Heinlein: Starship Troopers ("To the everlasting glory of the infantry...").
Anderson: many land, sea, air and space battles, several of them summarized on this blog.
Stirling: the climax of Conquistador. Our heroes sabotage an invasion force but not before several of its transport planes have taken off so the fight must be taken to the air. The Gate is destroyed in the fighting. Will New Virginia be cut off from Firstside? We already knew that a theoretical physicist was investigating how to build a new Gate. But will the new Gate lead to the old world? There is a multiverse out there...
26 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
And there are serious scientists, treated with respect by other scientists, who think there very well might indeed be alternate universes. A "multiverse," as you put it. The trick is to somehow discover the means of contacting and going to these alternate worlds.
Books by Poul Anderson using the alternate universe idea or theory:
THREE HEARTS AND THREE LIONS
A MIDSUMMER TEMPEST
OPERATION CHAOS
OPERATION LUNA
And a few short stories: "House Rule," and "Losers' Night."
But, while Poul Anderson could indeed write excellent alternate universe stories, I don't think that idea or theme was a truly major part of his thinking as a writer. He favored either straightforward fantasies or hard SF. You have to turn to writers like Harry Turtledove or S.M. Stirling, men who did focus primarily on the alternate universe theme.
Sean
Kaor, Paul!
Am I right thinking you have finished reading Stirling's CONQUISTADOR? If so, do you have any concluding thoughts and comments? What is your view of John Rolfe VI, his son Charles, granddaughter Adrienne, Tom Christiansen, Giovanni Colletta, the Commonwealth, etc.? Your views on how Stirling handled the alternate worlds idea in those of his works you have read so far?
And I have some of the THERE WILL BE WAR series edited by Jerry Pournelle. Many interesting and thought provoking stories in those books. Including some, I think, by Poul Anderson (altho I would need to check the ones I have to be sure).
Sean
Sean,
I have finished CONQUISTADOR and ordered MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. That is a lot of questions. I might need time to respond. John Rolfe was withholding important scientific data from FirstSide. I cannot be happy with that. His importation of dangerous animals seems a bit mad. I appreciate his tolerance of Ralph Barnes. The other characters I would need to reread before commenting further.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I look forward very much to knowing what you think of MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA and the other three Draka books, despite my warning you it's dystopian SF. But, IMO, very well written and interesting dystopian SF.
I do see your point about not being happy about John Rolfe witholding very important scientific information from FirstSide. I agree, he is a very interesting man, reminding me in some ways, of Manuel Argos, from Poul Anderson's works. And I can see, as well, you need time to think over what you read in CONQUISTADOR before coming to any conclusions about the book.
Sean
Sean,
Two interesting points about Tom: he is taken to New Virginia as a prisoner but learns to like it there, e.g., the unpolluted environment; he comes to see the human side of the racist Botha.
Paul.
Sean,
I think that current theory allows for alternative universes but not for travel between universes -
Paul.
Sean,
One reason CONQUISTADOR is good is because it shows us what some people would do if they had the opportunity to colonize North America all over again and implicitly asks us what we think of their society. Is it a utopia or a dystopia? The importation of dangerous species is definitely a wild, idiosyncratic element.
Paul.
Sean,
Adrienne is good in her leadership role. Her father did not make a big impression on me. I would have to reread passages featuring him to see if I could formulate any remarks on his character.
Paul.
Sean,
Curiously, CONQUISTADOR is not really about a Eurasia in which Alexander lived longer but rather about a North America unconquered by Europeans, therefore open to colonization from another timeline.
Paul.
Sean,
I would be interested to know which Anderson stories are in THERE WILL BE WAR. A discussion of military sf seems like a good idea some time.
Paul.
Whatever we think of the Rolfe regime, it is clear that the rebels planned to make conditions a great deal worse.
Kaor, Paul!
I agree! But we can at least daydream of somehow contacting or going to alternate universes. In fact, in one of our exchanges of letters Poul Anderson speculated on the possibility of going to another universe via a black hole.
And, in CONQUISTADOR, Stirling used the idea that it WAS possible to go to an alternate universe.
Sean
Kaor, Paul!
Then I will hunt up my THERE WILL BE WAR books to see if they have any of Poul Anderson's stories.
