Grand Tour (novel series)

Grand Tour (novel series)

The Grand Tour is a series of novels written by science fiction author Ben Bova.

ummary

The novels present a theme of exploration and colonization of the solar system by humans in the late 21st century. Most of the books focus on the exploration of one particular planet or planetary moon.

Several recurring themes are presented throughout the series. In particular, most of the solar system bodies whose exploration is the focus of a particular novel are presented as having life, either past or present. Many of the expeditions which explore the planets run into serious difficulty. The protagonists of most of these books are presented as initially weak and/or lacking in ability or confidence, and as part of surviving the trials of the story become heroic.

The future humanity as depicted in the "Grand Tour" novel series is divided between "Greens" (environmentalists) and wealthy industrialists, as well as between secularists/scientists and religious fundamentalists. These conflicts generally are presented as part of the background and often set up the initial conflicts of each of the books. In addition, several of the books reference, or indeed directly deal with, conflicts between wealthy industrialists and small, independent operators seeking to exploit the solar system's vast untapped mineral wealth.

The above themes are arguably illustrative of Ben Bova's well-known views regarding capitalism and environmentalism.

List of novels, in chronological order

According to Ben Bova's official site (http://www.benbova.com) he states that the Grand Tour novels take place in this time sequence, with many of the novels overlapping:

* "Powersat" (2005)
* "Empire Builders" (1993)
* "Mars" (1992)
* "Moonrise" (1996) (The Moonbase Saga, v. I)
* "Moonwar" (1998) (The Moonbase Saga, v. II)
* "Return to Mars" (1999)
* "The Precipice" (2001) (The Asteroid Wars, v. 1)
* "Jupiter" (2001)
* "The Rock Rats" (2002) (The Asteroid Wars, v. 2)
* "The Silent War" (2004) (The Asteroid Wars, v. 3)
* "Saturn" (2002)
* "Titan" (2006), John W. Campbell Memorial Award
* "The Aftermath" (2007) (The Asteroid Wars, v. 4)
* "Mercury" (2005)
* "Venus" (2000)
* "Tales of the Grand Tour" (2004) (short story collection. This work contains stories that span much of the timeline of the Grand Tour)
* "Mars Life" (Coming out August 2008)


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Grand Tour (disambiguation) — Grand Tour can refer to:*The Grand Tour (George Jones album), a 1974 country music album by George Jones.:* The Grand Tour, the title track from Jones 1974 album. *Grand Tour, a tour of European cultural centers that once was a standard feature… …   Wikipedia

  • Grand Tour — The Grand Tour was the traditional travel of Europe undertaken by mainly upper class European young men of means. The custom flourished from about 1660 until the advent of mass railroad transit in the 1840s, and was associated with a standard… …   Wikipedia

  • Venus (novel) — infobox Book | name = Venus title orig = translator = author = Ben Bova illustrator = country = United States language = English series = Grand Tour genre = Science Fiction publisher = Tor Books release date = May, 2001 media type = Print… …   Wikipedia

  • Grand Admiral Thrawn — Star Wars character This file is a candidate for speedy deletion. It may be deleted after Saturday, 26 November 2011. Portrayed by …   Wikipedia

  • novel — novel1 novellike, adj. /nov euhl/, n. 1. a fictitious prose narrative of considerable length and complexity, portraying characters and usually presenting a sequential organization of action and scenes. 2. (formerly) novella (def. 1). [1560 70; …   Universalium

  • Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia — Infobox Russian Royalty|grand duke name = Alexei Alexandrovich title =Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia imgw = 200px caption = spouse = Alexandra Vasilievna Zhukovskaya issue = Alexei Alexandrovich imperial house =House of Holstein… …   Wikipedia

  • Coast (TV series) — Coast Genre Documentary Created by BBC Birmingham Directed by Jonathan Barker Oliver Clark …   Wikipedia

  • Mercury (novel) — Mercury   Author(s) Ben Bova …   Wikipedia

  • Jupiter (novel) — Infobox Book | name = Jupiter image caption = Cover of the UK Hardcover edition author = Ben Bova series = Grand Tour genre = Science Fiction publisher = Hodder Stoughton pub date = 2 Nov 2000 media type = Print (Hardcover) pages = 444 (Hardcover …   Wikipedia

  • Visual novel — Représentation très répandue parmi les visual novel : un décor, un personnage (ici Wikipe tan) et une boîte de dialogue. Un visual novel (ビジュアルノベル, bijuaru noberu …   Wikipédia en Français

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”