≫ Download Free DA Connie Willis J K Potter 9781596061200 Books

DA Connie Willis J K Potter 9781596061200 Books

Download As PDF : DA Connie Willis J K Potter 9781596061200 Books

DA Connie Willis J K Potter 9781596061200 Books

Connie Willis is one of the best writers of thoughtful adult science fiction writing today (and by “adult” I don’t mean pornographic, but the opposite, as in “writing for grownups”). D.A. proves that she is also a good writer of thoughtful YA sci-fi.

Imagine the most coveted openings at the most selective school on the planet and you get a sense of what it means to enter as a first year cadet at International Space Academy. Virtually every honor student at every high school in every country on the planet applies to be accepted for one of those few openings; the acceptance rate around one in 50,000. To get in, you must have top scores on the Academy’s entrance exams, take four years of math and science, be in perfect physical condition, and pass four separate levels of psych tests and interviews. No one is even sure what else the academy is looking for— one year it seems to be math geniuses, another athletics, and the third volunteering at a soup kitchen or something equally unlikely. Still, every bright student applies, following the precept that if you apply, you probably won’t be accepted, but if you don’t apply, it guarantees you won’t be.

Well, not quite every bright student applies. Theodora Baumgarten didn’t— not because she thought she wasn’t good enough, but because she had no desire to go to space. In fact, when the Academy recruiter visited her school, Theodora asked, “Why would anybody want to? There’s no air, you’re squashed into a ship the size of a juice can, and it takes years to get anywhere interesting. If you get there and aren’t killed first by a meteor or a solar flare or a systems malfunction.”

So imagine Theodora’s surprise and dismay when there is a special assembly called at her school, and it’s her name that is called. Her only thought is that it must have been a mistake, and immediately tries to do what she can to rectify it, and when she can’t get out of going to the Academy, to get herself sent back home.

This is Theodora’s story, in which she discovers the meaning of D.A.

Recommended, for teens on up.


Tags : D.A. [Connie Willis, J. K. Potter] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Theodora Baumgarten has just been selected as an IASA space cadet, and therein lies the problem. She didn't apply for the ultra-coveted posting,Connie Willis, J. K. Potter,D.A.,Subterranean,1596061200,Science Fiction - General,Science Fiction & Fantasy Science Fiction,Fiction,Fiction - Science Fiction,Fiction Science Fiction General,Science Fiction,Science Fiction - Adventure

DA Connie Willis J K Potter 9781596061200 Books Reviews

I love her science fiction. Her other fiction, not so much. Recommended even at the price per word. A quick read.
I'm probably too generous in giving this 4 stars, but it's fairly clever, mildly humorous, and an enjoyable read. And it IS a juvenile, after all. But I've read short stories that were longer. At best - perhaps - it's a novelette. Definitely too short to be a novella. And there's really only one character. The whole story is a gimmick, basically. Well, that's fine for a short story, I guess...

But Connie Willis is one of my all-time favorite authors. When is she going to write another novel, like the superb "Passage" of 2001? And in the meantime, if she's going to write short fiction, why cheat her faithful readers by selling them as individually bound books? I wasn't very pleased when she did this with "Inside Job," her expensive 2005 novella, but it's really getting ridiculous with this book.

"The Winds of Marble Arch" is supposed to be coming out in September, but that's a collection of short fiction - many (most?) of which have been published in previous collections. OK, yeah, I'll still buy it. She is, as I say, one of my very favorite authors. But I hate to be taken for a sucker. This... short story would make a nice little gift for a kid, but nothing more than that.
Theodora Baumgarten has been selected to the Academy, which trains teens for space exploration. The only problem? She never applied. She needs to figure out what's going on, and quickly. And she does. This is a novella, but it seems to sort of end about where it should begin.
It's a fun little short story, but it reads like a synopsis/abbreviated first chapter of a YA sci-fi novel. I think I would love the novel version, but the short story was disappointing specifically because it suggested so much more than it actually was.
D.A. (which stands for something that matters in the story…thus no spoilers), is a novella that is reminiscent of the juvenile fiction of Robert A. Heinlein, particularly the story The Menace from Earth, in that it features a spirited teenage girl in a future where space travel is a reality. Theodora Baumgarten is an atypical teenager in that she is one of the few high school kids who has no desire to get into IASA’s space cadet program. When she is unexpectedly chosen, despite not applying, she will stop at nothing to determine how this cruel joke happened to her and what she can do to get her way. My rating

I mentioned that D.A. is a Heinleinesque story, and I stand by that assertion. If you’ve read The Menace from Earth, or Podkayne of Mars, which feature young adult female leads, or even stories like Star Beast or Starman Jones that feature female characters, you will recognize the spirit of the Heinlein, and maybe even the Andre Norton, juveniles here. Over the last decade I have become enormously fond of those stories, and so I compare them in order to compliment Willis on this novella.

Theodora Baumgarten is an engaging, entertaining protagonist. Connie Willis writes her with 21st century sensibilities while also managing to get that teenage voice just right. She is smart and resourceful, but also willful and potentially reckless. I won’t say much about the story as it is one you need to experience unspoiled to get the full effect. I will reiterate what I wrote above, which is that Theodora finds herself chosen to participate in IASA’s Space Academy, an honor that she neither deserves (according to admission standards), nor wants. But despite doing everything she can to get out of this assignment, she ends up in space. What she does while there is what makes the story interesting, and informs it’s title.

I loved this one. It is a quick read and those who are not fond of short stories may lament that they are just getting to know this fun character when it is all over, but for me D.A. is a testament of what can be done when a talented author sets out to write a fun, entertaining short story. It won’t change your life, but it will make you glad you took a moment to read it.

D.A. is $2.99 on the , and it is my opinion that it was three dollars well spent. This is one I will read again. In fact, I will probably read it aloud to my wife here soon as it would be fun to share with her and I would get the bonus of being able to spend time with Theodora Baumgarten again. If Willis ever decides to feature her in a full-length novel, she could count on me for a release-week sale.
Connie Willis is one of the best writers of thoughtful adult science fiction writing today (and by “adult” I don’t mean pornographic, but the opposite, as in “writing for grownups”). D.A. proves that she is also a good writer of thoughtful YA sci-fi.

Imagine the most coveted openings at the most selective school on the planet and you get a sense of what it means to enter as a first year cadet at International Space Academy. Virtually every honor student at every high school in every country on the planet applies to be accepted for one of those few openings; the acceptance rate around one in 50,000. To get in, you must have top scores on the Academy’s entrance exams, take four years of math and science, be in perfect physical condition, and pass four separate levels of psych tests and interviews. No one is even sure what else the academy is looking for— one year it seems to be math geniuses, another athletics, and the third volunteering at a soup kitchen or something equally unlikely. Still, every bright student applies, following the precept that if you apply, you probably won’t be accepted, but if you don’t apply, it guarantees you won’t be.

Well, not quite every bright student applies. Theodora Baumgarten didn’t— not because she thought she wasn’t good enough, but because she had no desire to go to space. In fact, when the Academy recruiter visited her school, Theodora asked, “Why would anybody want to? There’s no air, you’re squashed into a ship the size of a juice can, and it takes years to get anywhere interesting. If you get there and aren’t killed first by a meteor or a solar flare or a systems malfunction.”

So imagine Theodora’s surprise and dismay when there is a special assembly called at her school, and it’s her name that is called. Her only thought is that it must have been a mistake, and immediately tries to do what she can to rectify it, and when she can’t get out of going to the Academy, to get herself sent back home.

This is Theodora’s story, in which she discovers the meaning of D.A.

Recommended, for teens on up.