{"id":1118,"date":"2018-02-02T10:36:53","date_gmt":"2018-02-02T15:36:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/groundbasedspacematters.com\/?p=1118"},"modified":"2018-02-02T10:36:53","modified_gmt":"2018-02-02T15:36:53","slug":"wrote-science-fiction-novel-mercenary-calling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/groundbasedspacematters.com\/index.php\/2018\/02\/02\/wrote-science-fiction-novel-mercenary-calling\/","title":{"rendered":"So I Wrote a Science Fiction Novel: Mercenary Calling"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\"\"Long time readers of this blog may recall my reviews of a few science fiction novels. See, e.g.,<\/em> this<\/a><\/strong> (a carefully reasoned explanation of why Michael Flynn\u2019s Firestar<\/em> is alternate future history) and this<\/a><\/strong> (a cry from the heart). I assessed the accuracy of their space law. I am now wondering whether that was a good idea. You see, I have written a science fiction novel with lots of space lawyers. It\u2019s called Mercenary Calling<\/a><\/strong>, and Calvin Tondini, our lawyer hero, has to defend a starship captain against charges of mutiny for leaving an unauthorized human settlement on a distant, Earth-like world.<\/p>\n

True, that doesn\u2019t sound like the space law we talk about here usually on this blog, but the book does have several mundane space-lawyer jobs, all of which I made up. The book itself takes place around the bicentennial of the Administrative Procedure Act. I will leave figuring out when exactly that is as an exercise for the astute administrative law expert. (Hint: it\u2019s not this century).<\/p>\n

The mundane legal jobs that I predict come in a few forms. At the start of the book, Calvin himself is a regulatory attorney at the Department of Energy, which I\u2019ve decided is the proper place for the regulation of solar powersats. But see<\/em>, Wallach, M. \u201cLegal Issues for Space Based Solar Power<\/a><\/strong>.\u201d Powersats will beam solar power to rectenna farms back on Earth by microwave or laser. I\u2019m sure someone will want that regulated. For personal and objective reasons both, I am committed to the view that regulatory attorneys who work on the regulation of space activities are space lawyers. Thus, Calvin counts as someone gainfully employed as a space lawyer. The beautiful Sara Seastrom is also a space lawyer. She supports her client\u2019s attempts to build a bubble drive for another interstellar journey. The book also has a couple of attorneys who work for the U.S. Administration for Colonial Development (USACD (pronounced u-SACK-dee because I made it up so I get to say how it\u2019s pronounced)). One fellow is a friend of Calvin\u2019s. The other one definitely isn\u2019t, and it wouldn\u2019t be inaccurate to say that he nurses a grudge. The friend and the malevolent fellow are both space lawyers.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all very bourgeois. But with drama.<\/p>\n

As the author, I feel a little stymied in reviewing any space law issues in the novel out of concern for spoilers. I will, however, note a space policy theme. Building on Congress\u2019s direction to NASA in 42 U.S.C. 18312 that it should pursue, as a long term goal, the human habitation of the solar system, the book contains an undercurrent of the tension between space settlement and worries about harmful contamination. That is why there is a picture of corn on the cover. It\u2019s symbolic and metaphorical. Also, it\u2019s alien corn.<\/p>\n

Anyway, this is all making it sound very serious and dull, when at heart the story is a light-hearted and frivolous work of bourgeois, legal science fiction. After all, it has\u2013<\/p>\n

Exoplanets. Terrorists. Lawyers…<\/strong><\/p>\n

Calvin Tondini has his first client, but he may be in over his head.<\/p>\n

It’s the twenty-second century. Humanity’s first and only interstellar starship returns safely. Its mission to discover a habitable planet succeeded beyond all hopes, but there’s one problem. Captain Paolina Nigmatullin of the USS Aeneid<\/em> left an unsanctioned human colony behind and now stands charged with mutiny.<\/p>\n

Despite a somewhat spontaneous approach to his own career, life, and limb, Calvin intends to map a more cautious path for his new client. Captain Nigmatullin, however, shows an unnerving penchant for talk shows–appearing on them, that is–and otherwise ignoring her attorney’s sober counsel.
\nHow can Calvin ensure his client’s freedom when death stalks the Aeneid<\/em>‘s crew, and Nigmatullin herself hides secrets from everyone, even her lawyer?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To check it out, click here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Long time readers of this blog may recall my reviews of a few science fiction novels. See, e.g., this…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nSo I Wrote a Science Fiction Novel: Mercenary Calling - Ground Based Space Matters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/groundbasedspacematters.com\/index.php\/2018\/02\/02\/wrote-science-fiction-novel-mercenary-calling\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"So I Wrote a Science Fiction Novel: Mercenary Calling - Ground Based Space Matters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"  Long time readers of this blog may recall my reviews of a few science fiction novels. 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