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Frontera
Ten years ago the world's governments collapsed, and now the corporations are in control. Houston's Pulsystems has sent an expedition to the lost Martian colony of Frontera to search for survivors. Reese, aging hero of the US space program, knows better. The colonists are not only alive, they have discovered a secret so devastating that the new rulers of Earth will stop at nothing to own it. Reese is equally desperate to use it for his own very personal agenda. But none of them have reckoned with Kane, tortured veteran of the corporate wars, whose hallucinatory voices are urging him to complete an ancient cycle of heroism and alter the destiny of the human race.
286 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1984
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
July 4, 2018
What would an semi-cyberpunk future look like from the Martian frontier, far from the mega-cities of Earth?
If the corporations that govern the world sent you an unstable, augmented mercenary to search for highly profitable secret technology, you just might find out.
(spoiler alert: they did)
If the corporations that govern the world sent you an unstable, augmented mercenary to search for highly profitable secret technology, you just might find out.
(spoiler alert: they did)
October 10, 2012
I love Lewis Shiner's later work and his short fiction, so I picked up his first novel. This is the one that got him lumped in with the cyberpunk crowd. Yes, there is augmentation of humans with computer hardware. Yes, it is dystopian. And yes, fans of cyberpunk (me included) would enjoy it.
But it's much more. It's also traditional science fiction that hearkens back to the Golden Age. Quick turning plot, set on Mars, physics as the driving force behind societal progress.
And it's a period piece projecting the future of politics from before the fall of the Soviet empire. The complete collapse of all nations, followed by the rise of powerful corporations, followed by a resurgence of nationalism was prescient when it came to Russia. May still be prescient when it comes to the US. China and Japan, not really looking that way. But very interesting historical vision.
And it's what Shiner excels in, strong, very cool characters. Chapters are written from five different points of view, with POV characters as different as he can make them. All have the readers sympathy, even in their conflicts. And the ones who don't get a turn as POV character are the enigmas I would have wanted to know the mind of, especially Curtis and Verb.
And he even throws in a strong literary bent--the way he played with mythology added a truly fascinating dimension to what was happening to the POV character at the time (don't want to spoil it for you).
This kept me turning the pages, had me admiring the character development, and satisfied the hard science fiction type in me with the gripping portrayals of the Martian landscape (although the physics was in the realm of science fantasy).
Excellent.
But it's much more. It's also traditional science fiction that hearkens back to the Golden Age. Quick turning plot, set on Mars, physics as the driving force behind societal progress.
And it's a period piece projecting the future of politics from before the fall of the Soviet empire. The complete collapse of all nations, followed by the rise of powerful corporations, followed by a resurgence of nationalism was prescient when it came to Russia. May still be prescient when it comes to the US. China and Japan, not really looking that way. But very interesting historical vision.
And it's what Shiner excels in, strong, very cool characters. Chapters are written from five different points of view, with POV characters as different as he can make them. All have the readers sympathy, even in their conflicts. And the ones who don't get a turn as POV character are the enigmas I would have wanted to know the mind of, especially Curtis and Verb.
And he even throws in a strong literary bent--the way he played with mythology added a truly fascinating dimension to what was happening to the POV character at the time (don't want to spoil it for you).
This kept me turning the pages, had me admiring the character development, and satisfied the hard science fiction type in me with the gripping portrayals of the Martian landscape (although the physics was in the realm of science fantasy).
Excellent.
July 23, 2011
Published in 1984 as a near-future science-fiction novel, the technology described in it is very much rooted in the early 1980s. Only the existence of a human colony on Mars, the attendant interplanetary space travel between it and Earth, and the occasional use of lasers as weapons, are significantly futuristic (apart from a new technological discovery that takes place in the course of the book). Thus, there are no references to mobile phones, CD-ROMs, flash drives, DVDs, computer games, MP3/MP4 players, flat-screen TVs and monitors, and so on, anywhere in the text. Although the World Wide Web was not invented by Tim Berners-Lee until 1991, a virtual-reality version (the Matrix) had been predicted by William Gibson in his novel,
, which was published the same year as Frontera. However, while people use computers in Frontera, there is no concept in the novel of the Web as a global communication system. These computers, referred to as CRTs (p. 2 et seq.), use diskettes (spelled in full rather than as ‘disks�) (p. 14), though these are almost obsolete today, and they also use green monitors (p. 150) instead of the now ubiquitous colour screens. Films are shown ‘in the flickering light of the projector� (p. 39) rather than on videotape (despite the existence of this technology in 1984), or in digital formats like MPEGs and AVIs, while audio recordings of communications chatter are stored on cassette tape rather than digitally (p. 48).
On the other hand, Shiner did foresee a kind of laptop/notebook/iPad in the form of a folding keyboard (pp. 115/121) as well as the widespread use of video surveillance cameras (pp. 48, 78). About the latter, he makes the interesting comment:
He also predicts the growing importance of data as a measure of wealth when one character states that ‘the gold standard is dead, and we’re on the data standard now� (p. 51).
