Tag: Russia

Podcast 7: International Politics

Building on last week’s post about a machine or tribe of them made in China, I thought to address the nation-states of my future history. I break them out as “Failed,” “Floundering,” “Polar Alliance,” and “Other.” This is one of my longest yet, eighteen minutes, as I have to circle to globe to get everyone in.

As I say at the closing, if anyone has questions or comments or wants more information about what I’ve mentioned, please let me know in the Comments.

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Sweet and Sour

Rather than behaving myself and getting into the basement for raw audio, I wanted to continue to jot down what I had seen while driving Daughter #1 back those 1944 miles last weekend. I think I’ll be caught up tomorrow. With the ship on the move we are now in what I call the Michael Crichton phase of the story: taking a disparate group of people and locking them in until the plot shows up.

Something like Reina tossing my main character out of an airlock for “deviant behavior”…

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Playing Roles

We learn a little more about the Russian imperial children – adult children – who will be on this Martian Holiday. There’s already drama from the youngest but they seem to be getting on. They’d better: trapped in a tin can for a week.

I’ve got a lot on my plate again for the second half of the summer, more of this story, finishing recording and editing of “Foes & Rivals,” as well as my podcasts. Going to my DayJob is now just an annoyance.

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Vodka and Caviar

Firstly, an apology: tomorrow’s Podcast will be delayed, likely until late Friday evening. I took notes about what I wanted to talk about and even took the laptop into the quiet corner of my basement to record… and sighed. Covering 4000 miles by plane and car over last weekend, then getting tossed into unexpected tasks at DayJob (a colleague was ill so I had to cover) meant that I’m just not up to what y’all hopefully expect of my weekly banter. Before moving on, I will leave you this: the topic is a question from a listener: “What if the [Machines] had been made in China?” I had a glib answer, but the more I thought about it, the more complicated the subject became, so look forward to my discussion later tomorrow!

In the meantime I introduce some new characters below the fold, as we get ready for this Martian Holiday.

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Along the Neva

After a very short flight, followed by a contested parking spot, Laszlo finds himself walking along the southern branch of the Neva River in St. Petersburg. I’ve never been there but have heard from many that it is a beautiful city. Someday, when my books are optioned into movies, I’ll take a chartered flight; commercial flights are more and more a dry-run for slavery.

As you will shortly see, the PM of Imperial Russia, Reina, stomps onto the stage. First among equals of tribe Mendrovovitch and possibly the most dangerous of all Machines, she also attacks my stories like kudzu: taking over and displacing everything which was already there. And from the last line below the fold, it seems she is in for most of this part of the novel. Oh, well. What can I do?

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Inspection

Just back from a grueling 3-day weekend: flight to St. George, Utah via Phoenix, followed by a 1944-mile drive back to central Ohio. All to retrieve Daughter #1 from her five week internship at Best Friends Animal Shelter. To her credit, she impressed them so much that they said they would hold a slot open for her next summer if she wants in. She is thinking about it. That’s my girl!

Below the fold is a short update to Prince Laszlo’s story. Knowing this would be a hard weekend, I only took a few notes and mostly watched the movies in my mind about what comes next. I think I saw about two chapters worth. This is going to be very political.

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The Great White North

As Officer Cadet Patel explains below, that has become a reality. With my future history’s Maunder Minimum, the snow and ice are coming, putting pressure on the populations of Canada and the Russian Empire. As a nation with reactionless motors and helping to terraform Mars, the Russians have a potential escape route (besides their hegemony over the American west coast); the Canadians have no such thing, hence they occupation of the old American Midwest.

Nice to see Robert getting all “crown prince” at the end of this snippet. Which is also the end of Part II of my MS. I’m getting into part three, about Prince Laszlo, and… oh, boy. I’ve never written a character like this before. I wonder if I’ll fall afoul of the SJWs and their enforcers? The world wonders.

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Fire. Walk with me.

This will end in a chapter break. I know there is some talk among the legionaries the next morning – we have to find out what happened at that dinner – however I think they are on the road soon after, their objective is the old and still functioning capital of Frankfort. Somewhere around dead Lexington (I shed a tear at the thought of those closed Liquor Barn stores) somehow they run across Skylarzim, an annoying girl much in the vein of young Faustina. And I think there’s another surprise at The Dragon Pub in Frankfort… but that is thousands of words from now.

Officer Cadet Eloise Patel wandered into this story for a reason which I know not, however I am sure we’ll see her again.

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Upgrades: fort

In the five days that Faustina ran around former northern State of Mississippi with two legions, her boys from Fourth have not been idle.

I’ve DayJob this weekend and Monday so am not sure about another update.  I’ve seen how she gets her army back to Vicksburg and did a little research about what comes next.  But that “what comes next” will be another 15k word arc.  Before I do that, I must sit down and make a complete re-assessment of the staff of the 4+1 legions she has at her disposal.  My clutch of hand-written notes scattered over five pages just is not holding up anymore.

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