seawasp | [EgoBoo] I just wanted to say...

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"Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,216 in Books (See Top Sellers in Books)"
That's what I just got idly checking Amazon on Boundary.

Boundary isn't even RELEASED yet.

Digital Knight peaked (for about one hour or so) at around #2100.

I think this one may make some considerable money. (crosses fingers)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

goodluckfox.livejournal.com

Today, rather than studying, I bought, downloaded, and read "Boundary" based on Howard Tayler's mention of the book. I thought you might like to know what drove that particular sale.

I enjoyed the story very very much. I read it all in one sitting. :)

From:

seawasp

But don't neglect your studies too often; you need to be very gainfully employed so you can buy all my books in the future. I need a good cadre of addicts. :)

From:

goodluckfox.livejournal.com

I'm a law student. Hopefully I'll be able to afford LOTS of books. :)

BTW... who was it the Bemmies were fighting... themselves? Wouldn't encounters between groups of Bemmies be really rare because of the slow transit time between stars? They'd both have to be "passing through" so to speak.

The desc of the Phobos Bemmie base made it sound like they may have had artificial gravity... doors that meet the floor, pools, conference rooms with chairs, the room outside the armory with the low wall... a lot of that stuff makes a lot more sense under a decent amount of gravity. (I also don't know that Phobos wasn't attached to a tether and spun like a bucket on a rope either). But if they've got inertial thrusters, artificial gravity doesn't seem like too far of a stretch.

What were they doing here in the FIRST place? Despite yerterday's Bemmie city's being tomorrow's interesting hole in the ground, it doesn't seem like they settled in Sol system very heavily. Earth is too rich a target not to exploit, but there's no trace of their presence here other than the fossil. It's like they showed up and "camped" around the solar system, till the park ranger showed up and shooed them all away. The Sol-Bemmies must have surrendered to the invader Bemmies, and got to leave their museum as part of the bargain?

I'm guessing that most of these are going to be answered in upcoming books. :)

From:

seawasp

... As far as anyone can tell, the Bemmies were fighting themselves. Both the Phobos base and the Mars base were built and used by Bemmies, but they were clearly on opposite sides. This doesn't, of course, rule out another species' participation.

As to the encounters and what they were doing here, let me just give one interesting quote that will occur somewhere in the next book:

"But I thought you'd come to the conclusion they didn't HAVE FTL yourself, A.J."
The sensor specialist shrugged. "I was tired and not thinking particularly straight. The combination of having succeeded in decoding the disc itself, and then finding that it didn't, in fact, immediately let us translate all that stuff because it made assumptions about who was reading it... I was depressed. If they actually DID have a reactionless drive, that sodomizes Newton and Einstein so thoroughly that I absolutely refuse to believe FTL isn't possible. Maybe they missed it -- though I doubt that -- but if they did, we sure as hell won't."

As for what they were doing here, it may be years, or never, before the characters get all those answers. Eric and I know what happened, of course.

From: (Anonymous)

From:

seawasp

Obviously the author would know better, but my own conclusion from reading the complete story is there is inconclusive evidence that the Bemmies were fighting each other. The translators are reading too much into the interpretation and assuming that because the only ETs they know about are the Bemmies, there was no one else.

Actually, there IS some discussion on this topic, but apparently not enough if you didn't spot it (I'll add more on this in the sequel). The design of the bases -- handles, doors, etc. -- all point extremely strongly to the same species having designed and lived in those bases. A Bemmie was also found both in the Vault and inside the Phobos base.

"Target" could very be "outpost" or other terms to designate a Bemmie community or facility, the station on Phobos a "high watch" security station maintaining security in the system either prior to or after an initial attack by parties unknown. Or for that matter, a transit station to move from intra/interplanetary travel craft and orbit-to/from-planet landers. Note that the Phobos station was also hit by similar means, but they obviously knew about Target 37. If they were indeed on opposites sides of a conflict and having the high ground, 37 would be toast.

Well, if Target 37 had no allies elsewhere in the system, yes, eventually. But something smashed Phobos. There's no reason that a ground target couldn't defend itself from a space bombardment for some number of exchanges; if something creams the high-ground station before it gets through your defenses, you're golden. Again, there are indications in the text -- though apparently not enough -- that there were installations in other areas of the solar system. So if both sides had some high and low ground, it basically comes down to who did the most smashing and who the last BEM standing was.

I bought the book on Saturday and just finished tonight (Sunday), so obviously I didn't find it TOO interesting, seeing as I took time to go to my girl's 2 basketball games, 2 softball practices, and violin lessons in between buying and finishing the book (and spend time with my wife - funny how they want your attention). But that being said, an excellent read! I would look forward to another book in this universe.

Thanks again, and you will see at least TWO more in this universe, as that is what Eric and I are contracted for. :)