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ARTEMIS by Andy Weir (THE MARTIAN)

 
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Gord Green
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Joined: 06 Oct 2014
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Location: Buffalo, NY

PostPosted: Fri Jul 13, 2018 12:11 am    Post subject: ARTEMIS by Andy Weir (THE MARTIAN) Reply with quote

Andy Weir has admitted that one of his favorite writers is the prolific Master---, Robert Heinlein and this novel reads like he is channeling him from the Great Beyond.

While there is no connection to the plot the feeling throughout this book is like a mash-up of THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS and PODKAYNE OF MARS. That is by no means a criticism, but a great delight! As in PODKANE the story is told in the first person voice of a young girl , in this case a young girl from Saudi Arabia with father issues , and not from Mars, but from the Moon..

Artemis (Crown, 305 pp., ) by Andy Wier





Jazz Bashara is a criminal.

Well, sort of. Life on Artemis, the first and only city on the moon, is tough if you're not a rich tourist or an eccentric billionaire. So smuggling in the occasional harmless bit of contraband barely counts, right? Not when you've got debts to pay and your job as a porter barely covers the rent.

The story follows Jasmine Bashara, a.k.a. Jazz, an aimless yet prodigal twentysomething who yearns to leave her boring, small-town life behind for something bigger and better. Except in Jazz’s case, her small town is named Artemis and just so happens to be the first–and only–city on the moon. But life on the moon isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, especially if you’re not obscenely wealthy.

Being an independent delivery person/petty smuggler isn’t working out. She lives in a coffin-like cubical appointed only with a bed and a shelf, and she mostly eats “gunk,” the dried algae that is the standard fare of the moon’s "little people".

Her main squeeze, Tyler, was stolen away by another man, an Israeli no less. (Remember, Jazz is from Saudi Arabia.)







Jazz longs to be free of her hardscrabble existence. One of the many things that apparently hasn’t changed in more than half a century is income inequality. She describes her lunar socio-economic status as working class, her "hood" in scatological terms, and her "residence" this way: "My coffin isn't going to be featured in Better Homes and Moonscapes anytime soon, but it's all I can afford."



Everything changes when Jazz sees the chance to commit the perfect crime, with a reward too lucrative to turn down. But pulling off the impossible is just the start of her problems, as she learns that she's stepped square into a conspiracy for control of Artemis itself—and that now, her only chance at survival lies in a gambit even riskier than the first.

Unlike astronaut Mark Watney, Jazz’s biggest challenge won’t be finding the perfect way to convert your living room into a makeshift potato farm.

Unlike Mark’s lonely planet, Jazz’s moon is populated: a sort of galactic Wild West where the digital currency is called slugs, the basic food unit is a Soylent-like substance known as gunk, and a clever girl can earn her keep running contraband (butane, ethanol, Dominican cigars).
Rather, Jazz, who works as a porter, finds herself caught up in a life of crime when her side hustle as a smuggler leads her to the perfect score.

Unfortunately, this so-called “perfect score” winds up having unexpected consequences and soon Jazz finds herself caught in the middle of a shadowy conspiracy as opposing forces vie for control of Artemis itself.
When an eccentric Norwegian billionaire enlists her to sabotage a local smelter, the pay is irresistible, but the price when it goes badly is much more than she’s bet on. Weir has an undeniable gift for bringing NASA-level knowledge down to earth; you may not close Artemis’ pages feeling particularly enriched or awed by the wonders of the cosmos, but at least you’ll know exactly how to weld an airlock in lunar vacuum and gravity
-------------------------------------------
Andy answered some questions online regarding his writing attitude for this novel :

Quote:
Andy Weir :"I usually start with the setting. First, make the world the characters will inhabit, then make the characters. They live in that world, so I need to know about it before I understand what they’re like.
."Right this moment, I’m working on a book that is not related to Artemis. But I definitely plan to return to Artemis for sequels in the future. Readers consistently had good things to say about the setting—even readers who didn’t like the book overall. So I’m definitely on to something."
------------------------------------------

Andy Weir is back. His second sci-fi novel, Artemis (Crown, 305 pp., ★★★ out of four), is an action-packed techno-thriller of the first order. His first was The Martian, a best seller that launched the movie starring Matt Damon.

