{"id":7436,"date":"2024-08-02T00:01:20","date_gmt":"2024-08-02T05:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/?p=7436"},"modified":"2025-12-24T21:36:47","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T03:36:47","slug":"review-wil-mccarthys-beggars-sky-offers-psychedelic-first-contact-story-exploring-economic-vs-political-power-on-the-frontiers-of-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/review-wil-mccarthys-beggars-sky-offers-psychedelic-first-contact-story-exploring-economic-vs-political-power-on-the-frontiers-of-science\/","title":{"rendered":"Best Novel finalist review: Wil McCarthy\u2019s Beggar\u2019s Sky offers psychedelic first-contact story exploring economic vs. political power on the frontiers of science"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Rick Triplett<\/a><\/p>\n

Wil McCarthy\u2019s novel\u00a0Beggar’s Sky<\/em>\u00a0is a first-contact story.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The actual contact, though, is more picturesque than philosophical in this sequel to Poor Man\u2019s Sky,\u00a0<\/em>itself the sequel to Rich Man\u2019s Sky<\/em>, McCarthy\u2019s 2022 Prometheus winner for Best Novel.<\/p>\n

The 2024 sequel – which has been nominated for the next Prometheus Award for Best Novel – takes place within the larger context of an ongoing space race sparked by four Earth billionaires pushing to expand space industry and humanity to new frontiers beyond our solar system.<\/p>\n


\nFANTASTIC FRONTIERS<\/strong><\/p>\n

We learn\u00a0almost nothing about the aliens from Beggar\u2019s Sky\u00a0<\/em>\u2013 certainly no political\/ethical views for us to chew over \u2013 but instead are entertained by\u00a0fantastic, almost psychedelic impressions, partly couched in the author\u2019s considerable awareness of developments on the\u00a0frontiers of science and math.<\/p>\n

Somehow the aliens have gained our attention but with the proviso that contact would require meeting far from our sun. So\u00a0the wealthy entrepreneur Igbal Renz constructs a star ship and takes 100 humans (including himself) toward \u201cthe dark\u00a0between the stars\u201d \u2013 specifically, 1700 AU toward Proxima Centauri.<\/p>\n

There, the ship stopped, and the eight crew members\u00a0brought the remaining 92 out of their two year hibernation. After the encounter, the crew members returned the others to\u00a0hibernation for the return trip.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A FIVE-PART FOCUS<\/strong><\/p>\n

The bulk of the novel has two focal points: the impressions later recounted by several of the people who took the\u00a0journey; and narratives of the daily goings on of five interesting groups of people. These five groups are:<\/p>\n

* The crew (and briefly the passengers) of the contact ship: the two principal people are Ignal Renz (owner) and Michael\u00a0Jablonski (sort of a chaplain)<\/p>\n

* Grigory Orlov, a rich man residing in cislunar space at the Clementine Earth-Moon\u00a0Lagrange Point 1<\/p>\n

* Igbal Renz\u2019s distant staff on Shade Station, at Earth-Sun\u00a0Lagrange Point 1<\/p>\n

* The small population of Thalia Buoyant Island, including Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric, a 15-year-old with his family and a few dozen others,\u00a0homesteading a floating island they created in the atmosphere of Venus<\/p>\n

* Lawrence Killian, a rich man retiring in the Second Dawn Retirement Community on the Lunar South Pole<\/p>\n

The storyline moves through these five locations and the people there who are of central interest. This builds our\u00a0understanding of these characters and their motivations.<\/p>\n

ECONOMIC VS. POLITICAL POWER
\n<\/strong>
\nNotably, McCarthy illuminates and explores the characters\u2019 personal qualities and\u00a0especially how these people handle \u201cpower.\u201d<\/p>\n

By power I mean economic: their resources and productive capabilities. This helps\u00a0readers distinguish it from political power, which is control via the use of force.<\/p>\n

McCarthy\u2019s novel frequently mentions the \u201cfour\u00a0Horsemen\u201d (as in the Biblical apocalypse), who are the apogees of power at that time. These four are Renz, Orlov, and Killian\u00a0supplemented \u2013 as best as I can tell \u2013 by The Cartel (gangsters with high tech and low morals).<\/p>\n

This distinction in kinds of\u00a0power is jarring to most people on the \u201cleft,\u201d but is important when you consider the advantage to clear thinking it makes\u00a0possible. The four horsemen are trillionaires, which paints them as not just suspect but dangerous to humanity in the common\u00a0view.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But very much as in Rich Man\u2019s Sky<\/em>, McCarthy portrays three that are quite admirable, seeking only to achieve, discover, and produce; and one\u00a0(The Cartel) which has no compunction about killing and coercing. This is the sort of food for thought that can be quite\u00a0constructive in today\u2019s socio-political-cultural environment.<\/p>\n

