Reds fanfic

Illicit Trade Between UASR and Cuba Continues to Grow

Miami Herald

March 8, 2016

Rafael Cruz

Yesterday morning, a naval crew intercepted what appeared to be a crude submarine just 6 miles of Miami shore. Authorities were reminded of the narco-submarines, makeshift submarines used in the transport of illicit substances found across the

In fact, according to unidentified sources, the crew aboard included wanted figures in the Chinese drug trade. But instead of transporting heroin, this crew was transporting Cuban cigars and foodstuffs worth $55 [1] million dollars.

"By some measure, the amount of illegal cargo seized here was worth more than heroin of the same weight," said Admiral Harold Perez.

The appearance of narco-submarine points to the rapidly growing, but illegal trade between the UASR and Cuba.

Since the Revolution, goods imported from the criminal bourgeois government in Cuba have been banned. An illegal trade industry between the UASR and Cuba has always existed. But in the twenty five years, this trade between the two nations has grown exponentially, from $1 billion in 1990 to an estimated 35$ billion dollars in 2015 [2]. According to some reports, the UASR accounts for $15 percent of Cuba's exports.

But what led to the massive growth in trade between the two nations? According to Professor Harold Roth, a professor of economics and history at the University of Miami, the answer goes back to the 1970s.

"Canada was once Cuba's largest trading partner. By 1978, Canada imported nearly $5 billion dollars (15 billion in today's money) of Cuban goods," said Roth.

But after Canada switched over the Comintern, trade with Cuba vanished overnight, as Canada's new revolutionary government imposed sanctions in the Havana regime. The loss of the Canadian market sent the Cuban economy into its most severe recession since the 1930s, known euphemistically by the illegal Havana government as the "Special Period", that lasted throughout the 80s.

"The FBU, however, continued to believe in Cuba's strategic value," said Roth, "so it provided huge subsidies, to keep the elites in power, and to keep the Cuban working people just alive. But this also drove many Cubans to try and get their goods to the UASR."

By the early 80s, many enterprising traders began to find loopholes to bring Cuban goods into the UASR. The most successful strategy during this period was the infamous Kingston Strategy: Cuban traders would send goods to Jamaica and other Caribbean islands not under sanctions with the UASR, repackaged them with native labels, and then exported them under the title "made in Jamaica." By 1990, this trade made up 10 percent of the island's economy, and many West Indian officials were often paid to look the other way.

"We called our 'Commie Cheddar [3]," said Bob Jacobson, a former Kingston customs official, "and when the man with the envelope arrive, we say 'our slice of cheddar is come.' "

The discovery of this trade led to outrage in the Cuban community in Florida. In 1989, a mob of Cuban refugees ransacked a collective store when it discovers to be dealing in Cuban goods.

By 1992, the government passed "The Anti-Exploitation Act," to put an end to the Kingston Strategy, by banning the sale of intentionally mislabeled products. While it ended the gray market, it did not stop demand.

By the mid 1990s, many former drug gangs began refitting their businesses to illegally deal Cuban-made products. The hunt to stop the trade has remained the cat and mouse game as illegal traders refine their strategy to stay one step ahead of the authorities, as symbolize by the discovery of a narco-submarine.

The importations of goods from the Cuba is a major offense in the UASR, with a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 year in jail for the crime of "supporting exploitative criminal nations," and a mandatory 5 year sentence for possession of Cuban products. But that has not stopped the trade from growing.

In the recent years, the continued embargo of Cuba has become questioned by the population. For the first time since polls were kept, support for the embargo against the Havana criminals fell below 60 percent, to 56 percent, while opposition to the embargo rose to 35 percent, up from 18 percent a decade ago. While the embargo remains steadily in place, the trend shows more and more people beginning to question the embargo, in response to seeming futility of stamping out the illegal trade, as well as the gradual liberalization of the Cuban regime/

Roth, however, claims the influence of the Cuban American community will prevent any attempts at altering the embargo.

"The Cubans who have disproportionate power over military and government circles," said Roth, "and their aim will be to keep the embargo in place."

There is an element of truth in his statement. While Cubans make up only 1 percent of the population, it is estimated that nearly 15 percent of the officer corps, and 5 percent of government employees. Any attempt at amending the embargo would require convincing of this demographic that sanctions are growing.

