Recently seen: new Turtledove
James Nicoll
an obvious but subtle alteration to American history: What If the
raid on Harper's Ferry had been commanded not by John Brown but
instead by Godzilla. This small change is enough to allow the
raid to succeed and this has had a tremendous effect on American history.
In this volume, the long awaited show-down between the US
(led by Thomas Alva Edison) and Greater Canada (ruled over by self-
proclaimed Philosopher-King Alexander Graham Bell) finally happens,
or rather the opening shots are fired. Both men realize that controlling
the media will be the key to winning the war and so both men race to
use their primitive (to our eyes) telecommuncations* technology to win
hearts and minds across North America. Whose telemarketers will win?!
AMERICAN TITANS V/PHONING IT IN can be found in better SF
stores.
* Indeed, the conflict between the two men is over whose company
owns the basic patents on the phone.
See previous post.
--
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/
http://www.livejournal.com/users/james_nicoll
Gene Ward Smith
James Nicoll wrote:
> Volume six of his American Titans series, which began with
> an obvious but subtle alteration to American history: What If the
> raid on Harper's Ferry had been commanded not by John Brown but
> instead by Godzilla.
If I remember SimCity correctly, you don't get Godzilla until later.
Nuclear power is good.
Dorothy J Heydt
James Nicoll <jdni...@panix.com> wrote:
> Volume six of his American Titans series...
Is this the one where Nicola Tesla becomes Master of the World?
Dorothy J. Heydt
Albany, California
djh...@kithrup.com
Sea Wasp
> Volume six of his American Titans series, which began with
> an obvious but subtle alteration to American history: What If the
> raid on Harper's Ferry had been commanded not by John Brown but
> instead by Godzilla. This small change is enough to allow the
> raid to succeed and this has had a tremendous effect on American history.
I am now tempted to learn enough about history to WRITE alternate
history, just so that I can actually write the above scenario.
--
Sea Wasp
/^\
;;;
Live Journal: http://www.livejournal.com/users/seawasp/
James Nicoll
Sea Wasp <seawasp...@obvioussgeinc.com> wrote:
>James Nicoll wrote:
>> Volume six of his American Titans series, which began with
>> an obvious but subtle alteration to American history: What If the
>> raid on Harper's Ferry had been commanded not by John Brown but
>> instead by Godzilla. This small change is enough to allow the
>> raid to succeed and this has had a tremendous effect on American history.
>
> I am now tempted to learn enough about history to WRITE alternate
>history, just so that I can actually write the above scenario.
>
TURTLEDOVE-STYLE ALTERNATE HISTORY.
Mike Schilling
"James Nicoll" <jdni...@panix.com> wrote in message
news:e0mncm$ffm$1...@reader1.panix.com...
> Volume six of his American Titans series, which began with
> an obvious but subtle alteration to American history: What If the
> raid on Harper's Ferry had been commanded not by John Brown but
> instead by Godzilla.
If you think anyone's [1] going to dare competing with that, you're the
April Fool.
1. Extrapolating Vlad-like from a sample size of one.
Mike Schilling
"Sea Wasp" <seawasp...@obvioussgeinc.com> wrote in message
news:442EF58C...@obvioussgeinc.com...
> James Nicoll wrote:
>> Volume six of his American Titans series, which began with
>> an obvious but subtle alteration to American history: What If the
>> raid on Harper's Ferry had been commanded not by John Brown but
>> instead by Godzilla. This small change is enough to allow the raid to
>> succeed and this has had a tremendous effect on American history.
>
> I am now tempted to learn enough about history to WRITE alternate history,
> just so that I can actually write the above scenario.
I'd be interested in your take, but that summary has WJW written all over
it.
Sea Wasp
I really do want to write a Godzilla novel someday. Partly to get the
annoyance of that poseur-book "Gojiro" out of my head.
Robert Sneddon
<jdni...@panix.com> writes
> Oh, the tempation to cause the writing of HOW TO WRITE A
>TURTLEDOVE-STYLE ALTERNATE HISTORY.
You could title it "Alternate Turtledoves" and sell it as an anthology.
--
To reply, my gmail address is nojay1 Robert Sneddon
Carl Dershem
$1HeHuw...@nospam.demon.co.uk:
> In message <e0msnq$ai5$1...@reader1.panix.com>, James Nicoll
> <jdni...@panix.com> writes
>
>> Oh, the tempation to cause the writing of HOW TO WRITE A
>>TURTLEDOVE-STYLE ALTERNATE HISTORY.
>
> You could title it "Alternate Turtledoves" and sell it as an anthology.
Do I smell temptation? HOw many words do you want the stories to be?
cd
--
The difference between immorality and immortality is "T". I like Earl
Grey.