COMMUNING WITH THE ALIENS
\n<\/strong>
\nOne aspect of the story construction that I found problematic was the use of drugs to \u201cproperly\u201d commune with the aliens. Why obfuscate our one chance in a million to perceive this contact as best we can?<\/p>\n

McCarthy\u2019s\u00a0justification is that chemical enhancement (DMT, Ketamine, and MDMA) will enable openness to communication rather than\u00a0obfuscate it. We are expected to suspend disbelief in the enjoyment of fiction, and that\u2019s fine with me; it\u2019s just a bit hard to swallow. I suspect that McCarthy has respect for psychedelics that are neither common nor easily rationalized; but the novel requires this, so I went along with it.<\/p>\n

The other problematic aspect is frustrating: Contact with aliens is important to the story, yet almost\u00a0nothing is learned from this contact. Even if McCarthy intended this, it still seems a little disappointing.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

INSIGHTFUL INTERACTIONS
\n<\/strong>
\nMany insights can be gained from the interactions of the characters in Beggar\u2019s Sky.
\n<\/em>
\nA good example (from Chapter 5.3) is a brief conversation on Thalia, Venus. Tohias, the leader, points out the bravery of their residents in\u00a0venturing to expand into a new world and the dishonesty at the base of their lack of continued support from Earth:<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are\u00a0crap, Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric. Not all of them, but too many.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric, only 15, finds a way to enlist both support and financing\u00a0from the people of Earth. Through imagination and entrepreneurial zeal this 15-year-old outperforms the great Tohias.<\/p>\n

Another good example (from Chapter 3.3) is when Michael is speaking to Thenbecca:<\/p>\n

\u201cKindness and self-interest are not at odds, unless you define\u00a0your self-interest very narrowly. Which is a phenomenally stupid thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

AN ILLUMINATING STATEMENT ABOUT ENTREPRENEURSHIP
\n<\/strong>
\nPerhaps my favorite, most illuminating and positive vignette comes midway through the novel (in Chapter 3.9), when billionaire entrepreneurIqbal Renz is reflecting on his career:<\/p>\n

\u201cIgbal knew what people thought of him: that he was a robber baron, that he\u2019d gotten rich off the sweat of millions of\u00a0other people\u2019s brows. That he was an asshole who didn\u2019t care about the world, or the plight of the poor.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of that was, of course, bullshit. Igbal had been fortunate enough to be born with a brain that thought up exciting\u00a0ideas. And those ideas, well, they excited people, and the rest of it kind of followed naturally. They came to work for him. They\u00a0helped him build the stuff he dreamed up, because it was their dream, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernments and corporations hurled money at\u00a0him, because he could solve their problems and relieve their pain. That\u2019s what people paid for; that\u2019s what made the world go\u00a0\u2019round. That and dreams \u2014 nothing else.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd what better way to care for the world than to build a grander future for it? To enhance the capabilities of the human\u00a0species, while reducing its waste? As for the plight of the poor, men like Igbal made the whole world richer. Provably,\u00a0measurably.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd he paid good wages, too \u2014 wages that flowed down to grocers and plumbers and auto mechanics. Wages\u00a0that sent people\u2019s children to college and cared for their elderly parents. Was that really less noble than if he worked forty\u00a0hours a week at a soup kitchen? Seriously.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlso, what exactly was he supposed to do for the poor? He didn\u2019t even have money in the usual sense; he had a\u00a0multinational corporation. Was he supposed to give that to the poor? How would that even work? No, these criticisms were all\u00a0madness and noise, and he had learned long ago that his critics could not be reasoned with \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cFact was, Igbal had made this whole thing happen \u2014 this incredible thing, that would change the course of history even if\u00a0the Beings didn\u2019t deign to speak. So yeah, he was damn well going to meet with the people he\u2019d brought out here with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

These are potent observations \u2013 about the positive aspects of business and innovation in a free society with free markets.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Novelist Wil McCarthy manning his “space ship.” Photo courtesy of Baen Books<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Personally, I\u2019d prefer McCarthy emphasize these themes even more in Beggar\u2019s Sky, <\/em>but I\u2019m not a novelist. Yet, if he chooses to slip\u00a0the good stuff in on the sly within the story, that\u2019s fine with me. In the 1970s, we called this tactic \u201cguerrilla capitalism.\u201d<\/p>\n

My other hope when beginning a novel is that it be well-written, and\u00a0Beggar\u2019s Sky<\/em>\u00a0definitely is. Prose that distracts from the\u00a0storytelling is all too common; and story construction that leaves readers confused is also common. But Wil McCarthy scores\u00a0high on both counts and leaves me smiling.<\/p>\n

Update: In April 2025, Beggar’s Sky<\/em> was selected by Prometheus judges as a Best Novel finalist.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

