The War In 2020

Reading this book made me realize, as bad as 2020 was, it could really have been a lot worse. Originally written in 1990, Ralph Peters' The War in 2020 is now firmly in the territory of alternate history. Penned in the twilight of the Cold War, the Soviet Union had not yet undergone its dramatic collapse, in many supposedly well educated circles there were fears that a technologically ascendant Japan would make the United States obsolete with a few strokes on a keyboard, and the old securities of an ascendant America might slide out the window. We weren't quite at the farcical End of History period some predicted, and there wasn't yet only one superpower. It was, in some ways, very easy to imagine a different 2000, one where there were more rising powers and impotent old enemies.

The mildly prescient tagline includes "The World of the 21st Century is barely recognizable. War has ravaged almost every continent - a pandemic plague has swept impartially around the globe", which, in light of a Drug War in Mexico, numerous warm or hot wars in Central Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe, seems eerily prescient. The world Peters imagines and our own 2020 also happens to coincidentally be one where a global pandemic is ravaging the world. A black man with a southern VP sits in the White House, and the United States is engaged in multiple open ended military campaigns far from home. Thankfully though, this isn't that, and merely rhymes discordantly in the bizarre present we find ourselves in.

From wikimediacommons

Peters' imagines a United States having watched its old Soviet enemy fade into obscurity, and so has decided it can downgrade on defense spending. This comes to bite them in the ass as Japan uses its technological know how and powerful trade and economic muscle to propel itself to being a power not to be trifled with. They decide to institute a long running series of proxy wars designed to gradually sap American strength and in the wake of a brutal global pandemic, move to collapse one fading power and potentially eclipse all others in Eurasia.

Enter George Taylor, a survivor of a disastrous American intervention in Zaire, where a brief fight against a Japanese backed South Africa ends in debacle, and spreads the new plague to America's shores. He fights in a few smaller proxy wars before finding himself at the tip of the spear in Soviet controlled Central Asia. Supporting him are Howard "Merry" Meredith, Manuel Martinez, and David Heifetz, honest men who are trying to make the best of a bad situation. They've formed bonds through blood and steel, through campaigns from urban pacification in the continental US, to anti-guerilla campaigns in Latin America. Facing an unprepared and disease gutted military at home, and an only semi-functional at best of times and shambolic at worst allied Soviet military, the men must do what they can to stem the tide of separatist rebels propped up by Japanese advisors and technology.

The story then follows this diverse cast of characters across Washington, Moscow and the Central Asian steppes. There's predictions about the future of warfare, technological progress and how it affects war fighting. We have some hit and miss interactions. I don't necessarily read older works for their predictions on the future, but I do tend to love how hit and miss things can be. Needless to say, much of the technology predictions and geostrategic ones are completely unrelated to our world. The various wonder weapons and technology dreamed up by the author bear no real resemblance to what a battlefield in our own world looks like. As cool as vehicle mounted laser weaponry, massive computer guided warfare, and ever versatile fighting vehicles is, we're not really close to it.

That said, the M-100 fighting vehicle portrayed in the novel deserves some mention. It's an air cavalry vehicle which functions as gunship, command ship, electronic warfare vehicle and troop transport all in one. In can move a unit of dragoons into a combat zone, take out hundreds of armored and support vehicles by itself, and jam enemy signals at the same time. It can hide itself with camouflage with few restrictions, and is a top of the line fighting vehicle replacing the old Apache gunship. Essentially, it's an amazing wonder weapon which can do many things, a jack of all trades, but master of none. Peters actually portrays it as being less than infallible, mechanically problematic, and all its systems are so new it doesn't necessarily work one hundred percent as advertised. This honestly made it a rather refreshing system to be shown in a techno-thriller. 

What I truly appreciated about the story is that Peters didn't portray it as one side effortlessly crushing the other. The Soviets are driven back by Japanese technological superiority and the strength of local forces, but in a few cases manage to make savage and punishing counter attacks. The Japanese technical superiority is undone by emerging American weapons systems and those in turn are stretched to their limit by being untested in the field while not being totally superior to their Japanese counterparts. There's no wonder weapons, no side is presented as woefully inferior to the other, and even the ostensibly inferior powers manage to take the superior by surprise.

Peters writes war exceptionally well. I rarely found myself enthused in the vein of a Tom Clancy novel or a David Weber fare, or bored by the predictable curbstomping of one side. It was nuanced, and the barbarity, the cruelty, heroism and suicidal commitment to duty were showcased in equal measure on all sides. Both sides largely believed in their own cause, wanted to win for their own reasons, and did the best they could with the material they had. They were even hampered by poor political decision making by their respective leaders and subordinates, whether those be in Tokyo, Moscow or Washington. It left commanders frustrated, shackled, or sick with worry about their choices. There were massacres, the use of weapons of mass destruction, and very grim realities of modern war. It was a bloody business, and very nicely done.

I truly enjoyed that Peters made his characters flawed. Colonel Taylor for instance, hates the Japanese with a vicious streak that borders on pathological. This isn't portrayed as a virtue however, and even Taylor admits that it impairs his judgement. His subordinates have a fanatical desire to please their commander, and they all have their own flaws. This, in a few cases, leads directly to their deaths. Their enemies are not simple cardboard cutouts, some don't actively believe in their cause, and others simply fight to fight on another day. I appreciated that there wasn't any dues ex machina which forced the scales one way or another, and indeed I was actively in suspense about the outcome until the end.

This isn't to say the book is without flaws. The portrayal of the female characters was pretty atrocious. I found myself mildly reviled by the way a few of the woman were portrayed and even some of the men talking about women (if accurate in a gross misogynistic sense) was unreadable. I tended to skim over those parts. The portrayal of the Muslim characters does lack similar nuance, and by and large they do serve as the disposable cannon fodder of the story, being the acceptable antagonists. They lack a certain nuance that writers unfriendly to them today would find striking, but in the name of a popcorn action read, you could gloss over it without thinking too much.

My final assessment of this book though, is that Ralph Peters does military fiction right. He doesn't provide some miraculous solution to the conflict, there's no instant win the characters can pull off, and there's high and real stakes. People die and you can actually feel those losses. The characters are well established enough that I can sympathize with their loss, and there is glory, but also horror, in war. The ending doesn't provide you with all the solutions, and you might even wonder what these characters will move on to, but such is life after war. The War In 2020 may not have quite predicted the future, but it does tell an entertaining story of a future that never was.

Writing Update 2020

Well, for all that 2020 has been one hell of a year, it was reasonably successful writing wise. I would say I probably reached my goal of writing 100,000 words at the very least, though on very disparate projects.

Two of the big wins were completing the dark fantasy stories Priests of the White God and Winter Law which has been submitted to Grimdark Magazine, and I actually got my first rejection letter from them! Those were fun to write, with Priests probably being the most involved one as I had to look up nautical terminology to use trying to lend some depth and realism to the mostly waterborne setting. Priests ended up clocking in at 12,809 words. Winter Law ended up at 3,588, and I wrote and edited it over the course of roughly five days. So one was much more in the short story length while the other was at flash fiction length, only slightly longer than The Disappearance of Wilson.

Secondly, I self published the vignette, 2069. Only 1,400 words, this little guy is the primer for another set of short stories I aim to publish in what I'm tentatively calling the sixty-ninerverse. Those who can read that without laughing get a hearty pat on the back for their maturity. This is intended to be a series of short stories or novellas set in a very wide ranging imagining of the future of humanity inside the Solar System. From the colonization of the moon, to Mars, Venus and the outer planets, and possibly beyond. It's an exploration of the 22nd century, all the way to the dawn of the 3rd Millennium, within reason. It let's me get a bit wacky with the ideas I can explore. Essentially, it's my own little verse that doesn't need an overarching storyline and plot connecting it, and just let's me write short fiction to anthologize. Expect to see more of those in the future, with hopefully the first little anthology tentatively titled Gateway to the Stars appearing at some point in late 2021 or so once I have a few more pieces set up.

