especially that of the disturbed Popeye Hooker. His past is a hook dangled in front of the reader, and you kind of suspect the outcome, but you just have to know for sure, and this suspense is stretched out to his final, magnificent blowout.
The rest of the plot is interesting enough, although a bit far-fetched especially when it comes to John Hamilton's role in the whole thing. Also I can't tell whether, Sam Sloane, the SF writer hack who's narrating Orbital Decay, is the only narrator, like he claims, or if it's Allen Steele filling in the gaps with information to which Sloane lacks access. The distinction between the two is unclear. A lot of Steele's predictions are spot-on, though much of the technology is firmly grounded in the seventies. I don't think anyone could have known HOW advanced we would become within a couple of decades.
I enjoyed this book. I have always felt that space might feel like the final frontier, but many of its aspects would ultimately become not much different from the 9-to-5 drudgery we experience. It would also require a specific kind of mentality, probably attracting the anal retentive and obsessive compulsive, because, like Steele stresses often, it's catastrophic to be careless in space. With the potential of man actually colonizing space approaching, science fiction novels like Orbital Decay serves as warning or instruction manual. The future was thought up by the past.
I've since become bored by grounded in fact descriptions you find in hard SF, but Orbital Decay seemed imminent enough to reality that I appreciated it more than I expected to. There's also the matter of characterization (God forbid I use this term, because that's never been an issue for me in a good novel), especially that of the disturbed Popeye Hooker. His past is a hook dangled in front of the reader, and you kind of suspect the outcome, but you just have to know for sure, and this suspense is stretched out to his final, magnificent blowout.
The rest of the plot is interesting enough, although a bit far-fetched especially when it comes to John Hamilton's role in the whole thing. Also I can't tell whether, Sam Sloane, the SF writer hack who's narrating Orbital Decay, is the only narrator, like he claims, or if it's Allen Steele filling in the gaps with information to which Sloane lacks access. The distinction between the two is unclear. A lot of Steele's predictions are spot-on, though much of the technology is firmly grounded in the seventies. I don't think anyone could have known HOW advanced we would become within a couple of decades.
I enjoyed this book. I have always felt that space might feel like the final frontier, but many of its aspects would ultimately become not much different from the 9-to-5 drudgery we experience. It would also require a specific kind of mentality, probably attracting the anal retentive and obsessive compulsive, because, like Steele stresses often, it's catastrophic to be careless in space. With the potential of man actually colonizing space approaching, science fiction novels like Orbital Decay serves as warning or instruction manual. The future was thought up by the past.
October 30, 2013
Overall this isn’t a bad story and reading it as someone living 20+ years after it was written it is easy to see parts of the book that are almost prescient. It shows how the public consciousness concerned about government surveillance is not limited to recent events and has been a concern for a very long time.
While the moral of the story does hold up the rest of the book feels highly dated. This is definitely a work from a Cold War mindset and you can feel that throughout the story. There are also many references that were topical at the time but no longer hold the same relevance. This is the issue of trying to look forward to what the future will be like, if it is later being read around the time the “future” story is set the reader cannot help but compare it to their actual lives. Since it was written a while ago you can’t really hold the anachronisms against the book, but it is something you notice.
There are moments later portions of the book where the story really picks up as events come to a head, but those seem to take a long time to get to. The first half of the book reads very slowly and much of the character interaction is not all that interesting. Anything dealing with the surveillance system on the station holds the reader’s attention but pretty much every other part of the book drags. This is unfortunate since the first chapter starts the book off with an interesting setup only to have nearly all of the rest of the book set in flashbacks that bring you back to the point in the first chapter. I can see what the author was going for but it just did not work for me.