Jordan
Sea Wasp wrote:
>
> I really do want to write a Godzilla novel someday. Partly to get the
> annoyance of that poseur-book "Gojiro" out of my head.
Oh yes, I hated that book -- read it back around 1999 or 2000; it took
the Godzilla story and basically ripped it apart for no good reason
while marketing itself on being a fictional extension of the legend.
Deconstructionism is disgusting enough by itself: it's WORSE when it
markets itself to fans of the original story based on the strengths of
the original story.
Deconstructionists should be sent to Abu Ghraib under US
administration: deconstructionists who pretend to be extending the
original story should be sent ot Abu Ghraib under _Saddam's_
administration. Heh-heh-heh ;-)
- Jordan
Mike Schilling
"Jordan" <JSBass...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1143941872....@i39g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Deconstructionists should be sent to Abu Ghraib under US
> administration: deconstructionists who pretend to be extending the
> original story should be sent ot Abu Ghraib under _Saddam's_
> administration. Heh-heh-heh ;-)
You may not realize what you've just admitted.
James Nicoll
Dorothy J Heydt <djh...@kithrup.com> wrote:
>In article <e0mncm$ffm$1...@reader1.panix.com>,
>James Nicoll <jdni...@panix.com> wrote:
>> Volume six of his American Titans series...
>
>Is this the one where Nicola Tesla becomes Master of the World?
The point of these is to stetch things out forever, which
means nobody gets to win until the sales drop off. Tesla is probably
too early.
Jordan
I was making a joke based on the fact that 1) I think deconstructionism
is a shabby critical technique; 2) I think that masking
deconstructionism as fanfic is an even shabbier marketing technique, 3)
Abu Ghraib was a nasty place under US administration, and 4) Abu Ghraib
was a far, far, FAR nastier place under Saddam's administration.
Why, did you take it for a real proposal?
- Jordan
Mike Schilling
I meant number 3. I didn't realize you acknowledged that the US practiced
torture there.
It now occurs to me that the War on Deconstructionism would be a terrific
parody of the War on Terror, but I doubt you intended that.
Wilson Heydt
>an obvious but subtle alteration to American history: What If the
>raid on Harper's Ferry had been commanded not by John Brown but
>instead by Godzilla. This small change is enough to allow the
>raid to succeed and this has had a tremendous effect on American history.
>
> In this volume, the long awaited show-down between the US
>(led by Thomas Alva Edison) and Greater Canada (ruled over by self-
>proclaimed Philosopher-King Alexander Graham Bell) finally happens,
>or rather the opening shots are fired. Both men realize that controlling
>the media will be the key to winning the war and so both men race to
>use their primitive (to our eyes) telecommuncations* technology to win
>hearts and minds across North America. Whose telemarketers will win?!
>
> AMERICAN TITANS V/PHONING IT IN can be found in better SF
>stores.
>
>
>* Indeed, the conflict between the two men is over whose company
You forgot to mention that the Admiral commanding the US fleet is Candaian
defector Joshua Slocum.
--
Hal Heydt
Albany, CA
My dime, my opinions.
James Nicoll
>
>You forgot to mention that the Admiral commanding the US fleet is Candaian
>defector Joshua Slocum.
>
of the replica of the SPRAY that Slocum's grandson (?) had built,
because it was two or three spaces down from the steamboat my
grandfather was rebuilding and the two men got to talking.
Same day that I got to see what the SFFD looks like,
come to think of it. You start a steam engine up at a marina
otherwise filled with sailboats and misunderstandings occur.
T Guy
Mike Schilling wrote:
>
> It now occurs to me that the War on Deconstructionism would be a terrific
> parody of the War on Terror, but I doubt you intended that.
Can you say 'the intentional fallacy?'
Jordan
>
> > I was making a joke based on the fact that 1) I think deconstructionism
> > is a shabby critical technique; 2) I think that masking
> > deconstructionism as fanfic is an even shabbier marketing technique, 3)
> > Abu Ghraib was a nasty place under US administration, and 4) Abu Ghraib
> > was a far, far, FAR nastier place under Saddam's administration.
> >
> > Why, did you take it for a real proposal?
>
> I meant number 3. I didn't realize you acknowledged that the US practiced
> torture there.
Why wouldn't I acknowledge that?
Of course, the US torture was for the most part incredibly mild
compared to what happened there under Saddam's rule, and the fact that
the media focused incessantly on America's forced S&M shows and mostly
ignored Saddam's feeding of live prisoners into plastic shredders and
raping of female relatives of suspects strongly displays the media's
anti-American bias.
> It now occurs to me that the War on Deconstructionism would be a terrific
> parody of the War on Terror, but I doubt you intended that.
No, I didn't. I'm a bit too worried about what will happen when the
next shoe drops to find the Terrorist War all that funny.