Thirdly I was almost able to self-publish an anthology this October. It is currently titled A Darkness in the Mind and will include my horror stories The Disappearance of Wilson, Priests of the White God, and two others, one titled The Closing Hour, and another story as yet untitled. This was supposed to be my big October project, but sadly that one had to go by the wayside as real life and the global pandemic interfered in a number of annoying ways. I had thought about publishing in December, but on the advice of others, I am now scheduling it for October 2021, which gives me more time to properly edit the stories, tighten the narratives, and get it as well polished as I could hope for.

The other big news was that I sat down to dig into my alternate history stories. One is A Road Not Taken, a Canadian alternate history work I mentioned at the start of the year, set around the Battle of the Ridgeway in 1866. This one aims to be as diligent in getting the details right as possible and merely to wonder what might have happened had the Canadian militia gone where they were supposed to go rather than take a fateful turn up Ridge Road in June 1866. This project is hopefully going to see the light of day come summer 2021.

The second is a project I have battered away at in various iterations for over five years by this point. This project has taken on a pretty spectacular life of its own. That is a novelization of a timeline I have long worked on at alternatehistory.com called Wrapped in Flames. Something unknown to a lot of Civil War buffs and fans of American history, but known rather well to connoisseurs of alternate history, the Trent affair of 1861 nearly put the United States and the British Empire on a collision course. The two powers came dangerously close to war. The event itself was probably the Cuban Missile Crisis of the Victorian Era, with the rising power of the United States almost pitted against the might of the British Empire near the apogee of her own power. 

Historically, the ship was stopped by the American warship San Jacinto under the command of the impulsive and cantankerous Captain Charles Wilkes (who was reputedly the inspiration for Captain Ahab of Moby Dick fame) and the two prospective envoys that the Confederate States were sending to Europe were then seized of contraband of war. This news initially elated the United States as they had, had a rough year in 1861 after the Battle of Bull Run. The British Empire on the other hand, was infuriated. Most observers in Britain thought, in 1861 and 1862, that the United States was going to lose its civil war and be split in two. Matters were not helped by the fact that neither the politicians in London or Washington understood each other, and the only politician in Washington that the British understood was then Secretary of State, William Seward, who had advocated war with Britain and annexing Canada numerous times in his life. Needless to say, the situation was ripe with the potential for misunderstanding and turning the American Civil War into a general war. However, it was Seward himself who very ably calmed the crisis and smoothed matters over with the British. Of course, what if events had gotten out of control and he was unable to do so? 

It would be safe to say the idea of the British Empire intervening in the Civil War has been explored pretty thoroughly by historians and alternate historians. It is some well worn ground, but not very well fleshed out in print. There were some efforts to write novels, but they're mostly poor fare. Robert Conroy's abysmal 1862 comes to mind. Then there's the very steampunk lite series called Britannia's Fist, which while having a unique premise, strained plausibility past the breaking point.

Wrapped in Flames aims to, through a cast of historical characters from politicians, soldiers, and seamstresses, examine what might have happened had circumstances spiraled out of control in the diplomatic situation surrounding the fraught exchange of notes between the US and the UK. The original timeline was, to be frank, terrible. I had not flexed my research muscles or writing muscles enough to make it anything beyond drek. The second version of the timeline (still writing) is better, but not overwhelmingly so. I am working on it as a sort of companion to the novelization I am writing. The timeline itself is done, in rough notes, up to the 1880s. The novelization would cover from roughly November 1861 down to December 1862. It has a fairly sprawling cast, twelve viewpoint characters thus far who move the plot in various ways throughout the novel.

Now, anyone reading this who has read the current version of the timeline needs to know they will not just be reading the timeline as it is currently posted. It very much seeks to correct a number of deficiencies, research errors, timing of events, and misconceptions I had when I began the new version back in 2016. It also, unlike the original timeline with just brief vignettes surrounded by semi-dense history book style writing, is going to be 100% narrative. As it gets closer to completion I'll be giving more details on the characters who will appear in story. I fully expect this to be a monster project topping out at 200,000 words since there is simply so much I will have to cover to tell an engaging narrative.

Don't expect much of a big progress bar on this guy, it currently sits at 47,000 words. It will take time, and we may not see the final version until 2023. I do expect though, that this project will be a trilogy, the first covering 1861-62, the second novel covering 1863, and finally the third covering 1864-65. Updates as they come!

So there we have it. Some solid progress across 2020, and going into 2021 a solid plan for what I'm writing!

Parable of the Sower

In the late 2020s, Lauren Olamina lives in relative safety in her walled and gated community in California, under the protection and strict tutelage of her preacher father. Deep down, Lauren does not feel that anything they do can keep them safe. The world is falling apart. Despite having a colony on the Moon and a base on Mars, the United States is wracked with social unrest, rampant drug abuse, economic inflation and rising sea levels from unchecked global warming. Food is always getting more expensive and social services like police, ambulances and fire departments are costly and unreliable. Though her parents hope for a return to the 'good old days' Lauren thinks that is impossible.

Thus begins Parable of the Sower.

My first copy

I'd heard on and off about this book in interviews from other writers, numerous literary discussions and simple internet searches. It was often described as a "must read" by people. I picked it up expecting to disagree, but found myself adamantly agreeing with those who recommended it! From the discomfort of the near future vibes, the eloquence of the language, and the characters and messages it espouses, I can't recommend it enough!

Parable is a book with a message. First about the calamity of a slowly collapsing United States and all the uncertainty that brings, secondly it is about the idea of Earthseed. This is the religion that Lauren has discovered (not created, she is very particular about this) which realizes "God is Change" and that leads all she does from there. Lauren is young, grappling with how to explain her discovery to other people, and without scaring them away. One of the other messages in Earthseed is the importance of community, creating and building a stable one. Which, quite honestly, felt very much like something I would read in prepping fiction. 

As a very quick aside, it has a lot of the basics of the prepping movement seamlessly woven into the story. From having a bug out bag handy, to practicing with firearms, methods of hiding goods on your person, and pragmatic group oriented survival, this would be a very colorful way to introduce people to the concept. Truthfully I'm a little shocked I hadn't come across this book before in those circles.

Moving on, Lauren's life is one of loss and pain predominantly. She lost her biological mother at a young age, and her own community is losing its fight for survival. Then on the road, she finds that she can make a new community and a new family. Through acts of kindness, ruthless pragmatism, and knowing who and who not to trust, she embarks on a long journey of discovery, and one without a real destination in mind.

The story is told largely as diary kept by Lauren where she chronicles the break down of her family life, and her journey across much of California. It is also where she confides her deepest secrets and hopes for Earthseed. There too, she has an outlet for her 'sharing' ability, that is, an ability to feel the pain and pleasure of others. Though in a world as crazy as hers, it is sadly mostly pain and she does her best to keep people from knowing. It was caused by her mother's use of a new form of psychedelic drug which began flooding the US in the early 2000s. It's a secret she fights to keep, lest it be used against her.

I found the message espoused through Earthseed and Parable  as a whole, to be a very timeless one. The ideas behind Earthseed are interesting, and they fascinated me as they were an exciting exploration of how a religion is founded, how people view its early ideas, and maybe what it is like to be an early prophet absent some more dramatic divine revelation.

Readers will find it very easy to emphasize with Lauren's struggles, both personal and external, and will be rooting for her and her little family the whole way. Though I will admit some will probably find Lauren and Bankole's relationship a little off putting, but to each their own as that is a far too detailed topic to get in to. It was a read that really sucked me in, and I found myself wanting more. The only complaint I have against this book is that it was too short! It was exciting to discover that there was indeed a sequel, and I really look forward to getting my hands on it.

