There’s a big problem with writing Science Fiction, and it has to do with science reality catching up to the fiction, such that the fiction only feels that way for six months before – bang – there are Optomus Robots walking around everywhere.
Bullet Points:
** Follow the science – it’s settled.
** At Cowpens – January 17, 1781 – Patriot commander Daniel Morgan carefully analyzed British commander Banastre Tarleton’s past actions and devised an unusual defense-in-depth. Tarleton recklessly attacked before his troops were fully deployed. As Morgan expected, upon seeing the militia withdrawing, Tarleton launched a charge that disrupted British unit cohesion. The British were then confronted by a third defensive line of disciplined Continentals, who decimated the British infantry with point-blank musket volleys. Art from Patriot Militiaman in the American Revolution 1775–82 illustrated by Steve Noon
** Some of you have asked about my experiences building a home in the mountains. This succinctly describes it.
** A friend of mine wrote this note: Dear Chief Brian O’Hara, Minneapolis PD,
At this moment, you have permitted yourself to be manipulated by the fear of termination, thereby allowing criminal activities to flourish in your city. I pose the question: Are you a man of Law and Order, or merely a coward and an ideological fool? You have permitted rioters to assault federal agents and vandalize the property of those you have pledged to protect. Clearly, Law and Order is NOT your priority; instead, it appears to be politics, which should have no bearing on it. You are aware that ICE is NOT violating the law, and their actions are entirely lawful. Nevertheless, you choose to disregard this truth and have become complicit in the issue. I ask you, do you possess the courage to uphold the Law and be willing to “jump on the grenade” for law and order in your city? Do you honor your oath of office to protect and serve, or did you take an oath to permit criminal behavior and yield to political pressure? I am certain you fear termination if you act in accordance with the law; however, I am equally confident that a Republican city would employ you immediately if you remained true to your oath of office, regardless of the consequences to yourself. Do you have the courage to fulfill your duties? If so, demonstrate it by protecting our ICE agents who are operating within the law; this is your opportunity to advocate for law and order. If you fail to do so, then history will see you as a disgrace to our profession.
** Do you really want to go to England?
** Are you looking for a career change? Have you considered India?
** Are you a lonely heart? There is hope even if you’re ample and homely.
** Appalachian word of the day.
** Why is the ocean salty?
SECWAR Pete Hedgseth on 8(a) Contracts
8(a) refers to the Small Business Administration’s program to assist “small disadvantaged businesses owned by a socially disadvantaged individual or tribe.” Providing these small businesses with opportunities is a laudable goal. But over the decades, as it happens, the 8(a) program has morphed into swamp code words for DEI race-based contracting.
And here’s the worst part: in many, many instances, these socially disadvantaged businesses don’t even do work. They take a 10%, 20%, sometimes 50% fee off the top and then pass the contract off to a giant consulting firm, commonly known as “Beltway Bandits.” For decades, this program—8(a)—has been a breeding ground for fraud. And this administration is finally doing something about it.
The Department of Justice, under Attorney General Pam Bondi, recently exposed half a billion dollars in 8(a) fraud. Treasury, led by Secretary Bessent, found another quarter billion, and their investigation is just beginning. Treasury, Justice, and the Small Business Administration under Administrator Loeffler are all actively investigating their 8(a) contracts right now.
Now, in the Pentagon, $100 million sole-source contracts go out the door to these 8(a) firms almost every day. One hundred million-dollar sole-source contracts go out our door to these 8(a) firms almost every day, without any competition or opportunity for anyone else to bid. The Department of War is required by law to do almost a hundred billion dollars’ worth of contracts per year with small businesses, including 8(a) firms. Seems 8(a) is quite important. But we’re not required to pay enormous brokerage fees only to have these firms pass those contracts along to giant consulting companies, and we won’t. We’re not doing this anymore.
New Life for the Zoomies
(DDG1000) The U.S. Navy destroyer USS Zumwalt has departed Pascagoula, Mississippi, for sea trials, and is the first warship to do so while configured to be equipped with intercontinental range missiles. The Zumwalt has been under refit since August 2023, during which its two 155mm Advanced Gun System turrets were removed and replaced with 12 launch tubes for the Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) intercontinental range hypersonic missile. The missile has a terminal speed exceeding Mach 5 and an unknown range that exceeds 6000 kilometres. It, for the first time, provides the U.S. Armed Forces, or any military in the world, with the option of launching intercontinental range ballistic missile attacks without utilising nuclear warheads. This allows Zumwalt-class ships to fulfil entirely new roles, after issues with their gun had previously brought their purpose in the Navy into serious question.
