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Product Description
Product Description
The year is 2025 and Otaba General Construction - a firm that has built structures to survive the Antarctic and the Sahara - has received its most daunting challenge yet. Sennosuke Touenji, the chairman of one of the world's largest leisure conglomorates, wants a moon base fit for civilian use, and he wants his granddaughter Tae to be his eyes and ears on the harsh lunar surface. Tae and Otaba engineer Aomine head to the moon where adventure, trouble, and perhaps romance await.
About the Author
Issui Ogawa is known as one of Japan's premier sci-fi writers. His 1996 debut, First a Letter from Popular Palace, won the Shueisha JUMP Novel Grand Prix. The Next Continent garnered the 35th Seiun Prize. A collection of his short stories won the 2005 Best SF Poll, and The Drifting Man, included in that collection, was awarded the 37th Seiun Prize for domestic short stories. Other works include Land of Resurrection, Free Lunch Era and The Lord of the Sands of Time, published by Haikasoru in 2009.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The best new near future SF since the Mars books by Kim Stanley Robinson. Technology, politics, economics, personalities & rivalry stir with dreams and passion. for the hard SF fans.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The chapter titles alone show the seriousness of intent of The Next Continent's journey into space exploration and colonisation. Part 1 is entitled 'Feasibility Study and Draft Plan, 2025', while the opening chapter is 'Project Site and Initial Planning'. Don't be put off. The novel isn't quite as dry and academic as the business-like tone makes it sound, rather, like Hosuke Nojiri's Rocket Girls also recently published by Haikasoru, it realistically considers the prospect of further space exploration as being the preserve of commercial enterprise rather than forming part of any national government's space programme.
Unlike Rocket Girls however, which was rather more convincing in its science-fiction predictions than its human characterisation, Issui Ogawa considers the reality of building on the moon and living in space in less than ideal conditions and takes into account the impact it is likely to have on the individual as well as society in general. Here in The Next Continent, it's the Gotoba Engineering & Construction company, experts in extreme construction with developments in the Sahara, the Antarctic, the Himalayas and with deep-sea bases in the South China Seas, who are employed by a wealthy investor to create a base on the moon for people to live in, thereby establishing a Sixth Continent. Ostensibly, as the investor is the owner of a successful Japanese theme park, the project would appear to be for tourism purposes, but with it being unlikely to ever pay back on the literally astronomical amount of the investment, what is the real reason for the development?
There's no doubting the seriousness of purpose that Issui Ogawa takes towards realistically considering the possibility of commercial space exploration. Every minute detail of the vast project is considered in-depth. Spires and cities do not just pop-up on the moon by themselves, as in a traditional science-fiction adventure, but the author rather considers the requirements of transporting raw materials, the rocket technology that would be required to lift such payloads and suggest possible alternative means of construction.
Again, that might sound very dry and academic, but Issui Ogawa never loses sight of the human factor in all this science, creating fascinating and believable characters, but also recognising that it is the restless drive in the nature of humanity to explore the limits of its environment, to set itself challenges and extend its reach, that will be the determining factor that overrides the business cost/benefit model that would otherwise quash any commercial enterprise. It's about the idealisation and realisation of dreams, without which humanity would never have embarked on any seemingly impossible endeavour, and their winning out over complacency and hard-headed rationalism.
Issui Ogawa's writing, already seen in his fascinating sci-fi epic The Lord of the Sands of Time, is wonderful here, and the translation seems more fluid. He takes in the logistical considerations realistically without ever getting bogged down in too much technical detail and mixes it with human aspirations in a manner that makes the project to create a moon base credible and genuinely exciting. Sure, everything flows rather smoothly and schematically according to that timetable set out in the Table of Contents, but the author considers the risks involved, as well as the personal, commercial and international competitiveness that is bound to ensue, making each stage of the fantastic journey thrilling and gripping reading.
Unlike Rocket Girls however, which was rather more convincing in its science-fiction predictions than its human characterisation, Issui Ogawa considers the reality of building on the moon and living in space in less than ideal conditions and takes into account the impact it is likely to have on the individual as well as society in general. Here in The Next Continent, it's the Gotoba Engineering & Construction company, experts in extreme construction with developments in the Sahara, the Antarctic, the Himalayas and with deep-sea bases in the South China Seas, who are employed by a wealthy investor to create a base on the moon for people to live in, thereby establishing a Sixth Continent. Ostensibly, as the investor is the owner of a successful Japanese theme park, the project would appear to be for tourism purposes, but with it being unlikely to ever pay back on the literally astronomical amount of the investment, what is the real reason for the development?
There's no doubting the seriousness of purpose that Issui Ogawa takes towards realistically considering the possibility of commercial space exploration. Every minute detail of the vast project is considered in-depth. Spires and cities do not just pop-up on the moon by themselves, as in a traditional science-fiction adventure, but the author rather considers the requirements of transporting raw materials, the rocket technology that would be required to lift such payloads and suggest possible alternative means of construction.
