Paperback
English language
Published Dec. 8, 2019 by Rebellion Publishing.
On a cold spring night in 1952, a huge meteorite fell to Earth and obliterated much of the east coast of the United States, including Washington, DC. The ensuing climate cataclysm will soon render Earth inhospitable for humanity, as the last such meteorite did for the dinosaurs. This looming threat calls for a radically accelerated effort to colonize space, and requires a much larger share of humanity to take part in the process.
Elma York's experience as a WASP pilot and mathematician earns her a place in the International Aerospace Coalition's attempts to put man on the moon, as a computer. But with so many skilled and experience women pilots and scientists involved with the program, it doesn't take long before Elma begins to wonder why they can't go into space, too.
Elma's drive to become the first Lady Astronaut is so strong that even the most dearly held conventions …
On a cold spring night in 1952, a huge meteorite fell to Earth and obliterated much of the east coast of the United States, including Washington, DC. The ensuing climate cataclysm will soon render Earth inhospitable for humanity, as the last such meteorite did for the dinosaurs. This looming threat calls for a radically accelerated effort to colonize space, and requires a much larger share of humanity to take part in the process.
Elma York's experience as a WASP pilot and mathematician earns her a place in the International Aerospace Coalition's attempts to put man on the moon, as a computer. But with so many skilled and experience women pilots and scientists involved with the program, it doesn't take long before Elma begins to wonder why they can't go into space, too.
Elma's drive to become the first Lady Astronaut is so strong that even the most dearly held conventions of society may not stand a chance against her.
This description comes from the publisher.
I enjoyed this book, it hit a lot of my sweet spots (alternative history, early space) and I thought it was well written. I also enjoyed the show For All Mankind which had a similar feel in a way. I think if you enjoy what I do it is a should read but I could see it not being for everyone
Alternative history - a meteor hits the earth in 1952 and humanity have to get the space program working in order to survive the extinction event level weather changes. Told from the point of view of a female pilot who wants to become an astronaut. I enjoyed this book, but it didn't really pay off the initial setup? Maybe that's because it's the first in a series. It felt like it started with a bang, and then ran out of energy. Still, the main character was intriguing enough to keep me going, although her husband was just unbelievable. Too good to be true. Reminded me of the husband NPCs created by Mathew Mercer.
Kun kohtalaisen kokoinen meteoriitti kopsahtaa otsaan, eihän siitä mitään hyvää seuraa. Tällä kertaa seuraukset ovat sen verran vakavat, että ihmiskunta alkaa tosissaan valmistella maisemanvaihdosta.
Kowalin päähenkilö Elma York on matemaattinen nero, joka päätyy laskijaksi avaruusohjelmaan mutta haaveilee pääsystä astronautiksi. Matka sitä kohti kerrotaan taiten, ja siinä sivussa käsitellään myös naisten asemaa, ihonväriin kohdistuvaa syrjintää, uskontoon kohdistuvia ennakkoluuloja jne. Nämä kaikki onnistutaan upottamaan tarinan kulkuun suhteellisen sujuvasti, vaikka hetkittäin päähenkilöt vaikuttavat olevan asennemaailmaltaan hiukan aikaansa edellä.
I was a little afraid for this book, because I had just been very impressed by [b:Cryptonomicon|816|Cryptonomicon|Neal Stephenson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327931476l/816.SY75.jpg|1166797]. It quickly established being much more fantastical than Cryptonomicon was, and much more optimistic in tone, I'd say. I think my favorite thing about this book is that the conflicts are due to people being people and overreacting or being a bit self-indulgent jerks, and not outright "villains". I'm definitely not opposed to sometime reading another book in the Lady Astronaut Universe.
The main plot element was PTSD stagefright and entirely too much time was spent on it. Not much peril for the protagonist. It felt like the scenes providing background to the stagefright were written and then edited out. The cover photo is very misleading as it is the story of one person with limited character development of others. I had high hopes after the first fifty pages but this one lost me.
Serious eye-candy, entertainment and a plain 'old fashioned' good read. This is the first space opera con alternative history I have read. I think we may have a new genre. The author hits on almost every current social issue, takes emphatic positions, and pulls it off. I'm ready to read the next in the series. But first...
I enjoyed it. Definitely one of those slower reads there's not "OMG" climax moment or anything like that, but it's an engaging read nonetheless.
A fascinating and really well written alt-history novel that really deserves its Hugo win. Characters are relatable, the social commentary is on point and the plot, despite being relatively "mundane" after the intro (or as mundane as the development of an accelerated but grounded-in-reality space program can be) moves and introduces new developments at a comfortable pace. Nice feel-good sci-fi for sure and I'll be seeking out the sequels eventually.
Delightful, engaging, full and educational even in an alternative timeline.
3.5 rounded up.
Not the book it sets out to be. Ends up being a story of marginalized characters fighting against historical status quo, very little about space. Not sure why they needed to smash a meteorite into the Earth to tell that story? Second book rectifies this a bit, but the focus remains on examining 60s social structure through a modern lens through person-to-person conflicts.
