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Exactly. And its not exactly what I was talking about, but I know the theory.

I wonder how close to earth the nearest "exit" is

It's been done in other scifi. "Jump points" in Wing Commander and "warp points" in Starfire.

Maybe others as well.

technomage wrote:It's been done in other scifi. "Jump points" in Wing Commander and "warp points" in Starfire. Maybe others as well.

This is so. In fact, given a reasonable level of physics, there are only three ways of "doing" interstellar travel allowing for the speed-of-light barrier.

1 - Invent a new technobabble technology that allows a spacedrive to exceed the speed of light. That means something like STs "warp drive" or any of the other similar get-outs.

2 - Assume that there is a physical anomaly out there that we know nothing about (yet) that allows us to hop from one point to another without going through the space between them. That's used in Pournelle's John Christian Falkenburg novels and quite a few others.

3 - Assume multi-generational spacecraft. Heinlein did that in one of his novels.

In fact, Heinlein used all three. Indeed all three have been used quite extensively, so its not a question of "its been done". The problem is one that is plausible enough to write a story around and allows the reader to suspend disbelief. I like the second because my interpretation of it allows for some really interesting situations. The spaceship pops out of a newly-explored hole and their first question is "where the hell are we?"

Stuart wrote:

Einhander Sn0m4n wrote:Loving the fic. Any idea when High Frontier 4 comes out?

Glad to see its enjoyed. High Frontier Four is coming out very soon (sometime this week probably)

I have another story that's coming out also, "Interstellar Highway" set in the TBOverse around 2450. I might start putting that up here in parallel with High Frontier. I'm slow-stepping things at the moment because the precise mechanism of what happens over the next three decades in the TBOverse depends very much on what happens in the election tomorrow (the end result is the same, the way we get there and its effects differ dramatically).

So then a vote for Bush is a vote for NUKEY NUKEY?

That wasn't an insult or anything. Just an observation.

Have you ever read the Starfire books?

technomage wrote:That wasn't an insult or anything. Just an observation.

Have you ever read the Starfire books?

I understand, the problem is that the choices for gettinga round the light barrier are so limited. I haven't read any starfire books; I've got most of the Wing Commander stuff though (if you think deconflicting Star Trek is fun, try attempting to make sense out of Wing Commander.............)

Stuart wrote:

technomage wrote:That wasn't an insult or anything. Just an observation.

Have you ever read the Starfire books?

I understand, the problem is that the choices for gettinga round the light barrier are so limited. I haven't read any starfire books; I've got most of the Wing Commander stuff though (if you think deconflicting Star Trek is fun, try attempting to make sense out of Wing Commander.............)

dear god is that a canon nightmare! The only thing that the games and books seem to have in common are angry space cats.

I'm not too familiar with Wing Commander, actually. I've played and beaten Prophecy, and the game guide for it has a lot of background, but that's it.

Starfire is a great series because although it isn't hard scifi, it tries to keep the "magic-tech" to a minimum. It's based off of a tactical and strategic space-warfare game system of the same name, and is actually very detailed and consistent. It's also not always a nice universe; every time the peacenik-types got control of the government, another hostile alien race came along and gave Humanity a wake-up call.

I wish Weber and White had written more books in the series.

You can find the background at http://www.starfiredesign.com/starfire/ ... index.html

And that's all I'll say on that. Back to The Big One.

AWESOME.

What year is it, though?

CaptainChewbacca wrote:What year is it, though?

I would assume shortly after the events of "The Big One", or
around late 1948.

Those pesky Russians and their insider trading

CaptainChewbacca wrote:AWESOME. What year is it, though?

Thank you, thank you very much. Blocking Action is set in 1949. The general picture is that Halifax was arrested immediately after The Big One and the collapse of the German occupation of the UK, tried for treason and executed. Its one of a pair of stories, the other is called "Patron of the Arts" and will deal with Goering's history after TBO until his death, also in 1949.

The timeline has been updated (see OP for link).

Possible spoiler:

So, does anyone have any specualtion on who or what the Seer, the Executive Assistants, and the Ambassador actually are? I'm inclined to believe they're aliens, myself--it's clear at this point they're not completely human.

It's an awesome serious of stories, I finished The Big One last night and I've plowed through most of The Great Game today. I'm definitely hooked now. Though it is a shame we didn't get much during the heyday of the B-52, though the Mach-3 Tomcat does make up for it.

Stuart, I hope you decide to hang around here. And if I might ask, do you have any plans to write the Battle of the Orkneys? I'm intrigued by the tidbits you've given us.

Stormbringer wrote:It's an awesome serious of stories, I finished The Big One last night and I've plowed through most of The Great Game today. I'm definitely hooked now. Though it is a shame we didn't get much during the heyday of the B-52, though the Mach-3 Tomcat does make up for it.

