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Futurians The Futurians were a group of science fiction (SF) fans, many of whom became editors and writers as well. The Futurians were based in New York City and were a major force in the development of science fiction writing and science fiction fandom in the years 1937–1945. Origins of the group. As described in Isaac Asimov's 1979 autobiography "In Memory Yet Green", the Futurians spun off from the Greater New York Science Fiction Club (headed by Sam Moskowitz, later an influential SF editor and historian) over ideological differences, with the Futurians wishing to take a more overtly Marxist political stance. Other sources indicate that Donald A. Wollheim was pushing for a more left-wing direction with a goal of leading fandom toward a political ideal, all of which Moskowitz resisted. As a result, Wollheim broke off from the Greater New York group and founded the Futurians in September, 1938. The fans following Moskowitz reorganized into the Queens Science Fiction Club. Frederik Pohl, in his autobiography "The Way the Future Was", said that the origin of the Futurians lay with the Science Fiction League founded by Hugo Gernsback in 1934, the local New York City chapter of which was called the "Brooklyn Science Fiction League" or BSFL, headed by G. G. Clark. Wollheim, John Michel, and Robert A. W. Lowndes were also members of the BSFL. Along with Pohl, the four started calling themselves the "Quadrumvirate". Pohl, commenting about that time, said "we four marched from Brooklyn to the sea, leaving a wide scar of burned out clubs behind us. We changed clubs the way Detroit changes tailfins, every year had a new one, and last year's was junk". There were several club names during that period, before finally settling on the Futurians. In 1935 there was the "East New York Science Fiction League" (ENYSFL), later the "Independent League for Science Fiction" (ILSF). In 1936 came the International Cosmos Science Club (ICSC), which also involved Will Sykora. Pohl then says that "on reflection 'Cosmos' seemed to take in a bit more territory than was justified, so we changed it to the International Scientific Association (it wasn't International either, but then it also wasn't scientific)". The ISA then was renamed New York Branch-International Scientific Association (NYB-ISA). In 1937, after a falling-out with Will Sykora and others, the "Quadrumvirate" went on to found the Futurians. Sykora then founded the Queens Science Fiction League with Sam Moskowitz and James V. Taurasi. Later, the QSFL changed into New Fandom. Pohl said the New Fandom and the Futurians were "Addicted to Feuds", that "No CIA nor KGB ever wrestled so valiantly for the soul of an emerging nation as New Fandom and the Futurians did for science fiction". Most of the group's members also had professional ambitions within science fiction and related fields, and collectively were very effective at achieving this goal, as the roster of members suggests. At one point in the earliest 1940s, approximately half of all the pulp SF and fantasy magazines in the U.S. were being edited by Futurians: Frederik Pohl at the Popular Publications offshoot Fictioneers, Inc. ("Astonishing Stories" and "Super-Science Stories"); Robert Lowndes at Columbia Publications, most notably with "Science Fiction" and "Future Fiction" (though through the decade to come, Lowndes's responsibilities would expand to other types of fiction magazine in the chain), and Donald Wollheim at the very marginal Albing Publications with the short-lived, micro-budgeted "Cosmic Stories" and "Stirring Science Stories" (Wollheim soon moved on to Avon Books; Doë "Leslie Perri" Baumgardt also worked on a romance fiction title for Albing). Most of these projects had small editorial budgets, and relied in part, or occasionally entirely, on contributions from fellow Futurians for their contents. Political tendencies. At the time the Futurians were formed, Donald Wollheim was strongly attracted by communism and believed that followers of science fiction "should actively work for the realization of the scientific world-state as the only genuine justification for their activities and existence". It was to this end that Wollheim formed the Futurians, and many of its members were in some degree interested in the political applications of science fiction. Members of the Futurians, including Wollheim, Michel, Lowndes, and Cohen briefly became interested in Technocracy, a utopian movement led by Howard Scott, and attended a study course, although they later dismissed Scott as a "crackpot". Hence the group included supporters of Trotskyism, like Judith Merril and others who would have been deemed far left for the era (Frederik Pohl became a member of the Communist Party in 1936, but later quit in 1939). Pohl, in his autobiography, "The Way the Future Was", said Wollheim voted for Republican Presidential Candidate Alfred Landon in 1936.

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Baltimore Science Fiction Society The Baltimore Science Fiction Society (BSFS) is a literary organization focusing on science fiction, fantasy and related genres. A 501c3 literary society based in Baltimore, Maryland, the BSFS sponsors Balticon, the Maryland Regional Science Fiction Convention. Activities. BSFS is an active organization which hosts many free, public events at its headquarters in the Highlandtown section of Baltimore City. Located at 3310 East Baltimore Street, it holds a business meeting on the second Saturday of each month at 7 PM that covers planning for Balticon and general BSFS organizational issues. It also hosts an anime, manga, and gaming social event on the third Saturday of the month from 2 - 6 PM. BSFS also hosts a Speculative Fiction Critique Circle for science fiction, fantasy, horror, etc. writers to receive feedback on their work: that Circle meets on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of every month, from 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM. There is also a Book Discussion Circle that meets on the 4th Saturday of every month, from 6:30 to 8 PM, to discuss and analyze an assigned book; then there is a General Social Meeting which follows right after that. And on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of each month, the Games Club of Maryland hosts a gaming day called Alphabet Soup at BSFS headquarters from 12 - 6PM. Authors such as Catherine Asaro, Philippa Ballantine, Charles Shields, T.J. Perkins, and others have spoken there in recent years. It maintains a large free lending library, cooperates with other science fiction organizations, runs www.bsfs.org which is a detailed website with extensive resources, and conducts other public outreach events promoting literacy. BSFS is an open, equal organization which welcomes every gender, sex, religion, and creed. BSFS sponsors a young writers contest for Maryland students named "The Jack L. Chalker Young Writers Contest." BSFS conducts the annual Bobby Gear Memorial Charity Auction to fund the BSFS Books for Kids program which gives free reading books to students in cooperation with a Maryland school/schools. The BSFS has presented the Compton Crook Award each Balticon SM (since 1983) for "... the best first novel in the genre published during the previous year ...". The list of eligible books is published in the monthly newsletter so all club members will have a chance to read and vote. The winning author is invited to Balticon SM (BSFS pays transportation and lodging) and presented with the cash award. Compton Crook, who used the nom de plume Stephen Tall, died in 1981. He was a long time Baltimore resident, a Towson University professor, and, of course, a science fiction author. History. The Baltimore Science Fiction Society was first formed on January 5, 1963, on the back seat of a Trailways bus, by people returning from a meeting of the Washington Science Fiction Association (WSFA). Early founding members including a preponderance of influential writers, including noted fantasist Jack Chalker and Robert Howard scholar Mark Owings, attracting luminaries Roger Zelazny (who at the time was still working for nearby Social Security Administration), Joe and Jack Haldeman, and many others. There was a close alliance with neighboring WSFS, with strong cross-pollination, aiding the growth of both organizations, assisted by Jerry Jacks, Gay Haldeman, and Stephen Patt. It went into suspension as an organization after an election of officers which proved disastrous on October 12, 1968, on a (non-functioning) streetcar. Its only production of consequence was starting Balticon SM (1966) and it has in common with the present group only the name, spirit, Balticon, and continuity of the same three founding members. There was no formal BSFS during the intervening years, but several fans managed to keep the Balticon SM tradition alive by holding Balticons SM number 3 through 8. Present. The present Baltimore Science Fiction Society was restarted in 1974 when it was incorporated in the State of Maryland. It applied for and was granted IRS tax exempt status. BSFS is the third Science Fiction society in the country to own their own meeting place. LASFS (Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society) and NESFA (New England Science Fiction Association) are the other two. The former theater at 3310 East Baltimore Street, in the Highlandtown section of Baltimore, is being slowly renovated as time and money allow. On December 15, 2004 after a long fight by BSFS the Maryland Court of Appeals ruled favorably on the tax exemption status of the BSFS building, reversing a ruling by the Maryland State Department of Assessment and Taxation. The decision forced the state to revise the Maryland property tax code for literary organizations and other non-profit organizations that serve an educational purpose. Along with the plethora of regular events it hosts, BSFS also maintains a popular SF resources website with something for everyone who likes science fiction in any of its cultural art forms.

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Clarion West Writers Workshop Clarion West Writers Workshop is an intensive six-week program for writers preparing for professional careers in science fiction and fantasy. It runs annually from late June through the end of July. The workshop is limited to 18 students per year. Each of the six weeks is instructed by a different professional writer or editor. The roster of guest instructors changes yearly. Founded in Seattle, Washington in 1971, the workshop has been held continuously since 1984. Clarion West celebrated its 25th anniversary of continuous instruction in 2008. The Clarion West board of directors currently includes Susan Gossman, Miriah Hetherington, Tod McCoy, Vicki Saunders, Rashida J. Smith, Nisi Shawl, Misha Stone, and Yang-Yang Wang. History. The 1971 Clarion West Writers Workshop was founded by Vonda N. McIntyre, a Clarion Workshop graduate and Nebula and Hugo Award-winning author, with the support of original Clarion founder Robin Scott Wilson. It was modeled after the original Clarion Workshop founded in 1968 at Clarion University of Pennsylvania (itself inspired by the Milford Writer's Workshop). The original Clarion Workshop was slated to close after holding final classes in 1970, and the effort was made to establish and continue Clarion workshops in other locations. The 1971 successor workshops that sprang from this effort were Clarion West Workshop founded in Seattle, and Clarion Workshop revived in New Orleans (later moved to Michigan in 1972, and San Diego in 2007). Clarion West operated until 1973, before a hiatus. In 1984, Clarion West graduate J.T. Stewart and Seattle writer, Marilyn J. Holt, reconvened the workshop with the support of founder Vonda N. McIntyre. Clarion West incorporated as a nonprofit organization with a board of directors in 1986 with the help of many dedicated Clarion West alumni. Currently the workshop is administered by Neile Graham and Jae Steinbacher. Although the workshop is located in close proximity to the University of Washington, it is not associated with the university. It has operated continuously to the present day. Workshop format. The workshop is combination of instruction and mutual student critique using the Clarion Method. The emphasis of learning is primarily geared toward hours spent reading, writing and critiquing. Normally, students are expected to write one complete draft of a story per week, to be critiqued the following week. Ideas for these stories are up to the student, but the emphasis is that the writing takes place on premises where fresh lessons and insight can be immediately applied to new story ideas. Work on 'trunk' stories, written before the workshop, is discouraged. The class lecture and critique runs weekdays from morning to early afternoon. The remainder of the day is typically divided between writing for the next week's story deadline, reading, and preparing critiques. The workload is intense, but breaks and socializing are typical at all hours. Weekends are free time to socialize, explore the local sights, and catch up on unfinished writing and reading. Each student typically gets a weekly private conference with each instructor to ask questions and gain insight from that professional writer or editor. Although the focus of the workshop is on speculative fiction, such as science fiction and fantasy, other genres, including horror, comedy, mystery, and literary writing (and mixtures thereof) regularly grace the workshop stories. The workshop focuses on writing and critiquing short stories, but many aspects of novel writing are also discussed in workshop. Extracurricular activities. The speculative fiction community around the Seattle area has built support for the workshop over the years, and many special events have become part of the Clarion West tradition. Traditions. There are a number of class traditions passed down from one class to the next in the manner of a secret society. Traditions that are publicly known include the yearly Clarion West class shirt (designed by the class and limited only to the classmates and instructors of that year), and the practice of presenting unusual gifts to each of the instructors. Classes often come up with new traditions and items to pass on to the next year's class. Applications. Space in the workshop is awarded to the top 18 applicants of all submissions received. The average number of applications is not disclosed and varies year to year. The application window typically opens December 1 and runs through March 1 for the year attending. Students are usually selected and informed of acceptance by the end of March. Although Clarion West and Clarion are run independently, they follow the same workshop method and are considered sister schools. Since both workshops run concurrently, students are often encouraged to apply to both workshops to increase their chances of attending that year. Students accepted to both programs must choose their preferred workshop. Each of the schools has similar but distinct guidelines. Students that graduate one of the Clarion workshops are considered alumni of all the Clarion programs, and may not re-apply for any other Clarion Workshop. Other Clarion workshops. Other Clarion workshops that use the same workshop format, but are independently run include:

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MIT Science Fiction Society The MIT Science Fiction Society (or MITSFS) of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a student organization which maintains and administers a large publicly accessible library of science fiction, fantasy, and science fantasy books and magazines. History. In 1950, the club was instrumental in microfilming "Astounding Science Fiction", leading to it becoming a recognized student organization in 1951. In 1961, Anthony R. Lewis became Librarian, and the library growth began in earnest. With the Stratton Student Center opening in 1965, the Society moved out of the old Walker Memorial building to the new building. At about the same time, Erwin Strauss compiled a science fiction index for periodicals from 1951 to 1955, called "The MIT Science Fiction Society's Index to the S-F Magazines 1951 - 1965". MIT rules barred the Society from publishing the book because student organizations were prohibited from commercial activity, so Strauss published it himself under the same title. In 1965, MITSFS joined with the UMass SFS and others, including Hal Clement, in forming the "Boston Science Fiction Society", holding the first Boskone convention. In 1967, NESFA arose from the ashes of that group, and brought the WorldCon to Boston in 1971. In the mid-1970s, the MIT Libraries started partially funding acquisition of newly published books. In 1972, the widow of respected Golden Age editor John W. Campbell donated her husband's personal set of "Astounding Science Fiction". Campbell had almost finished an MIT physics degree, but transferred to Duke University to avoid a German language requirement, and then pursued a lifetime career in writing and editing science fiction. Society. Guest speakers at meetings of the Society have included Hugo Gernsback (whose 1963 address to the Society has been published as "Prophets of Doom"), Frederik Pohl, John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Hal Clement, and Larry Niven, and more recently John Scalzi and Charles Stross. The Society was instrumental in the first Boskone science fiction convention, in NESFA founding, and in the Noreascon in 1971, among others. The World Science Fiction Society, which sponsors the Hugo awards, is still located in Cambridge. Some past members include Durk Pearson, Rick Norwood, Al Kuhfeld, Bill Sarill, Whit Diffie, Geoffrey A. Landis, Erwin Strauss, and Guy Consolmagno. The Society has been mentioned in Laurence M. Janifer's "The Counterfeit Heinlein: A Gerald Knave Science Fiction Adventure". Science fiction is an important literary genre to many members of the MIT community. The first computer game, "Spacewar!", was developed at Project MAC by Steve Russell, Martin "Shag" Graetz, Wayne Wiitanen, and other fans of the Lensman series. The Society is informal in its operations, but has developed an elaborate pseudo-hierarchy with officer titles such as "Skinner", "Lord High Embezzler", and "Onseck". However, actual theft and vandalism are regarded as serious crimes, and strict security rules have developed to protect the collection, such as requiring that all backpacks, permanent markers, and pens be left at the library entrance. The greatest ongoing challenge for MITSFS is finding sufficient physical space for its tightly packed and ever-growing library collection. More than 45,000 books are crammed into less than of space, and some 16,000 volumes of its collection must be stored offsite in a warehouse. Library. The over 60,000 volumes constitute the "world's largest open-shelf collection of science fiction"; although the Eaton collection of the University of California, Riverside is larger, that collection is not on open shelves. According to MITSFS, the library once included "over 90% of all science fiction ever published in English", although a profusion of self-publishing now may have outdistanced it. The library is freely available for browsing by the public, as well as for borrowing by members. Membership is open to anyone who pays the modest dues and agrees to abide by the rules. The library is financially supported by membership dues, and by MIT's Association of Student Activities funding board. The catalog of the library may be searched online through the PinkDex. Some of the library's contents include full runs of Astounding Science Fiction and other American science fiction magazines, and full or nearly full runs of the major American fantasy magazines. It has first editions of "The Lord of the Rings", editions in French and German of "The Hobbit", all of the paperback versions of the series, CDs of the series, copies of all of Tolkien's related works, and so on. In fantasy, it has all of the "Harry Potter" books, with some also in German and Russian. The collection is physically located in MIT's Julius Adams Stratton Student Center at 84 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts. , the library is usually open 7 days a week, though Monday hours may be curtailed or occasionally dropped, and summer hours may be reduced.

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List of Clarion West Writers Workshop alumni This is a list of alumni in the Clarion West Writers Workshop, a six-week workshop for writers of science fiction, fantasy, and speculative literature, held annually in Seattle, Washington.

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Photon Tide Photon Tide is a science fiction society from Novi Sad, Serbia. They held a first ever Star Trek convention in Serbia, featured in a documentary film "Trekkies 2". History. Formed in 1997 as a small informal Trekkie club, steadily growing in numbers, which warranted its chartering as a NGO in 2002. In 2003, the filming crew of "Trekkies 2" documentary visited Serbia to film Star Trek fans. Fans from several Balkan states converged to Novi Sad to attend the first-ever Star Trek convention in this part of the world, "TREK>NS", organized by Photon Tide. Denise Crosby of fame, star and narrator of "Trekkies 2", was the special guest of this convention. In 2006, Photon Tide was included in the program of the Exit music festival, co-hosting the special "Supernova" stage with "Lazar Komarcic" fiction fan club from Belgrade, Serbia. The stage program was devoted to science fiction in Serbia. Photon Tide also took part in the final tournament of World Cyber Games 2006 in Belgrade, holding a stand along with several other Serbian science fiction societies. Activities. The society publishes its fanzine "Nova" as an insert to the monthly science magazine "Astronomija" (Astronomy), reaching readers in Serbia and other former Yugoslav republics. The Photon Tide website (in Serbian) is a source of science fiction news in Serbian, and its bulletins are being syndicated by several news aggregator websites. A science fiction workshop is in development, aimed to provide means for creative teamwork of talented people, creating their own science-fiction-themed comics, animations, amateur movies, short stories and radio dramas. There are also somewhat regular get-togethers and outdoor activities, either open-attendance or organized exclusively for the Photon Tide members, which take place all over Serbia. Aside from online communication, open fan meetings are the most persistent form of organized effort, taking place since the society's inception in 1997. They are most frequent in Novi Sad and Belgrade, where the majority of members are located. See also. Science fiction in Serbia

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SFera SFera is a science fiction society from Zagreb, Croatia. It was founded in 1976, thus marking the beginnings of organised science fiction fandom in the region. SFera is the official organiser of SFeraKon, the annual Croatian science fiction convention. Since 1995, it also publishes annual collections of science fiction stories of Croatian authors. The founder of the collection series and its first editor was Darko Macan. SFera's own fanzine, "Parsek", has been published since 1977. Although Croatia today has number of science fictions societies and conventions, as well the annual short fiction anthologies, SFera remains the major national society. Since mid-1970s, its members and founders - among them Krsto A. Mažuranić, Damir Mikuličić, Neven Antičević, Ivica Posavec - were included in organisation of almost every major initiative in Croatian science fiction, including the "Sirius" monthly magazine (awarded two times as the best European science fiction magazine, in 1980 and 1984), which was founded and partially edited by SFera's members, then the "Futura" magazine, which was edited by Krsto A. Mažuranić, and also various attempts at local science fiction publishing, as well many fandom activities. Today, when it's not a publisher or an organiser, SFera remains the patron or initiator of various science fiction activities in Croatia, especially small press publishing as science fiction literary journal "Ubiq", the series of books by winners of the SFERA Award ("Biblioteka SFERA"), or the anthology of the Croatian science fiction stories 1976-2006 "Ad Astra". The major Croatian science fiction portal (and its online fanzine) NOSF is also run by the SFera members. SFERA Award. Introduced in 1981, the SFERA Award is the only national award for the SF genre in Croatia. Until 1991, the award was given for the area of the whole former Yugoslavia and its recipients were, among others, World Fantasy Award winner Zoran Živković, for his two-tome "Encyclopedia of Science Fiction", Predrag Raos, Darko Macan, Igor Kordej, Darko Suvin, and Aleksandar Žiljak. SFeraKon. The annual Croatian science fiction convention, SFeraKon, is held in Zagreb since 1979, nowadays usually in the last week of April. It's the longest-running and the biggest annual science fiction convention in South-Eastern Europe, usually attended by 600-800 people. SFeraKon was initiated by the First Exhibition of Science Fiction ("Prvi sajam naučne fantastike"), held in Zagreb and Belgrade in 1972, organised by the Zagreb student gallery "SC", the American Library of Zagreb, and the Belgrade Student Cultural Centre (SKC). In 1986, SFeraKon was actually held as the Eurocon convention under the name "Ballcon". The 1992 Eurocon was also meant to be held in Zagreb, but the venue was changed to Freudenstadt, Germany, because of the war. The 1998 SFeraKon was also the 1998 Euroconference. The guests of the convention, among others, were Frederik Pohl, Jack Williamson, Harry Harrison, Joe Haldeman, Brian W. Aldiss, James Gunn, Bob Shaw, Richard D. Nolan, Sam Lundwall, Paolo Eleuteri Serpieri, Gianfranco Viviani, Gerald Webb, Martin Easterbrook, Robert Silverberg, Karen Haber, Guy Gavriel Kay, Walter Jon Williams, Lois McMaster Bujold, George R. R. Martin, Ken MacLeod, Michael Iwoleit, Michael Swanwick, Bruce Sterling, Richard K. Morgan, and R. Scott Bakker, while the 2010 guest of honour will be Ian McDonald.

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Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society The Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society, Inc., or LASFS, is a science fiction and fantasy fan society that meets in the Los Angeles area. The current meeting place can be found on the LASFS website. LASFS is the oldest continuously operating science fiction club in the world, helped considerably in that record by being one of the few to have owned a clubhouse. The organization continues to hold regular weekly meetings on Thursdays. The club maintains a private lending library of books, videos, and other genre-related materials, for use by members. Members of the club have run the World Science Fiction Convention several times, initiated the regional science-fiction convention Westercon, and hosts a yearly science fiction convention called Loscon. It maintains a web site and discussion forum, publishes (at irregular intervals) an amateur magazine called "Shangri L'Affaires", and hosts the collations of a weekly amateur press association, APA-L. The LASFS monthly newsletter, "De Profundis", is named for the club motto, "De Profundis ad Astra" ("From the Depths to the Stars"). "DeProf" is available (in PDF format) for reading at the LASFS web site, and can be obtained by writing its editor/publisher, Marty Cantor. History. In 1934 Hugo Gernsback, editor of the then-prominent science fiction magazine "Wonder Stories", established a correspondence club for fans called the "Science Fiction League." Local groups across the nation could join by filling out an application. Early meetings were held first at the Pacific Electric Building, then moved to Clifton's Cafeteria. Forrest J Ackerman later wrote, "The first meetings of the club were held in what was called the Pacific Electric Building in downtown Los Angeles. I think that once a month, a man who worked there was able to get the seventh or eighth floor free for us. Then we moved to Clifton's Cafeteria, a feature of which was their free limeade and lime juice. Some of the members who didn't have more than a nickel or dime to spend guzzled a lot of that free juice. By 1936, the League had begun to fail. New management was less interested in the League, and the members grew up and lost interest. Charter group number four, in Los Angeles, had an active member in Forrest J. Ackerman, who missed the first few meetings (he was living in San Francisco with his parents), but whose enthusiasm and imagination provided a focus for the group. "Forry" and a cadre of other members kept it alive as the science fiction and fantasy genres developed. Local authors (and sometimes those from out of the area) also helped by coming to meetings from time to time. In 1939, the group broke with the Science Fiction League, changed its name to the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society, and begun to meet every Thursday. In this decade, the club began publishing the fanzine "Shangri L'Affaires". Nicknamed "Shaggy", the zine has died and been revived many times over the decades. When published now, it is photocopied, but originally it was done on a mimeograph machine. One of the ways to earn your dues was to crank the machine and collate the sheets. World War II was a very busy time for the club, though few major changes were made. Most members were either below or well above draft age, and many fans from around the country visited en route to the war in the Pacific. Some moved to Los Angeles to work in defense industries. In the 1940s, some members such as Ray Bradbury began writing professionally, and an increasing number of professional science fiction authors visited meetings or joined as "Members at Large" elsewhere in the world. For some years, the club sponsored "Fanquets" for members who had made their first professional sale. In the 1950s, the club became embroiled in controversy, partly from taking the stand that if they didn't address controversies, they would fade away. Ackerman was still the mainstay of the club in the first part of the 1950s, but marriage and work needs led to his attending less frequently. One of the live wires of the club at this time was Bjo Trimble, a former WAVE who met her husband John under Ackerman's piano (at a crowded party). In the 1960s the club continued to grow, with the effects of the counterculture of the 1960s adding new members from the surrounding suburbs of Southern California. Many members became fans of the newly created "" television show, and in 1968 Trimble and other members of LASFS were instrumental in organizing a nationwide letter writing campaign which saved the show from its announced cancellation by NBC at the end of its second season. The club's meeting place (called 'Freehafer Hall' by the members after member Paul Freehafer) was usually in a public meeting hall and so it would be forced to relocate from time to time. Over the decades it moved from central Los Angeles further west until it reached Santa Monica, "as far west as it could go and remain dry." In 1964, member Paul Turner made what seemed to some like a frivolous suggestion, to others a brilliant idea: that the LASFS establish a building fund, generated from weekly meeting dues and fund-raising events such as auctions, with the idea of eventually purchasing its own permanent clubhouse. Members quickly began taking the idea seriously, and by the late 1960s, after a period of hesitation, Bruce Pelz became the building fund's most fervent supporter. In 1973, less than 10 years after its inception, the LASFS building fund had enough money in the bank to purchase a small private residence on Ventura Boulevard in Studio City and convert it into the weekly meeting hall. By 1977, the club needed a newer, larger clubhouse, and so it sold the Ventura Boulevard property and purchased a property at 11513 Burbank Boulevard, about two blocks west of Lankershim Blvd in North Hollywood, with two buildings: Freehafer Hall (the rear building), and "Building 4SJ" (fronting the Street). Building 4SJ was named after Forrest J Ackerman, and contained the society's lending library, furnished rooms for socializing, and a pay telephone. On September 1, 2011, the organization moved to a new building in Van Nuys, which formerly housed a cabinet-making shop and a poker school. As of early 2018, while a more permanent location is being sought, the meetings are being held in a temporary location: Null Space Labs, 10717 Chandler Blvd. (rear), North Hollywood 91601, from 6:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. As of August 2, 2018, the location is the American Lutheran Church, 755 North Whitnall Highway, Burbank, CA 91505. Officers. The Treasurer is elected once a year; the other club officers are elected twice a year. The Board of Directors is elected on a staggered basis: 4, 4, and 3. For the current list of officers and directors, please see the Contact LASFS page. Advisors to the Board: Charles Lee Jackson II, June Moffatt, Fred Patten. Cultural references. In the Hugo-nominated science fiction novel "Fallen Angels" by LASFS members Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle (with Michael Flynn), LASFS' unofficial motto "Death Will Not Release You" and its even more unofficial countersign "... even if you die" play a pivotal role in plot development. The protagonist of Keith Laumer's 1968 novella "The Day Before Forever" describes the fashion styles in a future society as "like something from Westercon II".

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Reading for the Future Reading for the Future (RFF) is an international group which encourages literacy and reading through the use of speculative fiction. Some regional groups collect new and used books which are then distributed free of charge to schools and libraries. For many rural schools, this is the only way they get new books. RFF does not have a central organization but is rather a series of grassroots groups. Developing the Young Reader (DYR) associated with RFF in April 2000. Reading for the Future does have a Web site filled with resources for educators, librarians, home schoolers and parents (website). Groups. Regional groups are listed alphabetically. If webpages are known, they are linked.

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Rebel Legion The Rebel Legion is an international fan-based volunteer organization dedicated to the construction and wearing of screen-accurate replicas of the Rebel Alliance, the Galactic Republic, the New Republic, the Resistance, the Jedi Order, and other heroes from the "Star Wars" universe. Founded in 2000, the group was formed in response to the decision of sister organization the 501st Legion to remain dedicated to Galactic Empire costumes. The Rebel Legion makes appearances at private and public events, including charitable events and official "Star Wars" promotional events. The organization does not charge a fee for appearances, instead encouraging a donation to a charity. It is divided into "bases" located throughout the world, and as of November 2019, the Rebel Legion membership is approximately 8,000 members. Though not affiliated with Lucasfilm, the organization is sanctioned by Lucasfilm. History. In early 2000, the 501st Legion "Star Wars" costuming group chose to remain "Imperials only". This prompted 501st members Tony Troxell, Richard Fairbrother, Ed O'Connell, Ken Ograyensek, and Doug Fesko to create a separate "Rebels only" costuming group, officially announced to the 501st Legion forums in December 2000. Though not affiliated with Lucasfilm, the Rebel Legion is officially sanctioned by Lucasfilm. Structure. The Rebel Legion is divided into detachments determined by the type of character costumes represent. The organization is also divided into bases or outposts determined by geographical region; bases can be further divided into variably named detachment units. The leadership consists of a Commanding Officer and 5 Council members. Additional leadership roles are assigned as needed per the LCO (LPRO, LMO, etc.) Charitable work. Giving back to the community is one of the Rebel Legion's highest priorities. Members regularly participate in events to raise awareness of charitable causes, from walk-a-thons to blood drives. Because of this, the Rebel Legion proudly refers to themselves as "the good guys." For public and private gatherings, the Legion never charges a fee for an appearance, but they do welcome donations made to an event host's favorite charity in the name of the Legion or the local Legion unit. If an event host does not have a charity of choice, Legion members usually provide a suggestion, sometimes tied to a fundraising effort that is already underway. In cases where the event host is itself a charitable organization, a donation is usually not accepted by the Rebel Legion as they volunteer their time for that charitable organization. Some of the events where the member of the Rebel Legion were guests, supporters, artists or exhibitors to support charity projects:

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European Science Fiction Society The European Science Fiction Society is an international organisation of professionals and fans who are committed to promoting science fiction in Europe and European science fiction worldwide. The organisation was founded at the first Eurocon (European Science Fiction Convention), which was held in 1972 in Trieste, Italy. Since that time, the organisation has organized Eurocons at least every two years. The organisation also administrates the European SF Awards. The society's officers (as re-elected in 2019 in Belfast, United Kingdom) are: Bridget Wilkinson served as a society officer for 25 years before standing down at the 2016 Eurocon, held in Barcelona, Spain. Before that, she ran Fans Across The World co-ordinating science fiction fans from the former Eastern Europe with their counterparts in the West.

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Worldcon Worldcon, or more formally the World Science Fiction Convention, the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS), is a science fiction convention. It has been held each year since 1939 (except for the years 1942 to 1945, during World War II). The members of each Worldcon are the members of WSFS, and vote both to select the site of the Worldcon two years later, and to select the winners of the annual Hugo Awards, which are presented at each convention. Activities. Activities and events at the convention typically include (but are not limited to): Awards. The World Science Fiction Society administers and presents the Hugo Awards, the oldest and most noteworthy award for science fiction. Selection of the recipients is by vote of the Worldcon members. Categories include novels and short fiction, artwork, dramatic presentations, and various professional and fandom activities. Other awards may be presented at Worldcon at the discretion of the individual convention committee. This has often included the national SF awards of the host country, such as the Japanese Seiun Awards as part of Nippon 2007, and the Prix Aurora Awards as part of Anticipation in 2009. The Astounding Award for Best New Writer and the Sidewise Award, though not sponsored by the Worldcon, are usually presented, as well as the Chesley Awards, the Prometheus Award, and others. Guests of Honor. Each Worldcon committee selects a number of guests of honor (or "GoHs") for the convention. Typically there is an author (aka "Writer" or "Pro") and a fan guest of honor. Many conventions also have artist, editor, and science guests, and most have a toastmaster for major events, such as the opening and closing ceremonies and the Hugo award ceremony. A few conventions have had two or even three author guests. While other conventions may select guests on the basis of current popularity, Worldcons typically select guests of honor as an acknowledgement of significant lifetime contribution to the field; while these are often well-known figures, some committees choose lesser-known figures precisely because the committee feels the guest's accomplishments deserve more recognition from the community. Selection is treated by authors, fans, and others as a recognition of lifetime achievement. As such, the tradition is to award it only to those who have been making significant contributions for at least 20 years. Guests of honor generally receive travel expenses, membership, and a small "per diem" from the convention, but no speaking fees. In order to announce guests immediately after site selection, Worldcon bid committees select one or more guests "before" the site selection vote. Fans consider it inappropriate for bids to compete on the basis of their chosen guests (so as to avoid having someone chosen by a losing bid feeling that fandom had voted against them personally), so bids do not reveal who their guests are until after the vote, and losing bids generally never reveal who they invited. This is usually treated with the same discretion as the Hugo Awards, where only a few people might know in advance who the guests will be. World Science Fiction Society. The name "Worldcon" is owned by the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS), an unincorporated literary society whose purpose is to promote interest in science fiction. WSFS has no standing officers, only small standing committees, and a large membership composed of the members of the current Worldcon. Its main activities are running the selection (voting) process for the annual convention and various awards. The conventions themselves are run by non-profit, volunteer fan organizations, who bid to host the event. The WSFS constitution itself is discussed and amended by the annual general meeting, known as the "business meeting", held at the Worldcon, usually as three morning sessions on successive days. All attending members of the Worldcon may attend, participate, and vote at the Business Meeting, although in practice only a small number of the members actually do so. The WSFS constitution includes rules for site selection, for the Hugo Awards, and for amending itself. The business meeting also empanels a number of ad hoc committees to deal with review of amendments and with certain administrative functions. The only permanent ("standing") committee of WSFS (as opposed to the Business Meeting) is the Mark Protection Committee (MPC), which is responsible for maintaining the society's trademarks and domain names. Site selection. Historically, most Worldcons were held in the USA; however, beginning in the later part of the 20th century an increasing number of them have been hosted in other countries. In 2017, the 75th World Science Fiction Convention ("Worldcon 75") was held in Helsinki, Finland; the 2018 Worldcon was held in San Jose, California, and the 2019 Worldcon was held in Dublin. The 2020 Worldcon was scheduled to be in New Zealand; however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was a virtual event (accessed by internet only). The first Worldcon to be held outside the US was the sixth, in 1948 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and the first outside North America was the 15th World Science Fiction Convention, in 1957 in Bayswater, London. The 2007 Worldcon in Yokohama, Japan, was the first to be held in Asia. Other non-US Worldcons held in the 21st century have included the 2003 Worldcon in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the 2005 Worldcon, held in Glasgow, Scotland; the 2009 Worldcon, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada; the 2010 Worldcon, in Melbourne, Australia; the 2014 Worldcon, in London, United Kingdom and the 2017 Worldcon, in Helsinki, Finland. Sites for future Worldcons are determined by voting of the Worldcon membership. Worldcons through 1970 were selected one year in advance, from 1971 through 1986 two years in advance, from 1987 to 2007, three years in advance, then from 2008 to the present, two years in advance again. For example, during the 2011 Worldcon in Reno, San Antonio was selected to host the 2013 Worldcon. The rules changes to lengthen or shorten the period were implemented by selecting two future Worldcons at the 1969 and 1984 conventions and by having the 2005 convention not select any. To ensure that the Worldcon is relocated to different locations, the WSFS constitution requires that the proposed sites must all be at least away from the site of the convention at which the selection vote happens. When a Worldcon is held outside of North America, a North American Science Fiction Convention (NASFiC) may also be held within North America that same year. Since 1975, whenever a Worldcon site outside North America is selected, WSFS administers a parallel site selection process for the NASFiC, voted on by WSFS members at the Worldcon (or NASFiC if there is one) held one year prior to the prospective NASFiC. With the 2014 Worldcon being held in the United Kingdom, members at the 2013 Worldcon in San Antonio chose Detroit to be the site of the 2014 NASFiC and Spokane, Washington, as the site of the 2015 Worldcon. In 2020, The 78th Worldcon was held in Wellington, New Zealand. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, organizers announced during March 2020 that it would be a "virtual" con with attendees and panelists using video technologies to participate. In 2021, The 79th Worldcon will take place in Washington, D.C. In 2022, the 80th Worldcon will be held in Chicago, Illinois. This was announced at the 2020 Worldcon, chosen by the members of the 78th Worldcon. Jeddah, Saudi Arabia was the other competing site. A group of writers and officers of the Worldcon have signed an open letter against Saudi Arabia's bid to host the 2022 World Science Fiction Convention, citing human rights abuses and discriminatory laws. Currently, sites bidding for 2023 are Cheng-du, China and Memphis, Tennessee; bidding for 2024 is Glasgow, Scotland; bidding for 2025 are Brisbane, Australia and Seattle, Washington. Jeddah, Saudi Arabia has reasserted its bid for 2026. Convention committees. As WSFS itself is an unincorporated society, each Worldcon is organized by a separate committee (usually) legally incorporated in the local jurisdiction; in the United States, these are usually organized as 501(c)(3) non-profit corporations, while in the United Kingdom, they are usually operated by companies limited by guarantee. The local organizers may be standalone, one-time committees (organized to hold the one event and then disbanded afterwards), or they may be organized by an existing local group. A few groups, such as MCFI in Boston, SFSFC (San Francisco Science Fiction Conventions, Inc.) in northern California, and SCIFI (Southern California Institute for Fan Interests Inc.) in southern California are permanent corporations established to manage Worldcons (or other one-off or rotating conventions) in different years in the same geographical area. Like most non-media science fiction conventions, all Worldcons are managed entirely by volunteers, with no paid staff. Senior committee members typically devote hundreds of hours (not to mention thousands of dollars in travel expenses in some cases) in preparation for a particular convention. While each convention is managed separately by the local committee, an informal and self-selected group of volunteers constitute the "Permanent Floating Worldcon Committee" who volunteer for many Worldcons in different years; this group offers a measure of institutional continuity to otherwise disparate legal organizations. Recent Worldcons have had budgets running in excess of a million dollars. The main source of revenue is convention membership, but Worldcons also collect fees from exhibiting dealers and artists and advertisers in publications, and some conventions manage to attract sponsorships of as much as 5% of total income. The main expenses are facilities rental and related costs, then (if possible) membership reimbursements to program participants and volunteers, then publications, audiovisual equipment rental, and hospitality. Traditionally, all members (except for guests of honor) must pay for their membership; if the convention makes an adequate surplus after covering operating expenses, full or partial membership reimbursements are paid back to volunteers after the convention. Most Worldcons have a small surplus, which the rules of WSFS suggest be disbursed "for the benefit of WSFS as a whole;" typically at least half of any surplus is donated to future Worldcons, a tradition termed "pass-along funds". Because of their size, Worldcons have two layers of management between the chairperson and the staff. "Departments" operate a specific convention function, while "divisions" coordinate the work of several departments. Department heads (sometimes called "area heads") have one or more deputies plus a large staff, or they may have no staff at all. Most Worldcons have between five and twelve division heads who form the convention executive group. In order for convention staff and members to identify quickly the function of other staff at the convention, Worldcons use ribbons of differing colors which are attached to convention badges to signify different roles and responsibilities. Often there are ribbons to signify rank, division, and department or specialized functions; ribbons are also used to identify program participants, other noteworthy members (for example "Past Worldcon Guest of Honor", "Hugo Award Nominee", etc.), or classes of members ("Dealers", "Artists", "Party Hosts") who are interacting with convention staff. Some members of the committee may be performing a variety of current or past roles and could have a large number of ribbons attached to each other hanging from a badge. Extending this tradition, other groups and individuals create more special ribbons for use at the convention; these may be serious or silly. Convention badge ribbons are important memorabilia for some people, and become valuable years later because they evoke memories of events at the convention, and often can be expected to be displayed in exhibits at future conventions. It is commonplace for Worldcon attendees to wear their ribbons from previous Worldcons alongside or below their current Worldcon ribbon. There is also a convention badge, displaying each attendee's name, membership number and (if desired) "fannish" nickname. The customary practice is for all attendees at the same convention (occasionally excepting Guests of Honor) to wear badges of the same design, but each Worldcon's badge design is unique to that convention. As with ribbons, Worldcon attendees will often wear their badges from previous Worldcons alongside or below their current badge.

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Circlet Press Circlet Press is a publishing house in Cambridge, in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It was founded by Cecilia Tan, who is also its manager. It specializes in science fiction erotica, a once uncommon genre, and its publications often feature BDSM themes. History. Cecilia Tan founded the house in 1992 after researching the markets for publication of her own stories, which combined science fiction plotlines with explicitly sexual themes. At the time, science fiction publications turned away such material as unsuitable for their audience, and most publishers of erotic material were hard-core pornographers and uninterested in any material whose plotlines extended beyond the simple formula encounter story (in which two people meet and sex ensues). The ground-breaking combination of sex-positive, woman-centered erotica with science fiction and fantasy themes came as a result of Tan's editorial vision that rather than combine the worst clichés of both genres, the mixture could instead expand the boundaries of what was possible in each. Science fiction had developed a somewhat deserved reputation for being dismissive or neglectful of human character development issues like love, lust, attraction, and family issues, while erotica was definitely ripe for something beyond the encounter formula. Placing stories into a science fictional or magical context allowed writers for Circlet Press to remove their stories from their contemporary political context and sidestep issues such as feminism, AIDS, and sexual identity politics. Circlet Press has been identified with a peer group of start-up "alternative sexuality" publishers and businesses, including Greenery Press, Daedalus Publishing, Black Books, Obelesk Books, Blowfish, and The Stockroom). Their arrival also coincided with the burgeoning of a women's erotica movement, evidenced by the publication of many upscale trade paperback anthologies such as Herotica, Best American Erotica edited by Susie Bright, On A Bed of Rice (ed. Geraldine Kudaka), Slow Hand (ed. Michele Slung), and many others coming from the mainstream publishing houses. Lesbian bookseller Gilda Bruckman, who for years headed one of the leading women's bookstores in the US (New Words, formerly in Cambridge, MA), said, in support of the idea that Circlet's efforts were part of a growing trend in women's erotica, "I think the younger generation of women who see themselves as feminists... feel that it's central to their being. It's having control of the expression of one's sexuality, not being restricted to societal norms." Effects on the market. The effect that Circlet had on the mainstream science fiction seems to be twofold. One, the house nurtured a new generation of writers who were emboldened to use genre elements in their erotic fiction and erotic elements in their genre fiction. Two, by mapping out new territory, Circlet expanded what was possible, and acceptable, in sf/fantasy. The first tentative forays into "spicier" material by many of the mainstream science fiction imprints bore fruit in the form of strong sales and good reviews for titles such as Polymorph by Scott Westerfeld and The Black Jewels Trilogy by Anne Bishop. Tan spoke on many panels at science fiction conventions such as the World Fantasy Convention, World Science Fiction Convention, Philcon, Arisia, Boskone, and Lunacon about mixing and cross-pollinating genres. With erotica forging the way, the influx of romance into sf/f was not far behind, as writers like Catherine Asaro and Laurell K. Hamilton built readerships that included sf/f readers, mystery readers, and romance readers. Hamilton's "Anita Blake" books have grown sex-focused and explicitly sexual, and legions of "paranormal romance" writers and readers have followed in her wake. Honors and awards. Reviews praising Circlet's efforts appeared in Publishers Weekly, Lambda Book Report, "Feminist Bookstore News", and many other publications. Circlet Press's books have been nominated for the Lambda Literary Awards, Independent Press Awards ("Ippy" awards), the Benjamin Franklin Awards, and the Spectrum Awards. Writers. Authors published by Circlet Press include:

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Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films is an American non-profit organization established in 1972 dedicated to the advancement of science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, television, and home video. The Academy is headquartered in Los Angeles, California, and was founded by Dr. Donald A. Reed. The Academy distributes its Saturn Awards annually to the best films of the genres. The award was initially and is still sometimes loosely referred to as a Golden Scroll. The Academy also publishes "Saturn Rings," its official organ.

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Creative Science Foundation The Creative Science Foundation (CSf) is a non-profit organization, established on 4 November 2011 in London, England, that advocates a synergetic relationship between creative arts (e.g. writing, films, art, dance etc.) and sciences (e.g. engineering, business, socio-political etc.) as a means to fostering innovation. It is best known for its use of science fiction prototyping as an ideation, communication and prototyping tool for product innovation. The foundation's main modus-operandi are the organisation or sponsorship of vacation-schools, workshops, seminars, conferences, journals, publications and projects.

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Festival fantazie Festival fantazie is the largest festival of speculative fiction in the Czech Republic and one of the largest in Central and Eastern Europe. As for number of particular programs it surpasses the longest running science fiction convention Worldcon. In this sense Festival fantazie belongs among the biggest festivals of its kind in the world. In 2007 the festival was visited by 2135 individuals, who stayed for 5 days on average, Festival fantazie Speciál in autumn entertained 640 participants. Festival is devoted to fantasy and wide spectrum of related subjects. The program includes films literature, games, it is focused on science fiction and future, astronomy, modern technologies, fantasy, horror, mythology, mysteries, military and history. Visitors are offered the opportunity to see films and TV shows, take part in large number of games and contests of all kinds. Furthermore, meetings with famous personalities, both vocational and humorous lectures, theatre and fencing performances are organized and much more. Festival has been held in Chotěboř every year since 1996 in June and July. Shorter "Festival Fantazie Speciál" takes place in October. The organizer is independent non-profit civic organization SFK Avalon. Václav Pravda is the festival director. Program. Program runs in several parallel program lines. Lines come under program sections which may also be parallel: The core of the festival consists of meetings with well-known writers, actors and artists and both vocational and humorous speeches, presentations (by specialists or fans), panel discussions. Visitors have opportunity to see both the newest films and films which are not commonly available, TV shows or documentary films. Fan activities include fanfilms and dramatic performances among others. A computer hall (with network games, Wii consoles) is prepared within the GameFest block. Board games, card games, table role-playing games are available. Live action role-playing games (LARP) are run. Competitions and tournaments are organized in many games. In 2007 the program included over 1200 activities and events. That is more than Worldcon 2006 had (1057 events). The festival organizers allow groups of fans to realize their own programs. This very good cooperation with participants provides basis for richer program than other similar events have. Small conventions often give up after few years while Festival fantazie offers its services and organizational support for further sequels of convention under patronage of the festival. Program lines. This is list of program lines at Festival fantazie. Note that links to the lines' webpages are mostly in Czech language. Additional program. Many other activities are held out of main program lines. Table football or Dance Dance Revolution are available, films are projected in cinema. Events such as expositions, concerts, dramatic performances, fencing shows, ceremonial party with masquerade competition and raffle, beauty contest, literary workshop or book (and DVD, CD, VHS) exchange are held in terms of the festival. Many contests and tournaments belong to the additional program among others. These contests are often organized by festival visitors themselves (e.g. table football or staring tournament). Speciál. Festival fantazie Speciál is a happening tied to Festival fantazie which is organized by SFK Avalon too. Speciál is linked with the summer festival, chosen programs appear again, but it offers variety of original program. Speciál is aimed to satisfy fans who prefer a smaller event to bustle of a large one or who missed desired program of Festival fantazie and also to enable further socializing across various interest groups. Guests. These guests confirmed attendance for Festival fantazie 2007: New events. List of recent festival innovations: Background. Festival provides organizers and attendees with reliable background. The centre is located in House of Culture Junior with halls and lecture rooms for circa 400 attendees. A snack bar, tearoom and workshop are situated here too. In proximate neighbourhood there are Druzba Cinema (capacity for 200–300 visitors), Sport Hall (for 190 visitors) and Sokolovna (for 200–400 visitors, snack bar, wine bar). Accommodation is prepared in several categories from hotel to sleeping-bag places. The maximum capacity includes 13 buildings (Guest-house Bene, Filippi hotel, U Zámku hotel, Vyočina hotel, Business Academy hostel, Special boarding school, Sport hall, Smetanova and Buttulova elementary schools etc.). Visitors have access to the Internet through festival computers or they can browse festival Wi-Fi network. History. SFK Avalon Club, predecessor of organization in charge of the festival, was founded 12 February 1994. Among its first activities it issued "Zbraně Avalonu" magazine or organized "Corwinovy spisy" contest or brutal short stories competition. In 1996 it failed in candidacy for Parcon organization and decided to make Avalcon, convention of its own which was realized twice. In 1998 SFK Avalon led Parcon with 470 visitors, Avalon's co-founder Václav Pravda was elected a member of Czech Fandom Council. Three years of Festival fantazie Avalcon and two Avalcon Speciáls (1999, 2002) followed with increasing visit rate and extending program. At Eurocon 2000 in Gdynia Avalon succeeded in candidacy for Eurocon 2002 in Chotěboř. In 2001 the independent civic organization SFK Avalon was founded by the festival organizers. Their Eurocon 2002 was visited by 1300 attendees for whom 250 programs, 125 projections and GameCon was prepared. Despite accommodation difficulties Film Festival Fantazie connected with FF Parcon-Avalcon, FF GameStar and Literary Festival Vysočina started on 28 June 2003. Festival fantazie together with Festival fantazie Speciál in autumn (formerly Avalcon Speciál) is held annually ever since. Festival budget got from debt in 2006. Visit rate is increasing every year, program extent is growing and the festival is planned for at least 2 following years.