Sometimes I _wish_ I was ignorant enough about the likely course of
events to cultivate a detached, Oxford Student League in the 1930's
sort of irony, but I'm cursed by too much awareness of military history
and technology.
Sincerely Yours,
Jordan
Wilson Heydt
James Nicoll <jdni...@panix.com> wrote:
>In article <Ix48D...@kithrup.com>, Wilson Heydt <whh...@kithrup.com> wrote:
>>
>>You forgot to mention that the Admiral commanding the US fleet is Candaian
>>defector Joshua Slocum.
>>
> Weird the World is Very Small Event: I've stood on the deck
>of the replica of the SPRAY that Slocum's grandson (?) had built,
>because it was two or three spaces down from the steamboat my
>grandfather was rebuilding and the two men got to talking.
>
> Same day that I got to see what the SFFD looks like,
>come to think of it. You start a steam engine up at a marina
>otherwise filled with sailboats and misunderstandings occur.
I'm glad you got the reference.
co...@aol.com
> Sometimes I _wish_ I was ignorant enough about the likely course of
> events to cultivate a detached, Oxford Student League in the 1930's
> sort of irony, but I'm cursed by too much awareness of military history
> and technology.
Admit it, Jordan -- you've lost 200 lbs, had some therapy, got a real
job, found a woman roughly your own age to be attracted to, read a
few novels without explosions on the covers, and are now posting
parodies of your old bad self to mess with people's heads.
Jordan
co...@aol.com wrote:
> Jordan Bassior wrote:
>
> > Sometimes I _wish_ I was ignorant enough about the likely course of
> > events to cultivate a detached, Oxford Student League in the 1930's
> > sort of irony, but I'm cursed by too much awareness of military history
> > and technology.
>
> Admit it, Jordan -- you've lost 200 lbs,
If I lost 200 lbs. I'd be dead or dying. You greatly overestimate my
weight.
> had some therapy,
Why would I require therapy? I'm not an online stalker who forms
obsessive hatreds of people who disagree with them, tries to wreck
their businesses and hack into their accounts, and then fantasizes that
it's because I'm some sort of "Netcop."
Now, the person who does _that_ -- _he_ requires some fairly heavy
therapy.
> got a real job,
Not sure what you mean by a "real job." I do work, I get paid, is that
"real" enough for you?
> found a woman roughly your own age to be attracted to,
Oh no, my girlfriend is almost 20 years my junior. Hey, maybe you can
obsess about that and add it to some sort of card file.
> read a few novels without explosions on the covers,
I've read quite a lot of novels without explosions on the covers --
Dickens and Thackerey are in particular fairly explosion-free in terms
of cover art, even in the modern editions. Having said that, I don't
see why an explosion on the cover bars a novel from being good.
> and are now posting
> parodies of your old bad self to mess with people's heads.
I was never a bad person, nor am I trying to mess with anyone's head.
What's so peculiar about stating that the most serious prisoner abuses
at Abu Ghraib occurred under Saddam, and that those carried out by the
Americans were extremely mild in comparison?
Well, I mean you're not _supposed_ to say that because it destroys one
of the best recent stories from the POV of the international Left, but
it happens to be _true_. Don't you think that truth should prevail
over leftist political utility?
Sincerely Yours,
Jordan
co...@aol.com
> > and are now posting
> > parodies of your old bad self to mess with people's heads.
>
> I was never a bad person,
Ah, the same old lying freak. Oh well.
Mike Schilling
>
> Mike Schilling wrote:
>> "Jordan" <JSBass...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>> news:1143958385....@z34g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
>>
>> > I was making a joke based on the fact that 1) I think deconstructionism
>> > is a shabby critical technique; 2) I think that masking
>> > deconstructionism as fanfic is an even shabbier marketing technique, 3)
>> > Abu Ghraib was a nasty place under US administration, and 4) Abu Ghraib
>> > was a far, far, FAR nastier place under Saddam's administration.
>> >
>> > Why, did you take it for a real proposal?
>>
>> I meant number 3. I didn't realize you acknowledged that the US
>> practiced
>> torture there.
>
> Why wouldn't I acknowledge that?
>
> Of course, the US torture was for the most part incredibly mild
> compared to what happened there under Saddam's rule, and the fact that
> the media focused incessantly on America's forced S&M shows and mostly
> ignored Saddam's feeding of live prisoners into plastic shredders and
> raping of female relatives of suspects strongly displays the media's
> anti-American bias.
That's more like it; for a moment I was worried about you.
Alexey Romanov
A deconstruction of it, in fact.
Jordan
>Ah, the same old lying freak. Oh well.
Oh look, it's New Coyu (tm), same as Old Coyu but with a new name in
the vague hopes that everyone will forget what a nasty little loon he
is!
And still as off-topic as ever before!
- Jordan