![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
A Plague of Dreams: August Reading
See? Not as late as July! Go me!
Cutting for major spoilers and some space. May come back and cut for space more once I post this and see how much space it hogs.
(Nine books. Nine. Shoot. Granted, some of them were short, but others were five hundred pages. Probably won't read this many novels again until I get another insane commute like August's. Given where I live, it shouldn't be more than three years... anyway. On to the stories.)
The Years of Rice and Salt, Kim Stanley Robinson (Nominated for the 2003 Hugo Award for Best Novel): The Black Plague devastated Europe in the Middle Ages, killing an estimated third to half of the continental population. What if it had wiped out 99% of the European population? How would history play out if Chinese and Islamic culture dominated, rather than European? And what if souls reincarnated, grouping together in multiple lifetimes, so that stories set a thousand years apart might be the adventures of the one protagonist? Kim Stanley Robinson throws a monkey wrench in the mechanics of history and writes down how it might play out. Sort of.
The novel is sectioned by lives: each chapter narrates critical life events of the reincarnated characters. Interludes in the "bardo," where life actions are judged, let the characters reflect on their actions in the life they just finished and discuss patterns extending back through other lives. It’s a neat device for linking narratives scattered across centuries and continents. KSR gets a little meta at one point, claiming this "journey of reincarnated souls" storytelling was a popular novel style during a portion of this alternate history. So this book could be read as a story written by people in that timeline, as well as a story by someone in our Eurocentric timeline.
I’ve never taken an Asian history course, so I can’t say with certainty when the divergence really took off. I expected some sort of radical and obvious change after whatshisname the eunich was saved by whathisname the Mongol’s care in the first section/chapter, but really can’t discern of there were any major changes from our timeline in that chapter of the book. Other than the absolute absence of Europeans, that is.
I can say that I found the Long War horrifying and slightly unbelievable: wouldn’t someone have invented tanks sometime in those seventy years? I don’t know if I even believe the war could have lasted those seventy years. Total war sucks economies dry very fast. World War One (which the Long War seems to be analogous to) battered Europe pretty badly. Long years of fighting would probably shatter the combatants’ economies within a generation. (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
herewiss13 and I had a long discussion of this. He holds that the Muslim and Chinese hegemonies, covering all of Europe and most of Asia respectively, had a lot more resources to draw from and so could last longer. I hold that a proportional percentage of the economy probably was pumped straight into the war effort - total war, remember?- and so would have drained it as fast or nearly so. It was a good conversation.) Finally, the cultural scars didn’t seem deep enough: entire generations - most of the living population - have never known peace. How do you adjust to silence when all you’ve ever known is deafening noise?
On the balance, it’s KSR. If you like his relaxed writing style and socialist/environmental politics, you’ll probably enjoy The Years of Rice and Salt.
O Jerusalem, Laurie R. King: MarySue Russell and her mentor/partner Sherlock Holmes temporarily escape a messy and potentially lethal case in London, risking their lives in the Holy Land in January 1919. Set smack in the middle of The Beekeeper's Apprentice, the first book in the series, but written between The Moor and Justice Hall (see below).
If I recall correctly, I first read this during a Laurie King binge a couple years ago. Beats The Moor hands down.
Justice Hall, Laurie R. King: A very direct sequel to O Jerusalem. The most striking thing about it, for me, is a theme it shares with LRK’s Martinelli series: an authorial love of generational continuity and expensive houses intersecting with some less rooted or more ambiguously rooted characters. Russell gushes about the centuries of history imbued in Justice Hall's very walls; Kate Martinelli and her partner Lee sink sweat, time and money into Lee’s dead... aunt’s? mother’s? house on Russian Hill. The central mystery, such as it is, unfolds with authorial deliberation and enjoyable twists, but is almost incidental to LRK’s interest in continuity and the changing British social landscape of the 1920's.
The King’s Peace, Jo Walton: Would you believe I didn’t pick up that this was an Arthurian retelling until two hundred or more pages in? Comments waiting on finding and finishing The King’s Name the second half of the story.