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NESFA Press NESFA Press is the publishing arm of the New England Science Fiction Association, Inc. The NESFA Press primarily produces three types of books: Works published by NESFA Press. This is a reverse chronological list of books published by NESFA Press.

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Sleeping on Jupiter Sleeping on Jupiter is a novel by Anuradha Roy. It is her third novel and was published in April 2015. It was longlisted for the 2015 Man Booker Prize and shortlisted for the 2015 The Hindu Literary Prize. It won the 2016 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. Summary. Nomi Frederiksen travels to Jarmuli, a temple town in India's coastal northeast, to produce a documentary film. Nomi was born in India but was later orphaned, and sent to an ashram in Jarmuli. She was subjected to physical, emotional, and sexual abuse while at the ashram. She later escaped and was adopted, moving to Norway. She meets three old women while on a train, Gouri, Latika, and Vidya. Her production assisant, Suraj, is Vidya's son and is troubled by his ongoing divorce. The chapters alternate between Nomi's first-person narration and third person narratives following the novel's secondary characters. Publication. "Sleeping on Jupiter" was published by Hachette India in hardback on 15 April 2015. Reception. "Kirkus Reviews" praised the first-person narration of Nomi but criticized the secondary characters for doing "nothing to move the story forward" and wrote that the novel lacked a "satisfying resolution." "Publishers Weekly" wrote "the overlapping stories make for a rich and absorbing consideration of where the past ends and the present begins."

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Let the Great World Spin Let the Great World Spin is a novel by Colum McCann set mainly in New York City in the United States. The book won the 2009 U.S. National Book Award for Fiction and the 2011 International Dublin Literary Award, one of the most lucrative literary prizes in the world. Its title comes from the poem "Locksley Hall" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Plot. The events of the story are told in a largely non-linear fashion, with several different narrators telling the story from different perspectives. The story is interspersed with fictionalized accounts of Philippe Petit's 1974 tightrope walk across the Twin Towers, the date on which the two main events of the novel occur: a fatal car crash and a trial. In 1974, an Irishman named Ciaran travels to New York City to see his younger brother, Corrigan, a devout Jesuit monk who has moved to the projects of the Bronx. Corrigan works at a nursing home and has befriended several of the prostitutes working around his apartment, leaving his door unlocked so they can use his bathroom despite the danger this frequently puts him in. Ciaran meets two of the prostitutes, Tillie and her daughter Jazzlyn, who has two young children of her own. After Ciaran notices bruises on the inside of Corrigan's arm, he begins to suspect that he is using drugs. When he confronts him about this, Corrigan reveals that he is not using drugs but is in reality suffering from TTP. This was brought to his attention by Adelita, a nurse he met at the nursing home and has fallen in love with. This comes into direct conflict with the vows of chastity he took as a teenager and his sworn devotion to God, and he struggles to reconcile these beliefs with his love for Adelita. Several months after Ciaran initially arrives in New York City, there is an incident in which many of the prostitutes are arrested, and Tillie and Jazzlyn are held in jail over an outstanding warrant for robbery. During the arrest, Jazzlyn drops a keychain with photos of her two children, which Corrigan picks up, intending to return it. The following day - 7 August 1974, the day of Philipe Petit's tightrope walk - Corrigan asks Ciaran to take over his shift at the nursing home for the day while he goes to pick up Jazzlyn from court after her acquittal. Ciaran agrees, and discusses his brother with Adelita, eventually coming to the conclusion that they have the right to be happy together for the time being no matter how their relationship will end. At the very moment Ciaran is coming to this conclusion, Corrigan's van is hit by a gold car on the FDR Drive, causing a massive car crash. Jazzlyn is killed instantly, and Corrigan is left so badly injured that the paramedics initially believe him to be dead. Lara, the passenger in the gold car, pleads with her husband Blaine, who was driving, to stop and accept responsibility, but loses her nerve when she hears sirens approaching and the two leave the scene of the crash. Meanwhile, Corrigan is rushed to a hospital and survives long enough for Adelita and Ciaran to make it to his bedside, where he tells Adelita that he had "seen something beautiful" before he finally passes away. The same day, Claire, a woman from a very wealthy southern family who lives on the Upper East Side, hosts a gathering for a group of mothers who have lost children in the Vietnam war. On the way to Claire's apartment, one of the women saw the tightrope walker and was shaken due to the fact that it reminded her of her son, expressing the belief that it was her son coming back to see her. Claire is greatly upset by this but cannot figure out why, eventually realizing that she resents the idea that someone would be so flippant about their own personal safety, showing so little disregard for their life when their sons were forced to give up their own without a choice. She tells the group the story of how she learned her son, Joshua, had been killed; Joshua had been drafted into Vietnam and worked as a computer programmer, writing code that would allow the computers to automatically tally American casualties. Unlike most of the other women's children, Joshua was not in active combat, but instead died when a grenade was detonated at the coffee shop he was inside. She reveals that she didn't know how to react to the officer who came to inform them of their son's death and instead just smiled and thanked him, unable to do anything else. After telling the story, she realizes that there is nothing they can do but rely on each other to heal, and decides to let go of her anger towards the tightrope walking man and instead focus on the memory of her son. As the women leave Claire's apartment, Claire pleads with Gloria - a black woman who is Claire's favorite of the group - to stay; Gloria considers staying, but decides to leave, as "we didn’t go freedom-riding years ago to clean apartments on Park Avenue". Before she departs, Claire tells Gloria that she would be happy to pay her, startling both women and causing Gloria to leave the building hastily. However, she is robbed of her purse - containing photographs of her sons - on the way home, and hails a cab back to Claire's apartment, where Claire apologizes profusely for what she said despite Gloria insisting that it doesn't matter. After several hours of talking, Claire's husband, Solomon, a judge, returns home, and tells them that he had presided over the case of the man on the tightrope and charged him a dollar and ten cents - one penny per floor - as well as another performance. Claire then takes Gloria home in a taxi; when they reach their destination, they see two young children being led away by a social worker. Gloria tells the social worker that she knows them and ends up raising the children, who are revealed to be Jazzlyn's daughters, Janice and another girl, also named Jazzlyn. The following day, Lara, the passenger in the gold car, continues to feel tremendous guilt over Jazzlyn's death. The year before, she and Blaine - both of whom are artists - had decided that they would stop using drugs and drinking and moved to a secluded cabin in upstate New York; however, the night before the crash, they indulged in a night of partying and had intended to return to the cabin and detox the following day, when they drove back home, still high on cocaine. After a fight with Blaine, who insists that they were not responsible, she returns to the city and checks the hospitals to find out what happened to Corrigan, eventually learning that he died. She tells the hospital staff she is his cousin and collects his belongings, among which is Jazzlyn's keychain, which she assumes to be a photo of Corrigan's children. She drives to the address on Corrigan's license and enters his apartment, where she finds Adelita and Ciaran, cleaning up the apartment. She returns Corrigan's belongings to his brother, and asks if she can accompany them to Jazzlyn's funeral. At the funeral, Tillie is escorted by two cops and still in handcuffs, which they reluctantly remove to allow her to see her daughter's body. Afterwards, Tillie is taken back to jail and Lara offers Ciaran a ride home. Ciaran accepts, but immediately recognizes her car as the one involved in the crash, and angrily asks her why she didn't stop when Lara lies and tells him she was driving. The two eventually end up going out to a bar, where Ciaran tells her about his brother. As Tillie begins serving her eight-month sentence, it is revealed that her and Jazzlyn's case - presided over by Solomon, Claire's husband - had been decided by a deal struck between her and the detective: if Tillie pleaded guilty, he would give her six months and allow Jazzlyn to go free. While in prison, Tillie reflects on her life and the guilt she has over the life that Jazzlyn ended up living, considering the plea deal she took as the final time she failed her daughter that resulted in her death. While she is in prison, she is visited several times by Lara, who brings her books of Rumi's poetry (at Ciaran's suggestion) and assures her that her granddaughters are doing fine. Tillie comes up with a plan to commit suicide, and eventually executes it, dying in prison with the wish of seeing her daughter again. Before she dies, she is visited by Gloria with Jazzlyn's children, and decides that it is better that she not be involved in their lives, as she believes she is the reason that Jazzlyn's life ended the way that it did. In 2006, 32 years after the main events of the book, Jazzlyn's daughter, Jazzlyn - who has changed her name to Jaslyn - returns to New York City to see Claire, who has suffered a debilitating stroke. In the airport, Jaslyn encounters Pino, a doctor who makes a joke in the security line and is detained by security, and they have sex. It is revealed that Ciaran and Lara ended up getting married, although Jaslyn did not know them very well while growing up. The book ends with Jaslyn visiting Claire, whose stroke has rendered her mostly incapacitated, as she reflects on the nature of life. Approach. The novel is written in a non-linear fashion, narrated by several of the eleven different protagonists. The lives of the characters are slowly woven together and revealed to be connected, despite the fact that some are not aware of this and have never even met. As most of the story unfolds over the course of several days, many events, such as the car crash and the trial, are retold from different perspectives by different narrators. Themes. Throughout the book, the author weaves the stories of each of the protagonists through the central events of the story, exploring the personal impact that these events had on the lives on each individual character. Despite the fact that many of the protagonists have never met and are from completely different worlds, they are all affected by the same occurrences; in subsequent interviews, the author has noted his intention to point out the melodramatic tensions present in all of our lives, whether perched upon a death-defying high wire, or merely trying to live out a more "ordinary" life, "where there is still an invisible tight-rope wire that we all walk, with equally high stakes, only it is hidden to most, and only 1 inch off the ground". Reception. "The New York Times" reviewer Jonathan Mahler ranked this book as, "One of the most electric, profound novels I have read in years." The novel received numerous honours including the U.S. National Book Award. It was named winner of the 2011 International Dublin Literary Award in June 2011. The judging panel, among whom were John Boyne and Michael Hofmann, described the book as a "remarkable literary work [...] a genuinely 21st century novel that speaks to its time but is not enslaved by it", noting the book's opening pages in which "the people of New York city stand breathless and overwhelmed as a great artist dazzles them in a realm that seemed impossible until that moment; Colum McCann does the same thing in this novel, leaving the reader just as stunned as the New Yorkers, just as moved and just as grateful". Lord Mayor of Dublin Gerry Breen said it was "wonderful and fitting to have a Dublin winner in the year that Dublin was awarded UNESCO City of Literature designation, a designation in perpetuity". Album with Joe Hurley. Colum McCann and musician Joe Hurley cowrote a song-cycle—"The House That Horse Built (Let the Great World Spin)"—based on McCann's novel. The album is narrated from the perspective of the character Tillie. It was recorded with Hurley's band The Gents—James Mastro (Ian Hunter), Tony Shanahan (Patti Smith), and Ken Margolis (Cracker)—and features The Chieftains' Paddy Moloney, Matt Sweeney, soul singer Tami Lynn, film actress Antonique Smith, Denis Diken and Joe McGinty. It was produced by Don Fleming and Hurley.

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The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is a novel written by Dominican American author Junot Díaz, published in 2007. Although a work of fiction, the novel is set in New Jersey in the United States, where Díaz was raised, and it deals with the Dominican Republic experience under dictator Rafael Trujillo. The book chronicles both the life of Oscar de León, an overweight Dominican boy growing up in Paterson, New Jersey, who is obsessed with science fiction and fantasy novels and with falling in love, as well as a curse that has plagued his family for generations. Narrated by multiple characters, the novel incorporates a significant amount of Spanglish and neologisms, as well as references to fantasy and science fiction books and films. Through its overarching theme of the "fukú" curse, it additionally contains elements of magic realism. It received highly positive reviews from critics, who praised Díaz's writing style and the multi-generational story. "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" went on to win numerous awards in 2008, such as the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Concept. The book chronicles the life of Oscar de León, an overweight Dominican boy growing up in Paterson, New Jersey, who is obsessed with science fiction and fantasy novels and with falling in love, as well as with the curse that has plagued his family for generations. The middle sections of the novel center on the lives of Oscar's runaway sister, Lola; his mother, Hypatia Belicia Cabral; and his grandfather, Abelard. Rife with footnotes, science fiction and fantasy references, comic book analogies, and various Spanish dialects, the novel is also a meditation on story-telling, the Dominican diaspora and identity, sexuality, and oppression. Most of the story is told by an apparently omniscient narrator who is eventually revealed to be Yunior de Las Casas, a college roommate of Oscar's who dated Lola. Yunior also appears in many of Díaz's short stories and is often seen as an alter ego of the author. Plot. Main narrative. Oscar de León (nicknamed Oscar Wao, a bastardization of Oscar Wilde) is an overweight Dominican growing up in Paterson, New Jersey. Oscar desperately wants to be successful with women but, from a young age, is unable to find love, largely because he is a nerd obsessed with science fiction and comic books. His great fear is that he will die a virgin. After high school, Oscar attends Rutgers University. His sister's boyfriend Yunior (the narrator of much of the novel) moves in with Oscar and tries to help him get in shape and become more "normal". After "getting dissed by a girl", he attempts to kill himself by drinking two bottles of liquor and jumping off the New Brunswick train bridge. He survives the fall but is seriously injured. Oscar recuperates and graduates from Rutgers. He substitute teaches at his former high school and dreams about writing an epic work of science fiction. Eventually, he moves to the Dominican Republic and falls helplessly in love with Ybon, a sex worker who lives near him. Ybon is kind to Oscar but rejects his frequent romantic overtures. Ybon's boyfriend, a violent police captain, becomes jealous of Oscar and sends two goons who kidnap Oscar, take him to the sugarcane fields, and beat him into a coma. Oscar's family takes him back to the United States to heal. Oscar recovers from the beating, borrows money from Yunior, and returns to the Dominican Republic. He spends 27 days writing and stalking Ybon. She is horrified at first but softens and eventually has sex with Oscar. Ybon's boyfriend's goons then find Oscar, take him back to the sugarcane fields, and kill him. Flashbacks and secondary narratives. The novel contains significant exposition on Oscar's family history. One section is a first person narrative from the perspective of Oscar's sister, Lola, explaining her struggles to get along with their headstrong mother, Beli. Subsequent sections detail Beli's backstory growing up as an orphan in the Dominican Republic after her father was imprisoned and her mother and two sisters died. Her father was imprisoned after failing to bring his wife and daughter to meet some government officials, as he fears they will be taken by them. After being raised by an aunt, Beli enters into a relationship with a Gangster named Dionisio. Style. Narration. Instead of Díaz directly telling the story to the reader, he creates an aesthetic distance by speaking through the novel's narrator Yunior. Yunior provides analysis and commentary for the events he is relaying in the novel. His speech often exemplifies code switching, switching rapidly from a lively, Caribbean-inflected vernacular, replete with frequent usage of profanity to wordy, eloquent, and academic prose. This runs in parallel to several central themes of the novel regarding identity, as Yunior's code switching alludes to a struggle between his Dominican identity and his identity as a writer. Code switching between Spanish and English is also central to the narrative itself of the book, as characters switch back and forth as they see fit. The narration of the book also shifts away from Yunior to another character at several key moments in the story. In chapter two, Lola narrates her own story from the first person. This is foreshadowing of the intimacy between Lola and Yunior yet to come. The beginning of chapter two also features the use of second person narration, rarely used in literature. Díaz's use of Yunior as the main narrator of the book strengthens the idea of the novel as metafiction. Yunior reminds the reader consistently that he is telling the story, as opposed to the story happening in its own right. Footnotes. "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" makes extensive use of footnotes to the point that many of the characters are developed in the footnotes in addition to the story. Rather than just provide factual background, Yunior's narrative continues in the footnotes just as it does in the body of the novel. When describing Oscar's deep love of science fiction and fantasy literature, Yunior continues in the footnotes: "Where this outsized love of genre jumped off from no one quite seems to know. It might have been a consequence being Antillean (who more sci-fi than us?) ..." The presence of Yunior's footnotes, therefore, remind the reader that there is always more to one's story. Yunior even makes reference in the footnotes to his present life earlier in the novel than when he describes it in Chapter Eight. "In my first draft, Samaná was actually Jarabacoa, but then my girl Leonie, resident expert in all things Domo, pointed out that there are no beaches in Jarabacoa." Yunior thus builds the writing of the novel and his relationship with Oscar into the greater history of the Dominican Republic. The many science fiction references throughout the novel and footnotes emphasize (Yunior believes) the fantastical elements of Dominican history. Yunior cites the fall of Mordor and the dispelling of evil from Middle Earth from "The Lord of the Rings" as a complement to the fall of Trujillo. The footnotes contain many references specifically to the reign of Rafael Trujillo from 1930 to 1961, providing historical background on figures like the Mirabal Sisters, who were assassinated by Trujillo, and Anacaona, an indigenous woman who fought against the invading Spanish colonialists. While referencing historical figures, Yunior frequently includes the novel's fictional characters in the historical events. "But what was even more ironic was that Abelard had a reputation for being able to keep his head down during the worst of the regime's madness—for unseeing, as it were. In 1937, for example, while the Friends of the Dominican Republic were perejiling Haitians and Haitian-Dominicans and Haitian-looking Dominicans to death, while genocide was, in fact, in the making, Abelard kept his head, eyes, and nose safely tucked into his books (let his wife take care of hiding his servants, didn't ask her nothing about it) and when survivors staggered into his surgery with unspeakable machete wounds, he fixed them up as best he could without making any comments as to the ghastliness of their wounds." Yunior thus builds a context for the Dominican history, where the characters are used just as much in the footnotes as they are in the body of the novel. Many of the footnotes ultimately connect back to themes of coming to a new world (underscored through the novel's references to fantasy and sci-fi) or having one's own world completely changed. Trujillo's reign as revealed in the footnotes of the novel becomes just as dystopian as one of Oscar's favorite science fiction novels. Slang. Díaz moves between several styles in the novel as the narrative shifts to each of the characters. Oscar's speech reflects an autodidactic language based on his knowledge of fantasy, 'nerd' literature and his speech is filled with phrases such as "I think she's orchidaceous" and "I do not move so precipitously", whereas Yunior "affects a bilingual b-boy flow" and intersperses it with literary language. The story of the De Léon family is told and collected by the fictional narrator Yunior and the "New York Times" critic Michiko Kakutani has described the voice of the book as "a streetwise brand of Spanglish". He often gives his own commentary and analysis on the events he is relating in the story and sometimes reveals failings in his own life, both as a narrator and a person: "Players: never never never fuck with a bitch named Awilda. Because when she awildas out on your ass you'll know pain for real." His informal and frequent use of neologisms can be seen in sentences such as a description of Trujillo as "the Dictatingest Dictator who ever Dictated" or his description of the effectiveness of Trujillo's secret police force: "you could say a bad thing about El Jefe at eight-forty in the morning and before the clock struck ten you'd be in the Cuarenta having a cattleprod shoved up your ass." "Oscar Wao" also oscillates between English and Spanish. Yunior peppers the English-speaking novel with Spanish vocabulary and phrases and certain English sentences are built with Spanish syntax: "Beli might have been a puta major in the cosmology of her neighbors but a cuero she was not." Oscar lives his life surrounded by the culture of fantasy and as Oscar describes them, "the more speculative genres", and the language of these cultures is strewn throughout the book along with Spanish. Brief phrases relating to games like Dungeons & Dragons and tabletop role-playing game terms are used as common colloquialisms: "He [Oscar] could have refused, could have made a saving throw against Torture, but instead he went with the flow." Magical realism. The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao contains several of the hallmarks of Latin American Magical Realism. The novel's plot is intricately bound up with the notion of Fukú Americanus, which is "generally a curse of doom of some kind; specifically, the Curse or Doom of the New World". The reliance on Fukú, and its counterpart Zafa gives the novel a fantastical element which show magical realisms part in the plot, as the narrative follows the impact of the supernatural curse. This is coupled with other supernatural elements such as the man with no face and the mongoose. The fantastical elements of the novel take place in both New Jersey and in the Dominican Republic. This combination establishes a real world setting for these events which blends the natural with the supernatural, another attribute of Magical Realism. In addition of the fantastical elements of the novel, Oscar Wao also includes a degree of political critique, in the discussion of the Trujillo dictatorship of the Dominican Republic, as well as a portrayal of metafiction, in Oscar's own writing on fantasy novels. Both political critique and metafiction are typical features of Magical Realism. Díaz also hints at the novels Magical Realist elements by claiming that Fúku was popular in places like Macondo, which is the fictional setting for One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, which is seen as one of the most prominent Latin American Magical Realist novels. Speculative fiction. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao can be used as an example of speculative fiction. "Speculative fiction" is a sub-category of fiction that deals with ideas that are not directly real, but rather imaginative or futuristic. The plot of this novel skips from past to present and focuses on different characters' stories at various times in order to convey the long-lasting impression that Rafael Trujillo's dictatorship in the Dominican Republic from 1930 to 1961 left. In order to emphasize the brutality of the past, the novel blends aspects of sci-fi and fantasy with horror as well as popular culture. By combining all of these elements, Diaz creates a work of speculative fiction that holds various social critiques. Using Trujillo as a minor character. The novel uses history to set the scene and create its social and political commentary. The basis of all of the problems that arise in this novel is the US-sponsored dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo that lasted for over thirty years. Junot Diaz surely includes Trujillo as a character in the story, but limits his representation to descriptions that come from Yunior's perspective. Because of this, Trujillo has an important role in the story, but is ultimately weakened due to the given perspective. Diaz creates irony using this strong dictator as a minor character and focusing on the characters that would have otherwise been marginalized. This arrangement destabilizes established power hierarchies, putting more emphasis on the seemingly least powerful characters and taking power away from the most prominent and infamous characters. Furthermore, when Trujillo is referenced by Yunior in his narration, the descriptions are entirely negative. Yunior's references show little respect and are meant to belittle Trujillo's presence in the story. By actively disparaging the brutal dictator, Diaz breaks social and cultural norms about how common people function in a power hierarchy. Yunior is given the power to represent Trujillo which lessens Trujillos dominance in the power scale, allowing the novel to have a strong stance against the dictatorship, stripping Trujillo of the meaning behind his title. Overall, making Trujillo the minor character allows Trujillo to be seen as more of a joke than a strong leader while also enforcing the seriousness and long-lasting effects of his power. Lola's Daughter. Throughout the novel, Diaz uses metaphors and symbols to present Dominican history as well as the fuku curse. Lola is Oscar's older sister, and her daughter serves as a symbol of the potential to break the fuku curse. Lola's daughter is a character that holds the future for the De Leon family and symbolically the entire Dominican culture. She symbolizes the Dominican identity struggle of growing up with two cultural ties, that of the Dominican Republic and that of the United States. Although in the story her character does not know her own role, she must accept and embrace her Dominican culture to break the curse. This sense of uncertainty towards this fantastical curse allows the novel to speculate as to how it can be broken. The curse itself is meant to be a defining factor of Dominican culture. Diaz ties in Lola's daughters character with breaking the curse to show that the future of Dominican culture is to be defined by aspects others that a history of oppression and colonization. The idea that an individual has the power the change the effects of the curse in their own life is a way for the novel to show that Dominican culture can be changed in a way that marginalized people can have power. Yunior as the narrator. Although Yunior is the narrator of the story, and everything that is said comes from his perspective, the story revolves around the unlikely hero, Oscar. Oscar is a shy, overweight teenager who loves to read and write science fiction and fantasy and is searching for love. He is constantly deemed not masculine enough by those around him, and he does not follow the norms of his Dominican culture. He too is affected by the fuku curse that stems from a long history of oppression, and the only way for him to break free is to acknowledge his own culture while also adapting to his new surroundings in the United States. Oscar's character's love for science fiction allows Diaz to intertwine metaphors from the science fiction realm such as that of "Watchmen". This reference allows Diaz to propose the question of whether or not it is just to 'save humanity' by killing a human and make parallels to Oscar's decision running away with Ybon as well as the future of Dominican culture and history. By referencing "nothing ever ends" on page 331 in the novel, Diaz proposes that the past cannot be changed, but must ultimately be accepted in order to create a better future and reclaim the culture. Oscar's story is not the only one that Yunior tells. Yunior covers multiple generations of the De Leon family history in order to emphasize the transgenerational struggles and the inheritance of the fuku curse. Because of the way that the story is narrated, the readers get a comprehensive view of the cultural factors that surround Oscar that ultimately lead to his tragic death. Diaz shows that the mistakes made in Oscar's family lead to Oscar's fate, providing a cautionary tale for the future of Dominican culture in a fantastical context. Furthermore, Yunior recounts the stories and history of a family that is not his own. He is invested with the telling of their story, but is simultaneously reserved. He even admits that as the one telling the story, he holds a certain amount of power. By reconstructing the De Leon family story, and not letting the characters speak for themselves, Yunior subconsciously follows the 'Trujillan model of narration', suppressing their own stories for his own mental gain whether it be a recreated connection to Lola, his ex-girlfriend or Oscar, his friend. Even when talking about Oscar, Yunior does not focus on the fact that he is nerdy and does not hide it, but rather makes allusions to science fiction and fantasy works that Oscar would be familiar with. Yunior also shows that he and Oscar were not so different after all, but the difference was in the fact that Oscar was not able to hide the fact that he was an outcast while Yunior was able to fit in while keeping his unique qualities and interests to himself. Themes and motifs. The mongoose. Mongooses appear throughout "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" as guardians of the family. Historically, the mongoose was imported from Asia during the 18th century. Mongooses were imported to tropical islands such as the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Hawaii. Used to protect sugar cane fields from rat infestations, mongooses were pivotal in the DR's growing sugar economy. While the mongoose is transplanted from Asia, it retroactively becomes a "norm" within the DR's plantation system. While the mongoose guides Beli, its presence is necessary for sugar production. The mongoose is known for its sociability and cunning. Like the de Leon family, the mongoose is an immigrant, an invasive, non-native species. The mongoose was transplanted westward to the Dominican Republic, just as Oscar's family was forced out of the Dominican Republic. Díaz has stated the importance of the mongoose as being alien, creating an other-worldly quality to its assistance. Furthermore, in a footnote, the mongoose is described as "an enemy of kingly charriots, chains, and hierarchies... an ally of Man", suggesting the mongoose's importance in helping the de Leon family not just for their misfortune but also as a means of undermining Trujillo's oppression. At the most superficial level, the mongoose can be equated with the zafa, the counter-spell to the family's fukú. For example, when Beli is beaten in the canefield, a "creature that would have been an amiable mongoose if not for its golden lion eyes and the absolute black of its pelt" motivates Beli and sings to her to guide her out of the canefield. The creature acts as her protector, saving her after the atrocities just committed against her. The mongoose further stops a bus directly in front of her, preventing her from being hit and providing her transportation to safety. Similarly, Oscar remembers a "Golden Mongoose" which appeared just before he throws himself from the bridge and again when he is beaten in the canefield for the first time. In the canefield, the mongoose talks to Oscar and saves him just as Beli was saved. Furthermore, just as the singing mongoose leads Beli to safety, a singing voice leads Clives to Oscar. This symbolic relationship is heightened by the transient nature of the mongoose, disappearing as suddenly as it appears. Each time the mysterious animal appears in a time of dire need, the narrator includes a disclaimer on the accuracy in the visions of the creature. In the case of Beli in the cane fields, the narrator shares that whether her encounter with the mongoose "was a figment of Beli's wracked imagination or something else altogether" cannot be determined (149). Whether or not this creature is a figment of the young woman's imagination, it led her to safety and provided hope in a situation where death seemed imminent. In having this character take on such a surreal nature with characteristics not found in most mongooses, such as the ability to talk and vanishing in the blink of an eye, Díaz establishes an uncertainty that mirrors the controversies over whether superstitions exist. While the encounters with the creature may or may not have happened, their significance in the book still holds strong just like the superstitions, because "no matter what you believe, the fukú believes in you" (5). The connection between a superstition and a magical character is more easily followed than one with an ordinary animal, highlighting the mongoose being a zafa against the de Leon's fukú. Canefields. The re/appearances of canefields in Oscar Wao are symbolic. The scenes of physical violence against Beli and Oscar are set in this specific, geographical space of the sugar canefields. Sugar was introduced to the Dominican Republic and Haiti, then Hispaniola, through colonialism. Sugar and canefields were so important to the Spanish as they fueled their wealth and the creation of a white elite, and thus plantation economy, in Hispaniola. They first appear when Beli is kidnapped and taken to be beaten in a canefield. Here, the canefields are surrounded by the context of the Trujillato. After (unknowingly) becoming involved with Trujillo's sister's husband, The Gangster's men assault Beli there. The canefields are thus a violent space where Trujillo's henchpeople also take care of business. As written in footnotes, the Mirabal sisters were murdered there, too. In this section of the book Yunior says, "Canefields are no fucking joke, and even the cleverest of adults can get mazed in their endlessness, only to reappear months later as a cameo of bones". Much later, after Oscar returns home to La Inca's to try to be with Ybón, he also ends up assaulted in a canefield, but this time by the Capitan's friends. A lot of the emotions and the atmosphere laid out in Oscar's canefield scene parallels Beli's. The canefields in the Dominican Republic are a space made significant through their history of slavery and violence—a racialized space. Canefields are where enslaved Africans were forced into labor and dehumanization. These Beli and Oscar canefield scenes are haunted by the displacement and violence against enslaved Africans, the displacement and genocide of indigenous folks, and also the revolts and resistance to these systems. Power of appearance. Beli understood how advantageous appearance is in the social situations of the Dominican Republic, but not until she had undergone major physical and psychological changes. Beli desired the same romantic experience as Oscar, despising school in her early years from being "completely alone" (83). Her loneliness derived from her "defensive and aggressive and mad overactive" personality that pushed people miles away from her. Unlike Oscar, however, her predicament reversed, becoming not one of a lack of power, but an abundance. She had to choose whether or not to take advantage of her new curvaceous body which puberty had generously bestowed upon her. With these new curves she was thrown into a world where she could get what she wanted, where she was given attention without having to ask for it. Her model-like body presented her with the relationships that she could have never attained otherwise. After recovering from her initial shock of the metamorphosis, she discovered how "her desirability was in its own way, Power" (94). She had been presented with a magical sceptre that allowed her to satisfy her desires. Asking her not to abuse that power was akin to, as Díaz says it "asking the persecuted fat kid not to use his recently discovered mutant abilities" (94). By utilizing her appearance, she gained a complete understanding of the influences of her body. The power of appearance in the era of Trujillo can not be underestimated, as seen by its dangerous consequences in the de León family history. Abelard Luis Cabral, Oscar's grandfather, learned this first hand after repeatedly refusing to bring his first-born daughter Jacquelyn to Trujillo's events. Trujillo's rapacity towards women knew no bounds, employing "hundreds of spies whose entire job was to scour the provinces for his next piece of ass" (217). Trujillo's appetite for ass was "insatiable" (217), pushing him to do unspeakable things. His culture of placing appearance above all else does nothing to deemphasize appearance in Dominican culture, seeing as in a normal political atmosphere people follow their leaders, much less in the tightly controlled Trujillan dictatorship. Abelard, by withholding his daughter's "off-the-hook looks" (216) from Trujillo, he was in effect committing "treason" (217). His actions eventually resulted in Trujillo arranging for his arrest and eighteen-year sentence, where he was brutally beaten and treated to an endless series of electric shock treatments (237). During his imprisonment, Socorro committed suicide, Jackie "was found drowned" in a pool, Astrid is struck by a stray bullet, and his third child is born (248-250). Abelard and Socorro's third child, a daughter they name Belicia, was born "black", a terrible thing for the Dominicans, who viewed having a child of "black complexion as an ill omen" (248). They felt so strongly about this that Yunior, offering his own opinion, comments "I doubt anybody inside the family wanted her to live, either" (252). She eventually was tossed around the extended family and eventually "sold", yes "That's right-she was sold" (253). All of these tragedies as a result of the desire for a beautiful young lady, a by product of the preeminence given to physical appearance. Even under Trujillo, however, the power of appearance is called into the question, as appearance's power ultimately takes second place to the power of words. Cabral is incarcerated, tortured and almost destroyed at least in part as a result of words he has spoken and written, and Trujillo has Cabral's entire library, including any sample of his handwriting, destroyed. As Trujillo never attempts to sleep with Jackie, the narrator and reader are left to wonder if at some level the motivation for this family ruin has to do with silencing a powerful voice. Reexamining masculinity through Yunior and Oscar. Yunior and Oscar are character foils that illustrate two different types of masculinity: if Oscar's nerdiness, fatness and awkwardness make him the antithesis of Dominican hypermasculinity, then Yunior, as a Don Juan and a state school player who can "bench 340 pounds" (170), is the embodiment of that identity. They also have completely opposite values: while Yunior cheats habitually and can't appreciate even the most beautiful and loving women, Oscar is faithful and sees beauty in a middle-aged prostitute; while Yunior doesn't value sex for anything other than physical pleasure (at least not at first), Oscar refuses to go to brothels (279). Yunior's masculinity echoes that of Trujillo, who in his violent actions and lust for women, also embodies Dominican hypermasculinity. Despite their differences, Yunior and Oscar become important to each other and develop an unusual friendship. As Oscar has no father or brothers, Yunior is the only male with whom he can discuss his romantic yearnings; Yunior is his access into masculinity. As for Yunior, Oscar models an alternative form of masculinity and ultimately pushes him to reexamine his ideas about manhood. VanBeest points out that in spite Oscar's lack of machismo, he possesses "other masculine traits that Yunior admires." For example, Yunior envies the way Oscar can develop friendships with women (like Jenni) and talk to them about non-sexual topics. He also respects Oscar's writing style and his ability to "write dialogue, crack snappy exposition, keep the narrative moving" (173). Finally, although Oscar dies in the end, Yunior admires how he was able to achieve real intimacy with a girl by being loving, faithful and vulnerable. VanBeest argues that Oscar "succeeds in educating Yunior, indirectly, in the responsibilities of manhood; after Oscar's death, Yunior claims that it is Oscar's influence that encourages him to stop following the dictates of el machismo and finally settle down and get married." At the end of the novel, Yunior manages to develop a healthier form of masculinity that allows him to love others and to achieve intimacy. Through Yunior and Oscar's friendship, Díaz critically examines Dominican machismo and shows how it can lead to violence and an inability to connect with others. Through the figure of Oscar, he explores alternatives to hypermasculinity. If "fukú" is "[the] manifestation of the masculine ideals imposed on the Dominican Republic herself," then is Oscar the zafa of this fukú. Filling the blank pages – stories as "zafa" for the fukú of violence. Throughout the novel, violence is transmitted from the system of colonialism and dictators to the domestic sphere and perpetuated through the generations. Virtually all the relationships in the book – Trujillo and Abelard, Beli and the Gangster, Beli and Lola, Oscar and Ybón – are marked with physical or emotional abuse. Violence is an aspect of the "fukú" or curse that haunts the Cabrals and de Leons. At the very beginning of the novel, it is explained that zafa is the "one way to prevent disaster from coiling around you, only one surefire counterspell that would keep you and your family safe" (7). In this way, zafa can be read as an undoing of colonialism because as fuku brings misery and bad luck, zafa has the potential to foil it and restore a more favorable balance. Although by the end none of the characters seem to have escaped the cycle of violence or the effects of fukú, Yunior has a dream in which Oscar waves a blank book at him, and he realizes that this can be a "zafa" (325) to the family curse. Yunior also has hope that Isis, Lola's daughter, will one day come to him asking for stories about her family history, and "if she's smart and as brave as I'm expecting she'll be, she'll take all we've done and all we've learned and add her own insights and she'll put an end to it [the fukú]" (331). Thus, the empty pages in Yunior's dreams signify that the future has yet to be written despite the checkered past, in both his life and in the painful history of oppression and colonialism in the Dominican Republic. On the other hand, Isis potentially coming to Yunior to learn more about her uncle represents gaining an understanding of the past, which is key to decolonizing and pinpointing the structures that are systematically oppressive. Yunior implies that storytelling is a way to acknowledge the past and its influence over one's life, a way to make sense of what has happened, and is the starting point for healing. With the absence of any embodiments of white characters to emphasize the lasting impact of the colonial imaginary, the mysticism behind the fuku and zafa become that much more convincing. When interpreted as magic instead of as the literal actions of white people, the fuku and zafa transcend human beings and remind us that even when colonialism is not particularly obvious, it is a force that looms over all, and its effects must first be confronted before anyone can take action accordingly, as Yunior's dream suggests. In an interview with Edwidge Danticat, Junot Díaz comments: "For me, though, the real issue in the book is not whether or not one can vanquish the fukú—but whether or not one can even see it. Acknowledge its existence at a collective level. To be a true witness to who we are as a people and to what has happened to us. That is the essential challenge for the Caribbean nations—who, as you pointed out, have been annihilated by history and yet who've managed to put themselves together in an amazing way. That's why I thought the book was somewhat hopeful at the end." Literary allusions. Comic books, science-fiction, and fantasy literature all play an important role in Oscar's upbringing and identity, and each is incorporated into the novel to reflect the world he lives in. Díaz has said that to dismiss the novel's reflexivity with fiction and fantasy is to do to the novel "exactly what Oscar suffered from, which is that...Oscar's interests, his views of the world, were dismissed as illegitimate, as unimportant, as make-believe", and that the novel asks the reader "to take not only Oscar seriously but his interests seriously." Comic books. The novel opens with the epigraph: "Of what import are brief, nameless lives…to Galactus?" Díaz has said that this question can be read as being directed at the reader, "because in some ways, depending on how you answer that question, it really decides whether you're Galactus or not." In the Fantastic Four comic book however, Galactus is asking the question of Uatu the Watcher, whose role is played out in Díaz's novel by the narrator Yunior, indicating to Díaz that the question is both a "question to the reader but also a question to writers in general." Early in the novel, Díaz aligns Oscar with comic book superheroes: "You want to know what being an X-man feels like? Just be a smart bookish boy of color in a contemporary U.S. ghetto...Like having bat wings or a pair of tentacles growing out of your chest." Díaz hints at possible latent abilities or qualities Oscar may possess that will reveal themselves or develop later in the novel. The novel describes the history of relationships between dictators and journalists in terms of comic book rivalries as well: "Since before the infamous Caesar-Ovid war they've [dictators and writers] had beef. Like the Fantastic Four and Galactus, like the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, like the Teen Titans and Deathstroke" There is also a strong suggestion that the fantastical element of Oscar's life is a powerful method for him to relate to other people and to the world around him. When he examines his own body in the mirror he feels "straight out of a Daniel Clowes book. Or like the fat blackish kid in Beto Hernández's Palomar." Oscar's vast memory of comic books and Fantasy/Science-fiction is recalled whenever he is involved in the text, and his identity is multiform, composed of scraps of comic book marginalia. Díaz creates a distinct link between human beings' performative nature and the masks required to express it, and the masks worn by superheroes. When Oscar meets Ana, one of the many women with whom he falls in love, he notices different aspects of her life and "there was something in the seamlessness with which she switched between these aspects that convinced him that both were masks". Díaz connects the removal of masks with both the intimacy that springs from vulnerability and the concept of identity, hidden or otherwise. Oscar's infinite capacity for empathy and connection with other human beings is a superpower in its own right. Contemporary masculinity and contemporary power structures leave no room for vulnerability, but for Díaz, "the only way to encounter a human is by being vulnerable." The "man with no face" who reoccurs in several parts of the novel can also be read as a sort of mask embodying the fukú. Fantasy and science-fiction. Díaz frequently uses references to works of science-fiction and fantasy. These references serve both to illuminate the world that Oscar lives in and create a parallel between the supernatural events in fantasy literature and the history of the Dominican Republic. In the opening pages of the novel, the narrator quotes Oscar as having said "What more sci-fi than Santo Domingo? What more fantasy than the Antilles?" One of Díaz's frequent references to J. R. R. Tolkien comes when he describes Trujillo: "Homeboy dominated Santo Domingo like it was his very own private Mordor." In another section, Felix Wenceslao Bernardino, an agent of Trujillo is metaphorically described as the Witchking of Angmar. Near the end of the book Diáz comprehensively links the fantasy world of Middle-Earth with the world of the Dominican Republic and the novel. Twice in the novel the mantra "Fear is the mindkiller" is repeated. The phrase originated in the Frank Herbert novel "Dune" and Oscar uses it to try and quell his own fear near the end of the story, to no avail. Also, Díaz references Stephen King on a number of occasions, including a reference to Captain Trips, the fictional virus that wipes out mankind in The Stand, as well as two references to its characters, Harold Lauder, compared to Oscar, and to Mother Abigail, compared to La Inca. Likewise, there is a mention of being "flung into the macroverse" by "the ritual of Chud", a nod to the ending of It. Critical reception. "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" was widely praised and appeared in a number of "best of the year" book lists. The book won the John Sargent, Sr. First Novel Prize, the Dayton Peace Prize in Fiction, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2008. "New York" magazine named it the Best Novel of the Year and "Time" magazine's Lev Grossman named it the best work of fiction published in 2007, praising it as "a massive, heaving, sparking tragicomedy". In a poll of American literary critics organised by BBC Culture (the arts and culture section of the international BBC website) in 2015, "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" was voted the twenty-first century's best novel so far. In a 2009 poll by "The Millions" a panel of writers, critics, and editors voted "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" the eighth-best novel since 2000, and readers ranked it in first place. Adaptations. A staged version of the novel, called Fukú Americanus, was adapted by Sean San Jose and co-directed by San Jose and Marc Bamuthi Joseph through San Jose's Campo Santo theatre company in 2009. The production received mixed reviews, with critic Robert Hurwitt stating that "'Fukú' doesn't show us how that works or what the curse has to do with anything ... for that, you have to read the book." In 2019, Repertorio Español produced "La Breve y Maravillosa Vida de Oscar Wao", a Spanish-language adaptation of the novel at Gramercy Arts Theatre in New York. Film. The novel's film rights were optioned by Miramax Films and producer Scott Rudin in 2007. Director Walter Salles and writer Jose Rivera ("The Motorcycle Diaries") were hired by Rudin to adapt the novel. According to Díaz, Miramax's rights on the book have since expired.

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Jagari Jagari or Jagori (, English: "The Vigil" or "Awake") is a Bengali novel written by Satinath Bhaduri. The novel is considered to be a master-piece of Indian literature and it was first published in 1945. It is a semi-autobiographical novel and it is set the 1940s's during the Quit India Movement. Plot. The novel is written in first-person narrative, but from four different people's point of view. During India's freedom movement Bilu, an Indian revolutionary is sentenced to death. The novel starts in the jail custody at the last night before the convict is to be hanged. The first chapter is written from that Bilu's perspective, where he narrates his own life and experiences. It also tells the inhuman trials and tortures he faced. The second, third and fourth chapter narrate the same story from his father, mother and brother's perspectives. All of them await the capital punishment while explaining their own thoughts, anxiety and experiences. Theme. The novel is written in the background of the Quit India Movement (1942). It narrates common Bengali people's involvement in India's freedom movement. Satinath Bhaduri had direct experience of contemporary Indian politics and the Quit India movement. He added many autobiographical elements in the plot. Publication. The novel was first published in 1945. It was author's debut novel. Right after the publication it became popular among Bengali readers. Sisir Kumar Das, in his book "History of Indian Literature: 1911-1956, struggle for freedom : triumph and tragedy" wrote that this novel is "one of the finest political novel" written in Bengali. In a 2014 "Scroll.in" article, the novel was included in one of the "five must-read books of Bengali literature". Awards. The book received the following awards:

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Talking It Over Talking It Over is a novel by Julian Barnes published in 1991, it won the Prix Femina Étranger the following year. It concerns a love triangle in which each of the three people concerned (and occasionally others) take it in turns to tell the story from their perspective using first person narrative. Stuart and Oliver have been best friends since school but are opposite in character, Stuart is insecure and slightly nerdy, Oliver is a flamboyant loser prone to elaborate witticisms. But it is Stuart who gets the girl, Gillian. At their wedding though, best man Oliver falls in love with her and plots to win the end-game. The story is continued in the novel "Love, etc" set 10 years later. Film Adaptation. In 1996 "Talking it Over" was adapted into a French film also called Love Etc. starring Yvan Attal, Charles Berling and Charlotte Gainsbourg.