This is an easy recommendation whether you like science fiction or not in my opinion. Easily one of the best books I have read in 2020. Though for now, let me leave you with the original parable of the sower for some easy reading and appreciation for clever theme naming!

"Then he told them many things in parables, saying: 'A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.'" Matthew 13:3-9

The Ministry For the Future

In 2020, I was very much looking forward to reading another work by Kim Stanley Robinson, as he has become one of my favorite science-fiction writers. Most famous for his Mars trilogy, and in my opinion one of his best works, 2312, he has tackled one of the greatest issues facing the world in his most recent novel. With rampant climate change altering weather, coastlines, and threatening the biodiversity of our planet, it seems that The Ministry for the Future is the only option in a world rapidly cascading towards climactic disaster.

From wikimediacommons

This work is part of a growing body of literature which examines climate fiction (or cli-fi, if you will), and works to show both the perils of, and possible solutions to, climate change on Earth. Robinson has done some excellent interviews about the book, and has been very open that he's using it to address many of the problems with how society handles climate change, and how it thinks about the world economy, a system which supports a lazy or even do-nothing approach to combating climate change. As a piece of cli-fi, it is probably one of the most comprehensive in showing how many interconnected systems are contributing to, and accelerating, climactic change the world over.

Robinson's story itself begins in 2025 when a deadly heatwave kills 20 million people in India. More than plague, world wars, and any other natural disasters up to that point combined. In response, two things happen. The global shock to this catastrophe causes the UN to found the titular Ministry for the Future, whose job it is to see that the terms of the Paris Climate Agreement are held to. The second is that India, in the wake of this enormous disaster, undergoes a social and political change only a nation suffering that kind of loss on a psychological and social level could, it has an almost overnight revolution and begins desperate efforts to make sure such a tragedy never happens again. They launch what could probably be considered the first act of geoengineering by using particulates to seed the skies in their hemisphere with an artificial ash cloud to mimic an enormous volcanic eruption, and cut the intensity of the suns rays over their subcontinent for a time.

The story then follows members of the Ministry, Mary Murphy it's leader primarily, as they attempt to use what little influence they have to mitigate the damage caused by climate change. At first, this is a largely frustrating uphill battle, and many people see it as futile to fight against the currently entrenched global system. Mary is shaken by an unexpected visit from a foreign aid worker, Frank, who survived the Indian heatwave, who demands she do better. The story spreads out from there.

The deadly heat wave in India isn't the only natural disaster to plague the world in this book. More killer heatwaves rock the globe, a major one killing tens of thousands across the American South, L.A. is practically wiped off the map in a superstorm comparable to one which struck the state of California in 1862, and other deadly events stalk the world, motivating people to advocate for change.

In this story Robinson tackles numerous difficult ideas. If laws and jurisprudence aren't going to stop people from burning carbon, is it moral to use extreme methods to do so? Some groups say yes, and an extremely angry group of radicalized Indians who suffered from the heatwave, the Children of Kali, lead the way. They assassinate petrolium industry moguls, blow up private jets, and attack coal plants. In many other parts of the world, more people follow suit as the natural disasters grow more widespread. There's questions on the morality of this, weighing the worth of all future generations of mankind, and then the lives of men and women enriching themselves at the expense of others and then trying to flee from their problems. Of course, those people hit back, killing dissidents, and even targeting the Ministry!

As an alternative to violence, Mary uses her ministry to try and find a different path, an economic one. Much of the world, through both climate related damages and populist action against existing systems, begins to balk at the way they're governed and how wealth is transferred. Her own people propose a currency backed by carbon sequestration efforts, meaning that as you work to store carbon you will be rewarded by a new form of currency backed by the level of climate friendly action you engage in. To be honest, I freely admit I'm probably explaining this badly, but this should be read to be understood as its a fascinating idea.

From the ground up, people begin to agitate for change as they become broadly more affected by a changing climate, and the economic fallout from that. Students stage debt strikes, refusing to repay their loans, tenants simply occupy properties and dare someone to do something about it. The African Union pointblank nationalizes many internationally owned resources extraction operations, and in China the hundreds of millions of migrant hukou workers use their mass to occupy Beijing to demand change.

Even on an individual level, a different form of internet is developed. A new social media, web browsing app, YourLock, is launched. This app allows individuals to put their data in quantum encrypted data storage, which protects both their information and their money from theft, but also gives them a means of economic power. Since many modern internet and social media providers make money off of mining your data, the idea that you could deny them that resource and then negotiate with, and directly sell it for royalties to corporations is fairly revolutionary. It's almost an annual annuity for being yourself.

Against these backdrops, many different political and economic organizing ideas are touted. The ever familiar Mondragon model of federated worker cooperatives is of course front and center, with some fascinating expansion on the man who founded it. Before reading this, I had no idea who Father José María Arizmendiarrieta was, but he's a simply fascinating figure I'd love to know more about now! There's other examples offered, blockchain economics, even blockchain governance, as a system for the future.

In terms of science fiction, we even have a subplot following some Antarctic scientists who are engaging in an experiment in geoengineering of their own. Seeing that the West Antarctic ice shelf is in danger of slipping its bonds and collapsing into the ocean potentially adding a catastrophic seven feet of sea level rise in less than a generation, and if the Greenland ice sheet were to join it, that would be even worse! Interestingly, something like this is part of the plot of 2312, which makes for some fascinating parallel reading. However, these scientists are trying a novel approach which Robinson thought of and sketched out to try and present something that might work to help keep the worst effects of climate change and global sea rise down. It's some very interesting reading here.

What's important, I think, is that this book bucks the trend a lot of other more technocratic writers might argue for and presents no silver bullet solutions. It's a painstaking series of decisions, mistakes and uphill fights to try and build a better future. Robinson doesn't give us some easy solution and pretend everything will be alright, he instead reminds us that this is an issue we have to face head on, with everything we've got.

The plot is a bit thin though, the main characters really only exist as mouthpieces for the arguments around different ideas to deal with global warming and how to solve it. This made me less than invested in them as individuals, but more interested in the situations which surrounded them. 

The writing style was a bit difficult too, as certain vignettes would probably better have been served as being part of an overall interview process or categorization under some different internal structure similar to what was done in 2312 or World War Z to add a cohesive and overarching element to the story. This lack of structure did make me lose focus on what I was reading at some points, and occasionally served to suck me out of the book, and not in a positive way. I also tended to simply glaze over the more polemic interludes, some might enjoy them, but they weren't quite my fancy for this read.

On a purely literary level the book has a few flaws. However, the book should not be judged on its literary merits alone. In fact, its literary merits might also be better disregarded. Ministry is more a thought experiment than manifesto, an attempt to force us to confront difficult questions about climate change and its repercussions, and would make us change our minds. 

In that sense, it succeeds wonderfully. It makes you re-examine how we view the world and rather effectively points out its flaws with things such as wealth inequality, the oil and gas industry, refugee politics, and even the way our banking system works. I found many of the objections raised by characters to portions of the currently existing international system to be fascinating. There were many compelling arguments and a lot of good banter back and forth on numerous issues. You find yourself thinking "yes, why do we do things this way?" which is something not enough people seem to ask.

Rather than presenting a broad and sweeping plan for combating climate change and global inequality, the book presents many options, and gives you lots of ideas to think about. Jacobin probably had one of the best write ups on this novel saying that Kim Stanley Robinson imagines a future where we don't all die, which when you consider some of the rather apocalyptic visions of what unfettered climate change could bring, that's a nice image. I think that the hope this novel ends up conveying both in humanity, and our ability to combat climate change, is also a much needed message in a world where denialism is running up against increasingly self-evident facts, and a sense of hopelessness in younger generations.

