| The Void Captain's Tale begins drily enough, a nice description of the infancy of warp space drive in which the only persons foolhardy enough to attempt such travel, are the lifestyles of the rich and famous. It is also the pentultimate in "heroics" as it symbolises human mastery over the universe that is forever expanding. It is Humanity's shining hour; it is humanity's Raison d'etre. Genro, the Captain of the pleasure and luxury liner, has erroneously met his Void Pilot in dry dock, which turns out to be his undoing, as the Void Pilots are always the unknown members of the complement. Their job, is to be literally inserted into the circuit that will allow the ship to jump x number of warps, making interstellar travel possible. Most Void Pilots come from the ranks of addicts, in which warp jumping becomes their new drug. Most are incorherent, mad things, making it irrelevent is ANYONE knows who they are. Genro's Void Pilot is the illusive Dominique Alia Woo. She is a void pilot by default as she was a passenger, on a ship whose pilot had died in mid-jump. As the ship had become derelict in deep space, the Captain went among the passengers to find a volunteer to jump the ship back to safety. Domonique manages the impossible, a blind jump which saves the ship from certain doom, afterwhich, she is hopelessly addicted to her job, having actually glimpsed Those Who Had Gone Before. Captain Genro begins a sick obsession with Domonique, odd in that by the third jump, she begins to resemble a patient with advance Aids. She can't stand him, threatening to go on strike. He neglects his duties shamefully, that even his Domo(cruise director) is miffed. She seemed suspiciosly similar to Star Trek's very own Nichelle Nichols. In the end, Genro is so sick with obsession, that he forgets to perform the last dump, and Domonique dies in mid jump, jumping the ship into Lord Only Knows Where, leaving Genro to go among the passengers to search a volunteer to jump the ship back to safety. | ||
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Plot FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - science fiction story Explore/1st contact/ enviro story Yes Plotlets: Romance Yes Romance plotlets: - Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book Descript. of chases or violence - 0 % planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30 % Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30 % Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 40 % Human/magical couple? Yes Main Character Identity: - Male Profession/status: Age: - 40's-50's Has magical/special powers? Yes Magical/mental powers of main character: - mind reading - is very quick - can read emotions Eccentric: Yes - wild Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings Sense of humor - Strong but gentle sense of humor Intelligence - - - Smarter than most other characters Physique - very athletic Main Adversary Identity: - Female Age: - 20's-30's Profession/status: Eccentric: Yes - eccentric - mentally ill - deluded - emotionally unstable - wild How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a substantial amount How sensitive is this character? Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters Physique - very athletic Setting Terrain Spaceship setting: - futuristic human warship - someone is depressurized - futuristic human freighter/transport - really, really giant spaceship/station A substantial portion of this book takes place on a non-Earth planetary body: - humans in a futuristic society - inhabited by friendly aliens - neutral aliens - empty, or nearly empty world - very controlled society Planet outside solar system? Yes Takes place in spaceship? Yes Style Person? - mostly 1st Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment scientific jargon? (SF only) - quite a lot of techical jargon Sex in book? Yes What kind of sex: - vague references only Is this an e-book? Yes How much dialogue? - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog |
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