In other respects, his use of contemporary 1980s technology remains relevant to the early 21st-century reader, such as the Shuttle Orbiter, Enterprise), which transports a team of astronauts to the Mars Mission Module in orbit. It is only two days ago (21 July 2011) that this early 1980s technology with the completion of the final shuttle mission. A couple of sentences eerily remind one of the Challenger disaster in 1985:
The latter is similar to the last message received from the Challenger before its fuel tank .
Technology aside, Shiner’s novel predicts a post-Cold War world, which had emerged from a global economic collapse that had taken place some years before the events in the novel. This economic collapse prompted a brief war in Africa, the demise of national governments and their replacement by multinational corporations. The fabric of cities like Houston and Clear Lake City, in Texas, is depicted in terms of crumbling or collapsed highways and over-passes, riot-damaged shops and burned-out houses, industrial wastelands and considerable depopulation (pp. 34-5, 41-3). Yet symbols of former prosperity remained, such as the Johnson Space Centre, where some buildings are maintained by a multinational corporation, Pulsystems, and relics of earlier space travel, such as the Saturn V third stage booster, ‘now rotting in drydock by the visitor’s [sic] parking lot�, still survive (p. 46). Meanwhile, the former Soviet Union collapsed and a civil war was fought between its constituent republics (p. 102), although the comments of one Russian seem a little clichéd:
I recall how jeans and popular western music, both of which Russian youth tried hard to acquire in the 1970s and 1980s, were treated as icons of western ‘decadence� by the Russian state. But is this more of a western preoccupation with the totalitarian regime in the USSR? Did many Russians really care that much whether they could wear jeans and listen to rock and roll or not? There is also something of the old hostility towards the USSR, mixed with admiration (or jealousy) for its technological accomplishments, which typified western (especially American) perceptions of the Russians in the 1960s and 1970s in some of Shiner’s text:
The Russians had ‘been perfecting their soft landings while the U.S. was still dropping their Geminis and Apollos in the ocean � even if some of those landings had been blatant fiascos, like the Voskhod-2 mission where Leonev and Belyayev sat all night in their dead spacecraft, two thousand miles off course, fighting wolves and snow� (p. 103). Similarly, Col. Mayakenska, a female Russian astronaut who arrives at the colony of Frontera, had previously served as ‘one of the higher ups in the Institute for Medium Machine Building, the Russian equivalent of NASA�. She was:
One thing I liked about the novel was its references to the Mutch Memorial Station. This is the site of the Viking 1 landing on Mars and it was named after Thomas A. Mutch, who had been the NASA associate administrator that led the Viking 1 imaging team in the 1970s. The location of this space heritage site, relative to the fictional colony of Frontera and other features of the Martian landscape, is pinpointed on a map of Mars (opposite p. 1). Towards the end of the novel, a character named Ian is recalled having ‘been on a solo rover expedition to the Mutch Memorial Station, site of the first Viking landing, where he’d snapped off the soil sampling arm and brought it back as a trophy� (p. 157). This is not unlike my brief cautionary tale of a space-suited tourist family visiting the Carl Sagan Memorial Station � the landing site of the Mars Pathfinder � where one of the children in the family accidentally snaps the spacecraft’s aerial mast (see , p. 112). It is my concern that should space tourism on the Moon and Mars become a reality, then the heritage of human space travel � such as the Viking and Pathfinder craft � could end up being destroyed or seriously damaged by souvenir hunters and/or industrial developers.
Overall, I enjoyed this book partly as a realistic look at near-future interplanetary space travel and settlement from an early 1980s perspective and also for its vision of post-national governance by multinational corporations. It was also a reasonably good story, although I felt that Col. Mayakenska’s actions towards the end of the story did not seem to fit her personality or role as a significant figure in the post-Soviet organisation that sent her to Mars, even if she liked listening to jazz (p. 121)! Also, while it is his first novel, I feel that Shiner was overly cautious in terms of foreseeing future technology � one thing I like about science fiction is reading about new concepts and ideas in society, economy and technology, even if they never leave the realm of science fiction.
On the other hand, Shiner did foresee a kind of laptop/notebook/iPad in the form of a folding keyboard (pp. 115/121) as well as the widespread use of video surveillance cameras (pp. 48, 78). About the latter, he makes the interesting comment:
‘Curtis’s regime reflected the man’s personal sterility and lack of humor. Reese had seen the cameras that tracked him as he walked, the sort of obsessive power icons that became venerated when true power was slipping away.� (p. 109)
He also predicts the growing importance of data as a measure of wealth when one character states that ‘the gold standard is dead, and we’re on the data standard now� (p. 51).
In other respects, his use of contemporary 1980s technology remains relevant to the early 21st-century reader, such as the Shuttle Orbiter, Enterprise), which transports a team of astronauts to the Mars Mission Module in orbit. It is only two days ago (21 July 2011) that this early 1980s technology with the completion of the final shuttle mission. A couple of sentences eerily remind one of the Challenger disaster in 1985:
‘The orange shell of the shuttle’s external tank seemed unlucky to him�.� (p. 52)
‘“Roger. Main throttle at 104%. All three main engines go at throttle up.”� (p. 54)
The latter is similar to the last message received from the Challenger before its fuel tank .
