The recent news about the moon has got me fantasizing and wanting to read stories of colonizing it. What’s out there?
I’ve read The Moon is a Harsh Mistress already.
John Varley’s Steel Beach.
One of my all time favorites.
A Fall of Moondust by Arthur C Clarke
Can you elaborate in any way? What’s it about, did you like it, why should I read it?
canceled
Read Heinlein’s Rocketship Galileo – it’s got the basics of starting a colony, as they thought of doing it in the 1940s.
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress isn’t really about statrting a colony, nor is A Fall of Moondust Several of Heinlein’s “Future History” stories deal with building moonbases (such as “Gentlemen, Be Seated”). You can find them in The Past Through Tomorrow
I know there are a great many such stories, but I can’t think of their names offhand – I’ll have to look them up.
Sorry, maybe I should’ve just said “takes place on our moon, inhabited by humans,” or somesuch. I didn’t think the distinction would be made.
OK…How about Welcome to Moonbase by Ben Bova
Steel Beach is set in a society on Luna (and other planets of the solar system, but mainly focused on Luna) many years after all human life on Earth has been exterminated by unseen and virtually omnipotent aliens known simply as “The Invaders.” The book doesn’t focus on the Invaders or the invasion, and in fact only mentions them tangentially; they are the past and mankind is now surviving on planets other than “home.”
That makes it sound like it’s all about colonization, but it’s not. The book is set on Luna, but it’s not all drilling into crust and scavenging oxygen, trying to eke a living; the thriving colony on the moon was there long before the Invaders came. They just happened to stamp out human life on the Earth and left Luna alone, and the humans there are surviving like humans have done everywhere, albeit now in a highly artificial and life-hostile environment. “Steel beach” is a reference to fish that were forced to evolve once they were tossed up on the beach by the random actions of waves.
I love stories based on the moon, and I love, love, love Varley’s writing style. He’s one of my favorite authors.
The Left Hand of Darkness: Not really our moon, but it raises a lot of interesting ideas about society, societal development, and when the two societies come back together.
The Time Machine (2002, film): interesting sub-plot about over-colonization of the moon.
Moon (2009): day-to-day grind of living on the moon.
Also, Steel Beach is somewhat an homage to A Moon is a Harsh Mistress. There’s a subplot about a group of people called the Heinleiners.
This Place Has No Atmosphere is a young adult novel about living on the moon.
But it’s mostly about who is going to the dance with whom, from my best recall, so that might not be quite what you’re looking for. I just always found the title witty.
Also by Heinlein, the short story The Menace From Earth. It’s a juvenile, but well done, and available free online here.
I’m going to be a spoilsport and say that I really disliked that novel. Sorry! I really wanted to like it, I’ve loved Varley’s stuff, but… sigh, no.
Heretic! Shun the unbeliever! Shun! Shun! SHUN!!11!!!
Varley obviously holds Heinlein in very high esteem. His latest novels can be said to be very Heinlein-esque.
How can you not like a novel that starts with the line, “In 5 years, the penis will be obsolete”?