The Lathe of Heaven, Ursula K. Le Guin: Everyone dreams; most people’s dreams don’t affect reality. George Orr’s do, and it terrifies him. The state-assigned psychiatrist he is forced to see after a drug overdose read as an apparent suicide attempt is fascinated by these "effective dreams" and uses George to rewrite the world a bit. Okay, more than a bit. George is disturbed. The reader resists the urge to earmark and pencil in examples of Le Guin’sbulletproof literary kinks pet ideas.
Dawn, Octavia Butler: The War is gone, as is most of the human race. Lilith Iyapo (people famliar with Bible-based religious traditions will note the significance and irony of the name) is one of the survivors saved by the Oankali, aliens without the human biological imperative for conflict, but with an imperative to "trade" genetic structure with other species, willing or otherwise. The novel narrates Lilith’s reluctant acceptance of a role as the resentful bridge between the humans and the Oankali.
The Oankali have a classically cool S.F.nal idea going for them: a three sex reproductive system, involving up to five participants. They also subvert a lot of classic memes. Their behavior toward humanity is peaceful, benevolent and more invasive than any "conquer the puny Earthlings" military campaign. Their trade imperative is read by most of the characters as infecting the human genome with frightening, alien characteristics. Science fiction has reiterated the clash of cultures theme from a dominant culture’s point of view plenty of times; Dawn is about the effects on (and by) the "weaker" culture. Humans hate and fear the Oankali, but are prized by that species of assimilators for their adaptability and creativity.
This has some obvious applications to the history of the United States, and the Americas at large.
Ill Met in Lankhmar, Fritz Leiber: All hail the adventures of the indomitable Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser! Old school sword-and-sorcery of the type much mocked by The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, but with a flair for dramatic language and humor. The city of Lankhmar has probably inspired a number of D&D games, and several series currently in production, such as Steven Brust’s Vlad novels and P.C. Hodgell’s Jaime books, very likely also trace some roots to Fritz Lieber’s novels. If you find any of the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser novels, they’re slightly dated in attitude and their use of language, but very much worth reading for their lively protagonists and fantastical plots.
The Service of the Sword, David Weber et al: latest collection of stories set in the Honorverse. People who have read the previous three collections know the drill: Weber writes a story about Honor, the Navy, or the treecats and other authors fill in gaps that interest them.
"Promised Land," Jane Lindskold: the plucky young Grayson-born trophy wife of a Masadan pirate/privateer leads her sister Masadans up through the regions of air, escaping a truly reactionary and misogynist world. Michael Winton backstops.
This is a slightly unbalanced story. The narrative switches between young Judith preparing to lead the Sisterhood of Barbara on its escape from Masada, Michael Winton’s experiences on his midshipman’s cruise, and the occasional meditation by the lieutenant in charge of the middies on Prince Michael’s disruptive presence in the midshipman’s berth. The plot is driven by the escape plan and is shaped by Judith’s actions; much of the other two characters’ sections are pure setup, maneuvering Michael into position to aid the escape attempt. Had the two non-Judith sections included some sort of thematic tie to the escape plot - accepting or refuting "everyone's" expectations, education, social conscience and responsibility - or been able to make use of some contemporary parallels to the reactionary Masadan religion and society (Afghanistan, anyone?), the story would have been a lot stronger. As it stands, it’s a rather fluffy tale of good beating out evil without a lot of distressing moral or ethical complications.
"With One Stone," Timothy Zahn: On the eve of the good ship Fearless’s departure for patrol duty in pirate-infested Silesea, Rafe Cardones is temporarily reassigned to an ONI team investigating a weapon that may fundamentally alter the military landscape... and is in Haven’s hands.
Personal reaction can be summed up in one phrase: Tim Zahn! Eee! (Yeah, fangirl central right here. Probably have a button to that effect, too.) In some ways, deep familiarity with Zahn’s writing isn’t good for the story. Certain author ticks and turns of phrase guaranteed instant Thrawn trilogy flashbacks, which bends the Weberverse in all sorts of interesting ways. Ignoring that, though, it’s a very enjoyable story, sliding deep background development of Weber’s FTL signaling technology into a thoroughly readable tale. The unfortunate considerations of Honorverse/Star Wars crossovers may take a while to kill, though. (I think at least one outcome of any conflation of those two universes can be summed up almost succinctly: Admiral Steadholder Duchess Dame Honor Harrington, Jedi Knight. Who winds up a New Republic senator or governor of an Alderaan colony before the end of the series. Not to mention the vornskrs-meet-treecats subplot or that cross universe romance everyone wished had never happened... wow. It almost writes itself.)
