***** - Excellent
**** - Good
*** - Okay
** - Bad
* - Terrible
+ - Half-star
Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers
(Red Dwarf series, Book 1)
Grant Naylor
Roc
Fiction, Sci-Fi
****
DESCRIPTION: Based on the British TV sci-fi comedy series Red Dwarf, this book follows the adventures of Dave Lister, a Liverpudlian loser in the future.
Through a series of misfortunes compounded by poor decision-making skills, he winds up as the last human being alive, three million years after he left Earth, aboard the
mining ship Red Dwarf. His only companions are: a holographic simulation of his dead supervisor and bunkmate, the neurotic mess of a man called Arnold Rimmer; a humanoid
lifeform who evolved from Lister's pregnant cat, known only as Cat; Holly, the eccentric shipboard computer who, after three million years of continuous operation, isn't quite
functioning at peak intellectual capacity; and the cleanliness-obsessed mechanoid Kryten, rescued from the wreckage of the Nova 5.
REVIEW: Grant Naylor is actually a compilation of Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, the show's creators. This book covers events in the series in a slightly different order,
filling in events in between episodes and showing more of what happened before the series started. According to the authors, this is what they would've wanted to do, if they had
a chance to go back in time and redo the show from Day 1. Some of it I would've liked to have seen, and some I think was better like it was when they filmed it. It's fun, but it
drags in parts, and some of the material just plain worked better on TV. (How well this book will go over with someone unfamilliar with the BBC show, I cannot say, since I was
already a fan when I bought it.)
You might also enjoy:
The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide (Douglas Adams, Fiction - The irreverent adventures of Arthur Dent, the hapless Earthman who survives his planet's destruction with the help of a hitchhiking alien friend)
Sky Coyote (Kage Baker, Fiction - A company utilizes time travel and immortal cyborg agents to manipulate the past for profits in the future)
The Vlad Taltos series (Stephen Brust, Fiction - Sharp wit characterizes these tales an assassin and his dragonlike familiar)
Galaxy Quest (Terry Bisson, Fiction - The washed-up cast of a cheesy old sci-fi series encounters aliens who believe it was all real)
Eoin Colfer's books (Eoin Colfer, YA Fiction - Fantasy and sci-fi tales told with a sharp wit)
Heroics for Beginners and The Unhandsome Prince (John Moore, Fiction - Humorous fantasy)
Close Encounters of the Worst Kind: A Brewster Rockit collection (Tim Rickard, Comics - Clueless captain Brewster Rockit and his dysfunctional crew run the orbital space station R. U. Sirius)
The Android's Dream (John Scalzi, Fiction - After a diplomatic disaster kills an alien ambassador at the negotiation table, the fate of Earth rests on one man's search for a rare breed of sheep)
Red Dwarf: Series I
(1989 BBC DVD)
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Better Than Life
(Red Dwarf series, Book 2)
Grant Naylor
Roc
Fiction, Sci-Fi
****+
DESCRIPTION: The continuing story of the misfits aboard Red Dwarf, as they attempt to return to Earth after three million years in deep space. It starts pretty
much where the last one left off - with Cat, Rimmer, Lister and Kryten trapped in the virtual-reality game called Better Than Life, a game so addictive that it was banned
days after its release. The problem with the game is that it creates a world which you exactly what you most desire: not just fast cars and money, but what your subconscious heart
of hearts really wants. Escaping traps of their own devising is only the first problem, as the ship negotiates white holes, stray ice planets, emotion-eating shapeshifters and a
memorable trip through a singularity.
REVIEW: I thought this volume moved a little more than the first book, and a whole heck of a lot more was altered from what the series showed. Maybe that's why I liked
it better... it wasn't just a rehash of what I'd already seen. Anyway, that's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.
I've heard rumors that, in the UK, the two books were released in a single volume, the Omnibus, with added material. So far, I haven't seen any sign of it here in the
States. I've also heard that the third book, The Last Human, has been written, but that a whole mess of publishing conflicts had arisen. I hope that things clear up and it
hits American bookshelves someday, the sooner the better. Until then, I have the show on tape whenever I need a Red Dwarf fix.
You might also enjoy:
The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide (Douglas Adams, Fiction - The irreverent adventures of Arthur Dent, the hapless Earthman who survives his planet's destruction with the help of a hitchhiking alien friend)
Sky Coyote (Kage Baker, Fiction - A company utilizes time travel and immortal cyborg agents to manipulate the past for profits in the future)
The Vlad Taltos series (Stephen Brust, Fiction - Sharp wit characterizes these tales an assassin and his dragonlike familiar)
Galaxy Quest (Terry Bisson, Fiction - The washed-up cast of a cheesy old sci-fi series encounters aliens who believe it was all real)
Eoin Colfer's books (Eoin Colfer, YA Fiction - Fantasy and sci-fi tales told with a sharp wit)
Heroics for Beginners and The Unhandsome Prince (John Moore, Fiction - Humorous fantasy)
Close Encounters of the Worst Kind: A Brewster Rockit collection (Tim Rickard, Comics - Clueless captain Brewster Rockit and his dysfunctional crew run the orbital space station R. U. Sirius)
The Android's Dream (John Scalzi, Fiction - After a diplomatic disaster kills an alien ambassador at the negotiation table, the fate of Earth rests on one man's search for a rare breed of sheep)
Red Dwarf: Series I
(1989 BBC DVD)
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