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Herzog (novel) Herzog is a 1964 novel by Saul Bellow, composed in part of letters from the protagonist Moses E. Herzog. It won the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction and the Prix International. In 2005, "Time" magazine named it one of the 100 best novels in the English language since "Time"'s founding in 1923. Plot summary. "Herzog" is set in 1964 in the United States, and is about the midlife crisis of a Jewish man named Moses E. Herzog. At the age of forty-seven, he is just emerging from his second divorce, this one particularly acrimonious. He has two children, one by each wife, who are growing up without him. His career as a writer and an academic has floundered. He is in a relationship with a vibrant woman, Ramona, but finds himself running away from commitment. Herzog's second marriage, to the demanding, manipulative Madeleine, has recently ended in a humiliating fashion. While still actively married, Madeleine convinced Moses to move her and their daughter Junie to Chicago, and to arrange for their best friends, Valentine and Phoebe Gersbach, to move as well, securing a solid job for Valentine. However, the plans were all a ruse, as Madeleine and Valentine were carrying on an affair behind Moses's back, and shortly after arriving in Chicago, Madeleine throws Herzog out, secures a restraining order (of sorts) against him, and attempts to have him committed to an asylum. Herzog spends much of his time mentally writing letters he never sends. These letters are aimed at friends, family members, and famous figures. The recipients may be dead, and Herzog has often never met them. The one common thread is that Herzog is always expressing disappointment, either his own in the failings of others or their words, or apologizing for the way he has disappointed others. The novel opens with Herzog in his house in Ludeyville, a (fictional) town in the Berkshires in western Massachusetts. He is contemplating returning to New York to see Ramona, but instead flees to Martha's Vineyard to visit some friends. He arrives at their house, but writes a note – this one an actual note – saying that he has to leave: He heads to New York to start trying to finish that business, which includes regaining custody of his daughter Junie. After spending a night with Ramona, he heads to the courthouse to discuss his plans with his lawyer. He ends up witnessing a series of tragicomic court hearings, including one where a woman is charged with beating her three-year-old to death by flinging him against a wall. Moses, already distraught after receiving a letter from Junie's babysitter about an incident in which Valentine locked Junie in the car while he and Madeleine argued inside the house, heads to Chicago. He goes to his stepmother's house and picks up an antique pistol with two bullets in it, forming a vague plan to kill Madeleine and Valentine and run off with Junie. The plan goes awry when he sees Valentine giving Junie a bath and realizes that Junie is in no danger. The next day, after taking his daughter to the aquarium, Herzog crashes his car and is charged with possession of a loaded weapon. His brother, the rational Will, picks him up and tries to get him back on his feet. Herzog heads to Ludeyville, where his brother meets him and tries to convince him to check himself into an institution. But Herzog, who has previously considered doing just that, is now coming to terms with his life. Ramona comes up to join him for dinner – much to Will's surprise – and Herzog begins making plans to fix up the house, which, like his life, needs repair but is still structurally sound. Herzog closes by saying that he doesn't need to write any more letters. Through the flashbacks that litter the novel, other critical details of Herzog's life come to light, including his marriage to the stable Daisy and the existence of their son, Marco; the life of Herzog's father, a failure at every job he tried; and Herzog's sexual molestation by a stranger on a street in Chicago. Style. "People don't realize how much they are in the grip of ideas", Bellow once wrote. "We live among ideas much more than we live in nature." Herzog is such a person. In fact, he considers his addiction to ideas to be his greatest virtue. Herzog's ideas, as expressed in his letters, are brilliant and seductive; "After "Herzog"", the New York Times book reviewer exulted, "no writer need pretend in his fiction that his education stopped in the eighth grade." But, said Bellow in an interview, Herzog "comes to realize at last that what he considers his intellectual 'privilege' has proved to be another form of bondage." It is only when he has loosened this bondage and gotten in touch with the "primordial person" who exists outside this ideology that Herzog can "achieve the experience of authentic being." The story is told entirely from Herzog's point of view, alternating between first-person and third person. Of the hero's pervasive consciousness, Irving Howe wrote: "We are made captive in the world of Herzog... the consciousness of the character forms the enclosing medium of the novel." In typical Bellow style, the descriptions of characters' emotions and physical features are rich in wit and energy. Herzog's relationships are the central theme of the novel, not just with women and friends, but also society and himself. Herzog's own thoughts and thought processes are laid bare in the letters he writes. As the novel progresses, the letters (represented in italics) become fewer and fewer. This seems to mirror the healing of the narrator's mind, as his attention turns from his inner struggles and the intellectual ideas that fascinate him towards the real world outside and the real options offered by his current situation – not having to be a scholar, the possibility of starting afresh with Ramona, and so on. Autobiographical elements. The character of Herzog in many ways echoes a fictionalized Saul Bellow. Both Herzog and Bellow grew up in Canada, the sons of bootleggers who had emigrated from Russia (St. Petersburg). Both are Jewish, lived in Chicago for significant periods of time, and were divorced twice (at the time of writing; Bellow would go on to divorce four of his five wives). Herzog is nearly the same age that Bellow was when he wrote the novel. The character of Valentine Gersbach is based on Jack Ludwig, a long-time friend of Bellow who had an affair with Bellow's second wife, Sondra. Similarly, Ramona is based on Rosette Lamont, a professor of French whom Bellow dated after divorcing his second wife Sasha Tschacbasov. Both Lamont and Ludwig reviewed "Herzog" without mentioning the autobiographical elements, the latter favorably describing it as "a major breakthrough". Asked about these similarities, Bellow said "I don't know that that sort of thing is really relevant. I mean, it's a curiosity about reality which is "impure", let's put it that way. Let's both be bigger than that."

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If There Be Thorns If There Be Thorns is a novel by Virginia C. Andrews which was published in 1981. It is the third book in the Dollanganger series. The story takes place in the year 1982. There was a Lifetime movie of the same name that premiered on April 5, 2015 (Easter). Plot. The book is narrated by two half-brothers, Jory and Bart Sheffield. Jory is a handsome, talented fourteen-year-old boy who wants to follow his mother Cathy in her career in the ballet, while nine-year old Bart, who sees himself as plain and clumsy, feels inferior to his brother. Bart spends his time in his own world of pretend—often covering bad things that he does with fantasies he creates. He also has congenital analgesia and cannot feel pain as a result, putting him at serious risk of injury or death by infection. By now, Cathy and Chris live together as husband and wife. To hide their history, they tell the boys and other people they know that Chris was Paul's younger brother. Cathy and Chris have a passionate and very loving relationship, described by Bart who has accidentally witnessed encounters between them. Cathy is a loving mother to her sons, but shows some favoritism towards Jory. Unable to have more children, Cathy adopts Cindy, the two-year-old daughter of one of her former dance students who was killed in an accident. She longs to have a girl, as well as a child that is hers and Christopher's. Initially against it, Chris comes to accept Cindy, and Jory does as well, but Bart is very upset and resentful. Lonely from all the attention Jory and Cindy are receiving, Bart befriends the new elderly next door neighbor, who invites him over for cookies and ice cream and encourages him to call her "Grandmother." Jory eventually goes next door as well to see whom Bart keeps visiting, only to have the old lady tell him that she is actually his grandmother. Jory initially doesn't believe her, and avoids her at all costs. Bart, on the other hand, soon develops an affectionate friendship with the old woman, and she does her best to give Bart whatever he wants while making Bart promise to keep her gifts—and their relationship—a secret from his mother. The old lady's butler, John Amos, also seems to befriend Bart, but soon John Amos begins to fill Bart's mind with stories about the sinful nature of women. John Amos reveals that the old woman is truly Bart's grandmother, Corrine Foxworth Dollanganger. He also gives Bart a diary that belonged to Bart's biological great-grandfather, Malcolm Foxworth, claiming that this journal will help Bart become as powerful and successful as Malcolm. Bart begins to pretend that he is his great-grandfather, who hated women and was obsessed with their degradation. He becomes destructive and violent towards his parents and siblings; he kicks Jory in the privates, and even tries to drown Cindy in her baby pool. Jory's dog, Clover, comes up missing and is later found dead with a piece of barbed wire twisted about his neck. Bart's family notice the changes but only Jory suspects that the mysterious woman next door is responsible. At the same time, Jory starts to become suspicious of his parents' relationship. Although amazed by their love, which he describes as intense and affectionate, he notices their family resemblance and wonders why his mother would marry Paul, who was much older than her, before Chris. After Bart becomes ill from tetanus (the result of his cutting his knee on a rusty nail) and nearly dies, Jory finally tells Chris of his suspicions about the lady next door. When they confront her, Chris realises that the old lady is his mother, who pleads with him to forgive her. Indifferent to her pleas, Chris orders her to stay away from their family, especially Bart but decides not to tell Cathy about what happened, knowing Cathy's feelings about their mother might result in a violent confrontation. At the same time, Cathy is injured in an accident and told that she will never dance again. Confined to her wheelchair, she begins to write out the story of her life. Bart filches his mother's manuscript pages and is enraged to learn the truth about his parents: Cathy and Chris are brother and sister, and his grandmother locked them in an attic for years, slowly poisoning them to gain an inheritance. The news causes Bart to cling to the only person who has not yet lied to him: John Amos. He proudly calls his parents sinners and "devil's spawn". Jory finds out the truth when his paternal grandmother visits and confronts Cathy about her relationship with "her brother Christopher". At first shocked and disgusted, Jory forgives his parents after he learns of their tragic past. Cathy finally learns about the woman next door when Bart accidentally says that she gives him anything he wants, and she goes to confront their neighbor. The old woman tries to hide her identity, but Cathy recognizes her voice. Corrine admits that she is indeed Cathy's mother; she expresses remorse for her crimes against her children and begs for Cathy's forgiveness and love. Enraged by her mother's audacity at asking forgiveness after all she's done, Cathy attacks her, but then John Amos knocks both women unconscious. Working on John Amos' orders, Bart, who now believes he is a vessel for his great-grandfather's vengeful spirit, locks Cathy and Corrine in the cellar, where John Amos plans to starve them to death. Hearing this, Bart realizes how much he loves his mother and grandmother, despite their sins, and he tells Chris where they are. Before they can be reached, the house catches fire. Bart manages to unlock the cellar door but Corrine orders Bart to go back outside. Corrine saves Cathy, but as she emerges from the house, her clothes catch fire. Chris runs to her and helps put out the flames, but Corrine's heart gives out and she dies. John Amos dies inside, abandoned to his awful fate. The epilogue, narrated by Cathy once again, describes Cathy's emotional forgiveness of her mother at Corrine's funeral. For the sake of their three children, Cathy and Chris realize that they must never allow their biological relationship to be revealed. Bart seems to have recovered from the worst of his madness, but still dwells on the power wielded by his great-grandfather, whose millions he now stands to inherit. Adaptation. "If There Be Thorns" was adapted as an original Lifetime film. It premiered on April 5, 2015. The sequel, "Seeds of Yesterday", has also been adapted for a television film, and was released the same year as part of a special two-night event concluding the series.

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Yayati (novel) Yayati is a 1959 Marathi-language mythological novel by Indian writer V. S. Khandekar. One of Khandekar's best-known works, it retells the story of the mythical Hindu king, Yayati, from the Hindu epic the "Mahabharata". The novel has multiple narrators, and poses several questions on the nature of morality. Scholars have analysed its hero, Yayati, as a represention of modern man. Accepted as classic of Marathi literature, "Yayati" has won several awards, including the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1960 and the Jnanapith Award in 1974. Background. In his preface to "Yayati", Khandekar states that he was drawn to the original story from the "Mahabharata" at multiple levels, and for many reasons. The resulting novel is a modern retelling of the story of the Hindu king, who enjoyed all the pleasures of the flesh for a millennium only to realise how empty of meaning was his pursuit of desire. Khandekar saw modernity, with its materialistic values, as an elephant on the rampage through the delicate garden of traditional virtues and feelings, blurring the distinction between good and evil, between selfishness and compassion, and blinding people to the evils of the world. In response, Khandekar looked to the past and chose the story of Yayati, making use of a kind of tale often dismissed as the fairy stories of old women to describe the vacuousness and futility of contemporary society's endless obsession with avarice and lust. Where Khandekar's previous writing had focused predominantly on style and imagination, in "Yayati" these concerns are integrated into a form of social realism the author had little explored until this point. The story is taken from the "Yayatopakhyan" ( The Story of Yayati), a sub-narrative in "Adi Parva" ("The Book of the Beginning") of the "Mahabharata". Khandekar builds the original material into a full-length novel, adding several new episodes and developing the narrative as a love story with a theme of morality. In so doing, Khandekar brings new relevance and meaning to the story in the context of modern life. For Khandekar, this novel represents the common man, who "in spite of varied happiness is always discontented and restless, and is blindly running after new pleasures". Characters. The novel's main characters are: While most of the novel's characters appear in the "Mahabharata", Khandekar created several new characters. These include Mukulika and Mandar. Plot. The novel has three narrators: Yayati, Devayani, and Sharmishtha. Each section of the story is narrated in the first person, from the point of view of its respective narrator. The novel's characters generally use language that is romantic, ornamental, and poetic. "Yayati" centres on the life of its eponymous hero, Yayati, the king of Hastinapur. Disillusionment characterises Yayati's early life. His faith in motherly love is shattered when he learns that his mother weaned him for fear of losing her beauty. Later, he experiences cruelty and passion that challenge his manhood. He then has a fleeting experience of carnal love. When Yayati has to leave the security of the palace for Ashvamedha Yajna (a horse sacrifice ritual in Hindu tradition), he meets his elder brother, Yati, who has become an ascetic and abandoned all material pleasures. After this he meets Kacha, in whom he sees the model of a happy, peaceful life. But Yayati is traumatised when his father, Nahusha, dies, and for the first time he realises the destructive power of death. He is gripped by fear and helplessness. In this state of mind, he encounters Mukulika, a maidservant in the palace. Yayati's attempts to bury his grief in carnal pleasure constitute a critical period in his life. He later meets Alaka and experiences sisterly love. But Alaka ultimately falls prey to the Queen Mother's cruelty. Precisely at this time, Yayati learns of a curse that foretold that his father, and his father's children, would never be happy. The second part of the narrative recounts Yayati's married life. This section reveals Devayani's love for Kacha, and Kacha's quiet but firm refusal. Devayani seeks revenge on Kacha by making advances to Yayati, whom she ultimately succeeds in marrying. Sharmishtha, originally a princess, is now living with Devayani as her maidservant. At this time, Sharmishtha comes into contact with Yayati. Where Devayani is unable to establish any rapport with Yayati, Sharmishtha finds union with him both in body and in mind. A son is born to them, and for a time Yayati is happy. But, one stormy night, Sharmishtha runs away from Hastinapur. Yayati now suffers both estrangement from Devayani and the loss of Sharmishtha. The resulting vacuum in his life hastens him along a path of moral degradation. Over an 18-year period, Yayati neglects his royal duties and leads a life of pleasure, with women like Madhavi and Taraka. Even when Hastinapur is attacked by its enemies, Yayati continues to neglect his duties out of anger with Devayani and pursuit of a hedonistic lifestyle. His son Yadu is imprisoned. Puru, Yayati's younger son, secures Yadu's release. Then Devayani's father, Shukracharya, seeing his daughter's unhappy marriage and Yayati's degradation, lays a curse of old age on Yayati. When Yayati finds himself suddenly grown old, his unfulfilled desires trouble him. He asks his sons to lend him their youth. His son Puru comes to his aid and meets his request. But Puru and Sharmishtha's undemanding love for him help Yayati to realise his mistakes. Within a few minutes of accepting Puru's youth, he resolves to return it. Devayani also undergoes a change of heart. At the end of the novel, Yayati hands over responsibility for government to Puru with his blessing, and seeks to retire to a life in the forest with Devayani and Sharmishtha. This completes Yayati's journey from attachment to detachment. Deviations from the Mahabharata. In the novel, Khandekar makes several significant departures from the original story of the Mahabharata. The first of these concerns the death of Yayati's father, Nahusha. In The Mahabharata, Nahusha is cursed by the Rishis (sages) to live on earth in the form of a serpent. After long suffering, he eventually meets Pandava king Yudhishthira, who frees him from the curse. The novel, in contrast, shows Nahusha dying in his palace, desperately clinging to life. He pleads with his wife and son to give him a few hours of their own lives so that he may live a little longer. He fears death because of his remaining unfulfilled desires. Nahusha's helpless struggle with death leaves his son Yayati with a lasting sense of insecurity that affects his whole life. In the original story of the Mahabharata, Yayati enjoys his son Puru's youth for a thousand years. He then returns Puru's youth, and goes on to live for many years more with sages in the Himalayas before finally ascending to Heaven. In the novel, however, Yayati can return his son's youth only at the cost of his own life. Nonetheless, within a few minutes of accepting Puru's youth Yayati decides to return it. He is saved from death by Kacha, who uses the Sanjeevani Mantra. Analysis. The main characters of "Yayati" have been interpreted as representing major attitudes to life. Yayati embodies material pleasure-seeking. Devayani shows excessive pride and desire for power, where Sharmishtha epitomises selfless, undemanding love. Kacha symbolises morality and moderation, a clean enjoyment of life and a sense of the well-being of the human race. Yati's rejection of all material pleasures serves as a counterpoint to Yayati. The novel poses several moral questions, which include: how to define a fulfilling life; where to place the boundary between morality and immorality; and where the pursuit of material pleasure fits into the context of spiritual values. Reception. "Yayati" is one of Khandekar's best-known works, and has been described as one of the greatest works in Marathi literature. The novel has won several awards, including the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1960, the Jnanapith Award in 1974, and the State Government Award in 1960. "Yayati" was translated into English in abridged form by Y. P. Kulkarni, as "Yayati : A Classic Tale of Lust" (1978). The Malayalam translation, by P. Madhavan Pillai, was serialised in the Malayalam weekly "Mathrubhumi" in 1980, and published in book form the same year.

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The Visitor (Child novel) The Visitor is the fourth book in the "Jack Reacher" series written by Lee Child. It was published in 2000 by Bantam in the United Kingdom. In the United States; the book was released under the title Running Blind. It is written in the second and third person. In the novel, retired military police officer Jack Reacher must race against time to catch a sophisticated serial killer who is murdering a group of female soldiers, but leaving no forensic evidence. Plot summary. The prologue opens with a mystery person's point of view on knowledge, power and killing, "People say that knowledge is power. The more knowledge, the more power. Suppose you knew the winning numbers for the lottery? You would run to the store. And you would win. Same for the stock market. You're not talking about a trend or a percentage game or a whisper or a tip. You're talking about knowledge. Real, hard knowledge. You would buy. Then later you'd sell, and you'd be rich. Any kind of sports at all, if you could predict the future, you'd be home and dry. Same for anything. Same for killing people." In New York City, Reacher confronts and beats up two thugs sent to collect protection racket money from the new restaurant in which he has just finished dinners, and deliberately implies to the thugs that he is a member of a rival crime organisation. Reacher is picked up by the FBI and questioned but explains he's been a loner since he mustered out of the army. He is then questioned about two women whose cases of sexual harassment he dealt with when he was an MP. It is revealed they have both been killed in the last few months and a criminal profiling team has come to the conclusion that the person responsible was someone exactly like Reacher. Reacher realizes that he has no alibi for the places and times that the women were killed, and he requests a lawyer. Reacher's lawyer girlfriend Jodie arrives, and he is released after further questioning. Jodie returns to work, and Reacher drives to his house in upstate New York that he inherited from Leon Garber. He is soon called upon by two members of the FBI team that previously questioned him. A third woman has been killed who was also an ex-soldier who filed for sexual harassment – albeit in a different timeframe from the first two. The FBI compels him to assist with the investigation by threatening to hurt him and, possibly, Jodie too. Reacher and Special Agent Lamarr, the lead profiler on the team, drive from New York to the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, whilst discussing information on the case. Lamarr's stepsister, it so happens, is a woman with the same particulars as the three already killed. Lamarr also reveals the killer's M.O., which is killing the victims in an unknown way, with no bruises or injuries, leaving them naked in their bathtub, filled with army-issue camouflage paint. The team holds several meetings at Quantico, and Reacher meets agent Lisa Harper, the woman who has to accompany Reacher wherever he goes. Reacher suggests contacting Colonel John Trent at Fort Dix to inquire about special forces soldiers and the three week rotation (another of Lamarr's misdirects of the investigation). Reacher and Harper head up to New Jersey, but while Harper remains outside the colonel's office due to security clearance reasons, the colonel helps Reacher sneak out the window and arranges a four-hour trip to New York. Once there Jack targets a random pair of criminals collecting protection money and deliberately instigates a turf war between rival racketeers. By taking a certain crime lord out of the picture this effectively removes the leverage that the FBI has had over him and Jodie. He returns to New Jersey with Agent Harper being none the wiser. The team continues the search, and the next victim is Agent Lamarr's stepsister. Local policemen are then put on surveillance of the remaining women on the list. Eventually Reacher and Harper catch the killer. It is none other than FBI Agent Lamarr. She is in the process of killing her fifth victim when Jack intervenes. Reacher and Harper come to the conclusion that Lamarr was utilising her hypnotising techniques to make the victims unwittingly suffocate themselves by swallowing their own tongues. Her motives were a family inheritance and a sociopathic bitterness to her stepsister; the other murders were carried out to muddy the investigative waters. The FBI is unhappy that Reacher has killed one of their agents, murderess or not, but an accord is eventually reached. Jack then meets up with Jodie, and she reveals she is leaving for London in a month's time. Reacher knows he will not want to go with her, since he misses his wandering ways, and the two agree to spend one last month together. Production. "The Visitor" was released in the United Kingdom on 20 April 2000, and the American publication followed on 13 July of the same year. The reason for the story having two different titles is due to how "The Visitor"—Child's original title and ultimately the UK title of the story—was seen by Putnam as sounding too much like a science-fiction novel. Reception. "The Visitor" was well received, with "Publishers Weekly" saying "the book harbors two elements that separate it from the pack: a brain-teasing puzzle that gets put together piece by fascinating piece, and a central character with Robin Hood-like integrity and an engagingly eccentric approach to life." American book review journal "Kirkus Reviews" called it "deeply satisfying" and the reader should "plan to stay up long past bedtime and do some serious hyperventilating toward the end." "Booklist" also offered a good review, saying "This fourth Reacher thriller is easily the best. The plot is a masterpiece." "The Visitor" was nominated for the 2001 Barry Award for "Best Hardcover Novel", but ultimately fell short to "Deep South" by Nevada Barr. External links. <br>

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The Pigman The Pigman is a young adult novel written by Paul Zindel, published in 1968. It is notable for its authentic depiction of teenagers, and was among the first YA books to take the genre in a more realistic direction. This dual perspective novel gives the reader two different sides to a story about such an important man. The two main characters, teenagers Lorraine and John, have opposite personalities and together create a powerful narrative. This book would go on to win numerous awards, including the New York Times Outstanding Book of 1968, the ALA Notable Children's Book 1940–1970 the Horn Book 1969 Fanfare Honor List. The novel is frequently assigned in elementary schools, middle schools, and some high schools for English classes. Although commonly taught, this book has been banned in certain areas for numerous reasons, some including offensive language and sexual themes. The book's sequel, "The Pigman's Legacy", was published in 1980. "The Pigman & Me", an autobiography by Paul Zindel, was first published in 1990; it is considered an unofficial triquel to "The Pigman". Zindel wrote a screenplay, adapting the book for the stage and screen, but it was not taken up by any filmmaker. Plot summary. The novel begins with an "oath" signed by John Conlan and Lorraine Jensen, two high school sophomores, who pledge that they will report only the facts about their experiences with Mr. Pignati. When John, Lorraine, and two teen troublemakers, Norton Kelly and Dennis Kobin, are bored, they make prank phone calls. The goal of the game is to see who can stay on the phone the longest. When it is Lorraine's turn, she picks out Mr. Pignati's phone number and pretends to be calling from a charity. After she wins the game, Mr. Pignati offers to donate ten dollars. Against Lorraine's better judgment, she and John travel to Pignati's house to collect the funds. After hesitantly accepting "The Pigman's" offer of going to the zoo, a friendship begins to blossom between the three of them. He begins to take on the role of a parental figure for the two teenagers, something neither of them has. John and Lorraine's visits become increasingly frequent, and during one such visit, they discover a document inside his room. After reading it, they realize The Pigman has been lying about where his wife has been. His wife, Conchetta, is dead, instead of being on vacation as The Pigman has stated numerous times. Soon, John and Lorraine visit The Pigman daily after school, and he showers them with gifts, food, and most importantly, the love and attention they do not receive in their own joyless homes. They reveal to him that they were never affiliated with any charity, and he reveals what they already know: that his wife is dead. Pignati gives each of the two a pair of roller skates. Getting a pair for himself also, the three of them could not be happier, until one afternoon. Mr. Pignati suffers a heart attack while he and the teens are playing tag with roller skates. He is sent to the hospital, and John and Lorraine agree to take care of his house while he recovers. While they are doing so, they resemble a married couple. Between the responsibilities and numerous chores, they love being inside the house. They begin to even acquire feelings for one another, and John begins to care about his appearance. Having an empty house to themselves, the kids decide to have a party and invite a few people over. The situation quickly turns into a drunken, boisterous party with more visitors than the two anticipated. The partygoers destroy the house, not caring what they break. Lorraine's friend rips Conchetta Pignati's wedding dress in a drunken accident after putting it on. Norton ransacks Mr. Pignati's house in hopes of finding valuables and destroys Conchetta's collection of porcelain pigs, which Mr. Pignati holds very dear. John beats Norton in retaliation. Mr. Pignati returns to find his house ransacked, and is incredibly hurt when he finds out John and Lorraine were responsible for the incident. The police are called, and John and Lorraine believe they will get arrested, but The Pigman does not press charges. They try to go back into the house and apologize, but the officer tells them Mr. Pignati is crying and that they need to go home. After going home, Lorraine is beaten by her mother and John's parents say they are getting him therapy, which will never happen. Feeling terrible, the two offer to take Pignati to the zoo to help make up for the destruction of his house. When they arrive at the zoo to visit Bobo the baboon, Mr. Pignati's favourite animal and buddy, they learn the creature has died. Overcome with grief and the heaviness of the recent events, Mr. Pignati suffers from cardiac arrest and dies, leaving John and Lorraine grieving and reflecting on the fragility of life. John tells Lorraine to wait outside of the area where he died, fearing that her mother would hit her in punishment for creating the situation. They blame themselves for Pignati's death and believe that he would have been better off never meeting them in the first place. John and Lorraine write their story down. Themes. Peer pressure. This story goes into the idea of peer pressure on numerous occasions. First is the phone call Lorraine made to Mr. Pignati. She did not want to keep the conversation going and felt as if she was not doing the right thing. Her friends kept pressuring her to continue the conversation and so she did. When she and John, later on, go to visit him after their scheme of collecting money for charity, Lorraine has the same feeling of guilt. She does not want to take money from this poor old man and says to John how it is wrong. Not listening to her at all, he pressures her into taking the money and keeping silent about the truth. Finally, John and Lorraine are pressured into having a party at the house. This results in the destruction of all of his possessions and him ultimately feeling broken. With peer pressure running high in this story, many of the characters were unable to speak their own opinions and were afraid to stand up against the crowd. Whether it is Lorraine afraid to stand up against John, or John afraid to stand up to his friends, the main characters are reluctant in speaking their true emotions. The pressure given to them by a massive audience becomes the reason for the downfall of their great friend, The Pigman. Loss. The occurrence of losing loved ones and loved possessions are frequent throughout the novel. It begins with The Pigman's loss of his collection of pigs and his wife's dress. Both these items were very important to him, letting him remember a time of peace and happiness. When they were both destroyed, he lost a huge part of who he was. The Pigman also loses his best friend, Bobo. His death at the zoo was too much for this man, resulting in a heart attack that killed him. His death was the kids losing their dear friend, but also their innocence. The loss of their friend and watching him die was a hugely traumatic experience for them, whether they acknowledge it or not. Losing a friend is a very difficult thing for a person to go through. It becomes even harder when you lose a friend and believe that it is your fault. The amount of terrible and shocking experiences Lorraine and John put The Pigman through were too much for him, especially because of his old age. His last stitch of happiness died along with Bobo, leaving him a shell of his former self. When he finally died, his death was a loss to the kids, but not to himself, because he had been unhappy. Family and Parenting. Throughout the story, both John and Lorraine do not know a parental figure. Physically both of them have parents (John having his mother and father, Lorraine having her mother), but mentally they are not there for them. John's parents do not care what he does and are very self-centered. Both let him smoke and drink and show him that there will be no repercussions for his actions. This makes John take part in troublesome actions, simply trying to get his parents' attention. While his efforts fail each time, he does not give up, and ironically only rebels in such a harsh manner wishing his parents paid attention to him. Lorraine only lives with her mother, due to her father leaving them a long time ago. Her mother is not a great parental figure, mocking and ridiculing her daughter constantly throughout the story. Her mother's abusive nature strikes fear into Lorraine. She knows if she does anything wrong she will be hit as a repercussion. This is shown when Lorraine states, "She came towards me, and I backed away until I was cornered by the wall. Then she raised her arm and slapped me once across the face. She tried to hit me again, but my arm went up and blocked her." Death. Whether physically or emotionally, death recurs throughout this novel. The most apparent sense of death in this novel is physical. Numerous characters in this story die. Some of these include The Pigman, his wife, Lorraine's mother's patients, Lorraine's father, Bobo, and John's Aunt Ahra. While some of these deaths are treated as non-important information, they are all tragic. Losing someone who you are close to or even someone you just know can take a toll on any individual. This story portrays this message with the final physical death in the story, with Mr. Pignati. His death caused a break in not only the story, but in the two main characters John and Lorraine. This leads to the cause of emotional death in the novel. John and Lorraine have been through a traumatic and life-changing experience seeing this man die. Even though he was older his death was shocking and unexpected to them. This death of a fatherlike figure to these children emotionally traumatized them, causing a part of their innocence to die along with the Pigman. This emotional death is similar to that of Lorraine's mother. Her emotional distress after witnessing her husband cheat has caused her to become a bitter person and a different person. Emotionally a part of her died when she found out about her husband's affair and when he died. This novel breaks down the motif of death on a physical and emotional level.

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The Help The Help is a historical fiction novel by American author Kathryn Stockett and published by Penguin Books in 2009. The story is about African Americans working in white households in Jackson, Mississippi, during the early 1960s. A "USA Today" article called it one of the "summer sleeper hits." An early review in "The New York Times" notes Stockett's "affection and intimacy buried beneath even the most seemingly impersonal household connections," and says the book is a "button-pushing, soon to be wildly popular novel." The "Atlanta Journal-Constitution" said of the book: "This heartbreaking story is a stunning début from a gifted talent." Stockett began writing the novel — her first — after the September 11th attacks. It took her five years to complete and was rejected by 60 literary agents, over a period of three years, before agent Susan Ramer agreed to represent Stockett. "The Help" has since been published in 35 countries and three languages. As of August 2011, it had sold seven million copies in print and audiobook editions, and spent more than 100 weeks on "The New York Times" Best Seller list. "The Help"'s audiobook version is narrated by Jenna Lamia, Bahni Turpin, Octavia Spencer, and Cassandra Campbell. Spencer was Stockett's original inspiration for the character of Minny, and also plays her in the film adaptation. Plot summary. "The Help" is set in the early 1960s in Jackson, Mississippi, and told primarily from the first-person perspectives of three women: Aibileen Clark, Minny Jackson, and Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan. Aibileen is a maid who takes care of children and cleans. Her own 24-year-old son, Treelore, died from an accident on his job. In the story, she is tending the Leefolt household and caring for their toddler, Mae Mobley. Minny is Aibileen's friend who frequently tells her employers what she thinks of them, resulting in her having been fired from nineteen jobs. Minny's most recent employer was Mrs. Walters, mother of Hilly Holbrook. Skeeter is the daughter of a wealthy white family who owns Longleaf, a cotton farm and formerly a plantation, outside Jackson. Many of the field hands and household help are African Americans. Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from the University of Mississippi and wants to become a writer. Skeeter's mother wants her to get married and thinks her degree is just a pretty piece of paper. Skeeter is curious about the disappearance of Constantine, her maid who brought her up and cared for her. Constantine had written to Skeeter while she was away from home in college saying what a great surprise she had awaiting her when she came home. Skeeter's mother tells her that Constantine quit and went to live with relatives in Chicago. Skeeter does not believe that Constantine would leave her like this; she knows something is wrong and believes that information will eventually come out. Everyone Skeeter asks about the unexpected disappearance of Constantine pretends it never happened and avoids giving her any real answers. The life Constantine led while being the help to the Phelan family leads Skeeter to the realization that her friends' maids are treated very differently from the way the white employees are treated. She decides (with the assistance of a publisher) that she wants to reveal the truth about being a colored maid in Mississippi. Skeeter struggles to communicate with the maids and gain their trust. The dangers of writing a book about African Americans speaking out in the South during the early 1960s hover constantly over the three women. Eventually, Skeeter wins Aibileen's trust through a friendship which develops while Aibileen helps Skeeter write a household tips column for the local newspaper. Skeeter accepted the job to write the column as a stepping stone to becoming a writer/editor, as was suggested by Elaine Stein, editor at Harper & Row, even though she knows nothing about cleaning or taking care of a household, since that is the exclusive domain of 'the help.' The irony of this is not lost on Skeeter, and she eventually offers to pay Aibileen for the time and expertise she received from her. Elaine Stein had also suggested to Skeeter that she find a subject to write to which she can be dedicated and about which she is passionate. Skeeter realizes that she wants to expose to the world in the form of a book the deplorable conditions the maids in the South endure in order to barely survive. Unfortunately, such an exposé is a dangerous proposition, not just for Skeeter, but for any maids who agree to help her. Aibileen finally agrees to tell her story. Minny, despite her distrust of whites, eventually agrees as well, and she and Aibileen are unable to convince others to tell their stories. Skeeter researches several laws governing what blacks still can and cannot do in Mississippi, and her growing opposition to the racial order results in her being shunned by her social circle. Yule May, Hilly's maid, is arrested for stealing one of Hilly's rings to pay her twin sons' college tuition after Hilly refused to lend the money. The other maids decide that they are willing to take a chance with their jobs, and their safety, and join the book project. Thus the thrust of the book is the collaborative project between the white Skeeter and the struggling, exploited "colored" help, who together are writing a book of true stories about their experiences as the 'help' to the white women of Jackson. Not all the stories are negative, and some describe beautiful and generous, loving and kind events; while others are cruel and even brutal. The book, entitled "Help" is finally published, and the final chapters of "The Help" describes the aftermath of the book's success. Film adaptation. A film adaptation of "The Help" was released on August 10, 2011. Stockett's childhood friend Tate Taylor wrote and directed the film. Parts of "The Help" were shot in Jackson, MS, but the film was primarily shot in and around Greenwood, MS, representing Jackson in 1963. At the 84th Academy Awards, Octavia Spencer won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in this film. The film also received three other Academy Award nominations: Academy Award for Best Picture, Academy Award for Best Actress for Viola Davis, and Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Jessica Chastain. Lawsuit. Ablene Cooper, a housekeeper who once worked for Stockett's brother, criticized the author for stealing her life story without her knowledge and basing the character Aibileen on her likeness. Cooper sued Stockett for $75,000 in damages. Cooper also criticized her for making the negative comparison of her character's skin color to that of a cockroach, which to many would be interpreted as racist. A Hinds County, Mississippi judge dismissed the case, citing the statute of limitations. Stockett denied her claim of stealing her likeness, stating that she only met her briefly.

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In a Grove is a short story by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa; it first appeared in the January 1922 edition of the Japanese literature monthly "Shinchō". Akira Kurosawa used this story as the basis for the plot of his award-winning 1950 movie "Rashōmon". The work was ranked by "The Telegraph" in 2014 as one of the 10 all-time greatest Asian novels. "In a Grove" is an early modernist short story, as well as a blending of the modernist search for identity with themes from historic Japanese literature, and as such is perhaps the iconic work of Akutagawa's career. It presents three varying accounts of the murder of a samurai, Kanazawa no Takehiro, whose corpse has been found in a bamboo forest near Kyoto. Each section simultaneously clarifies and obfuscates what the reader knows about the murder, eventually creating a complex and contradictory vision of events that brings into question humanity's ability or willingness to perceive and transmit objective truth. Plot summary. The story opens with the account of a woodcutter who has found a man's body in the woods. The woodcutter reports that man died of a single sword stroke to the chest, and that the trampled leaves around the body showed there had been a violent struggle, but otherwise lacked any significant evidence as to what actually happened. There were no weapons nearby, and no horses—only a single piece of rope, a comb and a lot of blood. The next account is delivered by a traveling Buddhist priest. He says that he met the man, who was accompanied by a woman on horseback, on the road, around noon the day before the murder. The man was carrying a sword, a bow and a black quiver. All of these, along with the woman's horse, a tall, short-maned palomino, were missing when the woodcutter discovered the body. The next person to testify is a "hōmen" (放免, a released prisoner working under contract to the police, similar to a bounty hunter). He has captured an infamous criminal named Tajōmaru. Tajōmaru was injured when thrown from a horse (a tall, short-maned palomino), and he was carrying a bow and a black quiver, which did not belong in his usual arsenal. This proves, he says, that Tajōmaru was the perpetrator. Tajōmaru was not carrying the dead man's sword, however. The next testimony is from an old woman, who identifies herself as the mother of the missing girl. Her daughter is a beautiful, strong-willed 19-year-old named Masago, married to Kanazawa no Takehiro—a 26-year-old samurai from Wakasa. Her daughter, she says, has never been with a man other than Takehiro. She begs the police to find her daughter. Next, Tajōmaru confesses. He says that he met them on the road in the forest, and upon first seeing Masago, decided that he was going to rape her. In order to rape Masago unhindered, he separated the couple, luring Takehiro into the woods with the promise of buried treasure. He then stuffed his mouth full of leaves, tied him to a tree and fetched Masago. When Masago saw her husband tied to the tree, she pulled a dagger from her bosom and tried to stab Tajōmaru, but he knocked the knife out of her hand, and he had his way with her. Originally, he had no intention of killing the man, he claims, but after the rape, she begged him to either kill her husband or kill himself—she could not live if two men knew her shame. She would leave with the last man standing. Tajōmaru did not wish to kill Takehiro in a cowardly manner, so he untied him and they had a sword fight. During the duel, Masago fled. Tajōmaru dispatched the man and took the man's sword, bow, and quiver, as well as the woman's horse. He says that he sold the sword before he was captured by the bounty hunter. The second-to-last account is that of Masago. According to her, after the rape, Tajōmaru fled, and her husband, still tied to the tree, looked at her with great disdain. She was ashamed that she had been raped, and no longer wished to live, but she wanted him to die with her. He agreed, or so she believed—he couldn't actually say anything because his mouth was still stuffed full of leaves—and she plunged her dagger into his chest. She then cut the rope that bound Takehiro, and ran into the forest, whereupon she attempted to commit suicide numerous times, she said, but her spirit was too strong to die. At the end of her confession, she weeps. The final account comes from Takehiro's ghost, as delivered through a spirit medium. The ghost says that after the rape, Tajōmaru persuaded Masago to leave her husband and become his own wife, which she agreed to do under one condition: He would have to kill Takehiro. Tajōmaru became enraged at the suggestion, kicked her to the ground, and asked Takehiro if he should kill the dishonorable woman. Hearing this, Masago fled into the forest. Tajōmaru then cut Takehiro's bonds and ran away. Takehiro grabbed Masago's fallen dagger and plunged it into his chest. Shortly before he died, he sensed someone creep up to him and steal the dagger from his chest. Throughout, it is obvious that he is furious at his wife. Analysis. All analyses proceed from these premises: The differences between the characters' stories range from the trivial to the fundamental. What follows is a list of discrepancies between the characters' testimonies. In short, every character says at least one thing that is refuted by another. In movies. The following movies have been based on the story of "In a Grove": In popular culture. "In a Grove" is the favorite story of "Ghost Dog", the main character from the movie "". The seventh episode of "R.O.D the TV", titled "In a Grove", deals with a similarly confusing mix of truth and lies, reality and pretense. The name of the story has become an idiom in Japan, used to signify a situation where no conclusion can be drawn, because evidence is insufficient or contradictory. Similar terms include and . Translation notes. Contrary to what some foreign-language versions of the story may imply, Masago does not confess to the police. This is clear in the Japanese version of the text. The title of this section is:「清水寺に来れる女の懺悔」("kiyomizu-dera ni kitareru onna no zange", translated in "Murray" as "The Confession of the Woman Visitor to Kiyomizudera Temple") The word 懺悔 ("zange") is often translated as "confession", but the word also has heavy religious connotations, similar to "repentance" or "penitence". Although it can mean "to confess to other people", it almost always means "to confess to Buddha/God". Contrast this with Tajōmaru's confession to the police, referred to as 白状 ("hakujō") in the text. Jay Rubin translated the title of the section to "Penitent Confession of a Woman in the Kiyomizu Temple". Rubin translated the title of the whole story to "In a Bamboo Grove".

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The Time Trap (comics) The Time Trap (Le Piège diabolique) by the Belgian artist Edgar P. Jacobs was the ninth comic book in the Blake and Mortimer series. It appeared in book format in 1962. Plot. In the foyer of a Paris hotel, Mortimer joins up with his friend Blake to deliver startling news: his old adversary, Dr. Miloch, recently deceased from radiation poisoning, has bequeathed him a scientific discovery, hidden inside a house in La Roche-Guyon. Because Blake has to depart on urgent business, and his curiosity getting the better of him, Mortimer departs for the house by himself. Once inside the house, he reads a letter Miloch has left him, to learn to his astonishment that Miloch has built a chronoscaphe for Mortimer to use and keep. Despite his skepticism, Mortimer follows the instructions in the letter and finally discovers the time machine in Miloch's old laboratory in the house's basement crypt. A taped recording of Miloch's voice gives him instructions of how to use the time machine, and once inside, Mortimer activates the device, which stuns him into unconsciousness as it takes off with gut-wrenching velocity. When Mortimer comes to, he finds himself in a strange swampland, and beholding a nearby "Williamsonia" concludes correctly that Miloch has sabotaged the time machine to strand Mortimer in time. Mortimer narrowly escapes the dangers of the prehistoric swamp and into the future, where he finds himself inside the castle which is connected to Miloch's house via a secret passage, witnessing a violent peasant revolt against the tyrannical lord, Baron Gui de La Roche. After accidentally stumbling into the baron's throne room, he is accused as an accomplice of the rebels; fleeing the baron's men, he encounters the baron's daughter, Agnes de La Roche, before the two witness the rebels storming the castle thanks to the actions of a treacherous servant. Mortimer challenges the rebels' leader, Jacques Bonhomme, to unarmed single combat for safe conduct for himself and Agnes, and defeats him. But when Bonhomme proves a sore loser and sets his underlings against Mortimer and Agnes, Mortimer just barely buys enough time to enable Agnes' escape and reactivate the time machine before the peasants can get their hands on him. The next time Mortimer stops the chronoscaphe, he finds himself in the ruined remains of a modern underground city destroyed in an apocalyptic war. Straying through the ruins and nearly succumbing to starvation and exhaustion, he eventually finds himself in the hands of yet another band of rebels. As he learns from their leader, Doctor Focas, the year is now 5060 and the Earth has been devastated by a worldwide nuclear war three thousand years ago and most of humanity reverted to barbarism. However, a tyranny system eventually established itself from a remnant of civilization, rising to supreme power over the world and attempting to completely subjugate humanity as a slave race under its rule. A rebel movement has arisen despite the strict surveillance of public life and allied itself with human colonies spread all over the solar system, and Mortimer's accidental arrival in the future inadvertently "confirmed" a prophecy that a red-bearded liberator would one day appear to cast down the tyranny and lead the oppressed to freedom. After hearing all these startling facts, Mortimer pledges his assistance to Focas and with his aid reactivates an old nuclear plant to produce miniaturized nuclear grenades to combat the tyrant's forces. Unknown to them, Focas' second in command, Krishma, is a traitor and secret spy for the tyrant. Eventually, Focas is captured and hypnotized by the tyrant's minions, and Krishma prepares his final steps to defeat the rebel movement from within by luring the rebels to their elimination. However, after noticing Focas' peculiar behavior (stemming from his brainwashing), Mortimer quickly smells treason and exposes Krishma's true allegiance. When the tyrant's robots attack, Krishma is accidentally killed by them, which releases Focas from his mind control. After Focas urging Mortimer to don a protective suit previously worn by Krishma, the two manage to secure the retreat of their men into the underground. As the rebels' allies move in from space to bring down the tyrant, he unleashes his ultimate weapon, a living lava monster, at Mortimer and Focas. Barely evading the monster, Mortimer lures it into the reactor and sets it to overload, destroying both. Cut off from the surface, he returns to the time machine, and after a last farewell to Focas, he departs for the past. As Mortimer travels back, he finds that the acceleration does not affect him anymore due to his protective suit, and thus he manages to stop the time machine a few weeks before his departure from the present. He finds himself back at Miloch's laboratory, which is still intact at that point, and witnesses the then-living Miloch sabotaging the chronoscaphe's controls and preparing his trap for Mortimer. Acting upon his findings, Mortimer fixes the device and starts it for his journey back to the present. As he arrives several days afterwards - to a point where Blake has since begun searching for his missing friend - an explosive booby trap left by Miloch as a final insurance destroys the chronoscaphe and the laboratory, though Mortimer ultimately survives because of his suit. After conferring with Mortimer, Blake announces that the government will keep the details to the case confidential, especially since the public is already ripe with rumors about Mortimer's mysterious disappearance. Picking up a plot element from the story's beginning where two men were discussing their respective views of the past and future, Mortimer concludes the episode with a good-natured remark about how the future might see the 20th century as the true "good old times". Jacobs' view of the future. Like many at the time, Jacobs imagined a future where nuclear war is a matter of "when" rather than "if", but he also makes passing comments on how things vary with time: English publication. "The Time Trap" was published in English in 1989 by Comcat Comics. It was translated by Jean-Jacques Surbeck, and edited by Bernd Metz. Cinebook Ltd republished it in 2014. Media adaptation. The album was adapted into a radio play in 1962.

