A big shout out to our first reviews of this novel! It’s always exciting to hear good news about the hard work Cameron Lambright put into this brilliant book!
Thank you ethan514 for these kind words:
“Blazing the Sun takes me back to my discovery of science fiction and all the pleasures and joy it brought me back in the 50 ‘s .
This novel is very reminiscent to me of the work’s of Heinlein and Sohl amongst others . It has all the element’s, the individual
torn between opposing societal factions ,evil corporate entities , mobster ‘s , eugenics , romance and action of racing star craft
through the solar system . It ‘s a quick entertaining read .”
And thank you A Williams for putting so much time into this wonderful breakdown of many of the major themes in this novel!
“Cameron Lambright’s book “Blazing the Sun” ranks up there with the best works of Science Fiction and Fantasy. For entertainment value alone this book will keep you guessing and turning pages, it is a story filled with excitement and imagination. The main character, Samson Ford, is a young racing pilot who travels around the solar system getting himself into trouble. He dreams of competing in a marathon race around the sun called the Solar Regatta but is natural born, i.e. without genetic enhancements, and no natural born pilot has ever been good enough to compete in the Solar Regatta before. (His love interest, Stephanie, is even cooler than he is, but it is hard to tell much about her without spoiling some plot points.) Samson steers a dizzying path through this world of speed, violence, and adulation (top racing pilots are superstars!). He soon becomes the unwilling focal point of a Solar System wide battle to quarantine all natural born human beings, and then it isn’t only gangsters that are trying to kill him but professional corporate soldiers. With the help of a genius engineer who Samson breaks out of prison, he does his best to survive long enough to keep winning.
Just because this is science fiction does not mean that it is inaccessible to people who are not sci-fi fans, in fact I’m not even a sci-fi fan really. The best writers of science fiction have always argued that good science fiction is just good fiction and that is the case here, this is a story that would entertain almost anyone, but it does have some mature themes and situations (violence and sexuality are important elements in the story) so it is definitely not recommended for children.
There are various great themes in “Blazing the Sun”, but a few of them stand out:
1. GENETIC ENGINEERING. “Blazing the Sun” takes place in an imagined future solar system where most of the large solid bodies have been terraformed and colonized and about half the human population has been born artificially with significant genetic enhancements. Natural born humans have become a kind of second class citizens. The main character, Samson Ford, comes from a religious colony on the outskirts of the Solar System where no one with genetic engineering is allowed to enter and who consider themselves superior to genetically enhanced human beings. The conflict, prejudice, and disparity created by genetic technology is a constant theme and has obvious similarities to racism which has become a total non-issue in this future where designer skin tones and exotic physical appearance of every variety are part of the fashion, like women’s blush and mascara today. The mixing of human and animal dna to create hybrids is another aspect that is explored, and one of the important characters in “Blazing the Sun” is said to be the product of illegal genetic mixing of other species with humans.
2. RELIGION. Religion is a core theme in “Blazing the Sun”, because Samson Ford comes from a religious cult of natural born humans who still believe in “the god,” while in the rest of the solar system the concept of “God” has become less than a joke, in fact it isn’t even a concept anymore. Sort of like how people are today when it comes to believing in Zeus. So humanity has become almost completely atheist and the effects and consequences of this godlessness and whether there is any value or validity to religion are constantly in the background of the main character’s mind and the events that are happening in the story.
3. POWER. Who has power, why, and how should it be exercised? This is an important theme in “Blazing the Sun” where powerful individuals and interests collide with often unexpected consequences. In the future solar system that this story imagines, corporations are the most powerful human organizations and corporate leaders exercise and hand down their power as if they were ancient monarchs, like a new feudalism. It reminds me of China, or of the US before Teddy Roosevelt. Sort of like the book “Dune,” too, which I would say must have been an influence on this author. The power of politicians, by contrast, is mostly symbolic, although political entities still wield some residual vestiges of power when it comes to things like implementing a planet wide quarantine of natural born humans. Criminals wield their own kind of power and rule over their own miniature kingdoms, and Samson Ford becomes both powerful and enfettered when he becomes a famous symbol of natural born humans throughout the solar system.
4. SEX. It is true, the genetically enhanced humans haven’t only enhanced their brain power. And nobody believes in ‘chastity’ anymore, outside it seems of the cult Samson grew up in. How humans relate to each other through sex and whether it is mechanical or something more is a definite theme of this book, although it boils a little bit more under the surface most of the time. The way that the atheist, genetically enhanced humans relate to each other is a little bit cold and maybe even unsettling, but Samson and Stephanie provide a great love story that gives a more optimistic take away on the human condition.
To sum it all up, underneath the exciting story in “Blazing the Sun” is an immersive world and vision of the future that challenges us to think about what love is, what humanity is, what it should be and what we want it to be, and what the universe is. Space and engineering are other big themes that I haven’t even discussed. This book is not very well known yet, it’s a local author which is how I know about it, but jump on the bandwagon now because it is a great ride and I bet it will get big.
The book ending is beautiful, but it leaves us on a major cliffhanger. So where is the sequel Cameron Lambright???”
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