The characters themselves are also not terribly interesting. You get essentially two types of characters, either widely over the top or totally bland. The main group of characters all feel like they were jotted down as a brief description and then never really evolved past that. They seem more like tools for telling the story rather then something to change and adapt as you read.
http://homeofreading.com/orbital-decay/
While the moral of the story does hold up the rest of the book feels highly dated. This is definitely a work from a Cold War mindset and you can feel that throughout the story. There are also many references that were topical at the time but no longer hold the same relevance. This is the issue of trying to look forward to what the future will be like, if it is later being read around the time the “future” story is set the reader cannot help but compare it to their actual lives. Since it was written a while ago you can’t really hold the anachronisms against the book, but it is something you notice.
There are moments later portions of the book where the story really picks up as events come to a head, but those seem to take a long time to get to. The first half of the book reads very slowly and much of the character interaction is not all that interesting. Anything dealing with the surveillance system on the station holds the reader’s attention but pretty much every other part of the book drags. This is unfortunate since the first chapter starts the book off with an interesting setup only to have nearly all of the rest of the book set in flashbacks that bring you back to the point in the first chapter. I can see what the author was going for but it just did not work for me.
The characters themselves are also not terribly interesting. You get essentially two types of characters, either widely over the top or totally bland. The main group of characters all feel like they were jotted down as a brief description and then never really evolved past that. They seem more like tools for telling the story rather then something to change and adapt as you read.
http://homeofreading.com/orbital-decay/
September 24, 2013
Originally published in 1989, Orbital Decay was Allen Steele’s first published science fiction novel. Why it took so long to bring out the Kindle edition is beyond me but I’m glad that Open Road Media has just done so.
For anyone who has NOT had the pleasure of reading Steele’s work: If you enjoy ‘hard’ science fiction, you’re missing out on something. I first discovered him via his Coyote series, which definitely influenced my own SF blog novel, Colony: Alchibah.
Even in his first book, Orbital Decay, the careful development of the characters is evident. You get to know them as if they were friends of yours.
When you consider that the book was written in the 1980’s, you can overlook a few anachronisms (cassette-taped music) because the large plot involves something that is making headlines this very day; a project by the NSA to track and intercept all phone, internet, and other transmissions between all Americans and others, in the name of “national security.” Talk about prescient predictions and an SF story becoming reality!
A few members of a space station construction team discover the real intent of the stations they’re working on or affiliated with. They are the only ones who can sabotage the “Big Ear” to keep the government from spying on all Americans.
That is about all the plot I’ll share with you.
Steele gives the right amount of day-to-day details of life in space, personal interactions, and ‘moving the plot forward’ mechanisms to keep the story moving along. Unlike many science fiction novels, the last section of the book moves at breakneck pace.
A fine read!
For anyone who has NOT had the pleasure of reading Steele’s work: If you enjoy ‘hard’ science fiction, you’re missing out on something. I first discovered him via his Coyote series, which definitely influenced my own SF blog novel, Colony: Alchibah.
Even in his first book, Orbital Decay, the careful development of the characters is evident. You get to know them as if they were friends of yours.
When you consider that the book was written in the 1980’s, you can overlook a few anachronisms (cassette-taped music) because the large plot involves something that is making headlines this very day; a project by the NSA to track and intercept all phone, internet, and other transmissions between all Americans and others, in the name of “national security.” Talk about prescient predictions and an SF story becoming reality!
A few members of a space station construction team discover the real intent of the stations they’re working on or affiliated with. They are the only ones who can sabotage the “Big Ear” to keep the government from spying on all Americans.
That is about all the plot I’ll share with you.
Steele gives the right amount of day-to-day details of life in space, personal interactions, and ‘moving the plot forward’ mechanisms to keep the story moving along. Unlike many science fiction novels, the last section of the book moves at breakneck pace.
A fine read!
December 14, 2008
Great near future story.
I appreciate the real world setting of this story. Having real people working in space, not engineers or rocket scientists, but normal blue collar construction workers.
Allen Steele is a great author at using the Science in the background and having the story be about people. His science always feels right, and the interactions help show what we could and perhaps should be like.
I appreciate the real world setting of this story. Having real people working in space, not engineers or rocket scientists, but normal blue collar construction workers.
