The Sky So Big and Black
John Barnes
(Reviewer - D. H. BROWN)
2002 Tor Books
ISBN: 0765303035

While Earth is under the control of a single intelligence, life on Mars is very different.

Terpischore Murray is growing up as humans slowly terraform the Red Planet, although it will be a hundred more years before anyone can freely walk outside, without any pressure suits.

Here on Mars, the human settlers are still free of One True's control, but their very survival may require something else, if they are ever to get outside their habitats as a population.

Terpischore wants to follow in her father's footsteps & become an ecoprospector. Her father wants her to finish school, & therein lies the rub.

Sr. Staff Reviewer D. H. BROWN writes:

Much to my chagrin this is the first offering by John Barnes I have ever read. & now I wonder why. I intend to rectify that in as quick order as I can.

For this is truly intelligent science fiction writing.

There isn't a page that doesn't make you think Big Thoughts, & makes you look at life as we know it with a second & third glance.

John Barnes' writing style is unusual -- he lets you hang with assumptions until he comes along & fills in the blanks.

I found The Sky So Big and Black a thoroughly engrossing read & when I had finished, John Barnes left me wanting more.

Some of the Big Thoughts he explores in this day of computer viruses & talk of the creation of the mind/machine interface, is what happens when these viruses become so intelligent that they find our own brains to be nothing but massive parallel computers on which they can run. Now that's a scary thought! & if so, what form will they take?

Would some of them follow the path of natural viruses & become pandemic enemies, or will they develop a symbiotic relationship with the host, our own brains, to give us more capabilities in being adaptable?

The scenario of that premise, in The Sky So Big and Black, will get you to asking some really deep questions about the future of our world.

Another issue that John Barnes deals with in this great Mars survival story, is how we are forcing our children into a prolonged stage of infantilism, & the results that that has for our culture.

Survival has made us, as a species, what we are, & anything we do to lower that quotient, I have come to believe, is detrimental to our continued future.

Ah yes! The Sky So Big and Black is full of intelligent Big Thoughts!

I really like this writer's philosophical juxtaposition between individuality & society, & the blurring into shades of grey, rather than black & white, painted on this canvas.

So I would encourage you, dear Reader, to search out John Barnes, buy his books & start thinking Big Thoughts, because no other outcome is possible. I know I will!

More from John Barnes:
Candle
Earth Made of Glass
One For The Morning Glory
Kaleidoscope Century
A Million Open Doors
Mother of Storms
Orbital Resonance
The Duke of Uranium
Apostrophes and Apocalypses
The Merchants of Souls
(11/03/02)

D. H. BROWN
A RebeccasReads.Com Sr. Staff Reviewer

Reviewer's Bio:
D. H. BROWN is the author of the critically acclaimed HONOR DUE and the Citizens Warrior Series. The son of missionary parents and with the help his Uncle Sam, he has touched base in more than 40 countries.  In 1986 he produced the independent children's film Lessie's Rainbow.  During the late 80s and early 90s, he wrote the book Common Sense and delivered the seminars of the same name for the Community Action Network of Seattle (CAN).  While doing his early Vietnam recovery work, he counseled Veterans and spoke widely to men's groups in Washington state, and was a founder of The Lodge of the Wolf.

D. H. BROWN has worked as a Logistics and Weapons Specialist in Viet Nam; day laborer; Director of Security; Armored Car Driver; Police Officer; Professional Hunting Guide; Trapper; Dog Sledder; Homesteader; Truck Driver; General Contractor; Minister; Editor; Writer; Speaker; Restaurateur; Movie Producer; Antique Restoration Specialist; Personal Care Worker; PC Repair Specialist; Computer Instructor; Webmaster and Web Designer. "I write about what I know."

He lives deep in the Pacific Northwest rainforest with his wife, author and editor Rebecca and Buddy Dog, working on his next book.
Visit him at: www.dhbrownbooks.com