With The Martian, Andy Weir pulled off a singularly neat trick, slathering a serious hard-science pill in the chunky peanut butter of popular fiction. His 2011 debut, originally self-published online, went on to become the kind of best-seller that blankets airport bookshops, earned Matt Damon an Oscar nod for the blockbuster movie adaptation, and is even used in school curricula to turn reluctant students into proud space nerds. How you feel about his follow-up, though, will probably depend a lot on how much you enjoyed his talky, utilitarian style of left-brained storytelling the first time.

To add to the great appeal of the novel there is an audio version narrated by Rosaria Dawson .




(Some comments derived from multiple sources.)
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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.
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Gord Green
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Joined: 06 Oct 2014
Posts: 2940
Location: Buffalo, NY

PostPosted: Tue Jul 17, 2018 7:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

From : SPACE.COM

https://www.space.com/41195-andy-weir-artemis-movie-writer-announced.html

20th Century Fox has chosen movie writer Geneva Robertson-Dworet to adapt Andy Weir's "Artemis," an action-packed crime caper set on an isolated moon base.

Robertson-Dworet is also writing the screenplay for the "Captain Marvel" movie, scheduled to be released in 2019, according to a new report from Deadline.com.

Phil Lord and Chris Miller, known for "21 Jump Street" (2012) and "The Lego Movie" (2014), are set to direct, the report added, and Simon Kinberg and Aditya Sood will produce the movie for Fox and New Regency.

"Artemis," which Weir published late last year, follows the lunar native (and smuggler) Jazz Bashara after she gets the job of a lifetime. An audiobook version of the novel, narrated by Rosario Dawson, was released simultaneously.

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mach7
Quantum Engineer


Joined: 23 Apr 2015
Posts: 333

PostPosted: Wed Aug 01, 2018 5:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I loved this book!

Completely different, yet exactly the same as "The Martian"

A great read that I could not put down. I was waiting for this book with the same anticipation as "Go Set A Watchman".

Yes, it's that good.

I hope 20th century Fox gives this the same treatment as "The Martian" and resist the temptation to go politically correct.

The characters in this book are completely believable, the science is just as good as his 1st book, and the caper is VERY well thought out with twists.

Jazz is a criminal? Maybe, in the end she is. But she is also extremely admirable (at times).

She aspires to a better life and works at it, while trying to atone for past mistakes.
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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 14, 2018 2:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I just received the audio version of ARTEMIS read by Rosario Dawson from Amazon. The mp3 version sells for $9.99 plus shipping.



One of the complaints about the book has been that Weir was trying to write a woman's thoughts and words and they didn't sound true coming from his male point of view.

After listening to Dawson's narration I think that that is a totally inaccurate description. Her reading captures the personality of Jazz and presents her as a really believable person. She does a great job on all the voices of the other characters as well.

A reviewer wrote :

"For the audiobook, Dawson makes it even more interesting. She also, for the most part, nails the many accents she does for the multi-ethnic cast.

The actress reportedly worked closely with a dialect coach for this project, and her hard work shows; there was only a few times where I heard a character’s accent drop, and the only reason why I even noticed it was because the voice work was so consistent throughout.

This audiobook comes across like a well-done radio play, and I found it very easy to become fully absorbed in it.

The audiobook does take the storytelling to the next level."


HIGHLY RECOMENDED !!!

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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.
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Bud Brewster
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Joined: 14 Dec 2013
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Location: North Carolina

PostPosted: Tue Aug 14, 2018 4:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

___________________________

Great news, Gord!

On the subject of talented female voice performers, here's a related bit of info I'm very excited about.

My daughter (All Sci-Fi member Ticket2theMoon) is currently setting up a recording studio in her spare bedroom so she can create audio books for organizations like Audible.com.

I'm hoping she might be able to create the audio book versions of my two published novels! Very Happy

She's also been selected to appear in an "Old Time Radio Theater" performance being staged by the Atlanta Radio Theater Company at the upcoming. . . .(drum roll please) . . . DragonCon in Atlanta!

~ Click on the ARTC link above and scroll down.

This will be an on-stage performance of actors presenting a "vintage radio play" of . . . (drum again, please ) . . . 20,000 Leagues on the Sea!



_____


She'll be playing a major role, the niece of Professor Aronnax — a character named Christine Conseil, a female version of the Peter Lorre role from the movie!

So, if anybody out there is planning to attend this year's DragonCon (August 30th to September 3rd) you'll be able to enjoy the performance.

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 14, 2018 11:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hopefully this will show up on YouTube!

You should be proud Bud!

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