Allen Steele is a great author at using the Science in the background and having the story be about people. His science always feels right, and the interactions help show what we could and perhaps should be like.
May 14, 2025
Not bad for a first novel, but could definitely have used some editing. Certain episodes (blast off of Wey ship for example) are so long they go from interesting to tedious to annoying before they end.
Another example is how the reveal of Popeye's problem is teased then delayed over and over and over again. By the time it was revealed, I had already pretty well figured it out.
The concept is interesting so I may give the next in the series a read--IF he has found an editor!
Another example is how the reveal of Popeye's problem is teased then delayed over and over and over again. By the time it was revealed, I had already pretty well figured it out.
The concept is interesting so I may give the next in the series a read--IF he has found an editor!
July 2, 2021
The adventures of blue collar workers in space who have various hijinx and also stumble upon a nefarious conspiracy by the government, involving space-based assets.
This book started out with a great hook... an astronaut, stranded in a crevice on the moon, unlikely to survive long enough to be rescued, has made a great discovery and decides to use his last battery power to tell the tale!
Except, it's more than a little bit of a cheat. Firstly, there's a structural issue in that the book isn't in first person, and there are multiple characters it follows, so it's jumping back and forth between different people and telling details that the guy who introduces the story would have no way of knowing. Now, you might say, okay, sure, his story is just one thread and the rest aren't meant to literally portray what he's telling us, but rather to give the audience the full picture of what happened. But then don't start the story that way! It felt like a huge bait and switch, a "ha I fooled you into being interested, didn't I? But I'm not going to really tell that story!" Which is made double evident because it's actually one of three bait and switches. The book we read mostly isn't his story at all, the story he tells of how he got there (even considering only his parts in it) is only tangentially related to how he actually got in the situation that started the book, and the discovery is pretty much a joke that might have worked in a much better book (or likely, a short story) but on top of everything else is just frustrating. It's as if we started a movie with Thor and Hulk fighting, and then zoomed in on Thor "You're probably wondering how I got in this situation, fighting one of my best friends." ... And he then proceeds to tell the story of Thor 2: The Dark World, in exhaustive detail, and then at the end wraps up with a few sentences summarizing how Thor: Ragnarok started and that he just happened to run into Hulk in a gladiatorial ring. You didn't need all that buildup, and you're telling the least interesting story you could!
As for the story we actually tell, it's a story of basically construction workers in space. These are generally folksy relatable people, driven a bit to stir craziness and boredom from being stuck up in space for a year or two at a stretch. One of them's got a backstory that we're supposed to feel sorry for I think, and root for but it just made me think the book was glorifying an person doing an awful deed but it was all okay because he felt guilty about it. Another's basically a biker. One (the one who introduces the story) is a science fiction writer so, relatable to science fiction readers! There's people having fun with drugs, playing pranks on each other, lightly sexually harassing the few female workers (it's okay, after all, they wouldn't be there if they didn't really like it!). There's a bureaucratic type in charge who's slowly going insane but nobody cares! There's other characters, I guess, as well! There's occasional racism, including a main character spouting racial slurs and immediately forgiven by a person of the race in question because he knew he didn't really mean it, he was just angry about something else! Overall, eesh, no, the concept of space work becoming something sort of blue collar might be an interesting one but I did not really connect to anyone. It felt like the book was trying to straddle the line of being an outright comedy farce and a serious character study except it lacks jokes and compelling characters. Occasionally there's also moments of danger and heroism but it's really not about that, at least until the main plot kicks into high gear.
That plot feels rather dated by today's standards, a discovery that the NSA is using a satellite to monitor domestic phone calls and keyword search them for anything they feel might be threatening. Which, to be fair, is probably something we should be a lot more freaked out about in the real world, and at its time probably would feel like a legitimate danger brave heroes might decide to risk it all to stop (and the text does at least address the idea that a lot of people would shrug and approve of it), but considering how we've all come to accept such shenanigans, from today's perspective it doesn't seem that credible.