"A Ship Named Francis," John Ringo & Victor Mitchell: A Manticoran medic volunteers for duty on a Grayson ship. Little did he know he’d just sent himself toKyril Island Siberia. A choppy group of anecdotes about Grayson’s least effective warship, which manages to lose itself in its home system for four days. Whoops. Recommended to those who like their humor black and slightly slapstick.
"Let’s Go To Prague," John Ringo: In the boring days of the cease-fire, Alliance Covert Ops men decide to spend their leave deep in Haven territory, and smack into a defecting Havenite admiral who’s lost his Manticoran pickup team. Chaos and large explosions ensue. Ase decides that Ringo’s covert ops people work off a radically different set of assumptions than she does, and she's rather glad they're a few fictional universes away from her.
"Fanatic," Eric Flint: The story of a few good men and women trying to do their jobs and not get axed in the dying days ofthe French Revolution Rob Pierre and Oscar Saint-Just’s rule of the People’s Republic of Haven.
It’s been a year plus since I read the Changer of Worlds collection (and yes, that link is to the full text from the Baen free library) or most of the rest of the Honoverse novels, so I was reasonably certain I ought to recognize that scary Cachat fellow and several other characters, but not certain enough to do more than declare the narrator unreliable - or at least out of the authorial information loop - after a couple of pages, and have way too much fun trying to figure out what was going on in other character’s heads, and why I was reasonably certain I ought to remember some of these people from somewhere.
"The Service of the Sword," David Weber: Grayson midshipwoman Abigail Hearns, first female officer in the Grayson navy, on her middie cruise. The cruise is not a quiet one. (Bet you saw that one coming.) Abigail acquits herself (sorry) honorably.
If you like Weber, you’ll like this story. Unfortunately, "The Service of the Sword" doesn’t go too many places he hasn’t been before. (See also, say, Michael Winton’s middie cruise in "Promised Land" or the story "Ms. Midshipwoman Harrington" in Changer of Worlds for similar material.) Weber does introduce a character who has all the hallmarks of being one of Those Aristocrats whose influence and money trump their naval non-skills, but who is actually, y'know, competent. Yay to Weber for breaking one of his own (obnoxious) stereotypes.
A Wolf at the Door, and Other Retold Fairy Tales, Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, eds: Short story collection filed under YA at the library. I checked it out for the Garth Nix story, a rather gruesome retelling of Hansel and Gretel, but really enjoyed several other stories in the collection. A fast, easy read, including contributions from a lot of big name authors, including Neil Gaiman, Tanith Lee and Jane Yolen. Possibly my favorite story in the collection was "Swans" a retelling of the same myth used inpegkerr's The Wild Swans, which was about family, love, noise and silence when I wanted to hear about those things.
Edited Sept. 12 to add: The Cinderella retooling annoyed me, though, smacking into current buttons regarding the importance of self-motivation and determination in life.
Edited Oct 17 to add: Forgot about Sorcery and Cecelia, which I had to have read sometime in August.
September's book list will almost certainly be shorter, unless people are keenly interested in a blow-by-blow account of my struggles with functional groups in two different courses, but I've got some good stuff on hand: more Octavia Butler, The Paths of the Dead (finished it this weekend, and... oh. Even fangirl squeals fail. I think Brust may be leaping up the purchase priority list as soon as I confirm the pub date for The Enchantress of Dzur Mountain. And oh, thank any and all deities and divinities for interlibrary loan, which granted me Paths and will eventually eventually land The Lord of Castle Black in my trembling hands.)
Cutting for major spoilers and some space. May come back and cut for space more once I post this and see how much space it hogs.
