Reviews of Eta Carinae
5 out of 5 stars
Wonderful
January 24, 2018
By Robert Rozell
This story is amazing, really gets you to thinking. I have always like the stories of the aboriginals of Australia. Very well done. Thanks for writing this story.
5 out of 5 stars
Fast paced Fascinating story
April 23, 2013
By JoAnn Turner
This novella is intriguing, mysterious, entertaining, and darn good read. I enjoyed it thoroughly, from the lascivious Minister annoyed at having his time at the pool interrupted by work, to the Aboriginal elder who knows the real story. My only complaint: I wish it were longer, because I enjoyed reading it so much. Skilful and enjoyable.
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5 out of 5 stars
not alone and afraid in a world you never made
April 24, 2013
By Joe Foster
Ever notice how things fall into patterns, stay in rote sequence, become routine, numb the mind, eventually strip the sheen off all the pre-existence magic? That's often my observation, anyway. Existence gets to feeling desolate. Sure, I'll take it anyway, what, I'm gonna opt out of the whole shebang cause I feel bored with it sometimes, even, well, most of the time? Cause it's easy to get wrapped up in little dramas that are culture-bound and seem to meaning nothing beyond a rarefied context. But how can this guy ever feel anything as mundane, given the amount of poetic prose that's so apropos in describing the fraction of what he knows about the fraction of what's known about the reality that gave rise to a universe that allowed his little moment of looking back at it? Maybe the ability to feel ennui is the greatest miracle there ever was.
So what is there outside the cultural cul-de-sac? Ultimately, the cosmos. It's a maddening puzzle how human inventions and conventions like numbers and their use in measurement and models allowed our understanding of so much of it. Still more amazing, the profound pointlessness of the Higgs boson, or stars, other than, of course, to have allowed for the processes that warmed this solar rock so I could reflect on it at some vantage sandwiched between a blog post and a cup of coffee. Overall, there's a feeling of isolation. My home, an accident of birth, can be a compelling distraction a lot of the time. I can become lost in many types of games, video games, money games, but with so many layers of synthetic structure, "home" is more a hostel in downtown crazy, lights-years from anything basic or primary, under the burden of human nature, itself bound to the cruel mechanics of the biosphere.
But it's true that some of those who are the most isolated in a personal sense are also the most connected to a kind of kinship with the universe that transcends the scope of social relationships, for instance, great scientific observers who spend large chunks of their lives in remote and lonely locations, underground tunnels built for accelerating sub-atomic particles, astronomical observatories on mountaintops, to study the extremes of nature - likewise, shamans and psychologists who explore dreams and inner-space. In this novella, Brian d'Eon tells a story of people at opposite ends of a cultural spectrum, against a backdrop of interstellar extremes. It's a compelling story, well worth an e-read.
Patrick Mahoney, a parks and aboriginal affairs minister in the Australian Government, is faced with the horrifying scenario of having all that sweet sweet Ayer's Rock tourism revenue dry up in the event of a shut-down by locals. He sends James Cook, the department's token native-Australian, to find out what's going on while lending them PC-cred. On the bus to Alice Springs, James meets Pam, a journalist. She's also an anthropologist, it turns out, with the extraordinary distinction, for a white person, of being fluent in Pitjantajara.
Meanwhile, Frank Peterson and some fellow astronomers at the Mt. Stromlo observatory, have noticed that a nearby star, Eta Carinae, seems to have unexpectedly gone supernova. These events and worlds converge as James and Pam make contact with Billy, an aboriginal elder who claims to have dreamed of James before their meeting. He also has some independent insight into the exploding star that so surprised the scientific community. Here the story begins to take on apocalyptic suggestions as the implications of heavy particles arriving from such a relatively nearby celestial object are mulled over by the characters. The shut-down of the airport and entire park around Ayer's Rock that kicked off events at the political level is explained by the elder merely as preparation for "a coming change".
In the latter half of the story, opposing culture-rooted ways of thought collide with interesting results, and we see how shamans as well as scientists arrive at knowledge in different ways. Some indigenous traditions have survived despite the dominance of western culture. The story is immersive in its imagistic detail and sensitivity to local flavour. It ends with the sort of transcendent feel I get from my favourite science fiction writers, like Arthur C. Clarke, and Carl Sagan. It's a quick read, less verbose than my review, and highly recommended.
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5 out of 5 stars
Astronomical excitement in Australia.
May 10, 2013
By David V.Bowley
An Excellent read, Brian has a great knowledge of all things Australian and a background in Astronomy. A good laugh as well.
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Romance, Mystery & Prophecy
May 30, 2013
By Sandra Hartline
There’s romance, mystery and prophecy on the sandstone island of Uluru, an isolated rock formation in central Australia which is sacred to the aboriginal people of the area. James Cook is twenty-nine, part aboriginal and senior advisor to the Minister for Parks and Aboriginal Affairs, Patrick Mahoney. “We've got a problem up at Ayer's Rock,” Mahoney tells him. “They want the Rock back. The Aboriginals say it belongs to them, and they want us to clear out.” The Minister sends James to investigate, and James becomes enamoured of Pamela, a comely anthropologist who can also serve as interpreter. Pam introduces him to Billy, an aboriginal elder, who predicts there is something unusual about to happen in the sky. It’s the star Eta Carinae, bright and beautiful, possibly about to explode. Does its nearness herald global warming, a catastrophe, or something else altogether? This entertaining tale blends astronomy and oral history and suggests some surprising conclusions.
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4 out of 5 stars
Eta Carinae -- a story for our times on several levels
Jan. 28 2014
By Linda E Crosfield
This entertaining and wonderfully written novella tells a story about the seemingly unending struggle of aboriginals (Australian, in this case) having to share their ways and their land with those who come later. Patrick Mahoney, Minister for Parks and Aboriginal Affairs, sends one of his subordinates, James Cook, to see what's going on when a labour dispute threatens to disrupt the tourist-driven status quo at Uluru (which is to Ayers Rock as Haida Gwaii is to the Queen Charlotte Islands). Meanwhile, the star known as Eta Carinae is displaying signs of becoming a supernova. The characters are well-drawn and engaging, particularly Billy, an Aboriginal elder who seems to have some sort of inside track on what's going on with Eta Carinae. Check out the author's website for some great pictures of some of the places mentioned in the story. [...]
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