For that reason, Ministry for the Future, while perhaps not being a literary masterpiece, might be one of the most important books you read in 2020 or 2021. It's made to make you think, and doing that, you might just come away with some ideas even this ambitious author couldn't imagine.

Rhythm of War

I've really returned to the world of Roshar in my 2020 re-read, so much so that I practically feel like I was living there in the latter half of the year! So with the release of Rhythm of War this year I was very excited to climb back in to this fascinating planet with its great story and fascinating peoples! 

There are, of course, SPOILERS for the events of the three preceding novels. You can find my reviews for those here, here, and here if you want to dip your toes in the water, but otherwise, proceed at your own risk!

The story picks up roughly a year after the events of Oathbringer. The Everstorm ravages the land, the Voidbringers and their singer allies have taken much of the world. Dalinar, his reforged Knights Radiant and their coalition of allied monarchs fight tooth and nail to reclaim as much of the world as they possibly can, but the war drags on. The reforged Radiants battle the emerhing forces of the Fused, the favorites of Odium, and Kaladin Stormblessed finds himself unable to keep up with the fighting. Shallan Davar meanwhile, works to keep her order of Lightweavers alive to fight another day, but without the help of more spren, will find herself succumbing to the many facets of her personality. Adolin Kholin, her husband, also struggles in a world where demigods soar through the skies and he is merely the most competent swordsman with no powers of his own. Meanwhile, Navani Kholin, husband to Dalinar, must try and run his small kingdom in the lost city of Urithiru, trying to unlock its secrets. Finally, the former listener scholar Venli attempts to keep her head down as Odium uses her people as disposable pawns, and potentially, find a way to fight back.

Rhythm appropriately starts off showcasing how this war has displaced so many. Long lines of refugees flooding into Kaladin's occupied hometown. It is, in my opinion, a very effecting way of showcasing the horrors of war and the toll it takes on nations, communities, and individuals. The fighting in the opening is fantastic, the characterization is superb, and the opening section here is probably one of the best Sanderson has written. I was immediately sucked in to what was happening, felt a real raising of the tensions and the stakes, and could tell you what had happened and what was going on. It reminded me a lot of the opening of The Hero of Ages for getting you situated in this world again, and keeping the story fresh and fast.

Kaladin's arc this book leads him down the path of someone suffering from "battle shock" or PTSD. It is done well, alongside handling his lingering issues with depression and anxiety to a really realistic level where he tries to fight through the pain and overcome his own feelings of worthlessness. Shallan meanwhile is attempting to fight past her three different personalities which cover up a multitude of sins, while keeping a nebulous fourth personality from emerging and taking her over.

The three most compelling arcs though, IMO were those of Venli, Navani, and Adolin. While we had some very solid movement on our three mains like Kaladin, Shallan and Dalinar, we've only gotten some time in the last three books with each of these characters, and of those Adolin took up the most space. Venli only came into her own in Oathbringer, and Navani has been more in the background of these books. Adolin was always in the forefront, but this book was truly his chance to shine. Though, unfortunately, his and Shallan's plots were relegated to the background for much of the book.

First I'm going to outline a spoiler free part before leaving more below.

The first half of the novel, after Part I is a little slow and had some events that felt rushed or overlooking certain outcomes at the end of Oathbringer, but it made for a workable opening. Kaladin's arc seemed to bog down in the middle, not because it was boring IMO, but because there just wasn't enough real material to work with. I felt you could have truncated his story in this book considerably and not really lost anything.

Meanwhile, Adolin and Shallan's stories in this book were almost completely overlooked. There was still progress and work done on them, but it felt like we had to wait forever to get through much less interesting storylines to see it, and an inordinate amount seemed to get wrapped up at the very end of the story. Adolin trying to move out from the shadow of both his Radiant wife and almost demigod father is still very fascinating. Add that to his relationship with his sword, and I think we had a much greater potential for a powerful story here.

This story though, is far more that of Navani, Venli, and Kaladin. For all that Navani and Venli are given the center stage though, I can't really say much about Venli's story. Her story seems to be much slower because, unlike the last three books, she doesn't have interludes begin which bring her to the center stage until almost a third of the way into the books. That means the looks back on her past and her build up as a character drag excessively compared to the detail put into building up Navani and Kaladin.

Navani's story is excellent however. I liked her on page presence and her struggles as a leader and someone who felt imposter syndrome as she led, but did not consider herself, a scholar. This is well reinforced in the prologue by showing off her strained relationship with her former husband Gavilar. That she has to struggle first as a leader, a scholar, and then a war leader, makes her go through many mental stresses and deal repeatedly with the cost of failure. I like her growth, and the revelations and ultimate build up for her ending were very satisfactory and made me very much enjoy building her into a main cast member in her own right.

The first to middle sections of the story though, did drag somewhat, and I did find myself not breathlessly racing through them in the same way I did in Oathbringer which I found myself doing in my original read-through of that book's Kholinar arc. The finale though, really brought the whole book together in ways that I genuinely appreciated, and I had to put the book down to dry my tears for a few moments with some characters. The send off for Eshonai was, IMO, one of the most touching moments in the book. 

Upon my first re-read, I do think that Oathbringer is actually a stronger novel than Rhythm of War simply because there was more action in that book than this one. Much was thrust on the shoulders of almost too many characters for really good build up for each of them. That being said, of the three main characters who had the greatest build up, Kaladin, Navani and Venli had some of the best work done, and poor Adolin and Shallan were somewhat left out till the end. That said, they still got excellent characterization and great moments of triumph as they found their way through this plot.

My only real criticism of this book might be that here, beyond any doubt, we get to the point of a continuity lock-out. If you haven't read all the cosmere material up to this point, you probably won't understand the implications of Shallan's plot. Many scenes won't make sense, and much of the Ghostblood's plot will seem completely unrelated to the main characters on Roshar. Casual readers will, probably be put off by this, which makes me think that beyond this book the Stormlight Archive will be primarily for fans of the cosmere.

At the end of it all though, I still enjoyed this book, and really hope that upon re-reading I'll pick up on more that I've missed and can say that this was, once again, a well done piece by Brandon Sanderson! Still, for a book that delves into not just the physical wounds, but the mental pain and anguish that can hold people back, I think this is a wonderful series to read!

Major SPOILERS below the cut!

Fantastic Cooking in the Cosmere

Recently, in a nerdy kick, I decided I would try some fantasy cooking. Now I'm not saying I cooked with dragon eggs and added a pinch of dwarven mead for flavor, no, I used very real world ingredients to cook some very out there recipes. Welcome to my first adventure in cooking with weird recipes from fantastic places!

A real shout out to Deanna Whitney who put together the inspiration for these recipes on Tor.com and who has done quite a lot of work to make these things right. I took inspiration, if not the whole recipe, from Whitney in compiling my own two meals. Mostly to a rousing success! Let's unpack how this went!

Now as a disclaimer, I'm not really a cooking writer, so I'll be giving what I worked on, some of the recipes, and linking to the articles with preparation instruction. This is just my unpacking of how this experience went.

The two recipes I tried were from the world of Roshar in Brandon Sanderson's cosmere. If you've read my reviews of the Stormlight Archive books so far, you'll see this is a world very unlike our own. It's one which, very much, requires a bit of experimentation to get things cooking just right. Roshar has a distinct lack of anything like cows, so all the dairy is either goat or pig, and chickens come in varying shapes and sizes. That makes for some interesting cuisine, and since many meat bearing creatures are more akin to shellfish than our own meat bearing animals, you have some fun designs.

