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Denver Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Club |
THE HOLY LAND
by
ROBERT ZUBRIN
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The Holy Land (2003) |
From the back cover
To save the Minervans from oppression in the central galaxy, the liberal Western Galactic Empire relocates the sect to their ancient homeland of Kennewick, Washington. But for the fundamentalist fanatics who rule the United States, the presence of pagans in the holy city is intolerable.
When direct assault to expel the intruders fails, the U.S. government tries to mobilize galactic opinion by moving Kennewickians into miserable refugee camps and recruiting their children for suicidal attacks on the Minervans. But this play for sympathy falls on deaf ears of the policy makers of the mighty WGE.
If the Minervans are ever to be removed, the WGE needs to receive a more forceful message, and the President and his cabinet are prepared to deliver it. Camps for training planet assassins are set up. Soon, billions of pagan aliens would know the wrath of the followers of Jesus.
Unfortunately, there was one little problem with this brilliant plan.
Sitting in his cell in Minervan occupied Kennewick, Sergeant Andrew Hamilton, POW, watched the video screen in disbelief. Yankee Stadium was filled with people screaming "Death to the Western Galactic Empire!"
Then cheerleaders deployed throughout the stadium began leading the several hundred thousand attendees in a furious chant.
"Death to the Weegees! Death to the Weegees! Death to the Weegees!"
As the mob chanted, floats depicting the Milky Way Galaxy were paraded into the stadium's playing field. On signal, thousands of the reverend's flock jumped over the bleacher walls to storm the field. Surrounding each effigy galaxy, the rioters pulled down their pants and started urinating on its western spiral arm.
Hamilton heard a sound behind him. It was Priestess 3rd class Aurora, his captress and case officer, watching the video over his shoulder.
"You Earthlings are quite insane," she said.
Hamilton turned to Aurora. A mass frenzy of the sort exhibited in the stadium could lead to war. "If it comes to a fight, what are our chances?"
"Less than zero. The Western Galactic Empire includes over a hundred million planets, and has a fleet of over a hundred billion interstellar battleships."
Hamilton was awed. "So they would just crush us like ants."
Aurora laughed. "There you go again, with your delusions of grandeur."
Read for group discussion on October 22, 2003
Aaron's book review of The Holy Land on Fantastic Reviews
| RATINGS:
How we each rated this book |
| Dan | - | Amy | 7 |
 |
10 Wow! Don't miss it 8-9 Highly recommended 7 Recommended 5-6 Mild recommendation 3-4 Take your chances 1-2 Below average; skip it 0 Get out the flamethrower! U Unfinishable or unreadable - Skipped or no rating given |
| Cheri | 5 | Barb | - | ||
| Aaron | 8 | Cynthia | - | ||
| Jackie | - | Ron | 4 | ||
| Christine | 6 | Mitch | - |
Bibliography:
Robert Zubrin is an astronautical engineer, best known for his non-fiction promoting the colonization of space. The Case for Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must (1997, with Richard Wagner) details how a manned mission to Mars using available technologies could be both successful and affordable. Entering Space: Creating a Spacefaring Civilization (1999) discusses the feasibility and necessity of colonizing our solar system and beyond. Mars on Earth: The Adventures of Space Pioneers in the High Arctic (2003) recounts simulated expeditions to Mars Zubrin led in the Arctic and Antarctic. In addition to these books, Zubrin has published upwards of one hundred essays and articles on space colonization.
Zubrin has also edited books on space colonization, including Islands in the Sky: Bold New Ideas for Colonizing Space (1996, with Stanley Schmidt), From Imagination to Reality: Mars Exploration Studies of the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society (1997), Proceedings of the Founding Convention of the Mars Society (1999), and On to Mars: Colonizing a New World (2002, with Frank Crossman)
Prior to The Holy Land, Zubrin’s only science fiction novel was First Landing (2001), a thriller about the first manned expedition to Mars.
Formerly a senior engineer at Lockheed Martin, Zubrin is founder and President of the International Mars Society and of Pioneer Astronautics, and has chaired the executive committee of the National Space Society.
Thanks to Aaron for providing this Robert Zubrin bibliography
Links:
Aaron's book review of The Holy Land on Fantastic Reviews
Polaris Books web site
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This page was last updated October 03, 2008