The CPS missile is based on the Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon program developed by Lockheed Martin for the U.S. Army and uses the same rocket propulsion and the same Common Hypersonic Glide Body warhead. After vertical launch, the missile releases the warhead, which accelerates to hypersonic speeds. A significant risk in employing the missile is that its flight characteristics will alert the strategic early warning radar systems of China and Russia, meaning the United States will likely need to notify both if making a launch, much like Russia has notified Washington and Beijing when launching its new Oreshnik intermediate-range hypersonic missile in combat. The ability to launch strikes over such ranges has several potential benefits, including making attacks less predictable and providing supporting fire in regions where there is insufficient naval presence to launch the required number of cruise missile strikes.
There goes the Annexation
I’m sure that it would be cheaper to buy Greenland than it is to pay for
the continuing criminal enterprises of Somalis and their NGO democrat benefactors in Minnesota.
Greenland Enters World War II
When the United States entered the war with Germany on 11 December 1941, Greenland became a warring nation. Remaining contact with Copenhagen was broken off, rationing and daylight saving time were introduced, and local currency and stamps were printed. In 1942, the U.S. Army took over protection of the Ivigtut mine, and combat patrols began to be flown from Bluie West One, which became the headquarters for both the Coast Guard Greenland Patrol and the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Greenland Base Command. A third air base was established at Bluie East Two during the summer.
The Greenland population, which had been 18,000 natives and fewer than 500 Danes, was augmented by thousands of U.S. servicemen. Relations with the Americans were excellent, as they provided news, provisions, humanitarian aid, and entertainment in addition to greatly expanding the island’s infrastructure. In 1944, a five-kroner coin was struck in Philadelphia for American soldiers. Greenland’s commercial interests in North America were maintained by the Greenland Delegation with the aid of Kauffmann and Svane. Brun remained in Greenland as head of a unified administration.
Both the Allies (Britain in particular) and Germany tried to gain a monopoly on weather data in the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans. Meteorological intelligence was important as it affected military planning and the routing of ships and convoys. Greenland became an important part of this North Atlantic weather war.
Beginning in August 1942, the Germans established four clandestine weather stations on the East Coast. The first expedition on Sabine Island was detected in the spring, but was withdrawn successfully before it was attacked. The fall 1943 expedition at Shannon Island also operated successfully over the winter and spring and was withdrawn by air. Two expeditions in October 1944 were seized by the Coast Guard before they could get established.
The German weather station Holzauge at Hansa Bay on the northeast coast of Sabine Island was discovered by a team from the Sledge Patrol on 11 March 1943. The Germans realized they had been discovered and gave chase to the team, which had to abandon its equipment (including its dog teams) and retreat to the station at Eskimonæs to warn Ib Poulsen, the Sledge Patrol commander. Poulsen reported the German base to the Greenland government on 13 March 1943, and asked for automatic weapons and further orders. Governor Brun officially designated the patrol the “Army of Greenland” and named Poulsen its captain, effective 15 March.
The Germans attacked Eskimonaes on 23 March, seized it, and then burned the station two days later. Though unhurt in the firefight, the entire Sledge Patrol contingent based there was forced to make a 400-mile trek to the station at Ella Island without sleds, food, or equipment. On 26 March, while returning to Sabine Island, the Germans ambushed Corporal Eli Knudsen at Sandodden and accidentally killed him with a machine-gun burst meant for his dogs. In late April, Lieutenant Hermann Ritter, the officer in command of the German detachment, was taken prisoner by Marius Jensen, a member of the Sledge Patrol, and brought to the Americans after a long journey to Scoresby Sound.
The German base on Sabine was bombed by USAAF bombers from Iceland. It was then seized by a Coast Guard landing party, but all German personnel, save one, had already been evacuated by a Dornier Do 26. Apart from fire exchanged between German aircraft and American ships, this was the only offensive air attack on the Greenland mainland. An American air force formation attacked the station on 14 May to make sure it could be of no use to the Germans. On 22 April 1944, six Sledge Patrol members attacked the Bassgeiger weather station, and in the ensuing skirmish, a German lieutenant died. The station was subsequently evacuated on 3 June.