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Steins;Gate 0 Steins;Gate 0 is a visual novel video game developed by 5pb. It is part of the "Science Adventure" series, and is set in the period of the 2009 game "Steins;Gate". It was released by 5pb. in Japan for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita in 2015, Microsoft Windows in 2016, Xbox One in 2017, and Nintendo Switch in 2019. It was also released by PQube in North America and Europe for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita in 2016, and by Spike Chunsoft internationally for Microsoft Windows in 2018 and Nintendo Switch in 2019. A manga adaptation premiered in 2017, and an anime adaptation of the game premiered in 2018. The story is seen from several characters' viewpoints, mainly the protagonist of the original game, Rintaro Okabe, one of the heroines of the original game, Suzuha Amane, and the neuroscientist Maho Hiyajo. After meeting Maho and her co-worker Alexis Leskinen, Okabe becomes a tester for the artificial intelligence (AI) system Amadeus. The player reads the text and dialogue that comprise the story, and affects the direction of the plot by choosing whether to answer phone calls from the Amadeus; early in the game, the story splits into two main branches, which in turn branch into the game's different endings. The game was planned by Chiyomaru Shikura, using "Steins;Gate" audio dramas and light novels as a base for one of the routes; it is not a direct adaptation of them, however, and features a new scenario. The music was composed by Takeshi Abo, who made notes of his first impressions of the emotional flow while reading the story, using these to create music with a good relation to the game's worldview. The English localization was a large project, taking place over the course of five months; it was done with the intention to avoid Westernizing the game too much due to the importance the Japanese setting and culture hold in the game, while still striving to keep it accessible for Western players. The game was well received by critics, who enjoyed the story, visuals and audio; it was however criticized for being padded with extraneous scenes, and the new choice system received criticism for both excessive complexity and simplicity. Gameplay. "Steins;Gate 0" is a visual novel, where the player reads through the story in the form of passages of text and dialogue, accompanied by character sprites and background art. The story consists of multiple branches, which lead to different endings. As opposed to the original "Steins;Gate" single route that runs from start to finish with multiple branch points throughout, "Steins;Gate 0" features one branch point near the beginning of the game, where the story splits into two major story branches, which in turn branch again into the different endings; there are in total two main story paths, along with four side stories. The direction of the story is determined based on whether or not the player chooses to answer calls from the artificial intelligence Amadeus, which the player character Rintaro Okabe can communicate with through his cell phone. In addition to Okabe, the player also takes the roles of other characters, mostly Suzuha Amane and Maho Hiyajo. The player can also use Okabe's phone to interact with his friends through the messaging app RINE: at some points, the game shows a notification indicating that Okabe has received a message, and the player can choose between different messages to send back – either text messages or stickers – temporarily locking the game into a conversation with the other character that changes depending on the player's reply. Unlike the Amadeus calls, the RINE messages do not affect the branching of the story. Synopsis. Setting and characters. "Steins;Gate 0" takes place in an alternative future before "Steins;Gate" ending, and is set in Akihabara, Tokyo. It follows several characters, including the university student Rintaro Okabe, who, together with his friends Mayuri Shiina, the neuroscientist Kurisu Makise and the hacker Itaru "Daru" Hashida, accidentally have discovered time travel through the use of a microwave oven and a phone – the PhoneWave – which they used to send text messages and digitized memory data back in time. The latter, referred to as "time leaping", essentially transports a person's mind to their body at an earlier point. This has drawn the attention of SERN, an organization that secretly researches time travel, who sent their team of "Rounders" to confiscate the time machine, including the journalist Moeka Kiryu, killing Mayuri in the process. Within the game world, time consists of alternative histories ("world lines") that branch and re-merge, meaning that events at converging points are destined to happen unless events in the past are changed enough for them to lead to a history so significantly different that it belongs to another cluster of world lines (an "attractor field") with different converging points. One such converging point is Mayuri's death in 2010; to prevent it, Okabe went back in time and caused the shift from the alpha attractor field to beta, where Kurisu was killed and time travel was not discovered. Between the alpha and beta attractor fields lies the "Steins Gate" world line, which is unaffected by their convergence points. Some people can retain memories from the previous world line after a shift, an ability Okabe possesses and calls "Reading Steiner". Among other characters are Daru's future daughter, the time traveler Suzuha Amane; Mayuri's future adoptive daughter Kagari Shiina; Kurisu's co-workers Maho Hiyajo, Alexis Leskinen and Judy Reyes from Viktor Chondria University; Okabe's friends Luka Urushibara and Rumiho "Faris NyanNyan" Akiha; and Mayuri's friends Yuki Amane, Katsumi "Fubuki" Nakase and Kaede Kurushima. Plot. The game begins during "Steins;Gate" ending, where Suzuha traveled to August 21, 2010 using her time machine to get Okabe to prevent a time-travel arms race leading to World War III; to do this, he needs to stop Kurisu's father, Doctor Nakabachi, from killing Kurisu and bringing her time travel theories to Russia. Suzuha brings Okabe to the moment of the murder, July 28, 2010, but he accidentally kills Kurisu himself due to world-line convergence. Upon returning to the present, Okabe refuses Suzuha's requests to try again, and develops post-traumatic stress disorder. Nearly five months later, Okabe attends Kurisu's coworkers Maho and Leskinen's presentation of their Amadeus system, which uses digitized memories as artificial intelligence avatars; one avatar has been made based on Kurisu. Speaking with them, Okabe becomes a tester for Amadeus, allowing him to communicate with Amadeus Kurisu through his phone. While trying to change Okabe's mind, Suzuha looks for Kagari, who got separated when traveling to 1998. Maho, who has Kurisu's hard drive, wants to access her theories, hoping to be able to save Kurisu; Russia, other countries, and groups including SERN are also after the theories, and the world line shifts as they monitor activities surrounding Kurisu's theories and memories. The story splits into two major branches: In the one leading to the ending "Promised Rinascimento", Okabe rebuilds the PhoneWave to help an amnesiac woman identified as Kagari, who has had Kurisu's memories implanted by someone, which gradually overwrites her personality; this inadvertently transports him to 2036 during World War III. Although Okabe had been predetermined to die sometime in 2025, Daru circumvented it by implanting 2011 memory data, as Okabe's body was still alive. Inspired by this and determined to avert this future, Okabe returns to 2010, destroys the hard drive, erases Amadeus, and sends a D-RINE message to the past of this branch, telling himself to "deceive the world and tie the possibilities". The resulting world line is not shown. The first major branch has two side branches: In "Recursive Mother Goose", Okabe and Mayuri trace the origin of Kagari's only memory, a song they learn Okabe originally sung as a child after Mayuri's grandmother's death. After nearly being hit by a truck, Kagari regains memories, including having escaped a facility she was held at in 2005. Mayuri intends to time travel with Suzuha to reach Steins Gate, but Kagari takes Mayuri's place as she fears not meeting her in Steins Gate. In "Twin Automata", Maho hides in Faris's apartment after a kidnapping attempt, and befriends Moeka. Noticing that somebody is trying to steal Amadeus, Leskinen and Maho go to lock down the data, but they are ambushed by Reyes, who shoots Leskinen and tries to make Maho give her the Amadeus access codes. Maho decides to erase Amadeus rather than give it up, and she is saved when Moeka shoots Reyes. While Amadeus Kurisu is being deleted, a Kurisu apparently from another worldline takes her perspective. She calls for help, and tells Maho that Steins Gate is real, and tells Maho her laptop password is related to Piano Sonata No. 10, a piece by Mozart that had been the theme for this ending branch. Returning home, Maho figures out Kurisu's password from this hint and finds her research. In the second major branch, leading to "Vega and Altair", Okabe stops testing Amadeus. If the "Promised Rinascimento" ending was completed first, a D-RINE message will appear early into the branch with its cryptic message: "deceive the world and tie the possibilities", but its origin is unknown. He and Maho are followed by groups who want Kurisu's theories, and Kurisu's hard drive is destroyed in a skirmish. Daru and Maho secretly rebuild the PhoneWave in an effort to save Kurisu, but is unable to complete the test due to missing components; Okabe tells them that saving Kurisu means sacrificing Mayuri, which Mayuri overhears. She decides to travel back in time with Suzuha to convince Okabe in 2010 to save Kurisu after failing in his prior attempt. However, Leskinen appears, revealing that he works for the intelligence agency Strategic Focus and intends to steal the time machine. Mayuri and Suzuha attempt to flee in the time machine, but it is hit by a rocket and destroyed. In the aftermath, Okabe discloses the missing components to Daru and Maho to complete the PhoneWave, thus allowing him to time leap to an earlier part of the day, and works to ensure Mayuri and Suzuha's successful time travel. Surrounded by Leskinen's men, he declares that he will find a way to Steins Gate. The second major branch has the side branch "Gehenna's Stigma", where Maho is caught eavesdropping on Reyes and Leskinen, hearing that Leskinen thinks Okabe hides information. Leskinen uses Maho: She meets Okabe, who tells her about time travel provided that she does not try to save Kurisu. After he reveals where Suzuha's time machine is, Maho suffocates him; when waking up, he is tortured for information by Leskinen. Wracked with guilt for betraying Okabe, Maho makes an unsuccessful attempt to save Kurisu in her own way. World War III begins, Daru flees Akihabara to develop the time machine, and Okabe gives up on reaching Steins Gate. The final ending, "Milky-way Crossing", only appears after completing the "Promised Rinascimento" and "Vega and Altair" endings. It is set in 2025 on a world line similar to, but not the same as, the one from "Vega and Altair". Okabe sends a D-Mail video to his 2010 counterpart, instructing himself how to save Kurisu and cause the world line divergence into Steins Gate, thus setting the events that would play out as the True End route in the previous game. He then leaves in the time machine to find Suzuha and Mayuri, and bring them safely back to 2025. Development. "Steins;Gate 0" was developed by 5pb., and was planned by Chiyomaru Shikura and produced by Tatsuya Matsubara, and features character designs by Huke. The scenario was worked on by Naotaka Hayashi, Toru Yasumoto, Masaki Takimoto, and Tsukasa Tsuchiya, and makes use of the "Epigraph Trilogy" series of light novels and "Steins;Gate" audio dramas as a base for Vega and Altair route, which is the main route. It is however not a direct adaptation: it also features new scenarios, and the developers describe it as a "legitimate numbered sequel". The music was composed by Takeshi Abo. His process for composing the music consisted of him reading the game's story, to get an as full as possible understanding of the setting and the character personalities. He considered his first impressions of the game's emotional flow and events to be very important: he would write them down together with the kind of music he would want to use for each scene, and keep them in mind when composing the music. He said that this approach, while taking longer than if he had just designated songs to various places in the game, made for higher quality music with a better relation to the game's worldview. The game was announced in March 2015. It was originally scheduled to be released in Japan on November 19, 2015, but was delayed and released on December 10, 2015 for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita. Japanese first-print copies of the PlayStation 4 version included a digital PlayStation 4 copy of the first "Steins;Gate". The PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita versions of "Steins;Gate 0" were released by PQube in Europe on November 25, 2016 and in North America on November 29. They were made available in an "Amadeus Edition" that includes a soundtrack disc, an artbook, a pin badge, and a plush toy, and in a limited edition that includes just the game and the artbook. A Microsoft Windows version was released by 5pb. in Japan on August 26, 2016 after being delayed from its planned release date of June 24, and was published internationally by Spike Chunsoft on May 8, 2018 in both English and Japanese. An Xbox One version was released digitally in Japan on February 22, 2017. The game was also released for the Nintendo Switch as part of the collection "Steins;Gate: Divergencies Assort" along with ' and ' on March 20, 2019 in Japan; internationally, the Nintendo Switch version was released by Spike Chunsoft on December 10, 2019 as a stand-alone game. Localization. The English localization was led by Adam Lensenmayer, who was the sole translator for the project; this was to ensure consistency in the feeling of the story and in the characters' voices. The localization was done over the course of five months, something Lensenmayer noted as a big project. It was also a challenging one: its use of real-world science meant that the localization team had to research subjects like artificial intelligence, cognitive science and time travel theories to ensure that everything was phrased correctly. Another challenge was that "Steins;Gate 0" was written specifically for a Japanese audience, who might understand certain things that Western players would not, although Lensenmayer said that this was a smaller problem than it had been with the first "Steins;Gate", due to "Steins;Gate 0" more serious tone and lesser focus on otaku and internet culture, and its built-in dictionary which explains obscure concepts. Lensenmayer wrote the localized text with a general audience in mind, intending for it to be accessible regardless of the player's knowledge of the game's setting, while working towards creating something that people who have played the first "Steins;Gate" would enjoy. The localization team wanted to avoid overt Westernization of the game, because of the importance the Japanese setting and culture held in the story, and strived to achieve a level of Westernization similar to the first "Steins;Gate" localization. Lensenmayer said that some parts were difficult to localize, tempting the team to replace them with other, similar content, but that they tried to avoid this whenever they could. Aspects of Japanese culture that were deemed too obscure to Western players were handled the same way as in "Steins;Gate": for example, the Japanese term "senpai" was left intact, with short explanatory dialogue added. One thing that took up a lot of time was localizing the character Mayuri's dialogue due to her way of speaking: Lensenmayer described her as acting "spacey", but not "stupid or ditzy", and said that there is a nuance of caring and awareness to her speech that does not come across in a direct translation. She was seen as a very important character, so conveying her personality accurately was given high priority. Reception. "Steins;Gate 0" was well received by critics, and was the best-reviewed PlayStation Vita game of 2016 on Metacritic. "Kotaku" considered it among the best Japan-only video games of 2015; it was the runner-up for "RPGFan" Best Adventure/Visual Novel of 2016 award, behind "Firewatch", with the publication saying that it rivals the first "Steins;Gate"; and in 2020, "Nintendo Life" called it one of the best visual novels available on the Nintendo Switch. Critics called it a worthy follow-up to "Steins;Gate", but thought that players should experience the original game or its anime adaptation beforehand. Critics generally liked the story. "Famitsu" reviewers particularly liked its atmosphere, and Dennis Carden of "Destructoid" thought the way it continues the story of "Steins;Gate" makes it nearly "mandatory" for people who liked the original "Steins;Gate". "RPGFan" Rob Rogan liked the overall story, calling it "exciting, somber, heart-wrenching, and thought-provoking", but said that it felt "artificially lengthened" through scenes that do not serve a clear purpose in the plot; Robert Fenner, also writing for "RPGFan", agreed, saying that Okabe's dilemma of wanting to speak to the Amadeus Kurisu but finding it painful is a good premise, but that the game would have been better had it been a fifth as long. Jordan Helm at "Hardcore Gamer" similarly noted that Okabe's conversations with Amadeus Kurisu were among the highlights of the game, but that character-focused scenes often felt like "padding". Carden enjoyed how the game, despite its generally darker tone than "Steins;Gate", still included moments of levity, saying that it made him "laugh just as much as it made [him] want to cry". Carden thought most new characters were good additions and felt fully realized, but that some seemingly only existed for the sake of the plot. Rogan said that Okabe's character development since the original game made him a more interesting character, and Fenner thought that Okabe's characterization was the high point of the game, calling his self-hatred and impostor syndrome a believable depiction of high-functioning depression. Both Carden and Rogan enjoyed the use of multiple viewpoints in the story, saying that they give characters more depth and believability, and give the player a greater understanding of them. Critics were mixed in their opinions on the gameplay, some considering it too complex and some too simple. Carden criticized the difficulty in reaching the different endings without following a guide, and how it sometimes is unclear what the effects of some player choices will be; Fenner did however find it fun and compelling to use knowledge from one playthrough to go back and make different choices while aiming for another ending. Rogan disliked how the player choice system was simpler than the one in "Steins;Gate", calling it a step back for the series, and Helm thought that the player choices lacked the tension and regret of the original game's. Fenner appreciated how the RINE system improved upon the text messages from the previous game, allowing the player to see what exact message they would send prior to sending it while simultaneously automatically saving the game. Carden, Rogan and Helm appreciated the Tips system, considering it a helpful way to make sure that players understand concepts and terms discussed in the game. The art direction, presentation and audio was well received, with Carden calling the visuals "utterly impressive", Rogan describing the character art as "sharp and charming" despite its limited amount of frames per character, and Helm saying that the series' aesthetic breathes life into the scenes. Rogan praised the background art, saying that the large amount of detail adds personality to the scenes without being distracting, and the music, which he said is perfectly matched to each scene's tone. Helm liked how the game uses several contextual sprites for characters rather than just a few static ones, and praised the attention to detail in Okabe's sprites, with their visual signs of mental fatigue. Sales. The game sold 100,000 combined physical and digital copies on its first day of release in Japan, bringing total sales for the "Steins;Gate" games above one million copies sold. By the end of its debut week, 85,547 physical copies had been sold; the PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 versions were the sixth, seventh and nineteenth best selling games of the week in Japan with 38,746, 38,156 and 8,645 copies sold, respectively. The PlayStation 4 version re-entered the Japanese sales charts again on the week of the "Steins;Gate 0" anime adaptation's premiere, selling an additional 4,087 copies and bringing physical Japanese sales of the PlayStation 4 version to 60,990 copies sold. According to Shikura, the Xbox One version was not expected to sell very many copies. The PlayStation Vita version was the best selling game for the platform in the United Kingdom during its European debut week, and still appeared on Chart-Track's weekly PlayStation Vita top-twenty charts until June 2017; the PlayStation 4 version did not chart at all in the United Kingdom during its debut, however. The Steam release had an estimated total of 16,300 players by July 2018. Related media. As part of the "Steins;Gate World Line 2017–2018 Project", several pieces of media based on "Steins;Gate 0" were produced, including a manga adaptation by Taka Himeno, which was serialized by Kadokawa Shoten in "Young Ace" from August 4, 2017 to February 4, 2020, and is collected in "tankōbon" volumes since April 4, 2018, the manga will be localized into English by UDON Entertainment and the first of three volumes will be released on September 7, 2021; an anime adaptation of the game by White Fox that premiered on April 11, 2018; and a novelization of the game by Tatsuya Hamazaki, "Steins;Gate 0: Solitude of the Mournful Flow", which was published by Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko on August 1, 2018. A conversation partner application based on Amadeus Kurisu was revealed to be in development in September 2019. "Steins;Gate 0 Elite", an updated version of the game which adds full animation, like "Steins;Gate Elite" did with "Steins;Gate", was announced at the "Science Adventure Live" event in January 2020. It is planned to be released before "Anonymous;Code", which is set for release in Q3/Q4 2021. "Steins;Gate 0"-themed merchandise has also been released, including shoes, business card cases, watches, T-shirts, hoodies, and laptop bags. The "Steins;Gate 0 Sound Tracks" album was released in 2016 by 5pb. and Media Factory.

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List of nuclear holocaust fiction This list of nuclear holocaust fiction lists the many works of speculative fiction that attempt to describe a world during or after a massive nuclear war, nuclear holocaust, or crash of civilization due to a nuclear electromagnetic pulse.

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NATO Commander NATO Commander is a strategy video game designed by Sid Meier for the Atari 8-bit family and published in 1983 by MicroProse. Ports to the Apple II, and Commodore 64 were released the following year. The player takes the role of the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO forces in Europe as they respond to a massive Warsaw Pact attack. The goal is to slow their advance and inflict casualties, hoping to force a diplomatic end to the war before West Germany is overrun. The same game engine was also used as the basis for "Conflict in Vietnam", "Crusade in Europe" and "Decision in the Desert". Gameplay. The scenario involves a Cold War Soviet invasion of West Germany. The player is given operational control of NATO land armies, while the computer controls the Soviets, and must repel the invasion by deploying his forces geographically and choosing their offensive or defensive roles. As the battle progresses, both operational and political factors influence the outcome. NATO may lose or win back cities and territory; according to the scenario chosen the player had the option to decide to stave off the Warsaw Pact onslaught by countercharging head-on, buying time for space awaiting a diplomatic solution, or mounting a counteroffensive. The game's interface has strong similarities to the seminal "Eastern Front" in the way the map is displayed and various orders are given to the units. However, "NATO Commander" takes place in real-time, with one second of time representing 5 minutes passing in the game. It also has more unit types including armor and infantry, armored infantry (mostly for reconnaissance), airborne troops and air forces and helicopters. The latter are useful for attacking Soviet units that are isolated or surrounded, which protects them from surface-to-air missiles from the Soviet side of the map. Another major change is the hidden movement system, which only displays Soviet units that are visible to the allied units. Air forces can be used for air superiority, ground attack or as a reconnaissance force to help reveal the hidden Soviet forces. The game has a variety of scenarios, each one larger than the last. The first is simply a limited encounter on the front, while the next include a counterattack around the Hannover-Hamburg axis, awaiting the French Army's mobilization or the Italian Army's decision to enter the fray or not. Tactical nuclear weapons and chemical weapons are available to both sides but their use often carried heavy image penalties and could initiate an escalation. In the end, either the player or the Soviets surrender, based on how much land and combat-ready forces remain. Reception. "Computer Gaming World" in 1984 criticized "NATO Commander" for being imbalanced in favor of the Warsaw Pact, but concluded that the game was one of the first combat games to take advantage of computer power, resulting in a "superb strategic simulation". A 1992 survey in the magazine of wargames with modern settings gave the game three stars out of five. and a 1994 survey gave it two-plus stars.

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Steins;Gate 0 (TV series) is an anime television series created by White Fox that continues the story of 5pb.'s 2015 video game of the same name, and is part of the "Science Adventure" franchise. The series is a sequel to the 2011 anime series "Steins;Gate", and is the final iteration of the Steins;Gate 0 story. It aired between April 12 and September 27, 2018. It is set in an alternative future where the university student Rintaro Okabe, traumatized after his experiences with time travel, meets the neuroscientists Maho Hiyajo and Alexis Leskinen and becomes a tester for their artificial intelligence system Amadeus. The series is directed by Kenichi Kawamura, and written by Jukki Hanada, who also wrote the first "Steins;Gate" anime; the voice cast from previous "Steins;Gate" anime and games also reprise their roles. The series is licensed by Funimation in North America, Madman Entertainment in Australia and Manga Entertainment in the United Kingdom. Plot. The story takes place after Rintaro Okabe fails to save Kurisu Makise in the original "Steins;Gate" series. After failing to save Kurisu Makise in order to prevent a future war over time machines, Rintaro Okabe, traumatized over his experiences of meddling with the past with his Reading Steiner ability, chose to live in the beta world line where Kurisu stays dead. After several months have passed, Rintaro meets Maho Hiyajo and Alexis Leskinen, two of Kurisu's former colleagues who have been working on Amadeus, an artificial intelligence system using Kurisu's memories from before her death. Rintaro accepts a request to help out with Amadeus' development by becoming a tester, conversing with the Amadeus Kurisu through his phone. Production and release. "Steins;Gate 0" was produced by White Fox, and partially adapts the 2015 video game of the same name. The game is a sequel to "Steins;Gate", which was also adapted into an anime by White Fox in 2011. While the game's story is composed of multiple routes, the anime reconstructs the story into one single route. The series was directed by Kenichi Kawamura and written by Jukki Hanada, the writer for the "Steins;Gate" anime, while Tomoshige Inayoshi, an episode animation director for the "Steins;Gate" anime, adapted Huke's character designs from the game for animation, and Takeshi Kodaka served as art director. The music was composed by Takeshi Abo, Nobuaki Nobusawa, and Moe Hyūga. The voice cast reprised their roles from previous "Steins;Gate" media. The opening theme is by Kanako Itō, and the ending themes are "Last Game" by Zwei for the first half of the series and "World-Line" by Imai for the second half; the first episode used Itō's song "Amadeus" from the "Steins;Gate 0" game as the ending theme, however. Itō created "Fátima" as a lyrical continuation of "Hacking to the Gate", the opening theme to the first "Steins;Gate" anime, and said that the fast pace was an important aspect as she wanted the theme to be exhilarating. The anime was originally announced in March 2015, together with the "Steins;Gate 0" game. It was re-revealed with a trailer and key art in July 2017 as part of the "Steins;Gate World Line 2017–2018 Project", which also includes other media based on the "Steins;Gate 0" game; at this point, the series had gone into production. The 23 episode series aired in Japan between April 12 and September 27, 2018. It was broadcast on Tokyo MX, TVA, KBS, SUN, TVQ, AT-X, BS11, and GYT, and is streamed through Abema TV in Japan. The series was simulcast by Crunchyroll outside of Asia and Australasia, by AnimeLab in Australia and New Zealand, and by Aniplus Asia in Southeast Asia, and an English dub began streaming through Funimation in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland on April 30, 2018. The series was released across six Blu-ray and DVD volumes in Japan from June 27 to December 21, 2018, of which the last one includes an additional, unaired episode. The English dub was directed by Cris George and written by Jeramey Kraatz. When adapting the series, they encountered a problem they had not dealt with before: In the first episode, Leskinen gives a speech in English, which Maho live interprets in Japanese, and because all characters in the dub speak English they were initially not sure how to portray the situation. They eventually settled on setting the stage by having Maho's dialogue start in Japanese, before switching to English. Ashly Burch, Mayuri's voice actor in the dub, was unable to play the character for the entirety of the simulcast dub due to personal reasons and time constraints; on August 1, 2018, Funimation announced that Megan Shipman would take over the role for the remaining episodes of the simulcast dub, and that they would announce how the role would be handled in the home video release of the series at a later date.

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The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming is a 1966 American comedy film directed and produced by Norman Jewison for the Mirisch Company. It is based on the 1961 Nathaniel Benchley novel "The Off-Islanders", and was adapted for the screen by William Rose. The film depicts the chaos following the grounding of the Soviet submarine "Спрут" (pronounced "sproot" and meaning "octopus") off a small New England island during the Cold War. It stars Carl Reiner, Eva Marie Saint, Alan Arkin in his first major film role, Brian Keith, Theodore Bikel, Jonathan Winters, John Phillip Law, Tessie O'Shea, and Paul Ford. It was shot by cinematographer Joseph F. Biroc in DeLuxe Color and Panavision. The film was released by United Artists on May 25, 1966, to critical acclaim. At the 24th Golden Globe Awards, the film won in two categories (Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for Arkin), and was nominated for four Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Actor for Arkin, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Editing). Plot. A Soviet Navy submarine called "Спрут" ("Octopus") draws too close to the New England coast one September morning when its captain (Theodore Bikel) wants to take a good look at America and runs aground on a sandbar near the fictional Gloucester Island, which, from other references in the movie, is located off the coast of Cape Ann or Cape Cod, Massachusetts and has a significant population of summer visitors but is now down to about 200 local residents. Rather than radio for help and risk an embarrassing international incident, the captain sends a nine-man landing party, headed by his "zampolit" (Political Officer) Lieutenant Yuri Rozanov (Alan Arkin), to find a motor launch to help free the submarine from the bar. The men arrive at the house of Walt Whittaker (Carl Reiner), a vacationing playwright from New York City. Whittaker is eager to get his wife Elspeth (Eva Marie Saint) and two children, obnoxious but precocious 9-1/2-year-old Pete (Sheldon Collins) and 3-year-old Annie (Cindy Putnam), off the island now that summer is over. Pete tells his disbelieving dad that "nine Russians with tommy guns" dressed in black uniforms are near the house, but Walt is soon met by Rozanov and one of his men, Alexei Kolchin (John Phillip Law), who identify themselves as strangers on the island and ask if there are any boats available. Walt is skeptical and asks if they are "Russians with machine guns," which startles Rozanov into admitting that they are Russians, and pulling a gun on Walt. Walt provides information on the military and police forces of their island, and Rozanov promises no harm to the Whittakers if they hand over their station wagon. Elspeth provides the car keys, but before the Russians depart, Rozanov orders Alexei to prevent the Whittakers from fleeing. When Alison Palmer (Andrea Dromm), an attractive 18-year-old neighbor who works as Annie's babysitter, arrives for work that day, they take her captive as well. The Whittakers' station wagon quickly runs out of gasoline, forcing the Russians to walk. They steal an old sedan from Muriel Everett (Doro Merande), the postmistress; she calls Alice Foss (Tessie O'Shea), the gossipy telephone switchboard operator, and before long, wild rumors about Russian parachutists and an air assault on the airport throw the entire island into confusion. Level-headed Police Chief Link Mattocks (Brian Keith) and his bumbling assistant Norman Jonas (Jonathan Winters) try to squelch an inept citizens' militia led by the blustering Fendall Hawkins (Paul Ford) Meanwhile, Walt, accompanied by Elspeth and Pete, manages to overpower Alexei, because the Russian is reluctant to hurt anyone. Alexei flees during the commotion, but when Walt, Elspeth, and Pete leave to find help, he returns to retrieve his weapon from the house, where only Alison and Annie remain. Alexei says that although he wants no fighting, he must obey his superiors in guarding the residence. He promises he will harm nobody and offers to surrender his submachine gun as proof. Alison tells him that she trusts him and does not need to hand over his firearm. Alexei and Alison become attracted to each other, take a walk along the beach with Annie, and find commonality despite their different cultures and the Cold War hostility between their countries. Trying to find the Russians himself, Walt is re-captured by them in the telephone central office. After subduing Mrs. Foss and tying her and Walt together, and disabling the island's telephone switchboard, seven of the Russians appropriate civilian clothes from a dry-cleaner's, manage to steal a cabin cruiser, and head to the submarine, which is still aground on the sandbar. Back at the Whittaker house, Alexei and Alison have kissed and fallen in love. Back at the phone exchange, Walt and Mrs. Foss, still tied together, manage to hop outside the office but fall down the stairs to the sidewalk below. They are discovered there by Elspeth and Pete, who untie them. They return to their house and Walt shoots at and almost kills Rozanov, who had reached there just ahead of them. With the misunderstandings cleared up, the Whittakers, Rozanov, and Alexei decide to head into town together to explain to everyone just what is going on. As the tide rises, the sub floats off the sandbar before the cabin cruiser arrives, and it proceeds on the surface to the island's main harbor. Chief Mattocks, having investigated and debunked the rumor of an aerial assault, arrives back in town with the civilian militia. With Rozanov acting as translator, the Russian captain threatens to open fire on the town with his deck gun and machine guns unless the seven missing sailors are returned to him; his crew faces upwards of a hundred armed, apprehensive, but determined townspeople. As the situation nears the breaking point, two small boys climb up to the church steeple to see better and one (Johnny Whitaker) slips and falls from the steeple, but his belt catches on a gutter, leaving him precariously hanging 40 feet in the air. The American islanders and the Russian submariners immediately unite to form a human pyramid to rescue the boy. Peace and harmony are established between the two parties, but unfortunately, the over-eager Hawkins has contacted the Air Force by radio. In a joint decision, the submarine heads out of the harbor with a convoy of villagers in small boats protecting it. Alexei says goodbye to Alison, the stolen boat with the missing Russian sailors meets its sub shortly thereafter, and the seven board the submarine, just before two Air Force F-101B Voodoo jets arrive. The jets break off after seeing the escorting flotilla of small craft, and to the cheers of the islanders, the "Octopus" is free to proceed to deep water and safety. Just before the closing credits, Luther Grilk (Ben Blue), the town drunk, who had been trying to mount his horse, finally succeeds and rides heroically to the outer parts of the island shouting "The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming!"--not knowing that they have already left. Production. Although set on the fictional "Gloucester Island" off the coast of Massachusetts, the movie was filmed on the coast of Northern California, mainly in Mendocino. The harbor scenes were filmed in Noyo Harbor in Fort Bragg, California, about 7 miles north of Mendocino. Because of the filming location on the West Coast, the dawn scene at the beginning of the film was actually filmed at dusk through a pink filter. The submarine used was a fabrication. The United States Navy refused to loan one for the production and barred the studio from bringing a real Russian submarine. The Mirisch Company rented a mockup of a submarine that had been used in the 1965 film "Morituri". The planes used were actual F-101 Voodoo jets from the 84th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, located at the nearby Hamilton Air Force Base. They were the only Air Force planes that were based near the location of the supposed island. The title alludes to Paul Revere's Ride, as does the subplot in which the town drunk (Ben Blue) rides his horse to warn people of the "invasion." Pablo Ferro created the main title sequence, using the American flag's red, white and blue colors and the Soviet hammer and sickle as transitional elements, zooming into each to create a montage, which ultimately worked to establish the tone of the film. The music in the sequence alternates between the American "Yankee Doodle" march and a Russian marching song called "Polyushko Pole" (Полюшко Поле, usually "Meadowlands" in English). Much of the dialog was spoken by the Russian characters, played by American actors at a time when few American actors were adept at Russian accents. Musician and character actor Leon Belascowho was born in Russia, spoke fluent Russian and specialized in foreign accents during his 60-year careerwas the dialog director. Alan Arkin, a Russian speaker raised in a Russian Jewish household, did so well as Rozanov that he would later in his career be sought to play both American and ethnic characters. Theodore Bikel was able to pronounce Russian so well (he could speak the language proficiently) that he won the role of the submarine captain. Alex Hassilev, of The Limelighters, also spoke fluent Russian and played the sailor Hrushevsky. John Phillip Law's incorrect pronunciation of difficult English phonemes, most notably in Alison Palmer's name ("ah-LYEE-sown PAHL-myerr"), was unusually authentic by the standards of the day. Brian Keith, who also spoke fluent Russian, did not do so in the film. Musical score and soundtrack. The film score was composed, arranged and conducted by Johnny Mandel and the soundtrack album was released on the United Artists label in 1966. "Film Score Monthly" reviewed Mandel's soundtrack in their liner notes for their reissue of the score, noting the presence of Russian folk songs, writing that "These pre-existing melodies mix with original Mandel compositions, including a Russian choral anthem, a humorous march theme for the island residents' quasi-military response to the Soviet incursion, and a tender love theme...". "The Shining Sea" was sung on the soundtrack by Irene Kral, although it had featured as an instrumental in the film itself. The lyrics to "The Shining Sea" were written by Peggy Lee, who was contractually bound to Capitol Records, and so unable to appear on the soundtrack album. The line "His hands, his strong brown hands" was believed by Lee's friends to be a reference to Quincy Jones with whom she had a brief affair. Lee herself later recorded "The Shining Sea" with her lyrics on May 21, 1966. Mandel had played the music for "The Shining Sea" to Lee, and had asked her to "paint a word picture" of what she had heard. Lee's lyrics, by coincidence, exactly matched the action on the screen of the two lovers on the beach, which astonished Mandel, who had not shown her the film. Track listing. "All compositions by Johnny Mandel unless otherwise indicated" Reception. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a contemporary approval rating of 86% based on 21 reviews, with an average rating of 6.8/10. Robert Alden of "The New York Times" called it "a rousingly funny — and perceptive — motion picture about a desperately unfunny world situation." Arthur D. Murphy of "Variety" declared it "an outstanding cold-war comedy," adding that Jewison "has made expert use of all types of comedy technique, scripted and acted in excellent fashion by both pros and some talented newcomers to pix." Philip K. Scheuer of the "Los Angeles Times" wrote, "Considering that it is made up of variations on a single theme, the picture is astonishingly inventive. And considering that it was never done as a play on the stage (where laughs can be pre-tested and rough spots ironed out) it racks up a high average indeed, though it has its lapses and some of its points are forced—over-milked, as they say in the trade." Richard L. Coe of "The Washington Post" called it "a refreshingly witty topical comedy ... Some exceptionally skilled comics, familiar and unfamiliar, are extremely amusing." "The Monthly Film Bulletin" wrote that the film "almost falls flat when it indulges in sententious philosophising about the need for Russians and Americans to live peacefully together," but is "considerably helped by an amiable script (by former Ealing writer William Rose) which often manages to invest the film with the high farce of the best of the Ealing comedies." Brendan Gill of "The New Yorker" called it "an unfunny big farce ... The heavy-handed producer and director of the picture, Norman Jewison, has permitted nearly every moment of it to become twice as brightly colored, twice as noisy, and twice as frantic as it needed to be; this is all the more a pity because the cast includes a number of excellent comic actors." According to Norman Jewison, the filmreleased at the height of the Cold Warhad considerable impact in both Washington and Moscow. It was one of the few American films of the time to portray the Russians in a positive light. Senator Ernest Gruening mentioned the film in a speech in Congress, and a copy of it was screened in the Kremlin. According to Jewison, when screened at the Soviet film writers' union, Sergei Bondarchuk was moved to tears.

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The Old Man in the Cave "The Old Man in the Cave" is a half-hour episode of the original version of "The Twilight Zone". It is set in a post-apocalyptic 1974, ten years after a nuclear holocaust in the United States. The episode is a cautionary tale about humanity's greed and the danger of questioning one's faith in forces greater than oneself. Plot. In a sparsely populated town in 1974, ten years after a nuclear war has devastated the US, the townspeople have discovered a supply of canned food. However, they are waiting for Mr. Goldsmith, the town's leader, to return with a message from the mysterious and unseen "old man in the cave" who will tell them whether the food is contaminated with radiation. Some of the townsfolk want to take their chances and eat the food, but they refrain from doing so after seeing the disastrous harvest yielded when they failed to take the old man's advice about which farming areas were contaminated. When Mr. Goldsmith returns, he informs them that the old man has declared the food is contaminated and that it should be destroyed. Shortly thereafter, a group of soldiers led by Major French enter the town and clash with Goldsmith as they try to establish their authority. The soldiers may or may not be representatives of the US government; Goldsmith claims that wandering packs of self-styled military men have previously intruded on the town and tried to establish authority—all unsuccessfully. French, meanwhile, reveals that there are maybe 500 people left alive between Buffalo, New York and Atlanta, Georgia, and also talks of small, isolated primitive societies on the shores of Lake Erie and in "what used to be" Chicago. He claims his job is to organize the region so that society can be re-built. However, Goldsmith believes that French and his men simply want to strip the town of its food. A clash of wills ensues and, frustrated by Goldsmith's quiet and steadfast refusal to bend, French tries to dispel the townspeople's strange beliefs about the seemingly infallible old man in the cave and take control of the area. French tempts the townspeople with some of the food Goldsmith claimed was contaminated and many throw caution to the wind and partake. Everyone except Goldsmith eventually consumes the food and drink and Goldsmith falls into disfavor among the townspeople. After being bullied and threatened with his life, Goldsmith finally opens the cave door and it is ultimately revealed that in reality, the townsfolk have been using information from a computer the whole time. French rallies the townspeople into a frothing frenzy into destroying the machine, after which French leads the people into celebrating their new found freedom from this "tyranny". However, as Mr. Goldsmith had insisted, the "old man" was correct; without an authority figure to tell them which foods are safe, the entire human population of the town (including French and the soldiers) die—except for the lone survivor, Mr. Goldsmith, who somberly walks out of the now dead town. Episode notes. In the post-apocalyptic world presented in the episode, humanity has destroyed itself, but does so through "greed, desire and faithlessness". It is thus a warning not to ignore faith, which often serves an important purpose in society. The events in the episode show that myths and beliefs are often based on fact or necessity, as is the case with the "old man" who, despite being a computer, was ultimately keeping his "followers" alive. According to Valerie Barr of Hofstra University, it also "turns the usual notion of overreliance on technology on its head" by suggesting an interdependence with machines when it is revealed that a man-made computer has been keeping the townspeople alive. A suggested learning plan accompanying this episode for the SyFy Channel's participation in Cable in the Classroom provides a platform for exploring ideas about war, faith, and the question of whether humans control computers or vice versa. Film critic Andrew Sarris noted in his review of "Time Enough at Last" that, at the time "The Twilight Zone" was produced, depicting an atom bomb explosion or its aftermath on network television would likely have been prohibited if it had been "couched in a more realistic format". Hence, in both this episode and "The Shelter", Serling makes a point of noting that the story is intended to be fictional, particularly given both are set in the United States.

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Time Enough at Last "Time Enough at Last" is the eighth episode of the American television anthology series "The Twilight Zone". The episode was adapted from a short story written by Lynn Venable. The short story appeared in the January 1953 edition of the science fiction magazine "If: Worlds of Science Fiction" about seven years before the television episode first aired. "Time Enough at Last" became one of the most famous episodes of the original "Twilight Zone". It is "the story of a man who seeks salvation in the rubble of a ruined world" and tells of Henry Bemis (), played by Burgess Meredith, who loves books yet is surrounded by those who would prevent him from reading them. The episode follows Bemis through the post-apocalyptic world, touching on such social issues as anti-intellectualism, the dangers of reliance upon technology, and the difference between solitude and loneliness. Plot. Bank teller and avid bookworm Henry Bemis (Meredith) reads "David Copperfield" while serving a customer from his window in a bank. He is so engrossed in the novel he regales the increasingly annoyed woman with information about the characters, and shortchanges her. Bemis's angry boss (Taylor), and later his nagging wife (deWit), both complain to him that he wastes far too much time reading "doggerel". As a cruel joke, his wife asks him to read poetry to her from one of his books; he eagerly obliges, only to find that she has inked over the text on every page, obscuring the words. Seconds later, she destroys the book by ripping the pages from it, much to Henry's dismay. The next day, as usual, Henry takes his lunch break in the bank's vault, where his reading cannot be disturbed. Moments after he sees a newspaper headline, which reads "H-Bomb Capable of Total Destruction", an enormous explosion outside shakes the vault, knocking Bemis unconscious. After regaining consciousness and recovering the thick glasses required for him to see, Bemis emerges from the vault to find the bank demolished and everyone in it dead. Leaving the bank, he sees that the entire city has been destroyed, and realizes that, while a nuclear war has devastated Earth, him being in the vault has saved him. Finding himself alone in a shattered world with canned food to last him a lifetime and no means of leaving to look for other survivors, Bemis succumbs to despair. As he prepares to commit suicide using a revolver he has found, Bemis sees the ruins of the public library in the distance. Investigating, he finds that the books are still intact; all the books he could ever hope for are his for the reading, and time to read them without interruption. His despair gone, Bemis contentedly sorts the books he looks forward to reading for years to come, with no obligations to get in the way. Just as he bends down to pick up the first book, he stumbles, and his glasses fall off and shatter. In shock, he picks up the broken remains of the glasses without which he is virtually blind and bursts into tears, surrounded by books he now can never read. Production. "Time Enough at Last" was one of the first episodes written for "The Twilight Zone". It introduced Burgess Meredith to the series; he went on to star in three more episodes, being introduced as "no stranger to "The Twilight Zone"" in promotional spots for season two's "The Obsolete Man". He also narrated for the 1983 film "", which made reference to "Time Enough at Last" during its opening sequence, with the characters discussing the episode in detail. Footage of the exterior steps of the library was filmed several months after production had been completed. These steps can also be seen on the exterior of an Eloi public building in MGM's 1960 version of "The Time Machine". John Brahm was nominated for a Directors Guild award for his work on the episode. The book that Bemis was reading in the vault and that flips open when the bomb explodes is "A History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus" by Washington Irving. Themes. Although the overriding message may seem to "be careful what you wish for, you just might get it", there are other themes throughout the episode as well. Among these is the question of solitude versus loneliness, as embodied by Bemis' moment of near-suicide. Additionally, the portrayal of societal attitudes towards books speaks to the contemporary decline of traditional literature and how, given enough time, reading may become a relic of the past. At the same time, the ending "punishes Bemis for his antisocial behavior, and his greatest desire is thwarted". Rod Serling's concluding statement in the episode alludes to Robert Burns' Scots language poem "To a Mouse". The poem concludes: "The best-laid schemes o' mice an men / "Gang aft agley"" (translation: "Often go awry"). Although "Time Enough at Last" implies that nuclear warfare has destroyed humanity, film critic Andrew Sarris notes that the episode's necessarily unrealistic format may have been what allowed its production to commence: In the era of the Internet and eBooks, the irony depicted in "Time Enough at Last" has an information age counterpart, according to Weston Ochse of "Storytellers Unplugged". As Ochse points out, when Bemis becomes the last person on Earth, he finally has time to read, with all his books at his fingertips and the only impediment is technology when his medium for accessing them—his glasses—breaks. In a hypothetical world where all books are published electronically, Ochse observes, readers would be "only a lightning strike, a faulty switch, a sleepy workman or a natural disaster away from becoming Henry Bemis at the end of the world"—that is, a power outage has the potential to give them time to read, yet like Bemis, they too would lose their medium for accessing their books—namely the computer. Similar episodes. "The Twilight Zone" often explored similar themes throughout its run. "Time Enough at Last" has strong thematic ties to a number of other episodes in the series, starting with that of isolation, first explored in the series pilot, "Where Is Everybody?" It is also a prominent theme in the previous episode "The Lonely". Additionally, in a plot very similar to that of "Time Enough at Last", "The Mind and the Matter" tells of a man who uses his mind to erase humanity, only to find that existence without other people is unbearable. The notion of being an outsider, lost in a sea of conformity, was one of the most common themes of the series. Other thematic elements in this episode can be found throughout the series, as well. "The Obsolete Man" takes the episode's literary subtext—the notion that reading may eventually be considered "obsolete"—to an extreme: The state has declared books obsolete and a librarian (also played by Meredith) finds himself on trial for his own obsolescence. This notion, akin to Ray Bradbury's short story "The Pedestrian" (1951), is also alluded to in the episode "Number 12 Looks Just Like You", in which a perfect and equal world contradictorily considers works like those of Shakespeare "smut". Impact. Critical and fan favorite. "Time Enough at Last" was a ratings success in its initial airing and "became an instant classic". It "remains one of the best-remembered and best-loved episodes of "The Twilight Zone"" according to Marc Zicree, author of "The Twilight Zone Companion", as well as one of the most frequently parodied. When a poll asked readers of "Twilight Zone Magazine" which episode of the series they remembered the most, "Time Enough at Last" was the most frequent response, with "To Serve Man" coming in a distant second. In TV Land's presentation of "TV Guide"'s "100 Most Memorable Moments in Television", "Time Enough at Last" was ranked at #25. In an interview, Serling cited "Time Enough at Last" as one of his two favorites from the entire series. (The other episode was "The Invaders", with Agnes Moorehead.) Comics. The comic book version of "The Simpsons", "Simpsons Comics", published a story called "The Last Fat Man", based partially on "Time Enough at Last", and includes a short scene where Homer Simpson shoos a bespectacled man who is reading a book out of a nuclear bunker so he can eat in it, unintentionally taking shelter in it. Adaptations. "Time Enough at Last" has been released in numerous formats over the years.