For my first recipe I decided to cook a variant of Alethi "men's food" which is different from "women's food" for cultural reasons. Men's food is spicy, while women's food is sweet. I prepared myself a dish of shellfish chickpea curry, which went quite well in concept and execution!

The basic recipe as laid out by Whitney can be found here for both the curry I used and cooking the shrimp. For the curry, I did a few changes and I used coconut milk.

Whitney's recipe is laid out with these ingredients:

• 2 cups basic curry
• ½ cup milk (I used goat)
• 2 teaspoons of garam masala (to taste)
• 1 teaspoon of chilli powder (to taste)
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon+ of kosher salt (to taste)
• 15 oz can of chickpeas: pre-cooked, drained, and rinsed
• 4 oz of spinach 
• 1 teaspoon of cooking oil

Chickpea curry slow simmering

I managed to get these all together in the pan quite nicely while I marinated the shrimp according to the stated recipe. Her ingredients for a marinade were as such:

• 1 pound jumbo shrimp, cleaned and deveined
• 1 cup water
• 6 cloves of garlic OR 2 tablespoon of ginger-garlic paste
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ¼ cup lime juice
• 1 tablespoon oil
• ¼ teaspoon pepper
• 1 cup of coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons of stock (I used chicken)
• ¼ cup of toasted coconut

Then for the shrimp I roughly followed Whitney's guide to the recipe and it turned out quite well. I think I had more food waste than intended with the marinade, but overall, it was an excellent recipe! For this recipe I had to forgo using the toasted coconut, and I used pre-minced garlic for my own which saved quite a bit of time and allowed me to set the marinade up very quickly.

Both of these went off, relatively, without a hitch otherwise. I managed to make myself a tasty snack with many leftovers for work the next day! The recipe came together as a very satisfying pair.

A light snack for reading!

Next I decided to try chouta. I will admit, that of all the foods that have fascinated me in the cosmere, chouta is the one I have most wanted to try and was what I had originally set out to cook. It was the recipe though which did not turn out quite as intended.

The recipe can be found here and it is well worth checking out. The way Whitney prepared her recipe involved making your wrap and meatballs from scratch. I got tortillas from the mall personally, and simply used chopped onion, rice, hummus and feta cheese for the base of the wrap to keep everything nice and stuck together.

My difficulties began when I decided to use store bought chicken meatballs (no beef on Roshar!) and pan fried them. It was a, less than satisfactory outcome. Doing that I moved on to cooking the sauce. Since I have not cooked my own sauce before rather than making something from a can, this from scratch sauce was way too thin, more of a liquid really, rather than very thick. Despite my very amateurish efforts to thicken, it never did reach the consistency I sought so I remedied this by adding the meatballs and cooking them together.

The sauce ingredients are laid out as such:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons flour (I used cassava)
• 2 cups broth (I used chicken)
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• ¼ to 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper (to taste)
• ¼ teaspoon curry powder
• ¼ teaspoon turmeric
• ¼ teaspoon coriander
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ⅛ teaspoon black pepper

The sauce was way too liquid like

I also forwent directions on cooking the bread, using my store bought tortillas to save the time. I wanted to try a thicker wrap, so I put two together. It was a bit of a stretch, but it took. To fill the wrap I used hummus, rice and chopped onions and feta cheese. It was a very tasty filling. So filling I could only eat two in one sitting! In the end, I ended up savoring them alongside a glass of yellow (white) wine with my dinner!

When I make this again I feel like I will be well served by practicing with making a sauce. I would also want to try making my own meatballs were I to do it again, and I would definitely stick to only using one tortilla. Even were I to fry the bread, one tortilla maximum. What would also be interesting is to work on my wrap style, making make it more "one handed" to work with. 

My first foray into chouta, mildly successful!

On the plus side, I had plenty of sauce, meatballs and rice leftover for a tasty meal at work the next day!

Meatballs, sauce, and rice.

This has been my first foray into fantasy cooking, but rest assured, you can't stop me from trying again!

Oathbringer

Picking up only a few days after the climactic end of Words of Radiance the third book in the Stormlight Archive explores a world where a new cataclysm has come! The Everstorm comes, and the Voidbringers threaten to return! Can the Knights Radiant turn the world towards facing the threat, or will they all be swept away by a new storm about to break upon Roshar? Find out in Oathbringer!

SPOILERS for Way of Kings and Words of Radiance to follow. Read on at your own risk!

A paperback which owes me nothing

The ancient city of Urithiru has been rediscovered. Ancient citadel of the Knights Radiant, it has been occupied by the Alethi highprinces, and Dalinar Kholin's small group of Knights. But, the ancient enemy, Odium, and his Voidbringers come, the Desolation is upon Roshar!

Oathbringer is one of the strongest openings in Sanderson's works outside of The Hero of Ages. It also, nicely, and subtly, twists the expectations of the apocalypse you have, and grinds them against one another. Everything I expected in this book was actually turned on its head, and the one true constant of the cosmere kept coming back to me; there's always another secret.

In this third installment, we explore more of the Knights Radiant, their founding and disbandment at Aharietiam, and the conflict between gods which has been brewing in the background on Roshar for millennia. Major questions brought up in the first two volumes are answered, but even further questions are raised. The issues of old legends being true, and others being false, are brought to the fore again, and we even have to wonder whether we can trust the sanity and perceptions of some of our main characters! 

Similar to how the previous two books explored the issues facing Kaladin and Shallan, this book is Dalinar's. We see the history of Dalinar, the Blackthorn, feared but respected general of Alethkar, the blade in the hand of the unifying king Gavilar Kholin, and the power behind the throne of the kingdom. His youth spent drenched in blood to win a kingdom, his attempts at being a father, and his systematic deconstruction of himself to try and become a better man after his brother's death, are all explored in depth. His story is very well handled, and leads to important revelations in the present which threaten to derail the struggle of the good guys completely!

Meanwhile, Kaladin and Shallan continue to battle their own inner demons. Kaladin, who fights to protect the world, makes some disturbing revelations about his simple look at war, while Shallan grapples with her own identity and fragmenting it into many different shapes in order to be the woman she needs to be. This will affect them in different ways, whether they can advance on their path to being Radiants, and refound their orders to, hopefully, save the world.

We also go a bit deeper into the other characters from the Kholin family. Adolin, Navani, and Jasnah Kholin are all explored more in depth, given much to do, and given more depth and character exploration. Adolin may even be on his way to becoming a Radiant! Jasnah however, is my current favorite side character, one who I hope is given much, much more exploration in the series as a view point character.

Two new characters, Szeth, the Assassin in White, and Venli, one of the Parshendi who fought to survive, are also brought more into the forefront. These characters aren't new, since we've seen them in each previous installment, but it will be very interesting to see where we go with them. 

As mentioned above, the story itself does what Sanderson does extremely well, and he twists your expectations almost completely. What I personally expected after the end of Words of Radiance fell short as things never did quite go the way I predicted. This was, occasionally, extremely frustrating, for reasons I can't quite outline for spoiler specific purposes, but also in many ways satisfying. The work Sanderson put into expounding on the characters rising to new heights and overcoming both the fantastic, and the mundane obstacles in their paths were extremely well executed. It's a story where characters battle their own selves just as much as external obstacles, and it is so empowering for that.

In a non-spoiler ending to this review, I do want to highlight that if you're expecting the End Times of the Apocalypse as normal, you'll be delightfully disappointed! TEOTWAKI might be upon us, but it is spectacularly so! On my first reading of this story, I was actually severely disappointed with it. I found it dragged in places, and I wasn't quite satisfied with the conclusion. On second reading though, there;s hidden depths, other stories I love, and even things I feel speak to my own inner demons. The story is fraught with twists and turns, lots of highs and spectacular lows for our characters, and some really phenomenal action scenes and sequences involving the gods themselves! 