The last German weather station, Edelweiss II, was captured by U.S. Army forces and its crew taken prisoner on 4 November 1944. The American troops landed from the icebreaker USCGC Eastwind, which later transferred the prisoners to USCGC Storis. The German transport ship Externsteine, which was resupplying the station, was seized by Eastwind, renamed Eastbreeze, and commissioned in the United States Coast Guard.
Greenland played an important role in North Atlantic air traffic during the war, but its status as a major base for anti-submarine warfare assets was hampered by adverse weather, winter darkness, and difficult logistics. For a long period, a flight of six PBY Catalinas of VP-6(CG) was maintained at Bluie West One, carrying out a great variety of missions.
On 5 May 1945, Greenlanders celebrated the liberation of Denmark in Nuuk. The Greenland Administration under Eske Brun surrendered its emergency powers and again came under direct control from Copenhagen. Kauffmann returned to Copenhagen, where treason charges against him were dropped, and the Danish parliament ratified his agreement with the United States.
The United States’ presence continued to decline until the Kauffmann-Hull agreement was replaced by a new base treaty in 1951. The American presence brought Sears catalogs, with which Greenlanders and Danes ordered modern appliances and other products by mail. The successful experience of an independent Greenland led to a dramatic restructuring and modernization of Danish policy toward the colony.
The Greenland Sledge Patrol suffered only one casualty during the war – Corporal Eli Knudsen in March 1943.
The remains of the police station in Eskimonæs exist to this day. The only fully remaining structure is the outhouse, as it was not burnt by the Germans. The rest is well-preserved in the Arctic environment.
Identify the Science Aircraft
1
Identify the Space Age Armor
2
Identify the Old Ship (by class)
3
End
yeah
but the way you and Jules write it, who cares if it becomes science reality sooner than you’d like; it’s just highly enjoyable
besides which, it’s more like fantasy fiction
Jules and I both write to entertain. Thank you for vindicating our efforts.
Besides fun to read, sci-fi provides forethought of what problems or threats could arise, and how they may (or may not) be properly handled.
Several decades ago (can’t remember how many) I read an article comparing progress as put forth by the ‘Experts’, science fiction, and actual progress measured. The ‘Experts’ had posited a slow and steady upward trend, science fiction had been written based on a steadily increasing upward curve, and actual progress had an exponential curve.
If you compare the world I grew up in and today, there is very little commonality. I did not have an easy childhood, but that said, I would prefer it to growing up today.
1 – Hiller Aircraft Air Tug concept
2 – M1E3 Abrams Prototype
3 – German weather ship Externsteine – Captured by the US Coast Guard off of Greenland in WWII and commissioned as USCGC East Breeze before being turned over to the United States Navy and commissioned as USS Callao
How did you get #3? That was supposed to be a tough one. Exceptionally well done.
I admit I had to research it but it wasn’t that difficult to find and see the fate of the ship. I have read about the efforts to locate and dapture/destroy the German weather stations that they had established in the arctic but never had heard about the Externsteine – Entertaining stories never end from WWII
The Hiller Air Tug was an interesting bird, really interesting. Proposed to allow recovery of the 1st Stage of Saturn V (and followup Saturn vehicles) and then move them easily.
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How big is said helo? The body of the 1st stage is 33′ in diameter. So, yeah, big friggin huge giant whirlybird. Which probably would have made so much noise flying over Cape Canaveral that you could probably hear it from Orlando.
Identify the Science Aircraft:
1. Hiller Aircraft Rotary Wing System for Booster Recovery
Identify the Space Age Armor:
2. M1E3 prototype
Identify the Old Ship:
3. Tough, perhaps a coastal patrol vessel.
Very good.
Building a Home video – Accurate! Spent most of the last 40 years in close proximity to new home building – Each trade accurately portrayed in that
I have a practice never to say “never”, but I can’t see building another residence – ever. It turned out ok, but the general (a drunk) and the subs who went from mild to wild, were challenging to deal with.
The exploits of the “Greenland Army” – more like a platoon, really – were detailed in The Sledge Patrol by David Howarth. It’s quite a story of vast distances, horrendous cold, extreme conditions and individuals and small groups of men asked to do the impossible with very little or nothing. I did my last year playing Army in Alaska and frankly don’t know how they did some of the things they did.
