I have not read bova's most recent book, but have read a few of his other attempts...

I have always been disappointed with his writing.... His MARS story had a bunch of sociopaths that could not EVER make it thru ANY kind of selection going to mars...

Bova seems to concentrate on sexual tension, real humans are a bit more complex... In short his stories tend to be soap operas set in space instead of hard sci-fi... plus his writing style is just not interesting....(my opinion of course)

The best writer in sci-fi WAS James P. Hogan but he has become a nut recently and that is sad- Orson Scott Card did good with "Ender's Game" but every goddamn book after that was the same damn formula!

I have found damn few good sci fi books lately... I liked Clarke's "light of other days" but then it slipped into an advocation of Tiplers retarded "omega point" theory.... I kinda liked Bear's "Darwins Radio" but the ending was weak...

In short it seems sci-fi is becoming crap and fantasy... hard sci fi seems dead... if ANYONE has a book that proves me wrong please tell me, I am desperate for something decent to read!!!!

I have gone so far as to start writing stuff myself, but I know how it will turn out so it is not so fun....

R.L.