Technology aside, Shiner’s novel predicts a post-Cold War world, which had emerged from a global economic collapse that had taken place some years before the events in the novel. This economic collapse prompted a brief war in Africa, the demise of national governments and their replacement by multinational corporations. The fabric of cities like Houston and Clear Lake City, in Texas, is depicted in terms of crumbling or collapsed highways and over-passes, riot-damaged shops and burned-out houses, industrial wastelands and considerable depopulation (pp. 34-5, 41-3). Yet symbols of former prosperity remained, such as the Johnson Space Centre, where some buildings are maintained by a multinational corporation, Pulsystems, and relics of earlier space travel, such as the Saturn V third stage booster, ‘now rotting in drydock by the visitor’s [sic] parking lot�, still survive (p. 46). Meanwhile, the former Soviet Union collapsed and a civil war was fought between its constituent republics (p. 102), although the comments of one Russian seem a little clichéd:
‘“Ah�, Blok said. “How Russians love a purge. Chistka, they call it. [Shouldn’t this be �we call it�?] The cleaning. Out with socialism, the god that failed! In with western corporations! Blue jeans! Rock and roll!”� (p. 102)
I recall how jeans and popular western music, both of which Russian youth tried hard to acquire in the 1970s and 1980s, were treated as icons of western ‘decadence� by the Russian state. But is this more of a western preoccupation with the totalitarian regime in the USSR? Did many Russians really care that much whether they could wear jeans and listen to rock and roll or not? There is also something of the old hostility towards the USSR, mixed with admiration (or jealousy) for its technological accomplishments, which typified western (especially American) perceptions of the Russians in the 1960s and 1970s in some of Shiner’s text:
The Russians had ‘been perfecting their soft landings while the U.S. was still dropping their Geminis and Apollos in the ocean � even if some of those landings had been blatant fiascos, like the Voskhod-2 mission where Leonev and Belyayev sat all night in their dead spacecraft, two thousand miles off course, fighting wolves and snow� (p. 103). Similarly, Col. Mayakenska, a female Russian astronaut who arrives at the colony of Frontera, had previously served as ‘one of the higher ups in the Institute for Medium Machine Building, the Russian equivalent of NASA�. She was:
‘too valuable, the [Communist] Party told her, to be risked in the cosmonaut program. There were simply not enough high-ranking women to serve as examples of the Party’s mythical lack of sexism, and far too many disasters in space� (p. 118).
One thing I liked about the novel was its references to the Mutch Memorial Station. This is the site of the Viking 1 landing on Mars and it was named after Thomas A. Mutch, who had been the NASA associate administrator that led the Viking 1 imaging team in the 1970s. The location of this space heritage site, relative to the fictional colony of Frontera and other features of the Martian landscape, is pinpointed on a map of Mars (opposite p. 1). Towards the end of the novel, a character named Ian is recalled having ‘been on a solo rover expedition to the Mutch Memorial Station, site of the first Viking landing, where he’d snapped off the soil sampling arm and brought it back as a trophy� (p. 157). This is not unlike my brief cautionary tale of a space-suited tourist family visiting the Carl Sagan Memorial Station � the landing site of the Mars Pathfinder � where one of the children in the family accidentally snaps the spacecraft’s aerial mast (see , p. 112). It is my concern that should space tourism on the Moon and Mars become a reality, then the heritage of human space travel � such as the Viking and Pathfinder craft � could end up being destroyed or seriously damaged by souvenir hunters and/or industrial developers.
Overall, I enjoyed this book partly as a realistic look at near-future interplanetary space travel and settlement from an early 1980s perspective and also for its vision of post-national governance by multinational corporations. It was also a reasonably good story, although I felt that Col. Mayakenska’s actions towards the end of the story did not seem to fit her personality or role as a significant figure in the post-Soviet organisation that sent her to Mars, even if she liked listening to jazz (p. 121)! Also, while it is his first novel, I feel that Shiner was overly cautious in terms of foreseeing future technology � one thing I like about science fiction is reading about new concepts and ideas in society, economy and technology, even if they never leave the realm of science fiction.
May 12, 2009
Shiner shows us an Earth where unchecked capitalism has left our cities in ruins and our people crushed under the heel of monolithic corporations. Nationalism is dead, but it's been replaced by the same greedy bastards that once used Nationalism to line their pockets.
Did I mention this was written in 1984? I suppose there's a reason that science fiction published in 1984 resonates so strongly right now. I try not to think too hard about it because it makes me want to throw up. In fact--hang on a sec--
OK, I'm back. Now that they've divided the Earth into equal shares, the world's five corporations have turned to the Mars colony, which was left on its own when the world governments fell. Mars has its own problems, the least of which is that it's run by a governor who's gone mad with power and isolation, who watches all of his own citizens day and night and makes people who disagree with him "disappear".
The plot in this book moves. All of the present-day action takes place in about two days. The characters are well-drawn and interesting, including the women, which is awesome. I don't think writers who give us good women are praised enough, so just let me repeat that: LEWIS SHINER WRITES AWESOME WOMEN.
There's some sprinkles of mythology throughout, which I didn't enjoy as much, but it doesn't get too carried away. I wish it had been longer and given us more time to spend with the people in this novel. Overall, though, this was a great read, one of those books that gets better the more you think about it. Highly recommended.
