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Who says I'm not a Texan? You may never have experienced it, but when an out of state soldier is assigned to a post in Texas (Ft. Sam Houston, in my case) he has a choice. He can (or at least, could) pay a whopping car tax or he can raise his right paw and swear out Texas citizenship. Which do you suppose I did, hmmm?
Now I later had to swear in to the Virginia Guard but that was Guard specific so I think I can claim with a straight face that I am _still_ Texan (or Texian, for those that prefer).
I was amused by some folks' reactions to Mr. Kratman's book. The reason is that far-Left ideology in SF is perfectly acceptable.
I once wrote a story that made Richard Nixon into a hero in the 1950s (while JFK burgled the RNC headquarters in a hotel during the 1960 campaign season...), and trust me, no one wanted to even read it. Not a surprise, no.
Back to the topic.
Allen Steele seems like a nice guy, the once or twice I have met him. But he is VERY left of center. His "Coyote" novels are fun, but predicated on a "right wing overthrow" of the government.
And the freaking Northeast is the bastion of liberty, while those eeeevvviiil Southerners create a dictatorship complete with re-education camps and political prisoners. Heck, they named their spacecraft after Jesse Helms and George Wallace.
http://www.sfsite.com/~silverag/...rag/
coyote.html
So I didn't mind Mr. Kratman's novel at all. It was fun, and had lessons for readers. Much better than the lockstep thinking among MANY SF readers and writers.
Well...truthfully it isn't as well written as it would be were I writing it today. Lots of things, some small some larger.
On the other hand, for Job One, which is pissing off (and pissing on) the left, I think it was everything one could hope for. ;)
Which do you suppose I did, hmmm?
From your mention of south Broadway's notorious reputation for prostitution, I figured you must have lived here at some point.
Glad to know you still consider yourself a Texan!
I once wrote a story that made Richard Nixon into a hero in the 1950s (while JFK burgled the RNC headquarters in a hotel during the 1960 campaign season...)
Now that would be a great story to read.
Speaking of alternate history/future history, there's a collection out in paperback called Future Americas which I made the mistake of buying. With the exception of a great short story by Theodore Judson, it's filled with lame, hysterical, anti-Bush hackery.
On the other hand, for Job One, which is pissing off (and pissing on) the left, I think it was everything one could hope for. ;)
Absolutely!
The difference, sadly, is that Mr. Kratman is trying to annoy people with political blinders. Authors like Allen Steele just believe that they are correct.
I prefer the former to the latter.
That wasn't all I was trying to do, though. In good part, too, I was trying to warn the left off from too rapid changes by illustrating how much backlash they might cause. That was the entire purpose of the proposed amendments in the back.
What I didn't know when I wrote it, though I suppose I could have guessed, is that "progressives" have a very odd mindset that tends to see their goal as already existing, in some sense both inevitable and platonic. So when you oppose them, in any way, they will act much as if you're stealing something they own. Really. Yes, that explanation is inadequate, but describing that kind of mind - a doublethinking mind - is difficult. Nonetheless, if you watch how they react when balked, or criticized, or stymied it is very often just like someone who's been robbed of their personal property.
I have not read Mr. Tom Kratman's novel.
What pleases me is that some people are proud of what they are (Texians?).
OK, sometimes this very thing pisses me off.
The left/socialist/communist is uncompromising in their disdain of anything they disagree with.
The right never or allmost never takes a public stance and therefore is never quoted in the press.
The left wins.
Our good manners is costing us big time, so being good at sharpshooting brings us no glory, alas.
Mr. Kratman, I think we are seeing different versions of the same thing. The Left believes that they are correct, and they "own" that Truth.
So when you disagree with their ideas or what lies beneath it, it is an almost religious attack upon them.
I find that these folks are about feelings, not fact. How things "ought" to be is much more important than how they are.
Add to that an almost intentional lack of historical knowledge---there is little new under the sun regarding political ideas, after all---and you have the present noxious soup we are being forced to eat.
Blech.
Still, I'm glad you got more than a few of them irritated. I have to listen to their outrageous nonsense on campus almost every day, and it helped to see them buzzing around in response.
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