At first this book seems like it's going to be an apocalypse narrative in the vein of [b:Seveneves|22816087|Seveneves|Neal Stephenson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1449142000l/22816087.SY75.jpg|42299347] or any Roland Emmerich movie, but it turns out to be a far more thoughtful look at the struggles marginalized groups face through the device of an accelerated space race program. It also makes a point of modeling better, healthier behaviors in personal and professional contexts, and I can only hope this is not where it is most speculative. It is well researched and contains enough technical details to ground it reality, but doesn't get bogged down in them as certain other books might. Looking forward to the seeing what challenges the Lady Astronaut overcomes next.
I loved this book from the start, and as a space enthusiast I enjoyed the alternate history it depicts, in which the space program starts earlier, and ultimately goes further than it did in our timeline. Our main character,the titular Lady Astronaut, is just a little bit too perfect. She's not just a teen genius and a WW2 pilot, she also must overcome 1950s misogyny to be allowed to go into space, and she's woke enough to fight the right of her non-white friends to do the same. All while having a perfect marriage to an equally perfect husband, and fighting anxiety and social stigma about antidepressants. I still cheered for her, but her inevitable success is nothing but predictable.
The next book is going to Mars, and I'm looking forward to it.
In an alternate version of Earth's history, a meteorite strikes the USA in 1952, obliterating Washington and most of the US government. Pilot/mathematician Elma and her rocket scientist husband Nathaniel York escape immediate death by a combination of coincidence and intelligence, and make it to safety at a military base where their expertise leads them into an advisory position to the new acting president (former minister of agriculture). As Elma calculates the climate impact from the meteorite will be an initial cooling and then an escalating greenhouse effect that will be so severe the oceans will start to boil, both push for a desperate escalation of a space program to establish a colony on the moon before humanity is wiped out entirely.
In this alternate history, the story follows Elma and Nathaniel as Earth struggles to establish a moon colony on a vastly earlier timeline than ours, in an America …
In an alternate version of Earth's history, a meteorite strikes the USA in 1952, obliterating Washington and most of the US government. Pilot/mathematician Elma and her rocket scientist husband Nathaniel York escape immediate death by a combination of coincidence and intelligence, and make it to safety at a military base where their expertise leads them into an advisory position to the new acting president (former minister of agriculture). As Elma calculates the climate impact from the meteorite will be an initial cooling and then an escalating greenhouse effect that will be so severe the oceans will start to boil, both push for a desperate escalation of a space program to establish a colony on the moon before humanity is wiped out entirely.
In this alternate history, the story follows Elma and Nathaniel as Earth struggles to establish a moon colony on a vastly earlier timeline than ours, in an America where segregation is still very present, women are still in the "Mad Men" style roles of homemakers and decorations, yet are also the "Hidden Figures" style computers who are essential to spaceflight before actual electronic computers reliably exist. As a former WASP pilot, Elma struggles for the inclusion of women in the astronautics program.
I had an extremely low opinion of Kowal's first "Glamourist" book but decided to give this one a try as it's a completely different genre, and I enjoyed it a lot more. Part of this may be due to picking this one up as an audiobook - if she made as many terrible spelling choices, I wouldn't notice in audiobook form - but mainly as an American author I think the characters and setting of this book are just much more within her ability to write well (while pseudo Austin-esque last-century British characters are clearly NOT). The main character was enjoyable and, as a woman in a STEM field myself, it's always a joy to see a smart and capable heroine. Even though she seems to make some particularly stupid decisions, it was possible to frame those as a side effect of the era and attitudes towards women of the time.
The other characters were likeable enough but did seem rather stereotypical or tokenistic. Nathaniel is apparently the perfect feminist enlightened and supportive husband in every possible way, which seems more than a bit improbable given the era. The characters of other races and nationalities were good to have, but didn't really do much more for the plot than representing their race and/or nationality. The fact she's Jewish was brought up repeatedly but ultimately didn't seem to have any meaning or impact, even when she meets Wernher von Braun in person. While Kowal was clearly trying to bring up the topics of race and ethnicity and discrimination, it's done with a very shallow touch that doesn't really have any impact on anything. Elma is also a heroine with every possible advantage imaginable so that everything works out perfectly for her - rich family, perfect supportive husband, brilliant mind, brother who coincidentally happens to have exactly the right skills and job to help with her climate modelling, military father who protected her in her WASP days, etc etc. So yes, everything's just a bit easy for our heroine all the way through.
It's more of a joyful romp down alternate history while eating popcorn than a gripping novel of actual hardship, but read it eating a candy bar and it's still a fun story of an alternate history that might have been.
Brisk, enjoyable read. It’s nice to have an alt-History not end up being a dystopia these days, to be honest.
And the fact that there is a clear Taiwanese character in here;
When he sat down, I leaned over. “You should bring Helen tomorrow. She wrote most of the program.” “Helen is Chinese.” He sorted his papers as Director Clemons answered a question about the range safety officer’s duties. “Taiwanese.”
I AM ALL IN ✊🏼✊🏼✊🏼🇹🇼🇹🇼🇹🇼🧡🧡🧡