Did I mention this was written in 1984? I suppose there's a reason that science fiction published in 1984 resonates so strongly right now. I try not to think too hard about it because it makes me want to throw up. In fact--hang on a sec--
OK, I'm back. Now that they've divided the Earth into equal shares, the world's five corporations have turned to the Mars colony, which was left on its own when the world governments fell. Mars has its own problems, the least of which is that it's run by a governor who's gone mad with power and isolation, who watches all of his own citizens day and night and makes people who disagree with him "disappear".
The plot in this book moves. All of the present-day action takes place in about two days. The characters are well-drawn and interesting, including the women, which is awesome. I don't think writers who give us good women are praised enough, so just let me repeat that: LEWIS SHINER WRITES AWESOME WOMEN.
There's some sprinkles of mythology throughout, which I didn't enjoy as much, but it doesn't get too carried away. I wish it had been longer and given us more time to spend with the people in this novel. Overall, though, this was a great read, one of those books that gets better the more you think about it. Highly recommended.
January 30, 2024
A science fiction story about a rescue mission to a Mars colony which has been quiet for over ten years. This was a fairly entertaining, fast-paced, space techno-thriller that reads like an 1980s action movie. Most of the characters are jerks with their own personal, political, and corporate agendas, all surrounding a mysterious technological discovery, which converge in an explosive climax. It was fun while I was reading it, but lacked any real depth.
October 13, 2021
Governments are gone, corporations have unilateral control and so are just expressions of their internalized dogma. Martian colony Frontera has axiomatic guests, Reece and Kane, both heroes in their own eyes, ostensibly railing against the corps to do “the right thing� with a secret on the new frontier.
On the face of it, This is a pretty typical first wave cyberpunk affair, aside from it being set in space. Which, some people would say kicks this from the subgenre, wildly. But this squarely fits. After all, Kane, veteran of the corporate wars has neuro implants that put him on a heroism simulation. This is the loss of agency via technology, and does a great job of making society an omnipresence within an individual. The heroes journey is literally embodied and critiqued throughout the narrative. The cyber and punks elements are actually more cleverly explored than plenty of other first wave novels.
The quintessential, ingrained conflict resolutions and Eurocentric point of view plays out in the desolation of the frontier. Expecting crisp white walls and beautiful architecture and shopping malls, instead there is only detritus as mankind repeats its self destructive instincts on a new landscape. These same movements are shown with our two male characters.
In fact, I was ready to bail on it when it felt like it was devolving into the same old, old sci-fi. Guys noticing, for instance, the impossible positioning of a woman’s breasts because of gravity. Continually trying to flaunt and vaunt, and mindlessly conquer every field they find, including women.
It turns out, however, that is exactly where Shiner wants you, and later subverts these expectations in surprisingly deft ways. It’s a commentary on the historical cycle, toxic masculinity, and how important the other narrative is. And spoilers: The heroes, it turns out, can’t see the forest for the trees.
A surprisingly refreshing first wave cyberpunk offering, I must say.
On the face of it, This is a pretty typical first wave cyberpunk affair, aside from it being set in space. Which, some people would say kicks this from the subgenre, wildly. But this squarely fits. After all, Kane, veteran of the corporate wars has neuro implants that put him on a heroism simulation. This is the loss of agency via technology, and does a great job of making society an omnipresence within an individual. The heroes journey is literally embodied and critiqued throughout the narrative. The cyber and punks elements are actually more cleverly explored than plenty of other first wave novels.
The quintessential, ingrained conflict resolutions and Eurocentric point of view plays out in the desolation of the frontier. Expecting crisp white walls and beautiful architecture and shopping malls, instead there is only detritus as mankind repeats its self destructive instincts on a new landscape. These same movements are shown with our two male characters.
In fact, I was ready to bail on it when it felt like it was devolving into the same old, old sci-fi. Guys noticing, for instance, the impossible positioning of a woman’s breasts because of gravity. Continually trying to flaunt and vaunt, and mindlessly conquer every field they find, including women.
It turns out, however, that is exactly where Shiner wants you, and later subverts these expectations in surprisingly deft ways. It’s a commentary on the historical cycle, toxic masculinity, and how important the other narrative is. And spoilers: The heroes, it turns out, can’t see the forest for the trees.
A surprisingly refreshing first wave cyberpunk offering, I must say.
December 6, 2021
Have you ever found a book in your library that you don't know how you got? You don't recognize the name or the author, and you're sure that you didn't buy it. Did you get it as a gift? Did it come with your house? Maybe a visitor accidentally left it behind.
You think maybe you'll read it anyway, so you do a quick search. Oh, it was nominated for Nebula, Locus, AND Philip K Dick awards. Those are solid awards. Maybe it is good. Maybe you did buy it while on award kick. So you read a book you don't remember ever wanting to read.
Why did I start my review with that entirely rhetorical (but true) story? Because it was more compelling than anything that happens in this book.
