Puss Reboots: Blog: August 2009: Paradiso Lost

Recent posts

Reviews:
Adaptogenia by Wayne Wightman personal collection
And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell library book
The Cat Barked? by Lydia Monks library book
Cat Skidoo by Bethany Roberts and RW Alley personal collection
City Above the Sea by Stephen Alan Saft review copy
City Lullaby by Marilyn Singer library book
Corona Centurion™ by Terry Bisson personal collection
Economancer by Carolyn Ives Gilman personal collection
A Field Guide to Monsters by Johan Olander library book
Grey Seas Under by Farley Mowat bookcrossing
Grimm's Grimmest by Tracy Arah Dockray bookcrossing
Grumpy Cat by Britta Teckentrup personal collection
Handy Farm Devices and How to Make Them by Rolfe Cobleigh bookcrossing
Harriet's Recital by Nancy Carlton personal collection
I Feel Skitty by Tracey West personal collection
Kin by Holly Black review copy
The Loved One by Evelyn Waugh bookcrossing
Mama, Don't Go by Rebecca Wells library book
No, Never! by Sally O. Lee review copy
Oh, the Things I Know! by Al Franken bookcrossing
Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper library book
Paradiso Lost by Albert E. Cowdrey personal collection
Project Anastrophe by George Karnikis review copy
The Publishing Game: Publish a Book in 30 Days by Fern Reiss bookcrossing
The Shipwreck of a Nation by H Peter Nennhaus review copy
Skim by Mariko Tamaki review copy
Sooner or Later or Never Never by Gary Jennings personal collection
Talk to the Hand by Lynne Truss bookcrossing
The Thirteenth Tale by Dianne Setterfield bookcrossing
The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop by Lewis Buzbee bookcrossing
The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon library book
Yoko Writes Her Name by Rebecca Wells library book

Previous month

08/08/09

Paradiso Lost:

"Paradiso Lost" by Albert E. Cowdrey takes place in the same universe as "The Tribes of Bela" (August 2004). The story is told in flashback as an "uncle" relates to his nephew the circumstances that lead to him and the boy's father becoming friends.

Think of Paradiso Lost as a WWII story except set in space. Robert Kohn, one of the few survivors from the disaster on Bela is now in his "anecdotage" and living in the Great American Desert. Bored one day while his wife is visiting relatives in China, he sets down to write about the mission to Paradiso where he met the boy's father.

Paradiso is another failed colony. It's distance from the "prime real estate" left for mining missions makes it hard to get to and an undesirable mission. The colony was started by a charlatan who had formed his own cult. The secretive nature of the colonists reminds me again of Operation Starseed (review still coming!) and of "The Price of Silence" by Deborah Ross.

My favorite parts of "Paradiso Lost" were Kohn's explanations of how old maritime traditions were translated into space travel traditions. I'm working on a series of novels that also build on maritime traditions so it was fun to see what Cowdrey had done with them.

I enjoyed reading another adventure of Robert Kohn and would like to see him again in a Cowdrey story.