For the near future, it appears, the embargo will remain, and the illegal trade with the Havana criminals will continue to grow."


[1] One narco-sub OTL was found with almost $200 million in drugs.

[2] Trade between the PRC and Taiwan was almost $200 billion in 2015 OTL, up from $8 billion in 1991.

[3] Jamaican slang for cash.
 
Here ya go, folks: an updated membership list. Italics denotes characters who are considered partially public domain (i.e., you can use them but be sure to ask permission first) for chat discussions, etc. while underlined indicates a character is reserved.

If I've forgotten anyone or need to update the availability of someone to use for others let me know.

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Canon

RougeBeaver
SeriousSam
Ubermunch
LeninsBeard
AdmiralSanders

QuitStalin
DeOppressoLiber
RuleBritannia
flibbertygibbet
KittehKommitteh

FallingOutsideTheNormalMoralConstraints
The Zeroth Doctor
Jane the Admin
Empire of Endless Monologues
Suede Denim Secret Police
Gally
Felix Leiter
Occams Laser
Tanks_A_Lot
Kielbasa
PatrickBateman
LunaticScrewball
Ленин
TacticalNuclearPenguin
Versailles
MapleLeaf
LordStink
Hotsy Totsy Leon Trotksy
ArthurWellesley
UlrikeMeinhof
tenebrousGuile
Eiffel deMaroon
Allende Fan

The Red Dragon
César Pedro
Mental Omega
Zeppelin Overlord
CyberDoctor
Rear Admiral Jingles

BellicoseRooskie
exoBiomechanist
Lord Nemesis
otakitten
tentacularTherapy
Ritterstahl
Cheka
MyHonorIsLoyalty
Ma'at
Flower Power
Kibbutz Kid

Sharif-of-Nottingham
artisticSpirit
cloudNine

True Patriot

Fanon
CapitalistaAmericano
NestorMakhno
TotalBrit

GreenAvenger
AVeryTrueDemocrat

DeadManRising
Bombthrowinglunatic
Grandfather Debs
SkaelingKing
Kalki
CaptainKirk
dragonmaester
Dankwing
LetTheGodsSortThemOut
BatFist
DeadSam
Anti Matter God
Undress Bonifacio
Merlin the musician
Religious_Commie
RedOutbacker
Naturally_Libertarian
Franco British Legionnaire
Iron-Viking
TheThirdMan
UnionBoss
RabbitHole
Bloodyfist
Monster boy
Mash
Frutabomba
YUNG_TURX

IskanderHardrat
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socialgeek
CucumbersWithAnxiety
HippieMarx
La Bandera
EringoBragh
Red_DevilDog
RighteousEnglishman
RommelsFist
Katyushka
Night_Stalker
ScotlandForever
StratenfordWife
ComradeBulldog
UpNorth
AvengeUlster
KathoeySaloey
FBU_CPL_BONDFAN
SuperCanuck
MapleLeaf

Mr.CarlCastro
DontRockTheBoat
Julianos

BombThrower
Kowashi Inoue
Chuckler
Gumbo
ToddTheMod
KollontaianKid
The_Last_of_the_Old Liberals
The_Scarlet_Highlander
GreenOak
SanDiegoHeat
RaniOfJhasni
TexasGrrl
 
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Hey people - I thought that I had not done anything for fanfares for a long time, I decided that it should be vaporized. I have the following options (but they will have to work on them for at least a week).

1) Soviet women's magazines after the Cultural Leap.

2) American "Production Cinema" (the direction associated with the artistic display in the cinema (mainly in the USSR) of the social relations of participants in the sphere of industrial (agricultural, resource-producing, etc.) production). Since America posits itself as a workers' state, I think that this genre will also be relevant, as a minimum before the Second Cultural Revolution (and I hope that after). I noticed that some of the stories could also have been filmed in the USSR (the "baby in a million" who joined the revolutionaries, the redistribution of land in the south - "a largely typical Soviet plot"). In principle, a rich topic for reflection.

3) Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines. In my opinion, whether Dereck, or DeLeon were going to make a post about role-playing game. I thought later to connect, but the story will have to be changed more than completely.
 