RELATED READING:<\/b><\/p>\n

* Read the Prometheus Blog reviews of other current Best Novel nominees, including Danny King’s Cancelled: The Shape of Things to Come,<\/em> <\/a>Stuart Turton’s The Last Murder at the End of the World,<\/em><\/a> Alastair Reynolds’ Machine Vendetta<\/a>,<\/em> Lionel Shriver’s Mania<\/em> <\/a>and Michael Flynn’s In the Belly of the Whale.<\/i><\/a><\/i><\/p>\n

* Check out the full list of 2024 novels<\/a> nominated for Best Novel.<\/p>\n

* Check out the Prometheus Blog Appreciation review-essay of Wil McCarthy\u2019s Rich Man\u2019s Sky<\/em>, the 2022 Prometheus Best Novel winner.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Rick Triplett Photo courtesy of Triplett<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Reviewer\u2019s bio:\u00a0<\/strong>This is LFS Emeritus member Rick Triplett\u2019s first review for the Prometheus Blog, but not his first for Prometheus,<\/em> our former print quarterly.<\/p>\n

Over the decades, Triplett has reviewed many novels for Prometheus, most of them works that went on to be nominated for our award.<\/p>\n

Among the novels he\u2019s reviewed, still available to read on the LFS website\u2019s newsletter index page<\/a>, are Robert Heinlein and Spider Robinson\u2019s Variable Star<\/em>,<\/a> L. Neil Smith\u2019s uncensored and revised 2005 edition of his Best Novel finalist\u00a0Tom Paine Maru<\/em>,<\/a> Michael Z. Williamson\u2019s The Weapon<\/em><\/a>, F. Paul Wilson\u2019s Repairman Jack novel\u00a0Infernal,<\/em><\/a>\u00a0Orson Scott Card\u2019s Empire,<\/a> <\/em>Claire Wolf and Aaron Zelman’s Rebelfire: Out of the Grey Zone<\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>Walter Mosley\u2019s 47<\/em><\/a>, and Tobias Buckell\u2019s Ragamuffin.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE PROMETHEUS AWARDS:<\/strong><\/p>\n

* Prometheus winners:\u00a0<\/strong>For the full list of Prometheus winners, finalists and nominees \u2013 including the annual Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame) categories and occasional Special Awards \u2013 visit the enhanced\u00a0Prometheus Awards page<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>on the LFS website, which now includes convenient links to all published essay-reviews in our Appreciation series explaining why each of more than 100 past winners since 1979 fits the awards\u2019 distinctive dual focus on both quality and liberty.<\/p>\n

* Read \u201cThe Libertarian History of Science Fiction,\u201d<\/strong><\/a>an essay in the international magazine\u00a0Quillette<\/em>\u00a0that favorably highlights the Prometheus Awards, the Libertarian Futurist Society and the significant element of libertarian sf\/fantasy in the evolution of the modern genre.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0Watch <\/strong>videos of past Prometheus Awards ceremonies (including the recent 2023 ceremony with inspiring and amusing speeches by Prometheus-winning authors Dave Freer and Sarah Hoyt),Libertarian Futurist Society panel discussions with noted sf authors and leading libertarian writers, and other LFS programs on the Prometheus Blog\u2019s\u00a0Video page.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

* Check out the Libertarian Futurist Society\u2019s Facebook page<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0for comments, updates and links to Prometheus Blog posts.
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

*\u00a0Join us! <\/em><\/strong>To help sustain the Prometheus Awards and support a cultural and literary strategy to appreciate and honor freedom-loving fiction, \u00a0join<\/a>the Libertarian Futurist Society, a non-profit all-volunteer association of freedom-loving sf\/fantasy fans.<\/p>\n

Libertarian futurists believe that culture matters! We understand that the arts and literature can be vital in envisioning a freer and better future – and in some ways can be even more powerful than politics in the long run, by imagining better visions of the future incorporating peace, prosperity, progress, tolerance, justice, positive social change, and mutual respect for each other\u2019s rights, individuality and human dignity.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rick Triplett Wil McCarthy\u2019s novel\u00a0Beggar’s Sky\u00a0is a first-contact story. The actual contact, though, is more picturesque than philosophical in this sequel to Poor Man\u2019s Sky,\u00a0itself the sequel to Rich Man\u2019s Sky, McCarthy\u2019s 2022 Prometheus winner for Best Novel. The 2024 sequel – which has been nominated for the next Prometheus Award for Best Novel … Continue reading Best Novel finalist review: Wil McCarthy\u2019s Beggar\u2019s Sky offers psychedelic first-contact story exploring economic vs. political power on the frontiers of science<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2353,8,2605],"tags":[328,1540,370,1539,1622,1487,2352,1484],"class_list":["post-7436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-reviews","category-review","category-sequels","tag-aliens","tag-beggars-sky","tag-first-contact","tag-poor-mans-sky","tag-proxima-centauri","tag-rich-mans-sky","tag-rick-triplett","tag-wil-mccarthy"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pe8nGl-1VW","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7436"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7436\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8943,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7436\/revisions\/8943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lfs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}