Occupy Space Paperback – April 24, 2012

"Occupy Space" is a very well done, rather quick read. It's quick because the prose is concise and sharp, while also managing to be clever and descriptive. There's a surprising underlying tone of humor and sarcasm that gives the story-machinery a satisfying forward motion. And that's just the writing. Everything else shines and gleams with the luster of a brand new car.Uh, end metaphor.So, there's something tragic about the main character, Walter, and for some reason, I found myself hating him as a protagonist, and then loving him in fits and starts. He's a drunk, and I don't really understand that myself--my worst addiction is Dr. Pepper, and there are days when I could easily drink hundreds of ounces of the delectable beverage despite how bad it is for me. But Dr. Pepper doesn't make me drunk. I just get grumpy and sullen and experience the worst sugar crashes known to man. Which are admittedly pretty bad and make me extremely moody. So, anyway, it's hard for me to sympathize with an alcoholic despite my DP addiction. I want alcoholics to grow up and stop burying their heads in the sand and in vodka or whatever drink of choice they self-medicate with. So it's a good thing Walter decides to do something right away in the story. Otherwise I would have given up within only a few pages.My initial thought was, "Yeah, right, they're going to build a freaking rocket. How the crap is Walter (or the author) going to pull that off?" That's what's so dang interesting about "Occupy Space"! The method! It starts with a few people and balloons into a (sort of) global phenomenon! The "hive mind." There's nothing they can't do, apparently.What I loved:the depiction of the Internet as an interface for a community built projectthe characters--you got names like Memomma (what?) and Huggies and Mr. Gaudy. Big love.the town of Melville--made me feel like I was back in the Southgreat pacinghow a bunch of small-town nobodies rise to the occasionhow the story has a sense of humorWhat's not to love? Well, it didn't bug me too bad, but it might bother some people--there's lots of colorful language. Not too offensive in a book though, you can just skip that word, right? The author handled pretty much everything perfectly. Looking forward to reading more of his stuff.

The premise of building a spaceship in someone's backyard isn't a new one, but the author knows this. He goes to great lengths to show just what it takes to build a spaceship, and, spoiler alert, it takes a lot. The vivid details about the vessel's construction, fueling, and run-ins with the law help paint a story that is at times tense, hilarious, and absurd. Occupy Space has a gruff and funny protagonist in Walter Reddie, the drunk washed up ex-astronaut who makes it his mission to build a spaceship in his backyard. It doesn't take much to imagine a sweaty, over-the-hill actor playing this role in a movie.The other thing about Occupy Space that jumped out at me was its length. The book is really short! Way less than 200 pages, in fact. Doorstop novels seem to be the norm these days, but they are always so bloated. Humorous fiction seems to suffer the most for this. Everyone has seen sketches on Saturday Night Live that go on too long. They are painful to watch. Imagine a 400 page novel that makes you feel the same way after the first 100 pages. Well, after the first 100 pages of Occupy Space, it ends! I expect to see more novels like this in the future. E-readers and online purchasing make a book's length irrelevant. It's funny to think that Occupy Space might be breaking ground on a new trend.

With this hilarious, fast-paced novella, Grady Hendrix stakes his claim as heir to the great Barry Hannah. Like Hannah, Hendrix has a well-tuned ear for Southern locution, and like Hannah he has an appreciation for the surreal that such phraseology naturally lends itself to. But also like Hannah, Hendrix stays true to his story and makes the absurdities believable, in part by consistently setting the action against the background of contemporary cultural signifiers, from references to Google searches to MSNBC reporters on the scene to one teenager who doesn't know what a telephone booth is.Walter Reddie, a former astronaut in the fictional hamlet of Melville, South Carolina, takes it upon himself to build a rocket ship to rescue the only remaining crew-member on the International Space Station, who also happens to hail from Melville. Reddie is roundly ridiculed by the locals, including his closest family members, but when his operation attracts Occupy-type followers from all over the country, Kickstarter-type crowdfunding money flows in and the project improbably moves forward—culminating with a spectacular bang, which gives nothing away, because I'm not saying what kind of bang it is!

Like all of the best sci-fi stories, Occupy Space is a story about people. Yes, there are "fantastical" things that happen (i.e. unauthorized trips into orbit), but Hendrix uses these sci-fi trappings to tell a story about people who are tired of feeling powerless and, like the frat boys in Animal House crashing the homecoming parade, just want to do something profoundly huge and stupid to prove that they truly exist. It's silly and satirical at times, but, most of all, there is a big, beating heart in this novella that wants readers to know that they are capable of anything if they are strong, stubborn, and/or stupid enough to give it their all.

Lots of fun ideas and witty remarks, but it doesn't really come together. It has an unfinished quality.

A funny account of a bunch of rednecks in South Carolina in their efforts to launch a rescue rocket to save one of their own who is stranded on the ISS. You have to read it to believe what the "hicks" do to accomplish their mission. The blocking efforts of the FBI, ATF and other agencies are not good enough to overcome the imagination of the author and his characters.A quick read that had me smiling throughout with some chuckles thrown in for good measure. Try it - I think you will like it.

It's really short as books go, barely more than a pamphlet, and the ending (final third) feels rushed which is probably where the missing pages went but I don't care because what's there is funny and well worth reading and it's not like we're talking about a busting amount of money here are we? Just read the book, it's good

Occupy Space tells the story of a group of rednecks who decide, for a variety of reasons, to build a rocket ship. It goes through all that's involved in such an endeavour in a brisk, funny yet somehow quite informative manner, whilst also giving a nod to the difficulties one might be expected to encounter along the way. A fairly slight but enjoyable read.

Great book