Based on the parody musical I showed here: https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/reds-fanfic.341837/page-156#post-14229039, and the film Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
The Red Wombat: The Kevin Conrad Story

The Red Wombat: The Kevin Conrad Story is a 2008 British-Australian parody musical film starring Hugh Jackman in the lead role, based very loosely off the life of Australian country singer Kelly Cornish (1939-1994), whose left wing politics eventually lead to him defect to the UASR, where he becomes a minor cult hit ," The Red Outbacker", among American folk and country fans. The film primarily parodies musical biopics, among them the 1968 American film Guthrie:A Life in Five Acts and 1999 Franco-British films Move It: The Cliff Richard Story and 2001's Halliday

Like Guthrie, the film features interviews with people who knew the subject cut in between the actual narrative. (The joke being, throughout his life, none of the subjects had much nice to say about Conrad, either about his personality or his talent.) Kevin Conrad grew up in a small ranch in New South Wales in 1940, where he had a typical rural Australian uprbringing, including horseriding, horse shoe tossing, and shooting wallabies from his front porch. He first picks up a guitar at age 11, from his father (who admits in the interview giving it to him was probably a mistake), and by age 18, he (now played by Jackman) is playing at small bars and clubs , where his intense mediocrity attracts people (one bar owner, played by Russell Crowe, calls him the worst singer he had ever had at the bar). Eventually, a drunk British record executive (Russell Brand) accidentally signs him onto CLT Records (a parody of "EMI Records"), where he sings his own written song, "All Night Long," which gets up to #94 on the British Charts. However, during his time in the UK, he interacts with the folk scene, inspired by singers like Bob Zimm and Johnny Cash. He briefly encounters young Robert Plant and Jimmie Page (played by themselves in old age) He slowly begins to lean left politically, and begins to reflect this in his music. His newest song "The Dictatorship of the Proletariat", causes a riot in a working class neighborhood. He is dropped from his label, but his performance attracts the attention of Section 1 agent Michael McCormick (Ryan Gosling), who contacts him, and recruits him for the 9th Annual International Youth Festival in Chicago (a reference to the 9th World Festival of Youth and Students in 1968, held at St. Louis, which the real Cornish performed at, singing "Bandiera Rossa")

He is a smash at the festival, and he is invited to perform on the TV program "Home on the Range" (A reference to the TV show "Prairie House Companion", though Conrad never performed on the program). He soon becomes "moderately popular" in America, performing at various country and folk festivals, under the name "The Red Wombat," (because he is tough, but peaceful, like a wombat). McCormick, now his talent agent, uses his connections to book him various concerts in Latin America and the Soviet Union. His songs, like "Livin' on the Rabbitfoot fence" or "We are all Aborigines of Earth" become moderate hits. He also meets and marries Chinese born actress Miranda Hong (Lucy Liu) (based on Conrad's second wife, Chin Ai). He stars in films as the British villain, including in American James Bond rip-off Dick Stern (a reference to Cornish's minor role in the American Spy thriller The Fifth Estate as well as his more famous minor role in disaster film Fall) However, while his star rises, and his song continue to enjoy cult status, he is introduced to drugs, which he eventually grows addicted to. He also has numerous affairs, which, while accepted societally, offends his more conservative Chinese wife, who leaves him. He then married East German actress Barbara Mueller (Diane Kruger), but is still depressed, especially with his records not selling as well in the 80's. He supposedly gets his redemption through speaking to his dead father, and sorting out his issues (even though it was demonstrated that he had a happy childhood, and his father was generally supportive of him). The film ends with his last performance at Marcantonio Statium in 1994 (the year of the real Cornish's death), where he performs his final show, and the song "We are All One", which prompts a standing ovation, after which it was reported that he died right on stage, because he had finally reached perfection.

It gained generally positive reviews, though people who knew the real Cornish criticized the comedic treatment of certain points of his life, particularly his death. The real Cornish's death, officially related to rampant drug use, has been the subject of debate, whether MACE (the Franco-British intelligence agency) or Section 9 may have possibly responsible. The filmmakers specifically avoided this controversy, both for a joke and not to cause much controversy. It was a mild success at the box office, but found a new life on internet sales and DVD. It was also a minor hit in Comintern, who generally praised the more accurate picture of the differences between the British and American music scene. Jackman was universally praised both for his singing and his comedic performance.

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Oh, yeah, the reason I chose the title "The Red Wombat?" Wombat is just a funny word.
 
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Oh, yeah, the reason I chose the title "The Red Wombat?" Wombat is just a funny word.