(Nine books. Nine. Shoot. Granted, some of them were short, but others were five hundred pages. Probably won't read this many novels again until I get another insane commute like August's. Given where I live, it shouldn't be more than three years... anyway. On to the stories.)
The Years of Rice and Salt, Kim Stanley Robinson (Nominated for the 2003 Hugo Award for Best Novel): The Black Plague devastated Europe in the Middle Ages, killing an estimated third to half of the continental population. What if it had wiped out 99% of the European population? How would history play out if Chinese and Islamic culture dominated, rather than European? And what if souls reincarnated, grouping together in multiple lifetimes, so that stories set a thousand years apart might be the adventures of the one protagonist? Kim Stanley Robinson throws a monkey wrench in the mechanics of history and writes down how it might play out. Sort of.
The novel is sectioned by lives: each chapter narrates critical life events of the reincarnated characters. Interludes in the "bardo," where life actions are judged, let the characters reflect on their actions in the life they just finished and discuss patterns extending back through other lives. It’s a neat device for linking narratives scattered across centuries and continents. KSR gets a little meta at one point, claiming this "journey of reincarnated souls" storytelling was a popular novel style during a portion of this alternate history. So this book could be read as a story written by people in that timeline, as well as a story by someone in our Eurocentric timeline.
I’ve never taken an Asian history course, so I can’t say with certainty when the divergence really took off. I expected some sort of radical and obvious change after whatshisname the eunich was saved by whathisname the Mongol’s care in the first section/chapter, but really can’t discern of there were any major changes from our timeline in that chapter of the book. Other than the absolute absence of Europeans, that is.
I can say that I found the Long War horrifying and slightly unbelievable: wouldn’t someone have invented tanks sometime in those seventy years? I don’t know if I even believe the war could have lasted those seventy years. Total war sucks economies dry very fast. World War One (which the Long War seems to be analogous to) battered Europe pretty badly. Long years of fighting would probably shatter the combatants’ economies within a generation. (
herewiss13 and I had a long discussion of this. He holds that the Muslim and Chinese hegemonies, covering all of Europe and most of Asia respectively, had a lot more resources to draw from and so could last longer. I hold that a proportional percentage of the economy probably was pumped straight into the war effort - total war, remember?- and so would have drained it as fast or nearly so. It was a good conversation.) Finally, the cultural scars didn’t seem deep enough: entire generations - most of the living population - have never known peace. How do you adjust to silence when all you’ve ever known is deafening noise? On the balance, it’s KSR. If you like his relaxed writing style and socialist/environmental politics, you’ll probably enjoy The Years of Rice and Salt.
O Jerusalem, Laurie R. King: Mary
If I recall correctly, I first read this during a Laurie King binge a couple years ago. Beats The Moor hands down.
Justice Hall, Laurie R. King: A very direct sequel to O Jerusalem. The most striking thing about it, for me, is a theme it shares with LRK’s Martinelli series: an authorial love of generational continuity and expensive houses intersecting with some less rooted or more ambiguously rooted characters. Russell gushes about the centuries of history imbued in Justice Hall's very walls; Kate Martinelli and her partner Lee sink sweat, time and money into Lee’s dead... aunt’s? mother’s? house on Russian Hill. The central mystery, such as it is, unfolds with authorial deliberation and enjoyable twists, but is almost incidental to LRK’s interest in continuity and the changing British social landscape of the 1920's.
The King’s Peace, Jo Walton: Would you believe I didn’t pick up that this was an Arthurian retelling until two hundred or more pages in? Comments waiting on finding and finishing The King’s Name the second half of the story.
The Lathe of Heaven, Ursula K. Le Guin: Everyone dreams; most people’s dreams don’t affect reality. George Orr’s do, and it terrifies him. The state-assigned psychiatrist he is forced to see after a drug overdose read as an apparent suicide attempt is fascinated by these "effective dreams" and uses George to rewrite the world a bit. Okay, more than a bit. George is disturbed. The reader resists the urge to earmark and pencil in examples of Le Guin’s
Dawn, Octavia Butler: The War is gone, as is most of the human race. Lilith Iyapo (people famliar with Bible-based religious traditions will note the significance and irony of the name) is one of the survivors saved by the Oankali, aliens without the human biological imperative for conflict, but with an imperative to "trade" genetic structure with other species, willing or otherwise. The novel narrates Lilith’s reluctant acceptance of a role as the resentful bridge between the humans and the Oankali.