Seriously, even the characters are uninterested in being there. At one point, a woman is found murdered by what I assume was rapid decompression. She's found by two people, one of whom is a neighbor. Neither of them seem to care that a person was murdered, they basically respond by doing and saying nothing to each other. One of them, a person I refuse to describe as a "protagonist," leaves the scene and immediately goes to have abrupt and boring sex with a nearby woman because, and I'm more or less quoting the book, the act of entering her house made both of them incredibly aroused.
"Entering her house" is an okay double entendre, but it's a pretty unerotic reality.
The only character in the entire book I'd say is remotely the protagonist doesn't do much and then suddenly, and very actually, disappears. It's incredibly disappointing.
You think maybe you'll read it anyway, so you do a quick search. Oh, it was nominated for Nebula, Locus, AND Philip K Dick awards. Those are solid awards. Maybe it is good. Maybe you did buy it while on award kick. So you read a book you don't remember ever wanting to read.
Why did I start my review with that entirely rhetorical (but true) story? Because it was more compelling than anything that happens in this book.
Seriously, even the characters are uninterested in being there. At one point, a woman is found murdered by what I assume was rapid decompression. She's found by two people, one of whom is a neighbor. Neither of them seem to care that a person was murdered, they basically respond by doing and saying nothing to each other. One of them, a person I refuse to describe as a "protagonist," leaves the scene and immediately goes to have abrupt and boring sex with a nearby woman because, and I'm more or less quoting the book, the act of entering her house made both of them incredibly aroused.
"Entering her house" is an okay double entendre, but it's a pretty unerotic reality.
The only character in the entire book I'd say is remotely the protagonist doesn't do much and then suddenly, and very actually, disappears. It's incredibly disappointing.
April 14, 2020
Really enjoyed this. Its not pure cyberpunk but has elements. I really enjoy looking at writers from their time points and predicting certain aspects of human development. Theres some tech in here that Shiner predicted. Very cool Mars Earth story with some human upgrades so to speak.
December 23, 2023
This near future novel of corporate governments maneuvering for control of a new technology developed on an abandoned Martian colony features strong stem female characters and neuro-divergent children and feels right at home here in the 2020s.
Ps. I mistook Lewis Shiner for Lucius Shepard.
Ps. I mistook Lewis Shiner for Lucius Shepard.
October 11, 2023
Close to five stars. Consisted of a lost and forgotten Earth and the abandoned Mars colony, elements of Soviet and United States discord was injected, and revolved around several sets of unwelcome visitors arriving at the Mars colony unannounced. All these unseen events collide. Entertaining stuff.
April 1, 2025
Tight and bright, reads like a Gibson, actually. Wonder if he subbed it, as he is a friend.
Damn, Mars is miserable. The journey, the cramped ugly conditions in stale filthy rooms on arrival. Even the children are unhappy - It's like Lv 426 without the pedal cars: 'what have i told you, get those kids off this level!'
Russia v US - yawn yawn, nasty greedy corps etc etc. If it wasn't so well written it would be the most depressing read.
It's funny, Mars here falls susceptible to all human frailty- greed, addiction, boredom, envy, illness, death. Why today's tech billionaires are obsessed with space travel to lifeless worlds is baffling when so much beauty is here on earth. IT'S ALL HERE RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU! IN AFRICA! IN INDIA! I feel like shouting at Musk n Bezos, nary a good book read or simple appreciation of nature between them.
A walk through Liverpool's roughest sink estate holds more beauty and less claustrophobic conflict than Shiner's red planet. His tired angry kosmonauts n yanks n corps duke it out for cash and girls and power, as ever. Guns, explosions, threats. soulless exhausted people.
Excellent, top-drawer writing but give me some silly Sladek, Shaw or Dick and quick about it.
Damn, Mars is miserable. The journey, the cramped ugly conditions in stale filthy rooms on arrival. Even the children are unhappy - It's like Lv 426 without the pedal cars: 'what have i told you, get those kids off this level!'
Russia v US - yawn yawn, nasty greedy corps etc etc. If it wasn't so well written it would be the most depressing read.
It's funny, Mars here falls susceptible to all human frailty- greed, addiction, boredom, envy, illness, death. Why today's tech billionaires are obsessed with space travel to lifeless worlds is baffling when so much beauty is here on earth. IT'S ALL HERE RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU! IN AFRICA! IN INDIA! I feel like shouting at Musk n Bezos, nary a good book read or simple appreciation of nature between them.
A walk through Liverpool's roughest sink estate holds more beauty and less claustrophobic conflict than Shiner's red planet. His tired angry kosmonauts n yanks n corps duke it out for cash and girls and power, as ever. Guns, explosions, threats. soulless exhausted people.
Excellent, top-drawer writing but give me some silly Sladek, Shaw or Dick and quick about it.
May 13, 2020
Full review:
"Lewis Shiner’s Frontera (1984), a paranoid romp across post-democratic landscapes (both Earth and Mars) of decay and corporate takeover, contains a hypnotic premise and a not entirely convincing plot. Be prepared for a maelstrom of ideas and images: Subliminal messages. An abandoned Martian colony. Implanted Biological RAM. A dangerous voyage to Mars in old NASA shuttles. Corporate mercenaries. Hyper-violence. [...]"