Oh god. The plot in my mind made me laugh. It felt like "Spinal Tap" meets Woody Allen's "Take The Money and Run." Well done.


"Wombat is just a funny word", is a line worthy of a meme.
 
Oh god. The plot in my mind made me laugh. It felt like "Spinal Tap" meets Woody Allen's "Take The Money and Run." Well done.


"Wombat is just a funny word", is a line worthy of a meme.
Thank you. The idea for the documentary-style interviews actually came partially from Reds!, the film.

It would make a good meme.
 
Author
Hey people - I thought that I had not done anything for fanfares for a long time, I decided that it should be vaporized. I have the following options (but they will have to work on them for at least a week).

1) Soviet women's magazines after the Cultural Leap.

2) American "Production Cinema" (the direction associated with the artistic display in the cinema (mainly in the USSR) of the social relations of participants in the sphere of industrial (agricultural, resource-producing, etc.) production). Since America posits itself as a workers' state, I think that this genre will also be relevant, as a minimum before the Second Cultural Revolution (and I hope that after). I noticed that some of the stories could also have been filmed in the USSR (the "baby in a million" who joined the revolutionaries, the redistribution of land in the south - "a largely typical Soviet plot"). In principle, a rich topic for reflection.

3) Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines. In my opinion, whether Dereck, or DeLeon were going to make a post about role-playing game. I thought later to connect, but the story will have to be changed more than completely.
So, which is better?
 
Hey people - I thought that I had not done anything for fanfares for a long time, I decided that it should be vaporized. I have the following options (but they will have to work on them for at least a week).

1) Soviet women's magazines after the Cultural Leap.

2) American "Production Cinema" (the direction associated with the artistic display in the cinema (mainly in the USSR) of the social relations of participants in the sphere of industrial (agricultural, resource-producing, etc.) production). Since America posits itself as a workers' state, I think that this genre will also be relevant, as a minimum before the Second Cultural Revolution (and I hope that after). I noticed that some of the stories could also have been filmed in the USSR (the "baby in a million" who joined the revolutionaries, the redistribution of land in the south - "a largely typical Soviet plot"). In principle, a rich topic for reflection.

3) Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines. In my opinion, whether Dereck, or DeLeon were going to make a post about role-playing game. I thought later to connect, but the story will have to be changed more than completely.

I was going to make a role playing game, but it took me a while to actually, well.. detail the lore.

With the release of the gameplay walkthrough of Middle Earth:Shadow of War, it's given me some ideas on what to do for it.

Also, be prepared, because I'm working on a Alt-Board MST3K screenplay for a film. Don't know when it will be finished, but it will be finished in time. I'd like to thank @Mr.E, @Nevermore, and @Bulldoggus for their contributions to it.
 
What is the status of Science Fiction in this world? I figure the 40's and 50's would have the Rocketships and Rayguns/Buck Rogers feel in the cinemas along with published magazines and comic books. By the late 50's towards the 60's/70's/80's various authors in more restrictive countries use science fiction to criticise societal problems such as pollution and treatment of minorities. The UASR would not be immune from this as the 'bright shiny' future would face some criticism. Maybe instead of superhero movies and comic books they are more like science fiction with anti-heros.
 
What is the status of Science Fiction in this world? I figure the 40's and 50's would have the Rocketships and Rayguns/Buck Rogers feel in the cinemas along with published magazines and comic books. By the late 50's towards the 60's/70's/80's various authors in more restrictive countries use science fiction to criticise societal problems such as pollution and treatment of minorities. The UASR would not be immune from this as the 'bright shiny' future would face some criticism. Maybe instead of superhero movies and comic books they are more like science fiction with anti-heros.
The end of the 50's - early 60's - the dawn of social utopian fiction in the USSR. Works alarming - the end of the 60's.
 
What is the status of Science Fiction in this world? I figure the 40's and 50's would have the Rocketships and Rayguns/Buck Rogers feel in the cinemas along with published magazines and comic books. By the late 50's towards the 60's/70's/80's various authors in more restrictive countries use science fiction to criticise societal problems such as pollution and treatment of minorities. The UASR would not be immune from this as the 'bright shiny' future would face some criticism. Maybe instead of superhero movies and comic books they are more like science fiction with anti-heros.
I did something on science fiction in the 30's, I'll show below. I'm guessing Soviet esque utopianism is the main mode of the FCR, while the post war fear of nuclear weapons leads to many of the OTL science fiction tropes (alien invasions, nuclear based monsters and superheroes, post apocolyptic stories).