Stuart, I hope you decide to hang around here. And if I might ask, do you have any plans to write the Battle of the Orkneys? I'm intrigued by the tidbits you've given us.

I doubt such a story would be very interesting. A thousand plus American carrier aircraft crushing a relatively small surface task group of a fleet known for relatively poor anti aircraft guns, deck armor and torpedo defence systems tends to be like that.

Stormbringer wrote:It's an awesome serious of stories, I finished The Big One last night and I've plowed through most of The Great Game today. I'm definitely hooked now. Though it is a shame we didn't get much during the heyday of the B-52, though the Mach-3 Tomcat does make up for it. Stuart, I hope you decide to hang around here. And if I might ask, do you have any plans to write the Battle of the Orkneys? I'm intrigued by the tidbits you've given us.

I haven't a plan to do the Battle of the Orkneys at the moment; as Sea Skimmer points out, its a pitiless slaughter of an almost defenseless opponent. The original intent of mentioning was an implied illustration of just how ruthless the Americans in the TBOverse are. They've decided they are going to remove Nazi Germany from the map and nothing is going to get in their way.

One of the out-shoots of the reception from "Blocking Action" is that I might do the story of Britian between the Halifax-Butler coup in 1940 and the end of the Great Escape sometime soon. This was originally planned as a prequel to TBO, got postponed in favor of "The Great Game" but is getting to be more interesting again. The other story I have in hand at the moment is "Interstellar Highway" based around a SAC deep space bomber named "Showgirl". I may put that one up here first.

Many thanks for the kind words and encouragement. They really are much appreciated.

Deep space bomber? Who would the SAC be bombing in deep space? Aliens?

Col. Crackpot wrote:Deep space bomber? Who would the SAC be bombing in deep space? Aliens?

In a manner of speaking . In 2450, the difference between the Navy and the Air Force is that the AF birds (planetary defense and SAC) are based on planets and operate from the surface while the Navy stay in space and operate from carriers etc. SAC tend to do exploration since their bombers are better suited to it, being small, strongly built and heavily-armed. They find an interstellar portal, go through it to see where it goes and then, if its a worthwhile one, the Navy and colony ships follow through. Assuming the portal is big enough of course.

If a shoot-out starts, SAC's job is to find enemy bases, infrastructure and resources and destroy them while Planetary Defense (the descendent of NORAD) prevents other people from doing the same to humans.

Well, I have just finished reading The Big One, and I must say that it ranks among the greatest alt hist works ever written. Truly a great read, and I'm glad that there is more stuff set in the universe, because its simply too interesting to abandon.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

Stuart wrote:I haven't a plan to do the Battle of the Orkneys at the moment; as Sea Skimmer points out, its a pitiless slaughter of an almost defenseless opponent. The original intent of mentioning was an implied illustration of just how ruthless the Americans in the TBOverse are. They've decided they are going to remove Nazi Germany from the map and nothing is going to get in their way.

That might well be true, but I've read some stories that have made even one sided slaughters interesting. I forget what it was, but I had read a great account of some of the suicide sorties of the Japanese navy and those were equally one sided. It does have potential if some one does it right. But it's your universe and I certainly don't presume to dictate what you write.

Stuart wrote:One of the out-shoots of the reception from "Blocking Action" is that I might do the story of Britian between the Halifax-Butler coup in 1940 and the end of the Great Escape sometime soon. This was originally planned as a prequel to TBO, got postponed in favor of "The Great Game" but is getting to be more interesting again. The other story I have in hand at the moment is "Interstellar Highway" based around a SAC deep space bomber named "Showgirl". I may put that one up here first.

Just my thought, but I'd love to see Occupied England. And the Atlantic Dash would be a truly classic moment of naval daring.

Stuart wrote:Many thanks for the kind words and encouragement. They really are much appreciated.

You're welcome. And the stories are much appreciated, hope to have lots more to read.

Read the 2 chapters of The Sun set behind a Mountain. No offense to Stuart, but I thought it was even better than The Big One. It was perfect.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

fgalkin wrote:Read the 2 chapters of The Sun set behind a Mountain. No offense to Stuart, but I thought it was even better than The Big One. It was perfect.

No offense taken at all; The Sun Sets Behind A Mountain is indeed a splendid piece of work, one which I was very glad to read and enjoy. Sadly, I don't think it will extend beyond the two parts already available and I have no idea how the author intended the story to develop so I can't take it over and finish it. I can't even pick up any of the characters for additional development .
There is just a vague chance I suppose the story could be continued here; I do deeply hope that will happen.