"Lewis Shiner’s Frontera (1984), a paranoid romp across post-democratic landscapes (both Earth and Mars) of decay and corporate takeover, contains a hypnotic premise and a not entirely convincing plot. Be prepared for a maelstrom of ideas and images: Subliminal messages. An abandoned Martian colony. Implanted Biological RAM. A dangerous voyage to Mars in old NASA shuttles. Corporate mercenaries. Hyper-violence. [...]"
August 11, 2017
Bunch of neurotics going to a space adventure.
There are some good ideas, but the heroes are dull and monochrome, storyline is pretty much straight and anecdotal "Russians" pictured in the book are laughable 30 years later.
Not recommended.
There are some good ideas, but the heroes are dull and monochrome, storyline is pretty much straight and anecdotal "Russians" pictured in the book are laughable 30 years later.
Not recommended.
February 27, 2023
A strange work, misclassified as cyberpunk, that feels like a sci-fi story that could be written today except for the Cold War mindset, strange focus on the exoticism of Japan, and some technological references. This contemporary feeling is not enough, however, as Lewis Shiner fails to adequately explain several key things in his book, then rushes to wrap everything up without providing real closure. One or the other might work, but combined these flaws drag down Frontera and leave me unable to recommend it.
I get why the book is identified by some as in the cyberpunk subgenre, since it features urban decay, corporations replacing governments, even the possibility of a neural uplink to a computer is mentioned at one point. However, while it's certainly "cyber," it's not very “punk� at all. Its characters are working within the system, and in fact are largely successful in that system, at most wanting to change it from within rather than rebel against it or live outside of it. Not that this matters much, a book doesn't rise or fall for me based on whether it slots into an arbitrary category or not, but if you're looking for a work in the subgenre then I don't know if Frontera would scratch that itch.
Even if you don’t care whether Frontera is cyberpunk or not, I doubt you’ll find it very satisfying. The story’s main flaws are that characters don’t behave in sensible ways, the technology that drives the conflict isn’t well justified, and the book ends in a breathless sprint that leaves almost zero story threads resolved as far as I can remember. To expand on each of these points:
Frontera has some trappings of a perfectly serviceable sci-fi book, but Shiner needed to do a much better job justifying why characters act the way they act and why the situation is the way it is. He then needed to continue with a chain of logical actions to some sort of resolution point. Since he did neither, the book doesn’t work. It’s not unreadable, it’s not even particularly boring, but it’s a mess in a way that I haven’t seen for a long time. 2/5, not recommended.
I get why the book is identified by some as in the cyberpunk subgenre, since it features urban decay, corporations replacing governments, even the possibility of a neural uplink to a computer is mentioned at one point. However, while it's certainly "cyber," it's not very “punk� at all. Its characters are working within the system, and in fact are largely successful in that system, at most wanting to change it from within rather than rebel against it or live outside of it. Not that this matters much, a book doesn't rise or fall for me based on whether it slots into an arbitrary category or not, but if you're looking for a work in the subgenre then I don't know if Frontera would scratch that itch.
Even if you don’t care whether Frontera is cyberpunk or not, I doubt you’ll find it very satisfying. The story’s main flaws are that characters don’t behave in sensible ways, the technology that drives the conflict isn’t well justified, and the book ends in a breathless sprint that leaves almost zero story threads resolved as far as I can remember. To expand on each of these points:
Frontera has some trappings of a perfectly serviceable sci-fi book, but Shiner needed to do a much better job justifying why characters act the way they act and why the situation is the way it is. He then needed to continue with a chain of logical actions to some sort of resolution point. Since he did neither, the book doesn’t work. It’s not unreadable, it’s not even particularly boring, but it’s a mess in a way that I haven’t seen for a long time. 2/5, not recommended.
October 18, 2020
[3.5 stars] I’ve seen Lewis Shiner’s name associated with the cyberpunk movement. This 1984 science fiction novel might not have all the signature elements (hackers, cyborgs, virtual reality), but it’s in the territory, with elements such as a dystopian, corporatized future, brain implants, hard-boiled writing, and a generally gritty world. While there are some dated elements (computer tech details, geopolitics), I thought that Frontera still holds up remarkably well, overall. It’s interesting to note that the author envisioned the eventual breakdown of the USSR, digital currencies, a golden era of cable television to distract people from their problems, and something similar to Andrew Yang’s guaranteed income idea (cynically described by one character as an “anti-rioting tax�). As cyberpunk goes, this is more in the neighborhood of than .
The novel opens with an enjoyably tense sequence in which a team of rugged specialists, including an ex-mercenary and a former astronaut, make a difficult landing on Mars using somewhat decrepit equipment. As we learn, the Russians and Americans established colonies on Mars sometime in the near future, relative to 1984. They operated for a while, but then Earth lost contact and no one followed up because the United States fell apart after its government stopped functioning (:lolsob:) and the Russkies had their own issues. Now, a decade after Mars went quiet, a corporation -- corporations are the new de facto government -- has taken over NASA’s assets and its CEO, a man named Morgan, put together this team to go to Mars and recover some unspecified tech that he believes is there.
It’s not too big of a reveal to say that the Mars colony, at least the American one, is still alive, as one colonist, Molly, is a POV character. The colony is struggling under the control of an autocratic leader, but its brightest minds have made discoveries of the sort that would be of great interest to the nation-states of Earth. And, indeed, they are.