The Stars Flew by

So, I wrote this little piece on the development of Science fiction before the Golden Age in this period. It was passed through official channels (I sent it to Jello), and it was approved. So, without adieu...
Excerpt from “H.G. Wells in America: His effect on the Culture of the UASR” by Professor Sergei Pavilov (Cambridge: University of America, Harvard Press, 1981)
“…. Wells’ later novels, particularly those that dealt with utopian themes would later sell very well in the UASR. The socialist leanings and optimistic speculations obviously would appeal to the newly revolutionized American people. His books would become classics, taught in many schools to this day, for their socialist themes and ideals. Wells’ popularity didn’t just extend to literature. During the First Cultural Revolution, many of his novels would be adapted (or planned to be adapted) into films. These included ‘The Shape of Things to Come’ (1935), ‘War of the Worlds’ (1938) (1), ‘The Time Machine’ (1940), and ‘Men Like Gods’ (1947). These films would come to distinguish themselves, with magnificent special effects and excellent production values, from the stop-motion Tripods of ‘War of the Worlds’ (curtesy of Willis O’Brien), to the stunning depiction of 802,701 AD in “The Time Machine.” Wells himself would visit the UASR in 1937, visiting various landmarks in construction. In a speech before the Brooklyn Museum of Science and Technology, he praised the success of UASR, and noted that it could be viable model for a future world government… “

Excerpts from “Science Fiction: an In-Depth Look” by Peter Nicholls and John Clute (London: New Worlds Press, 1996) (2)
“American science fiction had a long tradition from the 19th century, from penny dreadfuls about boy inventors to rip-offs of well-known science fiction stories from Wells or Verne. However, the man considered to have invented the modern form of science fiction is Hugo Gernsbeck. Born Hugo Gernsbacher in Luxemburg, the amateur radio enthusiast would release his first book, Ralph 124C 41+, in 1911. Fifteen years later, he would create Amazing Stories, the first magazine dedicated to science fiction. This pulp magazine would help herald a new era of science fiction as a codified genre. However, all was not well. Gernsbeck was known for his unscrupulous ways, including his tendency never to pay the full amount for stories (if he paid at all). Many authors were repelled by this, and moved on to other, well-paying pulps, like Weird Tales. Tales featured more fantasy based tales, like the Conan series by Robert E. Howard. However, other authors like H. P. Lovecraft would interject science fiction into his work, which is shown in his stories, such as “The Color out of Space,” and “God in the Depths.” (3) Another problem was that the stories quickly deteriorated in the same formula. They often featured bland men with their gadgets saving the day from the bad guy, like most pulp plots. There were several standouts from this formula, including Armageddon 2413 A.D. by Philip Francis Nowlan. (4) However, a far worse scourge was the degeneration of space opera. Whilst starting out well with Edgar Rice Burroughs and his Barsoom series, it quickly devolved into a genre of Barsoom rip-offs, filled with “bugged eyed monsters,” and scantily clad women. Despite all this, Amazing trudged on, and eventually, new magazines were made as competition, starting the market for science fiction magazines in the early 30’s. However, than came the revolution…
[…]

After the Civil War, American society sought to rebuild itself from the ground up. It would overturn traditions, and create Marxist counterparts. Everything, from music to sport to education, was changed to fit the new status quo, becoming more about the group and collective. Businesses become collectives, run by employees without a boss. In this climate, the growing field of science fiction would inevitably evolve to fit into this new mold, and would soon enter what many would dub “The Golden Age.”