I don’t like the bitter cold. Arizona’s mildly chilly winters (in the mountains) are doable. If I want to get out of the cold, warm, is an hour’s drive away. I especially don’t like to jump into ice-cold water.
1.Hiller Saturn V Stage 1 Recovery System and a Hiller, “Air Tug” hilo.
2. US Army M1E3 Abrams prototype.
3. German weather ship Externsteine shortly after its capture by U.S. Coast Guard cutters in October 1944 off the coast of Greenland.
-STA Lethal
Got ’em.
Greenland: So what are you suggesting, the Minnesota Mess (aka massive fraud) was created to make it more difficult for PDJT to have the funds to make the purchase? That’s just diabolical.
***
USS Zumwalt: First thought, “What’s in a name”. Was that named by a committee? Second thought: ‘What a hideous design.”…looks like something a bored unimaginative kid drew in English class (assuming schools still have English class, and unsure if kids draw with an actual pencil or felt tip anymore, probably use Sketchup).
***
Oh, and so as to not miss ‘dimensioning’ this tidbit regarding the SBA, [their] “program to assist “small disadvantaged businesses owned by a socially disadvantaged individual or tribe.” Who comes up with this drivel? Maybe the same people who designed the above Zumwalt.
The Navy lost its way. There is a general intent to bring things back to center (build ships, get rid of the trannies and DEI, etc) but rebuilding a robust ship building industry cant be done overnight. Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, a bonesman, was a scrote. The ship named after him — well, I’ll leave it at that.
Good to clarify the axiom, “what’s in a name”…never ride a horse named ‘Widowmaker’, don’t name ships after dweebs, nudges, or as dad would say, ‘pains in the a**’.
Yes, paying attention to the name given to a horse you’re about to ride is important. In Lonesome Dove, Col. Call’s horse is named Hell Bitch. When I first read that book, I thought it would be a horse to avoid.
Hahaha! Harvey Milk was all three! Dweeby, nudgy, and a pain in the asses of doubtless many men.
😂
And, sadly, boys.
Am I the only one that didn’t get even one of the Facebook links to work? I dropped my Facebook account long ago but that has never mattered with any other post’s links.
They should work. As you pointed out, you don’t need an account to view the links or YouTube.
My son insists that when I send if a FB link, it wants him to log in first.
I thought I’d add feedback here that on this morning’s post, everything worked normally, so I thought I’d come back to this post and see if they worked.
.
Yup. The Universal Software Fix worked again. “Turn it off and on again.” One of these days, when the AI robots are rampaging through society and killing everyone, just turn them off and on again and they’ll go back to being helpful servants. They’ll even help you clean up all the bodies.
They all worked for me
One of our fellow bloggers wrote to me this morning – this national holiday – and asked me why I didn’t acknowledge MLK Day. Okay, now I am. And February First is Groundhog day. I’ll start working on an elaborate blog post for Feb 1.
I fully acknowledge “Yet another Republican assassinated by a Democrat” day.
Shame on you, LL. Failing to acknowledge MLK Day!
In contrast, I cheerfully acknowledge Parishionner-Porking, (white) Prostitute Beating, Plagiarizing Preacher Day.
And I could puke every time someone trots out that Levisonian “content of their character” phrase.
I’m overcome with guilt, but as posted, I will make up for it by acknowledging Groundhog Day on Feb 1.
Yesterday, January 18, 2026, Alireza Jeyrani Hokmabad, a senior official at Iran’s permanent mission to the United Nations in Geneva, left his post to apply for political asylum in Switzerland. Hokmabad, who held the rank of minister-counselor and minister plenipotentiary, was effectively the deputy head of Iran’s mission to the UN and other international organizations in Geneva. His defection is significant as he was one of the highest-ranking Iranian diplomats in Europe.
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Hokmabad applied for asylum not just for himself, but for his entire family.
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Sources indicate the decision was driven by the ongoing political and social unrest in Iran. He reportedly cited fears of persecution if he were to return, alongside growing doubts about the stability of the current Iranian government.
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This defection occurs amid intense domestic pressure on the Iranian government. Recent reports suggest that several other Iranian diplomats across Europe have also made discreet inquiries regarding asylum, reflecting a deepening sense of unease within the diplomatic corps.
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Swiss authorities have acknowledged the situation but, following standard protocol, have not issued an official public response regarding the status of the asylum application.
