Baen, 1999, $6.99, ISBN 0-671-57866-9, 528 pages

James P. Hogan was once one of my favorite sci-fi authors. But somewhere around Code of the Lifemakers, he lost his way and my affection. By the time he wrote Mirror Maze in an effort to be Tom Clancy, he lost me completely. His hallmark hard sci-fi was gone, replaced by ineffective modern day puffery.

It was with some hesitation that I bought Cradles of Saturn, with its cover of a space shuttle and what looks like a missile strike from space. But the back cover blurb didn't mention missiles, and did mention Kronians from Saturn, so I picked it up.

And am I glad I did. The sci-fi edge is back and Hogan is back doing what he does best--hard sci-fi.

Basically, Jupiter burps up a plaentoid that heads towards the sun, and like any good disaster movie, the angle is just so that is it far enough away to avoid most problems here on Earth. But whatcha know? The angle changes...

And like a big comet with chunks flying off a tail, the planetoid's tail is long enough to intersect Earth's orbit close enough to cause Earth immense pain. And it's not just a few meteors, there's all sorts of other aspects to this outerspace bombardment. What? Well, you'll get pages and pages of skillfully interwoven scientific speculation.

But does the government listen? Nope. Scientific community? Nope. Military? Nope. Only the human colony at Saturn (the aforementioned Kronians) deduce the danger and send a ship of emissaries to warn about the danger. And they're ignored, save for our one or two intrepid heroes. Ah, but that ship becomes very important as the planetoid flips around the sun and the ostrich-like heads of state rise out of the sand. And then the stress starts to pull Earth apart at the seams. And what of our intrepid heroes? Well, thus the story makes.

Now, you do have to believe that the US government is paralyzed into total denial, and you have to swallow the idea that a fully-fueled shuttle in a silo in Mexico is ignored by US and Mexican governments. But don't think about it too much--you've already been hooked. Just sit back, ponder the science, and enjoy the action.

Cradle of Saturn is vintage James Hogan, and it's about time.