In general it also feels a little bloated with a bunch of scenes we didn't really need, like I remember one scene early on where we meet a character who doesn't want to go to space but his superiors send him there to finish work on something and... I guess he shows up again towards the end, but I'd pretty much forgotten him except a vague sense of 'is this that guy?' and when he showed up I never felt like I needed his backstory at the time.
I try to save 1 stars for books I really dislike, and for all that I've complained it was still a relatively breezy book to get through and enough of it was pleasant, if uninspiring, diversion that I don't think it quite earns it, but it's probably rounding up to a two. Completely skippable. Even if, like me, you got the book in a bundle of others.
This book started out with a great hook... an astronaut, stranded in a crevice on the moon, unlikely to survive long enough to be rescued, has made a great discovery and decides to use his last battery power to tell the tale!
Except, it's more than a little bit of a cheat. Firstly, there's a structural issue in that the book isn't in first person, and there are multiple characters it follows, so it's jumping back and forth between different people and telling details that the guy who introduces the story would have no way of knowing. Now, you might say, okay, sure, his story is just one thread and the rest aren't meant to literally portray what he's telling us, but rather to give the audience the full picture of what happened. But then don't start the story that way! It felt like a huge bait and switch, a "ha I fooled you into being interested, didn't I? But I'm not going to really tell that story!" Which is made double evident because it's actually one of three bait and switches. The book we read mostly isn't his story at all, the story he tells of how he got there (even considering only his parts in it) is only tangentially related to how he actually got in the situation that started the book, and the discovery is pretty much a joke that might have worked in a much better book (or likely, a short story) but on top of everything else is just frustrating. It's as if we started a movie with Thor and Hulk fighting, and then zoomed in on Thor "You're probably wondering how I got in this situation, fighting one of my best friends." ... And he then proceeds to tell the story of Thor 2: The Dark World, in exhaustive detail, and then at the end wraps up with a few sentences summarizing how Thor: Ragnarok started and that he just happened to run into Hulk in a gladiatorial ring. You didn't need all that buildup, and you're telling the least interesting story you could!
As for the story we actually tell, it's a story of basically construction workers in space. These are generally folksy relatable people, driven a bit to stir craziness and boredom from being stuck up in space for a year or two at a stretch. One of them's got a backstory that we're supposed to feel sorry for I think, and root for but it just made me think the book was glorifying an person doing an awful deed but it was all okay because he felt guilty about it. Another's basically a biker. One (the one who introduces the story) is a science fiction writer so, relatable to science fiction readers! There's people having fun with drugs, playing pranks on each other, lightly sexually harassing the few female workers (it's okay, after all, they wouldn't be there if they didn't really like it!). There's a bureaucratic type in charge who's slowly going insane but nobody cares! There's other characters, I guess, as well! There's occasional racism, including a main character spouting racial slurs and immediately forgiven by a person of the race in question because he knew he didn't really mean it, he was just angry about something else! Overall, eesh, no, the concept of space work becoming something sort of blue collar might be an interesting one but I did not really connect to anyone. It felt like the book was trying to straddle the line of being an outright comedy farce and a serious character study except it lacks jokes and compelling characters. Occasionally there's also moments of danger and heroism but it's really not about that, at least until the main plot kicks into high gear.
That plot feels rather dated by today's standards, a discovery that the NSA is using a satellite to monitor domestic phone calls and keyword search them for anything they feel might be threatening. Which, to be fair, is probably something we should be a lot more freaked out about in the real world, and at its time probably would feel like a legitimate danger brave heroes might decide to risk it all to stop (and the text does at least address the idea that a lot of people would shrug and approve of it), but considering how we've all come to accept such shenanigans, from today's perspective it doesn't seem that credible.