Why did I read that Hukum-a-Bad? Good luck to the Swiss bringing this guy into their fold.
I think you read it correctly.
Identify the Science Aircraft:
Kid with a bunch of random model parts wondering what to make: “I know, a submarine that flies like a helicopter! And carries a rocket around! Neat!”
Exactly!
100%
How could a sailor not be embarrassed to have to serve on that ridiculous looking failed concept of a ship i wonder?
I’d expect it would be more appropriately named USS Reluctant, commanded by Captain Morton (Cagney) with Ensign Frank Thurlowe Pulver (Lemon) as laundry and morale officer.
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The ship’s was based on real-life Merchant Marine officer Lt. Commander Herbert Ezra Randall, known for his strictness and love for his palm trees, which the crew eventually tosses overboard, according to this article from the U.S. Naval Institute and the Wikipedia article on the novel. https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2011/december/happy-65th-birthday-mister-roberts
Great movie with a great cast and about the only one i can stand Henry Fonda in… well he’s good in 12 Angry Men as well.
Once Upon a Time in the West.
My Name is Nobody.
The Cheyenne Social Club,
The Oxbow Incident.
Just the ones off the top of my head.
Who would have thought THIS would be the less embarrassing Chief O’Hara?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-3M_6UjTgQ
I admit that had forgotten about that iconic Chief O’Hara, who was mentored by Commissioner Gordon. Tampon Tim’s man definitely takes the cake.
We built a house in Crown King Arizona ourselves in the early 80’s. Day one, Friday, snowed overnight so Bob rigged a snow shovel out of lumber to move snow off of deck while 14 year old son Tony and I started framing. End of day one entire first floor was framed by three of us. Day two all of townsfolk and friends from valley showed up to help. End of day three, all was framed in and roof on, forty feet off the ground. We were young then and screw finding contractors to go to Crown King. Early 90’s building a house in Steamboat Springs. When looking for contractors they posted WASU. We actually show up. I had guys working for me in town that were pulling down over 100K with overtime. I asked the carpet guy in SS how much he was making a year. He stated about 28K. I asked that’s all. He said—well softball, skiing, bar, etc, etc, etc. All boils down to motivation, desire and hustle. Same today here in Idaho. I’m surrounded by a bunch of Mexican guys and young white guys that hustle but a visit past the local Wally World shows the other side.
The people at Ace Hardware referred to my general contractor’s core people as “Dave’s Monkeys.” Yeah. There you are.
Left Steamboat in 1961. My parents built homes in the area and sold real estate when the first “boom” started. Paid better than ranching. Between the El Rancho and Pioneer bars, it was hard to find sober workers.
>big problem with writing Science Fiction, and it has to do with science reality catching up to the fiction
Only if you care about being vaguely science-y in your science fiction.
Which is more than can be said for modern Star Wars [1], or Star Trek. Lieber Gott, have any of you seen that new Starfleet Academy show (complete with faggoty [2] Klingon, among other abominations such as a ship Captain who refuses to wear shoes). The first episode (free) had 1300 watchers. Yes, just over a thousand. Gary Buechler of the Nerdrotic YouTube channel decided to troll them by doing a simultaneous live-stream which merely showed a Spock action figure (it’s NOT a doll!) propped up on a chair, doing nothing. THAT averaged 1500 live viewers, peaking at 3000, 2.3-fold more viewers than the premier of a Paramount+ show. Bwahahaha.
[1] not that Star Wars was ever science fiction. Star Wars really IS space wizards with “lazer” swords. And lots of really goofy names (creating plausible or cool names is really really not George Lucas’s forte. “Count Dooku”? “Mace Windu”? Goo-goo poo poo! Srsly? And remember it was originally Starkiller and not Skywalker. But I digress.) But despite the space wizards and stupid names, Lucas DID get the archetypes right, which is why it resonated with so many people.
[2] Not saying the character is homosexual. I have no idea. And Spartans are pretty good proof that a bit of buggery is not inherently inimical to badassery. For all I know, Klingon warriors ritually bugger each other. But if so, they’d do it in a manly way. (/sarc) I’m using the word “faggoty” to mean limp-wristed, whinging, petulant behavior. (Yes, a female can be “faggoty” under this definition.)