Again, that might sound very dry and academic, but Issui Ogawa never loses sight of the human factor in all this science, creating fascinating and believable characters, but also recognising that it is the restless drive in the nature of humanity to explore the limits of its environment, to set itself challenges and extend its reach, that will be the determining factor that overrides the business cost/benefit model that would otherwise quash any commercial enterprise. It's about the idealisation and realisation of dreams, without which humanity would never have embarked on any seemingly impossible endeavour, and their winning out over complacency and hard-headed rationalism.
Issui Ogawa's writing, already seen in his fascinating sci-fi epic The Lord of the Sands of Time, is wonderful here, and the translation seems more fluid. He takes in the logistical considerations realistically without ever getting bogged down in too much technical detail and mixes it with human aspirations in a manner that makes the project to create a moon base credible and genuinely exciting. Sure, everything flows rather smoothly and schematically according to that timetable set out in the Table of Contents, but the author considers the risks involved, as well as the personal, commercial and international competitiveness that is bound to ensue, making each stage of the fantastic journey thrilling and gripping reading.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5 reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Member of endangered species
6 Sep 2010
Format:Paperback
I frequently hear complaints (entirely justified) about lack of believable near-future science fiction, especially optimistic kind. Well, look no more: here is one. The language seems rather flat (maybe it is translator's fault), but otherwise it is a good story, and is both refreshingly optimistic about where world will go over next couple decades, and seems grounded in reality.
Turning Japanese
3 Sep 2011
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
I thoroughly enjoyed this book for the simple reason: It Was Totally Realistic !
It's a near-future story about a consortium of Asian companies preparing to expand into space, that has already conquered the Sahara, the Antarctic, and the ocean's depths. They refused to allow the US and EU into the consortium because they thought that big corporations wouldn't display or follow their ethical ideal. Okay maybe that's a bit unrealistic, but then again, Issui Ogawa is Japanese, so maybe it's okay.
Maybe it's the language, or the money used ( yen ), or the translation from Japanese, or something else , but the book was good and could have been better
Maybe I'll learn Japanese and read the untranslated version.
It's a near-future story about a consortium of Asian companies preparing to expand into space, that has already conquered the Sahara, the Antarctic, and the ocean's depths. They refused to allow the US and EU into the consortium because they thought that big corporations wouldn't display or follow their ethical ideal. Okay maybe that's a bit unrealistic, but then again, Issui Ogawa is Japanese, so maybe it's okay.
Maybe it's the language, or the money used ( yen ), or the translation from Japanese, or something else , but the book was good and could have been better
Maybe I'll learn Japanese and read the untranslated version.
A Japanese Gem
23 Feb 2011
Format:Paperback
The cover is bit lurid but the content is terrific. Solid scifi about the dangers and disasters we're likely to encounter with any serious attempt to establish a moon base, played out against a backdrop of conflicted human motivations.
It grabbed me from the first paragraph, and while the language is occasionally clunky, I suspect that's more lost in translation than original writing (and I'm not intending to be critical because without the translation I'd never have read this engaging novel).
The physics and science of rocketry, low gee construction and even the presence of water in craters on the moon is very now, which just adds to the fun. And while America claims ownership of 'The Right Stuff', the masters and owners of the corporate concerns funding this effort show that concept to be truly global, right down to the wise-beyond-her-years driving force behind the whole venture. Oh yeah, and the name dropping of a veritable who's who of Japanese heavy industry is funky as well. Forget US and European companies, it's the land of the rising sun all the way, and really, why not?
Then, with a twist reminiscent of Peter F Hamilton's "The Nano Flower", the whole crazy house of cards comes together neatly at the end, with a closing plot line that's screaming for a sequel.
Heartily recommended if you like your scifi with a serious lashing of the 'sci.
It grabbed me from the first paragraph, and while the language is occasionally clunky, I suspect that's more lost in translation than original writing (and I'm not intending to be critical because without the translation I'd never have read this engaging novel).
The physics and science of rocketry, low gee construction and even the presence of water in craters on the moon is very now, which just adds to the fun. And while America claims ownership of 'The Right Stuff', the masters and owners of the corporate concerns funding this effort show that concept to be truly global, right down to the wise-beyond-her-years driving force behind the whole venture. Oh yeah, and the name dropping of a veritable who's who of Japanese heavy industry is funky as well. Forget US and European companies, it's the land of the rising sun all the way, and really, why not?
Then, with a twist reminiscent of Peter F Hamilton's "The Nano Flower", the whole crazy house of cards comes together neatly at the end, with a closing plot line that's screaming for a sequel.
Heartily recommended if you like your scifi with a serious lashing of the 'sci.
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