Below the cut here are some spoilers I want to include in my review, as I want to talk about them, but don't want to spoil the book for those who haven't caught up yet. Journey before destination.

By Isaac Stewart

Words of Radiance

The second book in the Stormlight Archive, Words of Radiance, was released in 2014 and I eagerly got my hands on a copy. Now for the 2020 re-read, I've eagerly jumped back in! Re-reading the book for the second time I discovered many things I had forgotten, and got some of the most intense action sequences Brandon Sanderson has ever put to paper!

Mild spoilers for Way of Kings follow.

My original copy which owes me nothing!

Words of Radiance picks up just a few weeks after the conclusion of Way of Kings with all the strides made by our characters from that book. The Alethi warcamps on the Shattered Plains continue to struggle against the Parshendi, but meanwhile Shallan, ward of Jasnah Kholin, is travelling to meet with the Alethi royalty to reveal potentially dangerous secrets about the ancient Voidbringers which could turn the whole world on its head.

In the warcamps, Kaladin Stormblessed struggles to protect Highprince Dalinar Kholin and his nephew, King Elhokar from the infamous Assassin in White and schemes from within their own armies as betrayal and intrigue stalk the supposedly allied highprinces. In the rest of Roshar, chaos rocks the world as kings die, spren begin acting strangley, and people fear that the Knights Radiant have returned. For if the Radiants have returned, so too must the ancient and cataclysmic Desolations.

This story is, while just as much of a door stopper as Way of Kings a bit tighter in its focus. The vast majority of the story takes place on the Shattered Plains so it is all very geographically centered on this spot. The main characters are all interacting in various ways, and numerous new plots and counter plots are unfolding. 

One of the most interesting aspects of this story is that we get a good look at the other side of the war on the Plains. Throughout Way of Kings the Parshendi were enigmas, we only saw them as enemies being confronted by the Alethi, and they were directly responsible for not a few deaths of those that Kaladin and Dalinar were trying to save. It made them foes only to be confronted. Now we have a character, Eshonai, who shows the war from their perspective. Tantalizingly though, we still get some mystery as to how the war started and why Eshonai has made some of the choices she has. In her chapters though, we do see how her people are becoming desperate and being driven to the edge. Hard, perhaps unthinkable, choices must be made.

Meanwhile, Dalinar Kholin is still trying to mold the fractious Alethi highprinces into something resembling a coherent whole. They still balk at his authority, scheme against him, and after the great betrayal by his old friend and ally Sadeas, he doesn't know who he can trust. His guard is now led by Kaladin Stormblessed who must struggle with the burdens of command and the need to try and master his new and mysterious powers. 

Shallan Davar meanwhile, must make her own way to the warcamps, and uncover the mysteries of the Voidbringers and the lost city of Urithiru. In doing so she finds that one constant of the cosmere remains true, there's always another secret.

This book is really Shallan's book. Like the first book, which had Kaladin's backstory play out, this one shows us flashbacks from Shallan's childhood and her early life. We learn of her struggles growing up, the mystery of her mother's death, and why she and her brothers have always lived in fear of her father. The way this illuminates much of her character, and character growth, in this story is very well done. Shallan grows in leaps and bounds over the course of the story, and I think this further makes her one of my favorite characters in the whole series!

Of course, that's not to say our other leads, Dalinar and Kaladin, don't grow more too. Dalinar has to learn many hard lessons about principles and politics, while trying to match wits against those who don't share his politics or his scruples. Kaladin meanwhile, after so much abuse from men who are supposedly good men and his superiors, must learn to trust. While he respects Dalinar, he feuds with Dalinar's son Adolin, and mistrusts every lighteyes he meets. This leads to an interesting dynamic with Shallan early on.

With all the main characters concentrated in one location, this story lets Sanderson shine in his writing. Most of his tales have always had the action happening at one place, and I think that the plot he writes here is very much better for it. Most importantly, he allows the characters to all interact and grow in natural ways which will be very important for their relationships in Oathbringer.

It also delves deeper into the lore of the magics (investiture for those cosmere aware) on Roshar. It's what makes the world tick, how all the spren relate to one another and how those blessed with the powers granted by the gods can shape and use their powers. With the characters in one spot, and for the moment, pursuing broadly similar goals, it allows everyone to put their thoughts to figuring all this out in order to both win the war and to prevent the Desolations. That in particular, is one of the greatest strenghts on display here, as Sanderson is able to really bring our attention to the lore and magic in a narratively necessary way while also highlighting how wonderfully alien the world of Roshar is.

It is also a fantasy world that doesn't rely on those traditional fantasy races we all know. There's no dwarves, no elves, and no orcs. The Parshendi can't be counted as orcs as they're very, very different, and almost like aliens. The Iriali are vaguely human, then there's creatures much, much stranger. You really do have to read it to see it!

Of course, this all comes together in a very satisfying climax as the war, the political scheming, and all the study we've seen in both this book and the previous installment. It showcases a lot of Sanderson's strengths, with his avalanche of intrigue and storytelling among the humans and the Parshendi paying off at the end. It's both epic, and really suitably tragic. Kaladin's story arc here is perhaps one of the most important as, while this is Shallan's book, Kaladin has done some of the most growing as a person.

Words of Radiance is an excellent sequel and, so far, definitely the second best work in the Stormlight Archive overall. Its' got all of Sanderson's strengths and really lets him run wild with the world he has created. It sets us up for the next installment quite nicely, and really gives us a lot to appreciate, and ask ourselves, for what comes next on Roshar.

What If the Central Powers Won WWI 2

Last time, I discussed the Schlieffen Plan enacted by Germany in 1914. Though that plan was very flawed from the get go, it working as a 'stop gap' to make a short victorious war for the Central Powers is a prerequisite for the the whole premise of that piece. The changes would follow logically, and the Germans would of course have a reason to seek peace. That is a scenario where the Central Powers can absolutely be seen as the unambiguous winners of the war. This scenario though, well it's one that certainly doesn't have an unambiguous win, but one which can still see a Central Powers victory.

The Kaiser in a communications trench, April 1918

Option 2) Peace of Exhaustion

I have talked about this before, discussing the 'victory' from the German Spring Offensive in another article. However, even that was technically a German defeat as the Entente still had the upper hand at the negotiating table. For this article, I'll be looking at the Entente not having the upper hand, and instead examining a peace of exhaustion. I would highly recommend reading my previous article about the Spring Offensive and victory, as I'll be using a few of the same ideas here, but with a different outcome and series of events.

However, for this all you really need to know is that there are two important differences from our timeline. The first is that in this TL the United States, for whatever reason, chooses not to intervene in the First World War. Without intervention, the Germans are not facing the serious manpower crunch they were facing in 1918 with the Entente now experiencing a windfall of millions of fresh troops coming from North America and their financial system being propped up by American loans. Without American loans, it is questionable that the Entente could have 'borrowed' its way further into 1919 and both sides would have found themselves deeply in the economic red as the year wore on. 

That though, is an extremely convoluted and hypothetical economic speculation. I'm not really an expert on it and there's so many competing narratives, whether the US could afford to let the Entente nations, who had borrowed heavily from them, default, whether the Central Powers treasuries could have foot the bill for another year of fighting economically, if the Germans could get supplies from their conquered territories or riches to sustain the war effort, ect; it's a lot of economic speculation, so let's stick with what we know.

Without the imminent threat of American intervention, one can ask whether the Germans would be as compelled to launch their OTL planned "Spring Offensive" to deliver a decisive knock out blow. My own speculation is that, yes, they would want to try and launch one vicious offensive in the spring and summer of 1918 to try and force the remaining Entente powers to the negotiating table. This, potentially, avoids another year of war and another grueling winter. The Entente too, will have no enormous pool of fresh American manpower waiting to replenish their ranks.