Gernsback saw the writing on the wall, as the Red Army marched through New York. He and his shady business practices (including never paying writers) would not fair particularly well in the UASR. He along with editor T. O’Connor Sloane, took Amazing, and fled to Cuba, along with other members of the American bourgeois. However, his business was failing even in the US, and Amazing, when it eventually declared bankruptcy in 1934, was sold to Street and Smith. (5) Gernsback would move to England later that year, and launch Thrilling Stories, which was moderately successful for several years. Meanwhile, Sloane would continue to run Amazing much as he did in the US. However, the magazine became unprofitable, and the new owners sought to revamp it. Sloane resigned in 1937, and to replace him, Street and Smith brought in another expatriate science fiction writer named John Wood Campbell. Campbell would expand on Sloane’s notions of science fiction as an educational tool. Having scientific training himself, he demanded that stories to be scientifically accurate. However, he also demanded that they should be good stories as well. This would become the main philosophy of the new Amazing, a science fiction magazine, which would eschew the “alien and women” model, and replace it with hard, cerebral stories exploring technology and society. Campbell also began to publish many British authors and, progressively, (English fluent) Cuban authors (primarily due to many of the previous pool of American science fiction authors remaining in the UASR and there not being many American writers in Cuba), particularly from fanzines. Anglo-French Interplanetary Society Chairman and science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke would comment that “Campbell’s style of science fiction was more mature than many earlier magazines, and, I think, that helped shatter the perception that science fiction was little more than entertainment for teenage boys, at least here in England.” However, Campbellian Science fiction was also a reflection of the exiled regime. The heroes were almost always white males, working for a bureaucracy modeled on MacArthur’s Cuba, fighting either communist-inspired aliens, or communists themselves. Campbell’s own 1938 story “The Thing under the Ice” (6) is an example: a group of white male scientists in Antarctica fighting an alien that assimilates people to form a collective organism. Clarke acknowledged that “many leftists would criticize Amazing as little more than MacArthurist propaganda, which it probably was.” Despite this, Clarke states that “Amazing, under Campbell, helped make a form a unique version of science fiction, one which helped evolve science fiction, sometimes as much as Pohl’s version did.” (Several of Clarke’s earliest stories were published in Amazing, including his most famous “The Sentinel” in 1948, as well as several editorials displaying AFIS missions. However, he eventually moved on to American publications in 50’s, due to their growing avant-garde ideals more fitting the tone of his later tales). One of the American writers to work for Amazing, another refugee from Communism, was a mysterious man, who had a tendency towards the theatrical, and a minor talent for pulp writing, who would become good friends and partners with Campbell over the years. That man’s name was L. Ron Hubbard….

However, American science fiction was going through even more of a renaissance. Several science fiction magazines and fanzines in New York, including Clayton’s science fiction magazine Astounding and Weird Tales, were quickly collectivized into the “Speculative Fiction Publishing Collective,” which published the new magazine “Speculative Worlds.” The leading council for Spec. Worlds would consist of an older author: E. E. “Doc” Smith, author of the Skylark series, and two younger ones: Donald A. Woldhiem, and a younger member associated with the worker’s party: Fredrik Pohl, a member of the Young Worker’s League in Brooklyn, and founder of the Futurian Club. It is Pohl who would come to symbolize the Golden Age. He would soon bring many different writers, often members of Futurian themselves, into the fold. Together, they would make a new type of science fiction. This science fiction would expel Gernsback’s influence. They would return to the traditions of HG Wells, telling tales more of societies and people than gadgets. These stories would also follow the philosophy of “Social Realism,” which forced stories to abandon ray guns, and, like Campbell, allow stories to be both scientifically plausible, but also competent. Another more recent influence was British author Olaf Stapleton, whose book, the Nebula Maker (7), was released to public acclaim in 1937. His dark, alien depictions, as well as his reverent tone, would help inspire various stories. More inspiration came from Tsiolkovosky and the experiments of Robert A. Goddard, which brought closer the then fantasy of space travel. The stories from this era would become classics, featuring themes that fit very well into a Marxist state of mind. Stanley G. Weinbaum’s “A Martian Odyssey” was a prime example of the heavy Wellsian and Stapledonian influence in American science fiction. Three Mars explorers (one American, one Soviet, one Chinese) find a strange creature called Tweel. At first, they consider it a dangerous animal, but find that it was truly intelligent, though in a way not like a man, and slowly learn through their adventures it was more like them than they thought. This story would win several Retro World Science Fiction Awards.(8) Even older writers were reimagining themselves. HP Lovecraft, (who had transitioned from a staunch aristocrat to a socialist sympathizer) wrote “At the Mountains of Madness.” Here, a crew of Antarctic scientists (mixed gendered, unlike the “Thing”, though Lovecraft’s racism didn’t quite leave him yet) find a civilization of Shoggoths, who had overthrown their decadent, capitalist like masters, “The Elder Things,” and created a functioning society. However, the shoggoths also fell into decadence, causing their civilization to fall as well. Eventually, they find a single shoggoth, who proceeds to chase them out, and drives one of them insane. The other scientist is determined not to allow humans to fall into the same course of action. Other writers in Pohl’s Speculative Worlds included A. E. de Vogt, Damon Knight, Andre Norton, C L Moore, James Blish, Judith Merrill, L. Sprague de Camp (whose 1939 book “Lest Darkness Falls,” about a man who travels back to the early European dark ages, and introduces Socialism, is considered a classic of the sub-genre "alternate history," ), and a young Columbia student named Isaac Asimov, who wrote short stories of societies where robots and humans work in tandem in improve conditions, both in space and on Earth. (9) Asimov was also working on a story centered on a Galactic empire declining, modeled on the fall of the Roman Empire. The September, 1937 issue of Spec. Worlds, featuring the first story of de Vogt and Asimov, is considered the beginning of the Golden Age of Science Fiction.


