Not THIS AUGUST-Is it AH?

[edvader]

I remember getting C.M.Kornbluth's NOT THIS AUGUST in l955. Of course you people have read about a joint Chinese-Soviet takeover of the US in 1965. Can this be considered AH. It wasn't a dream like Invasion USA. I believe a woman writer ripped off the ending which the good guys have a manned satellite with special H-bombs. Her case-I MARTHA WINSLOW they had a doomsday device. Any one think NOT THIS AUGUST is AH?

[Diamond]

I think you could characterize Not This August as honorary AH. Damn good book, if a little short!

BTW, the other one is I, Martha Adams. A fairly decent book but not as good as Kornbluth's.

[Adam Parsons]

I finally got a copy of this book from an online order, and am planning to have a witty and clever review within a week or so.

BTW, where exactly is the town this book takes place in? I can't find it on my 1990 USA road map book. All I've got so far is somewhere in western New York.

[edvader]

Alisdair, I'm glad you found a copy. I recall that the Original author's friend and fellow SF writer Frederik Pohl rewrote it and it was republished in a REVISED edition. Enjoy the book anyway.BTW what's the publishing date? Could be when Pohl revised it. No big differences. I DO NOT know or remember where the hero's town was. I'll try and think of it.

[Diamond]

The edition I have has an introduction written by Pohl, but is the original version of the novel, un-edited. Mine is a paperback reprint from the early 80s.

[edvader]

Diamond, thanks for your help. Maybe my memory is wrong but I felt that there WAS some editing by Pohl at the end. It's when the Satellite broadcasts an ultimatum=cities of...and mentions them BUT at the end it says that TWO speecial bombs NOT COBALT as in the original book would be used. Well, I am probalby nitpicking and will check if I can go to the WORLD SF Con in SEPT and look for it. Thanks.

[Adam Parsons]

Just so we're all on the same page, I have a copy of the Bantam Books editioned published in 1955. (In fairly good shape too).

Generally, I thought it was okay, but I do have some quibbles:

* How did the People's Republic of China (sorry, Chinese People's Republic) industrialize so bloody fast? It's 1965 and they have an actual fleet, including carriers!?! Great Leap Forward indeed!

* Oddly, the author makes no mention of the non-European nations that one would expect to be committed US allies in an anti-communism war: India, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. Were they all invaded, or just compelled to neutrality?

* I'm also a little suspicious as to whether the Soviet occupation of the USA would be as brutal as described. Mind you, I have a bit of a pro-USSR streak in me, so I am probably biased.

* Would the satellite/orbital weapons platform be as dangerous as the author makes it out to be. IIRC, if the Soviets or Chinese were to detonate a nuke in low earth orbit, wouldn't the EMP fry most everything in orbit, including all satellites?

Just some helpful thoughts to chew on.

[edvader]

Alisdair, I read Bantam book a LONG time ago. One character, an English refugee stated in conversation that he was present on Salisbury Plain when English troops broke under SOVIET attack and saw the surrender of the Royal Family. It's strongly implied the Soviets overran Europe and England before taking the US on. Probably the Chinese did the same with Asia.
N

[Windsor]

I liked that one. I think it's alternate history, because the Chinese post-WWII were very disorganized, and to develop such a fighting force in ten or twenty years would be pretty hard, unless of course something was changed that wasn't mentioned.

[Ivan Druzhkov]

Well, I've read BOTH Not This August and I, Martha Adams, and I agree that NTA is the superior novel. For some strange reason, I didn't care for the "if only Reagan were here, none of this would've happened" that seemed to run through IMA. I actually found it kind of odd that the Soviets in IMA decided to occupy the United States after they wiped out their navy, air force and missiles with their nukes. I would've thought it would just be easier to "finlandize" the Americans instead with a happy dose of nuclear blackmail.