A Fall of Moondust

Deblovestoread

A Fall of Moondust | Arthur Charles Clarke

#12DaysofChristmas #September

Thanks to #ClassicLSFBC this was a favorite of September.

@Andrew65

Andrew65 Love his books. 3d

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rwmg

A Fall of Moondust | Arthur C. Clarke

pick

Driving a tourist bus on the Moon, Pat Harris gets caught in a moonquake and his bus sinks in the Sea of Thirst's moondust. We follow the passengers and crew, the rescue team, and the journalists covering the story.

The moondust in the story doesn't actually exist, though it was a reasonable speculation at the time of writing. Yes, the characters were firmly rooted in the 1950s but the author still provided an exciting, suspenseful story.

rwmg #ClassicLSFBC
@RamsFan1963 3mo

28 likes1 comment

rwmg

A Fall of Moondust | Arthur C. Clarke

TO BE THE SKIPPER of the only boat on the Moon was a distinction that Pat Harris enjoyed.

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

ShyBookOwl I've never heard of this Clarke book but I'm intrigued! 3mo

Bookwomble @ShyBookOwl We read it for the Classic Litsy Sci Fi Book Club in September. #ClassicLSFBC if you want some comments and critiques 😊 3mo

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rwmg

A Fall of Moondust | Arthur C. Clarke

#coffeeandabook

Belated #ClassicLSFBC
@RamsFan1963

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Deblovestoread

A Fall of Moondust | Arthur C. Clarke

#WeeklyFavorites

September was full of some pretty great reads.

@Read4life

Read4life 💙💙💙 3mo

51 likes1 comment

RamsFan1963

A Fall of Moondust | Arthur C. Clarke

pick

96/150 I loved this kind of book when I was young, hard science science fiction was my favorite genre. After 60+ years, it does feel a little dated, but it still holds up well. It still makes for a tense, exciting read as the rescue team struggles to save the passengers & crew of the Selene. Like any good disaster movie, just when the heroes think they've got things beat, a new problem comes along to gum up the works. 4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐ #ClassicLSFBC

RamsFan1963 96th book finished for #Readaway2024 @DieAReader @GHABI4ROSES @Andrew65 3mo

DieAReader 🥳🥳🥳 3mo

Bookwomble I think this is one of the most enjoyable books the #ClassicLSFBC had read so far 😊 3mo

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kwmg40

A Fall of Moondust | Arthur C. Clarke

pick

This story about a tourist shuttle trapped in a sea of dust on the moon seemed somewhat dated, in that the roles of men and women reflect very much those of the time. However, it was still a very good hard science-fiction story with a lot of tension, as the shuttle's occupants and scientists on the outside work on a rescue.

#ClassicLSFBC @RamsFan1963 @Ruthiella
#192025 #1961 @Librarybelle

Librarybelle Hooray! 3mo

Ruthiella Nice review! 👍 3mo

37 likes2 comments

Ruthiella

A Fall of Moondust | Arthur C. Clarke

A couple of questions for any who have finished this month‘s #ClassicLSFBC pick. If anyone would like to be added or removed from the tag list, let me know. 😃

🌙 Clark portrays a positive view of the future. Yes, there are sexist assumptions in it, but it also envisions a multi-cultural, peaceful human society. He also made a few predictions about human culture in the 21st century. What did he get right and what did he get wrong?

BookmarkTavern, wanderinglynn, Readergrrl, Johanna414, KathyWheeler, Lizpixie, BookBelle84, julesG, Deblovestoread, majkia, LeticiaToraci, sebrittainclark, kwmg40, rwmg, CatLass007, BookwormAHN, CSeydel, RamsFan1963, TheSpineView, bnp, swynn, PaperbackPirate, Bookwomble, Klou, Roary47, MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm, AuthorCjwhitcomb , Lesliereadsalot, PageShifter, tokorowilliamwallace, MerlinTheSlightlyAwkward, Books_et_al

Bookwomble I thought his vision was fairly progressive, and of course he was still influenced by assumptions of his time, such as sexist tropes of men being more rational and women more emotional, but I don't recall him being outright misogynistic. His multiculturalism was well done, even if there was a racial slur, though at the time of writing it was still largely used within that community without having been reclaimed. Again, on the right path, I think 3mo

