I bought this book a decade ago, after hearing quite a bit of fuss written about it. Already, it has managed to influence many other science fiction universes, with its concentration on brown dwarfs and their planetary systems and the human cultures which have sprung up on their worlds. Read Simon Bisson’s excellent review.evildrganymede is livejournal’s local expert on brown dwarfs, published and everything, so he can correct me. Briefly put, brown dwarfs are star-like objects which lack sufficient mass to sustain nuclear fusion for more than a few hundred million years, but which are substantially more massive than superjovian planets, ranging between 15 and 70 Jovian masses. Their importance to would-be interstellar colonizers lies in the fact that, as low-mass objects which form through the same processes of stellar condensation as other stars, brown dwarfs should be relatively more common than main-sequence stars capable of sustaining fusion, since it is easier to accumulate (say) 50 Jovian masses worth of material to form a brown dwarf than 500 Jovian masses. Indeed, one survey suggests that there might be twice as many brown dwarf stars as main-sequence stars This has implications for a human interstellar civilization, particularly if the interstellar propulsion methods used are limited by distance, for instance like 2300AD‘s stutterwarp drive. In the 2300AD universe, for instance, within the range of stutterwarp drive from Earth, for instance, there are only five stars–Wolf 359, Barnard’s Star, and the three stars of Alpha Centauri. The limited range of the stutterwarp interstellar drive establishes a highly specific astrographic setting, with the only stars reachable being those which lie within range of other stars which are themselves reachable only by stutterwarp. If there were, in addition to the five main-sequence stars already mentioned, ten brown dwarfs located at random within 7.7 light years of Earth, this would drastically open up the volumes of space accessible to human interstellar civilization. Only the most isolated stars could not be reached. More, there could well be suitable targets for colonization in these brown dwarf planetary systems, which did, after all, form like the planetary systems of main sequence stars. Terrestrial-type planets could be terraformed, moons like the Galilean satellites of Jupiter and Saturn’s Titan could be colonized by people with suitably advanced technological packages, and asteroid belts orbiting Brown Dwarf #1897 would be indistinguishable (for colonization purposes) from asteroid belts at Wolf 359. Superjovian planets in interstellar space might be more common still than brown dwarfs, but again, the same provisos relating to their suitability as way stations for interstellar travellers and destinations for colonization missions apply. Introducing brown dwarfs and superjovian planets to an interstellar civilization should have the effect, in short, of drastically expanding its volume.The universe of Permanence is one where, for several millennia, human interstellar travel and colonization have tended to focus upon brown dwarfs and superjovian planets in interstellar space. Rue Cassels, Permanence‘s protagonist, was born in a deep-space mining habitat loosely associated with the partly-terraformed world of Erythion. Rue has the misfortune, however, of being born at a time when Earth has invented a particular method of faster-than-light drive that excludes brown dwarfs, superjovians, and their worlds and inhabitants from a nascent interstellar economy–only main-sequence stars are massive enough to create stellar gravity wells which can trigger the jump to faster-than-light travel. This would not be a significant problem but for the fact that slower-than-light starships are immensely more massive than Earth’s quick faster-than-light craft. Slowly but surely, the numerous civilizations which grew up in the wilderness beyond the main-sequence stars are being cut off from interstellar civilization, as civilizations around main-sequence stars are coerced by Earth to abandon slower-than-light travel and the deep-space civilizations realize that they are not wealthy enough to launch slower-than-light starships of their own. Naturally enough, Rue manages to accidentally stumble upon a key to reversing the deep-space civilizations’ decline in a most unexpected manner. (You really should read Simon Bisson’s review.)I suppose that part of the reason I’m so interested in Permanence is because I come from Prince Edward Island, a province of Canada that has suffered from serious relative decline since it joined Confederation. Like the decline of the brown dwarf/superjovian civilizations in the Permanence universe, PEI’s decline was probably inevitable, since it was too small (in population, land area, wealth) to survive, and lacked the resources and desire to be a self-contained society. Permanence‘s cultures, marginalized just like PEI by broad-scale political integration into a society dominated by a transport/communications network that bypasses them as a matter of course, are much more resilient. (Alien technology definitely helps, at the same time that it can also destabilize things.)Anyway, I highly recommend Permanence. read it at the library, or better yet buy one. Schroeder definitely deserves to be rewarded.