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World War III in popular culture World War III, sometimes abbreviated to WWIII, is a common theme in popular culture. Since the 1940s, countless books, films, and television programmes have used the theme of nuclear weapons and a third global war. The presence of the Soviet Union as an international rival armed with nuclear weapons created a persistent fear in the United States and vice versa. There was a pervasive dread of a nuclear World War III, and popular culture reveals the fears of the public at the time. The theme in the arts was also a way of exploring a range of issues far beyond nuclear war. The historian Spencer R. Weart called nuclear weapons a "symbol for the worst of modernity." During the Cold War, concepts such as mutually-assured destruction (MAD) led lawmakers and government officials in both the United States and the Soviet Union to avoid entering a nuclear war, which could have had catastrophic consequences for the entire world. Various scientists and authors, such as Carl Sagan, predicted massive, possibly life-ending destruction of the Earth as the result of such a conflict. Strategic analysts assert that nuclear weapons prevented the United States and the Soviet Union from fighting World War III with conventional weapons. Nevertheless, the possibility of such a war became the basis for speculative fiction, and its simulation in books, films and video games became a way to explore the issues of a war that has thus far not occurred in reality. The only places that a global nuclear war has ever been fought are in expert scenarios, theoretical models, war games, and the art, film, and literature of the nuclear age. The concept of mutually-assured destruction was also the focus of numerous movies and films. Prescient stories about nuclear war were written before the invention of the atomic bomb. The most notable of them was "The World Set Free", written by H. G. Wells in 1914. During World War II, several nuclear war stories were published in science fiction magazines such as "Astounding". In Robert A. Heinlein's story "Solution Unsatisfactory," the US develops radioactive dust as the ultimate weapon of war and uses it to destroy Berlin in 1945 and end the war against Germany. The Soviet Union then develops the same weapon independently, and war between it and the US follows. The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 made stories of a future global nuclear war look less like fiction and more like prophecy. When William Faulkner received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1949, he spoke about Cold War themes in art. He worried that younger writers were too preoccupied with the question of "When will I be blown up?" 1940s. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ushered in the "atomic age," and the bleak pictures of the bombed-out cities in Japan that were released shortly after the end of World War II became symbols of the power of the new weapons. On August 29, 1949, the Soviet Union tested its first atomic bomb, codenamed "Joe 1." Its design imitated the American plutonium bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki in 1945. 1950s. American fears of an impending apocalyptic World War III with the communist bloc were strengthened by the quick succession of the Soviet Union's nuclear bomb test, the Chinese Communist takeover in 1949, and the beginning of the Korean War in 1950. Pundits named the era "the age of anxiety," after W. H. Auden. In 1951, an entire issue of "Collier's" magazine was devoted to a fictional account of World War III; the issue was entitled "Preview of the War We Do Not Want in which, war begins when the Red Army invades Yugoslavia, and the United States responds by conducting a three-month bombing campaign of Soviet military and industrial targets. The Soviet Union retaliates by bombing New York City; Washington, DC; Philadelphia; and Detroit. Against that background of dread, there was an outpouring of cinema with frightening themes, particularly in the science fiction genre. Science fiction had previously not been popular with either critics or movie audiences, but it became a viable Hollywood genre during the Cold War. In the 1950s, science fiction had two main themes: the invasion of the Earth by superior, aggressive, and frequently technologically-advanced aliens and the dread of atomic weapons, which was typically portrayed as a revolt of nature with irradiated monsters attacking and ravaging entire cities. In "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951), a flying saucer lands on the National Mall in Washington, DC, and is surrounded by troops and tanks. The alien Klaatu delivers an ultimatum that the Earth must learn to live in peace, or it will be destroyed. "The War of the Worlds" (1953) has a montage sequence of the countries of Earth joining together to fight the Martian invaders. The montage conspicuously omits the Soviet Union and so implies that the aliens are a metaphor for communists. The most elaborate science fiction films in the 1950s were "This Island Earth" (1955) and "Forbidden Planet" (1956). In the climax of both films, the characters witness the explosion of alien planets, which implies Earth's possible fate. "The World, the Flesh and the Devil" (1959) is also in the science fiction genre. In it, a man, a woman, and a bigot (the devil) roam New York City after a nuclear war. Only those three characters appear in the film. Also released in 1959 was "On the Beach", directed by Stanley Kramer and starring Ava Gardner, Gregory Peck and Fred Astaire. Based on the eponymous novel by Nevil Shute, the film deals with the citizens of Australia as they await radioactive fallout from a catastrophic nuclear war in the Northern Hemisphere. The French author Stefan Wul's 1957 novel "Niourk" provided a portrait of New York after World War III. The 1959 novel "Alas, Babylon" depicted the effects of nuclear war on a small town in Florida; a television adaptation was broadcast in 1960. "Nineteen Eighty-Four", George Orwell's dystopian 1949 novel about life after a Third World War, rose to cultural prominence in the 1950s. In it, the world has endured a massive atomic war and is politically divided into three totalitarian superstates, which are intentionally locked into a perpetual military stalemate and use the never-ending warfare to subjugate their respective populations. 1960s. In the 1960s, media about the threat of nuclear world war gained wide popularity. According to Susan Sontag, films struck people's "imagination of disaster... in the fantasy of living through one’s own death and more the death of cities, the destruction of humanity itself." A leading member of the 1960s antiwar movement, the singer-songwriter Bob Dylan evoked the topic of World War III thrice in his LP "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan", in "Masters of War", "Talkin' World War III Blues", and "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall". Philip K. Dick's novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" (1968), adapted to film in 1982 as "Blade Runner", features as its setting an Earth having been damaged greatly by the radioactive fallout of a nuclear war called "World War Terminus." In 1964, three films about the threat of accidental nuclear war were released: "Dr. Strangelove", "Fail-Safe", and "Seven Days in May". Their negative portrayal of nuclear defence prompted the US Air Force to sponsor films such as "A Gathering of Eagles" to address the potential dangers of nuclear defense publicly. "Dr. Strangelove" is a black comedy by Stanley Kubrick about the nuclear arms race between the US and the Soviets and the doctrine of mutually assured-destruction. After a bizarre mental breakdown, the C.O. of a SAC base orders the B-52 wing operating from his base to attack the Soviets. The title character, Dr. Strangelove, is a parody of a composite of Cold War figures, including Wernher von Braun, Henry Kissinger, and Herman Kahn. The secret codename of Operation DROPKICK, mentioned by George C. Scott's character, may be an oblique reference to Operation Dropshot. The 1964 film "Fail-Safe" was adapted from a best-selling novel of the same name by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler. Nuclear disaster is caused by a technological breakdown, which mistakenly launches American bombers to attack the Soviet Union. To prove that it was a mistake and to placate the Soviets, thereby saving the world from nuclear war, the US President orders the destruction of New York City after an American bomber succeeds in destroying Moscow. The film was made in a semi-documentary style and ends just as the explosion over New York City begins. "The War Game" (1965), produced by Peter Watkins, deals with a fictional nuclear attack on Britain. This film won the Oscar for Best Documentary but was withheld from broadcast by the BBC for two decades. In the "" episode "," First Officer Spock estimates the death toll of Earth's Third World War at 36 million. 1970s. The American public's concerns about nuclear weapons and related technology continued to be present in the 1970s. The most talked-about events in the 1970s were the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal, the Iran hostage crisis, the energy crisis, and stagflation. In the 1970 film "", a massive American defense computer becomes sentient and assumes control of the world for the "good of mankind" during the Cold War to prevent World War III. The 1973 oil crisis heightened fears of a peak oil collapse of domestic life. The crisis rationing led to incidents of violence after American truck drivers nationwide chose to strike for two days in December 1973 because they objected to the amount of supplies that the government had rationed for their industry. In Pennsylvania and Ohio, nonstriking truckers were shot at by striking truckers, and in Arkansas, trucks of nonstrikers were attacked with bombs. The peak oil fears led to the iconic "Mad Max" movie series in 1979. The desert imagery of "Road Warrior" showing a resource-drained world became an archetypical default of post-apocalypse worlds. The screenplay writer James McCausland drew heavily from his observations of effects of the 1973 oil crisis on Australian motorists: On television, the British science fiction series "Doctor Who", based a 1972 storyline, "Day of the Daleks", on the premise of time travelers from the future attempting to trigger a present-day nuclear war between the superpowers. That is incorrect as the actual story is that the Time Travellers were resistance fighters against the Daleks, who occupied Post War Earth. Their history stated that the person organising the Peace Talks had caused the war by exploding a bomb, which killed the participants in the Peace Talks and caused all sides to declare war on each other. However, the Doctor discovered that the Bomb Attack had actually been caused by one of the Resistance fighters attempting to blow up the house in an attempt to kill the person who set up the Conference and the Daleks who suddenly attacked the house. The Doctor got the participants away from the house just as one of the Resistance fighters blew up the house and the Daleks who invaded the house with it. That caused the Earth Invaded by Daleks timeline to close. In the 1977 Robert Aldrich film "Twilight's Last Gleaming", a nuclear missile silo is seized by renegade US Air Force officers, who threaten to start World War III if the American government does not reveal secret documents that show that the military needlessly prolonged the Vietnam War. Also in 1977, the animated movie "Wizards" by Ralph Bakshi shows a version of Earth overrun with magical creatures like fairies, elves, dwarves, frogs, goblins, and trolls. 1980s. In the early 1980s, there was a feeling of alarm in Europe and North America that a nuclear World War III was imminent. In 1982, 250,000 people protested against nuclear weapons in Bonn, the capital of West Germany. On June 12, 1982, more than 750,000 protesters marched from the UN headquarters building to Central Park in New York City to call for a nuclear freeze. The public accepted the technological certainty of nuclear war but did not have faith in nuclear defence. Tensions came to a head with the NATO exercise Able Archer 83, which, combined with other events like President Reagan's "Evil Empire" speech and the deployment of the Pershing II missile in Western Europe, as well as the erroneous Soviet shoot-down of Korean Air Lines Flight 007, had the Soviets frantically convinced that the West was about to launch an all-out war against them. These fears were manifested in the popular culture of the time, with images of nuclear war in books, film, music, and television. In the mid-1980s, artists and musicians drew parallels with their time and the 1950s as two key moments in the Cold War. There was a steady stream of popular music with apocalyptic themes. The 1983 hit "99 Luftballons" by Nena tells the story of a young woman who accidentally triggers a nuclear holocaust by releasing balloons. The music video for "Sleeping with the Enemy" had images of the Red Army parading in Red Square, American high school marching bands, and a mushroom cloud. The 1984 hit "Two Tribes" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood had actors resembling Konstantin Chernenko and Ronald Reagan fighting each other amidst a group of cheering people. At the end of their fight, the Earth explodes. Sting's 1986 song "Russians" highlighted links between Nikita Khrushchev's threats to bury the US and Reagan's promise to protect US citizens. Many punk, hardcore and crossover thrash bands of the era, such as The Varukers and Discharge, had lyrics concerning nuclear war, the end of mankind and the destruction of the Earth in much of their early material. Films and television programs made in the 1980s had different visions of what World War III would be like. "Red Dawn" (1984) portrayed a near future in which a communist revolution occurs in Mexico, the United States and Britain become strategically isolated from continental Europe, and the Soviet Union is threatened with famine after the failure of the wheat harvest in Ukraine. World War III subsequently begins unexpectedly, with a surprise Soviet and Cuban invasion of the United States, with large portions of the country falling under Soviet occupation. The central United States and China are obliterated with nuclear weapons and Europe remains neutral. A small band of teenagers fight the occupation forces in Colorado using guerrilla tactics, and are ultimately killed by the Spetsnatz. According to the film's epilogue, the United States repulses Soviet forces and wins the war. In the 1983 James Bond film "Octopussy", James Bond tries to prevent World War III from being started by a renegade Soviet general. "WarGames" (1983) had a teenage gamer accidentally hacking the US nuclear defense network and thinking that he had hacked a computer game company, which reveals a potentially-catastrophic flaw in the newly-automated system. "Spies Like Us" depicts US agents in the Soviet Union accidentally launching a missile at the US, which leads one of them to say, "I think we just started World War III." In the early 1980s, there were a number of films made for television that had World War III as a theme. ABC's "The Day After" (1983), PBS' "Testament" (1983), and the BBC's "Threads" (1984) show a nuclear World War III, against the Soviet Union, which sends its troops marching across Western Europe. Those films inspired many to join the anti-nuclear movement. "Threads" is notable for its graphically-disturbing and realistic depictions of post-nuclear survival and depicts a nuclear strike on Sheffield, the effects of a nuclear winter in the United Kingdom and the complete collapse of human civilization caused by the war. "The Day After" was shown on ABC on November 20, 1983, while Soviet-US relations were at their worst, just weeks after the NATO-led Able Archer 83 exercises and less than three months after Korean Air Lines Flight 007 was shot down by Soviet jet interceptors. The film depicts Lawrence, Kansas, after a nuclear war with the Soviets. ABC warned its audience about the graphic nature of the film. "The Day After" became a political event in itself and was shown in over 40 countries. The shocking and disturbing content discouraged advertisers, but the film had the largest audience for a made-for-TV movie, a record that still stands as of 2008, and influenced the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty negotiations in 1986. The 1982 NBC miniseries "World War III", directed by David Greene, received little critical attention. In the program, a Soviet Spetznaz (Special Forces) raid into Alaska to destroy the Alaska oil pipeline escalates to a full-scale war. The miniseries ends abruptly with the president releasing US nuclear forces against the Soviets. The film ends moments before the world is annihilated with nuclear weapons. Some other stories about the destruction of the world showed the possibility of the world's rebirth following global destruction. In the 1980s, the techno-thriller became a literary phenomenon in the United States. Such novels about high-tech non-nuclear warfare reasserted the value of conventional weapons by showing how they would be vital in the world's next large scale conflict. Tom Clancy's novels proposed the idea of a technical challenge to the Soviet Union in which World War III could be won using only conventional weapons, without resorting to nuclear weapons. Clancy's detailed explanation of how and why World War III could begin involves oil shortages in the Soviet Union caused by Islamic terrorism within it. "The Hunt for Red October" (1984) hypothesized that the Soviets' technology would soon be better than the Americans' and depicts a naval buildup in the Atlantic Ocean after the CIA decides to rescue a highly advanced Typhoon-class submarine defecting from the Soviet Union. "Red Storm Rising" was a detailed account of a fictional coming world war in which the Soviets decide to seize Middle Eastern oil reserves to prevent crippling energy shortages after an Islamist terrorist attack on a major Siberian oil refinery, and they decide to seize Western Europe to prevent American retaliation. The novel subsequently depicts a Soviet invasion of West Germany devolve into a bloody war of attrition because of NATO air superiority over Europe, with a Soviet occupation of Iceland turning the tide by allowing the Soviets air and naval supremacy in the Atlantic Ocean. It ends with the reopening of the Atlantic after the liberation of Iceland and the Soviet Army overthrowing the Politburo before it can resort to the use of nuclear weapons. Soon after the Cold War ended, techno-thriller novels changed from stories about fighting the Soviet Union to narratives about fighting terrorists. "When the Wind Blows", a graphic novel by Raymond Briggs, was published in 1982. The novel is a bitter satire on the Publicized Civil Defense advice given by the British government (Protect and Survive) about how to survive a nuclear war. It has a working-class couple not believing that nuclear war is possible die of radiation sickness after a nuclear explosion and reflects Briggs's participation in the British Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Briggs is best known as a writer and illustrator of children's literature, but the novel was written for an older audience and is his bleakest work though the story includes humour. The novel's message greatly affected young adult readers. Briggs rewrote the novel for radio, stage, and an animated film that was released in 1986. American superhero comics addressed the issue of World War III with the implications of super-powered beings as metaphors for nuclear weapons or using it as character motivation. Marvel Comics gathered many of their Russian super-hero and villain characters into a new group, called "The Soviet Super-Soldiers" which answered directly to the Soviet Government. "Uncanny X-Men" #150 featured the villain Magneto justifying a takeover bid by stating that if he not take over the world then and there, that mutantkind would be destroyed along with mankind in the event of a nuclear war. DC Comics' ' ends with World War III erupting over the issue of a military arms race over a small Latin American country, with the Soviet Union launching an specially-designed intercontinental ballistic missile at the island. Although Superman deflects the missile to an uninhabited desert, the missile still causes mass chaos in the United States due to the electromagnetic pulse and nuclear winter, but without the mass murdering side-effects of radiation. Batman restores order in Gotham City, causing it to become the most stable city in America and embarrassing the US government. In ', during his "One Bad Day" speech, the Joker mentions the frequency of World War III nearly erupting over "a flock of geese on a computer screen," and that WWII was started by "an argument over how many telegraph poles Germany owed its war debt creditors." In the same year, the acclaimed "Watchmen" (set in an alternate timeline) is driven by the threat of nuclear war: the nuclear-powered superhuman Dr. Manhattan has become America's main deterrent to the Soviet Union and his disappearance, which the Soviets exploit, brings the world to the brink of nuclear war. Antagonist characters Adrian Veidt and the Comedian are haunted by the thought of nuclear war, and Veidt's entire plot is to end the threat of nuclear war by faking the existence of an extraterrestrial threat. World War III is mentioned several times in "The Simpsons" cartoon series, particularly in future-set episodes. Other comics used a Third World War as part of their plots: both Britain's "V For Vendetta" and Strontium Dog's "Portrait of a Mutant" use nuclear war as the backdrop for the establishment of totalitarian governments, with the former having Britain escape a direct hit and the latter showing the country in ruins. Judge Dredd, which already had a devastating World War III as part of its backstory that left most of the world a desert, has an all-out Soviet-American war in "The Apocalypse War". This climaxes with Dredd obliterating the enemy with a nuclear strike, which slaughters "half a billion human beings" and is presented as both necessary to win such a war and morally appalling. Japan's "Akira" and "Ghost in the Shell" both start with World War III as part of their backstory, with Japan becoming a world power because it experiences less nuclear fallout than other nations. The science ficton universe of Star Trek touchs on the theme of World War III: first the "Eugenics Wars" of 1992-1996 in which nearly 80 genetic superhuman dictators are overthrown at a cost of 37 million dead but was only a prelude to World War III in 2026-2053 during which 600 million are killed. Nelvana's first motion picture, "Rock & Rule," follows Earth after World War III in which a new race of humans is born from domestic animals like dogs, cats, and rodents. 1990s. The Cold War ended without the destructive final global war that had often been envisioned in popular culture, and the public's fears of World War III were allayed. On the other hand, the previously-classified Stanislav Petrov incident of 1983 seemed to imply that the risk of accidental nuclear war because of technical malfunction was greater than had previously been anticipated. The theme of nuclear armageddon launched by military artificial intelligence computer systems without human decision was explored in the 1991 blockbuster movie "". In the early 1990s and the Gulf Crisis, tabloid papers and other press discussed whether World War III would be linked to prophecies of Nostradamus concerning a third great war. A World War III crisis was also featured in the 1992 Canadian movie "Buried on Sunday" in which a separatist island in Nova Scotia threatens to use nuclear missiles from a Russian submarine to strike the US and Canada. Movies about nuclear weapons that saved humanity were popular, such as "Armageddon" and "Deep Impact" (1998). "Blast from the Past" (1999) is a comedy about a 1960s family caught in the grip of Cold War paranoia. Falsely convinced that World War III has started, they hide in their fallout shelter, only to emerge 35 years later in a world after the Cold War had ended. Jonathan Schell complained to the "New York Times" that "the post–Cold War generation knows less about nuclear danger than any generation." "Yellow Peril" (1991) by Wang Lixiong is about a civil war in China that becomes a nuclear exchange and soon engulfs the world. It was banned by the Chinese Communist Party but remained popular. World War III is referenced in the 1996 film "". William T. Riker states that 600 million people were killed, most major cities were destroyed, and very few world governments were left after a Third World War occurring in 2026. At almost the same time, Kim Stanley Robinson featured a character dissecting World War III 40 years after the fact in Green Mars. Robinson's war featured transnational corporations taking over national governments and using them to attack one another 2061, with only 100 million people being killed by the war. Since the Cold War ended, some stories have presented the conflict as alternate history. The "Fallout" series of video games, which began in 1997, took place in a world still gripped by Cold War hysteria late into the 21st century. That and other factors led to an eventual World War III between the global powers (notably the US and China), and the series involves exploring what is left of the US after the conflict. "Fallout" is considered a spiritual successor to 1988's "Wasteland", which involved a similar premise and also mentions World War III. In the 1998 ZDF/TLC mockumentary "Der Dritte Weltkrieg", consisting largely of real-life footage of military and political figures presented out of context, Mikhail Gorbachev is ousted by an anti-reformist coup in October 1989 during his visit to East Germany, with the Soviet Union still in effective control of Eastern Europe, and hardline rulers still firmly entrenched in nearly all of the satellite states since the events of that autumn are either brutally repressed by "Chinese" methods or simply never occur. The actions of the paranoid ruthless new General Secretary lead first to a brief conventional war (the filmmakers accessed previously-classified war plans and consulted numerous high-ranking military officials on both sides). Just when the conflict seems to have ended, a Soviet radar malfunction, while US forces are on full SIOP alert, which results in a civilization-killing nuclear exchange ("There is no further historical record of what happens next"). After the "ending," just as the annihilation begins, the film rewinds to Gorbachev in East Berlin,and actually concludes with a montage of celebrations in Berlin as the Berlin Wall is freely crossed, danced upon, and dismantled and the country is reunited ("History... took a different path"). 2000s. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, a scenario of World War III beginning as a result of a nuclear or other catastrophic terrorist attack became prominent. Terrorism in the form of nuclear, chemical, or biological attacks now occupy the place in popular culture once held by the vision of a nuclear World War III between world powers. "Chain of Command" is a 2000 political thriller TV film which portrays a war between the US and China. Paramount Pictures released a film adaptation of Tom Clancy's "The Sum of All Fears" in 2002. The film had begun production before 9/11 and was originally intended as an escapist thriller in which the CIA analyst Jack Ryan fights Neo-Nazis who conspire to detonate a nuclear weapon at an association football game to start a nuclear war between Russia and the United States. However, the film's release just seven months after 9/11 made it very topical. Phil Alden Robinson, the film's director, commented that "a year ago, you'd have said, 'great popcorn film,'... Today you say, 'that's about the world I live in.'" There was an aggressive promotional campaign, with movie trailers and television commercials showing the nuclear destruction of a city and a special premiere for politicians in Washington, DC. Later in the decade, World War III had also become the topic of several popular video games, reflecting the trend towards increased public consciousness of the possibility of a future global war. In 2008, games such as "Tom Clancy's EndWar", ', and ' all painted scenarios about a Third World War driven by the need for resources on the part of the various combatants. Similarly, 2009's ' is set in a universe in which humanity explored space after a destructive global conflict on Earth. ' (2009) and its 2011 sequel ' are also examples. At the end of the latter's launch advertisement, the "W" in "WW3" flipped itself to read "MW3". The games feature a global war between the United States and Russia after the United States were framed for a massacre at a Moscow airport, and soon afterward, the Russians expand their war into Europe. "Battlefield 3" (2011), on the other hand, follows "The Sum of All Fearss example, portraying Iranian terrorists stealing portable atomic weapons from Russia for the purpose of provoking a war between them and the United States. Other games such as "World In Conflict" (2007), and ' (2008) take place in alternate histories in which global war is a reality, the former being a war between the United States and the Soviet Union and the latter being a war between the United States and a much stronger Nazi Germany that won World War II, both games depicting an invasion of America. The "Fallout" series continued to portray the aftermath of nuclear war with its entries, "Fallout 3" (2008) and ' (2010). The 2007 bestselling game DEFCON places players in charge of preparing to and then fighting a nuclear war with other human or computer-generated players attacking from and defending different sectors of planet Earth. Its simple 1980s-style vector graphics are inspired by those seen in the 1983 hit movie WarGames. In 2000, a made-for-TV remake of "Fail-Safe" was produced that remained set in the 1960s of the novel. 2010s. World War III and its predicted aftermath continued to be portrayed in popular media around the world such as in recent video games "APOX" (2011), "Homefront" (2011), and "Metro" franchise – "Metro 2033" (2010), "" (2013), "Metro Exodus" (2019). "Ace Combat: " (2011) starts with a Russian Rebellion taking control of Russia and starting a war agajbsty NATO. ' (2012) is an RTS game that simulates full-scale conventional warfare between NATO and the Warsaw Pact between 1975 and 1985. The scenario of World War III was also seen in the film ' (2011), where Sebastian Shaw, Emma Frost, and the Hellfire Club planned to support the Third World War to destroy the humans and evolve the mutants so that the Hellfire Club could establish its rule over the Earth. Some other films that portray a world like World War III are "Red Dawn", a remake of the 1984 movie which features an invasion by North Korea and Russia of the United States; "Tomorrow, When The War Began", which portrays an invasion of Australia by a coalition of Asian nations; and the 2010 Croatian film "The Show Must Go On". A scenario involving World War III is also seen in "Hunter Killer" in which a rogue Russian minister attempts a coup and American forces must fight his forces to avert further escalation of the conflict. "The Unthinkable" is a 2018 movie that depicts a Russian invasion of Sweden and Europe. "The Wolf's Call" is a 2019 French film that portrays a French Rubis-class submarine caught in the middle of an armed conflict between the West and a Russian-Iranian alliance. "World War III: Inside the War Room" is a 2016 docudrama that details a war between NATO and Russia after Putin invades Latvia in a fight like War in Donbass. "Steel Rain" is a 2017 South Korean film that portrays a North Korean coup to instigate a war against South Korea and the United States with the aid of China. World War III is further referenced in the Japanese anime "Steins;Gate" (2011) in which Rintaro Okabe must travel through various world timelines to prevent a new world arms race after the discovery of time travel and would eventually envelop the planet in a global war over the technology. Another anime, "AKB0048" (2012–2013), takes place 48 years after an interplanetary war destroyed everything on Earth and forced humanity to flee to other inhabitable planets. World War III scenarios have also been seen in certain TV shows. "Salvation" depicts a moment in which a meteor is about to hit Earth and a brief fight occurs between the United States and Russia. "The Last Ship (TV series)" show a global viral pandemic wiping out over 80% of the world's population and the crew (consisting of 218 people) of a lone unaffected US Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, the fictional USS "Nathan James", must try to find a cure, stop the virus, and save humanity while it fights many nations in the "Immune Wars," including Russia and China. "Occupied" is a Norwegian TV series that depicts a fictional near future in which Russia, with support from the European Union, occupies Norway to restore its oil and gas production. "SEAL Team (TV series)" shows an episode in which the Navy SEALs must avert war with Russia and China after trying to extract a Russian defector inside Chinese borders. Alien invasions have become a popular topic as a conflict Luke World War III, with the alien invaders portrayed similarly to human military invaders, as is seen in the films " Skyline" (2010), "" (2011), and "Pacific Rim" (2013) and the TV series "Falling Skies" (2010). 2020s. Shortly after the 2020 Baghdad International Airport airstrike in which US forces killed the Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani and the Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, Internet memes regarding a Third World War (technically an American-Iran War) and the draft procedure began to spread on various social media platforms. The prevention of World War III is the premise of the film "Tenet", which was released globally on August 26, 2020 after it had been delayed three times by the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2020 novel "Rogue Flag" deals with the premise that a micronation starts a war between NATO and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The singer Machine Gun Kelly released the song "WWIII, World War 3," in his album "Tickets to My Downfall".

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Captain Price Captain John Price is a fictional character in the "Call of Duty" series. He is the main protagonist of the "Modern Warfare" sub-series being one of two characters to be featured in all of the games in the sub-series, the other being Nikolai. Price first ranked as a lieutenant, and served as a sniper under the orders of Captain MacMillan, participating in a mission to assassinate Ultranationalist Leader Imran Zakhaev in Pripyat, Ukraine in 1996. He was then promoted to a Captain and took charge of a Special Air Service squad, codenamed "Bravo Team", which included Captain John "Soap" MacTavish, before being held prisoner in a Russian gulag after "". After being rescued by Task Force 141 from the gulag, he was then assigned to Task Force 141 but was considered a war criminal after he and Captain MacTavish killed General Shepherd. He then participated in a joint operation with Delta Force's Team Metal, rescuing Alena Vorshevsky, and her father, the Russian President, after they had been kidnapped by Makarov and his forces, before tracking down and killing Makarov in a hotel. Character design. The first iteration of Captain Price was in "Call of Duty". Initially a captain of D Company, 2nd (Airborne) Battalion Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry charged with seizing Pegasus Bridge prior to the Invasion of Normandy, Price is later seconded to 3 Troop, Special Air Service (SAS) along with the player character, Sergeant Jack Evans. He would appear again in "Call of Duty 2", this time as a captain in the 7th Armoured Division, fighting in the North African campaign and then later in the Battle for Caen. The character design borrowed heavily from Michael Graham Cox's portrayal of Captain Jimmy Cleminson in the ensemble war movie "A Bridge Too Far". Cleminson, while only in his early twenties, indeed sported a large moustache; during the Battle of Arnhem Cleminson found himself trapped in an attic with the commander of the 1st Airborne Division, Major-General Roy Urquhart, who chided Cleminson for his "damned silly" moustache. The character's third appearance was as a Captain in the SAS in ', followed by further appearances in ' and '. Still bearing a large moustache, this modern take on Captain Price drew further inspiration from British SAS soldier John McAleese, who was involved in the Iranian Embassy siege and also co-hosted the television series ' in 2003. McAleese was also well known for his large moustache. Price's callsign, Bravo Six, is a direct reference to the 1986 war film "Platoon", in which Captain Harris' callsign is exactly the same as Price's. Over the course of the franchise, Captain John Price has been portrayed by Michael Gough, Billy Murray and Barry Sloane. In an interview with Sami Onur, a character designer for Infinity Ward, the explanation was provided that John Price is the grandson of the Price who appeared in early "Call of Duty" games, though this has not yet been confirmed by Infinity Ward staff. In the early developments of "", Price was scheduled to be the player's commander, not "Soap" MacTavish, as he was supposed to be the playable character instead of Roach. This is further explained in the artbook for "Modern Warfare 2". Personality. Price is known to be ruthless towards his enemies. This can be seen when he tells Captain MacMillan that he was going to "kill them all" after MacMillan asked him what he was going to do with all of the equipment that he had acquired. However, he is also a man who can be funny at some times, often cracking jokes during missions. Price is also a very caring man. Although he seemed to be very hostile to Soap when they first met, they eventually became best friends, and Price was devastated over his death. Price is also very serious and thoughtful. On what was to be a "death mission", Captain Price gave a short speech to Soap about how knowing how and when he will die is not a curse, rather a blessing, and how "this land" (Afghanistan) will remember what they did on this mission. Appearances. Original "Modern Warfare" timeline. In "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare", Captain Price serves as the commanding officer of primary protagonist John "Soap" MacTavish. He is also the player character for two flashback missions set in Pripyat in 1996, these being "All Ghillied Up" and "One Shot One Kill". The missions explore an assassination attempt on main antagonist Imran Zakhaev. At the conclusion of the game, he is severely wounded in a tanker truck explosion, but passes an M1911 pistol to Soap so he can kill Zakhaev. Price survives this incident, and is encountered again in "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2". He is discovered imprisoned by terrorist Vladimir Makarov after , and joins Task Force 141 in an attempt to stop a war between the United States and Russia. However, Task Force 141 is betrayed by their commanding officer, General Shepherd, who orchestrated the war in order to raise American patriotism and become a war hero. Price and Soap embark on a suicide mission to kill Shepherd and avenge their comrades; they succeed in doing so, although Task Force 141 is disavowed and they are labelled terrorists. In "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3", Price and Soap ally with Yuri, an ex-Spetsnaz operative, and Team Metal, a Delta Force fireteam, to kill Makarov and clear their names. During an assassination attempt in Prague, Makarov reveals he has a history with Yuri and kills Soap. Price learns that Yuri was formerly an associate of Makarov, but betrayed him during a terrorist attack on a civilian airport. The two work with Team Metal to rescue the Russian president and his daughter from Makarov, ending the war and clearing their names; Team Metal is killed in the battle. Several months later, Price and Yuri launch an assault on a hotel owned by Makarov and finally kill him at the cost of Yuri's life. New "Modern Warfare" timeline. In , Captain Price returns to the campaign, which takes place in a new timeline. He is currently portrayed by actor Barry Sloane. Price is contacted by CIA agent Kate Laswell about the Russian nerve gas crisis. Given its threat status, he agreed to finish this operation. When London was attacked by Al-Qatala Price leads his Bravo team to contain the situation. Then, after a raid on a Al-Qatala terror cell in townhouse, intelligence shown the leader' name: Omar "The Wolf" Sulaiman. After the crisis ends and Barkov disowned by Russia for his action, Price meet up with Laswell to discuss the formation of "Task Force 141", with few names up for consideration: his subordinate, Kyle "Gaz" Garrick, John "Soap" MacTavish, and Simon "Ghost" Riley. Other appearances. An Xbox 360 avatar based upon Captain Price is available for purchase. Machinima posted a video in YouTube entitled "Captain Price Plays Halo 3", part of their "Call of Duty" and "Halo" crossover series, with other "Call of Duty" characters portrayed playing "Halo". Captain Price also appears in the mobile game ' as the first hero to be unlocked and has a statue skin that can be unlocked for 250 Celerium. There is also a Captain Price outfit for the Stryker Rig in '. Captain Price is also a playable Blackout character in ' if the digital or physical edition of ' is pre-ordered. Reception. The character was well received by video game publications and fans alike. This praise included Captain Price being ranked as eight on "Game Informer" list of "30 Characters Who Defined a Decade" and voted as 17th top video game character of all time in "Guinness World Records 2011 Gamers' Edition". He was also one of the 64 characters chosen for "GameSpot" "All-Time Greatest Sidekick" poll, while voted as the eighth-top character of the 2000s decade by "Game Informer" readers, and "Complex" in 2013 ranked Price as the 26th greatest soldier in video games. In 2008, "The Age" ranked Price as the eighth-greatest Xbox character of all time, calling him "the most familiar of the "Call of Duty" supporting cast and a damn fine army man indeed" and saying "What a guy; what a [mous]'tache." A "GamesRadar" article demanded "a whole game" exclusively starring Price because ""Call of Duty 4" best dialogue comes from Captain Price" as well as its "best missions are the ones in which you play as Captain Price." "GamesRadar" staff further placed him at number 41 in a list of the 50 best game characters of the generation, commenting, "Arguably no other character in the history of games goes harder than Captain John Price. ... Truly, the man is a badass." He was also ranked as the 48th "most memorable, influential, and badass" protagonist in video games history.

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Soap MacTavish John "Soap" MacTavish is a main character and protagonist in the "Call of Duty" story arc "Modern Warfare". He first appears as a main playable character in the 2007 video game "" where he is part of the 22nd Special Air Service (SAS) regiment as a sniper and demolitions expert. He later appears in the sequel ', released in November 2009, as both an NPC and as one of the playable characters. He also appeared in ', released in November 2011. In both games John "Soap" MacTavish plays the role of Captain and Field Commander of Task Force 141 along with Captain John Price who also appears alongside him in the original three titles. MacTavish is voiced by Scottish actor Kevin McKidd in "Modern Warfare 2" and "Modern Warfare 3". Overview. John "Soap" MacTavish plays a key role in the storyline of "" where he is on the front lines of the fight against the Ultra-nationalists as part of the SAS, more specifically Captain Price's Bravo Team. In "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare", the player experiences the storyline through the eyes of Soap. However, certain missions were played from a different characters perspective. Soap appears to be modeled after the character "Lake" in the 2003 movie "Tears of the Sun". The later games present MacTavish as a non-playable character (NPC) that the playable character fights alongside. However, in " the player takes control of MacTavish in the final three missions. In the final game in the series, MacTavish appears as a playable character only for the first mission then reverts to an NPC for the remainder of the storyline. MacTavish is later killed in action during the course of " after an explosion where he experiences massive blood loss, whilst on a mission to assassinate Vladimir Makarov, a continuing antagonist of the series appearing in all three titles. The developers of " added a DLC (Downloadable Content Package) which allowed the player to play as the iconic character called the Soap Legend Pack which was released in April 2014. The fourth season of " features Soap as a playable avatar upon purchase of the season battle pass. Plot appearances. "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare". MacTavish is first introduced in the opening mission, after having been selected for the 22nd SAS, based at Hereford. He is introduced to fellow squadmates as well as his new commanding officer, Captain John Price, where he undergoes a routine training exercise in the killing house before proceeding on a mission to infiltrate a container ship in the Bering Strait and retrieve a nuclear device. He is part of the team responsible for the capture and execution of Khaled Al-Assad, the man responsible for the detonation of a similar nuclear device in an unnamed Middle Eastern country, and also the death of Imran Zakhaev, the man responsible for providing Al-Assad nuclear weapons. Soap is part of Bravo Team, which works with US Marine Force Recon in disabling nuclear missiles which Zakhaev launched at the shores of the United States, where he later kills Zakhaev after an Mi-24 Hind destroys a major bridge on their evacuation route. Soap and Price are barely spared the untimely death their squad received when a diversion created by Russian loyalists buys Soap time sufficient to kill Zakhaev and two soldiers with Price's M1911 pistol. "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2". Soap makes his appearance in "Modern Warfare 2" as Captain of Task Force 141, a promotion he received in the aftermath of , where Price was captured and taken to a gulag in eastern Russia after an attempt on the life of Vladimir Makarov, Zakhaev's former top lieutenant. He appears on the mission "Cliffhanger" as an NPC, assisting the player's character, Gary "Roach" Sanderson. In the following mission where the player controls Roach, MacTavish and his team capture the right-hand man of an arms dealer and interrogate him, which then leads them to hunt for Alejandro Rojas, whom they captured in time, which leads to the rescue of Captain Price – the man Makarov hates most. In the final three missions of the game, he and Price discover that their commanding officer, Lt. General Shepherd had double-crossed them, but are unable to warn their team (Ghost and Roach) in time and they are subsequently killed. After battling through a massive battalion of armed military contractors (dubbed Shadow Company,) Soap attempts to kill Shepherd with his combat knife, but Shepherd manages to stab him in the chest. With Shepherd distracted by a hand to hand duel with Price, and with what little strength he had left, Soap pulled the knife from his chest and threw it, directly hitting Shepherd in his eye and killing him instantly. Price patches up Soap when their friend Nikolai lands near their pickup point and extracts them to safety, setting the stage for Modern Warfare 3. "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3". Hours after being extracted from Site Hotel Bravo, Task Force 141 has been disavowed and a dying Soap has been extracted to a Russian loyalist holdout in India. With Makarov on their trail to tie up loose ends and a quick patch job by a loyalist doctor, loyalist Yuri joins Bravo Team in escaping the relentless assault by Russian ultranationalists loyal to Makarov to lay low while Russia is engaged in all-out combat with the United States across the eastern seaboard. Sometime later, Price contacts former 141 operator Sandman who they worked with during Operation Kingfish for assistance with leads on Makarov's location, as well as SAS commanding officer MacMillan, Price's former captain in the SAS with whom he worked during the initial attempt to kill Imran Zakhaev 20 years prior to the events of Modern Warfare 3 (15 prior to the events of Call of Duty 4.) After retrieving intel from a number of sources and with help from loyalist Kamarov, the team is able to lock down Makarov's location in a martial law run-down Prague, in the Czech Republic, where Makarov is expected to attend a high-level meeting with other senior officials in his organization. Makarov, however, is aware that 141 is in the city, and, after letting Yuri know he shouldn't have come after them, activates bomb charges intended to kill Soap and Yuri both. Soap saves Yuri's life by pushing him out of the window at the last moment, and is then jettisoned himself from a very high elevation, at which point Soap's previous knife wound is reopened. During an attempted extraction, Soap dies from massive blood loss moments after informing Price that Makarov knows Yuri. Soap is later mentioned by Price when the latter calls MacMillan to let him know that Soap has died and pleads for help in finding Makarov's location. He is mentioned one final time at the beginning of the last mission of the game by Price, who the player takes control of, when he and Yuri suit up in EOD armor, says "This is for Soap." Other appearances. Due to the popularity of the character, an Xbox 360 user avatar was released for purchase, which allows players to look like Soap. Similar to the Call of Duty character Captain Price, MacTavish appears in a video posted on YouTube by Machinima entitled "Captain MacTavish Plays Halo 3", as part of their "Call of Duty" and "Halo" crossover series. The character also appears in the Soap Legend Pack, a DLC for " where Soap is a playable multiplayer character. This was released on 22 April 2014. On 22 November a mobile app designed for iOS and Windows Phone entitled " was released which featured Soap as a character that the player could control once unlocked. The fourth season of features Soap as a playable avatar if the player purchases the "Disavowed Battle Pass". The season also included weapons, equipment and vehicles with MacTavish themed skins. In the rebooted "Modern Warfare", he is among the names up for consideration for the newly assembled "Task Force 141". In the ending cinematic of Warzone, "Modern Warfare's" battle royale gamemode, Soap is heard interacting with Captain Price requesting for back-up. Reception. The character was well received by many fans of the "Call of Duty" franchise. An online poll on the Guinness World Records 2011 Gamers' Edition which involved over 13,000 gamers voting placed John "Soap" MacTavish in 12th place out of a list of 50 fictional game characters.

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Snake Plissken S.D. Bob "Snake" Plissken is the protagonist of the films "Escape from New York" and "Escape from L.A." He is portrayed by Kurt Russell, and created by director John Carpenter and screenwriter Nick Castle. An anti-hero, he is a former Special Forces operator/war hero in World War III turned criminal. The movies follow his apprehension by the United States Police Force and subsequent conscription to extract top-secret material from New York City and Los Angeles—which have, in this dystopian setting, been entirely converted into maximum-security prisons. Fictional biography. Background. 'Snake' Plissken is a former U.S. Army Lieutenant, serving under Special Forces Unit "Black Light" stated by Hauk in "Escape from New York", with two Purple Hearts, and the youngest man to be decorated by the U.S. President for bravery during campaigns in Leningrad and Siberia in World War III against the Former Soviet Alliances and Eurasian United War Union. Some time later, he turned to a life of crime due to the perceived betrayal of the United States government during the "Leningrad Ruse" (when he lost the use of his left eye) and when his parents were burned alive in their home by the United States Police Force—events described in the "Escape from New York" novelization by Mike McQuay. He traveled with his war buddy and only friend, Bill Taylor. Snake took up with partners Harold Hellman (later known as "Brain") and Bob 'Fresno Bob'. In Kansas City around 1993, Hellman apparently let Plissken and Fresno Bob get cornered by police, at which time Fresno Bob was brutally tortured and killed by sadistic law enforcers within the United States Police Force. After his daring escape from New York. Plissken finds himself in Cleveland where he meets two new partners in crime: Jack 'Carjack' Malone (later known as Hershe Las Palmas) and Mike 'Texas Mike' O'Shay. Subsequently, Texas Mike is killed and Carjack is caught. Plissken evades capture and makes his way to the United States territory of New Vegas, Thailand. Where he is a gunfighter for hire to whoever pays the most coin for his services. Until he is once again apprehended by the United States Police Force and sent to Los Angeles Island Prison referred to as The Island of The Damned. As a result of the Kansas City incident, it was widely believed in the criminal community that Plissken was dead. This is a running gag in "Escape from New York": "I heard you were dead" (homage to the John Wayne film "Big Jake"). In "Escape from L.A.", the recurring joke is changed to "I thought you'd be taller." Plissken has a tattoo of a cobra on his abdomen. He is skilled in martial arts due to his military training. Personality. Snake is shown as being very cynical, most likely due to the hypocrisy of the U.S. government, and appears to be willing to do anything to survive. He is often stated by others to be somewhat of a misanthropist. He is terse, stern in his speech, of few words, and holds nothing sacred or even important. He does however hold a loose code of honor. He frequently shows coolness and level-headed thinking under extremely stressful situations. Although he will kill without remorse or hesitation, he does not kill for fun or when it is unnecessary. He is also known for his quick wit and gallows humor. Appearances. "Escape from New York". Snake was arrested in 1997 after breaking into the U.S. Federal Reserve in Denver, Colorado. He was sentenced to life in New York maximum security prison —that is, the entire island of Manhattan, surrounded by an impenetrable wall, and then abandoned to fall into anarchy. At this time, Air Force One was hijacked and crashed into Manhattan, and the President, played by Donald Pleasence, was captured by the "Duke of New York" (Isaac Hayes), the de facto leader of the prisoners. Bob Hauk (Lee Van Cleef), the New York Police Commissioner, offered Snake a full pardon for every criminal action he had committed in the United States if he would go in and rescue the President. The President carried technical information that would allow the United States to be the dominant world power, but in 24 hours it would become useless. Hauk enforced the time limit by implanting microscopic explosive capsules in Plissken's carotid arteries, which would detonate at the deadline. Plissken rescued the President with the help of Harold Hellman (Harry Dean Stanton) (now known as Brain, and working for the Duke of New York), Brain's "squeeze" Maggie (Adrienne Barbeau), and a taxicab driver nicknamed Cabby (Ernest Borgnine). Only Plissken and the President survived their escape. As the President began his broadcast speech, Plissken, who is disgusted by the President's lack of regret for the people who died to get him out, walked away, deliberately shredding the time-critical information tape. "The Adventures of Snake Plissken". In January 1997, Marvel Comics released the one-shot "The Adventures of Snake Plissken". The story takes place sometime between "Escape from New York" and before his famous Cleveland escape mentioned in "Escape from L.A." Snake has robbed Atlanta's Centers for Disease Control of some engineered metaviruses and is looking for buyers in Chicago. Finding himself in a deal that's really a set-up, he makes his getaway and exacts revenge on the buyer for ratting him out to the United States Police Force. In the meantime, a government lab has built a robot called A.T.A.C.S. (Autonomous Tracking And Combat System) that can catch criminals by imprinting their personalities upon its program in order to predict and anticipate a specific criminal's every move. The robot's first test subject is America's public enemy number one, Snake Plissken. After a brief battle, the tide turns when A.T.A.C.S. copies Snake to the point of fully becoming his personality. Now recognizing the government as the enemy, A.T.A.C.S. sides with Snake. Unamused, Snake destroys it. As A.T.A.C.S. shuts down, it can only ask him, "Why?" Snake just walks off answering, "I don't need the competition". "John Carpenter's Snake Plissken Chronicles". Snake Plissken appeared in "John Carpenter's Snake Plissken Chronicles", a four-part comic book miniseries released in 2003 that was published by CrossGen comics and Hurricane Entertainment. The story takes place the morning after the events in "Escape from New York". Snake has been given a military Humvee after his presidential pardon and makes his way to Atlantic City. Despite the fact the director's cut of the New York movie shows Snake was caught after a bank job, this story has Snake finishing up a second heist that was preplanned before his capture. The job is stealing the car JFK was assassinated in from a casino and then delivering it to a buyer on a yacht in the gulf. The job involves Snake's partnership with a man named Marrs who ends up double crossing him. Left for dead in a sinking crab cage, Snake escapes and is luckily saved by a passing fisherman named Captain Ron. When Ron denies Snake's request to use his boat in order to beat Marrs to the robbery, Snake decides to kill him. But when he ends up saving Ron from a Russian mob wanting money, Ron changes his mind and helps Snake. Once at the casino, Snake comes face to face with Marrs and his men, who arrive at the same time, ending in a high-speed shoot-out. Snake gets away with the car and its actress portraying Jackie Kennedy, leaving Marrs to be caught by the casino owner, who cuts him a deal to bring his car back and live. After some trouble, Snake manages to finally get the car to the buyer's yacht with Ron's boat and is then attacked by Marrs. Following the fire fight the yacht and car are destroyed, Marrs and Captain Ron are dead, and Snake makes his escape in a helicopter with the 30 million credits owed to him for the job. The series is written by William O'Neill, penciled by Tone Rodriguez and edited by Jan Utstein-O'Neill. "Escape from L.A.". Sixteen years since his escape from New York, Snake is once again enlisted for a similar situation, as the story begins with a similar plotline as was used in "Escape from New York". This time, Snake is forced to retrieve a disk for a remote control which controlled a series of EMP style satellites. These devices are positioned around the entire world. The disk was somewhere in Los Angeles. The city had separated from the mainland due to an earthquake in August 2000 and had become an island separate from the United States which had become a totalitarian theocratic police state. Snake had to retrieve a black box which the President's (Cliff Robertson) daughter, Utopia (A.J. Langer), went into LA with. The President says he doesn't care if she is returned or killed, as she is a traitor to his country. Snake initially refuses but once injected with the plutoxin 7 virus - which will lead to his death in ten hours - he agrees. Snake retrieves the box and seemingly returns it to the President. However, when the President attempts to activate it, he learns it is not the real box. Snake reveals that he switched the box with a fake, and promptly uses the code "666" to "wipe out all technology" in the world. Cancelled projects. Television series. In July 2000, Tribune Entertainment announced plans to adapt "Escape from New York" into a television series. However, it was canceled in September 2001, due to terrorist attacks in New York. Chronicles project. Along with the comic book, other "Snake Plissken Chronicles" projects were announced. A Namco-produced video game was announced, but was later cancelled possibly due to the death of Debra Hill. Production I.G was also set to create an anime film based on the property, reportedly based on the "Escape From Earth" concept John Carpenter and Kurt Russell had conceived, but this also never materialized. Carpenter and Russell would have executive produced, and Russell would have provided the voice and likeness of Snake. "Escape from Earth". In the 2000s, there was a proposed second sequel often mentioned by Carpenter and Russell in interviews prior to the release of "Escape from L.A." The concept was that Earth was the only place left for Plissken to escape. After "Escape from L.A." failed to attract much business, the project never materialized. In August 2006, there was an Internet rumor circulating that the project was actively being pursued by Paramount at Russell's urging, but the rumor was revealed to be untrue. "Escape from Mars". In 1996, the script to "Ghosts of Mars" originally started off as a potential Snake Plissken sequel. Entitled "Escape from Mars", the story would have been largely much the same; however, after "Escape from L.A." failed to make much money at the box office, the studio did not wish to make another Plissken movie. Snake Plissken was then changed to "Desolation Williams," and the studio also insisted that Ice Cube be given the part. Possible future appearances. On March 13, 2007, it was announced that Gerard Butler would play the role of Snake Plissken in a remake of "Escape from New York". Kurt Russell, as well as many fans, did not approve. As of June 2008, a rumor has been circulating that the project is proceeding with Josh Brolin as Snake Plissken. However, the project ended up being in development hell. On October 12, 2015, 20th Century Fox hired Luther creator Neil Cross was announced to write the film's script. In March 2017, it was announced that Robert Rodriguez will direct the movie. In February 2019, new development surfaced when Leigh Whannell was hired to write a new script, with the option to replace Rodriguez as director.

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Calculated Risk (novel) Calculated Risk is a 1960 science fiction novel – specifically, a time travel story – by Charles Eric Maine. It was first published in the U. K. by Hodder & Stoughton; a paperback version by Corgi Books appeared in 1962. The novel explores themes of personal moral responsibility, and in particular the responsibility of scientists to prevent abuse of the results of their research. It uses the device of "psychological time travel" whereby a person's mind could be sent across time and take over the brain and body of another person living in that time – similar to the device in Maine's earlier and better-known "Timeliner". Synopsis. Phil Calland is a brilliant scientist working in a bleak dystopian 24th Century Britain. In a recent nuclear war, London was left largely in radioactive ruins, survivors living huddled in miserable huts. Britain – like other nations worldwide – is ruled by a harsh military dictatorship. Resumption of nuclear warfare seems just a matter of time, and humanity might not survive the second round. Under such circumstances, Calland seeks the only available escape for himself and his girlfriend Kay – an escape backwards, four hundred years into the past. Their 24th-century bodies would die, but they would have new bodies in the less harsh environment of mid-20th Century Britain, and could start new lives there. Considering the alternative, the inherent "calculated risk" seems well worth taking. Desperate to escape, and born of a harsh and ruthless time, Calland does not pause to consider the moral implications of his plan involving the destruction of the original personalities inhabiting two 20th-century brains and bodies – in effect, a double murder. Calland's equipment works as intended, he and Kay are sent back to the 20th century, and into bodies of the correct gender. Calland finds himself in the body of a successful young man, with an attractive fiancee which he is soon to marry. But going to the rendezvous with Kay at Trafalgar Square, he is shocked to discover the flaw in his plan – Kay's personality had been displaced into the body of an old, ill woman. Thereupon, Calland seeks to remedy things by an even more ruthless plan – to rebuild his mind-transferring machine and use it to transfer Kay's mind into the body of his 20th-century fiancee, caring nothing about killing her in the process. But his second calculated risk goes completely wrong, with the total ruin of all that he and Kay tried to achieve. Meanwhile, back in the 24th century Calland's invention falls into the hands of the military regime, and the generals soon realize its military potential and plan a full scale "time invasion" of the 20th century. It falls to another scientist, with a higher moral sense, to stop them at the price of great personal sacrifice.