Sean
Kaor, Paul!
I agree! I would also stress that, however grudgingly, Tom Christiansen had to concede that New Virginia was governed well.
Again, I agree as regards Piet Botha. I would also add that, as racists go, Botha's case was fairly mild. Human side of Both? Yes! Here I thought of how he managed to prevent his son from seeing how some of his own friends had been killed, because a boy should not see some things too soon. A human, and HUMANE touch.
Sean
Kaor, Paul!
On balance, allowing for human weakness and imperfectibility, I find New Virginia to be a quite decent and well governed society. And neither a utopia or dystopia.
Yes, importiong lions and tigers an rhinoceroses was certainly a wild and idiosyncratic thing for John Rolfe VI to do.
Sean
Kaor, Paul!
Charles Rolfe interested me because altho definitely intelligent, well meaning, able, and hard working, he inevitably suffered from being in the shadow of his masterful and awesome father. But, he does not seem to have been embittered by this and was plainly sincerely devoted to his father. By and large I would consider Charles Rolfe a worthy heir to and successor of his father.
Sean
Kaor, Paul!
True, and I can't help wonder how PLAUSIBLE it would be for the Americas to have remained "undiscovered" by more technologically advanced societies as late as our AD 1946. In his "The Only Game in Town" Poul Anderson speculated on what might have happened if the Americas had been conquered by Sino-Mongols, beginning in Kublai Khan's reign.
Sean
Kaor, Paul!
Exactly! Giovanni Colletta and his fellow conspirators were impatient with John Rolfe's preference that New Virginia should grow and expand gradually. And I suspect Collettas wanted to intervene in Europe; which I think still had NO idea the Commonwealth existed.
Sean
Sean,
The young South African rebels believed that they would soon have plenty of "kaffirs" to work for them.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Yes, I remember that as well. AND Piet Botha's dismissal of such hopes as a "film which began well but ended badly" (quoting from memory).
Sean
Kaor, Paul!
I looked up my THERE WILL BE WAR books, and rediscovered I have seven volumes of that series edited by Jerry Pournelle and John F. Carr. And I saw this series has at least two of Poul Anderson's stories: Volume 1, THERE WILL BE WAR, contains "Marius," and Volume IV, DAY OF THE TYRANT, contains "No Truce With Kings."
None of the other volumes I have, V thru IX, has other stories by Anderson. But, I don't have the complete series, meaning one of the other volumes might have additional Anderson stories. I think a natural candidate would be Anderson's "Kings Who Die."
Sean
Sean,
Thank you. "Kings Who Die" is about the nature of war so it is more relevant than either of the others.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Hmmm, yes, IF I can trust my memory, "Kings Who Die" takes a more Clausewitzian look at war than either of the other two Anderson stories cited above. But, I would need to check and see if Jerry Pounelle added any prefaces to those two stories explaining why he selected them for Volumes I and IV of THERE WILL BE WAR.
Sean
Kaor, Paul!
I checked my copy of THERE WILL BE WAR to see if Jerry Pournelle explained why he included "Marius" in the book. Yes, he had and his comments justifies the inclusion of the story. To quote Pournelle: "In every generation there are those who can lead men to Hell. There are never many, for the secrets of that kind leadership have not been written in books. No one quite knows where the great captains come from. They appear when needed--or they do not, and homelands die." And further, "Great soldiers are not often great governors. Sometimes they are, Julius Caesar was certainly preferable to most of his immediate successors and predecessors, Washington was certainly an able president, Mustapha Kemal was the best governor Turkey ever had, England has had able soldier kings." And one last quote: "Far too often, though, the habits of military power have been ingrained, so that the great captain becomes tyrant or incompetent--or both--as head of state."
And "Marius" is about how a great soldier like Jacques Reinach, was more and more showing himself a disaster as he bagan making political decisions. And why he had to be removed. So it made sense to include that story in the first volume of THERE WILL BE WAR.
Sean
Sean,
Good war leaders can be bad peace leaders. Good point. And it makes this story significant quite apart from its role in initiating a future history. Also, Pournelle quotes a wealth of historical examples to back up his point.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Exactly! And the nine volumes of THERE WILL BE WAR contains many non fiction articles as well as military SF. These arcticles discusses many issues relating to war and peace.
Sean
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