A double bill, by author Jerry Pournelle, Fires of Freedom has two of his stories that deal with individuals and their fights against oppressive governments.

The first story deals with a young American who is shipped off to Mars as part of a deal to keep him out of prison on Earth. On Mars he joins a movement for an independent Mars. This story read so much like any number of Robert Heinlein novels that I thought he had come back from the grave. It's a decent read but I think the best was saved for last.

The second story takes place in the same universe as The Moat In God's Eye. It details a small colonial planet's attempt to gain some respect within the empire. I loved this story and it makes me want to read much more of the books that are in this universe.

I recommend this book primarily on the strength of the second (and longer) story. Both stories together make for an excellent read.

I haven't done any book blogging, but I thought I might give it a whirl. A few weeks ago I finished a very good science fiction book The Mote In God's Eye. I'm reasonably certain I had heard good things about this book before I decided to buy it, but it would have been some time ago and the my recollection of such things is poor. I'm a big fan of the works of both Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven (both individually and as collaborators). Among other of their works I had previously read their fantastic Lucifer's Hammer back about 6 or 7 years ago.

I'm not big on summaries so here is a very simple one: a millenium from now humankind has colonized much of the galaxy but has found no evidence of non-human intelligent life. Then one day an alien probe appears near one of the colonies. The rest of the book is about the voyage to the aliens home planet and about the cultural and physical differences between the aliens and the humans. Here's a hint: the humans and aliens are very different and many problems are caused due their misunderstanding and mistrust of one another. The book attempts to adhere, with some exceptions, to a realistic physical universe. This is not a fantasy, but a work of hard science fiction.

This is an excellent book. I recommend it highly.