The Oankali have a classically cool S.F.nal idea going for them: a three sex reproductive system, involving up to five participants. They also subvert a lot of classic memes. Their behavior toward humanity is peaceful, benevolent and more invasive than any "conquer the puny Earthlings" military campaign. Their trade imperative is read by most of the characters as infecting the human genome with frightening, alien characteristics. Science fiction has reiterated the clash of cultures theme from a dominant culture’s point of view plenty of times; Dawn is about the effects on (and by) the "weaker" culture. Humans hate and fear the Oankali, but are prized by that species of assimilators for their adaptability and creativity.
This has some obvious applications to the history of the United States, and the Americas at large.
Ill Met in Lankhmar, Fritz Leiber: All hail the adventures of the indomitable Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser! Old school sword-and-sorcery of the type much mocked by The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, but with a flair for dramatic language and humor. The city of Lankhmar has probably inspired a number of D&D games, and several series currently in production, such as Steven Brust’s Vlad novels and P.C. Hodgell’s Jaime books, very likely also trace some roots to Fritz Lieber’s novels. If you find any of the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser novels, they’re slightly dated in attitude and their use of language, but very much worth reading for their lively protagonists and fantastical plots.
The Service of the Sword, David Weber et al: latest collection of stories set in the Honorverse. People who have read the previous three collections know the drill: Weber writes a story about Honor, the Navy, or the treecats and other authors fill in gaps that interest them.
"Promised Land," Jane Lindskold: the plucky young Grayson-born trophy wife of a Masadan pirate/privateer leads her sister Masadans up through the regions of air, escaping a truly reactionary and misogynist world. Michael Winton backstops.
This is a slightly unbalanced story. The narrative switches between young Judith preparing to lead the Sisterhood of Barbara on its escape from Masada, Michael Winton’s experiences on his midshipman’s cruise, and the occasional meditation by the lieutenant in charge of the middies on Prince Michael’s disruptive presence in the midshipman’s berth. The plot is driven by the escape plan and is shaped by Judith’s actions; much of the other two characters’ sections are pure setup, maneuvering Michael into position to aid the escape attempt. Had the two non-Judith sections included some sort of thematic tie to the escape plot - accepting or refuting "everyone's" expectations, education, social conscience and responsibility - or been able to make use of some contemporary parallels to the reactionary Masadan religion and society (Afghanistan, anyone?), the story would have been a lot stronger. As it stands, it’s a rather fluffy tale of good beating out evil without a lot of distressing moral or ethical complications.
"With One Stone," Timothy Zahn: On the eve of the good ship Fearless’s departure for patrol duty in pirate-infested Silesea, Rafe Cardones is temporarily reassigned to an ONI team investigating a weapon that may fundamentally alter the military landscape... and is in Haven’s hands.
Personal reaction can be summed up in one phrase: Tim Zahn! Eee! (Yeah, fangirl central right here. Probably have a button to that effect, too.) In some ways, deep familiarity with Zahn’s writing isn’t good for the story. Certain author ticks and turns of phrase guaranteed instant Thrawn trilogy flashbacks, which bends the Weberverse in all sorts of interesting ways. Ignoring that, though, it’s a very enjoyable story, sliding deep background development of Weber’s FTL signaling technology into a thoroughly readable tale. The unfortunate considerations of Honorverse/Star Wars crossovers may take a while to kill, though. (I think at least one outcome of any conflation of those two universes can be summed up almost succinctly: Admiral Steadholder Duchess Dame Honor Harrington, Jedi Knight. Who winds up a New Republic senator or governor of an Alderaan colony before the end of the series. Not to mention the vornskrs-meet-treecats subplot or that cross universe romance everyone wished had never happened... wow. It almost writes itself.)
