The Big One

Agent Fisher · Post by **Agent Fisher** » 2006-03-29 02:24am

What the hell? I just finished The Big One. Good story, but why the hell is the Texan Lady talking?

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2006-03-29 02:30am

Agent Fisher wrote:What the hell? I just finished The Big One. Good story, but why the hell is the Texan Lady talking?

Its mysterious.

Agent Fisher · Post by **Agent Fisher** » 2006-03-29 02:31am

CaptainChewbacca wrote:
Agent Fisher wrote:What the hell? I just finished The Big One. Good story, but why the hell is the Texan Lady talking?
Its mysterious.

Oh come on. I dont care about spoilers, really, why did the plane talk and in one of the short stories, why was Loki and Odin in Nazi Germany?

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2006-03-29 02:44am

Agent Fisher wrote:
CaptainChewbacca wrote:
Agent Fisher wrote:What the hell? I just finished The Big One. Good story, but why the hell is the Texan Lady talking?
Its mysterious.
Oh come on. I dont care about spoilers, really, why did the plane talk and in one of the short stories, why was Loki and Odin in Nazi Germany?

The Texan lady talks well...keep reading, but its not a big issue.

And in what mind fucking order are you reading? I suggest reading in the following order.

The Big One
Anvil of Neccesity is not obligationary at start
The Great game
Crusade
High Frontier

From there you can jump around reading short stories but I heavily reccomend against reading the first few untill you finsh HF.

Stuart · Post by **Stuart** » 2006-03-29 09:18am

Agent Fisher wrote:What the hell? I just finished The Big One. Good story, but why the hell is the Texan Lady talking?

There are three reasons for the "talking bombers". The first is that almost every aircrew I know talk to their aircraft and about a third of them seriously believe their aircraft answers them back (perhaps not in words but conveys a message). If one is writing about aircrew realistically, one has to include them talking to their aircraft; it amused me to include the proposition that the aircraft really did answer back.

The second is a reflection of a Thai religious belief that the world is inhabited by spirits (called prets) that occupy "things", bits of land, trees, waterfalls, whatever. Those spirits can be malicious, friendly or just plain neutral but its a good idea to be friendly. If you look outside a Thai house, you'll see a small building on a post. Its called a "spirit house" and is intended to give a home to the pret that was displaced when humans built their own house. In this interpretation, its not the bomber that's talking, its the pret that lives in it. Its use in TBO is intended to give a "more than can be explained" hint to the stories.

The third (literary) reason is that the characters of the bombers represents the national mood of America at the time. Texan Lady is diffident, a little uncertain of herself, not really certain she'll be accepted but aware of her enormous power. Marisol is brash, brassy, assertive, a little vulgar and somewhat overconfident. Sigrun is cooler, more mature and introspective while Jolene is a conceited feminist yuppy.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2006-03-29 09:26am

Agent Fisher wrote:Oh come on. I dont care about spoilers, really, why did the plane talk and in one of the short stories, why was Loki and Odin in Nazi Germany?

Read more stories and you'll find out.

SPOILERS, ROT13ed:
Ybxv naq Bqva ner "qrzbaf" - va gung nsgre n pregnva cbvag gurl prnfr gb ntr. Gurl ner bgurejvfr abezny uhznaf (gubhtu jvgu obbfgrq vzzhar flfgrzf). Ybxv vf zber be yrff gur yrnqre bs gur Rhebcrna snpgvba bs qrzbaf - naq Bqva jnf bar bs "uvf" qrzbaf gung gevrq gb uryc bhg Anmv Treznal.

Agent Fisher · Post by **Agent Fisher** » 2006-03-29 11:47am

Ok. I'm reading them just like you suggested Ace, but I tried that short story because it was set in 1940.

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2006-03-29 12:46pm

Agent Fisher wrote:Ok. I'm reading them just like you suggested Ace, but I tried that short story because it was set in 1940.

3

For short stories you CAN read easily.