Lesliereadsalot I liked the way that one guy stepped up to keep all the passengers engaged and busy so they wouldn‘t think too much about what was happening. If that book was written today, that guy would probably be a woman! I liked his old fashioned ideas: making a deck of cards, reading aloud from a book. 3mo

Ruthiella @Bookwomble @Lesliereadsalot Maybe this is low hanging fruit given capitalism, but he also got the commodification of Space right, even though humans haven‘t yet colonized the Moon. He indicated that only fairly well off folks could afford the trip. So far, we just have billionaires who can indulge in Space tourism. 3mo

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MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm Unfortunately I couldn‘t get my hands on a copy so I had to sit this month out. 3mo

Ruthiella @MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm I understand. I belong to two county library systems and one city library and none of them had it in print, kindle or audio. I read it on Hoopla on my phone, which I find inconvenient. There‘s a free audio version on YouTube, however, that I also accessed which was good: https://youtu.be/4CHboOyhGtE?si=yuB-jT02sgwMkYb5 3mo

kwmg40 @Ruthiella I agree about the commodification of space, especially in the area of space tourism, which I expect to increase greatly in the future. The assignment of leadership roles to the men and supporting roles to the few women who appear in the novel does seem a product of the time, and I expect Clarke would be surprised by how things look today (though, as @Bookwomble said in another thread, we still have a long way to go). 3mo

Ruthiella @kwmg40 Sally Ride went into space in 1983, so during Clark‘s lifetime and 20 years after this book was published. But as you note, we still have a long way to go. I think what @Bookwomble said about women being perceived as more emotional and men more rational is still widely held, for example. (edited) 3mo

43 likes7 comments

Ruthiella

A Fall of Moondust | Arthur C. Clarke

A couple of questions for any who have finished this month‘s #ClassicLSFBC pick. If anyone would like to be added or removed from the tag list, let me know. 😃

🌙 This novel definitely skews toward hard science fiction. The plot is pretty much one of problem solving with either technology or psychology. Did you enjoy this aspect of the book?

BookmarkTavern, wanderinglynn, Readergrrl, Johanna414, KathyWheeler, Lizpixie, BookBelle84, Larkken, julesG, Deblovestoread, majkia, LeticiaToraci, sebrittainclark, kwmg40, rwmg, CatLass007, BookwormAHN, CSeydel, RamsFan1963, TheSpineView, bnp, swynn, PaperbackPirate, Bookwomble, Klou, Roary47, MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm, AuthorCjwhitcomb , Lesliereadsalot, PageShifter, tokorowilliamwallace, MerlinTheSlightlyAwkward, Books_et_al

Bookwomble I thought the problem solving aspect was excellent, and weirdly prescient of what actually happened IRL with the Apollo 13 crisis. The issue of CO2 poisoning due to air filters overloading was one of the hazards the Apollo team had to contend with, even though the specifics and solution were different. Knowing this, and knowing ACC was writing before it happened, was pretty awesome. 3mo

Ruthiella I thought of Apollo 13 too and how Ron Howard made the movie tense and exciting even if anyone who knew history knew how it would end. Very similar vibe here. I never doubted the outcome, but Clark was still able to maintain the tension. (edited) 3mo

kwmg40 I do enjoy hard science fiction, so I liked the problem-solving aspects of the novel. I think Clarke included the right amount of description, so that the reader got a good sense of the science but didn\'t get bogged down in a lot of technical jargon. 3mo

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Ruthiella @kwmg40 I agree that the balance was pretty good. If a book is too technical, it can lose me. 3mo

Deblovestoread I agree with @kwmg40. I appreciated that I could picture it all in my head as it was happening. 3mo

Ruthiella @Deblovestoread It does lend itself to the visual. If you check out @swynn ‘s review, you can see that @Bookwomble has cast it with 70s movie and television stars. 3mo

AnishaInkspill This looks interesting, and wondering what is #ClassicLSFBC, I\'m guessing a monthly read, pls add me, I may not always be able to join in but interested 🙂 3mo