"A Ship Named Francis," John Ringo & Victor Mitchell: A Manticoran medic volunteers for duty on a Grayson ship. Little did he know he’d just sent himself to
"Let’s Go To Prague," John Ringo: In the boring days of the cease-fire, Alliance Covert Ops men decide to spend their leave deep in Haven territory, and smack into a defecting Havenite admiral who’s lost his Manticoran pickup team. Chaos and large explosions ensue. Ase decides that Ringo’s covert ops people work off a radically different set of assumptions than she does, and she's rather glad they're a few fictional universes away from her.
"Fanatic," Eric Flint: The story of a few good men and women trying to do their jobs and not get axed in the dying days of
It’s been a year plus since I read the Changer of Worlds collection (and yes, that link is to the full text from the Baen free library) or most of the rest of the Honoverse novels, so I was reasonably certain I ought to recognize that scary Cachat fellow and several other characters, but not certain enough to do more than declare the narrator unreliable - or at least out of the authorial information loop - after a couple of pages, and have way too much fun trying to figure out what was going on in other character’s heads, and why I was reasonably certain I ought to remember some of these people from somewhere.
"The Service of the Sword," David Weber: Grayson midshipwoman Abigail Hearns, first female officer in the Grayson navy, on her middie cruise. The cruise is not a quiet one. (Bet you saw that one coming.) Abigail acquits herself (sorry) honorably.
If you like Weber, you’ll like this story. Unfortunately, "The Service of the Sword" doesn’t go too many places he hasn’t been before. (See also, say, Michael Winton’s middie cruise in "Promised Land" or the story "Ms. Midshipwoman Harrington" in Changer of Worlds for similar material.) Weber does introduce a character who has all the hallmarks of being one of Those Aristocrats whose influence and money trump their naval non-skills, but who is actually, y'know, competent. Yay to Weber for breaking one of his own (obnoxious) stereotypes.
A Wolf at the Door, and Other Retold Fairy Tales, Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, eds: Short story collection filed under YA at the library. I checked it out for the Garth Nix story, a rather gruesome retelling of Hansel and Gretel, but really enjoyed several other stories in the collection. A fast, easy read, including contributions from a lot of big name authors, including Neil Gaiman, Tanith Lee and Jane Yolen. Possibly my favorite story in the collection was "Swans" a retelling of the same myth used in
pegkerr's The Wild Swans, which was about family, love, noise and silence when I wanted to hear about those things. Edited Sept. 12 to add: The Cinderella retooling annoyed me, though, smacking into current buttons regarding the importance of self-motivation and determination in life.
Edited Oct 17 to add: Forgot about Sorcery and Cecelia, which I had to have read sometime in August.
September's book list will almost certainly be shorter, unless people are keenly interested in a blow-by-blow account of my struggles with functional groups in two different courses, but I've got some good stuff on hand: more Octavia Butler, The Paths of the Dead (finished it this weekend, and... oh. Even fangirl squeals fail. I think Brust may be leaping up the purchase priority list as soon as I confirm the pub date for The Enchantress of Dzur Mountain. And oh, thank any and all deities and divinities for interlibrary loan, which granted me Paths and will eventually eventually land The Lord of Castle Black in my trembling hands.)
no subject
::cackles::
It's not just Ringo's Covert Ops people. He likes _all_ his protagonists to be pragmatic, ruthless and grimly amused. It's likely to keep them alive longer in combat zones (which is where Ringo tends to drop them).
OTOH, I'd imagine all covert ops people have radically different assumptions than yours...otherwise the CIA would be trying to recruit you too. It's not a job for just anyone you know. ;-)
______________
Re: Sino-Islamic Total War
I hold that a proportional percentage of the economy probably was pumped straight into the war effort - total war, remember?- and so would have drained it as fast or nearly so.
It's a matter of industrial base. Both the factories and resources of the two combatants were _far_ behind the front lines and not subject to bombing until the very end. Also, the Country-size to Trench-length ratio is much better in KSR's war than in our own. The trenches appear to run approximately down China's western border through the Himalayas, which is certainly longer than Belgium to Switzerland...but China and Dar al Islam are both _tremendously_ bigger than England and Germany, and equally larger in relation to the Front (if I'm conveying this right).
Also a large economy can sustain a 15% war output (frex) longer than a small economy.