The Guiding Light (1947)

Blocking Action (1949)

Patron of the Arts (1949)

Civis Americanus Sum (1955)

Unorganized Militia (1957)

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2006-03-29 04:25pm

Sceptered Isle - One

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2006-03-29 04:27pm

MKSheppard wrote:Sceptered Isle - One

I'm not sure what to think of that one.

I dearly wish for a story set during the height of the plague years, SAC trying to deal with the problems, not neccesarily a bombing story, but more of a general loss of Control over the situation.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2006-03-29 08:22pm

Ace Pace wrote:I dearly wish for a story set during the height of the plague years, SAC trying to deal with the problems, not neccesarily a bombing story, but more of a general loss of Control over the situation.

The Four Horsemen is in the works.

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2006-03-30 03:41am

phongn wrote:
Ace Pace wrote:I dearly wish for a story set during the height of the plague years, SAC trying to deal with the problems, not neccesarily a bombing story, but more of a general loss of Control over the situation.
The Four Horsemen is in the works.

Alright!

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2006-03-30 07:57am

all of your nuts are belong to us!

Stuart · Post by **Stuart** » 2006-03-30 09:03am

[quote="Ace Pace" I'm not sure what to think of that one. I dearly wish for a story set during the height of the plague years, SAC trying to deal with the problems, not neccesarily a bombing story, but more of a general loss of Control over the situation.[/quote]

That story is planned (and in first draft). Its set about three years after Sceptred Isle when the plagues have gone completely out of control and are ravaging the whole world. The U.S. hasn't got involved before because none of its interests were affected; that changes and the Americans are forced to confront the problems that are facing the world. It's a very grim, dark story that probably shows humanity at its absolute worst.

The current schedule is that I'm finishing Interstellar Highway and the continuing with Ride of the Valkyries (RotV is held up because I need to get some information on the DAMS installed on the B-70 cleared for publication) . The next novel after RotV will be Winter Warriors set in the Kola Peninsula in the winter of 1945, Fourth Horseman will follow that.

Sceptered Isle by the way is written by Jan Niemczyk, a new addition to the TBOverse author's stable. He's very knowledgable and a great writer.

Short stories coming up include "Damn the Democrats" a story set in 1809 that explains the origins (and idiosyncracies) of "The Senior Chief" and another early-history story explaining how Namaah assassinated Alexander the Great.

In addition to all that, I'm looking at creating another timeline series in based on the departure point in "Firebell in the Night" in which slavery in the USA ends in the 1830s and there is no civil war (at least not as we know it). That's a very far term project though,

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2006-03-30 09:08am

Stuart wrote:That story is planned (and in first draft). Its set about three years after Sceptred Isle when the plagues have gone completely out of control and are ravaging the whole world. The U.S. hasn't got involved before because none of its interests were affected; that changes and the Americans are forced to confront the problems that are facing the world. It's a very grim, dark story that probably shows humanity at its absolute worst.

Apocalyptic stories are always an intresting read.

The current schedule is that I'm finishing Interstellar Highway and the continuing with Ride of the Valkyries (RotV is held up because I need to get some information on the DAMS installed on the B-70 cleared for publication) . The next novel after RotV will be Winter Warriors set in the Kola Peninsula in the winter of 1945, Fourth Horseman will follow that.

Any chance for some more short stories set before The Big One? I rather enjoy the Three Eagles style stories.

Sceptered Isle by the way is written by Jan Niemczyk, a new addition to the TBOverse author's stable. He's very knowledgable and a great writer.

Yep, while I havn't commented in the HPCA forums I rather like his style.

Short stories coming up include "Damn the Democrats" a story set in 1809 that explains the origins (and idiosyncracies) of "The Senior Chief" and another early-history story explaining how Namaah assassinated Alexander the Great.

And there was celebration in the streets. Yay!

Stuart · Post by **Stuart** » 2006-03-30 09:19am

Ace Pace wrote:Any chance for some more short stories set before The Big One? I rather enjoy the Three Eagles style stories.