In general it also feels a little bloated with a bunch of scenes we didn't really need, like I remember one scene early on where we meet a character who doesn't want to go to space but his superiors send him there to finish work on something and... I guess he shows up again towards the end, but I'd pretty much forgotten him except a vague sense of 'is this that guy?' and when he showed up I never felt like I needed his backstory at the time.
I try to save 1 stars for books I really dislike, and for all that I've complained it was still a relatively breezy book to get through and enough of it was pleasant, if uninspiring, diversion that I don't think it quite earns it, but it's probably rounding up to a two. Completely skippable. Even if, like me, you got the book in a bundle of others.
December 14, 2025
Some thoughts on Orbital Decay by Allen Steele
The first of Steele’s Near Space series. Love the concept of the POV of most of these characters being that of so-called “regular folk”. These aren’t scientists who could maybe reprogram a rogue robot on the fly or quickly do complex equations in their head to save the day, nor are they square jawed heroes that can decipher alien space ship controls on demand and being terrific shots with whatever energy weapons they find lying around. These are construction workers for the most part and are some of the most relatably human characters I’ve come across in a while.
Because of the character POV, Orbital Decay is a Hard Science Fiction novel for those who don’t like Hard Science Fiction. Steele keeps himself firmly in the real world, but most of the physics have been worked out for him by decades of people working and living in space. There are no aliens or fringe scientific theories here, just mainly stuff within the realm of plausible possibility.
The novel was originally published in 1989 and took place in the far flung year of 2016 (or maybe 2018, can’t really remember and don’t care to track it down), which means it has actually changed niche genre categories from “Near Future Stories” to “Alternate History”.
I love the structure of the novel. Most of the first two thirds of the book are vignettes that are designed to explore in detail the work and living environments in space and to spotlight the lead characters. There are a few chapters that occur earth-side that give more context to events in orbit. The last third of the book is the meat of the action and where all the set-up pays off beautifully. The whole thing is held together by a framework of first-person narrative chapters by a character dictating events onto a recording—he believes he will die soon and he neatly sets up and winds down the novel as well as keeps you on the hook about The Greatest Discovery Ever, which finally gets defined in the end.
When this Discovery was mentioned I was skeptical—usually something like this falls under a few categories. 1) The story goes “cosmic”, which is frequently a bad fit for such a down-to-earth (orbit) story, 2) Something heavily philosophical and not science-based at all or 3) a last minute twist to set up the next novel in the series. Which is it? Does the narrator actually die? Read to find out
The first of Steele’s Near Space series. Love the concept of the POV of most of these characters being that of so-called “regular folk”. These aren’t scientists who could maybe reprogram a rogue robot on the fly or quickly do complex equations in their head to save the day, nor are they square jawed heroes that can decipher alien space ship controls on demand and being terrific shots with whatever energy weapons they find lying around. These are construction workers for the most part and are some of the most relatably human characters I’ve come across in a while.
Because of the character POV, Orbital Decay is a Hard Science Fiction novel for those who don’t like Hard Science Fiction. Steele keeps himself firmly in the real world, but most of the physics have been worked out for him by decades of people working and living in space. There are no aliens or fringe scientific theories here, just mainly stuff within the realm of plausible possibility.
The novel was originally published in 1989 and took place in the far flung year of 2016 (or maybe 2018, can’t really remember and don’t care to track it down), which means it has actually changed niche genre categories from “Near Future Stories” to “Alternate History”.
I love the structure of the novel. Most of the first two thirds of the book are vignettes that are designed to explore in detail the work and living environments in space and to spotlight the lead characters. There are a few chapters that occur earth-side that give more context to events in orbit. The last third of the book is the meat of the action and where all the set-up pays off beautifully. The whole thing is held together by a framework of first-person narrative chapters by a character dictating events onto a recording—he believes he will die soon and he neatly sets up and winds down the novel as well as keeps you on the hook about The Greatest Discovery Ever, which finally gets defined in the end.