Why?
::waves hands in magical economic handwaving::
Economies of scale...increased efficiency...increased surplus (they become _more_ productive with time, less "fat")...other stuff I don't know about, but believe exists...
...and as the War settled down to the long hall, they might well have settled into a _sustainable_ war production drain, with the real conflict being waged on where each side was able to peg "sustainable" (a three-way struggle of manpower, natural resources and technical innovation). An economic war with human casualties as a side-effect. Certainly it was only the fire-bombing of all major Islamic cities that caused the end. Sino-Indian technical innovation used to devastate Islamic industry (though intimidation probably was a factor too).
It's a fascinating, if terrifying, vision and one I can probably think about for far too long...
::wanders off to find Alt-History discussion group::
no subject
No kidding.
China and Dar al Islam are both _tremendously_ bigger than England and Germany, and equally larger in relation to the Front (if I'm conveying this right).
I see what you're saying. However, wasn't Dar al Islam presented as only loosely unified when the war started? A federalist (?) government, or even more like allied states, rather than a centralized government with associated centralized powers? It's an inefficient way to run a war, and they could have eventually engaged more central planning, but if China started out with a more centralized economy it might have been able to beat out Dar al Islam before the Muslims could pull together.
::waves hands in magical economic handwaving::
Keep that breeze coming. I don't care what the weather's like, hauling thirty pounds of chemistry book around campus would make me sweat during a January cold snap.
Increased economic productivity is a possibility, but I think you're underestimating the psychological impact of the war. This isn't seventy years of sporadic fighting interrupted by the occasional plague, this is more than a generation of the meatgrinder. Even if the younger generation(s) expect a lower standard of living, the demands placed on civilians are going to stress people past the snapping point eventually, and a lot of people who don't actually snap are going to slide into a very marginal existence. Lots of sleep disorders (imagine a groggy crew trying not to fall asleep in a munitions factory), health degradation (increased sick leave, or decreased productivity because your secretary's running a 100 degree fever and giving her cold to everyone else in the office), and other side effects (marriage and childbirth rates, anyone?) of pouring lives and resources into the trenches. You might get a temporary boost by rallying people in the name of Religion, but when there's no quick results the masses may turn ugly.
And oh, how much of the young, active population is sent to be killed on the front lines? Even if your economic war dictates enlisting a smaller percentage of the Chinese and Islamic population, each member of the military is a double drain on your workers - once when the draftee/enlister is taken out of the work force, once when they must be supported as a soldier. As deaths accrue, the war is going to turn labor into a worker's market; jobs are going to go begging as the war stretches on, siphoning the working-age population without putting anything back into the market.
Not to mention the accumulated environmental impact, trade constrictions (not quite such as problem in this universe as in ours, if your comment about front line vs. "home" territory is in the ballpark), and religious/cultural impacts of wartime social constraints.
Does any of that make sense?
What, me major?
Thanks for bringing Service of the Sword to my attention; don't know how that slipped by me. (I do read a few other folks, but nobody blows 'em up like Mr. Weber).
Re: What, me major?
Book critic? Me? This is off-the-cuff whinging about the bad stuff and ecstatic one-liners about the good stories. Book critics grow up and turn into tedious Post Book Week employees. (They're currently on the List of Authority Wannabes. Any major magazine that manages to read "Anathema Device" as "Anastasia Device" in their Good Omens review deserves my mockery and non-respect.)
I also suspect book critics are *shudder* english majors.
Thanks for bringing Service of the Sword to my attention; don't know how that slipped by me. (I do read a few other folks, but nobody blows 'em up like Mr. Weber).
No problem. Like I said, it's a mix of strong and middling stories. Worth checking out of the library or buying used, or possibly buying in paperback, depending on your entertainment budget.
Re: What, me major? (Note 2)
Thanks for reminding me - I'll have to do a once-over for formatting and obnoxious netspeak, but that should leave me plenty of time to get to to Sam before October.
no subject
no subject
no subject
(I missed you at Torcon - is DC really up for a Worldcon bid?)
later, ...
no subject
Yes, Paths was very good. I love being able to put books on hold as soon as the library buys them...