(Welcome to Day One of Jimbo’s Memorial Day Event where I honor the veterans who have put their asses on the line in climates that I wouldn’t want to even think about and doing without by sitting in my air-conditioned home, sucking down Cherty Coke and chocolate and tapping on a keyboard. So thanks, vets and know that Jimbo loves you!
Today we feature veteran Joelle Presby. She served six years in the US Navy raising to the rank of Lieutenant (O-3). She served aboard the USS John S McCain out of Yokosuka, Japan. During her tour the McCain was awarded multiple Bloodhound Awards, meaning that they were the best USN surface ship when it came to detecting submerged submarines. She says she got to test lots of prototypes while she was aboard, but she didn’t say of what. Then again, I’m probably less likely to get prosecuted for espionage that way so I’ll call it a win. She also served about the USS Dwight D Eisenhower, but she had less to say about that.
She’s married to Andy Presby, himself a retired submariner. They have two kids and no pets. They live in Ohio. Out of respect for veterans during my Memorial Day event I won’t make an anti-Ohio joke even though I live in Michigan. It seems she’s lived in Africa and now I know where this book came from.)
Science Fiction can be huge space battles, androids and aliens all mashed together to create a grand epic, but it doesn’t have to be. Sometimes Science Fiction can be Earthbound. Sometimes, SF can be more character driven. Isaac Asimov, the grandmaster of science fiction almost passed on writing SF entirely because he didn’t want to write about rockets and rayguns, but about people. I bring that up not to show off my massive knowledge of all things Science Fictional or to show off the point on the top of my head, but because Joelle Presby’s The Dabare Snake Launcher is a very character driven, near future novel set right here on Planet Earth.
A lot of The Dabare Snake Launcher centers around family and government intrigue. The picture painted by Presby is that the two are basically synonymous in Africa, where the story takes place. And when there’s a space elevator to be built, it gets intense.
A huge part of what I loved about The Dabare Snake Launcher is that the main plot revolves around the building of a space elevator. If you’re not familiar (meaning that you haven’t read the Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson) a space elevator is exactly what it claims to be. A rock gets put into a geosynchronous orbit, you drop a rope to Earth and stuff travels up and down the rope. I can’t begin to name all of the technical challenges something like that would entail, but something like that could get cargo to orbit for dirt cheap and the future of the exploration and exploitation of the Solar System could easily end up tied to the success of such a thing. Imagine the possibilities of building a rebuilding spacecraft in orbit without the need to consume all of that fuel getting things into space in the first place. Something like this could be huge, and if we can get more than one up and working…
Yeah, it could be huge.
To Presby’s credit though, she doesn’t get bogged down in endless technical details. She keeps things moving by centering her story on the people who run the company that wants to build the space elevator. She’s got enough in there to make things believable, but not too much to slow things down. Basically, Dabare Snake Launcher has the characterization of a David Weber type novel but without the eight hundred million page infodumps.
That’s not to say that Presby skimps on the details. At some point, we do come face to face with the issues involved in building a space elevator. That goes from the obvious (what do we make a rope this long out of? Where do we put the Earthbound end of this thing?) to the it should have been obvious (where do we get enough power to run this thing?) to the less obvious but still necessary (how do we get people and stuff to the elevator? How do we move it once it comes down?) to the obviously obvious (how do we keep the government from taking all of this from us, either flat out or in the form of taxation and regulation.) Oh, and you get to find out what the definition of the word “Dabare” is, since I’m assuming that most of you don’t know. I definitely didn’t when I picked up my copy.
With the exception of one pulse-quickening sequence there isn’t a whole lot of viloence in Dabare Snake Launcher. This is a work of intrigue, not explosions. I loved every minute of it though. Some of my favorite works of Science Fiction contain all kinds of intrigue. The Honorverse, the Safehold series, Battletech, the Carerraverse, even The Ashes series all have a ton of political intrigue to them. The difference here is that Presby puts the intrigue front and center instead of in the background.
Presby has a disturbingly good grasp on government corruption and its effect on industry and science. If I didn’t know better I might be tempted to believe she had a cousin who was a Senator or something. There is a lot of horse trading and interweaving of families, some alliances forged with a marriage, other things almost prevented because of feuding…
Yeah, I can get with this kind of plot. The Dabare Snake Launcher is a work of SF set in just past modern day Africa that reads like a primer on medieval European politics. I love that about it. Machiavelli would feel at home here and so do I. The thing is there’s more than just a hint of mafia dealings here. Michael Corleone and Tony Soprano would feel home here as well. Presby did a great job keeping things moving.
And let’s face it, moving is what it’s all about. Tony Soprano moved trash. Michael Corleone moved his family to Vegas. Tony Montana moved into a mansion with his rival’s widowed wife. FDR moved Joseph Kennedy to Washington DC and said “It takes a crook to catch a crook.” And, of course, Napoleon moved his ass to Elba. If the Sadou family just happens to want to move things back and forth to orbit, who am I to tell them no?
There’s a little bit of African spiritualism in Dabare Snake Launcher and I found that I liked that. It not only helps establish setting, but it just fits. There’s a bit in there about the traditional versus the modern vis a vis African religion as well and I like how well that fits with the current world and pretty much any religion to include Christianity, which I’m a part of.
And I guess that’s what makes Dabare Snake Launcher work: It’s got all conflict you could ever want even if people aren’t shooting at each other. Whether it’s business versus government, generational or interfamilial there’s always something going on. There’s a hidden secret or a concealed goal or even an open enemy that needs some resolution somewhere. That’s what kept me glued to the page. And that’s why I’ll be picking up the sequel that I have a feeling might just becoming. Maybe. There’s still work to be done and I need more books to review. Anyway, if you’re friends with Presby, tell her I said to get writin’.
Bottom Line: 5.0 out of 5 Bottles of Antivenom
The Dabare Snake Launcher
Joelle Presby
Baen Books, 2022
The Dabare Snake Launcher is available for purchase at the following link. If you click the link and buy literally anything from Amazon, I get a small percentage at no additional cost to you.