===
As to the science (or tech) being out of date: Depends on the writing chops and the point of the story. So I re-read H Beam Piper’s Space Viking [3] a few weeks ago. Sure, they have interstellar ships that use “hyperdrive” and they have “contragravity”. (Interestingly, personal weapons are strongly implied to be chemical-reaction firearms.) But despite the starships, when a ship to ship message comes in through real space, they manually type in com codes. Hmmm. Doesn’t matter to me though, because the sociopolitical world building was good. (And frankly, too much emphasis on “tech” vs human factors is not interesting to me, unless it’s a story where the tech, such as developing it, is the focal point, or where it matters as a critical plot point and you have to give enough details for the reveal to make sense. For example, I disliked always Arthur C Clarke’s dry style of “relays in satellite XK-93 whirred in geostationary orbit above Sri Lanka” [no doubt so a certain short-eyed expat could better download child porn when he wasn’t busy buggering native children]. )
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[3] “Space Viking” makes sense, actually, despite the title that Piper himself called “hyperbolic”. Without significant spoilers to the main story, the background is that humanity somehow gets hyperdrive and finds many many habitable planets, which it colonizes. There is then an interplanetary Federation, which eventually collapses into multiple internecine wars, and most worlds lose the industrial base to maintain space flight, much less interstellar travel. A handful of remote worlds, settled by the losing side of an attempt to secede from the Federation centuries ago (and who preserved their interstellar-travel tech), has grown its population and economic base enough that now sends its own ships back into the former Federation, to raid or trade, depending on how hard a fight the locals are likely to put up. This is EXACTLY what actual Vikings did. Anyway, Space Viking is at its core a political story, spiced up with murder, revenge, and a bunch of space battles. Recommended.
—
Bottom line. My take (not that anyone asked) is don’t sweat the tech, so long as it is reasonably plausible. The more important thing is that the world building be consistent and that the tech fits in. But the core things are characters with understandable motivations, that you can care about (positively or negatively) them, and who behave in a logical (or understandable) manner (at least in that world/universe’s reality). I’m enjoying Charles Gannon’s Caine-o-verse with interstellar travel, space battles, multiple intelligent species jockeying for political power, etc. More than half the tech is never explained, but so what. Most people today couldn’t tell you how their iPhone works, nor how a plane works, etc etc. The point is that we understand what can be done (and not be done) with phones and with planes. Extrapolations are needed for science fiction, generally, but they have to “make sense”. Having a pocket satellite phone where you can call Belgium from somewhere in the middle of Borneo is not difficult to accept in a near-future setting. But a phone that can teleport you to Mars in the year of our Lord 2027 IS a problem. As to the Caine-o-verse, the main character is likeable and sympathetic, highly competent but not in a Mary Sue way. And even the deliberately annoying side characters are not ALL annoying, they come across as real personalities. I’m also enjoying Gannon’s Vortex of Worlds fantasy (mostly) series which is really a D&D adventure dressed up in big boy clothes. (D&D, sigh /eyeroll; also, stupid choice of Vance’s The Dying Earth magic system. What were you thinking, Gary Gygax? FFS.) But Gannon fantasy books are smart and well written.
Oh, THIS is an example of moronic “science fiction”. (It’s for some online game, maybe?)
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/NQVlCmt5FIY
The New Starfleet Academy series on pay-per-view TV is said to be “DEI and Body Positivity”. Which is typical, and why I don’t bother with space operas. Maybe they can clone humans so everybody can be a homo, but I don’t choose to watch it.
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Swords in space….I like swords. I really do. I like long swords, two-handed swords, bastard swords, short swords, katanas, all of them. I also like other edged weapons and am a fan of all sorts of archery, including crossbows (Chewy in Star Wars had a cyber crossbow of some sort). Some books that have them – enchanted swords and scepters are fun to read. I suggest that authors need to explain WHY everybody is swordfighting (Dune). I can accept it if you tell me why. Why would a modern pipe hitter specwar type carry a tomahawk – I can tell you why. Like the author telling me how his iphone is teleporting him to Mars or the Moon. Give me just a little that I can cling to.
Hollywood would die of apoplexy if asked, but it would be interesting to see some of David Weber’s stories turned into a TV or movie series. Watching the SJW heads explode would be interesting. They’d need someone to minimize the tech data dumps though.
I want to see the movie of David Weber ordering a pizza…
_
(If you don’t know it, you’ve missed a classic! http://www.rogermwilcox.com/stories/weber_pizza.html )
Ray Bradbury admired one gal author, saying she could set the stage and background for the story in just one sentence. Louis L’Amour wrote stories that took off like a shot. David Weber appears to be paid either by the word or letter count???
