Friend of the blog Joseph Moore recently reviewed Combat Frame XSeed at Yard Sale of the Mind.
This is a fun book. Jumps right in with dramatic escapes, last-second rescues, and battles to the death, with moral questions about exactly how far one is justified to go in war. The story features a bunch of well-drawn characters who unfold and gain depth over time. And giant punchy mechs with swords and stuff!
Niemeier creates a world of space habitats, supermen, a sort of technological tyranny, freedom fighters, genius inventors, fem fatales, and daring soldiers, with enough political intrigue and plot twists to keep the reader on his toes. I particularly liked how each of the main characters has a distinct personality and motivations. Some are loyal to a fault, some have learned to function under an oppressive regime, some are eeeevil.
And mechs! Loving attention is lavished upon them, detailed descriptions, with blow-by-blow fight scenes and epic battles against impossible odds. They punch each other, sword fight, blast each other, fly in space, cruise under water. Very cool. Reminded me of this:
Except there actually are a plot and characters and stuff in XSeed. Fun stuff, check it out.
It is indeed a good time to check out the first Combat Frame XSeed novel since my mecha thriller saga’s latest entry, XSeed Double-S, now stands at 15 percent complete in its first draft.
Bonus: Joseph weighs in on the fantasy/sci fi controversy from the mech angle.
Here’s a truly irrelevant aside: mechs, and, indeed, any sort of relatively small, heroically-piloted military equipment – fighters, tanks, Imperial Walkers, guys in armor – tend to take me out of any sci fi story, and put me into fantasy right away. 40 years ago, dogfighting was replaced with pilots firing their missiles at a blip on a screen, then turning tail and trying to outrun the missiles similarly targeted at them. Similarly, tanks have become what they originally were: rolling artolatry, not armored cavalry dueling other tanks. It can happen, but that’s not what they’re for. (I await correction by people who know what they’re talking about.)
Is the entire concept of mecha fantastical in a world of drones and war-as-video-game? Sound off in the comments.
Mechs are fantastic because of their impracticality. They’re giant targets, and unlike tanks, they have joints and limbs to blow apart.
Yes, but that doesn’t really matter. Realistically, the best use for a walking battle machine is to be a stable artillery platform for artillery that needs to move quickly over rough terrain like hills and mountains, since wheels and treads struggle mightily with uneven terrain. Something akin to the GDI’s Juggernaut artillery from the third *Command & Conquer* game. But in my mind, that isn’t really a big problem – to me, mechs are the reimagining of the ancient Knight, the warrior clad all about in steel, walking high over the battlefields of the future.
On a related note, what’s your opinion of *Super Robot Wars*? In the unlikely event that you haven’t heard of it, it’s a tactical turn-based “RPG” sort of akin to Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy Tactics, but instead of an assortment of anime waifus and pretty boys, your party is made up of a massive crossover smorgasbord of mecha anime robots. They’ve historically been impossible to localise, due to the fact that the rights to localise said shows are held by an enormous, labyrinthine web of companies that few are willing to tackle, but the upcoming 30th anniversary game is finally being released in the West, which is cool.
Also, since we’re talking about Combat Frame XSeed, I suppose this is the best place to bring this up. I enjoyed the books, and I showed them to my brother. He also enjoyed them for the most part, but he reacted to them differently. He ended up sympathising much more with Arthur than I think you intended, and really, really disliked the Sentinel, to the point where he didn’t even enjoy them as a villain. I got the distinct impression he wanted Arthur to simply go through with his plans and give the Socs what they deserved. Naturally, the events of the third book rendered him so angry that he quit reading it and didn’t finish. I don’t mean this as criticism, obviously, each reader’s reaction will be different, but we’ve had heated discussions about it, and I haven’t exactly had anyone else to talk to about it. I guess I’m just venting, in a way. Hope you don’t mind.
Do I mind? I’m delighted.
Hatred isn’t the opposite of love, indifference is.
I rarely get tossed out of a story by incongruities in tech, especially comparing to modern day. Author tells me the most efficient way to fight is big stompy robots, manned fighters, and hulking big space carriers — no sweat. He’s got a reason, and if it’s important, he’ll tell me.
Space is big. Eight minutes thirty seconds just for light to get from the Sun to the Earth. You can toss a drone with a soft AI out to fight with a mech, a fighter, or another drone, but is the AI going to comm with you during a fight? What is your standoff distance? 1 AU — 8.5 minutes? Drone is rather alone.
What if the battlefield is one big cloud of EM due to multiple factors? Now your AI drone is out there alone, dependent upon its autonomy and imagination. How good are AIs at that imagination thing in a given world?
Hmmm. Maybe I could put a guy in a combat frame and get the same or better results as that AI in the EM static fog. 😉
Tech is trumped by new tech and innovative ways to use old tech. Sometimes this can be countered with more advanced tech, or tactics, or training, or all of the above. But sometimes, you just need boots on the ground and human inside them. Especially if you want to hold that ground.
We’ll soon be seeing how the manned craft vs A.I. debate plays out in the XSeed universe.
[LAUGHS IN BINARY]
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I view mecha as implausible as FTL and more plausible than sentient machines or time travel. So like FTL all you need is a good handwave for why it’s possible. Mecha shows have run the gamut from technological (ex. Minovsky particle block radars and force close range combat; a humanoid form isn’t ideal in any environment but works adequately well on land, in water, in space and in colonies; mechs are designed to be used not only for combat but also construction, peacekeeping, etc.) to the more fantastic (ex. Mechs are chosen as a symbol of knights, to recover some of the nobility of combat; mechs are humanoid in form because that harnesses spiral energy; mechs allow a “mobile trace” style system of control where movements exactly match the movements of the pilot.)
It doesn’t really matter how good the handwave is since it’s just there to justify the setting. I don’t think we’ve gotten one step closer to finding anything remotely like the “hyperspace” used to justify FTL travel in many works, but I doubt any of us find the notion of hyperspace travel a deal breaker in terms of immersion.
Here is sort of obscure question regarding the print version. Have you considered omnibus releases, or would that be too time consuming or not cost effective enough? I have always wondered if doing such a thing was feasible for NewPub authors.
Honestly, it hadn’t occurred to me.
To answer the topic: It’s Futuristic Fiction. The future is wide open and anything can happen for any number of reasons. Nothing throws me out of a story aside from inconsistent rules or characterization.
For the benefit of aspiring authors reading this thread, I concur with JD. Consistency covers many sins.
Secondary Rule for Futuristic Adventure Fiction:
Verisimilitude >>>>>> Keeping the Science Rules Real
[For the non-scientists, one “>” is approximately a single power of 10.]
Bill Nye approves.