When this Discovery was mentioned I was skeptical—usually something like this falls under a few categories. 1) The story goes “cosmic”, which is frequently a bad fit for such a down-to-earth (orbit) story, 2) Something heavily philosophical and not science-based at all or 3) a last minute twist to set up the next novel in the series. Which is it? Does the narrator actually die? Read to find out
October 25, 2016
'Orbital Decay' by Allen Steele is a SF romp on a space station. It was written in the late 1980s and can feel a bit dated.
Beanjacks are the nickname given to the team of people working in space building satellites. Most of them have a pretty blue collar feel to how they interact. One of the main characters is a botanist brought on board. He meets the rest of the crew. People with nicknames like Popeye and Virgin Bruce. They seem to work hard, but tend to party even harder with illegal contraband brought up from Earth. When they discover a government intelligence program that would invade privacy, they have to decide to let it go or rise up and stop it.
It felt long by the time I finished it. I liked some of the characters, and didn't care for others. Some characters have a bigger than life personalities and some feel like bit players, but I guess this is a lot like real life. Life on board the station felt like it might really. This is no Star Trek future where everyone is happy to work and have everyone's best interest at heart. These are like real people you'd run into at work. For that the author gets my kudos. I'd like to read more by this author.
I received a review copy of this ebook from Open Road Integrated Media and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.
Beanjacks are the nickname given to the team of people working in space building satellites. Most of them have a pretty blue collar feel to how they interact. One of the main characters is a botanist brought on board. He meets the rest of the crew. People with nicknames like Popeye and Virgin Bruce. They seem to work hard, but tend to party even harder with illegal contraband brought up from Earth. When they discover a government intelligence program that would invade privacy, they have to decide to let it go or rise up and stop it.
It felt long by the time I finished it. I liked some of the characters, and didn't care for others. Some characters have a bigger than life personalities and some feel like bit players, but I guess this is a lot like real life. Life on board the station felt like it might really. This is no Star Trek future where everyone is happy to work and have everyone's best interest at heart. These are like real people you'd run into at work. For that the author gets my kudos. I'd like to read more by this author.
I received a review copy of this ebook from Open Road Integrated Media and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.
January 19, 2025
Allen Steele’s first novel, Orbital Decay, is the kind of book I wish Heinlein had continued to write in his last two decades. It is sci-fi with a strong engineering component and characters with slangy, individual voices. It is not really future history but wishful speculation that our space program would advance faster than was credible to think three years after the Challenger disaster. Sadly, near-Earth orbit is still not accessible to blue-collar guys in spacesuits escaping from biker gangs.
Like most writers of the time, Steele underestimated the speed with which communication technology would develop as much as he overestimated the expansion of our crewed space program. But we can wish for the day when a future version of the ISS will have its own little marijuana patch.
The book gets meh reviews because it is so episodic, seems dated, and does not have the cultural diversity we expect these days. But I have a forgiving nature.
Like most writers of the time, Steele underestimated the speed with which communication technology would develop as much as he overestimated the expansion of our crewed space program. But we can wish for the day when a future version of the ISS will have its own little marijuana patch.
The book gets meh reviews because it is so episodic, seems dated, and does not have the cultural diversity we expect these days. But I have a forgiving nature.
July 11, 2018
Rated at 3 stars for the audiobook version. I would have rated higher but there was a few things that bugged me. With the book set in 2016, the proliferation of cassettes seemed a bit off. Compact discs (cds) being introduced in 1982 seems to have been overlooked. The prediction of future tech was a bit off, wrist phones was a better guess but there was no digital video which seems a logitical progression given that digital audio cds were already available. Also the part that dealt with hacking the NSA was really abysmal. The use of dos commands there were used incorrectly made me cringe to no end and having a guessable password is just plain ridiculous. But I will give props for the BigEar prediction that was pretty much almost exactly what did happen. I'm sure this book was better when read in 1989 but it still holds up fairly well.
September 3, 2021
It started off okay but soon it devolved into an incredibly boring lot of absolutely nothing that swung back again with an okay ending. Essentially, there was this one idea and the author then added a whole lot of padding and fluff to connect the idea that made up the beginning and end.
