P.320-321
"They swept around the corner and into view, in line abreast, nine of them, small dome-shaped boats squatting on a cushion of foam as they raced up the estuary towards us. I was conscious of a feeling of pride. I had built those bugs. They towed water - skiers, girls dressed in flowing white robes, feathers of white spurting from their skis.

Strapped to the back of each girl was a golden kite. When they were about 200 m away from us the girls Rose from the water, the sun illuminating the fabric of their kites, the wind and wetness causing their gossamer white robes to cling to their bodies. I raised my binoculars - then dropped them quickly, not wishing to waste any time in focusing on the rapidly-approaching vision.

50 m away the skitter bugs throttled back and sank to the surface in a sudden crippled wallowing. By now everyone was watching the girls, who had dropped their tow rope. They soared over the water like angels. On either side of us the thick denseness of the trees rose up steep Hillsides to the broad ribbon of sky, framing the angel girls.

Then they snapped their hands across, peeling the cloth from their bodies, and underneath they were naked. The line wheeled, out there in the estuary, and came swooping towards us, 9 naked girls suspended from Golden kites, all breast and plump thighs and golden hair. And across the belly of each girl was painted a single letter, in bright Scarlet. The letters spelled R-I-V-E-R-S-I-D-E. The crowd yelled. Then the girls wheeled again, losing height, and I could hear the wind in their harness as they swept close overhead then out over the estuary again, upstream, lighting gently on the water like a flight of golden swans. They waded ashore a couple of hundred metres away, on the opposite Bank where the estuary narrows in the road bridge crosses the water."

A little example of this author's work. The context is a Regatta, celebrating the Hetherington corporation's buying of the planet Arcadia, of which Riverside is a town. This will help the colonists, as their own resources are sadly depleted, and many colonists have left, following the deaths of many of them by a native Species. But capitalism isn't always the best solution, as many readers know, as CEOs and stockholders are not known for their ethics.

I liked this better than"Mirror Image" and"Charisma," I'll give it that.

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Brave New World on a struggling colony planet, with a very likeable main character and some cool twists along the way. Definitely recommended. ( )

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2342336.html

Won the BSFA award for Best Novel for 1976; I confess I knew nothing else about either book or author before picking it up, and it probably qualifies as one of the most forgotten winners. It's an interestingly British novel; if the cover and all details of the author had been removed, I might have identified it as by Brian Aldiss on a slightly off day, perhaps in the early rather than mid-1970s. It's a story of the little guy against the corporation which is corroding the traditional company town culture of the human settlers; the setting is oddly reminiscent of Leo's Aldebaran series, lots of beach and seafaring and port city scenes. There is a bizarre attempt to prove manliness by sailing around the planet single-handed, while at the same time the issue of manliness and humanity is confused by the artificial people who adapt to take on the characteristics desired by their human owners. It's a bit unfortunate in places and doesn't quite gel, but an interesting insight into the neuroses of the time. The Hugo winner that year was Where Late The Sweet Birds Sang, and the Nebula went to Man Plus. ( )