Ruthiella @AInkspill Great! I will add you to my tag list for discussion questions and ask @RamsFan1963 to add you to the tag list for voting on what we read next. The book for October if you want to join us is

Sundiver

3mo

RamsFan1963 @Ruthiella I will add @AInkspill to the list so they can vote for November's selection 3mo

AnishaInkspill @Ruthiella thanks for info and thanks for the add @RamsFan1963 😊 3mo

35 likes10 comments

swynn

A Fall of Moondust | Arthur C. Clarke

pick

(1961) A freak accident traps a lunar tour bus under fifteen meters of moondust, resulting in a disaster-and-rescue story that somebody should have enmovied fifty years ago. The pace is rapid, suspense is maintained, and if the character development takes a back seat to the engineering -- well jeez, that's just the kind of book this is and I liked it much.

#ClassicLSFBC

Bookwomble Unless I'm misremembering, Clarke wrote in the introduction to my edition that he had optioned the film rights to the book, but the film didn't happen. Maybe that's a good thing, as he might otherwise have been too busy to collaborate on 2001: A Space Odyssey. The book certainly reads cinematically. 3mo

swynn @Bookwomble That's an interesting perspective. I like 2001 very much, almost certainly better than any film "A fall of moondust" might have become. But I agree that it reads very cinematically and in the right hands could be a terrific movie. 3mo

Bookwomble @swynn It reminded me of the '70s disaster movies like Towering Inferno, though as I've commented elsewhere, The Poseidon Adventure is closer in terms of the nature of the disaster, and even shares some very similar and specific characters with Clarke's earlier novel. I'm not alleging plagiarism, but I'm also not not alleging it! 🧐 A Moondust movie or limited series would be great, for sure. 3mo

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RamsFan1963 @bookwomble @swynn If Irwin Allen, King of the Disaster Movies, had gotten the rights to Moondust in the 70's, who would you like to have seen him cast as the book's lead characters? 3mo

Bookwomble @RamsFan1963 So an early 70s production... 🤔 Robert Shaw as Commodore Hansteen; Ryan O'Neal as Pat Harris; Sue Wilkins is trickier - I initially thought of Lynda Carter, then Lyndsey Wagner, but after scrolling through a list of '70s actresses, I'll plump for Pamela Sue Martin as Allen *did* cast her in The Poseidon Adventure! Chief Engineer Lawrence has to be Walter Mathau, which would pair him with Shaw, his co-star in The Taking of Pelham 123. 3mo

rwmg I like this cover 3mo

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Deblovestoread

A Fall of Moondust | Arthur C. Clarke

pick

#ClassicLSFBC

The SciFi book groups had fallen off my radar these last few months but @Bookwomble ‘s spoof review brought the tagged book to my attention. I really enjoyed this compact novel of a disaster on the moon. Great read.

Ruthiella Yay! I will post discussion questions later today, if you are so inclined. 😃 3mo

Bookwomble 😊 3mo

47 likes2 comments

Ruthiella

A Fall of Moondust | Arthur C. Clarke

QUOTE: “The final ‘though‘ indicated recognition of the fact that something lighter would be appreciated here - say one of the decadent but amusing comedies of the 1980s, which had invaded the airways in such numbers with the collapse of TV censorship.”

I have to admit, thus is where my thoughts went when thinking of some of the dumbest ‘80s television comedies that Clark couldn‘t have begun to imagine. 😆

#ClassicLSFBC

Bookwomble There's a few bits of social commentary he extrapolates from his 1961 perspective that he gets 🎯 3mo

Ruthiella @Bookwomble I saw he only died in 2008, so he was at least able to see some of his predictions or extrapolations come to fruition (for better or worse). 3mo

kwmg40 Clarke definitely nailed it with that prediction! 3mo

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Ruthiella @kwmg40 Totally! 😂 3mo

