[continued from previous message]   
      
   suspect anyone who is reading this review is already familiar with   
   the event that sets off the entire story: the moon turns to   
   cheese.  If I were to lead off with that when describing this book   
   to anyone on the street who asks, or to a casual reader, I'd most   
   likely be greeted with derision--or at least the book would.  So,   
   I thought I'd say something like "A celestial event occurs that is   
   so unusual and incredible that it affects the lives of every human   
   on earth (and probably some of the non-human residents as well) in   
   very different ways.  The novel tells the story of how people on   
   Earth from all walks of life are dealing with the event.".   I   
   would then wait for the inevitable "well, just what is that   
   celestial event?", to which I would reply "the moon turns to   
   cheese".  You see, I figure if I lead with THAT statement, I'd   
   lose the listener.  I figure I'd try the other way and see if they   
   were still interested in letting me continue.   
      
   So, yeah, the novel starts out when it is discovered that the moon   
   rock sample in the Neil Armstrong museum in Ohio has changed.  A   
   small bit of investigation reveals that the lunar sample has   
   turned into a cheese-like substance.  That night, up in the sky,   
   the moon is much larger in diameter and a very different color.   
   And while it's larger in diameter, the lunar mass has not changed.   
   And so the novel begins a tale that lasts a full 30-day lunar   
   cycle.   
      
   Let me say right here that this novel is not *about* the moon   
   turning to cheese.  That event is simply the catalyst for what is   
   to come, not unlike the moon exploding at the beginning of Neal   
   Stephenson's SEVENEVES.  What this story is really about is   
   humanity's reaction to the altered moon.  The vast majority of the   
   story takes place over thirty days, with each day being its own   
   chapter.  Each chapter deals with one segment of society or   
   another.  How does a pastor react when one of his flock tells his   
   son that the devil changed the moon, so its not God's moon any   
   more.  How does he deal with the effect it has on the children in   
   Sunday school?  Or, for that matter, how does he deal with a   
   distraught parishioner who is losing his faith?  How about the   
   owners of two rival cheese shops literally almost across the   
   street from each other who haven't spoken to each other for twenty   
   years (oh yeah--they're brothers)?  Then there's the privileged   
   billionaire who tries to be the first human to walk on the moon   
   decades after the Apollo program ended?  Speaking of lunar   
   landing, there are the team of astronauts who have trained for a   
   new set of missions to the moon and now they can't go because it's   
   turned to cheese and some billionaire is going to try to do it   
   anyway?  How do *they* feel?  What about the scientists whose view   
   of the solar system and celestial workings is now null and void   
   and who have to throw up their hands because nothing makes sense?   
      
   And that's just the normal ho-hum every day stuff.  Things really   
   kick into gear when a huge chunk of the moon cheese breaks off and   
   heads towards Earth with a trajectory that will cause the   
   destruction of the planet--inevitably called "death by cheese--in   
   about two years.  (Side note here.  The news that the chunk of   
   cheese will hit the Earth in roughly two years is leaked from a   
   Chinese science lab, and all I could think of was the theory that   
   the COVID virus was leaked by a Chinese lab).  Now we have   
   governments trying to hold press conferences to ease the fears of   
   their country's population.  And the bankers who are trying to   
   find a way to make money off the situation, even though they'll   
   have no use for money in two years, just like everyone else.  Or   
   the divorced couple having something of a reunion, the man dying   
   and trying to make things right before the end of the world.  Or,   
   how the U.S., Russia, and China try to work together to solve a   
   problem that is probably unsolvable.  The list goes on and on.   
      
   For such a weird premise, this is such a serious novel.  Well, not   
   always serious, of course.  This is not a huge novel, but it is   
   huge in terms of ideas, of humanity, of how we go on in the face   
   of coming disaster.  And that's what sets this novel apart from   
   some other novels wherein the planet is facing a global   
   catastrophe.  In those other novels, the story centers around the   
   people who are trying to solve the problem, trying to save   
   humanity--the heroes.  WHEN THE MOON HITS YOUR EYE is about   
   everyone else, the every day people who are not in charge of   
   trying to solve the world's problems--they're just trying to   
   survive them.   
      
   In his afterward, Scalzi freely admits to the absurdity of the   
   premise.  He deliberately made all the science, such as it is,   
   vague, gray, wibbly-wobbly (to borrow from a certain Doctor).  He   
   didn't want to give details about what kind of cheese the moon   
   turned into, knowing that there would be people out there who   
   would call him out on the color, consistency, and density of   
   whatever kind of cheese he decided to use.  He learned enough to   
   make the moon the right size and density that its gravitational   
   pull on the Earth would not affect the tides.  He didn't want all   
   those details to detract from the story, because the story wasn't   
   about the moon.  It was about its affect on us.  Just like the   
   moon has *always* affected us, sitting up there in the sky.   
      
   I don't know that there's much more that I can say about Wil   
   Wheaton's narration.  At this point, and I've probably said it in   
   a previous review, I've heard both of them enough that I feel like   
   when I hear Wheaton's voice I'm actually hearing Scalzi's.  And   
   this book is no exception to that rule.  Wheaton does his usual   
   terrific job, and I can't imagine anyone else narrating a John   
   Scalzi novel.   
      
   WHEN THE MOON HITS YOUR EYE, despite its title and premise, may   
   actually be one of the best books of 2025.  It certainly is so   
   far. I mean, who can go wrong with a story about a moon made of   
   cheese?  [-jak]   
      
   ===================================================================   
      
   TOPIC: THE PURSUIT OF THE PANKERA vs. THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST,   
   both by Robert Heinlein (book reviews by Robert L. Mitchell)   
      
   Last year while on an out-of-state vacation, I dropped in to the   
   local library just to look around.  While there, I saw a book by   
   Robert Heinlein that I'd never heard of, THE PURSUIT OF THE   
   PANKERA.  I consider myself a big Heinlein fan (back in the day, I   
   was credited on the MTVoid masthead as the "Distinguished Heinlein   
   Apologist"), so I bought the book as soon as I got home.  I   
   learned that this book had been submitted for publishing in   
   Heinlein's lifetime, was rejected for unspecified reasons, and   
   Heinlein rewrote large parts of it.  He then submitted the new   
   manuscript, which was published in 1980 as THE NUMBER OF THE   
   BEAST.  I read PANKERA only recently, and decided to reread BEAST   
   for the first time in 45 years to see what the similarities and   
   differences were.   
      
   As a stand-alone book PANKERA is a decent yarn, with strong-willed   
   and highly intelligent/skilled/articulate men and women who really   
   enjoy mostly heterosexual sex (same-sex kissing is as far as   
   Heinlein goes).  Classic Heinlein "competent men (and women)",   
   although the four main characters push "competent" to its limits.   
   Zeb is a jack-of-all-trades, a master pilot and a crack shot, and   
   has a Spiderman-like danger sense; Jacob is a brilliant   
   mathematical physicist and inventor; Deety is not only a brilliant   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)