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Yellow Peril (novel) Yellow Peril () is a 1991 novel by Wang Lixiong, written in Chinese under the pseudonym Bao Mi (lit. "Secret"), about a civil war in the People's Republic of China that becomes a nuclear exchange and soon engulfs the world, causing World War III. It is notable for Wang Lixiong's politics, a Chinese dissident and outspoken activist, its publication following Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, and its popularity due to bootleg distribution across China even when the book was banned by the Communist Party of China. The book was published in 1991 by "Mirror Books", a Chinese editor in Toronto, Canada, and soon became a best-seller.

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Doomsday Plus Twelve Doomsday Plus Twelve is a 1984 post-apocalyptic novel by James D. Forman. Plot introduction. The story is set in 2000, twelve years after the world nuclear war known as "Doomsday." A group of Oregon teenagers seek to use peaceful protest to stop militarists in San Diego from using the nuclear missiles on a captured nuclear submarine against Japan. Plot. In 1988, an incident in Saudi Arabia touches off World War III between the United States and the Soviet Union. Things get out of hand and nuclear weapons are used; U.S. deaths number 120 million. The effects of EMP, ozone, and epidemics (California was dusted with anthrax) are depicted. Twelve years later people living in a rural Oregon have survived with their only contact with the outside world coming from Japanese merchants who have built a base near them. They are later, however, visited by representatives from San Diego, one of the few U.S. cities to survive the war. The visitors preach their plan to restore the United States by driving out the Japanese with a nuclear submarine that survived the war and ask for volunteers to join their army. Most people are not interested in their message but when the militants launch an attack on the Japanese merchant base it inspires a trek to San Diego led by a charismatic young girl to peacefully protest their actions. On the way they meet various groups of survivors: a gang of Hells Angels bikers who join up with them, monks living in a still functioning observatory, and refugees in the desert living in abandoned military vehicles. When they arrive in San Diego they find the city in ruins (the missile that was supposed to hit exploded in the ocean causing a tsunami that destroyed the city). They peacefully march into the base discovering that the militants were too afraid of their own soldiers to provide them with ammo and the nuclear submarine they boasted about had long since sunk to the ocean floor. Major themes. Critics have compared the novel to Kim Stanley Robinson's "The Wild Shore" and have remarked on its pacifist theme.

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Resurrection Day Resurrection Day is a novel written by Brendan DuBois in 1999. It is an alternate history where the Cuban Missile Crisis escalated to a full-scale war, the Soviet Union is devastated, and the United States has been reduced to a third-rate power, relying on the United Kingdom for aid. It won the Sidewise Award for Alternate History that year. Plot. Set in the aftermath of a nuclear war between the Soviet Union and the United States, the book chronicles the investigations of Carl Landry, a reporter for the "Boston Globe". As the story unfolds, Carl attempts to uncover the events leading up to the war, while at the same time running from those who would have the truth buried. The story begins in 1972, ten years after a nuclear war between the U.S. and the Soviets, which was precipitated by the Cuban Missile Crisis. Washington, D.C., New York, Omaha, San Diego, Miami, and other U.S. cities, principally those surrounding military bases, have either been destroyed, damaged, or rendered uninhabitable by Soviet nuclear attacks. Philadelphia is now the capital of the United States, and although the Mexican-born President George W. Romney is nominally in office, the U.S. is effectively under martial law. The Soviets have been utterly devastated by U.S. nuclear strikes. Cuba is an atomic ruin, with Spain responsible for relief efforts aiding what is left of the island's population. One consequence of the war is that America's embroilment in Vietnam is abruptly curtailed. U.S. military personnel in South Vietnam (and indeed across the world) are withdrawn in order to stabilise the US in the aftermath of the Soviet missile and air strikes. The People's Republic of China has also collapsed, with numerous regional warlords waging a civil war against each other. U.S. nuclear strikes on the Soviets led to the collapse of the Warsaw Pact, and also to the release of a massive fallout cloud over much of Asia, killing further millions after the destruction of the Soviets. As a consequence, the U.S. has become a pariah in the eyes of much of the world. Many governments regard members of the U.S. Air Force as war criminals, and its servicemen are advised not to travel abroad. After the 1962 war, nearly all the remaining countries of the globe have renounced possession of nuclear weapons. The United States alone retains an atomic arsenal. Western Europe survived the war largely unscathed. NATO collapsed almost as soon as hostilities commenced, and France and a reunited Germany now preside over the continent. The United Kingdom and Canada remain allies of the U.S., and actually assist in post-war reconstruction efforts in U.S. states hit hardest by the war. The British, in the period after 1962, has managed to regain much of its pre-1939 colonial confidence in the vacuum left by the destruction of the Soviet Union and the emasculation of the U.S. in world affairs. The policy of decolonialisation has been halted and even reversed; some newly independent nations even return to the remaining British "Empire" in the new, uncertain world created after the "Cuban War". While British aid is welcome, there is also a sense of resentment among the American population over excessive dependence on the British. The large presence of British and Canadian military personnel in the U.S. is also a source of contention, with some Americans wondering whether their allies possess ulterior motives. The story covers two parallel plotlines. The first involves Landry's attempts to discover what happened in Washington, D.C. in October 1962. U.S. military propaganda accounts maintain that the Cuban war broke out because of John F. Kennedy's recklessness and incompetence; these claims are generally believed. Kennedy and his officials are regarded as butchers and war criminals and the only senior surviving member of JFK's inner circle, McGeorge Bundy, is imprisoned in Fort Leavenworth. In contrast, U.S. military commanders (notably the Chief of the Air Force, General Curtis LeMay) are portrayed as the saviors of the nation. During the course of the novel Landry gradually discovers that it was Kennedy who sought to prevent the crisis over Cuba from escalating into war, and that last-minute attempts to achieve a deal with Nikita Khrushchev to end the crisis were deliberately sabotaged by LeMay and other generals. The second plotline concerns British-U.S. relations. Landry and a British journalist, Sandy Price, discover that elements within the British government and security services are plotting a military takeover (or "anschluss") of the U.S. This plan is underway near the end of the novel, and is called off at the last minute.

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The Year of the Quiet Sun The Year of the Quiet Sun is a 1970 science fiction novel by American writer Wilson Tucker, dealing with the use of forward time travel to ascertain future political and social events. It won a retrospective John W. Campbell Memorial Award in 1976. It was also nominated for a Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1970, and a Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1971. Plot summary. During a vacation on a Florida beach in the summer of 1978, Brian Chaney, a demographer and biblical scholar, is approached by a woman named Kathryn van Hise. Initially assuming her to be a reporter interested in a controversial book he just published on the Dead Sea scrolls, she informs him that she works for the federal Bureau of Standards and that she is recruiting him for a physical survey of the future via a secretly constructed "TDV" or time displacement vehicle. When Chaney demurs, she informs him that his contract has been purchased from the think tank where he works, leaving him little choice. The reluctant Chaney travels by armored train to a military installation south of Joliet, Illinois. There he is teamed with two diversely talented military officers, United States Air Force Major William Moresby and United States Navy Lieutenant Commander Arthur Saltus. Chaney soon finds that he shares with Saltus an attraction to Kathryn, who is their civilian liaison, but unlike Saltus, Chaney lacks the assertiveness to pursue her aggressively. Instead he focuses his attention on the project, which is soon ordered by the President of the United States to embark on their first mission, a trip two years into the future to discover whether he wins the 1980 presidential election. The three travel to the Thursday after the election on individual trips, with first Moresby and then Saltus going first according to military seniority. Chaney, as a civilian, is the last to leave, but arrives earlier than the others due to a temporal navigation instrument error. They discover that the president, whom Chaney despises as a weak man (in fact, his name is given as "President Meeks"), wins the election in a landslide as a result of his successful handling of ongoing race riots in Chicago, and that these riots have resulted in the building of a wall down the middle of Cermak Road dividing the north of the city from the south. They also learn that the nation is under martial law after a failed attempt by the Joint Chiefs of Staff to take over the government by coup d'état, one thwarted because of the advance knowledge the time travelers will bring back of it. While preparing for their return, Saltus informs Chaney of an additional discovery: a marriage license between him and Kathryn. With Saltus gloating in the knowledge of his inevitably successful courtship, Chaney concedes the pursuit to him. With the success of the initial mission, the three are authorized to travel further into the future. They plan to travel to dates of their own choosing within the coming two decades, with each trip to be separated by approximately a year in order to provide broader coverage. Moresby goes first and travels to July 4, 1999 ("It has significance, after all!" he says), only to emerge in the middle of a racial civil war in which Chicago had recently been attacked with a nuclear bomb launched from China on behalf of black guerrillas. Quickly getting involved in a battle between base troops and invading "ramjets", as the black guerrillas are called, Moresby dies in an attack on a ramjet mortar position. Saltus is the next to go, traveling to the date of his 50th birthday in 2000. Upon his arrival he discovers remnants of the battle, and is nearly killed by survivors hiding out on the base. Wounded, he is assisted back to the displacement vehicle by an unknown figure and returns to the present, taking with him a tape-recorded report that Moresby had made upon his arrival. Forewarned by Saltus's experience, Chaney travels further into the future. Not having chosen a date, and disillusioned by his experiences on the 1980 trip, he arrives at an indeterminate point in "2000-plus", by which time the power from the base's nuclear reactor has been disrupted, causing the chronometers set up for the travelers to shut down. Venturing outside the building, he finds the base to be long-neglected, apart from a cistern and a grave. While further investigating the grave (which is that of Saltus), he is approached by a young man and a woman who identify themselves as Arthur and Kathryn's children. They take Chaney to Kathryn, now elderly, who reveals to Chaney that civilization collapsed as an indirect result of the time travel project; with the information from the future, the president made a series of disastrous decisions that led to war with China, followed by the civil war and societal destruction. When Chaney asks how much of this information he reports, she informs him that he reported none of it, that with the loss of power the time displacement vehicle could no longer return to the past and that Chaney was forever trapped in the future. Although it is foreshadowed earlier in the book, only at this point is the reader explicitly told a fact that makes Chaney's predicament all the more tragic. He is black, the only such member of the project. "Everyone fears you; no one will trust you since the rebellion," Kathryn tells him. "I am the only one here who does not fear a black man." Reception. In her introduction to the 1979 Gregg Press edition of the novel, writer Sandra Miesel praised the novel as "an intimate drama of Armageddon played out within the boundaries of Will County, Illinois by a cast of five principals." She noted the way Wilson linked the America of the novel and the Qumran community of ancient Palestine, which are introduced through Chaney's background as a biblical scholar who had published a book on the Dead Sea scrolls prior to the start of the novel. The parallels were made explicit through Biblical motifs that appear throughout the novel, with characters paralleling types out of the Dead Sea scrolls and such apocalyptic imagery as a radioactive Lake Michigan substituting for the lake of fire in the Book of Revelation.

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The Irregular at Magic High School is a Japanese web novel series by Tsutomu Satō. It was published on Shōsetsuka ni Narō, an internet web novel website, between October 2008 and March 2011. Satō reached a deal with Dengeki Bunko and began releasing his work in a light novel format beginning July 2011. The story takes place in an alternate history where magic exists and is polished through technology, and follows Tatsuya and Miyuki Shiba, siblings who enroll into First High magic high school. While keeping their connections to the infamous Yotsuba clan secret, they attempt to live their daily life in peace, but Tatsuya is shunned for his apparent ineptness and Miyuki is validated for her magical abilities. In 2013, each story arc received a manga adaptation with varying manga artists and publishers. That same year, an anime television series adaptation by Madhouse was announced and aired between April and September 2014. "The Irregular at Magic High School" franchise had been localized for English by two companies: The light novels and one of the manga adaptations are licensed by Yen Press while Aniplex of America licensed the anime series. The anime series was simulcasted on four networks, and was later made available on Netflix. An featuring an original story by Satō premiered in Japan on June 17, 2017, while a second season taking place after the anime series by Eight Bit aired between October and December 2020. The season was simulcasted on Funimation and Hulu. An anime television series adaptation of "The Honor Student at Magic High School" by Connect is set to premiere July 7, 2021. In 2020, a direct sequel called "The Irregular At Magic High School Magian Company" began being published. Set after the events of Volume 32, the sequel focuses on the protagonist Tatsuya Shiba and the others after their graduation from First High magic high school. A spinoff sequel called "New – The Irregular at Magic High School: Maidens of Cygnus" will begin publication in 2021. Its focus is on Katsuto Juumonji and the revelation about a new family member. On February 28, 2021, Aniplex announced that it will be producing the anime of the series' "Reminiscence Arc". There was no mention of the format for the project given at that time nor any time line for release. The series has been well received. The light novels appeared on Sugoi Japan's 2015 polls and since 2011, is one of the top selling series in Japan with 10 million copies sold as of 2019. In addition, its manga and anime adaptations also appeared on top selling charts. English reviewers had mixed reception towards the anime adaptation. The complex technicality of magic within the series was received warmly but the exposition was criticized for being heavy, unclear, and poorly executed. Synopsis. Setting. The series is set in a world with an alternate history, where magic exists and has been polished through modern technology. However, the ability to use magic is determined by genetics, limiting the number of magicians in existence. Following the 20-year long Third World War that reduced the worlds population to 3 billion, the world's superpowers shifted to these four nations: The United States of North America (USNA), New Soviet Union, the Great Asian Alliance, and Japan. In Japan, the magic community is informally governed by the Ten Master Clans in lieu of the government. Due to the limited number of magicians, they are treated as a commodity and are forced to enter magic related schools and professions. Nine magic high schools exist in Japan; they each specialize in different aspects of magic and are simply referred to by their numbers. Plot. The story follows Tatsuya Shiba, a bodyguard to his sister Miyuki Shiba who is also a candidate to succeed the leadership of the Yotsuba clan, one of the Ten Master Clans that govern Japan's magicians. They enroll into First High School which segregates its students based on their magical abilities. Miyuki is enrolled as a first course student and is viewed as one of the best students, while Tatsuya is in the second course and considered to be magically inept. However, Tatsuya's technical knowledge, combat abilities, and unique magic techniques cause people to view him as an irregular to the school's standardized rankings. Characters. Main. Tatsuya and Miyuki are siblings of the same school year and children to Tatsurou Shiba and the late Miya Yotsuba with Tasuya being 11 months older than Miyuki; their parents had a loveless forced marriage, and when their mother died, their father married his mistress, Sayuri Furuha, leaving the siblings to live by themselves. Maya Yotsuba, their aunt and the current leader of the Yotsuba Clan, was the reason Tatsuya was born with the unique magic to decompose, reconstruct, and detonate matter (along with some gene manipulation). Out of fear of his powers, the Yotsuba Clan leadership of that time argued for Tatsuya's death, forcing Miya and Maya to take measures to ensure his survival: the first was Miyuki's creation with genetic enhancements in utero, who would act as a seal to Tatsuya's power; the second was to magically dull Tatsuya's emotions except for his familial love towards Miyuki; and the third was to assign Tatsuya to be Miyuki's bodyguard in order to develop his sense of loyalty towards her. During a family vacation in Okinawa, Tatsuya warded off an invasion by the Great Asian Alliance and joined the 101 Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion which is headed by Major Kazama Harunobu. At some point during his life Tatsuya developed an interest in engineering magical technology and commercialized revolutionary technology through his family's company, Four Leaves Technology, under the pseudonymous identity Taurus Silver. He is voiced by Yuichi Nakamura (Japanese) and Alejandro Saab (English). Miyuki is considered one of the strongest magicians in the world and is a candidate to succeed her Aunt Maya as the leader of the Yotsuba Clan. Her specialty is freezing magic, and her unique magic allows her to freeze a person's consciousness. In addition, half of her magic casting ability is used to seal Tatsuya's powers. Before the family vacation in Okinawa, Miyuki treated Tatsuya coldly akin to how the other Yotsuba Clan members did. She began to warm up to him and when Tatsuya saved her life, she devoted her entire existence to him. It evolved to the point where she disdains the touch of other males and expresses jealousy towards females around Tatsuya. Genetically different from Tatsuya despite being born from the same parents, Miyuki professes her love to him following their engagement under Maya's orders. She is voiced by Saori Hayami (Japanese) and Anairis Quiñones (English). In the polls by "Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi!", both Tatsuya and Miyuki ranked as one of the most popular light novel characters. Outside of the franchise, Tatsuya and Miyuki also appear in the video game "". Supporting. Tatsuya's group. Tatsuya's group consists of seven classmates whom he spends time with in his daily school life. They often assist Tatsuya during investigations and dangerous situations. Student Council and Disciplinary Committee. The student council is a group of students which provides a liaison between the teachers and students. Meanwhile, the Disciplinary Committee consists of students who are essentially rule enforcers. A third committee is the Extracurricular Activities Federation who ensures that school clubs don't come into conflict with each other. The three committees are closely related and work together to preserve the peace on campus. is the student council president during the Shiba siblings' first year at school. She puts on a coy and innocent facade but is actually mischievous and highly perceptive. Mayumi is talented as a sniper and her form of offensive magic involves firing dry ice as projectiles. During the course of the story, she manipulates Miyuki into joining the student council and Tatsuya into the Disciplinary Committee. She develops an attraction to Tatsuya and places him in awkward situations for fun. After enrolling into Magic University, her twin sisters, Kasumi and Izumi Saegusa, enroll into First High. Mayumi is voiced by Kana Hanazawa (Japanese). and Maureen Price (English). Two people worked alongside Mayumi during the year. The first was who was the leader of the Disciplinary Committee. Mari has a tomboyish personality but becomes completely feminine in front of her boyfriend, , who is also Erika's next oldest half brother. For combat, she uses a whip like blade and uses magic to manipulate chemicals. Second is , the leader of the Extracurricular Activities Federation. Katsuto is the next head of the Jumonji clan and inherited the clans barrier magic, Phalanx: an impenetrable and perpetual barrier used for defensive and offensive purposes. Both the Saegusa and Jumonji are members of the Ten Master Clans, forcing Mayumi and Katsuto to be politically involved with the magic community outside of school. Mari is voiced by Marina Inoue (Japanese) and Amber Lee Connors (English), Naotsugu is voiced by Susumu Chiba (Japanese), and Katsuto is voiced by Junichi Suwabe (Japanese) and Kaiji Tang (English). During the Shiba siblings' second year, Mayumi is succeeded as student council president by , a timid and youthful looking girl. Azusa has an interest in magic engineering and suspects Tatsuya is secretly Taurus Silver. She is able to use a unique magic named after her, Azusa Dream, to forcefully pacify people. Mari is succeeded as chairman of the Disciplinary Committee by , an impulsive and good-natured girl. She is engaged to , an androgynous and timid boy, and loves him dearly. Azusa Nakajou is voiced by Saki Ogasawara (Japanese), Kanon Chiyoda is voiced by Saori Onishi (Japanese), and Kei Isori is voiced by Sōma Saitō (Japanese). Publication and conception. The story was conceived around a protagonist whose abilities cannot be properly measured through standardized evaluation; as such, he is mistakenly categorized as a poor performing student or an irregular. This premise served as a basis for the character, Tatsuya Shiba. Satō has two processes for scripting the story arcs: the first is to create scenarios to have characters behave and interact in certain ways; the second is to plan a scene, then script the story so it leads to that scene. Satō professed that he does not feel his characters are alive or have a will of their own when scripting them. Tsutomu Satō published his work on the online web novel website, Shōsetsuka ni Narō, between October 12, 2008 and March 21, 2011. At some point during his publication on Syosetu, Satō sent an original work to Dengeki Bunko under a pseudonym. The original work's setting shared similarities to "The Irregular at Magic High School" causing an editor to deduce his identity and offer him a publication deal. On March 11, 2011, the author announced his work is going to be published as a light novel under the Dengeki Bunko imprint. The author expressed some regret turning free content into paid commodity and cited his financial needs as the reason. The illustrations accompanying the light novels were done by Kana Ishida. The first light novel volume was unable to accommodate the first story arc; deciding against cutting content from the web novel, it was split into two volumes and released a month later. On March 9, 2015, Yen Press announced its licensing of the light novels for English localization through Twitter. Yen Press' first volume was released in April 2016. In June 2020, it was announced that the novel series would be ending with its 32nd volume which was released on September 10, 2020. In July 2020, both a direct book sequel and a new spinoff series were announced. The sequel, titled began on October 10, 2020. The spinoff, began publication on January 9, 2021. Media adaptations. Manga. "The Irregular at Magic High School" had several manga adaptations with various artists and publishers; each manga adaptation covered a story arc from the original light novel series. The first adaptation was by Fumino Hayashi and Tsuna Kitaumi and covered the "Enrollment Arc" of the light novels. The latest manga adaptation is drawn by Yuzuki N Dash and covers the "President Election Arc" and is currently ongoing. "The Honor Student at Magic High School". A spin-off manga titled by Yu Mori premiered in "Dengeki Daioh"s June 2012 issue. It is currently ongoing, and was collected into seven "tankōbon" volumes under the Dengeki Comics Next imprint. Yen Press licensed the series' "tankōbon" volumes for a North American release, and released the first volume in November 2015. Anime. An anime adaptation of the light novel was announced during the Dengeki Bunko Fall Festival on October 6, 2013. It is directed by Manabu Ono and animated by Madhouse. It aired on Tokyo MX, GTV, and GYT from April 6 to September 28, 2014; nine other networks and three streaming services broadcast the series afterwards. The individual episodes were later encapsulated into ten DVD and Blu-ray volumes released between July 2014 and April 2015. LiSA sung for the first opening theme titled "Rising Hope". In March 2014, Aniplex of America announced its acquisition for streaming rights to the anime series; much later they unveiled their plans to release the series into three Blu-ray volumes which segregate the episodes by story arcs. Four networks simulcasted the series with English subtitles: these include Aniplex Channel, Crunchyroll, Hulu, and Daisuki. In June 2014, the Australasia distributor, Hanabee Entertainment, announced its licensing of the series for streaming and home media release. Months later, Netflix made the series available on their network. Animax Asia also began broadcasting the series in July 2015. Three related media to the anime were created. The first is a super deformed short series titled by Aniplex. These shorts were uploaded on Aniplex's YouTube channel, and was later English subtitled and uploaded on Aniplex of America's channel. An internet radio show titled , premiered on March 23, 2014 and is hosted by Sora Amamiya and Yuiko Tatsumi, the voice actresses for Honoka Mitsui and Shizuku Kitayama respectively; the radio show episodes was later made available for purchase on CD. The third is a radio drama DVD which was released in December 2014 and is based on the light novel's "Recollection Arc". An anime film called was revealed in the 19th light novel volume which was released in March 2016. The film is scripted by the series creator, Tsutomu Satō, and premiered in Japan on June 17, 2017. It is directed by Risako Yoshida and animated by Eight Bit. The rest of the staff and cast will reprise their roles in the film. In the United States, Aniplex of America released the movie in theaters and on home video. The movie takes place in the middle of episode 11 of the second season on the anime. At the "Dengeki Bunko Aki no Namahōsō Festival" event on October 6, 2019, a second season of the anime series adapting the "Visitor Arc" in the novel series was announced and originally scheduled to air in July 2020, but it aired from October 4 to December 27, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The main staff and cast from the 2017 film are reprising their roles in the second season. ASCA performed the opening theme song "Howling", while Miki Satō performed the ending theme song "Na mo Nai Hana". Aniplex of America announced its acquisition the anime series, and originally announced that Funimation would stream it exclusively, but Hulu ended up streaming the series as well. On November 13, 2020, Funimation announced that the second season of the series would receive an English dub. After the end of the series, it was revealed that the spin-off manga series, "The Honor Student at Magic High School" would get an anime television series adaptation that is set to premiere in July 2021. The series is animated by Connect and directed by Hideki Tachibana, with Tsuyoshi Tamai writing and overseeing the series' scripts, Ryōsuke Yamamoto and Takao Sano designing the characters, and Taku Iwasaki returning to compose the series' music. On February 28, 2021, an anime adaptation of the "Reminiscence Arc" has been announced. Video games. Three video game adaptations have been made for the franchise. The first is "The Irregular at Magic High School: Out of Order" by Bandai Namco Entertainment. It is a 3D fighting game for the PlayStation Vita and was released on December 25, 2014. The second game is "The Irregular at Magic High School": , a Japanese role-playing game by Mobage. It was made available for Android, iOS, and feature phone on June 9, 2014. The third game is "The Irregular at Magic High School: Lost Zero", developed by BeXide and published by Square Enix. It was made available for Android and iOS on September 4, 2014. Reception. The light novels have been well received. They were ranked seventh in Sugoi Japan 2015 polls and since 2011, was one of the top selling light novel series in Japan. As of 2014, 5.3 million copies of the light novel have been sold. In addition, its manga and anime adaptations also appeared on top selling charts. As of 2017, the light novel series has sold 7.7 million copies. Anime News Network had four editors review the first episode of the anime: Carl Kimlinger saw potential in its take on a typical anime premise, praising Tatsuya as the lead protagonist and its handling of mysteries surrounding the plot; Theron Martin, although hopeful because of its male lead and plot concept, expressed criticism towards the indistinguishable animation and constant exposition for the viewers; and Rebecca Silverman felt that it was bland and nothing special. The fourth reviewer, Jacob Chapman, expressed immediate dislike towards the series, criticizing it for lacking anything to engage the viewers and for being a lazy adaptation of a light novel, and concluding the review with "I can't even remember the last time I saw something with not a single redeeming factor or thing to recommend about it at all." Silverman reviewed the series future episodes. Plotwise, she praised the "Enrollment Arc"s underline on standardized testing, criticized the "Nine Schools Competition Arc" for its execution and weak exposition, and felt the characters were uninteresting. Silverman felt the series doesn't live up to its potential and cited the background music and stilted animations as possible reasons. Chris Beveridge's review for Fandom Post was highly positive towards the anime series, calling it a dark horse contender as one of their top new anime series of the year. Beveridge praised the technical and fundamental aspects of magic in the series for breaking the supernatural approach other works usually take and liked the potential impact it could have on future events. However, while the reviewer liked the series' technicality, they noted it will frustrate certain viewers in that aspect. Richard Eisenbeis, writing for Kotaku, liked the characters, story, the complex and technical magic system, and mysteries. However, Eisenbeis criticized the exposition, citing it to be poorly timed, heavy, and failing to explain things with better clarity. He concluded his review by writing how the anime might have been great if a different director or screenwriting was hired.

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How I Live Now How I Live Now is a novel by Meg Rosoff, first published in 2004. It received generally positive reviews and won the British Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and the American Printz Award for young-adult literature. Plot. Fifteen-year-old Elizabeth (who goes by the name of Daisy) is sent from the US to stay with her aunt Penn and her children, Daisy's cousins, on a remote farm in the United Kingdom during the outbreak of a fictional third world war of the 21st century. Though she is happy about moving away from her stepmother who is pregnant, Daisy is homesick at first. First meeting her 14-year-old cousin Edmond at the airport, Daisy calls him "some kind of mutt"; however, her view of Edmond changes after settling in. Arriving at the farm she also meets Edmond's twin brother Isaac, 9-year-old Piper, and Osbert, who is the eldest brother. Daisy's homesickness only lasts for a short while before she and her extended family become close, and Daisy begins to embrace her new home. Daisy soon finds herself falling in love with Edmond and, after realising that the affection is mutual, begins a relationship with him. Aunt Penn travels to Oslo, where she is stranded after war breaks out. An unknown enemy occupies the UK. The war becomes increasingly difficult for Daisy and her cousins as it increasingly affects their lives, eventually leading to food shortages and lack of other resources. One day, the farm is taken over by soldiers who separate the boys from the girls by sending them away to live at separate homes, and then separate farms. Daisy and Piper are forced to put survival as their top priority and cannot look for the male members of their family. Gradually finding their way back home, the two girls learn the harsh consequences of war and wait for their family in the barn house. After the war ends, Daisy must deal with putting the pieces of her life back together and overcoming the terrible experience of war as she reunites with the forever changed members of her family, including a physically and emotionally scarred Edmond. Near the end of the book, Daisy (who had been pulled back to the US by her father) goes back to the UK to see Edmond and the rest. Edmond, who thinks Daisy has broken their promise of always being together, refuses to see her at first. However, he eventually accepts her once again. Instead of going back to the US, Daisy continues to live with Edmond and the rest of the family in the UK. Radio adaptation. In 2007 the novel was adapted for radio by Elizabeth Burke. It was directed by Kate McAll and the music was composed by John Hardy. There were five parts of fifteen minutes each, which aired daily from 12 to 15 November as the "Woman's Hour Drama" on BBC Radio 4. Cast: Film adaptation. The novel was adapted into a film directed by Kevin Macdonald that was released in 2013 and starred Irish actress Saoirse Ronan playing the role of Daisy, with George MacKay as Edmond (now written as the oldest cousin), Tom Holland as Isaac (now the younger cousin) and Harley Bird as Piper.

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Dragon Fire (novel) Dragon Fire is a 2000 novel by BBC political and foreign correspondent Humphrey Hawksley about a 2007 war between China, India and Pakistan, which draws in Australia, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Tibet, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and threatens to escalate to nuclear war. While a work of fiction, the novel attempts to raise awareness of real geopolitical issues in the region. This novel gives us nightmare scenarios where the world's worst fears begin on 10:00 a.m. on 3 May 2007. A SFF (Special Frontier Force) unit led by Major Gendun Choedrak assaults Drapchi prison with paratroopers to free Tibetan religious leaders who are being incarcerated there. Far out west, Pakistan launches an attack on the strategic outpost of Kargil, promptly raising the green crescent flag on Indian soil. China accuses India of attacking Chinese soil and declares war. It's Pakistan and China vs India now, 3 nuclear powers. Nuclear arsenals are being mobilized. Later Pakistan is devastated while India and China are threatening nuclear war. Russia says whoever is involved in this matter will have to face her first. The West's greatest nightmares are becoming true. Major themes. Significant background themes include: Critical reception. John Elliott of the "New Statesman" said that the novel was a "good read" and that "it is uncomfortably accurate about the dangers facing Asia".

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Red Alert (novel) Red Alert is a 1958 novel by Peter George about nuclear war. The book was the underlying inspiration for Stanley Kubrick's 1964 film "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb". Kubrick's film differs significantly from the novel in that the film is a black comedy. Originally published in the UK as Two Hours to Doom, with George using the pseudonym "Peter Bryant" (Bryan Peters for the French translation, "120 minutes pour sauver le monde"), the novel deals with the apocalyptic threat of nuclear war and the almost absurd ease with which it can be triggered. A genre of such topical fiction, of which "Red Alert" was among the earliest examples that sprung up in the late 1950s, led by Nevil Shute's "On the Beach". Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler's later best-seller, "Fail-Safe", so closely resembled "Red Alert" in its premise that George sued on the charge of copyright infringement, resulting in an out-of-court settlement. Both novels would go on to inspire very different films that would both be released in 1964 by the same studio (Columbia Pictures). Plot. In a paranoid delusion, moribund US Air Force general Quinten unilaterally launches an airborne preventive nuclear attack upon the Soviet Union from his command at the Sonora, Texas, Strategic Air Command (SAC) bomber base by ordering the 843rd Bomb Wing to attack using war plan "Wing Attack Plan R", which authorises a lower-echelon SAC commander to retaliate after an enemy first strike has decapitated the US government. He attacks with the entire B-52 bomber wing of new aircraft, each armed with two nuclear weapons and protected with electronic countermeasures to prevent the Soviets from shooting them down. When the US President and cabinet become aware the attack is underway, they assist the Soviet defence interception of the USAF bombers, to little effect, because the Soviets destroy only two bombers and damage one, the "Alabama Angel", which remains airborne and en route to its target. The US government reestablishes the SAC airbase chain of command, but the general who launched the attack, the only man knowing the recall code, kills himself before capture and interrogation. His executive officer correctly deduces the recall code from among the general's desk pad doodles. The code is received by the surviving bomber aircraft, and they are successfully recalled, minutes before bombing their targets in the Soviet Union, save for the "Alabama Angel", whose earlier-damaged radio prevents its recalling; it progresses to its target. In a last effort to avert a Soviet–American nuclear war, the US President offers the Soviet Premier the compensatory right to destroy Atlantic City, New Jersey; at the final moment, the "Alabama Angel" fails to destroy its target, and nuclear catastrophe is averted. "Dr. Strangelove" and "Fail Safe". "Red Alert" author George collaborated on the "Dr. Strangelove" screenplay with Kubrick and satirist Terry Southern. "Red Alert" was more solemn than its film version and it did not include the character Dr. Strangelove, though the main plot and technical elements were quite similar. A novelisation of the actual film, rather than a reprint of the original novel, was published by George, based on an early draft in which aliens try to understand what happened after arriving at a wrecked Earth. During the filming of "Dr. Strangelove", Kubrick learned that "Fail Safe", a film with a similar theme, was being produced. Although "Fail Safe" was to be an ultrarealistic thriller, Kubrick feared that its plot resemblance would damage his film's box office potential, especially if "Fail Safe" were released first. Indeed, the novel "Fail-Safe" (on which the film of the same name is based) is so similar to "Red Alert" that Kubrick and Peter George sued on charges of copyright infringement. The case was settled out of court. What worried Kubrick most was that "Fail Safe" boasted acclaimed director Sidney Lumet and first-rate dramatic actors Henry Fonda as the American President and Walter Matthau as the advisor to the Pentagon, Professor Groeteschele. Kubrick decided to throw a legal wrench into "Fail Safe"s production gears. Lumet recalled in the documentary "Inside the Making of Dr. Strangelove": "We started casting. Fonda was already set... which of course meant a big commitment in terms of money. I was set, Walter [Bernstein, the screenwriter] was set... And suddenly, this lawsuit arrived, filed by Stanley Kubrick and Columbia Pictures." Kubrick argued that "Fail Safe"s own 1962 source novel, "Fail-Safe", had been copied from "Red Alert", to which Kubrick owned creative rights. He pointed out unmistakable similarities in intentions between the characters Groeteschele and Strangelove (although there is not a Strangelove character in the novel). The plan worked, and the suit was settled out of court, with the agreement that Columbia Pictures, which had financed and was distributing "Strangelove", also buy "Fail Safe", which had been an independently financed production. Kubrick insisted that the studio release his movie first, and "Fail Safe" opened eight months behind "Dr. Strangelove", to critical acclaim but mediocre ticket sales.

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Germanica Germanica is an alternate history novel written by Robert Conroy. It was published by Baen Books online as an ebook on August 16, 2015 before being published as a normal book on September 1, 2015. As Conroy had died eight months before the book was published, it was released posthumously. Plot. Deep in the Alps, the Nazi German propaganda master Joseph Goebbels leads a battalion of zealots called Germanica to hold out against the frantic final Allies push to end World War II in Europe. With British Prime Minister Winston Churchill losing the 1945 election, Charles De Gaulle consolidating his rule over a newly-liberated France and Joseph Stalin asserting Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe, only the United States, led by its untried new president, Harry S. Truman, remains to face the toughest Nazi warriors, who hunker down for a bitter fight to the last man.

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Mighty Samson Mighty Samson was a comic book series published Gold Key Comics. A post-apocalyptic adventure, it was set in the area around New York City, now known as "N'Yark", on an Earth devastated by a nuclear war. The series was created by writer Otto Binder and artist Frank Thorne. Publication history. "Mighty Samson" ran for 32 issues between 1964 and 1982. Its initial run lasted 20 issues (cover-dated July 1964 - 1969). Issues #7–20 each had a back-up story with the large-headed character Tom Morrow. "Mighty Samson" returned in 1972 with issue #21 and ran through #31 in 1976. The first two issues of the revival reprinted #7 and #2, respectively. A final new story was published in "Gold Key Champion" #2 in 1978. Then in 1982, six years after its immediate predecessor, Whitman Comics published issue #32, which reprinted #3 but with a line-art version of #4's painted cover. It was sold bagged with "Turok" #130 and "Dagar the Invincible" #18. Issues #1 through #6 featured art by Frank Thorne, most well known for illustrating Marvel Comics' adaptation of Robert E. Howard's Red Sonja in the 1970s. Artist Jack Sparling took over the artwork with #8, and Binder and Sparling did the title through #20. In the new issues beginning with #23, art was by José Delbo, and later by Jack Abel. Most covers were fully painted by Morris Gollub. Other were generally by George Wilson. Western Printing and Lithographing, which owns Gold Key, left the comic book business in 1984. A few years later, some of its properties, such as "Doctor Solar" and "Turok, Son of Stone", were picked up by Valiant Comics, though "Mighty Samson" was not. In 2010, Dark Horse Comics began publishing the first of four hardcover archives, each reprinting several issues of the original series in one place for the first time. In December 2010, Dark Horse Comics also began a new re-imagining the "Mighty Samson" series. Among the new creative team members were former Marvel Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter serving as head writer, and artist include Patrick Olliffe. The first issue included a bonus reprint of the 1964 issue #1. In 2016, Dynamite Entertainment launched "Gold Key Alliance", a story with Gold Key properties, including Samson. Fictional character biography. Samson is a heroic barbarian adventurer endowed with superhuman size and strength living in a future where nuclear war has bombed the world back into a second Stone Age. Leaving his home tribe after the death of his mother, he loses an eye to a ferocious hybrid creature called a liobear (a mixture of a lion and a bear), which the blond giant manages to kill in unarmed combat, later skinning and wearing its red pelt caveman-style throughout most of his adventures and using a strip of its hide as an eyepatch. Badly wounded in the battle, he is found and nursed back to health by the beautiful golden-haired Sharmaine, whose father Mindor is a bespectacled, white-coated scientist who extrapolates forgotten 20th-century knowledge from ancient artifacts he discovers in the ruins of N'Yark (New York). In gratitude, Samson decides to join in their quest to restore the benefits of civilization to mankind and protect them from the bizarre mutant beasts and savage tribes that dwell among the once famous landmarks of the rubble-strewn, jungle-choked city. He must also defend them from a recurring foe in the lovely, dark-haired form of the ruthlessly ambitious Queen Terra of Jerz (New Jersey), a highly competent scientist in her own right who attempts to use the advanced technology she uncovers to expand her kingdom into the devastated metropolis and to win the mighty Samson for her own.

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Preview of the War We Do Not Want "Collier's Magazine" devoted its entire 130-page October 27, 1951 issue to narrate the events in a hypothetical Third World War, in a feature article titled "Preview of the War We Do Not Want - an Imaginary Account of Russia's defeat and Occupation, 1952-60". Twenty writers, including Edward R. Murrow, Arthur Koestler, Philip Wylie, Hal Boyle, Marguerite Higgins, and Walter Winchell, contributed to the article. The war, in which the United Nations is victorious over the Soviet Union, takes place from 1952 to 1955. Nuclear weapons are extensively used, but do not have the apocalyptic effects envisaged in other speculative scenarios. The project, codenamed "Operation Eggnog", was put together by Associate Editor Cornelius Ryan under considerable secrecy. The special edition led "Collier's" to increase its print order from 3,400,000 to 3,900,000 copies. By spending $40,000 extra on these articles, "Collier's" almost doubled its usual sale of advertising. Plot. In the scenario, Soviet and allied forces enter Yugoslavia in May 1952 to support an anti-Tito uprising organised by COMINTERN agents. After the Soviets refuse to leave, the United States and principal United Nations countries declare war. The US uses atomic bombs against Soviet strategic industrial complexes. Soviet forces then proceed to invade West Germany, the Middle East, and Alaska. US forces are in retreat on all fronts, and Korea and Japan are evacuated. London, then Detroit, New York, and Hanford are hit with nuclear weapons. In the following year, a second salvo of Soviet bombs hit US cities. However, the US suffers fewer casualties than before, having built up its civil defence. UN forces eventually manage to contain invading Soviet forces in the different theatres of war. On July 22, Moscow is bombed by B-36s with nuclear weapons (witnessed by Murrow as an embedded journalist), in retaliation for a nuclear attack on Washington, D.C. The US turns to psychological warfare by emphasising that the UN is fighting for the liberation of the Russian people, and support is provided to guerrilla forces in Soviet satellite countries. A suicide task force of 10,000 US paratroopers destroy the last remaining Soviet nuclear stockpiles hidden in the Ural Mountains. Soviet forces are kept pinned down in Yugoslavia by resistance fighters. In 1954, Lavrentiy Beriya becomes the Soviet ruler; Stalin has mysteriously disappeared. Uprisings take place across the Soviet Union and its satellite countries. UN forces push the Soviet Army back across Europe, and by year's end have reached Warsaw and the Ukrainian border. The Soviets are routed from Turkey and UN forces capture the Crimea. Vladivostok is seized by US Marines. Hostilities cease in the following year, and the Soviet Union plunges into chaos and internal revolt. The UN occupies parts of the Soviet Union under UNITOC, the United Nations Temporary Occupation Command. In the war's aftermath, a "Christian Science Monitor" editor reported on the rebirth of religion, unions, a free press and democracy in Russia. A love story between a US major and a Russian girl rendered infertile by radiation is told by Philip Wylie.

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There Will Come Soft Rains (short story) "There Will Come Soft Rains" is a science fiction short story by author Ray Bradbury written as a chronicle about a lone house that stands intact in a California city that is otherwise obliterated by a nuclear bomb, and then is destroyed by a fire caused by a windstorm. First published in 1950 about future catastrophes in two different versions in two separate publications, a one-page short story in "Collier's" magazine and a chapter of the fix-up novel "The Martian Chronicles", the author regarded it as "the one story that represents the essence of Ray Bradbury." Bradbury's foresight in recognizing the potential for the complete self-destruction of humans by nuclear war in the work was recognized by the Pulitzer Prize Board in conjunction with awarding a Special Citation in 2007 that noted, "While time has (mostly) quelled the likelihood of total annihilation, Bradbury was a lone voice among his contemporaries in contemplating the potentialities of such horrors." The author considered the short story as the only one in "The Martian Chronicles" to be a work of science fiction. Publication history. The short story first appeared in the May 6, 1950 issue of "Collier's" magazine, and was revised and included as a chapter titled "August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains" in Bradbury's "The Martian Chronicles" that was also first published in May 1950. The official publication dates for the two versions were only two days apart. The 1997 edition of " The Martian Chronicles" advanced all dates in the 1950 edition by 31 years, changing the title to "August 2057: There Will Come Soft Rains". Themes. Anti-war message. Ray Bradbury said the drafting of "There Will Come Soft Rains" was motivated by his fear of the destruction that could result from nuclear war during the Cold War, as the Soviet Union tested its first atomic bomb on August 29, 1949 and the United States' announcement that it was starting development of a hydrogen bomb on January 31, 1950. In addition, the author was deeply concerned, during the time he wrote the story, that atomic bomb development was reckless because scientists running an atomic bomb test performed by the United States at the Pacific Proving Grounds during 1946 "weren’t quite sure whether the earth wouldn’t catch on fire." The story's anti-war message is conveyed in several ways. First, Bradbury gave the short story the title of Sara Teasdale's anti-war poem "There Will Come Soft Rains" first published in 1918 during World War I and the 1918 flu pandemic. As in Teasdale's poem, Bradbury's story is devoid of human beings since they have all been killed. Second, the story chronicles the horrific results of a nuclear bomb blast. In addition, the story's events in "The Martian Chronicles" version occur on the eve of, and on August 5, 2057 (2026 in the first edition) to commemorate August 5, 1945, the date in the United States that the country detonated a nuclear bomb over Hiroshima, Japan during World War II, the first ever attack that used a nuclear weapon. Separate the Humans from the Natural World. Humankind's separation from the natural world and the conflicts that result from the separation is a theme in many Bradbury works, particularly, "The Martian Chronicles". The very existence of the McClellan house establishes an antagonistic relationship between the family and its house with the natural world that illustrates the Man against Nature literary theme for conflict. (See the Characters section.) A universe indifferent to life. The recitation of Sara Teasdale's poem carries with it the point of view that the universe is indifferent to life. (See "There Will Come Soft Rains" - Influences.) The serenity in her poetic settings for swallows, frogs, and robins that must eat other creatures in order to survive, occurs because war is not in their natures and not due to an absolute absence of violence. In an interview, Bradbury's view of such indifference does not reflect a belief in the viewpoint of science. In affirming his belief in "Darwin and God together" and that all creation is a "mystery", he asked himself the question, "How come there's life on Earth?" His answer was, "It just happened. We just don't know." Role in "The Martian Chronicles". Human values and science and technology. "August 2057: There Will Come Soft Rains" is the second of three chapters set in 2057 that end "The Martian Chronicles" and deal with circumstances on Mars and Earth related to human development and management of science and technology. Bradbury's views on how an arms race led to nuclear war are expressed in the last chapter "". The end of the United States and human civilization. In Bradbury's "The Martian Chronicles" the destruction of Allendale, California during the summer of 2057 is an event of a Great World War that envelopes Earth that started during November 2036, presumably ending the United States as a nation. Radio transmissions from Earth to Mars continue until they cease sometime in October 2057, as told in the chapter "". American middle class war-time prosperity. The description of the McClellan home that provides for automated meal preparation and clean-up, household cleaning, and entertainment indicate a very comfortable and enjoyable lifestyle and a very high standard of living for, what readers of the "Collier's" version know and what "Chronicles" readers are to assume, is a middle class family. The family's comforts are acquired during a war in which the United States was a combatant for nearly twenty-one years. Characters. The house as protagonist. The central object of "There Will Come Soft Rains" is a highly-automated house that "survives" the destruction of the city around it. The house's automation and automated devices within it are functionally similar to smart home technology that includes the capabilities of intelligent personal assistants. The personification of the actions and reactions of automated devices creates the illusion that the inanimate automated objects are alive, an illusion the author stated is a metaphor, which enables the house to take the role as the story's protagonist. Consequently, since the living house is only metaphorical, its continued existence is not freed from maintenance all electro-mechanical machines require, and so the house was fated for eventual destruction once all the things needed for its maintenance were destroyed. The protagonist's role is explicitly described in the story — it is metaphorically an "altar" supported by "ten thousand attendants" that service the "gods" who are the house's occupants, the McClellan family. The "ritual religion" of the altar and attendants is obedient service in support for the constant and continuing physical needs and protection of their gods to enable the gods to live the lifestyle of their choice. Nature as an antagonist. A consequence of the house's role as protagonist, is the antagonist role of Nature, in personified actions of wind, tree, and fire acting against what appears as the house's actions to preserve itself that cause the house to metaphorically "die." However, the antagonist role of Nature is not limited to the conflict involving the destruction of the house. The McClellans need constant and continuing protection from the outside environment — weather, stray animals, even birds, in a manner that is characterized as bordering on "mechanical paranoia". The antagonistic relationship between the house and Nature is established once the house is activated. Conflict between the house and Nature never ends until the house is somehow deactivated. The conflict also explicitly demonstrates the symbolic separation between humankind and the natural world. The McClellan family's dog. The household dog is the family's pet that is an innocent victim of catastrophe. The dog's life and death contrast sharply with that of the McClellans. In life, the house's automation does nothing for the dog's care or feeding. In death, the dog survives the bomb blast only to suffer and perish from radiation sickness and hunger. The suffering and death of the McClellan family dog as an innocent victim of war is an example of using an animal to convey anti-war sentiment in Western art and literature as in "The Dog" by Francisco Goya (one of the author's favorite painters), that was painted after the end of the Napoleonic Wars, dogs and horses in Erich Maria Remarque's "All Quiet on the Western Front" that was set in World War I, and Pablo Picasso's horse and bird in "Guernica" that was painted during the Spanish Civil War. Sara Teasdale. While Sara Teasdale is not present in Bradbury's short story, her presence is represented by "There Will Come Soft Rains" and her other works known to Mrs. McClellan. The house serves as her voice in that it recites her words. The recitation of her poem against war after a war ends all human civilization is ironic. The McClellan family. The McClellans are a nuclear family of four and victims of war, who were killed beside their residence by a nuclear bomb blast before the chronicle begins. The story's depiction of the McClellans as "gods" is not metaphorical. In an interview, Bradbury said he believes "Man is a fusion of the human and the divine. I believe that the flesh of man contains the very soul of God, that we are, finally, irrevocably and responsibly, God Himself incarnate, that we shall carry this seed of God into space.” The characters are described through the actions of the house and the image of them on the singed surface of an outside wall — the parents doing lawn and garden chores and their children playing with a ball. Collectively, the McClellans appear to be an ordinary American middle class family. The story's title is based on Mrs. McClellan's fondness for listening to recitations of Sara Teasdale's poems during the evening. Other than the pacifist theme of Teasdale's poem, there are no other clear indications of whether or not members of the family supported, opposed, or were indifferent to the war they fell victim to. Plot. The texts for "The Martian Chronicles" versions of "There Will Come Soft Rains" are the same except for dates. The differences between the original and "The Martian Chronicles" stories may seem minor, but some are significant. In particular, the "Chronicles" version indicates the author's intent on strengthening the anti-war message of the story by commemorating the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and implicitly emphasizing the pacifistic sentiments of Sara Teasdale. In addition, the "Chronicles" version presents a leaner, more refined narrative with the omission of a prologue contained in the original and several changes to sentence structure. Plot for the "The Martian Chronicles" 1997 edition. "August 2057: There Will Come Soft Rains" is about the operation and destruction of an unoccupied, highly automated house in Allendale, California that is the residence of the McClellan family, starting in the waking hours of August 4, 2057 and ending in the morning of the next day. The narrative follows the house operating as if it was occupied, including automated announcements, meal preparation, after-meal clean up, bed preparation, house cleaning, yard maintenance, and entertainment. In particular, the house, during the morning prepares the family for employment and school on a rainy day. The morning routine includes watering an outdoor yard and garden that reveals that a nuclear bomb destroyed the rest of Allendale, and that the explosion singed the western face of the house except in places where objects were directly in front of it. The singed face captured an image of people, presumably members of the McClellan family, unaware of any danger, at the moment they were incinerated by the bomb blast. At noon, the family's dog, suffering from radiation exposure, finds its way into the house and dies moments later, and then its corpse is disposed by the house's cleaning systems two hours later. The afternoon routine includes setting up an outdoor patio for a bridge game and animating, using film projectors, a nursery to entertain children. The evening routine includes the house's automation asking Mrs. McClellan whether she would like to hear a poem, and upon receiving no response, reciting "There Will Come Soft Rains" by Sara Teasdale, who is noted by the entertainment system as Mrs. McClellan's favorite poet. After ten o'clock at night, a wind-blown tree branch crashes through the kitchen window and causes cleaning solvent to spill over the stove and ignite. The fire spreads and the house's automated systems try to fight and contain it while other automated systems start to malfunction. The automated efforts fail to stop the fire and by the following morning, the house is a collapsed, smoldering ruin, except for a single wall that contains the announcement system which continues to operate, though defectively, endlessly repeating, "Today is August 5, 2057," ending the story. Plot differences with the "Collier's" magazine original publication. This section provides a list of significant differences between the original and the "Chronicles" versions of the short story in the 1997 edition.