The writing here is quite good, terse but evocative, and the characters are written with more intimacy than in most SF, each carrying his or her own demons. The aging former astronaut, Reese, one of the first to walk on Mars, has reasons for wanting to return there, while Kane, the ex-mercenary, is related to Morgan and had some experimental tech put in his head while recovering from battle injuries in the corporate hospital. Among its other effects, it produces hallucinations of ancient Greece. Molly, meanwhile, has been both blessed and cursed (thanks to genetic issues that might have something to do with the high-radiation environment) with a daughter that’s both brilliant and severely deformed.
On the minus side, the novel, which is only seven and a half hours long, felt a little unfinished to me, with the initial attention to character dissipating in a quick-moving finale. The mythological stuff, while an interesting layer seemingly tied to the discoveries in the story, was a little awkwardly blended in, and I could have used a little more of an epilogue to Reese’s story (I mean, come on). I suspect that Shiner might have intended a sequel, to take some of his deeper ideas further, but never got around to it. Still, this is a pretty good early effort from the author and I’d be interested to read more of his catalog.
All in all, probably not “essential� reading, but worthwhile as an example of sharp, forward-thinking science fiction from the 1980s, taking the kind of space exploration story that’s a staple of earlier SF and adding mirrorshades sensibilities of cyberpunk. The Audible production is pretty good, with the story divided between Gabrielle de Cuir and Stefan Rudnicki, both capable readers. I’ll also point out that this is currently one of the freebies in Audible’s catalog.
The novel opens with an enjoyably tense sequence in which a team of rugged specialists, including an ex-mercenary and a former astronaut, make a difficult landing on Mars using somewhat decrepit equipment. As we learn, the Russians and Americans established colonies on Mars sometime in the near future, relative to 1984. They operated for a while, but then Earth lost contact and no one followed up because the United States fell apart after its government stopped functioning (:lolsob:) and the Russkies had their own issues. Now, a decade after Mars went quiet, a corporation -- corporations are the new de facto government -- has taken over NASA’s assets and its CEO, a man named Morgan, put together this team to go to Mars and recover some unspecified tech that he believes is there.
It’s not too big of a reveal to say that the Mars colony, at least the American one, is still alive, as one colonist, Molly, is a POV character. The colony is struggling under the control of an autocratic leader, but its brightest minds have made discoveries of the sort that would be of great interest to the nation-states of Earth. And, indeed, they are.
The writing here is quite good, terse but evocative, and the characters are written with more intimacy than in most SF, each carrying his or her own demons. The aging former astronaut, Reese, one of the first to walk on Mars, has reasons for wanting to return there, while Kane, the ex-mercenary, is related to Morgan and had some experimental tech put in his head while recovering from battle injuries in the corporate hospital. Among its other effects, it produces hallucinations of ancient Greece. Molly, meanwhile, has been both blessed and cursed (thanks to genetic issues that might have something to do with the high-radiation environment) with a daughter that’s both brilliant and severely deformed.
On the minus side, the novel, which is only seven and a half hours long, felt a little unfinished to me, with the initial attention to character dissipating in a quick-moving finale. The mythological stuff, while an interesting layer seemingly tied to the discoveries in the story, was a little awkwardly blended in, and I could have used a little more of an epilogue to Reese’s story (I mean, come on). I suspect that Shiner might have intended a sequel, to take some of his deeper ideas further, but never got around to it. Still, this is a pretty good early effort from the author and I’d be interested to read more of his catalog.
All in all, probably not “essential� reading, but worthwhile as an example of sharp, forward-thinking science fiction from the 1980s, taking the kind of space exploration story that’s a staple of earlier SF and adding mirrorshades sensibilities of cyberpunk. The Audible production is pretty good, with the story divided between Gabrielle de Cuir and Stefan Rudnicki, both capable readers. I’ll also point out that this is currently one of the freebies in Audible’s catalog.
November 16, 2017
Ambition drove their dreams, blinding them to the price others would pay.
10 years ago governments around the world collapsed. In the chaos, communication with the Martian colony, Frontera, was lost. Ten years later the world’s most powerful companies have decided to mount an expedition to Mars. Even dead, the colony is an important step towards reclaiming the stars. But when they arrive the crew find Frontera alive and well, and in no mood for visitors. Tensions mount as secrets come to light, forcing everyone to question who they can trust.
Audiences are thrown into an adventure already underway, with very little to guide them.
Frequent flashbacks help to fill some of the gaps, but information is always carefully managed, doling out answers a few at a time, ensuring audiences always have a question to drive them forward. Crisp scenes compete with dry summaries that force audiences to slow down. The temptation to hurry on is palpable, almost every segment ends on a cliffhanger, but those who rush will miss out on most of the story, which lies buried under the words on the page.
Brief references hint at a deeper meaning, as each character struggles between their individual dreams, their obligations to others, and the grim, graphic realities that no one wants to face. Unfortunately it’s just too much. The story tries to do it all, but while the writing is sharp, there just isn’t enough time to properly “show� who the characters are, and simultaneously build up to a proper catharsis. The story is forced to rely on flashbacks and inner reflections to blatantly state what should be left for audiences to infer on their own.
