To read for only the second time Murder In Black Letter by Poul Anderson which is on line here and was previously discussed here.
This evening, instead, to reread a Stieg Larsson novel while recuperating from a comrade's late night sixtieth birthday party with Irish rebel songs at the Toll House followed by an early drive to Leighton Moss. (Scroll down.)
Maybe to see some TV news about British politics, currently weirder than fiction.
Britain's relationship to Europe has gone Heisenberg. Alternative presents and immediate futures are superimposed. Sf writers might contribute by conceptualizing alternative speculative outcomes.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Just a hint, you will see Stirling/Drake alluding to a famous Biblical line near the end of THE HAMMER. So stay alert! (Smiles)
And Stirling/Drake wrote three additional sequels Raj Whitehall's career on Bellevue. I don't know if you will go on to the third volume, THE ANVIL, but I plan to. The action picks up in that volume, partly because the enemies Raj fights were not as boneheaded as the Squadrons.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
I suppose this is a plausible account but there is not a lot of challenge for a General whose opponents are boneheads.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
There has been boneheaded generals and leaders in real history as well! In the Eastern Theater of the US Civil War, more than one US general was proven inept when fighting Robert E. Lee, despite the Unionists having all the advantages! It won't be so one sided for Raj Whitehall in the next three volumes.
Ad astra! Sean
Raj's main problems in the western campaigns are political rather than -strictly- military. He's undersupported by his own government, which sets unrealistic goals and gives him less than he needs. In the later ones, he's dealing with foreign opponents who are at an equal level of sophistication... and -still- having problems with his government.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I remember that! It came down to the OLD problem faced by any Governor of the Civil Government: a successful general could be, and often was, a threat to HIM. A self-confident society which had the good luck of having a solidly based means of legitimately handing on power would not have that problem.
Ad astra! Sean
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