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Fail-Safe (novel) Fail-Safe is a bestselling American novel by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler. The story was initially serialized in three installments in the "Saturday Evening Post", on October 13, 20, and 27, 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The novel was released on October 22, 1962, and was then adapted into a 1964 film of the same name directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Henry Fonda, Dan O'Herlihy, and Walter Matthau. In 2000, the novel was adapted again for a televised play, broadcast live in black and white on CBS. All three works have the same theme, accidental nuclear war, with the same plot. "Fail-Safe" was purported to be so similar to an earlier novel, "Red Alert", that "Red Alert"s author, Peter George and film producer Stanley Kubrick, sued on a charge of copyright infringement, settling out of court. Title. The title refers to the "fail-safe point" used by the Strategic Air Command (SAC) to prevent any SAC bomber from accidentally crossing into Soviet airspace and precipitating a nuclear war. In general, a fail safe ensures that, as far as possible, the machine or process will not make things worse in the event of something going wrong. The title's irony is that the nature of SAC's fail-safe protocols could make things worse, causing the event it was intended to prevent. Plot summary. A US Air Force command center receives information that an unknown aircraft is approaching from Europe. The alert status of the Strategic Air Command's (SAC) bomber forces is raised, a standard precaution against a sneak attack. The unknown aircraft then disappears from radar, causing the alert status to continue to increase, eventually leading to the bombers being sent into the air to the fail-safe points. From there, they can proceed to their targets only if they receive a special attack code from the on-board "fail-safe box". After a short time, the unknown target is re-acquired and identified as an off-course commercial airliner. The SAC threat level is immediately reduced, and the bomber fleet is sent a recall order. A technical failure at the height of the alert allows the attack code to be accidentally transmitted to Group Six, which consists of six Vindicator supersonic bombers. Colonel Grady, the head of the group, tries to contact SAC Headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska to verify the fail-safe order (called Positive Check), but Soviet radio jamming prevents Grady from hearing them. Concluding that the fail-safe order and the radio jamming could mean only nuclear war, Grady orders Group Six crew toward Moscow. At meetings in Omaha, at the Pentagon, and in the fallout shelter of the White House, American politicians and scholars debate the implications of the attack. Professor Groteschele, a civilian adviser, suggests that the United States follow this accidental attack with a full-scale attack to force the Soviets to surrender. The President of the United States (unnamed but apparently modeled on John F. Kennedy) refuses to consider such a course of action. Instead, the President orders the Air Force to shoot down the bombers. Some officers at SAC and in the pursuing fighter jets protest, stating that the fighters cannot easily catch the bombers and will run out of fuel over the Arctic Ocean in the attempt. The President orders them to try anyway, and the six "Skyscrapper" supersonic fighters (F-104 Starfighter-like aircraft) in the area engage their afterburners and, just prior to their fuel running out, fire their rockets in futile attempts to hit the bombers. The fighters fall into the sea, and the pilots are lost. The President contacts the Premier of the Soviet Union, identified in the book as Nikita Khrushchev, and offers assistance in attacking the group. The Soviets decline at first; however, they soon decide to accept it. At SAC headquarters, a fight breaks out over the very idea of working with the Soviets to shoot down their own aircraft. Air Force General Bogan attempts to stop the attack, but his executive officer, Colonel Cascio, wants it to continue. Cascio attempts to take over command of SAC, but is stopped by the Air Police. However, precious time has been wasted. Meanwhile, the Soviet PVO Strany air defense forces have managed to shoot down only two of the six planes. The Soviets accept American help and shoot down a third plane. Two bombers and a support plane remain on course to Moscow. Bogan tells Marshal Nevsky, the Soviet air defense commander, to ignore Plane #6 (the support plane) because it has no weapons. Nevsky, who mistrusts Bogan, instead orders his Soviet aircraft to attack all three planes. Plane 6's last feint guarantees that the two remaining bombers can successfully attack. Following the failure, Nevsky collapses. As the two planes approach Moscow, Colonel Grady uses the radio to contact SAC to inform them that they are about to drop their bombs. As a last-minute, desperate measure, the Soviets fire a barrage of nuclear-tipped missiles to form a fireball in an attempt to knock the low-flying Vindicator out of the sky. The Vindicators shoot up one last decoy, which successfully leads the Soviet missiles high in the air. However, one missile explodes earlier than expected; the second bomber blows up, but Colonel Grady's plane survives. With the radio channel still open, the President attempts to persuade Grady that there is no war. Believing that such a late recall attempt must be a Soviet trick, as per his training, Grady ignores them. The nearby explosion of the Soviet missiles has given the bomber crew a huge radiation dose, and Grady tells his crew, "We're not just walking wounded, we're walking dead men." He intends to fly the aircraft over Moscow and detonate the bombs in the plane. His co-pilot agrees, noting, "There's nothing to go home to" under the belief that the United States has already been devastated by a full-scale nuclear attack from the Soviet Union. When it becomes apparent that one bomber will get through Soviet defenses and destroy Moscow with their two 20-megaton bombs, the American President states that he will order an American bomber to destroy New York City at the same time, using two 20-megaton bombs, targeting the Empire State Building as ground zero; this also involves a grave personal sacrifice, as the First Lady is visiting New York, and the President decides not to warn her. On hearing the New York attack plan, the supposedly atheist Communist leader bursts out with "Holy Mother of God!" He is appalled but realizes that it is the only way to prevent a worldwide nuclear war which will probably destroy humanity as "others" (presumably the Soviet military) would not accept the unilateral destruction of Moscow, and would depose him and retaliate against The West. Moscow is bombed and immediately thereafter the New York bombs are dropped by a senior general within SAC, a longtime friend of the president's who orders his crew to let him handle the entire bombing run by himself, assuming responsibility for the destruction of New York city; he then takes his own life. Lawsuit. The book purportedly resembled the 1958 novel "Red Alert" by Peter George (which was adapted by George and Stanley Kubrick into the mutually assured destruction satire "Dr. Strangelove" in 1964, as well) so closely that George filed a lawsuit for copyright infringement, intending to be allowed to release their Dr. Strangelove before "Fail-Safe". The judgement ordered "Fail-Safe" to wait until well after Dr. Strangelove had been released, greatly reducing its popularity at the box office, given their perceived commonality.

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The Last Ship (novel) The Last Ship is a 1988 post-apocalyptic fiction novel written by William Brinkley. "The Last Ship" tells the story of a United States Navy guided missile destroyer, the fictional USS "Nathan James" (DDG-80), on patrol in the Barents Sea during a brief, full-scale nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union. It details the ship's ensuing search for a new home for her crew. "The Last Ship" was released as an e-book on November 27, 2013, published by Plume. An eponymous television series loosely based on the novel aired from 2014 to 2018 on the TNT network. Background. The story is told in a first-person point of view by the ship's commanding officer, "Thomas", whose full name is never revealed. Thomas is writing this account several months after the war in order to describe the odyssey of his Norwegian-homeported ship, "USS Nathan James" (DDG-80), in the aftermath of the conflict. Thomas begins by describing his ship to the reader. He discusses the ethics of commanding a warship, the capabilities of nuclear strike forces, daily life aboard a U.S. Navy ship in the Arctic Circle, and the nature of his ship's mission. Captain Thomas remarks that, despite the reduction in the land-based ICBM arsenal, there is still considerable power in the SLBMs and Tomahawks; his ship alone has more power than several missile silos combined. Plot. On December 21, without warning, Thomas, the captain of the U.S. Navy destroyer, USS "Nathan James" (DDG-80), receives authenticated orders to carry out a nuclear strike on the Soviet city of Orel and its nearby silos. The nuclear-tipped Tomahawks are fired off in an emotionless, automated manner. Over a period of hours the crew watches them make landfall on radar and listens as the radio stations from Orel go off the air. With the mission completed, they report back to their superiors, and a reply from the U.S. Navy comes through, ordering them to break with general orders in this situation (operating under which they would proceed to the North Sea), but the message garbles to gibberish towards the end without relating their new orders. With one exception later in the book, this is the last official communication from the U.S. Navy that "Nathan James" ever receives. While they can later surmise there must have been a series of major exchanges, as a simple, single exchange of 'counter-force' strikes would not account for the sheer scale of the fallout they later find, and they can also conclude other nuclear powers, like India, Pakistan, etc., have also fired at each other, the crew never learns with certainty what led to the launches or the exact sequence of events. Thomas then decides to head southward into the North Sea and then to the United Kingdom, in order to re-establish contact with friendly forces. The ship encounters dense clouds of radioactive smoke all around Great Britain, through which can be seen the ruins of Big Ben and London. Lacking information, the ship sets off to scout the Mediterranean coastline, counterclockwise from southern Italy to Gibraltar. Off the coast of Brittany the ship encounters a non-communicative submarine which tails them until the ship arrives off the destroyed Rock of Gibraltar, where it vanishes. "Nathan James" continues to scout the Mediterranean coastline, finding only masses of people suffering from radiation sickness who have fled the chaos inland. Off the coast of France, "Nathan James" finds a luxury sailboat with the passengers apparently killed mid-meal, suggesting the use of a neutron bomb on a coastal city. The corpse of the ship's radioman is found deeper within, along with his limited report of areas hit with nuclear weapons, painting a bleak picture for Europe, the Soviet Union, and North America. Returning to Gibraltar, the Soviet Navy ballistic missile submarine "Pushkin" surfaces to make direct contact. The two vessels quickly establish a truce and agree to a joint operation. The "Pushkin", fully fueled but low on food, will first scout western Africa, then attempt to reach a secret Soviet supply base in the Arctic and retrieve supplies and nuclear fuel for "Nathan James". The U.S. Navy destroyer, relatively well-stocked with food but low on nuclear fuel, will scout northern Africa, then make her way to the Pacific Ocean in search of habitable land for the two crews. Thomas keeps the deal he made with the Soviet captain (trading food and a place for the Soviets in any society the "Nathan James" crew builds on land for nuclear fuel, if found at the Soviet base) from most of his crew, in order to not get their hopes up. "Nathan James" scouts Mediterranean Africa, but strangely, despite not seeing visible direct hits, finds no people but reads radiation levels which steadily increase the farther inland any shore party ventures. Throughout, the crew salvages relatively uncontaminated farming equipment, plants, and even two goats from a small island to potentially start farming any hospitable land. Eventually "Nathan James" receives a message from the National Command Authority ordering all recipients to reply. They do so, but the message repeats unaltered with machine-like precision; they conclude it is just an automated transmission. Based on his knowledge of the Soviet Union's targeting of North America, the Soviet submarine captain's report, the French radioman's report, and what he has seen of Europe, Thomas, along with most of the ship's officers, concludes that the United States has simply ceased to exist, and what remains of North America is uninhabitable. Many of the crew, though, wish to go home to the U.S. to see what happened. This would require them to expend most of their remaining fuel, rendering them unable to reach the Pacific to look for habitable land. If the U.S. were anything like Europe or Africa, the ship would simply be trapped. Thomas thus decides to proceed to the Pacific Ocean by way of the Suez Canal. At Suez, the ship's Combat Systems Officer (CSO) states his belief that parts of North America may still be habitable and demands that the ship return to the U.S. East Coast, so they can see for themselves. The captain tries to discourage the CSO, but the latter challenges the captain's authority, reminding him that the U.S. Navy (under which Thomas is legally bestowed the title of captain) no longer exists, meaning Thomas is no longer in lawful command, and demands a vote on the correct course of action. Thomas, angered at this mutiny, allows a vote thinking the CSO has little support, but is shocked when nearly a third of the crew side with the CSO. The mutineers demand rafts and the captain's gig in order to sail thousands of miles to the United States. With a mixture of sadness and outrage, Thomas agrees, and the mutineers depart. In the following weeks the ship proceeds through the Suez Canal, which is luckily open, and travels through treacherous seas in the Indian Ocean as nuclear winter begins to take full effect, with dramatic temperature drops and black snow at the equator. They notice a pattern where the amount of fallout increases with the size of nearby landmasses. Approaching Singapore, the fallout becomes so dense that the crew cannot go onto the weather decks. Luckily, "Nathan James" was designed with cold weather and fallout in mind, and Thomas orders the ship hermetically sealed and people stationed on the bridge in short rotations. Despite this, the crew suffers from mild radiation sickness, and their passage through the dense fallout becomes so trying psychologically that many crew vanish overboard. Things become even bleaker when they lose contact with the Soviet submarine, assuming she, with the nuclear fuel, was lost while scouting the Soviet coastline. "Nathan James" eventually reaches the remote South Pacific and, with the ship's nuclear fuel nearly gone, discovers a small, uncontaminated island in French Polynesia. The ship's crew establishes a community on the island, and they begin to try to conceive children to continue civilization. An archival project is started, wherein everyone is encouraged to write out their knowledge for future generations. They work out a system to allow genetic diversity with anonymous fatherhood, with the women always in strict control. However, no pregnancies occur. They worry that the radiation of the nuclear winter may have rendered everyone sterile. Some time later, the "Pushkin" appears on the horizon. Its crew is on the verge of starvation but bears an abundance of nuclear fuel. "Nathan James" is at last free to sail again, keeping the island as its home base. They even believe the Soviet submariners, who may have been free of contamination due to being submerged, can take their place in the genetic pool. But then a new disaster strikes: a group of the ship's sailors, abhorring the remaining nuclear missiles aboard the ship, launches them without Thomas' permission. One of the missiles accidentally detonates while in flight, triggering a chain reaction among all of the other missiles, destroying "Nathan James" and contaminating the island. Thomas, his remaining crew, and the Soviet crew immediately embark aboard the "Pushkin" to escape, beginning a new search for another sanctuary. They eventually reach the U.S. research facility at McMurdo Station in Antarctica, which is abandoned but contains years' worth of food and supplies. The "Pushkin" is modified during the escape to McMurdo Station by jettisoning its nuclear missiles into the ocean, so they can use the freed space in the silos for living space and a nursery. The introduction of the Soviet crew into the U.S. breeding program has resulted in at least three pregnancies. The "Pushkin" has the fuel and food from McMurdo to conduct long, thorough explorations of the world. Now well-provisioned, the survivors prepare to rediscover the world. Reception. V.C. Royster of "The Wall Street Journal" compared "The Last Ship" to Nevil Shute's "On the Beach" (1957), observing "The Last Ship" is an "even more fascinating tale". Anthony Hyde of "The Washington Post" wrote, "The Last Ship" is "An extraordinary novel of men at war" and a "superb portrait of naval command". John R. Alden of "The Cleveland Plain Dealer" praised "The Last Ship" as "beautifully written" and a "magnificent book". Clay Reynolds of "The Dallas Morning News" called the book "engrossing" and a "pleasure to read". Burke Wilkinson, a U.S. naval officer, writing for "The Christian Science Monitor", called "The Last Ship" "extraordinary" and a "true classic", saying its sum was "greater than its parts". After the success of "Sex, Lies, and Videotape", Steven Soderbergh had planned on adapting the book as his next film; however, he abandoned the project after several unsatisfactory screenplay drafts. Television adaptation. In July 2012, the U.S. cable television network TNT ordered a pilot episode of a series based on the novel. The series is produced by Platinum Dunes Partners with Michael Bay, Hank Steinberg, and Steven Kane serving as executive producers. Steinberg and Kane wrote the pilot script, and Jonathan Mostow directed the pilot. The adaptation varies significantly from the original novel. In addition to being set in the early part of the first half of the 21st century, the worldwide devastation of mankind is the result of a pandemic for which the crew must find a cure and not the result of nuclear warfare between superpowers. The pilot was filmed at a number of locations across San Diego including aboard , which stood in for the show's fictional USS "Nathan James". The former Atlantic liner RMS "Queen Mary", now berthed at Long Beach, was also used extensively. The show stars Adam Baldwin, Rhona Mitra, Charles Parnell, Sam Spruell, Travis Van Winkle, Marissa Neitling and Christina Elmore. Eric Dane plays the commanding officer of USS "Nathan James", Commander Tom Chandler. In May 2013, TNT ordered 10 episodes of "The Last Ship", which aired in 2014. The show was filmed at a number of locations across San Diego including aboard the and the , which stands in for the show's fictional USS "Nathan James" (DDG-151). A second season (of 13 episodes) was ordered in 2014 and aired in 2015, and a third season (also of 13 episodes) was ordered in 2015 and aired in 2016. A fourth season of 10 episodes aired in August 2017 and a 10-episode fifth and final season aired in September 2018. The museum ship was used in filming to represent a Russian .

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Breakfast at Twilight "Breakfast at Twilight" is a science fiction short story by American writer Philip K. Dick. It was received by the Scott Meredith Literary Agency on January 17, 1953 and first published in "Amazing Stories", July 1954. It appears in the second volume reprint of Philip K. Dick's short stories "Second Variety". Plot. After experiencing a terrifying explosion, a middle-class American family finds their home in the middle of a wasteland. American soldiers burst in looking for survivors and supplies, under the family's amazed and frightened eyes. The soldiers are just as surprised, finding the home filled with items that are no longer available, and carrying away their food. The soldiers explain that their home is one of the few to survive the ongoing nuclear war, which is now largely automated with underground factories on both sides of the conflict building missiles and destroying the other country square by square. The soldiers and family soon realize the home is out of its own time continuum, apparently having been blasted into the future by the force of the bombs. They find that the date is not long in the future; the war starts shortly after the time they left. The soldiers tell the family a second wave of missiles will be arriving, intended to destroy anything that survived the first wave, and offer to take the family into a shelter. After some discussion, they refuse, considering it better to chance that the second wave will blast them back to their own time than live in this largely lifeless future. The gambit succeeds and the family finds themselves in their own time, but with their house destroyed. Neighbors rush to the home, where the father, Tim McLean, agrees that the problem was an exploding central heating system. Then he comments, "I should have got it fixed ... I should have had it looked at a long time ago. Before it got in such bad shape ... before it was too late", a metaphor for the start of the war which may now be avoidable. Reception. Reviewer Steven Owen Godersky proclaimed in his review that "Phil Dick's third major theme is his fascination with war and his fear and hatred of it. One hardly sees critical mention of it, yet it is as integral to his body of work as oxygen is to water."

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Red Storm Rising Red Storm Rising is a war novel, written by Tom Clancy and co-written with Larry Bond, and released on August 7, 1986. Set in the mid-1980s, it features a Third World War between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Warsaw Pact forces, and is unique for depicting the conflict as being fought exclusively with conventional weapons, rather than escalating to the use of weapons of mass destruction or nuclear warfare. It is one of two Clancy novels, including "SSN" (1996), that are not set in the Ryanverse. The book debuted at number one on the New York Times bestseller list. It eventually lent its name to game development company Red Storm Entertainment, which Clancy co-founded in 1997. Plot summary. Militants from Azerbaijan destroy an oil production refinery in Nizhnevartovsk, threatening to cripple the Soviet Union's economy due to oil shortages. After much deliberation, the Soviet Politburo decides to seize the Persian Gulf by military force in order to recoup the country's oil losses. Knowing that the United States had pledged to defend the oil-producing countries in the Persian Gulf, the Soviets decide that neutralizing NATO is a necessary first step before its military operation can take place. To divert attention from the impending operation, the Politburo embarks upon an elaborate "maskirovka" to disguise both their predicament and their intentions. The Soviets publicly declare their arms reduction proposal to scrap their obsolete nuclear missile submarines. The KGB then carries out a false flag operation involving a bomb being detonated in a Kremlin building, framing a KGB sleeper agent as a West German intelligence spy involved in the incident. The Politburo publicly denounces the West German government and calls for retaliation. With West Germany neutralized and occupied, the Soviets believe that the United States would not move to rescue the Arab states since it could meet its oil needs from the Western Hemisphere alone. Even though a planned attack on a NATO communications facility in Lammersdorf was compromised when a Spetsnaz officer was arrested, the Soviets push through with their advance operations in Germany. However, they suffer reverses on the first night of the war, when NATO stealth and fighter-bomber aircraft achieve air superiority over Eastern Europe by eliminating Soviet AWACS and fighter aircraft, as well as bombing many key bridges that much of the Soviet Army has yet to cross. Nevertheless, the Soviet Navy achieves an advantage by occupying Iceland, taking control of the NATO airbase in Keflavík and ensuring command of the strategically important GIUK gap. U.S. Air Force lieutenant Mike Edwards escapes the attack and hides behind enemy lines, serving as a scout for NATO forces. The Soviet Navy also attack several resupply convoys from North America as well as a NATO carrier battle group in the North Atlantic, causing severe losses to the other side. Meanwhile, the Soviet Air Force engage in a fierce air battle over Norway and later secure a rocket launch site there, bringing key NATO radar and air stations in nearby Scotland within range of sustained air attack. After much difficulty in occupying West Germany, the Soviet Army, led by General-Colonel Pavel Alekseyev, score a breakthrough in a tank battle over Alfeld, threatening to proceed west of Weser River without heavy resistance from NATO forces. Meanwhile, a naval attack on Soviet bomber bases with cruise missiles launched by NATO submarines paves the way for an amphibious assault on Iceland, retaking the island and effectively closing the Atlantic to Soviet forces. While Edwards is first reinforced by a squad of Royal Marines and then rescued by the United States Marines, a Soviet prisoner on the island reveals the true cause of the war, narrowing down bombing priorities to the Soviet Army's forward fuel depots and immobilizing the Soviet formations. In Moscow, the desperate Politburo considers deploying nuclear weapons to stave off defeat. This infuriates Alekseyev, who had been mobilizing for a final counterattack on Germany but faces execution by the Soviet government for its slow timetable. He later takes part in a coup d'etat orchestrated by the KGB in the Kremlin, arresting the government ministers and establishing a "troika" to temporarily preside over the country. The new Soviet government then negotiates for a ceasefire with NATO and a return to "status quo ante bellum", effectively ending the conflict. Themes. "Red Storm Rising" depicts a future Third World War, chiefly between the United States and the Soviet Union. It follows the "future war" genre popularized by the 1871 novella "The Battle of Dorking" by George Tomkyns Chesney as well as the science fiction novel "The War in the Air" (1908) by H.G. Wells. However, "Red Storm Rising" is unique in that it presented a war using conventional weapons rather than one with nuclear weaponry which was more typical in fiction dealing with Cold War confrontations. According to a document released by the UK National Archives in December 2015, U.S. President Ronald Reagan had recommended "Red Storm Rising" to UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher shortly after the Reykjavík Summit in 1986 between him and Soviet general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev so as to gain an understanding of the Soviet Union's intentions and strategy. Some of the advanced weapons systems described in the novel were deployed four years later in the Gulf War. Development. Tom Clancy met Larry Bond in 1982. Clancy had purchased Bond's wargame "Harpoon" as a primary source for his future novel "The Hunt for Red October" (1984). They used the board game's second edition miniature rules to test key battle sequences, notably the Soviet operation to seize Iceland and the attack on the carrier battle group in the "Dance of the Vampires" chapter, with Bond refereeing the game sessions, which typically involved several players on each side (Clancy among them) acting in various roles. The two discussed "Convoy-84", a wargame Bond had been working on at the time that featured a new Battle of the North Atlantic. The idea became the basis for "Red Storm Rising", although Clancy is later referred as the sole author. "I wrote like 1 percent of the book," remarked Bond. For research on the Politburo scenes, Clancy and Bond interviewed Soviet defector Arkady Shevchenko. Release. In 1987, the book was published in French as "Tempête Rouge" (Red Storm), translated by France-Marie Watkins, with the collaboration of Jean Sabbagh. Reception. Like its predecessor, "The Hunt for Red October", the book received critical acclaim for its accurate military narrative. Publishers Weekly praised it as "fascinating and totally credible story, told with authenticity and great suspense". Kirkus Reviews hailed it as "an informative, readable, sometimes dazzling speculation on superpower war". Game adaptations. In December 1988, MicroProse released a "Red Storm Rising" computer game, in which the player commanded an American submarine against Soviet forces. The player had the option of choosing between both single missions or campaign and which era to play in; modern missions offered the player more advanced submarines and weapons, but also a more technologically advanced adversary as well. In 1989, TSR, Inc. released the "Red Storm Rising" board game designed by Douglas Niles, based on the book. The game won the Origins Award for Best Modern-Day Boardgame and Best Graphic Presentation of a Boardgame in 1989. Trivia. The location name "Bieber" for the first village where the land fighting in Germany is shown is probably in error. The place is on the road to Alsfeld (with s) on the river Schwalm, while the later fighting centres on Alfeld (no s) on the river Leine, ca 100km to the north. There is no "Staatspolizei" in Germany. Each Bundesland has its own police, the federal police (which is primarily responsible for border controls and policing infrastructure such as airports and train stations) is called Bundesgrenzschutz, the federal criminal police is called Bundeskriminalamt, and that would have been the agency that would take over the Spetsnaz case in the book. "Staatspolizeileitstellen" were organisation units of the Gestapo 1936-45, but the book does not infer any link between contemporary German police and that. The term "Landwehr" is not used in the Bundeswehr. Soldiers not on active duty are "Reservisten". "Landwehr" soldiers existed primarily in the Heer up to 1919 (where specific "Landwehr" formations existed). The term existed but was rarely used in the Wehrmacht to 1945. The units called "Landwehr" in the book would have been called "Reserve" in Germany. The Gazelle helicopter was used only by the police in Germany, not for antitank defence as by British and Belgian forces.

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Ghost Fleet (novel) Ghost Fleet is a 2015 techno-thriller by P. W. Singer and August Cole. Set in the near future, the book portrays a scenario in which a post-Communist China, assisted by Russia, is able to launch a technologically sophisticated attack against the United States in the Pacific, leading to the occupation of the Hawaiian Islands. Plot. Prior to the main events of the novel, Indonesia has collapsed into a failed state following a second war in Timor, and a dirty bomb was detonated in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, causing a massive spike in the price of oil. A newly discovered natural gas field in the Mariana Trench provides China with energy security. Popular unrest leads to the removal of the Communist Party of China, and China is governed by a mix of businessmen and military leaders known as the Directorate. China and Russia have also developed the ability to detect and track nuclear-powered ships using Cherenkov radiation, allowing China to effectively neutralize the US Navy's nuclear submarine fleet. China plans to gain control of the third island chain and secure dominance in the western Pacific. Using a computer virus to first infiltrate the computer systems of the Defense Intelligence Agency, China launches a massive cyber-attack against the United States, crippling many technologically sophisticated systems, including the F-35 Lightning, which were compromised with infected microchips in the supply chain. The attack includes extensive use of anti-satellite weapons, leading to the disabling of the Global Positioning System and the loss of several communications and reconnaissance satellites critical to the U.S. military. Russian fighters and drones are able to launch a raid on the U.S. military base in Okinawa, and the U.S. military presence in Japan is neutralized. Supported by Russia, China is able to capture Hawaii after a bloody battle, establishing the Hawaii Special Administrative Zone. The attack leads to the near-complete destruction of the United States Pacific Fleet. The titular 'Ghost Fleet' refers to the United States Navy reserve fleets, which the United States re-activates as a low-tech fallback. The residents of Oʻahu and surviving U.S. military personnel launch an insurgency, known as the North Shore Mujahideen (NSM), against the Chinese occupiers using previous tactics learned from insurgents during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Private companies, such as Walmart, establish a supply chain using 3D printing technology to provide supplies for the war effort and the U.S. government initiates a program to recycle old microchips to negate the effects of the infected ones from China. Following the dissolution of NATO, the United States recognizes Greenland's independence from Denmark, in exchange for using the newly independent Kalaallit Nunaat fleet of icebreakers to move the ghost fleet through the Northwest Passage. An eccentric Silicon Valley billionaire, using his personal wealth and resources, seizes control of the Chinese space station and neutralizes China's anti-satellite systems. Simultaneously, another Silicon Valley magnate wages his own separate campaign against China by using his connections to get into contact with the hacktivist group Anonymous. The group manages to launch their own cyberattack, which cripples the Directorate's cyberwarfare capabilities indefinitely. The United States military is ultimately able to liberate Hawaii, aided by the Ghost Fleet, the 82nd Airborne Division, the United States Marine Corps, the United States Special Operations Command and aircraft reactivated from the United States Air Force boneyard. The war ends in a "status quo ante bellum", with both the United States and the Directorate recovering from the effects of the conflict, however, Russia breaks up into a collection of smaller states following a coup d'état against the Russian president (heavily implied to be Vladimir Putin) as a result of public opposition to Russia's participation in the war (i.e. the "Russian People's Republic."). One of the subplots in the story revolves around Carrie Shin, a surf instructor at the Moana Surfrider Hotel. She was previously engaged to a fighter pilot in the Marine Corps and was in the process of preparing for her wedding when the Invasion of Hawaii began. It is implied in the text that she was previously the victim of systematic sexual and physical abuse at the hands of her father and was recovering with the help of her fiancé. He is subsequently killed during the invasion when his F-35 is compromised due to the malware in the Chinese-made microchips. Now psychologically changed, she begins a systematic campaign of killing Chinese soldiers who are occupying Honolulu. Earning her the moniker, the "Black Widow." Her killings come to the attention of both General Yu Xilai, the Chinese commander of the occupation, and his subordinate, Russian Colonel Vladimir Markov. Her actions culminate in Shin and Markov establishing grudging respect for one another and she feigns capture in order to get close to Yu, whom she violently strangles to death at his headquarters with Markov's silent consent; just as the U.S. counterattack begins. Technology. The authors explicitly wrote "Ghost Fleet" with the goal of exploring how new technological developments might impact a future war. Technologies explored include electromagnetic railguns, swarm UAVs, optical head-mounted display glasses, space-based weaponry and performance-enhancing stimulants. The book includes over 400 endnotes. Reception. "Ghost Fleet" has been praised as a useful exploration of future conflict, and recommended by leaders of the United States military as recommended reading for troops. Admiral James Stavridis said the book is "A startling blueprint for the wars of the future and therefore needs to be read now!" Attention from the Indonesian opposition. Indonesian opposition leader Prabowo Subianto cited a detail in "Ghost Fleet" regarding Indonesia's hypothetical disintegration in 2030 due to a second Timorese conflict, during a Great Indonesia Movement Party (GERINDRA) assembly speech on 18 September 2017, while treating the novel as an academic study. A video clip of the speech was posted to Gerindra's official Facebook page on 18 March 2018, which subsequently attracted criticism and derision. Singer remarked on Twitter over Prabowo's enthusiasm on the book's particular detail, saying: "There have been many unexpected twists and turns from this book experience, but this may take the cake."

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Out of the Ashes (Ashes series) Out of the Ashes is the first book in The Ashes series by William W. Johnstone. Overview. The book depicts life after a nuclear and biological holocaust has wiped out most of the world, and follows main character Ben Raines, a former Hellhound and ex-mercenary, as he explores the remnants of the United States in an attempt to document the effects of the bombs and the chaos that ensues. Along the way, he meets a number of people, and explores towns devastated by marauders, murderers, and thugs, and the lives of him and his companions are constantly at risk. As time passes, Ben Raines is eventually encouraged to lead a new community, and eventually enters into a battle for freedom with the now over-reaching Federal Government.

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On the Beach (novel) On the Beach is a 1957 post-apocalyptic novel written by British author Nevil Shute after he migrated to Australia. The novel details the experiences of a mixed group of people in Melbourne as they await the arrival of deadly radiation spreading towards them from the Northern Hemisphere, following a nuclear war a year previously. As the radiation approaches, each person deals with impending death differently. Shute's initial story was published as a four-part series, "The Last Days on Earth", in the London weekly periodical "Sunday Graphic", in April 1957. For the novel, Shute expanded the storyline. The story has been adapted twice as a film (in 1959 and 2000) and once as a BBC radio broadcast in 2008. Title. The phrase "on the beach" is a Royal Navy term that means "retired from the Service." The title also refers to T. S. Eliot's poem "The Hollow Men," which includes the lines: Printings of the novel, including the first 1957 edition by William Morrow and Company, NY, contain extracts from Eliot's poem on the title page, under Shute's name, including the above quotation and the concluding lines: The 2000 film ends with a quote from Walt Whitman's poem "On the Beach at Night", describing how a father comforts his small daughter who is frightened as an approaching cloud bank blots out the evening stars one by one. Although Whitman's poem resembles the plot of Shute's novel, the book does not reference it, as it does Eliot's poem. Plot. The story is set primarily in and around Melbourne, Australia, in 1963. World War III has devastated most of the populated world, polluting the atmosphere with nuclear fallout, and killing all human and animal life in the Northern Hemisphere. The war began with a nuclear attack by Albania on Italy, and then escalated with the bombing of the United States and the United Kingdom by Egypt. Because the aircraft used in these attacks were obtained from the Soviet Union, the Soviets were mistakenly blamed, triggering a retaliatory strike on the Soviet Union by NATO. There is also an attack by the Soviets on the People's Republic of China, which may have been a response to a Chinese attack aimed at occupying Soviet industrial areas near the Chinese border. Most, if not all, of the bombs included cobalt to enhance their radioactive properties. Global air currents are slowly carrying the lethal nuclear fallout across the Intertropical Convergence Zone, to the Southern Hemisphere. The only parts of the planet still habitable are Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the southern parts of South America, although they are slowly succumbing to radiation poisoning as well. Life in Melbourne continues reasonably normally, although the near-complete lack of motor fuels makes traveling difficult. People in Australia detect a mysterious and incomprehensible Morse code radio signal originating from the American city of Seattle, Washington. With hope that someone has survived in the contaminated regions, one of the last American nuclear submarines, USS "Scorpion", placed by its captain, Commander Dwight Towers, under Australian naval command, is ordered to sail north from its port of refuge in Melbourne (Australia's southernmost major mainland city) to contact whoever is sending the signal. In preparation for this journey, the submarine makes a shorter trip to port cities in northern Australia, including Cairns, Queensland, and Darwin, Northern Territory; no survivors are found. Two Australians sail with the American crew: Lieutenant Peter Holmes, naval liaison officer to the Americans, and a scientist, Professor John Osborne. Commander Towers has become attached to a young Australian woman distantly related to Osborne, named Moira Davidson, who tries to cope with the impending end of human life through heavy drinking. Despite his attraction to Davidson, Towers remains loyal to his wife and children in the United States. He buys his children gifts and imagines their growing older. At one point, however, he makes it clear to Moira that he knows his family is almost certainly dead, and he asks her if she thinks he is insane for acting as if they were still alive. She replies that she does not think he is crazy. The Australian government provides citizens with free suicide pills and injections so they can avoid prolonged suffering from radiation poisoning. Periodic reports show the steady southward progression of the deadly radiation. As communications are lost with a city, it is referred to as being "out." One of the novel's poignant dilemmas is that of Peter Holmes, who has a baby daughter and a naive wife, Mary, who is in denial about the impending disaster. Because he has been assigned to travel north with the Americans, Peter tries to explain, to Mary's fury and disbelief, how to kill their baby and herself, by taking the suicide pill should he not return from his mission in time to help. The bachelor Osborne spends much of his time restoring and subsequently racing a Ferrari racing car that he had purchased (along with a fuel supply) for a nominal amount following the war's outbreak. The submarine travels to the Gulf of Alaska in the northern Pacific Ocean, where the crew determines that radiation levels are not decreasing. This finding discredits the "Jorgensen Effect", a scientific theory positing that radiation levels will decrease at a much greater rate than previously thought, aided by the weather effects, and potentially allow for human life to continue in southern Australia or at least Antarctica. The submarine approaches San Francisco, observing through the periscope that the city had been devastated and the Golden Gate Bridge has fallen. In contrast, the Puget Sound area, from which the strange radio signals are emanating, is found to have avoided destruction because of missile defences. One crew member, who is from Edmonds, Washington, which the expedition visits, jumps ship to spend his last days in his home town. The expedition members then sail to an abandoned navy communications school south of Seattle. A crewman sent ashore with oxygen tanks and protective gear discovers that although the city's residents have long since perished, some of the region's hydroelectric power is still working due to primitive automation technology. He finds that the mysterious radio signal is the result of a broken window sash swinging in the breeze and occasionally hitting a telegraph key. After a brief stop at Pearl Harbor, the remaining submariners return to Australia to live out what little time they have left. Osborne takes his suicide pill while sitting in his beloved racing car. When Mary Holmes becomes very ill, Peter administers a lethal injection to their daughter. Even though he still feels relatively well, he and Mary take their pills simultaneously so they can die as a family. Towers and his remaining crew choose to scuttle the "Scorpion" in the open ocean, fulfilling a naval duty to not leave the unmanned vessel "floating about in a foreign port", after her crew succumbs to suicide or radiation poisoning. Moira watches the submarine's departure in her car, parked atop an adjacent hilltop, as she takes her suicide pill, imagining herself together with Towers as she dies. Characterisation. The characters make their best efforts to enjoy what time remains to them, speaking of small pleasures and continuing their customary activities. The Holmeses plant a garden that they will never see; Moira initially acts as a socialite – drinking and partying excessively – but upon meeting Towers takes classes in typing and shorthand; Osborne and others organize a dangerous motor race that results in the violent deaths of several participants; elderly members of a "gentlemen's club" drink up the wine in the club's cellar, debate over whether to move the fishing season up, and fret about whether agriculturally destructive rabbits will survive human beings. Towers goes on a fishing trip with Davidson, but they do not become sexually involved, as he wants to remain loyal to his dead wife, a decision Moira accepts. Government services and the economy gradually grind to a halt. In the end, Towers chooses not to remain and die with Moira, but rather to lead his crew on a final mission to scuttle the submarine outside of Australian territorial waters. He refuses to allow his imminent demise to turn him aside from his duty to the US Navy, and he acts as a pillar of strength to his crew. Typically for a Shute novel, the characters avoid expressing intense emotions and do not indulge in self-pity. The Australians do not, for the most part, flee southward as refugees but rather accept their fate once the lethal radiation levels reach the latitudes at which they live; most of them opt for the government-promoted alternative of suicide when the symptoms of radiation sickness appear. In any case, as is made clear within the text, radiation poisoning is also starting to appear as far south as Christchurch, New Zealand, so any such flight would have been pointless. Reception. Historian David McCullough, writing for "The New York Times", called "On the Beach" "the most haunting evocation we have of a world dying of radiation after an atomic war." The "San Francisco Chronicle" called it "the most shocking fiction I have read in years. What is shocking about it is both the idea and the sheer imaginative brilliance with which Mr. Shute brings it off." "Daily Telegraph" called it "Shute's most considerable achievement", and "The Times" stated that it is "the most evocative novel on the aftermath of a nuclear war." "The Guardian" commented that "fictions such as "On the Beach" played an important role in raising awareness about the threat of nuclear war. We stared into the abyss and then stepped back from the brink." The "Los Angeles Times" described the novel as "timely and ironic... an indelibly sad ending that leaves you tearful and disturbed", and "The Economist" called it "still incredibly moving after nearly half a century." Floyd C. Gale of "Galaxy Science Fiction" called the book "an emotional wallop. It should be made mandatory reading for all professional diplomats and politicians." Isaac Asimov said, "Surely to the science fiction fan—as opposed to the general public—this must seem very milk-and-watery. So there's a nuclear war to start the story with—and what else is new?" The novel does not realistically describe the effects of a global nuclear war, which were poorly understood at the time. Notably, the novel does not portray any form of nuclear winter. In the survival manual "Nuclear War Survival Skills", Cresson Kearney describes the novel as "pseudoscientific" and "demoralising", arguing that it and similar works perpetuate the myth that any large-scale nuclear war would inevitably wipe out all human life. This myth, argues Kearney, is dangerous as it discourages people from taking precautionary measures that could save lives in the event of a nuclear attack, in the mistaken belief that any precaution is futile.

