Emberverse: The Golden Princess

[jmberry]

God, how do I wish Sterling would drop this series and go back to the Bronze Age!

He's openly admitted on this very website that that's not happening because more people are buying DTF.

 

[sdrucker]

He's openly admitted on this very website that that's not happening because more people are buying DTF.

Personally, I also wish for a sequel to Drakon, but Stirling has zero interest in returning to that period of his career.

 

[Agricola64]

o

He's openly admitted on this very website that that's not happening because more people are buying DTF.

-- the way publishing works is that with series, the -publisher- gets to decide what's kept on and what isn't. And publishers really, really like successful series; they're an element of stability in a very risky, and usually rather low-return, business. Authors get a say in they can simply refuse to do what the publisher wants, but there are obvious costs to that. Short of

 

[Malta]

Washington

Hopefully this doesn't count as thread necromancy (it's a little less than a month old), but the commentary around the military surviving (and the fact that I've drive I-90 a dozen times or more to visit relatives in the Silver Valley up in Idaho) post-Change I decided to look into Washington State and it seems that Stirling missed the presence of two of the highest wheat producing counties in the United States, Lincoln and Whitman Counties; Lincoln has a population of ~10,000 at change, but has 500,000 acres of wheat planted and can produce close to 25 million bushels a year. And it's ~60 miles from Spokane, which means that those that make it out can be absorbed by the rural populace who will be desperately short of hands to bring in the harvest. Similarly Whitman County produces more wheat, barley, and lentils than any other county in the United States, and is home to Washington State University. With only ~40,000 people, it also seems to be another prime location for post-Change survival.

Yet the books seem to completely miss the fact that most of Eastern Washington is a giant wheat field. Maybe I'm missing some factor, like a heavy dependence on irrigation systems that will shut down post-Change, but still the opportunity was there. Especially if Fairchild AFB rallies and marches south, the primary centers of Lincoln County are two days' march away.

Any thoughts?

Actually, Stirling does mention the Spokane area specifically in DTF in a conversation between Mike and Norman. Norman does state that the state government (at least what he tells Mike IF he is being truthful is up to interpretation) seemed to have moved too many people east at once and it caused an overload and collapse.

We do however see the Yakima League managed to remain independent. As well as some small Native American territories. If Northern Idaho is tenuously controlled by Boise by Sunrise Lands then PPA control in the area is likely to be weak as well.

I can't remember if there are any direct mentions of the Spokane Valley and neighboring areas in the books but he is fairly open to providing answers to areas in the Emberverse on the FB group.