Fitzpatrick's War

[Desmond Hume]

Has anyone read this book? I really liked it and recently re-read it, though admittedly it has its flaws.

PS: Sorry if there's already a thread on this book, but every time I type "fitzpatrick's war" into the search function it crashes. I can't help wondering if this is significant in some way...

 

[Ivan Druzhkov]

Yeah, there's a couple threads about Fitzpatrick's War out there, but the search function seems to have crapped out right now.

For myself, I have found that one of the great strengths of Fitz's War lies in the way it engages more fully with the 19th century military/colonial adventure stories it is based on. While the current enthusiasm for steampunk has given us a bumper crop of pseudo-Victorian adventure stories, Fitz's War is the only one I've read that replicates and criticizes the complacent racism and the "glorious destruction in the name of White Christian Ideals" that runs right through the source texts. Considering how sanitized most steampunk stories are, it's actually a pretty refreshing to see a book that deals with the seamier side of the Victorian mindset.

(It's also pretty subtle in places: did you notice that every American city with a native American or Spanish name has been rechristened with some new vaguely-English monokier?)

 

[zoomar]

I really, really liked it. I particularly considered the fact it was a set of memoirs assembled by an unsympathetic editor. This was an excellent way of conveying tremendous depth regarding the cuture and history in this future. I could have completely done without the Timermen, however. I didn't see where that whole element added anything.

I've heard Martian General's Daughter is nowhere as good.

 

[Ivan Druzhkov]

I really, really liked it. I particularly considered the fact it was a set of memoirs assembled by an unsympathetic editor. This was an excellent way of conveying tremendous depth regarding the cuture and history in this future. I could have completely done without the Timermen, however. I didn't see where that whole element added anything.

I've heard Martian General's Daughter is nowhere as good.

Well, I saw the Timerman as an in-universe admission that in order for a civilization like the Yukons to actually survive, it would have to be cultivated like a bonsai tree. Which, to me, just as another layer of unhappy creepiness over the story.

As for TMGD, the writing is all right, but it hews too closely to the Marcus Aurelius/Commodus analogy, and the theme of technological collapse is handled rather poorly (though the explanation for why electricity doesn't work is better than the one in FW). Still, I did like the unsettling implication that by the time the book takes place, the American national identity has gone extinct, and none of the social conditions that would permit its revival exist anymore.

 

[Enigmajones]

Has anyone read this book? I really liked it and recently re-read it, though admittedly it has its flaws.

PS: Sorry if there's already a thread on this book, but every time I type "fitzpatrick's war" into the search function it crashes. I can't help wondering if this is significant in some way...

I have a thread positing the ISOT of Fitzpatricks War to the world of Peshawar Lancers. Look up Angrezi Raj vs Yukon Confederacy.

 

[Enigmajones]

I've heard Martian General's Daughter is nowhere as good.

It is definitely not as good because the setting isn't as shocking to the reader as that of Fitzpatricks War. Plus the Pan Polarians are far less interesting then the Yukons.

 

[Desmond Hume]

Yeah, there's a couple threads about Fitzpatrick's War out there, but the search function seems to have crapped out right now.

For myself, I have found that one of the great strengths of Fitz's War lies in the way it engages more fully with the 19th century military/colonial adventure stories it is based on. While the current enthusiasm for steampunk has given us a bumper crop of pseudo-Victorian adventure stories, Fitz's War is the only one I've read that replicates and criticizes the complacent racism and the "glorious destruction in the name of White Christian Ideals" that runs right through the source texts. Considering how sanitized most steampunk stories are, it's actually a pretty refreshing to see a book that deals with the seamier side of the Victorian mindset.

(It's also pretty subtle in places: did you notice that every American city with a native American or Spanish name has been rechristened with some new vaguely-English monokier?)

Yeah, I think the element of criticizing imperialist culture is really important; there's too many people who should know better who think the British Empire really was all sunshine and rainbows.

The name changes ARE really cool; my favourite is Desert for Deseret. Think of how much history and culture is denied and erased by changing one letter

I really, really liked it. I particularly considered the fact it was a set of memoirs assembled by an unsympathetic editor. This was an excellent way of conveying tremendous depth regarding the cuture and history in this future. I could have completely done without the Timermen, however. I didn't see where that whole element added anything.

I've heard Martian General's Daughter is nowhere as good.

The Timermen were pretty much what I was getting at when I mentioned its "flaws" in my OP. The memoir organization was a really nice feature though; it really makes you think about how what we know about history is constructed by writers after the fact, and unless we saw something ourselves we don't have access to transparent "facts" unmediated by another subjectivity, and even what "really" happened can be distorted beyond recognition depending on how the story is told.

I have a thread positing the ISOT of Fitzpatricks War to the world of Peshawar Lancers. Look up Angrezi Raj vs Yukon Confederacy.

will do, thanks.

 

[Strategos' Risk]

I for one would like to see a space version of the Yukon Confederacy take on the Star Kingdom of Manticore. Honor Harrington is just so insufferable that I want to see another neo-Victorian British strategic genius to take her down.

 

[threadnecromancer]

I really enjoyed it. It reminded me of Nineteen eighty four in a number of ways. Albiet probably a better world than 1984 "if you want a picture of the future imagine a world that stays pretty much the same... forever" futureThe authour unforutunatley does not have a website, so I have no idea if he is even writing anymore but I am still hoping for Tri Ogalala.

 

[threadnecromancer]

Yeah, I think the element of criticizing imperialist culture is really important; there's too many people who should know better who think the British Empire really was all sunshine and rainbows.

Wasn't the point more that they like the U.S. claimed not be an empire?

 

[Ivan Druzhkov]

I really enjoyed it. It reminded me of Nineteen eighty four in a number of ways. Albiet probably a better world than 1984 "if you want a picture of the future imagine a world that stays pretty much the same... forever" futureThe authour unforutunatley does not have a website, so I have no idea if he is even writing anymore but I am still hoping for Tri Ogalala.

I actually once described this book as a version of 1984 that relies on the natural small-minded conservativism and bigotry of ordinary rather than spending all that time and energy on surveillence equipment and secret policemen.

Yeah, I think the element of criticizing imperialist culture is really important; there's too many people who should know better who think the British Empire really was all sunshine and rainbows.

Wasn't the point more that they like the U.S. claimed not be an empire?

It's probably a bit of both. There's also a line of thinking (unintended by Jodson, BTW) that holds that Fitz's War is a satire of military science fiction (and a surprisingly effective one to boot, in my opinion).