Across the country, in Los Angeles, another science fiction collective formed. This time, it was more of a fandom vehicle. “The Los Angeles Science Fiction Society” collective was founded by Robert A. Heinlein (of Star Trek fame) and Forrest J. Ackerman in 1935. It consisted of local authors, publishing “Fantastic Science,” (later known as Sci-Fi¬) However, in addition to stories, (including some of Heinlein’s first, including “Lifeline,” and some of his early juveniles) there was also several fandom articles, detailing news, or having reviews of stories from Spec. Worlds, and occasionally, from Amazing (the latter of which almost garnered universally negative reviews). Authors would meet and discuss what was happening, and what would go in. Authors in this collective included Jack Williamson, Leigh Backett, Henry Kuttner, Fredric Brown, and a young Ray Bradbury (10). In a 1970 interview with the Daily Worker, Bradbury described the early meetings of the club:
“We would meet up at Clifton’s Cafeteria, and discuss what would go into FS. Sometimes, it would be a story from one of the authors, including me, to be published. Sometimes, we would read over the latest issue of Spec. Worlds, and find stories to review, or find a book or movie to review. Sometimes, a copy of Amazing would come via smuggling, and we all know what happened then (laughs). Being in LA, sometimes we would even get an interview with an actor starring in a sci-fi film. Forrey [Ackerman] particularly liked that. It was great...”

Spec Worlds and FS would arise as the primary science fiction magazines of the new country. However, there was no rivalry between the two. Often, authors from one would publish in the other at times. Some of Heinlein’s finest works came in Speculative Worlds. Asimov, after having his famed story “Nightfall,” rejected from Spec. Worlds, would later take it to FS, who accepted and published it. Often, members of one were associated with the other. Jack Williamson would go to replace Pohl for a brief time, when the latter left to serve in the Second World War. However, after World War II, these magazines would not be the only ones.
Science fiction's influence didn’t just extend to pulp magazines. Comic strips and the new medium of comic books were introducing science fiction heroes. Flash Gordon debuted in 1934, to compete with the then-popular 2419 AD strip (11), where he would fight fascist enemies, like Adolf the Abominable of Doitsu, (12) in space. Film serials featuring Buster Crabb as Flash debuted in 1936, and became popular during World War II, where they became propaganda films. Hyperion also had in the works an animated adaptation. Another popular character was Superman, alien turned working class hero fighting for “Truth, Justice, and Socialism,” along with regular workers against enemies like counter-revolutionary scientist and eugenicist Lex Luthor. Superman’s co-creator, Joe Shuster developed another popular series, Star Squadron, in 1939, showing tales of exploration on other planets, in scientifically plausible tales not unlike those of Spec. World. It was quickly forgotten after World War II. (Recently, author Alan Moore revived the series in 1990, putting a darker spin on it, but still keeping the idealistic tone of the piece). (13) And of course, there was film. Many adaptations of H. G. Wells’ stories were made, including the iconic “War of the Worlds,” and “Time Machine.” Red Star, a 1908 novel by Alexander Bogdonov was adapted to film in 1939, which would come to influence both American and Soviet film makers. Other films included King Kong (1935) (14), Gladiator, based off the novel by Phillip Wylie (1938), and Voyage to the Moon, a 1940 remake of a 1935 Soviet film called Kosmicheskiy reys (Cosmic Journey)(15).
However, this would only be the beginning of the Golden Age….

