Please suggest books in which a moon colony rebels against Earth

February 7, 2005 5:54 AM

I've enjoyed two books in what I would think would be an extremely small sub-genre of Science Fiction. Both The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein and Millennium by Ben Bova are about a moon colony rebelling against the Earth. I'd like to read more, can anyone suggest any others?
posted by Plutor to media & arts (23 comments total)

Just in case anyone is curious, I consider the former to be one of the best books I've ever read, and the latter was unremarkable but enjoyable.
posted by Plutor at 5:55 AM on February 7, 2005

Allen Steele's Lunar Descent, a near-future story which was a fun read, and
Jerry Pournelle's Birth of Fire, a very Heinleinesque Mars rebellion story.
posted by cardboard at 6:02 AM on February 7, 2005

Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy deals with a newly colonised Mars and eventually with its scientists-as-champions-of-humanity inhabitants getting feisty against Earth. I've yet to start the third book, but so far the series has been both engrossing and tedious (it'll probably be another year before I get the energy to read the next one). I don't care for most of the central characters, but the transformation of Mars itself is very interesting and worthwhile, even if hard sci-fi usually leaves you cold.
posted by picea at 6:21 AM on February 7, 2005

With much zeitgeist, of course, there's Vonnegut's classic The Sirens of Titan, with fitting Zeitgeist.
posted by hellbient at 6:22 AM on February 7, 2005

damn, too much previewing...sorry for the double zeitgeist. more coffee...
posted by hellbient at 6:24 AM on February 7, 2005

Ben Bova has written a new series of 'Moon rebellion' books called Moonrise and Moonwar. They're fun but nothing special (just like Milennium, it seems).

I'd second the Mars trilogy. I'm told by friends that it's quite heavy going, but personally I loved every bit of it - then again, it was one of those life-changing books for me so I'm hardly impartial :)
posted by adrianhon at 6:35 AM on February 7, 2005

I did the Mars trilogy thing too, and Picea's description of it as "both engrossing and tedious" is spot on. I did feel rewarded at the end though and it seems to suggest a billion possible scenarios and problems that colonisation could bring that I would have never began to consider.
posted by frowned at 6:37 AM on February 7, 2005

Does it have to be our moon? Ursula K. Le Guin's very classic The Dispossessed happens in another solar system with an Earth-like society split between the opulent mother planet and the barren moon (settled by rebelling utopian anarchists and out of communication for two hundred years before the start of the book).

It's not hard sci-fi, and its focus is more political than exploratory, but I found it particularly compelling. Of course, you have to like Le Guin's particular style to be able to really get into it, I think.
posted by nelleish at 6:40 AM on February 7, 2005

It's not the Moon, but Moving Mars by Greg Bear deals with a rebellion on Mars. (Eventually.)
posted by Johnny Assay at 6:45 AM on February 7, 2005

I'm thinking you would really like James P. Hogan's Giants books, beginning with Inherit the Stars. It's a bit of a mystery story so don't read too far into the reviews. It's not quite exactly precisely a 'moon revolt' story, but, without wanting to say too much, I still think you'd find it suits.
posted by Wolfdog at 6:56 AM on February 7, 2005

I agree that Moonrise and Moonwar are both okay/fun but nothing special, and that RGB Mars is good.

Moving Mars is very good. It's set in the same wet-nanotech universe as his Queen of Angels and / (slant).

Neither of these have lunar rebellions, but I think fit the if-you-liked-those-you'll-like this test:

John Varley, Steel Beach; a reporter in a Lunar city uncovers problems with the controlling AI and hijinks ensue.
John Varley, Red Thunder; a washed-up ex-astronaut and some teenagers build a rocket and go to Mars.

Both of the Varley books are strongly influenced by Heinlein (to the point that the main character in Red Thunder is named Manny).

Greg Bear, Eon. No rebellions of any planetary bodies, but there's enough warfare-in-outer-space going on that you might find it satisfying. Substantially more Weird Shit than in TMIAHM or Millennium though.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 6:58 AM on February 7, 2005

Rebel Moon, by Bruce Bethke, is a fun read, and definitely one for the list. He also wrote a really funny kind of Snow Crash parody called Headcrash that everyone should definitely check out.
posted by 31d1 at 7:05 AM on February 7, 2005

You had to ask. I was just thinking about one I remember from childhood about a post-Apocalyptic colony on the moon who has to send a party back every few years for uranium to run the reactor. Last expedition the main character's dad went back, and disappeared. The main character goes back, and discovers his dad has set himself up as a general, of sorts, with an agenda. I remember it had a cool vibe and a nice understated realism, but I can't...remember...the name! Maybe someone else can.
posted by atchafalaya at 7:44 AM on February 7, 2005

David Wingrove's eight-volume Chung Kuo series deals, in part, with a rebellion by lunar colonies, as part of a general rebellion. Book five, maybe? I can't remember exactly.
posted by goatdog at 8:44 AM on February 7, 2005

While not exactly about a lunar rebellion, you may enjoy Fallen Angles. It has lots of Sci Fi fandom in-jokes, but even if you don't get them, it's still an enjoyable read. And if it ain't, it's a quick read, and it's free, so... there you go.
posted by Capn at 8:51 AM on February 7, 2005

You might get a kick out of Niven and Pournelle's Oath of Fealty. In many ways it's the authors' explicit reply to Heinlein's Moon, which I think is the greatest piece of hard SF ever written.
posted by ikkyu2 at 11:03 AM on February 7, 2005

Harvest of Stars by Poul Anderson.

also

Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson.
posted by lyam at 12:15 PM on February 7, 2005

The Giants series is awesome and just what your looking for if you like Mistress. Thats for the reminder Wolfdog I think I'm going to dig out my copies.
posted by Mitheral at 12:29 PM on February 7, 2005

Orson Scott Card's sequel to Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead deals with a colony on another planet but less about rebellion, more about aliens.
posted by scazza at 1:21 PM on February 7, 2005

A classic of the rebelling against the Earth genre/motif is C. J. Cherryh's Downbelow Station. I also second the kim stanley robinson (though I've found from experience that it isn't for everyone).
posted by advil at 2:05 PM on February 7, 2005

Not just Red Mars but the whole Mars Trilogy (Red, Green and Blue Mars) by Kim Stanley Robinson is about the colonisation of Mars and it's subsequent fallout (and reconcilliation) with Earth.
posted by PenDevil at 1:48 AM on February 8, 2005

Thank you for all of your suggestions! I'm going to have a busy spring, it looks like.

I'd been pointed towards RGB Mars before, but I had been put off because I had heard that it was a dense read. I guess I'll have to grab it from the library soon.
posted by Plutor at 5:16 AM on February 8, 2005

Software by Rudy Rucker is about a future in which robots, or "boppers", have rebelled against their human creators and set up their own society on the moon.
posted by gentle at 5:44 PM on February 8, 2005