Review: Excelsior

It’s 2035 and Miles Cash is, as his name would suggest, one of the richest men in the world. He’s trying to redefine our entire concept of the city (and, not incidentally, get ahead of the rising seas caused by global warming) by constructing a domed metropolis in the desert. To that end, he assembles a meeting of potential investors aboard Excelsior, a Singapore-owned and operated space station. Excelsior contains a set of high tech labs as well as the ultimate luxury hotel, complete with genetically engineered cloned courtesans. These cosmic call girls are not only exquisitely beautiful and sexually skilled, they’re highly intelligent, witty, and talented outside the bedroom as well. So it’s no wonder that Cash has fallen in love with one of the high-tech harlots. In fact, part of the reason for the insane expense of holding a business meeting in space is his desire to see her again. He’s in for surprises.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, a rogue CIA agent, a literally ancient relic of the Cold War, prepares to unleash a biological holocaust on the Chinese. And Stan Creighton, the developer of the aforementioned cloned sex-toys, goes on the run from both the law and a documentary film crew led by an Oscar-obsessed producer bent on exposing him.

Excelsior is apparently being marketed by Chancellor Publishing as so-called “hard” science fiction (no pun intended; despite the plot with the space hookers, it’s not that sexy a book). The publisher’s website (www.chancellorpublishing.com) even has an entire page which functions as a sort of Appendix to the book and which explains the feasibility of the technologies involved. But the book functions just as well as a near-future version of a Tom Clancy-esque techno-thriller, at least the sort of thing Clancy wrote prior to his Extreme Bloat period. First-time author Michael Paul does a fine job of weaving the multiple storylines required by that genre into an interesting and involving tale, with an appropriately slam-bang climax. The book does drag in spots (an entire subplot involving the documentary film crew could have been severely chopped with no regret on this reader’s part), but on the whole, it’s a good read.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Dusty Rhoades - RAM

Please Note: Books reviewed are usually provided by the publisher, author, or an agent. Reviewers usually get to keep the book.

Book Review: Excelsior

Please Note: Books reviewed are usually provided by the publisher, author, or an agent. Reviewers usually get to keep the book.