The characters are all unlikeable idiots, to the point that the 'evil station commander' was the guy I rooted for because he was bloody right. Many of the characters feel like the author based them on a bunch of people he knew. The women are dreadful. There's only two of them. One is a 'voice' who is won over by the 'bad boy' and that's it. The second pilots one of the rockets and decides to have an affair because the random guy she transports has a pretty face. She shows up for just a chapter, and is then a cameo towards the end. Both of them could have been left out and nothing about the story would change. In fact, most of the characters could be left out and nothing would change.
I couldn't put it down to a lowly one star because it is at least written with a degree of ability. It isn't a complete void of talent. But I needed to go and read something else in the middle of this because I was so bored of it.
The one thing I learnt - companies probably shouldn't be allowed to go into space because they'll cut corners wherever they can to save a buck. Probably true, honestly.
I will be avoiding the sequels (I don't think this deserves any kind of sequel, frankly) and the author in future.
The characters are all unlikeable idiots, to the point that the 'evil station commander' was the guy I rooted for because he was bloody right. Many of the characters feel like the author based them on a bunch of people he knew. The women are dreadful. There's only two of them. One is a 'voice' who is won over by the 'bad boy' and that's it. The second pilots one of the rockets and decides to have an affair because the random guy she transports has a pretty face. She shows up for just a chapter, and is then a cameo towards the end. Both of them could have been left out and nothing about the story would change. In fact, most of the characters could be left out and nothing would change.
I couldn't put it down to a lowly one star because it is at least written with a degree of ability. It isn't a complete void of talent. But I needed to go and read something else in the middle of this because I was so bored of it.
The one thing I learnt - companies probably shouldn't be allowed to go into space because they'll cut corners wherever they can to save a buck. Probably true, honestly.
I will be avoiding the sequels (I don't think this deserves any kind of sequel, frankly) and the author in future.
February 9, 2025
Written in 1989, the book utilizes the technology of that time period to propel humanity into achieving a space station and moon base. The main story line follows the lives of several of the workers on the space station, explaining their daily routine and how they wound up working in space.
The story is a bit off kilter as the main plot driving the story is hinted at through the first 2/3rds of the book and only becomes something that all the characters are working toward in the last third of the book. The author flips between first person narrative and third person omniscience. It's a little off putting. The aspects of working and living in space are interesting especially as it could be termed near-space as their is no star drive or colonies beyond the moon.
The story is a bit off kilter as the main plot driving the story is hinted at through the first 2/3rds of the book and only becomes something that all the characters are working toward in the last third of the book. The author flips between first person narrative and third person omniscience. It's a little off putting. The aspects of working and living in space are interesting especially as it could be termed near-space as their is no star drive or colonies beyond the moon.
December 20, 2017
A fun but dated exploration of what space construction would be like when the Heroic Dream runs up against human reality. Even though set in 2016 (our past!) it's very connected to the technology of the 80's, but that usually doesn't detract from its main point, which is that the people likely building anything substantial in space are going to be More rough-and-tumble and less clean cut than our astronauts have been. Especially when you consider what a space construction environment really is like.
April 11, 2022
Me gustó la historia, ciencia ficción de acá a pocos años, hombres con problemas reales en espacios comprimidos. Al ver el grosor temí aburrirme, pero me sorprendió el ritmo, ya que no dejan de pasar cosas hasta llegar a un notable desenlace. Otro punto a favor es el escenario orbital, lindo ejercicio para la imaginación. El único pero son ciertas tramas paralelas que nada aportan a la historia principal.
Este año voy cruzado con la CF. Cuando espero un libro me deslumbre, resulta un bodrio y cuando de algunos no espero nada (como es el caso), resulta de lo más entretenido. (7.9.2021)
Este año voy cruzado con la CF. Cuando espero un libro me deslumbre, resulta un bodrio y cuando de algunos no espero nada (como es el caso), resulta de lo más entretenido. (7.9.2021)
November 6, 2022
Skycan, the great nickname for the space station where the orbital construction engineers live, pretty much sums up the story. Working in space is dull, humdrum, and sometimes lethal.