I don't think I've encountered a book this ambitious (or this well executed) since the Hyperion Cantos. This book has kind of shaken me in a way few ever have.The primary protagonist of the story, Rue Cassels, is an amazing young girl who is force to quickly grow into strong young woman after being thrown a few fairly crazy life twists. When the book starts, her brother is attempting to sell her into slavery, only to have that turned on its head when she discovers of an abandoned starship and is thrown into a world she barely understands. She has a good heart though, and it slowly draws a crew around her and the ship that in some cases don't even know they've joined until the critical moment. The rest of the characters are likable, and all have their little twists! From the NeoShintoist rebel with his life-changing kami, to the professor and his studies of other alien species, everyone is just trying to survive and do the best they can while not being overwhelmed by fate and a civil war that threatens everything they hold dear. And that's to say nothing of Rue and the other halo-worlders whose life-affirming Cycler Compact is under threat from simple apathy and abandonment. Everyone has something to lose, and it takes them coming together and risking it all to make something truly special.Now, the Cycler Compact and the Rights Economy. Those two are an interesting take on interstellar civilizations, and there's a lot of politics and economics blended into their mixes. While the R.E. is a bit like capitalism gone mad (and unsurprisingly so, given the economics of travel posited in the book), the Cycler Compact is at once somber and life-affirming. I could be mistaken, but Karl may be putting his own little seed out there, and seeing how it might grow. ;) For years, I've actually worried a bit about the viability of ever creating an interstellar civilization without faster than light travel, but I'm not so sure that's a loss anymore. I think the Compact could be a better way. A hopeful way. Together.I'm going to treasure this one, forever.
What do You think about Permanence (2003)?
There are a lot of instances in this book where events would abruptly happen that the author did poorly to prepare the reader for, or significant events that are mentioned only briefly that should have gotten more description. Not being able to properly view the novel from the point of view of a first time reader is the hallmark of a first novel, in this case it's Schroeder's second- and I think it's the fault of the editor as much as the writer.The biggest example here is to have a magic science fiction technology X that late in the novel turns to be used in a brand new way that supposedly no one else had thought of. Because the author only poorly defined the limitations in the first place it's not really a revelation at all, just an arbitrary change of rules for convenience. And after that none of the characters takes a moment to realize that this new application renders their past motivations and current plans mostly pointless. Iain M. Banks 'The Algebraist' in contrast does this much better.Other than all that I really liked the depiction of slower-than-light interstellar travel.
—Lucas
This book took a while to get into, but into it we did done got. Er. I've always felt that the best science fiction isn't about the technology, the aliens, or the general freedom it gives to authors to just make up stuff they think is neat. Those stories work only with readers who share the fantasies that the author is playing out. Great science fiction is about people. The speculative aspect of science fiction allows the author to give relevance to an idea that would be entirely abstract in real life. I do rant. The setting of Permanence was just that: a setting. The real story was about the ideas that the characters forwarded. Not as heavy as some things I've read, but it did touch on some of the essentials of taoist/buddhist philosophy and (briefly but significantly) on the subject of memes. The author showed some self-consciousness in the amount of explaining that he did of certain things, but overall it was a smooth read.
—Jeremy
Good hard SF, though I got a little hung up on some seeming inconsistencies. Supposedly self-reproducing automata are banned, yet the protagonist gets reminded by her "blood bots" to eat more silicon when she's stressed so they can make more. I love that the Evil Galactic Empire is basically a DRM scheme gone mad, but one of the bits about it is the bad guy's starship is going to be shut down if he gets any further behind in his royalty payments, yet the bad guy is currently in one of the "dark" systems where the FTL drive doesn't work (this is necessary to make the plot go.)I did like that one of the good guys was somewhat bipolar, though Schroeder doesn't hit the reader over the head with it. The character occasionally just sort of disappears, and it's found he's just sitting at home unable to go out or talk to anyone, due to depression.
—Rich Mcallister