Well that was rather tedious. After a while I’m glad I cut to the end.
Hahaha! Thank you, Peter. I had no idea this thing existed. I figured there HAD to be something like that, but had no idea as to what.
Only skimmed it so far, looks good, but I don’t see specs on the Mark XVII-beta pizza oven and how it has an additional 25 cubic inches interior space, but 4.8% lower fuel consumption, despite the ability to maintain an equally uniform temperature, versus the original Mark XVII oven.
Is this because Weber is paid by the word (as some have speculated) or is it because he got too big to have to listen to his editor. I suspect the latter. I stopped reading Weber some years ago partly because of this. And this is coming from a guy who actually LIKED “The Apocalypse Troll” as well as his pastiche of Anderson’s The High Crusade (I can’t remember the title of the Weber version).
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But I blame Eric Flint for the destruction of the Honorverse. (And the main reason I stopped reading. It’s at the point where I can’t even bear to re-read the old (good) novels.) The “Audubon Ballroom”? And “genetic slavery” and how Elizabeth Winton looks like a house slave while Michelle Henke would have been mistaken for a field slave? Heimdallr on a rubber crutch. I thought Flint was a radical negro (like, say Don Lemon except maybe minus the tendency to perform fellatio) because of this bullshit. Who knew Flint was white? And why would ANYONE, especially a white person, be projecting this utter bullshit into a far-future world?
I hear that Flint was a very nice person (and I suspect at least you, if not several other SF authors here, knew Flint personally). So be it. I’ll stipulate Flint was a good human being. But he really messed up the Honorverse. It’d have been better if Weber had just dropped the damn thing and wandered off to work on other projects instead of giving Flint the keys.
That happens all too often when a good author dies or “passes the torch” to a friend or family member who works to capitalize on the brand. It’s never the same. Frank Herbert’s legacy is the same as Tom Clancy’s, Robert Ludlum’s, etc.
Science fiction is not “science” but situational fiction which takes place in a future that is envisioned by the author.
I’m agonna git killed here, but IMHO. the best, by far, (May He Rest in Peace) was Jerry Pournelle, sometimes with his co-author,Larry Niven.
At any rate, I enjoyed his stories – immensely.
Boron, you’re convincing me to go to sci-fi once the Historical Civil War fiction series is written. The world-building aspect of science fiction writing is always the most difficult. Fiction is all about character development.
PS – I think I’ll stick to the espionage elements running through my books, no matter where I go with the themes. It’s tough not to do that.
Hud could morph into James West post war…..
Wait until you finidh Book 2. Then you may speculate. You won’t have to wait long.
character development:
I cannot put a book/novel/story down if the author provides me with the unexpected turn of the protagonist’s development of character, of his previously unknown ability to see and to meet an unexpected situation as he turns it to his advantage in a way I wouldn’t expect (he/she/whatever: even a deep-sea androgynous elephantoid on Africanus IV)
better yet: two or three characters responding in unusual ways to the same situation and to each other’s repsonses
my friends ask me “When are you finally going to finish your novel; it’s been around ten years?” Heh! I should live so long.
Historical Fiction has been where I most end up, so hope you exhaust all that pleases you to write in that genre. Non fiction operational accounts and bios are my 1st and 2nd preference when I’m looking for a new read…BUT, the revealing of the mystery of the coils in one of your sci fi shorts still amazes me. ( Sorry I’ve forgotten the actual name of the story.) The dramatization of the characters was ” down to earth” and I thoroughly enjoyed the moral(s) of that story + the rest as well.
I was sorry to see that story end.
A number of you have commented on that. Maybe I’ll have to take up the tale. As I said earlier, that was originally part of a longer story. Half Life.
The world building loses me. Then again, I loved Dune.
Still can’t invest the time for Red Rising.
Sci-Fi requires world-building, even if the Sci-Fi is on Earth now. The genre’s nature requires it. If it’s well done (Dune), you slip into reality. Historical Fiction is no different because (Confederate Cipher, Hudson’s Scouts, etc.), you need to be taken back in time to something that is barely familiar. The world of the 19th century, anywhere, is so different from the 21st Century everywhere, including the spoken English, that the world-building may seem less arduous to swallow than Foundation and Empire, for example. But it’s still there.