Bookwomble @Ruthiella @kwmg40 I was intrigued that he predicted AI assistants, and that they would be female-coded when providing "secretarial" services, and that when, in 2001: A Space Odyssey he introduced an AI doing the complicated work of maintaining a spacecraft and its crew, he coded HAL male. "Alexa: is sexism and gender stereotyping still a thing in the 21st century?" 3mo

kwmg40 @Bookwomble @Ruthiella This is the line that made me roll my eyes: \““The ladies were quite uninterested; either because they did not care for mathematics, or preferred to ignore birthdays.” Maybe I\'m biased because I studied math, but all my fellow students, male and female, found the birthday paradox fascinating. 3mo

kwmg40 Apologies for the backslashes. I have no idea why they\'ve started appearing in my comments in the past few days! (Maybe I am the only one seeing them?) 3mo

Ruthiella @kwmg40 The backslash thing appears to be a glitch, but I‘ve read in other posts that Litsy is aware of it. 3mo

Ruthiella @Bookwomble @kwmg40 I am reading this SO slowly, I only just got to this part. The sexism is maybe par for the course with a lot of classic sci fi. But the ability of AI dictation…right on target.🎯 (edited) 3mo

Bookwomble @Ruthiella Argh! Sorry for any spoilers! I'll restrict further comment until you've finished the book and posted questions 😊 3mo

Bookwomble @kwmg40 The backslashes are due to a system glitch, which is reported, but happened at the same time (though not, I think connected with) a major spam attack on the parent site, Library Thing, which is the big that makes money so that Litsy is free to use, so I think they're still prioritising the mop up on that. 3mo

Ruthiella @Bookwomble Oh no! Not a spoiler at all. 😃👍Keep commenting. I appreciate it! 3mo

Bookwomble @kwmg40 And, yes, my maths whizz wife and daughter would definitely 🙄 at these sexist comments! 3mo

Bookwomble @Ruthiella 🥰 3mo

kwmg40 @ruthiella @bookwomble I too haven\'t finished the book yet (though I\'m close), but I figured that all the sexist comments from a sci-fi book of that decade would not be a surprise to anyone! Thanks also for the info about the system glitch. I\'m relieved that it\'s not just happening to me! 3mo

Bookwomble @kwmg40 No, not a surprise, not least because I grew up in that era, but I guess it's still an annoyance that, in many ways, we haven't moved on that much 🫤 3mo

kwmg40 @Bookwomble That‘s very true, though I do see signs of hope. There is much less sexism and racism in my workplace (a software company) compared to what I saw 25 years ago. 3mo

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Bookwomble

A Fall of Moondust | Arthur C. Clarke

pick

#ClassicLSFBC
“The Apple and the Orange“ is a wonderfully imagined historical romance about a clandestine love affair between Sir Isaac Newton & Nell Gwyn, mistress of King Charles II.
While salacious stories have been told about Gwyn for centuries, Newton was reputed to have died a virgin, so this is definitely a secret history, if not an alternate one.
Newton's cold and arrogantly irascible manner is contrasted with Nell's passion and wild ⬇️¼

Bookwomble ... heat, leading, after many tempestuous encounters and misunderstandings, to the melting of his icy heart, with the famous line, “Call me Ike,“ a byword for lovers ever since.
The novel shows that while Newton sought to educate Gwyn in mathematics & calculus with little success, she gave him a thorough grounding in anatomy! Spice level is 🌶️🌶️🌶️🥵🪭
The book\'s author is anonymous, theories about them ranging from being an otherwise unknown ⬇️ (edited) 3mo

Bookwomble ...18 year- old girl from Mars, Arizona, a well-known writer of speculative fiction based in South Asia, and even the mysterious writer of the Neapolitan Quartet, though textual analysis seems to be against the latter. While “Pride and Prejudice“ this is not, it does give indications of being the product of a seasoned writer, and its deft handling of historical themes, celebrated figures of the time (including Pepys, Leibniz, Aphra Behn as well ⬇️ (edited) 3mo

Bookwomble ... as King Charles II and Catherine of Braganza), and the political scene and social mores of restoration England make for a deeper reading than its more sensationalised bedroom scenes might suggest.
Romance isn\'t a favourite genre of mine, but this was a great read 5🍎🍊. Apologies for the super-long review! (edited) 3mo

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Deblovestoread Great review! Stacked! 3mo