There are many different actors in the story, all of whom have really well presented different personalities.
But perhaps this is the main problem with the story. So much time is spent fleshing out the characters that action takes a back seat, and the story only really gets going on the last third of the book. Forgivable if the dialog was riveting, but it's not.
There are many different actors in the story, all of whom have really well presented different personalities.
But perhaps this is the main problem with the story. So much time is spent fleshing out the characters that action takes a back seat, and the story only really gets going on the last third of the book. Forgivable if the dialog was riveting, but it's not.
June 12, 2017
This took me a while to get through. It's not because it's bad, more like it just feels a bit dated.
Basically, it's a circa 1990 story about just how boring life as a glorified construction worker in space could be. Basically, if you're into hard science fiction that doesn't glamorize space and all that involves, this could be your book.
On the other hand, I'd personally recommend the Coyote Trilogy over this.
That's really about all I have to say about Orbital Decay. So it goes.
Basically, it's a circa 1990 story about just how boring life as a glorified construction worker in space could be. Basically, if you're into hard science fiction that doesn't glamorize space and all that involves, this could be your book.
On the other hand, I'd personally recommend the Coyote Trilogy over this.
That's really about all I have to say about Orbital Decay. So it goes.
February 15, 2018
Although this book is is quite dated--CRT monitors, Soviet Union, cassette tapes--the plot holds, particularly as an example of those books addressing government overreach and civilian paranoia. Writers like Andy Weir and the two who write as James S.A. Corey owe a debt to Steele's irreverent humor and working class protagonists. A decent read, not great, probably something special when it was published back 1989.
October 28, 2021
I am going to say that this just sneaked 4 stars.
It was written in 1989 and it painfully carries some of the crap of that time with it, in writing terms. It's also a first novel and has a few rough parts due to that.
On the other hand it won a Locus and the premise is good. The space frontier as delivered by working joes. Thus, I am landing just on the cusp of a 4.
That being said, I probably won't continue with this series so I am not going to give it a recommend.
It was written in 1989 and it painfully carries some of the crap of that time with it, in writing terms. It's also a first novel and has a few rough parts due to that.
On the other hand it won a Locus and the premise is good. The space frontier as delivered by working joes. Thus, I am landing just on the cusp of a 4.
That being said, I probably won't continue with this series so I am not going to give it a recommend.
February 24, 2021
I read the first five pages, and my suspicions were aroused, so I skimmed a few pages here and there. Them , very uncharacteristically, I read the ending, and my suspicions were confirmed. Somebody must have liked this book enough to publish it, and I see it has some good reviews here, but I don't know why.
March 24, 2021
This one evolves very s-l-l-lowly. I was not even
sure what the plot was for a long time. Just seemed
to be about 'life' on a space station for construction
crews. However, I was interested so take from that
what you will.
I'd recommend it but only to those who have a kink
for a different kind of science fiction story.
sure what the plot was for a long time. Just seemed
to be about 'life' on a space station for construction
crews. However, I was interested so take from that
what you will.
I'd recommend it but only to those who have a kink
for a different kind of science fiction story.
October 7, 2020
Two unnecessary racial slurs. Pretty realistic plot of Earth orbit construct. The descriptions of the monotonous life aboard the SkyCan felt particularly relevant to life in COVID times. My copy of the book was missing pages 196-229 but I'm not sure how much I missed
July 30, 2024
great book, tons of fun
I picked it up and was drawn into the great, crazy stories from our planet to the moon and more or less putting me in a space station wither crazy astronauts. Couldn’t put it down.
I picked it up and was drawn into the great, crazy stories from our planet to the moon and more or less putting me in a space station wither crazy astronauts. Couldn’t put it down.
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