Review of Orbitsville by Bob Shaw

Reading science fiction of old is a surprise package. What reflects as 'well-regarded' in the mirror of history can be highly contextual today. Hal Clement's Mission of Gravity, for example, is lauded over the past 75 years—awards, critics' lists, best ofs, etc., etc. But it's the biggest piece of genre cheese you're likely to encounter. Elementary prose, low reader expectations, juvenile plot, wimpy characterization—it's one of the reasons Margaret Atwood decries sf as 'squids in space'. And then there are books like Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles, a book which did and does receive a lot of attention that is still worthwhile today. Suffice to say I was nervous going in to Bob Shaw's 1975 Orbitsville. ”Shaw's best!” “70s British SF at its finest!”

Orbitsville is the dramatic life of Captain Vance Garamond after fate twists it upside down. Vance an interstellar explorer, he is taking a break on Earth when tragedy befalls a meeting with Earth's most powerful leader, Elizabeth Lindstrom. Forced on the run, Vance's wild flight from Earth takes him to humanity's biggest discovery: the biggest and dumbest of Big Dumb Objects. Adventure ensues!

Orbitsville channels the energy of Larry Niven's Ringworld: Humanity encounters a giant object in space, and in the course of exploring it, experiences conflict and drama. Extra-terrestrials, hard science conundrums, long journeys, battles, etc. all come and go in the blinks of eyes (aka half-assed what-the-fuckery behind waving hands).

The nice version of this is: Orbitsville offers readers a fact-paced space adventure with surprises around every corner. Where the novel begins and where it ends are two wildly different places. For the right reader, it evokes a sense of wonder as the pages fly by. See, I can be nice.

Enough of that. Orbitsville is the popcorniest popcorn science fiction you're likely to read. It introduces giant ideas, plays with them for a moment, then moves on to the next shiny thing. Characterization is minimal. Drama is unequivocally contrived. Logic is a distant dream. And all in less than 200 pages. Shaw's prose is the lone bright spot, unless of course your expectations are for an easy, casual read that engages a minimum of brain cells. Sometimes we need that. People who liked Niven's Ringworld will enjoy this, as well may readers of Arthur C. Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama. (Rendezvous' evocation of deeper human questions about our place in the universe are not evoked by Orbitsville.) For better story and presentation of such a setting—complete with adventure and drama—see Iain Banks' Matter.