The_Book_Ninja This doesn‘t sound like any Arthur C Clarke I‘ve ever read. 😶 3mo

Bookwomble @Deblovestoread @The_Book_Ninja I\'d hoped that someone else who\'d read this for the Classic Litsy SciFi Book Club would\'ve already acknowledged my poor attempt at humour, as this is a spoof review of the cheesy romance novel that ACC gives his trapped characters to pass the hours until their hoped for rescue happens, but sadly no-one has so I\'ll just have to hold my hands up! The actual novel is a cross between Apollo13 & The Poseidon Adventure 🙃 (edited) 3mo

The_Book_Ninja Well, I‘ve been well and truly gotcha‘ed! I‘ve never read Moondust but now I‘m gonna have to🤣 3mo

Bookwomble @The_Book_Ninja Apologies for any (mostly unintended) confusion. My 5🍎🍊 rating isn't spoof: I really enjoyed this book 😊 3mo

Deblovestoread Well you got me! 🤣 which is unfortunately easy to do when you tease British history. 🤣🤣🤣 3mo

Bookwomble @Deblovestoread I'm so sorry - I really didn't mean to trick anyone. Thank you for taking it in good humour 🙏 3mo

Deblovestoread No apologies necessary. You made me laugh so it's a good day. 😀 3mo

Bookwomble @Deblovestoread 😊👍 3mo

The_Book_Ninja @Bookwomble Wombie, don‘t you dare apologise for that. It‘s awesome. When you gave it a 🌶️ rating I was thinking you‘d overdone it with the gin and cucumbers🤣 I just wish I could say I was in on the joke! 3mo

Deblovestoread And you got me to pick up the tagged book. So win-win. 3mo

Bookwomble @The_Book_Ninja @Deblovestoread You're both too kind! 😊 Thank you 🥰 3mo

Ruthiella I only just got to this point in the book. Now I get it! 😂 3mo

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Bookwomble

A Fall of Moondust | Arthur C. Clarke

"He considered the situation with a coldly critical intelligence. Now, how would the great Holmes have tackled the problem? (It was characteristic of Tom that one of the few men he really admired had never existed.)"

I love coming across a Holmes ref in an unrelated book! In this case, astronomer Tom Lawrence, assigned to the Legrange II space station, considering the mystery of missing 'Dust-cruiser", Selene.
#NoPlaceLikeHolmes #ClsssicLSFBC

37 likes

Bookwomble

A Fall of Moondust | Arthur C. Clarke

I've started the September #ClassicLSFBC selection, and at 12% in, Clarke's 1961 novel is reading like a Moon-based version of The Poseidon Adventure, though that book was written in '69 and the classic disaster movie was released in '72.
I've not yet been introduced to the passengers on the stricken "dustship" Selene, but I'll be surprised if one of them doesn't need a hysteria-based slapping to snap them out of it!

Lesliereadsalot I liked this one, a good story. 3mo

Bookwomble @Lesliereadsalot I thought it was terrific! Tense and well plotted 😊 3mo

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Ruthiella

A Fall of Moondust | Arthur C. Clarke

#weekendreads

Excited to start three new books this weekend.

✔️ A Fall of Moondust is for #ClassicLSFBC and my first Arthur C. Clark novel.

✔️ The Joe Abercrombie is totally new to me, but obviously highly recommended by others.

✔️ Tana French is a familiar favorite. This is only book from her that I‘ve not yet read.

rachelsbrittain

Lesliereadsalot The Hunter is a good one! Moondust ok. 3mo

Ruthiella @Lesliereadsalot I‘m flying through The Hunter! It‘ll probably be the one of the three that I finish first. 3mo

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Lesliereadsalot

A Fall of Moondust | Arthur C. Clarke

pick

Very good sci-fi from over 60 years ago. It takes place on the moon where a tourist bus falls through the dust on the moon and 22 people onboard must be saved. There‘s one problem after another, both on the bus and during the rescue attempt. I liked the story but can‘t say much for the character development which is practically nonexistent.

#ClassicLSFBC

Ruthiella I still need to pick this one up. Too bad about the character development. That‘s an issue I have with Asimov too. 4mo

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Lesliereadsalot

A Fall of Moondust | Arthur C. Clarke