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I play with some of those language nuances in The Crow Creek Expedition (book 3) with an Indian Scout (Crow) whose name (as used) is Sleeping Wolf. His actual name is Wolf-Who-Pretends-To-Sleep. There’s a difference between the two, and the soldiers call him Wolf. Language nuances underpin so many things – above all is culture.
My favorite sci fi authors, I have read everything they wrote (well, not all of Mr. Pournelle’s BYTE articles.)
Dan H.
One time, on the chaosmanor site, some mention was made about the possibility of creating cat people. I commented that C’Mell may have her day after all.
You said in one sentence what I was probably rambling on about above. Excellent. And thanks.
As to Pournelle, why would you git kilt? In THIS crowd? Plus, in ANY crowd, if they can’t live with de gustibus non est disputandum, then screw ’em. (“Hey, that rhymes. It’s poetry” -George Lucas) I believe Pournelle had the legal rights to Piper’s Terrohuman History, bequeathed him by Piper while Piper was still among the living. (Piper shot himself after laying down dropcloths in his rental apartment, and after leaving a note that said something like “I hate leaving messes when I go, but if I could clean this one up, I wouldn’t have to be going.” [that was from memory, it’s not an exact quote; and the “this” was due to his financial problems. He was dead broke because of a horrible divorce, and some problems getting paid for work he had already done.])
Interesting history of American military involvement in Greenland during WWII. I had no idea. Do you have any comment on Trumps strategy regarding Greenland so far.
I am nearly finished reading The Confederate Cipher and enjoying it very much. When will the next volume be available to order on Amazon?
Hudson’s Scouts should be out on or about February 1. The paperback will be out before the digital version by a few days. I’m learning about dealing with Amazon.
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President Trump is attempting to force the Europeans to defend Iceland from the Russians and Chinese and if they can’t, to allow us to handle it. One of the things that must happen for that to be effective is to expunge the mini-continent of communist spies. The Danes won’t do that – and they have an affinity toward communists anyway. Not ALL Danes – but as a country they’re soft. The Danes don’t want to offend the Communist Chinese or Russians. I think that Europe has pledged a dozen and a half people in defense of Greenland so far – and then the Germans withdrew – so under a dozen.
I am >>personally aware<< of Communist Chinese efforts to destabilize Greenland and rig their elections. For the most part, they operate from Danish soil primarily because many people in the Inatsisartut (the Parliament of Greenland) spend their winters in Denmark and points south. The Danes claimed that they'll deport the Chinese as PNG, but will they? I am not holding my breath.
Thank you.
Interesting ‘new’ tech for the Zoomies, I wonder if it will work…sigh… Thule/Greenland is ‘different’ to put it mildly. 160 USAF personnel at Thule since the 50s, so I don’t see how we’ve ‘lost’ staff up there. OBTW, about 1/2 of the ‘support’ people were Russian spies.
They’re multi-billion-dollar tech demonstrators (or they demonstrate how the tech doesn’t work).
Norwegian SISU Gals: With names like ‘Bjerkvik’ and ‘Taknes’, and maybe first names like ‘Frida’ and ‘Ingrid’, with their requisite northern ruddiness and the ability to tackle, field dress, and prepare a few caribou backstrap steaks on an open tundra fire, every mortal man would give up their Greenland acquisition pursuit. It’s a male Achilles heel trifecta.
I get the feeling that DJT is more into Slavic women than Scandinavians. (The idea of DJT being a pedophile is ridiculous, he clearly likes big, adult Slavic blondes. The pedophilia accusations are not only political dirty-fighting libels, but psychological projection on the part of the accusers who as a group have a decided predilection for children. Needs Wood Chipper 2026!!!)
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But y’all have it backwards, if taking Greenland would get us more Scandinavian wimmenz, of course we’d be all for it (except me, I’ve had enough Swedish Girl in my life to last me the rest of this life ;-). We would not be giving up to keep them happy. That said, getting Greenland is probably getting a bunch of Inuit, which is a blubber seal of a very different color indeed.
DJT (at 80) may be past his romancing days in terms of adding new women. I’m sure if the right Scandinavian woman came along, he wouldn’t toss her out of bed for eating Fritos and bean dip/potato chips and sour cream & onion dip—or lutefisk… though a woman who eats lutefisk in bed while watching reruns of Vikings might be a keeper.
🤣