KAMN Show #26: Far-Seer

by Summer
February 15, 2007, 12:30 am | In Shows |

Welcome to Show #26!

Joe Murphy is back, joining Dave and Summer in the discussion of Robert J. Sawyer’s 1992 novel, Far-Seer. This is the first book in the Quintaglio Ascension trilogy, and it features a planet of intelligent and advanced dinosaurs. Book 1 follows the quest of a Copernicus/Galileo of his planet. Book 2 is Fossil Hunter, fashioned after a Darwin-like discoverer, and Book 3 is Foreigner, following a Freud-like main character.

Joe selected this book as a topic quite some time ago, and now we’re finally able to all get together and chat about it. Joe reviewed it for Dragon Page Cover to Cover when the reprint was published in 2004, and loved the story from the jump.

Dave and Summer aren’t feeling as much love for it as Joe does, but they don’t hate the book either. It’s well-written and opens up a richly detailed world for the characters to discover, like most Sawyer stories are, but David isn’t pleased with how fast the main character Afsan makes great leaps of intuition and scientific assumptions, and Summer just couldn’t connect with the characters and learn to care about their adventures and their fates.

We have a fun discussion about a number of points.

Voicemail: Rob from Alberta with well-wishes for Joe, who wants less innuendo and more follow-through on implied action; Curt from St George with well-wishes for Joe, and comments on “The Day the Earth Stood Still”; Cisco comments on “Buckaroo Banzai”, and on Hollywood censors back in the 1950s; Wally from CA lets us know about the Sherlock Holmes references we missed in “Buckaroo Banzai”; Eric in NY wants to know more about the Buckaroo Banzai comic books; Dwight from Ottawa likes us, thanks us for talking about “Day the Earth Stood Still” and completely forgot what book he called in to recommend to us.

Don’t forget to donate to the Kill Kuato Fund, and help Joe out (second Paypal button on the right sidebar), and you can call the special voicemail line, 206-202-5179, and leave a message for him.

Listener Feedback: Give us some! You can leave comments here for the show, or at the Kick-Ass Mystic Ninjas Forum. If you want to leave a voicemail comment on anything we’ve discussed, you can call us at 206-666-5266.

Books mentioned:

Promo: ADPOV: Support TD-0013 in the Arizona MS Walk, April 14, 2007
Link: Robert J. Sawyer: Novels
Link: Far-Seer
Link: Fossil Hunter
Link: Foreigner

 
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4 Comments »

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  1. This story that I covered on my own radio show (http://metronerds.blogspot.com, shameless plug) back in January actually relates to what you guys were talking about with the MPAA. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117957535.html?categoryid=10&cs=1

    Comment by Arkle — February 15, 2007 #

  2. Re: movie ratings. It’s possible, under the current system, imperfect as it is, to releast unrated movies. If you don’t play by the MPAA rules, you won’t get the benefits of being in the Big Boys’ club, but you can put it out direct-to-DVD, on pay cable, on the internet, at indie theaters, at festivals, etc. That is a very small penalty for not following the rules compared to what the gov’t could do if they were setting and enforcing the rules. The MPAA, after all, is not empowered to put people in prison, confiscate their property, or execute them. The government is, and exercises those powers on a daily basis.

    Comment by giantkillermantis — February 16, 2007 #

  3. Great show guys. The book sounds like a real romp, I will just have to go and read it I think. I’ve got a feeling you could make a great movie from this, well so long as it was done by true geeks.

    I was a bit disappointed when I looked at the book cover online, doesn’t QUITE live up to the hype ;)

    Keep up the good work!

    Comment by Fiendicus Prime — February 19, 2007 #

  4. JOE KICKS ASS!

    Comment by Scott Sigler — March 20, 2007 #

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