Musings of a Hugo Voter: Big Boys Don't Cry, by Tom Kratman
Killing a couple birds with one stone, herewith my Amazon review:
This is NOT a cheap imitation Bolo story. Indeed, it pokes some holes in that 'verse.
ObDisclaimer: I don't claim to be objective. I know Tom. I've been a character in a couple of his
books (yes, he killed me. Along with a whole PT boat full of other IRL fans.). That said, I'll echo
the other reviewers who are saying, this ain't yer typical Kratman. Some will make a big deal about
this being published by Castalia instead of Baen -- as if, perhaps, this one didn't come up to Baen's
standards. Wrong -- It's because Baen is still printing Laumer's Boloverse stories, and this is
anything but.
Starting with "Honor of the Regiment", Laumer's Bolos are quintessential soldiers. They are imbued
with military virtues, esprit de corps, and all that good stuff. The one question that nobody asks in the
Bolo stories, and indeed, very few readers have asked, is how did they get that way? Tom fires up
the cooker and bakes us a similar universe, with his own brand of not-quite-Bolo cybertanks,
called Rathas. In particular, the viewpoint character in this novella is a female-persona Ratha
named Magnolia aka Maggie. Things start out very similar to a Boloverse story, and then the
black-and-white starts giving way to ever-murkier shades of moral gray. By the end, you find out
how (at least in this universe) a baby AI can be turned into a killing machine. It's vaguely
reminiscent of BF Skinner on meth. It is said that one really doesn't want to watch laws, or
sausage, being made. Training a cybertank AI can be similar.
A spoiler -- Maggie finds redemption in the final sentence.
I got this as part of the Hugo packet, and am reviewing what I read, as voting notes.
This is NOT a cheap imitation Bolo story. Indeed, it pokes some holes in that 'verse.
ObDisclaimer: I don't claim to be objective. I know Tom. I've been a character in a couple of his
books (yes, he killed me. Along with a whole PT boat full of other IRL fans.). That said, I'll echo
the other reviewers who are saying, this ain't yer typical Kratman. Some will make a big deal about
this being published by Castalia instead of Baen -- as if, perhaps, this one didn't come up to Baen's
standards. Wrong -- It's because Baen is still printing Laumer's Boloverse stories, and this is
anything but.
Starting with "Honor of the Regiment", Laumer's Bolos are quintessential soldiers. They are imbued
with military virtues, esprit de corps, and all that good stuff. The one question that nobody asks in the
Bolo stories, and indeed, very few readers have asked, is how did they get that way? Tom fires up
the cooker and bakes us a similar universe, with his own brand of not-quite-Bolo cybertanks,
called Rathas. In particular, the viewpoint character in this novella is a female-persona Ratha
named Magnolia aka Maggie. Things start out very similar to a Boloverse story, and then the
black-and-white starts giving way to ever-murkier shades of moral gray. By the end, you find out
how (at least in this universe) a baby AI can be turned into a killing machine. It's vaguely
reminiscent of BF Skinner on meth. It is said that one really doesn't want to watch laws, or
sausage, being made. Training a cybertank AI can be similar.
A spoiler -- Maggie finds redemption in the final sentence.
I got this as part of the Hugo packet, and am reviewing what I read, as voting notes.