(1) Look at the year and see if you can find a connection with War of the Worlds.
(2) Writers of the "Encyclopedia of Science Fiction"
(3) The story known OTL as the Call of Cthulhu
(4) The debut story of Buck Rogers. However, the original story title provides the name of the franchise in this world, 2419 AD
(5) OTL, Amazing went bankrupt in 1929 (either due to the machinations of pulp mogul Bernarr McFadden, or Gernsbeck himself bankrupting the company to pay off debts). Out of more narrative intrigue with Gernbeck, it lasts slightly longer, but still Gernsbeck still sells it once settled in Cuba.
(6) John W. Campbell classic story “Who Goes There,” later adapted into “The Thing from Another World,” (1951), and “The Thing” (1982). Very similar, but The Thing is more of a Borg like organism, which assimilates life, to make it more of an allegory for communism.
(7) The name of an early draft of Stapleton’s “Star Maker” (1937). The story here is a mixture of that early draft and parts of Star Maker.

(8) As Hugo Gernsbeck less than perfect nature is common knowledge in this universe, as well as his fleeing to Cuba, the award for best science fiction is not called the Hugo.
(9) Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics are not a thing here, as part of those laws involve a robot’s total obedience to its masters, something that would be frowned upon. It was only formed after it was pointed out that Asimov wrote using a set of rules for his robots. Here, the stories are more about robots workers fighting for their own unions, and working with humans to better advance society.
(10) The collective is based in part on the “Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society” which had these members. The magazine is somewhat like Galaxy, with a bit of “Famous Monsters of Filmland” thanks to Ackerman’s influence.
(11) See 3
(12) A reference to an earlier update, though whether it is still in canon, I’m not sure.
(13) Another reference to an earlier update
(14) Delayed two years due to revolution and subsequent reshoots
(15) The latter is an actual Soviet film. Interestingly, it was taken off distribution, due to Soviet censors feeling that cosmonauts bouncing on the moon was antithetical to “Social Realism.” Somewhat ironic now, given the now famous role the USSR played in the space race.
 
In light of the mention of organized crime leadership among the targets of the Red Terror in the most recent revision, I'm a bit curious about the state of the American gangster film genre ITTL's 1930s. It sounds as though the genre suffers under the harsher Breen Code. Even when the code is done away with, many filmmakers might not be particularly keen on depicting gangsters in non-villainous roles while the Red Terror is still ongoing.
 
In light of the mention of organized crime leadership among the targets of the Red Terror in the most recent revision, I'm a bit curious about the state of the American gangster film genre ITTL's 1930s. It sounds as though the genre suffers under the harsher Breen Code. Even when the code is done away with, many filmmakers might not be particularly keen on depicting gangsters in non-villainous roles while the Red Terror is still ongoing.
Speaking of film codes, Jello mentioned the "Eisenstein code" in the most recent revision. I wonder what guidelines it would require film to have.
 
Speaking of film codes, Jello mentioned the "Eisenstein code" in the most recent revision. I wonder what guidelines it would require film to have.

I came up with it in an earlier update.

I imagine it as forcing movies to always have some kind of a "revolutionary message", in exchange for art grants.

It would eventually be annulled when one ambitious movie is destroyed by frequent and damaging changes made in an attempt to get cash from the government or a major movie collective.
 
I came up with it in an earlier update.

I imagine it as forcing movies to always have some kind of a "revolutionary message", in exchange for art grants.

It would eventually be annulled when one ambitious movie is destroyed by frequent and damaging changes made in an attempt to get cash from the government or a major movie collective.
Oh, yeah, I forgot.
 
I remember @Bookmark1995's post on movies, and I though it was accurate.

Speaking of film, I'm considering mentioning, in a later update, that the Beautiful and talented Scarlett Johansson plays Captain Jill Tiberius Kirk in the ITTL reboot of Star Trek. Anybody think that's a good idea?
 
Oh, yeah, I forgot.
I was thinking of doing an alternate "Dr.Strangelove", because 1.) it doesn't really require much geopolitics beyond "there are two sides, and each have nuclear weapons), and 2.) it could change sufficiently such that it would be interesting to read about.

As soon as I finish my first post for my "Freak Power" TL, I might get to it.
 
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