+Strong Pacing through information management
+Challenging writing
*Complex but under-utilized characters
-Overly hurried narrative
-Overuse of Summary
2.5/5
10 years ago governments around the world collapsed. In the chaos, communication with the Martian colony, Frontera, was lost. Ten years later the world’s most powerful companies have decided to mount an expedition to Mars. Even dead, the colony is an important step towards reclaiming the stars. But when they arrive the crew find Frontera alive and well, and in no mood for visitors. Tensions mount as secrets come to light, forcing everyone to question who they can trust.
Audiences are thrown into an adventure already underway, with very little to guide them.
Frequent flashbacks help to fill some of the gaps, but information is always carefully managed, doling out answers a few at a time, ensuring audiences always have a question to drive them forward. Crisp scenes compete with dry summaries that force audiences to slow down. The temptation to hurry on is palpable, almost every segment ends on a cliffhanger, but those who rush will miss out on most of the story, which lies buried under the words on the page.
Brief references hint at a deeper meaning, as each character struggles between their individual dreams, their obligations to others, and the grim, graphic realities that no one wants to face. Unfortunately it’s just too much. The story tries to do it all, but while the writing is sharp, there just isn’t enough time to properly “show� who the characters are, and simultaneously build up to a proper catharsis. The story is forced to rely on flashbacks and inner reflections to blatantly state what should be left for audiences to infer on their own.
+Strong Pacing through information management
+Challenging writing
*Complex but under-utilized characters
-Overly hurried narrative
-Overuse of Summary
2.5/5
November 5, 2020
Too many incomplete narratives competing for focus, by the time it reached its climax I didn't even care. None of the characters had any depth, to the point I had trouble figuring out which of the two male leads was which. But we got descriptions of what the female characters looked like, plus a gratuitous and graphic sex scene for no apparent reason (I'm not remotely a prude, but that scene had no link to the rest of the story and added nothing, not even to character development).
Two excellent narrators for the audiobook were wasted here. Gabrielle de Cuir, especially, did a great job. Stefan Rudnicki's distinctive voice, unfortunately, didn't help at all on distinguishing the two male leads from each other.
Two excellent narrators for the audiobook were wasted here. Gabrielle de Cuir, especially, did a great job. Stefan Rudnicki's distinctive voice, unfortunately, didn't help at all on distinguishing the two male leads from each other.
February 27, 2024
This is well worth the price of admission for SF fans. It has disgruntled and damaged mercenaries, megalomaniac colonists, greedy conglomerates and big doses of dystopian future history. There's also a respectable amount of character development for SF. But any of it could have been written just as well by someone else. He really doesn't have that special something that marks out William Gibson or John Wyndham. Another thing which may suit some but not others is that a large chunk of the start of the books sets up a "Keystone Kops" couple of chapters where everyone dashes round double crossing each other, switching sides and blowing things up. I didn't find it very exciting myself but others may.
August 19, 2020
This is one of my favorite Mars-set novels, and is a tight, brisk action scenario with enough High cyberpunk elements to satisfy any seeker of same.
It's also a deeply affecting exploration of the human spirit, which is a bonus in a men's adventure-type story. Shiner excels at this sort of revisionist genre exercise.
It's also a deeply affecting exploration of the human spirit, which is a bonus in a men's adventure-type story. Shiner excels at this sort of revisionist genre exercise.
August 18, 2017
Ideas presented in this novel much more interesting than the characters, nevertheless still an enjoyable read if you can ignore the arch typical Russians that remind me of vaudeville villains with long twisted mustaches and evil laughs.
January 29, 2018
I believe I found this book on a list of essential Cyberpunk reading, and I can see why it could make a cyberpunk list, but I would personally categorize it as SciFi. It was a fine story, but I doubt that it will stand out in any significant way over time.
May 17, 2018
Another novel in need of a serious editor.
I can easily ignore the occasional typo, but the repetitive wording, the shallow characters, and the blunt plot line is too much. Stopped after 40 pages.
I can easily ignore the occasional typo, but the repetitive wording, the shallow characters, and the blunt plot line is too much. Stopped after 40 pages.
February 11, 2022
I couldn't grasp the point of the story. The flashbacks felt random and the characters felt flat and stereotyped. It really didn't need to be set on mars at all...that was a secondary plot device really. It had potential.
September 11, 2023
Set in the near future this entertaining debut novel fairly reeks of paranoia as the betrayals come thick and fast. A hotchpotch dystopian dive which overflows with ideas condensed in a short dense book. Really liked it.
December 20, 2017
potentially interesting but had to give up on it.
October 25, 2017
A work of cyberpunk without cyberspace. Yet still there is a lot of the cyberpunk world building.
Recommended for those who like to see a space based cyberpunk.
Recommended for those who like to see a space based cyberpunk.
October 22, 2018
The last 30 pagee were murder, but thats probably on me
October 25, 2019
Over all this is a good audio book.
May 17, 2020
Great science fiction book and the audiobook narration perfectly captures the feel of the story.
May 21, 2020
Klart godkänd retro-sf med mytologiska drag.
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