For the purposes of this scenario we can speculate that the Germans, in this scenario, manage to take Amiens. This would have been, something of a catastrophe for the British and French. Amiens was the major rail line connecting the two Entente armies, and even though some French forces had been dispatched to the north to support the British, it is debatable they could have managed to keep well supplied had Amiens fallen. 

This loss was the nightmare scenario for the men fighting the Germans at this point. Amiens was probably the only true strategic target (besides Hazebrouk) the Germans might have captured in their offensive in 1918. Doing so would have given them an actual strategic advantage that the original attack very significantly failed to produce.

However, like OTL, these German forces would still be exhausted, and to take Amiens they would have, undoubtedly, have had to take more casualties than they did historically. For the purposes of argument let's say that as compared to OTL the Germans lose 180,000 of their best, irreplaceable, troops. That's 20,000 more than OTL, but probably reasonable based on how well Amiens was historically defended. That means that, for follow up operations that are supposed to drive the British back to the Channel ports, they have even fewer troops to attempt it with.

I don't think it's a stretch to imagine that this version of Operation Georgette would be a disaster as well. With fewer men, a desperate British defense, and most likely having to hold off an Entente counter offensive towards Amiens, the Germans simply flail uselessly against the British defences, while by the skin of their teeth holding Amiens.

This will mean that, by May, it has become clear to the Germans that they cannot win a decisive military victory in the West. The Germans would have no chance of taking the vital rail center at Hazebrouk, which supplied the British armies in Flanders, and be facing a possible Entente counterattack over the summer. 

Here, much of this scenario does run similar to my piece from back in 2018 which speculates about a naval battle of Terschelling and German attempts at negotiation, but I will add one more speculation. The Entente will, naturally, try one do or die offensive of their own. This waits until the high summer, June and July, to get rolling, giving the Germans time to dig in. Even with their desperate straights, the Germans in their new positions manage to roughly hold their gains, and importantly, still cling to Amiens.

The failure of the Entente counterfactual "Summer Offensive" will signal to both sides that the European War has reached a stalemate. On the global front, the British most likely are stalemated in Mesopotamia and Palestine, having withdrawn troops to the more important fronts in Europe, and otherwise are engaged in chasing Paul von Letto-Vorbeck around German East Africa. Though the Entente is dominant at sea, holding on in France, and still, technically, more economically sound than their Central Powers opponents, both sides will have to face the facts that they can't win a decisive victory.

Enter America, as a peace broker.

Without the Entente driving the Germans to the table, or vice versa, the Germans will have just as many cards to play. Potentially approaching the Americans themselves, the new Austrian Kaiser and the German Kaiser, could play up their desire for peace and ask the United States to act as mediator. This would effectively be a diplomatic coup, which would probably earn German and Austria-Hungary sympathy with Americans and the still powerful German and Central European populations and voting blocs in America. Woodrow Wilson would probably insert himself, somehow, into the peace deal, but at this point the Central Powers can semi-dictate terms.

This then, is what I would imagine:

The German gains in the East, already established by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, are ratified, since there is fundamentally nothing the Entente can do to change that and Russia is embroiled in civil war and not an effective member of the Entente anymore. This means that the Germans split off client states in Poland, the Baltics, and Ukraine to act as satellites in Eastern Europe.

From wikimediacommons

Meanwhile, the Ottomans have been promised all the land they lost in the 1877-78 Russo-Turkish War, and without the British to detain them, they have a chance to reclaim some of it. The historic Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic would probably form, then break apart, for similar reasons. The Ottomans may end up seizing much of what becomes Armenia and some of Georgia, and the total outcome depends quite a bit on the outcome of the Russian Civil War.

In the West, the Entente is forced to accept that the Germans now have a say in the government of Belgium. The United States will insist on Belgian territorial integrity, but I have no doubt the Germans will manage to keep Belgium under their thumb diplomatically in exchange for a status quo antebellum on the borders. After four years of bloodshed, not much will have changed on the European frontier.

The Germans though, will lose the totality of their colonial empire in exchange. Despite Lettow-Vorbeck's heroic actions in Africa, this is not enough to prevent the British and French from navally dominating them. Japan controls their Pacific and Asian colonies, and the British take what is left.

The biggest problem though, will be Russia. They are a boil that needs to be lanced. In a scenario with a reasonably intact Germany, the British and Germans will probably manage to get over their anger at one another and support the White Russians in the war, but, the Germans might also get caught up in being bankrupt, and the British too. With the need to keep a lid on their own new Eastern European empire and money and economic problems at home, it's not a stretch to think both Britain and Germany will be too busy gobbling up their own gains, and cash strapped to boot, to support the White Russian forces. 

Shorn of Western support, the Whites are crushed like they were in our own history, and the Bolsheviks come to power creating a bit of a truncated USSR.

Technically, the Germans have won World War I. They have lost no territory in the West, gained territory in the East, and are triumphant against Russia, who was considered one of their most dire enemies. They have however, lost their global colonial empire, severely damaged their economy, and now must keep a lid on unrest in the East. Their enemies are not any better off though. The French have buried an entire generation for little gain, the British have enlarged their empire, but are broke and in hoc to the United States, and the Russian Empire is no more. Germanies allies though, are basket cases. The Ottomans have lost their religious ruling mandate to an Arab revolt, the Austro-Hungarians are broke and facing unrest at home, and arguably only Bulgaria has made any gains.

Everyone is broke though, so technically everyone is a loser. The notable exceptions are the United States and Japan.

The 1920s and 1930s will be interesting. An economic downturn is very likely, and unrest across the East most likely unfolds throughout 1919 and well into the 1920s. The Austrian Empire may manage to survive by federating, but it might also go down in flames.

In the East, the Germans will probably face pressure from the new USSR which will try to ignite communistic/nationalistic uprisings against the German puppet governments, and any forces sympathetic to them in the decaying Ottoman Empire. This may, in time, lead to a second war, one maybe supported by vengeful Western powers. Or, maybe, broke and gorging themselves on German colonies the former Entente will let Germany and Russia squabble over central and eastern Europe, only looking to increase their hold and stabilize their own empires. Meanwhile, Japan and the United States will becoming rising powers in the Pacific. 

While only technically a German victory, it is still a victory. One of mutual exhaustion to be sure, but one where the Central Powers have, arguably, gained more than they lost.

Ghost Run

In this fourth installment in the Day by Day Armageddon series, we once again join Kil as he is taking a lonely tour through the zombie haunted wasteland that is the continental Americas.. I purchased this book earlier this year with the explicit goal of reading it, along with all the others in the series, for Halloween. Last night I wrapped up my reading and got some closure to the world of Day by Day Armageddon which I had been needing for a few years.

Does this struggle across the dead land once known as the United States amount to much, or is it the last hurrah of a survivor who was unable to control his urge to explore? Find out, in Ghost Run!

From goodreads.com

To begin with, this story does get back to the strength of the original novel. Its' a fixed first person narrative, told in the journal style. Less concentrated, but told in a very similar manner. It does tell a more personal story, one which covers a range of issues from addiction, the devolving of society, and seeing echoes of a formerly strong world now covered in decay, both natural and unnatural. It does have a wonderful series of action sequences with spectacular zombie kills. From knives to wrecking balls, we do see some good work taking out the undead.

However, it does manage to only harken back slightly to what made the original novels so good. Without a real overarching mission, the humanity and the community which was built across the first two installments, it felt lacking in terms of the hope and drama which propelled me through the first books. Then it's much shorter, with precious little preamble to the meat of the main story. Shorn of the tighter narrative, broader supporting cast, and overarching sunny, but gray, tone, it made for a less compelling read than the previous three volumes.