I'm trying to put together another murder who-dun-it mystery set in Sammael's Kingdom. Same format as before, the first part describes the case and gives the reader all the evidence they need to come to an unambiguous conclusion. The second part is how Namaah solves the case and the guilty get gruesomly punished (this was roughly 1200BC after all). The great fun of doing these stories is thinking up a mystery and how to solve it without using all the paraphenalia of modern science. The mdoern forensic shows all are basically "gee we put the trace evidence into the twinkleometer and it tells us that HE (points dramatically) did it. Setting the stories in 1200BC removes all that; its literally a battle of wits betwene the criminal and Namaah. Makes for a great puzzle but they're very hard to write so that they are a good puzzle and a good story.

I'm thinking about doing a couple of stories set in the American Civil War as well. One of them "3 am" is set just after the battle of Spottsylvania when the casualty figures are coming in. Features Ulysses Grant and The Seer, both just drunk enough to tell the truth.

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2006-03-30 02:53pm

Can the Seer outdrink Grant? I didn't think anyone could.

darthdavid · Post by **darthdavid** » 2006-04-03 05:32pm

IH- 21

Agent Fisher · Post by **Agent Fisher** » 2006-04-03 09:33pm

Nutkins. Nice.

That NOS Guy · Post by **That NOS Guy** » 2006-04-05 02:14pm

Is the resembelence to Starfire in Intersteller Highway intentional or not?

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2006-04-05 02:18pm

Stuart · Post by **Stuart** » 2006-04-06 09:01am

That NOS Guy wrote:Is the resembelence to Starfire in Intersteller Highway intentional or not?

I'll have to say not since I've never read (or seen) Starfire (I'm not even sure what it is to be honest).

The "Nutkins" are my own invention; I'd noted that the majority of alien species are cat analogs (Kzin, Kilrathi etc) with a substantial number of lizards/dinosaurs thrown in. I thought it would be fun to base a civilization on a rodent-analog.

Part 19 is where the influence of existing science fiction is strongest (for quite deliberate plot reasons that I won't go into for fear of spoilers). Despite appearances, that part draws most heavily on "Starship Troopers" with a little bit (mostly cosmetic) from Star Trek and substantial input from a rather sad figure called Mark Global who inhabited our board for a while.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2006-04-06 09:33am

Stuart wrote:I'll have to say not since I've never read (or seen) Starfire (I'm not even sure what it is to be honest).

I think he's referring to the point-to-point "wormhole" method of interstellar travel (Starfire's system is like that, and probably was the inspiration for Wing Commander's system as well).

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2006-04-06 09:33am

I rather like chapter 22, but if I ask, how did you envision them going from simple beeps and flashs of light to symbols? Trial and error only goes so far when you can't see what output or reactions you are producing.

Stuart · Post by **Stuart** » 2006-04-06 01:38pm

Ace Pace wrote:I rather like chapter 22, but if I ask, how did you envision them going from simple beeps and flashs of light to symbols? Trial and error only goes so far when you can't see what output or reactions you are producing.

When I originally wrote that section, I had an elaborate secene with people carefully moving from one type of signal to the next, modulating transmissions, using pulses and intervals to create images etc. It was technically correct (based on a study done by the British Interplanetary Society back in the early 1970s) and would work. The problem was, its fascinating to do and totally boring to read about. So I telescoped the whole thing with an equivalent of the cooking show chestnut "and here's an example we prepared earlier." A bit of slight-of-hand I agree but it can be done.

Also, Phaedra is an electronic warfare bird modelled on a blend of the EC-130E/EC-130Q and the EC-135/RC-135 series. What those aircraft can do now will take your breath away so I thought it would be OK to assume that the capabilities were that much more advanced.

(one of the birds listed above can listen into television transmissions - including scrambled ones - desconstruct the signals and work out how to transmit a signal that the television network can receive and display.)

I'm looking at doing a sequel to IH sometime that includes the Nutkins and humans working together on something. What, I haven't decided yet.