The Tranquility Alternative

The Tranquillity Alternative (1997) – Allen Steele
Ace Science Fiction | ISBN: 0441004334
Condition: Good | Sold by Crappy Old Books

The Space Race. That magnificent twentieth-century contest in which two superpowers decided that the best way to demonstrate the superiority of their respective political systems was to spend astronomical sums of money firing extremely expensive machinery into the sky. The Americans and Soviets competed over rockets, satellites, astronauts and national prestige, while ordinary taxpayers were presumably expected to take comfort in the knowledge that their money was now travelling several thousand miles above their heads.

But what if history had taken a different turn? What if the race for space had developed along another path, producing a world in which the Moon became rather more than a distant destination for a handful of heroic astronauts?

Welcome to The Tranquillity Alternative, Allen Steele’s wonderfully imaginative excursion into alternative history, Cold War politics and the extraordinary possibilities of space exploration.

In Steele’s reimagined twentieth century, the development of space technology follows a different trajectory, with ambitious military programmes, lunar installations and a continuing human presence beyond Earth. What should have been a glorious technological adventure has, inevitably, become entangled in government bureaucracy, international rivalry, financial pressures and the uncomfortable discovery that even the most impressive engineering achievements eventually require somebody to pay the maintenance bills.

At the centre of the story is a mission to the Moon involving the ageing remnants of an ambitious space programme. The astronauts find themselves caught up in circumstances far more complicated than a routine journey through the vacuum, where political manoeuvring and dangerous secrets threaten to transform an already hazardous undertaking into something considerably more alarming.

Steele combines the technical fascination of hard science fiction with the atmosphere of a Cold War thriller, constructing a believable alternative world in which space travel is simultaneously extraordinary and depressingly vulnerable to the same human stupidity that complicates everything on Earth.

One of the novel’s great pleasures is its attention to the machinery, procedures and practical difficulties of space exploration. Rockets are not magical transport devices, spacecraft do not operate through sheer narrative enthusiasm, and the Moon remains a spectacularly unforgiving environment in which forgetting something important can have consequences considerably worse than leaving your passport at home.

Beneath the adventure lies an intriguing question: how differently might the modern world have developed if humanity had maintained the political will and technological ambition to establish a lasting foothold beyond Earth?

This 1997 Ace Science Fiction edition, offered in Good condition by Crappy Old Books, is an excellent choice for enthusiasts of alternative history, realistic space exploration, Cold War intrigue and intelligent science fiction grounded in plausible engineering.

A gripping journey into a twentieth century that never quite happened, where the dream of conquering space collides with politics, economics and the remarkable ability of governments to complicate even the most extraordinary achievements.

Proof that humanity might eventually reach the stars.

Although somebody in Accounts will almost certainly complain about the expense.

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