Re-Read for the Nth Time: Protector by Larry Niven

After last week's slog-fest, I had to clear my mind with some actual science fiction, and Larry Niven's 1973 novel Protector is always a good choice.  You can find others' plot summaries and spoilers elsewhere, but here's why it's so good.  In a scant 217 pages it tells one hell of a story, but the first 100 pages cover:

• humanity's status on Earth in 2125
• humanity's status in the asteroid belt as well
• a glimpse into the friendly but slightly strained interplanetary politics of the era
• an alien first contact story
• everything you need to know about the aliens' motives and their unusual life-cycle
• how this all ties into one big package
• and finally, several tidbits to link the story into Niven's larger future history universe.

And that's just the first half of the book.  There are many more thrills, chills, and chase scenes in the second half, before the ride comes to a graceful halt with the gas tank nearly empty and all four tires smoking.

You see, this is how a good science fiction author does it.  None of it is forced or rushed, and Niven never, ever resorts to the tired "Well professor, tell us how it all happened" trope.  The whole book is just one big cavalcade of interesting ideas strung together with believable characters and competent prose.

Four point five out of Five Stars,  Recommended.

On This First Day of Hurricane Season

Got new flashlight batteries?  Rotated your gas?  Canned food that you won't mind eating for a few day?  Backup drinking water options covered?  Got FRS walkie-talkies (local option, cheap serviceable option)?  Got an AM/FM radio (good & local, really amazing good, total nerd-out options)?  No?  Then get the hell on the stick.

When the chips (and the internet) are down, you can get the news from WOYS 106.5 FM.  When the chips are really down, try WHBO 1040 AM (Tampa) daytime, WWL 870 AM (New Orleans) day or night, or WSB 750 AM (Atlanta) nighttime.  If the storm is so big it shuts all four of those down, sorry man, not much I can do to help.

If phone service is down, FRS is your easy, license-free option for talking around the neighborhood.  (You did set aside an extra one for the widow lady next door, right?  Good.)  Don't believe the range numbers on the box, marketing departments lie.  Around here, figure on a half-mile on channels 1–7 and 15–22, or a quarter-mile on channels 8–14.  Why?  Because those blocks channels are limited to 2 and 1/2 watts respectively.  If that's not enough info, go over to wikipedia and read up..

Also, if the power goes out, use battery camping lanterns rather than candles or oil lamps.  Last thing you want is to start a house fire when everything else is going wrong.