Our ending here too, felt rushed. It didn't have the same oomph which added power to the story of Shattered Hourglass, or Origin to Exile which, while each had their dark moments, the sense of hope and humanity established in them allowed me to hold hope for something more than mere survival. Instead, in this story, we almost get a sense of the lights going out one by one, the field of view narrowing, and no hope anywhere else in the world. It was, to be frank, a tad disappointing.

If you've read the rest of the series and would like resolution, I definitely recommend checking it out. However, you may feel better just reading the end of Shattered Hourglass. It's an ending, and it comes from two strong initial installments which created one of the best zombie stories I've ever read. So ends my saga with this terrifying series!

The Walking Dead Season One

Ten years ago, to the day, The Walking Dead premiered on AMC. It was, for a good while, a cultural phenomenon. The zombie genre had reached new heights, with it taking over popular culture for all intents and purposes. Truly, you couldn't find anything that didn't have zombies in it, from video games to cinema. George Romero was even making his film finale in his Living Dead film series. However, it was Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead which spilled the zombies onto the serialized small screen.

My first brush with The Walking Dead came from high school. I actually have fond memories of flipping through a friend's copy of the first issue of the comics, Days Gone By, as we excitedly chatted about the board game Zombies!!! and gushing over this comic series my friend had brought to our attention. I quite liked it and remember briefly borrowing them from him and drawing nostalgic connections to Issue 3, Safety Behind Bars, and events from Max Brooks The Zombie Survival Guide.

Having read the first few issues way back when, and now in 2020 having finished the series with the fantastic conclusion to Kirkman's comics in 2019, I've now re-watched the 2010 pop-culture phenomenon that is The Walking Dead. This is just my own reminisces from ten years on, and why I think this show managed to become so popular.

This story opens in presumably the not too distant future or past of our own world in rural Georgia. Sherriff Rick Grimes and his partner Shane are discussing life and Rick's strained marriage when they get a call about a high speed chase in progress, and along with other officers, respond. In the ensuing shoot out, Rick is shot and badly injured. He lapses into a coma. 

Roughly a month or so later he wakes up in the hospital. He finds it abandoned, in a state of serious disrepair, and sees signs of fighting, badly mutilated corpses, and a field of bodies. Though first he stumbles on one of the major changes of the series, finding a door which reads, "DON'T OPEN DEAD INSIDE" which produced one of the most visually arresting shots in the whole show, which sticks out to to people who haven't even watched the series. 

It's actually one of the first changes from the comics where Rick instead wanders into a cafeteria full of zombies and, through blind luck, manages to extract himself from a life threatening altercation with the undead. 

Escaping to his family home, he finds it empty of his wife Lori and son Carl, instead he is found by fellow survivor Morgan and, after a brief interrogation, discovers the sudden fate of the world. The dead have risen to eat the living, civilization has collapsed, and his family has headed to what they hope is the safety of Atlanta where the government has tried to establish a safe zone for refugees. After arming up, he rides off into the new world, and is almost immediately nearly devoured by a horde of ghouls before hiding in a tank. On a walkie talkie he gets in contact with a survivor observing him from the outside and finds his way to, relative, safety.

Upon doing so he meets Glen, Andrea, Meryl, T-Dog, Jacqui and Morales. They devise a way out of the city, in a very good departure from the original comics which leads us to a more drawn out escape, but some clever looks at the fall of Atlanta and the dynamics of surviving the zombie apocalypse. And our first big plot conflict emerges as Meryl, an unrepentant asshole, is left behind in the escape.

When they do make it back to camp, they encounter the rest of the survivors. In a very heartwarming scene, Rick finds his wife and son, who have been protected by his former partner Shane. This little community manages to have a few good days, but are interrupted by the return of Darryl, a show only character and the brother of Meryl, which prompts another expedition into the city. Though a success, all good things come to an end when walkers attack and kill many of the survivors. In the aftermath, there is a dispute about where to go, and it's a toss up between Fort Benning and trying for the CDC headquarters in the city.

In a very different take from the comics, the show has a fascinating look at how the virus started, the failed study for a cure, and some interesting science behind how the virus is spread. It's a welcome change, which made for a very fresh take on the show and a fantastic final episode. It was quite ambitious for both a finale and in how bold the decision was to depart from the original material.

At only six episodes, the first season is extremely short and, I would argue, that's to its overall benefit. The Second Season, at the time almost universally hated, but in recent years remembered fondly, was stretched over thirteen episodes, which with only one location and a radically different cast and story was bound to frustrate fans and new audiences with its slower pace. The Third Season set things back on track however, hewing closer to the original story and then making it a massive television success. Though the shows viewership has declined markedly from Season Seven onwards. I'll personally say that I have only watched intermittently beyond Season Five.

This being said, the First Season was a real tour de force with an opening episode which really drives home the suddenly changed world. Gory visuals and some simply fantastic zombie killing action. The acting is wonderful, and the show was done in a way which turns your expectations from the comics against you so very well. Re-watching it I was struck by how much my initial expectations were happily raised by the departures from the original comics. Darryl became such a fan-favorite that he is the face of The Walking Dead now. In only six episodes we managed to get a great new story, some unexpected surprises, and no matter what you think of the show now, ten years later those six episodes still stand out.

Definitely worth a viewing this Halloween!

Shattered Hourglass

The third installment of J. L. Bourne's Day by Day Armageddon series manages to bring our story to an international world, and tie off some loose threads which we have been dealing with since the dead first walked. In a story that provides the best of Robert Kirkman, George A. Romero and Tom Clancy, we see the end of the world from the Arctic to Honolulu in Shattered Hourglass. 

Minor SPOILERS for the last two installments follow.

In this next installment of the series we have a new look at the world ravaged by the zombies created by the "anomaly" which causes the dead to rise and seek to devour the living. This story switches from previous first person narrative as journal style to a multi-POV, third person style novel which has more in common with fiction usually found in this genre. The main protagonist is still Kilroy, but now we have Special Operators, some of the original Hotel 23 survivors like John and Tara and scientists trapped in an Antarctic Research outpost. It's a dizzying array of characters providing a greater look at the global zombie outbreak. We get hints of what happened in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. 

Our focus though does remain on Kil and his drafting into Operation Hourglass, which is a mission charged with finding out what the Chinese government was working on prior to the dead rising. Inside a secret facility on the Chinese mainland, there may be a way to cure humanity and prevent the dead from continuing to rise. Meanwhile, special operators working in support of the remaining US government are working to both sustain Operation Hourglass, and to deal with the shadowy organization known as Remote Six, which may put our embattled protagonist in mortal peril. Finally, his former Hotel 23 family lives onboard the USS George Washington while trying to aid the remaining US military command and keep the American Dream from fading into undeath. 

I will admit that beginning the third installment was a bit jarring, as I had immensely enjoyed the original journal style entries and the intense focus on our single protagonist. However, the sheer scope of this tale and the many complex moving parts did necessitate an expanded cast to keep things going. It did add some freshness to the story which kept my expectations high, and allowed for more varied and scary plots. From the isolation of the Antarctic research team, to the constant running and gunning the Special Operators had engage in, I found that this story never had a dull moment.

The final twist to the story though, in my opinion, made this really worth it. There was a great set up, and an answer, to why the world suddenly became the way it did. I won't spoil it, but if you want something that works as a zombie virus story, and perhaps helps keep you in the world and a high stakes international mission, this was a great way to do it. It honestly combined everything good about Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six novel and Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead for an exciting high stakes plot.

While I didn't enjoy it as much as the original two installments, I will admit I had a great time reading this book again for Halloween!

I will be discussing some spoilers below the cut, so if you haven't read the first two novels, I highly recommend checking them out and you can find my reviews for each, here and here. SPOILERS below!