Red Thunder by John Varley
01/08/2004 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
pub: Ace. 411 page hardback. Price: $23.95 (US), $36.00 (CAN). ISBN: 0-441-01015-6. Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. check
out website: www.penguinputnam.com
and www.varley.net Although
it was only a few years after my time, do you remember those Mickey Rooney/Liz
Taylor juvenile films where they create a theatre in their backyard that looks
like they had some Hollywood crew helping out on? You can also trace the
routes down to the old pulps and comics where the scientist in his private lab
creates a spaceship and shoots off into outer space. Dick Seaton would be proud
flying his Skylark. 
This is the modern day Science Fiction equivalent only it's done by John
Varley and it really works. Four older teens cruising the beach run over a drunk
on the beach. Fortunately, he's not injured and they take him back to his house.
The drunk is Travis Broussard, ex-astronaut, dropped from the space programme
after successfully landing an endangered spaceship while under the influence of
alcohol. The four teens are Manny, Kelly, Dak and Alicia, each with some fascination
in space and speed and bright and determined in their own ways. They meet
Travis' brain-damaged cousin genius, Jubal, who has created the Squeezer, a device
that can create bubbles of unlimited energy. Between them, they create the Red
Thunder, a spaceship to go to Mars to get the jump on a Chinese mission and rescue
the American Ares Seven mission which Jubal thinks is going to run into trouble.
The Ares also has on board Travis' ex-wife. Both spaceships have been in flight
for months. Red Thunder gets to Mars in three days.
Varley really demonstrates
his strength with characters here. Each are distinctive and interesting. The building
of the spaceship is going to make anyone with a couple million dollars to spend
contemplate with wide-eyed wonder except the Squeezer doesn't exist yet. Varley
drags you into his stories as positive page-turners.
I did get the
impression that he was out to prove a point with this novel in that it was set
in the near future and had nothing to do with his Eight Worlds reality. Heinlein
is indicated as a reference and mentor here but this is no 'Space Family Stone'.
The characters are in a modern world with their own insecurities. A great novel
to enjoy in the summer.
GF Willmetts 
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