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A Boy and His Dog A Boy and His Dog is a cycle of narratives by author Harlan Ellison. The cycle tells the story of an amoral boy (Vic) and his telepathic dog (Blood), who work together as a team to survive in the post-apocalyptic world after a nuclear war. The original 1969 novella was adapted into the 1975 film "A Boy and His Dog" directed by L. Q. Jones. Both the story and the film were well-received by critics and science fiction fans, but the film was not successful commercially. The original novella was followed by short stories and a graphic novel. The film adaptation was an influence on the "Mad Max" film series by George Miller, particularly "The Road Warrior" (1981). The story and its film adaptation have also been mentioned to be influential in the creation of the "Fallout" video game series by Black Isle Studios. Publication history. Ellison began the cycle with the 1969 short story of the same title, published in "New Worlds", and expanded and revised the tale to novella length for his story collection "The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World" the same year. The cycle begins chronologically with "Eggsucker", which chronicles the early years of the association between the young loner Vic and his brilliant, telepathic dog, Blood. This was first published in Thomas Durward, ed., "The Ariel Book of Fantasy Volume Two", 1977. Ellison bookended the original story with two others in the same world, in Vic and Blood: The Chronicles of a Boy and His Dog (St. Martin's Press, 1988), a three-story graphic novel collection illustrated by Richard Corben, who also illustrated for this collection two other short stories featuring Vic and Blood: "Eggsucker" and "Run, Spot, Run" (which was originally published in "Amazing Stories", in 1980). Ellison's introduction to the collection explains that 1969's "A Boy and His Dog" is part of a larger novel that he has been writing for over 30 years and that story is finished, but the last, longest part is written as a screenplay with no current plans for production. Ellison considered as late as 2003 that he would combine the three stories (possibly with additional material) to create a novel with the proposed title of "Blood's a Rover" (not to be confused with the Chad Oliver story or the James Ellroy novel "Blood's a Rover"). Prior to the publication of "Blood's a Rover", the graphic novel's Ellison/Corben edition has been reprinted as Vic and Blood: The Continuing Adventures of a Boy and His Dog. In January 2018, Subterranean Press announced the publication of "Blood's a Rover", which combined materials from the author's files, versions of the novella and short stories that have been expanded and revised, material from Corben's graphic novel, and previously unpublished material from the 1977 NBC television series "Blood’s a Rover", which was never produced. Setting. The novella and the film adaptation have the same alternate timeline setting, diverging with the failed assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Instead of concentrating on the Space Race, technological advancements in robotics, animal intelligence, and telepathy take place. A more heated Cold War takes place, culminating in a conventional World War III. A truce is signed, lasting another 25 years, though mounting tensions lead to World War IV in 2007, this time involving massive nuclear warfare and only lasting five days. Civilization is almost entirely obliterated, leaving the surface of Earth reduced to a desolate, irradiated wasteland. Years later, in 2024, foragers who remain above ground must fight for the remaining resources. Most survivors in the former United States are male, as women were usually in the bombed cities while many men were out fighting in the war. In the novella, nuclear fallout had created horrific mutations, such as the feared burnpit screamers, known for their noise and deadliness (in the film, they appear in only one scene, though they are only heard). "A Boy and His Dog". Plot. Vic, aged 15, was born in and scavenges throughout the wasteland of the former southwestern United States. Vic is most concerned with food and sex; having lost both of his parents, he has no formal education and does not understand ethics or morality. He is accompanied by a well-read, misanthropic, telepathic dog named Blood, who helps him locate women, in return for food. Blood cannot forage for himself, due to the same genetic engineering that granted him telepathy. The two steal for a living, evading roverpaks and mutants. Blood and Vic have an occasionally antagonistic relationship, though they realize that they need each other. At a movie house, Blood claims to smell a woman, and the pair track her to an abandoned YMCA building. There, they meet Quilla June Holmes, a teenaged girl from "Downunder”, a society located in a large underground nuclear vault. Before Vic can rape her, Blood informs the pair that a "roverpak" (a gang) has tracked them to the building and they have to fight them off. After killing a number of them, the trio hides in a boiler and set the structure on fire. Vic finally has sex with Quilla June, and though she protests at first, she begins to come on to him. Blood takes an instant disliking to her, but Vic ignores him. Vic and Quilla June have sex repeatedly, but eventually, Quilla June attacks him and takes off to return to her underground community. Vic, furious at her deception, follows her, despite Blood's warnings. Blood remains at the portal on the surface. Downunder has an artificial biosphere, complete with forests and underground cities, one of which, named Topeka, after the ruins of the city it lies beneath, is fashioned in a surreal mockery of 1950s rural innocence. Vic is captured by the ruling council (the Better Business Bureau). They confess that Quilla June was sent to the surface in order to lure a man to Downunder. The population of Topeka is becoming sterile, and the babies that are born are usually female. They feel that Vic, despite his crudeness and savage behavior, will be able to reinvigorate that male population. Vic is first elated to learn that he is to impregnate the female population, but he quickly grows jaded of his surroundings and plots his escape. Quilla June is reunited with Vic and they plan to escape together. Vic uses the fact that Quilla June's father secretly desires sex with her as a distraction, incapacitating him, so that they can escape. On the surface, Vic and Quilla June discover that Blood is starving and near death, having been attacked by radioactive insects and other "things". Quilla June tries to get Vic to leave Blood and take off with her. Knowing he will never survive without Blood's guidance and, more importantly, knowing Blood will not survive without care and food, Vic faces a difficult situation. It is implied that he kills his new love and cooks her flesh to save Blood's life. The novella ends with Vic remembering her question as Blood eats: "Do you know what love is?" and he concludes, "Sure I know. A boy loves his dog." Reception. The novella won the Nebula Award for Best Novella upon its release in 1969 and was also nominated for the 1970 Hugo Award for Best Novella. Film adaptation. The 1975 science fiction film directed by L. Q. Jones was controversial for alleged misogyny; the script included lines that were not in Ellison's original stories and that authors such as Joanna Russ found to be objectionable. The film's final line is from Blood: "Well I'd say she certainly had marvelous judgement, Albert, if not particularly good taste." Ellison disavowed this addition as a "moronic, hateful chauvinist last line, which I despise." Ellison did, however, accept that the ending remained popular with fans, saying: "I would have kept the original last line from the original story, which I think is much more human and beguiling than the sort of punchline that L.Q. Jones used. But L.Q. knew what he was doing in terms of the market, I suppose." "Vic and Blood". Ellison later expanded the story cycle in the graphic novel collection "Vic and Blood", illustrated by Richard Corben. Although Blood is now back on his feet, the pair's situation deteriorates as Vic begins having guilt-ridden hallucinations as a result of an awakening of conscience following the death of Quilla June. Due to his preoccupation, Vic stumbles into a near-fatal encounter with a roving gang, resulting in his getting separated from Blood once again. After the two reunite, Blood finds Vic in a hopeless, almost catatonic state. Despite Blood's appeals and attempts to reawaken Vic's sanity, Vic allows himself to be captured by a giant mutated spider. Cocooned, poisoned by venom, and beyond any hope of saving, Vic accepts his fate as Blood is left to fend for himself and runs off. The reasons given by Ellison for this abrupt ending have differed over the years. One relates to his anger over the L.Q. Jones ending of the film, as detailed above. The other is, according to Ellison, essentially a desire to stop his fans from requesting more stories about the two characters. Ellison claimed at the time of the film's release that he had said all he wanted to say about Vic and Blood, and that there would be no more sequels. However, in the introduction to "Vic and Blood", dated 25 March 2003, Ellison mentions: "And I've written the rest of the book, "BLOOD'S A ROVER". The final, longest section is in screenplay form – and they're bidding here in Hollywood, once again, for the feature film and TV rights – and one of these days before I go through that final door, I'll translate it into elegant prose, and the full novel will appear."

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Neuromancer Neuromancer is a 1984 science fiction novel by American-Canadian writer William Gibson. It is one of the best-known works in the cyberpunk genre and the only novel to win the Nebula Award, the Philip K. Dick Award, and the Hugo Award. It was Gibson's debut novel and the beginning of the Sprawl trilogy. Set in the future, the novel follows Henry Case, a washed-up computer hacker who is hired for one last job, which brings him up against a powerful artificial intelligence. Background. Before "Neuromancer", Gibson had written several short stories for US science fiction periodicals—mostly noir countercultural narratives concerning low-life protagonists in near-future encounters with cyberspace. The themes he developed in this early short fiction, the Sprawl setting of "Burning Chrome" (1982), and the character of Molly Millions from "Johnny Mnemonic" (1981) laid the foundations for the novel. John Carpenter's "Escape from New York" (1981) influenced the novel; Gibson was "intrigued by the exchange in one of the opening scenes where the Warden says to Snake 'You flew the Gullfire over Leningrad, didn't you?' It turns out to be just a throwaway line, but for a moment it worked like the best SF, where a casual reference can imply a lot." The novel's street and computer slang dialogue derives from the vocabulary of subcultures, particularly "1969 Toronto dope dealer's slang, or biker talk". Gibson heard the term "flatlining" in a bar around twenty years before writing "Neuromancer" and it stuck with him. Author Robert Stone, a "master of a certain kind of paranoid fiction", was a primary influence on the novel. The term "Screaming Fist" was taken from the song of the same name by Toronto punk rock band The Viletones. "Neuromancer" was commissioned by Terry Carr for the second series of Ace Science Fiction Specials, which was intended to feature debut novels exclusively. Given a year to complete the work, Gibson undertook the actual writing out of "blind animal panic" at the obligation to write an entire novel—a feat which he felt he was "four or five years away from". After viewing the first 20 minutes of landmark film "Blade Runner" (1982), which was released when Gibson had written a third of the novel, he "figured ["Neuromancer"] was sunk, done for. Everyone would assume I’d copied my visual texture from this astonishingly fine-looking film." He re-wrote the first two-thirds of the book 12 times, feared losing the reader's attention and was convinced that he would be "permanently shamed" following its publication; yet what resulted was seen as a major imaginative leap forward for a first-time novelist. He added the final sentence of the novel at the last minute in a deliberate attempt to prevent himself from ever writing a sequel, but ended up doing precisely that with "Count Zero" (1986), a character-focused work set in the Sprawl alluded to in its predecessor. Plot. Henry Dorsett Case is a low-level hustler in the dystopian underworld of Chiba City, Japan. Once a talented computer hacker, Case was caught stealing from his employer. As punishment for his theft, Case's central nervous system was damaged with a mycotoxin, leaving him unable to access the global computer network in cyberspace, a virtual reality dataspace called the "matrix". Case is unemployable, suicidal, and apparently at the top of the hit list of a drug lord named Wage. Case is saved by Molly Millions, an augmented "razorgirl" and mercenary for a shadowy US ex-military officer named Armitage, who offers to cure Case in exchange for his services as a hacker. Case jumps at the chance to regain his life as a "console cowboy", but neither Case nor Molly knows what Armitage is really planning. Case's nervous system is repaired using new technology that Armitage offers the clinic as payment, but he soon learns from Armitage that sacs of the poison that first crippled him have been placed in his blood vessels as well. Armitage promises Case that if he completes his work in time, the sacs will be removed; otherwise they will dissolve, disabling him again. He also has Case's pancreas replaced and new tissue grafted into his liver, leaving Case incapable of metabolizing cocaine or amphetamines and apparently ending his drug addiction. Case develops a close personal relationship with Molly, who suggests that he begin looking into Armitage's background. Meanwhile, Armitage assigns them their first job: they must steal a ROM module that contains the saved consciousness of one of Case's mentors, legendary cyber-cowboy McCoy Pauley, nicknamed "Dixie Flatline." Armitage needs Pauley's hacking expertise, and the ROM construct is stored in the corporate headquarters of media conglomerate Sense/Net. A street gang named the "Panther Moderns" is hired to create a simulated terrorist attack on Sense/Net. The diversion allows Molly to penetrate the building and steal Dixie's ROM with Case unlocking the computer safeguards on the way in and out from within the matrix. Case and Molly continue to investigate Armitage, discovering his former identity of Colonel Willis Corto. Corto was a member of "Operation Screaming Fist," which planned on infiltrating and disrupting Soviet computer systems from ultralight aircraft dropped over Russia. The Russian military had learned of the idea and installed defenses to render the attack impossible, but the military went ahead with Screaming Fist, with a new secret purpose of testing these Russian defenses. As his team attacked a Soviet computer center, EMP weapons shut down their computers and flight systems, and Corto and his men were targeted by Soviet laser defenses. He and a few survivors commandeered a Soviet military helicopter and escaped over the heavily guarded Finnish border. The helicopter was shot down by Finnish defense forces mistaking it for a hostile aircraft, and everyone aboard was killed except for Corto, who was seriously wounded and disfigured. After some months in the hospital, Corto was visited by a US government official, who returned him to the United States to receive computer-aided psychotherapy and reconstructive surgery and to be able to provide what he came to realize was false testimony, designed to mislead the public and protect the senior military officers who had covered up knowledge of the EMP weapons. After the trials, Corto snapped, killing the official who had first contacted him and then disappearing into the criminal underworld, becoming Armitage. In Istanbul, the team recruits Peter Riviera, an artist, thief, and drug addict who is able to project detailed holographic illusions with the aid of sophisticated cybernetic implants. Although Riviera is a sociopath, Armitage coerces him into joining the team. The trail leads Case and Molly to Wintermute, a powerful artificial intelligence created by the Tessier-Ashpool family. The Tessier-Ashpools spend most of their inactive time in cryonic preservation in a labyrinthine mansion known as Villa Straylight, located at one end of Freeside, a cylindrical space habitat at L5, which functions primarily as a Las Vegas-style space resort for the wealthy. Wintermute finally reveals itself to Case through a simulated personality of one of Case's associates as it lacks the ability to form its own personality. Wintermute explains that it is one-half of a super-AI entity planned by the family, although its exact purpose is unknown. The Turing Law Code governing AIs bans the construction of such entities; to get around this, it had to be built as two separate AIs. Wintermute (housed in a computer mainframe in Berne, Switzerland) was programmed by the Tessier-Ashpools with a need to merge with its other half, Neuromancer (whose physical mainframe is installed in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). Unable to achieve this merger on its own, Wintermute recruited Armitage and his team to help complete the goal. Case is tasked with entering cyberspace to pierce the Turing-imposed software barriers using a powerful icebreaker program. At the same time, Riviera is to obtain the password to the Turing lock from Lady 3Jane Marie-France Tessier-Ashpool, an unfrozen daughter clone and the current CEO of the family's corporation, Tessier-Ashpool SA. Wintermute believes Riviera will pose an irresistible temptation to her, and that she will give him the password. The password must be spoken into an ornate computer terminal located in Villa Straylight, and entered simultaneously as Case pierces the software barriers in cyberspace—otherwise the Turing lock will remain intact. Armitage's team attracts the attention of the Turing Police, whose job is to prevent AIs from exceeding their built-in limitations. As Molly and Riviera gain entrance to Villa Straylight, three Turing officers arrest Case and take him into custody; Wintermute manipulates the orbital casino's security and maintenance systems and kills the officers, allowing Case to escape. Armitage's personality starts to disintegrate and revert to the Corto personality as he relives Screaming Fist. It is revealed that Wintermute had originally contacted Corto through a bedside computer during his original psychotherapy, eventually convincing Corto that he was Armitage. Wintermute used him to persuade Case and Molly to help it merge with its twin AI, Neuromancer. Finally, Corto breaks through the remains of the Armitage personality, but he is uncontrollable, and Wintermute kills him by ejecting him through an airlock into space. Inside Villa Straylight, Riviera meets Lady 3Jane and tries to stop the mission, helping Lady 3Jane and Hideo, her ninja bodyguard, to capture Molly. Worried about Molly and operating under orders from Wintermute, Case tracks her down with help from Maelcum, his Rastafarian pilot. After reaching Villa Straylight, Case uses a computer inside the compound to enter cyberspace where Neuromancer attempts to trap Case within a simulated reality. There he finds the consciousness of Linda Lee, his girlfriend from Chiba City, who was murdered by one of Case's underworld contacts. He also meets Neuromancer who takes the form of a young boy. Unlike Wintermute, Neuromancer is able to create its own personality and identity. Neuromancer tries to convince Case to give up and remain in the virtual world with Linda, but Case refuses. He escapes, partly because Maelcum gives his body an overdose of a drug that can bypass his augmented liver and pancreas. With Wintermute guiding them, Case goes with Maelcum to confront Lady 3Jane, Riviera, and Hideo. Riviera tries to kill Case, but Lady 3Jane is sympathetic towards Case and Molly, and Hideo protects him. Riviera blinds Hideo with a concentrated laser pulse from his projector implant, but flees when he learns that the ninja is just as adept without his sight. Molly then explains to Case that Riviera is doomed anyway, as he has been fatally poisoned by his drugs, which she had spiked with a lethal toxin to ensure he would never survive the mission, regardless of the outcome. With Lady 3Jane in possession of the password, the team makes it to the computer terminal. Case enters cyberspace to guide the icebreaker to penetrate its target; Lady 3Jane is induced to give up her password, and the lock is opened. Wintermute unites with Neuromancer, fusing into a superconsciousness. The poison in Case's bloodstream is washed out, and he, Molly, and Maelcum are profusely paid for their efforts, while Pauley's ROM construct is apparently erased, at his own request. In the epilogue, Molly leaves Case. Case finds a new girlfriend, resumes his hacking work, and spends his earnings from the mission replacing his internal organs. Wintermute/Neuromancer contacts him, saying that it has become "the sum total of the works, the whole show," and has begun looking for other AIs like itself. Scanning old recorded transmissions from the 1970s, the super-AI finds an AI transmitting from the Alpha Centauri star system. In the end, while logged into the matrix, Case catches a glimpse of Neuromancer standing in the distance with his dead girlfriend Linda Lee, and himself. Neuromancer appears as a smiling boy, Linda waves, and Case hears inhuman laughter (a trait associated with Pauley during Case's work with his ROM construct). This suggests that Pauley was not erased after all, but instead transformed and exists in the matrix. The implication of the sighting is that Neuromancer created a copy of Case's consciousness. The copy of Case's consciousness now exists with that of Linda's and Pauley's, in the matrix. As promised there has been change, but what that change means is left ambiguous. Literary and cultural significance. Dave Langford reviewed "Neuromancer" for "White Dwarf" #59, and stated that "I spent the whole time on the edge of my seat and got a cramp as a result. In a way Gibson's pace is too frenetic, so unremitting that the reader never gets a rest and can't see the plot for the dazzle. Otherwise: nice one." Dave Langford reviewed "Neuromancer" for "White Dwarf" #80, and stated that "You may not believe in killer programs which invade the brain, but "Neuromancer", if you once let it into your wetware, isn't easily erased." "Neuromancer"s release was not greeted with fanfare, but it hit a cultural nerve, quickly becoming an underground word-of-mouth hit. It became the first novel to win the Nebula, the Hugo, and Philip K. Dick Award for paperback original, an unprecedented achievement described by the "Mail & Guardian" as "the sci-fi writer's version of winning the Goncourt, Booker and Pulitzer prizes in the same year". The novel thereby legitimized cyberpunk as a mainstream branch of science fiction literature. It is among the most-honored works of science fiction in recent history, and appeared on "Time" magazine's list of 100 best English-language novels written since 1923. The novel was also nominated for a British Science Fiction Award in 1984. "Neuromancer" is considered "the archetypal cyberpunk work". Outside science fiction, it gained unprecedented critical and popular attention as an "evocation of life in the late 1980s", although "The Observer" noted that "it took the "New York Times" 10 years" to mention the novel. By 2007 it had sold more than 6.5 million copies worldwide. The novel has had significant linguistic influence, popularizing such terms as cyberspace and ICE (Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics). Gibson himself coined the term "cyberspace" in his novelette "Burning Chrome", published in 1982 by "Omni" magazine, but it was through its use in "Neuromancer" that it gained recognition to become the "de facto" term for the "World Wide Web" during the 1990s. The portion of "Neuromancer" usually cited in this respect is: The 1999 cyberpunk science fiction film "The Matrix" particularly draws from "Neuromancer" both eponym and usage of the term "matrix". "After watching "The Matrix", Gibson commented that the way that the film's creators had drawn from existing cyberpunk works was 'exactly the kind of creative cultural osmosis" he had relied upon in his own writing." In his afterword to the 2000 re-issue of "Neuromancer", fellow author Jack Womack goes as far as to suggest that Gibson's vision of cyberspace may have inspired the way in which the Internet developed (particularly the World Wide Web), after the publication of "Neuromancer" in 1984. He asks "[w]hat if the act of writing it down, in fact, "brought it about?"" (269). Norman Spinrad, in his 1986 essay "The Neuromantics" which appears in his non-fiction collection "Science Fiction in the Real World", saw the book's title as a triple pun: "neuro" referring to the nervous system; "necromancer"; and "new romancer". The cyberpunk genre, the authors of which he suggested be called "neuromantics", was "a fusion of the romantic impulse with science and technology", according to Spinrad. Writing in "F&SF" in 2005, Charles de Lint noted that while Gibson's technological extrapolations had proved imperfect (in particular, his failure to anticipate the cellular telephone), "Imagining story, the inner workings of his characters' minds, and the world in which it all takes place are all more important." Lawrence Person in his "Notes Toward a Postcyberpunk Manifesto" (1998) identified "Neuromancer" as "the archetypal cyberpunk work", and in 2005, "Time" included it in their list of the 100 best English-language novels written since 1923, opining that "[t]here is no way to overstate how radical ["Neuromancer"] was when it first appeared." Literary critic Larry McCaffery described the concept of the matrix in "Neuromancer" as a place where "data dance with human consciousness... human memory is literalized and mechanized... multi-national information systems mutate and breed into startling new structures whose beauty and complexity are unimaginable, mystical, and above all nonhuman." Gibson later commented on himself as an author circa "Neuromancer" that "I'd buy him a drink, but I don't know if I'd loan him any money," and referred to the novel as "an adolescent's book". The success of "Neuromancer" was to effect the 35-year-old Gibson's emergence from obscurity. Adaptations. Graphic novel. In 1989, Epic Comics published a 48-page graphic novel version by Tom de Haven and Bruce Jensen. It only covers the first two chapters, "Chiba City Blues" and "The Shopping Expedition", and was never continued. Hypertext. In the 1990s a version of "Neuromancer" was published as one of the Voyager Company's "Expanded Books" series of hypertext-annotated HyperCard stacks for the Apple Macintosh (especially the PowerBook). Video game. A video game adaptation of the novel—also titled "Neuromancer"—was published in 1988 by Interplay. Designed by Bruce J. Balfour, Brian Fargo, Troy A. Miles, and Michael A. Stackpole, the game had many of the same locations and themes as the novel, but a different protagonist and plot. It was available for a variety of platforms, including the Amiga, the Apple II, the Commodore 64, and for DOS-based computers. It featured, as a soundtrack, a computer adaptation of the Devo song "Some Things Never Change." According to an episode of the American version of "Beyond 2000", the original plans for the game included a dynamic soundtrack composed by Devo and a real-time 3D-rendered movie of the events the player went through. Psychologist and futurist Dr. Timothy Leary was involved, but very little documentation seems to exist about this proposed second game, which was perhaps too grand a vision for 1988 home computing. Radio play. The BBC World Service Drama production of "Neuromancer" aired in two one-hour parts, on 8 and 15 September 2002. Dramatised by Mike Walker, and directed by Andy Jordan, it starred Owen McCarthy as Case, Nicola Walker as Molly, James Laurenson as Armitage, John Shrapnel as Wintermute, Colin Stinton as Dixie, David Webber as Maelcum, David Holt as Riviera, Peter Marinker as Ashpool, and Andrew Scott as The Finn. It can no longer be heard on The BBC World Service Archive. In Finland, Yle Radioteatteri produced a 4-part radio play of Neuromancer. Audiobook. Gibson read an abridged version of his novel "Neuromancer" on four audio cassettes for Time Warner Audio Books (1994), which are now unavailable.> An unabridged version of this book was read by Arthur Addison and made available from Books on Tape (1997). In 2011, Penguin Audiobooks produced a new unabridged recording of the book, read by Robertson Dean. Opera. "Neuromancer the Opera" is an adaptation written by Jayne Wenger and Marc Lowenstein (libretto) and Richard Marriott of the Club Foot Orchestra (music). A production was scheduled to open on March 3, 1995 at the Julia Morgan Theater (now the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts) in Berkeley, California, featuring Club Foot Orchestra in the pit and extensive computer graphics imagery created by a world-wide network of volunteers. However, this premiere did not take place and the work has yet to be performed in full. Film. There have been several proposed film adaptations of "Neuromancer", with drafts of scripts written by British director Chris Cunningham and Chuck Russell, with Aphex Twin providing the soundtrack. The box packaging for the video game adaptation had even carried the promotional mention for a major motion picture to come from "Cabana Boy Productions." None of these projects have come to fruition, though Gibson had stated his belief that Cunningham is the only director with a chance of doing the film correctly. In May 2007, reports emerged that a film was in the works, with Joseph Kahn (director of "Torque") in line to direct and Milla Jovovich in the lead role. In May 2010 this story was supplanted with news that Vincenzo Natali, director of "Cube" and "Splice", had taken over directing duties and would rewrite the screenplay. In March 2011, with the news that Seven Arts and GFM Films would be merging their distribution operations, it was announced that the joint venture would be purchasing the rights to "Neuromancer" under Vincenzo Natali's direction. In August, 2012, GFM Films announced that it had begun casting for the film (with offers made to Liam Neeson and Mark Wahlberg), but no cast members have been confirmed yet. In November 2013, Natali shed some light on the production situation; announcing that the script had been completed for "years", and had been written with assistance from Gibson himself. In May 2015, it was reported that movie got new funding from Chinese company C2M, but Natali is no longer available for directing the movie. In August 2017, it was announced that "Deadpool" director Tim Miller was signed on to direct a new film adaptation by Fox, with Simon Kinberg producing.

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Missile Gap "Missile Gap" is a 2006 English language science fiction novella, originally published in the anthology "One Million A.D." by British author Charles Stross. It won the Locus Award for best novella of 2006. The novella was republished in Stross's short-story collection "Wireless" in 2009. Plot. On 2 October 1962, the universe underwent a change – instantly, the continents of the Earth were no longer wrapped onto a spherical planet but were on the surface of an Alderson disk. Measurements on Cepheid variable stars indicate that the Alderson disk is located in the Lesser Magellanic Cloud, and that the epoch is roughly 800,000 years later than the calendar date (give or take 100,000 to 200,000 years). In the sky, the stars of the Milky Way are reddened and metal-depleted, evidence that it is now controlled by a Type-III civilisation capable of controlling the resources of an entire galaxy. Three theories for the change are suggested within the novella: The first hypothesis would indicate that the characters of the book are the original humans of the 20th century Earth. The latter two hypotheses would indicate that the characters of the book are "duplicates" of humans that lived and died thousands of years previously. The creatures that moved or copied humanity are unknown, as is the technology they used and the purpose for their action. Because of the projection of a spherical surface onto a flat surface, some changes occur: North America is now much farther from Asia, as there is no polar route. Furthermore, launching an artificial satellite into orbit becomes impossible, and chemical-fuelled ICBMs are no longer capable of reaching other continents. The gravitational attraction in the near field of an Alderson disk does not drop away according to the inverse-square law but is approximately constant and perpendicular to the disk, so missile trajectories become parabolic rather than segments of elliptical orbits. Thus, both the strategic bomber and ICBM "legs" of the nuclear triad are no longer feasible so nuclear deterrence breaks down, and the Soviet Union takes advantage of this to conquer much of Western Europe. The deterrent role is taken over by long-range nuclear-powered cruise missiles. Cold war tensions between the two super states provide the in-between plot direction. There are several sub-plots – the exploration of the new world by both superpowers forms much of the major plot. Yuri Gagarin captains a huge, nuclear-powered Ekranoplan on behalf of the Soviets, whilst the US launch cruise liners filled with colonists for distant islands. On one such island, Madelaine Holbright (initially a housewife) begins an affair with John Martin, an entomologist who is almost fatally stung by native termites which begin to display signs of intelligence. During his travels, Gagarin turns up further examples of "Earths" far away from the currently inhabited areas, with cities that have clearly been destroyed in nuclear war in the distant past. A character named Gregor Samsa seems to be highly connected with the US Government, and is later shown to be in fact an advanced alien termite with pheromone control, and is guiding the transplanted humanity towards nuclear destruction, to clear the path for the "mock aboriginal termites" that have previously stung Martin. Eventually Gregor is successful, and humanity is destroyed in a nuclear exchange – Gregor's intelligence is saved and it is heavily implied that not only has this happened before, but that it will happen again, supporting (but not actually confirming) the second two of the suggested theories. To explain plot sections and provide background information, Stross makes use of themes that recur in his works – the use of security clearance briefings, and codewords to infer secret levels of information – COLLECTION and RUBY for Missile Gap Reception. "Publishers Weekly" described the novella as a "blend of 1900s H. G. Wells and 1970s propaganda, updated for the 21st century in the clear, chilly and fashionably cynical style that lets Stross get away with premises that would be absurdly cheesy in anyone else's hands." Carl Hays in his review for "Booklist" called the novel a "bizarre, nevertheless brilliant alternate-history novella featuring a protracted U.S.–Soviet cold war."

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Commander-1 Commander-1 is a 1965 novel by Welsh author Peter Bryan George and deals with the aftermath of a nuclear war between the United States, the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China. It was George's last published work, with the author committing suicide in 1966. Plot. An up-and-coming Chinese Communist apparatchik named Li (who is, in fact, a suave Fu Manchu type philosopher steeped in ancient Chinese learning and having only a thin veneer of Communism or Marxism) devises a plan with the aid of a prominent nuclear scientist and a People's Liberation Army general to produce a nuclear weapon, which they will plant outside US bases of strategic importance and detonate so that it appears that the Soviet Union has committed to the first strike of a nuclear war. The United States and the Soviet Union both deploy their nuclear arsenals, wiping each other out and destroying the Pentagon and killing the US President. Meanwhile, the only submarine left in the US fleet, which has been on an expedition conducting an experiment on social isolation under the polar icecap, comes back to port after receiving news of the nuclear holocaust. The commander drops the survivors off at a deserted Pacific island that will be passed over by the fallout. The survivors soon discover that the island is really a massive bunker for just such an eventuality. Two of the survivors kill themselves after they conceive a child, which they believe to be mutated because of the presence of the mutated baby produced by one of the island's local apes. The submarine then heads to a surviving US naval base, where they find the military holding out against civilian survivors led by an ex-congressman. The submarine commander, James Geragty, turns the civilians into mindless drones, using drugs from the medical supplies at the base, and takes them on board his submarine to the Pacific island, the only place in the world not affected by fallout. There Geragty sets himself up as the new US President, Commander One, and sets his slaves to work building his new paradise, which the original experiment subjects reject as totalitarian. After he declares that he will attempt to destroy any Soviet survivors that he may eventually find, he sets the original experiment candidates loose on a rubber dinghy, claiming that he will let them go to another island. As they float away in the ocean, Geragty has them machine-gunned in the water, destroying all dissent in his new society. In an interlude set in China, it is disclosed how badly Comrade Li's miscalculated in his nefarious plan. While the Americans and Soviets did destroy each other, that did not leave China free to claim the world; rather, both Americans and Soviets reserved some of their missiles for China, enough to completely destroy it. Comrade Li meets a suitable gruesome and ignominious end at the vengeful hands of a band of surviving Chinese soldiers.

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Arc Light (novel) Arc Light is the debut novel by Eric L. Harry, a techno-thriller about limited nuclear war published in September 1994 and written in 1991 and 1992. As China and Russia clash in Siberia, and war brews between the United States and North Korea, a series of accidents and misunderstandings lead to a Russian nuclear strike against the United States. The U.S. retaliates against Russia, and World War III begins. The novel becomes part military techno thriller, part political drama as heated internal debates concerning the right course of action in the war unfold on both sides while each government tries to deal with the colossal damage the nuclear strike has done to their countries. Moderate voices try to prevent a second nuclear exchange by taming the hawks and working behind the scenes to arrange a ceasefire. Meanwhile, the on-the-ground consequences for civilian and military alike are explored in depth. The novel focuses on three key groups: The title refers to the term "arclight", which was a code during the Vietnam War for a strike by a B-52. This term is used in the opening pages of the book. Plot summary. Prologue. Set in the late 1990s in the backdrop of a stalemated Russo-Chinese War for control of Eastern Siberia, North Korea invades the Demilitarized Zone weeks before a planned reunification. Part I. In order to end the war quickly, the commander of the Siberian Military District, General Yuri Razov, calls the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Andrew Thomas, to warn the United States of Russia's decision to use tactical nuclear weapons against China. Thomas tries to talk Razov out of this decision, with no success. In Moscow, a radical anti-Western Russian general named Zorin overthrows the civilian government and STAVKA, seizing control of the Kremlin in a swift coup d'etat and taking command of the nuclear communicators. In Washington, National Security Advisor Greg Lambert has dinner with Russian colonel Pavel Filipov, military attaché to the embassy in Washington and a close friend of his and his family. As a reward for the US logistical cooperation in the war with China, Filipov reveals that Zorin was the one who convinced the North Koreans to invade the DMZ, in order to preserve Russia's supply lines over the Korean peninsula. As the Russian attack in China unfolds, the US moves to DEFCON 3 as a preventive measure and recalls all its forces back to service: while Lambert is ordered to board Nightwatch with the rest of the cabinet and the Joint Chiefs, Filipov is recalled to Moscow. As the White House is being evacuated, US President Walter Livingston instructs the Secretary of State to warn the Chinese of the impending strike, not wishing to be complicit in Russia's heinous actions. Lambert is wary of the ramifications that decision might entail, but the chaos of the evacuation prevents the President from hearing his advisor's objections. In Los Angeles, US Army Reserve Major David Chandler is ordered to present himself at March Air Force Base to take command of his unit, leaving behind his 9-month pregnant wife, Melissa. As the mobilization continues, Melissa enters in labor and decides to leave the city. From the Kremlin bunker, General Zorin watches the US evacuation and bomber takeoffs through cable news. Outside, loyalist government forces cut the coup plotters' communications before taking the building by force, leaving Zorin unable to contact the majority of Russia's armed forces, including Razov's nuclear attack in the Far East. After being warned of Russia's incoming nuclear attack by the US, China retaliates by launching their own nuclear weapons against Russia. The warheads directed at Moscow, however, are intercepted by the nuclear-tipped anti-ballistic missile system deployed around the capital. Zorin –sleep-deprived and under the effect of amphetamines– is convinced that the US took advantage of the confusion and launched a first strike against Russia. Still in control of the nuclear communicators, Zorin orders the ICBM forces in Western Russia to launch at their pre-programmed targets. Their ballistic-missile submarines are not used in the attack, as they are far less accurate than the ICBMs and, thus, only useful for targeting large targets with wide margins of error, such as population centers. The submarines are ordered to maintain their positions in a “bastion” around the Kara Sea, to be used in case Russia orders a second strike. Onboard Nightwatch, President Livingston and his staff are informed of the Chinese retaliatory attacks against Russia. At the same time, however, they receive warning of Russian strategic weapons being directed at the United States. Based on their trajectory, the attack is classified as a “counterforce strike”, directed at the US' strategic military facilities (such as missile silos, major air force and naval bases and NORAD) instead of civilian infrastructure. The President takes the Joint Chiefs' advice and orders its own ICBMs to retaliate in kind against Russia's Strategic Rocket Forces, before their silos are destroyed in the incoming attack. In March AFB, Chandler takes command of his assigned battalion and departs in a commercial airliner, en route to an unknown destination. Minutes later, the base is obliterated by dozens of Russian nuclear warheads. Other targets such as Cheyenne Mountain, Raven Rock, together with the US nuclear silos and major bomber and radar bases, suffer a similar fate. Immediate casualties in the mainland United States are estimated to be between 4.5 and 7 million dead, with hundreds of thousands more left severely injured or exposed to heavy doses of radiation. As President Livingston heads to his private cabin to collect his thoughts, Chairman Thomas ponders to the rest of the staff aboard Nightwatch how the Chinese were able to retaliate so quickly, as their missile forces are not as advanced as those of Russia or the U.S. and require too much 'lead time'. Lambert informs Thomas and the rest of the staff of Livingston's order to warn China of Russia's incoming nuclear attack. This confession shatters the staff's confidence on the President's ability to lead the country. Returning to Moscow from the Far East, Razov arrests Zorin and the rest of the coup plotters. Via the hotline, Razov assures President Livingston that the nuclear attack against the US was a mistake, promising that there will be no more attacks from Russia. Livingston cuts Moscow off in disgust, telling Razov they better keep their word regarding no further attacks, as the US continues its nuclear retaliatory attacks against Russia. The reformed STAVKA learns that the submarines in the Kara Sea bastion received orders from Zorin to simultaneously launch their nuclear missiles on fail-deadly conditions in case they come under attack and to disregard any and all recall orders. With the overall loss of ground communication, Chandler's aircraft is notified to land on Gander Airport in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Part II. Still onboard Nightwatch, President Livingston and his cabinet plan for the aftermath of the nuclear strike. Since the Russian attack was not directly intended against the civilian population, casualty numbers are relatively low. To stop the conflict from escalating further, Livingston orders the US military to stand down and engage Russian forces only if fired upon first, a decision that draws Lambert and the military staff to question his judgement. The stress takes its toll on the President, as he must approve every emergency decision arriving at his desk, from farming in the midst of radioactive fallout, calling the draft lottery to housing and disaster management. Meanwhile, on the Congressional Bunker in Greenbrier, West Virginia, the surviving members of the US Congress pass a declaration of war in an emergency session, instructing the President to prosecute the war until all of Russia's nuclear forces are disarmed or annihilated. From Mount Weather, Vice-President Paul Constanzo makes a TV address calling for a massive military response against Russia in retaliation for their attack on the US. Constanzo's words are diametrically opposed to Livingston's wishes, who believes that a land invasion of Russian territory and/or an attempt at forced nuclear disarmament will lead to a second nuclear exchange, this time directed against each other's cities; a MAD scenario that would inevitably lead to a nuclear winter. President Livingston lands in Philadelphia to set up his cabinet on land and solve the issue with the Vice-President and Congress. Returning to Los Angeles, Melissa Chandler begins labor. She gives birth to a baby boy in a crowded hospital in Palm Springs. In the aftermath of the nuclear attack, drinking water and foodstuffs become scarce across the United States. Congress orders an investigation into the causes of the war, calling a number of witnesses, including National Security Advisor Greg Lambert, to the Greenbrier facilities to testify before the special congressional committee. On the way from the bunker, Lambert requests the military for help to locate his wife and/or his in-laws, from which he hasn't heard since he was evacuated to Nightwatch. On the irradiated outskirts of Washington D.C, Lambert hitches a ride in an Army helicopter and spots his wife's abandoned car on a highway. Some miles further down the road, he finds his in-laws' minivan: the corpses of Lambert's spouse, relatives and Filipov's wife are inside, long dead from exposure to fallout. In the Kremlin, Razov is overruled by the STAVKA generals and agrees to a more active role to defend Russia, ordering an invasion of Iceland, a strategic deployment into western Ukraine to counter US forces in the border with Slovakia and halting the ongoing Russian incursion in northeast China, redeploying most forces and matériel for the European theatre. Part III. In front of the congressional committee, Lambert refuses to testify, arguing that the information is classified for national security purposes. The US Supreme Court, now based in Mount Weather, rules that he must answer all questions put forward to him by the Congressional committee. Although Livingston desperately tries to avoid an all-out war between the US and Russia, skirmishes between both countries continue in and around Russian territory. After the governments of Germany and France refuse to support the US as part of NATO, his cabinet begins to negotiate a new “Treaty on Euro-American Military Security” (TEAMS), encompassing both the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, Canada, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Iceland, Greece and Turkey (with Finland as a secret partner). Despite the restraint exercised towards Russia, Livingston orders to detonate a high-altitude nuclear warhead over Pyongyang as a warning shot to force North Korea out of its invasion of South Korea: the ploy is successful, with North Korea notifying the UN of its immediate military withdrawal. Again in front of Congress, Lambert reveals President Livingston's order to warn China of the incoming nuclear attack by Russia. This, alongside his refusal to prosecute Congress' declaration of war, triggers calls for his immediate impeachment. In Russia, STAVKA decides to hold any further attacks on US or allied targets, depending on Livingston's continuity as President. As his choices run short, President Livingston is notified of a secret straw vote that Congress will conduct before the actual impeachment vote: if the resolution against him passes, he will order the U.S. Armed Forces into full war footing against Russia. The straw poll is a landslide in favor of impeachment. As promised, Livingston's final act in office is to declare free-fire rules against any and all Russian military targets, with the notable exception of the submarines in the Kara Sea bastion. In his final moments as President, Livingston begs Lambert to stay in the cabinet to moderate Constanzo's aggression towards Russia, urging him to avoid a second nuclear exchange at all costs. Part IV. After Constanzo is sworn in as President, the US and its allies move to invade Russia. At the same time, General Razov orders an amphibious assault on Iceland to bog down a number of elite US and Canadian units from joining the main invasion force. With most of the frontline Russian forces still in the Siberian front, the western border is left lightly defended. STAVKA orders the use of nerve gas and the conscription of Provisional Troops to support the defense of the Russian motherland. Constanzo abrogates Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty and exhorts former NATO members in France, Germany and Norway to respect the US' supply lines and military facilities. As Russia's satellites are shot down by ASAT-armed F-15s, their main submarine bases in the Northern Sea are destroyed in a conventional bombing run. Russia counterattacks by using Tu-22M and Tu-160 bombers to knock out power stations across the United States, sending cities such as Los Angeles in darkness. Major Chandler's aircraft lands on an air base in Prešov, Slovakia, near the border with Ukraine. On his first day on a war zone, he manages to get two of his men killed in an unmarked minefield. After surviving a Russian chemical bombardment, he is ordered by Colonel Harkness, the regional commander, to take command of an armored battalion, despite Chandler's protests to be transferred to an intelligence unit. With Washington D.C. contaminated by nuclear fallout, the US government organizes a provisional capital in Philadelphia, formally transferring most functions and personnel from the bunkers. National Security Adviser Gregory Lambert becomes famous among a cautious civilian population, thanks to his statement against Livingston in Congress and the loss of his family in the nuclear attack. In the Kremlin, Filipov is ordered by Razov to travel to the United States and meet his friend Lambert (under the excuse of looking for his wife) to warn him about the orders received by the ballistic missile submarines in the Kara Sea bastion. After a recorded debriefing in a CIA safe house in Philadelphia, Lambert tells Filipov that his wife died in the attack. In a meeting with the Principals Committee, President Constanzo reviews Filipov's taped statement: the Joint Chiefs, together with the directors of the CIA and NSA, believe that the so-called “Kara Sea submarine bastion threat" is a bluff, arguing that a dead-hand order is inconsistent with both Russia's top-down military doctrine and game theory scenarios. The US and its allies quickly advance in two prongs from their staging areas in Central Europe towards the heart of European Russia. Despite the surrender of Ukrainian and Belarusian forces, and the Polish-led northern prong advancing according to plan, the southern prong stagnates close to Prešov under heavy resistance by the Russian 8th Guards Army. Because of the potential for a protracted land war, the Federal Reserve and Treasury chairs warn President Constanzo of a very high probability that, thanks to large portions of the civilian population abandoning the major cities in fear of a second nuclear exchange, an economic depression of unprecedented proportions might occur in the coming months unless civilian economic activity is normalized. As such, Constanzo signs an executive order to force all civilian employees back to their jobs. Together with that, Lambert proposes a previously-rejected plan to open a third front in northwest Russia with amphibious landings in Karelia, potentially reaching Moscow before the year's end. Supported by Finnish forces, the amphibious attack is successful: Russian forces in the area are left unable to respond in time to prevent a potential allied encirclement on Saint Petersburg. In the Russian Far East, US Marines stage a landing on Primorye, forcing the Russian forces deployed around China to hold their positions instead of transferring to European Russia. Despite heavy losses, they are successful in the capture of Vladivostok and the destruction of several sections of the Trans-Siberian Railway line. After the Japanese Self-Defense Forces occupy the Kuril Islands, Sakhalin and other Siberian regions declare their secession from Moscow's control. Razov calls the US television networks to make a direct address to the United States, warning its citizens that, if allied forces breach Moscow's ring motorway, Russia's ballistic missile submarines would be ordered to attack all major US population centers. The announcement triggers panic across the United States, with cities becoming deserted of people during a critical economic moment. In Los Angeles, Melissa Chandler decides to evacuate the city, fearful for her life and her newborn son's. Apart from the TV address and Filipov's debriefing in Philadelphia, the CIA received the same information from a well-placed HUMINT source with connections to Russian leadership, codenamed “Damocles” (suspected by Lambert to be Filipov). CIA and NSA analysts maintain their argument to President Constanzo that everything received from Russia about the “bastion” is a planned disinformation campaign by STAVKA to keep their nuclear counterforce ability. The military officers, however, become more aware of the potential risk of escalation. As US and allied forces approach Moscow, the Damocles source continues to feed intelligence to the US, including reports that Russian forces are preparing for a long, protracted nuclear war of attrition against the occupying forces. President Constanzo, looking for a way to end the war, instructs Lambert to meet personally with Razov in Moscow to offer him a peace agreement: Russia would surrender its nuclear arsenal in exchange for entering the US' “nuclear umbrella” for a period of five years (renewable depending on political conditions), respect for Russia's pre-war borders, re-arming of its conventional armed forces and scheduled withdrawal of American and allied troops from European Russia. Lambert would have two hours to reach an agreement. If he goes incommunicado after the deadline passes (or is believed to be under duress) US forces will receive their orders to attack both Moscow and the Kara Sea submarine bastion, followed by the destruction of all major metropolitan areas in Russia with atomic demolition munitions. Part V. At the same time Lambert crosses the Moscow frontline under a white flag to meet with Filipov, the other members of STAVKA depose Razov. After Lambert and Filipov are notified of the impromptu coup, the latter moves to rescue Razov. Filipov's vehicles intercept the convoy carrying Razov and his entourage outside Lefortovo. Lambert offers Razov the US terms for a ceasefire, to which he personally agrees. As Lambert's deadline passes, President Constanzo orders the attack on Moscow and the Kara Sea bastion to begin immediately. A freshly promoted Lt. Colonel Chandler orders his armored task force to breach the Moscow perimeter. His tank is disabled by a Russian anti-tank missile and is forced to continue on foot. As he reaches an enemy foxhole, he finds the bodies of hundreds of provisional Russian soldiers, killed by US-launched chemical weapons. Bombing and artillery cover Moscow as Razov, Filipov and Lambert race back to the Kremlin. Fighting their way inside the bunker, Razov takes control of the nuclear communicators and inputs a code. Lambert calls President Constanzo to tell him that Razov has agreed to the ceasefire terms. Razov explains to Constanzo that the code he entered had disabled the detonators on the nuclear warheads on board the Bastion's submarines: a fail-safe measure established by Gorbachev after the attempted coup in 1991 to prevent a nuclear civil war. Constanzo orders to abort the naval attack on the Kara Sea. Most of the override orders are acknowledged, but the cruiser USS "Anzio" is engaged in combat with one of the submarines and its communications are knocked out. The destroyer USS "John S. McCain" is ordered to sink the "Anzio"; the order arrives too late, however, as the "Anzio" fires its ASROC batteries against the Russian submarine, triggering the Bastion's submarines fail-deadly orders to launch their missiles. Razov assures Constanzo that the warheads will not detonate, but he doesn't believe it despite Lambert's pleas. In response to the launch, Constanzo orders the US Navy's SSBNs to launch their missiles on fail-deadly orders of their own: the detection of an electromagnetic pulse consistent with a nuclear attack. The Russian missiles strike their targets all over the United States, although (true to Razov's word) no nuclear warheads are detonated. As US and Russian forces agree to a ceasefire and disengage from combat, Lambert, Filipov and Razov climb upstairs to the heavily damaged Red Square. Still angry, Filipov says farewell to his former friend Lambert, as Razov hints that he was the “Damocles” source all that time. Epilogue. Three months after the formal cease of hostilities, the security situation in Russia grows worse for the American occupation forces, as anarchist protests pop up in major cities, triggered by the lack of food during the winter. In Los Angeles, Lt. Colonel Chandler says farewell to his wife and child as his two-week leave of duty comes at an end, returning to Europe to take command of his armored task force.

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World War III (DC Comics) "World War III" is the title of two comic book sagas published by DC Comics and involving many of the superheroes of the DC Universe. The first was published in 2000 as a story-arc in the "JLA" ongoing series; the second was published in 2007 as a limited series of its own. JLA. The original "World War III" saga was a narrative arc of the "JLA" series written by Grant Morrison and drawn by Howard Porter in 2000 (over "JLA" #36-41), and currently in print as the "JLA, Vol. 6: World War III" paperback. This was the final arc written by Grant Morrison and provided explanation for hints dropped over his tenure about the importance of the JLA as "forerunners" in defending the Earth from an impending menace. Lex Luthor, failing to defeat the JLA, formed a new Injustice Gang consisting not of villains who mimic the Justice League (JLA), but with villains that posed major threats to them in the past. The villains were (in order of recruitment) Prometheus, Queen Bee (Zazzala), and General Wade Eiling. With a deadly plan in mind, this new team was able to infiltrate the Watchtower via the Ghost Zone and defeat the JLA. As the JLA was about to fight back, they soon found out that the Injustice Gang were not doing these things under their own will, but were being controlled by an unknown force. The latter is revealed to be the cosmic entity Mageddon, an extremely ancient living weapon originally intended to be used for wars among primal cosmic gods. Mageddon had been influencing the thoughts of the population of Earth to promote a worldwide state of war, and ultimately aimed to destroy the planet. The JLA rallies the help of many heroes of the DC universe, most notably that of Aztek (a Grant Morrison creation), who is blinded and sacrifices himself in the effort; it is revealed that Mageddon, under the name of "Tezcatlipoca", was indeed the menace Aztek was originally created to oppose. Finally, the JLA is able to confer superpowers to the population of the Earth, who unite in the decisive effort to vanquish Mageddon and save the planet, keeping it occupied long enough for Superman- trapped at the "heart" of Mageddon- to absorb the anti-sunlight powering Mageddon's systems and disable it for good. 52. The title "World War III" was also used in 2007 for a four-issue mini-series written by Keith Champagne (#1-2) and John Ostrander (#3-4), and drawn by Pat Olliffe and Tom Derenick, with covers by Ethan Van Sciver. It tells the story of Black Adam's rage against humanity after his family was murdered, and he can only be stopped when the entire superhero community rallies together. The limited series was a tie into DC's weekly comic book series, "52", occurring on "Week 50" of the series, which takes place during the missing year following "Infinite Crisis". Indeed, "52" was conceived to explain many of the drastic changes that occurred in the DC Universe during that missing year; however, the series ultimately evolved in a different direction, focusing on its own cast of characters, and consequently, "World War III" was conceived to revisit the original intent of the series and explain the changes that occurred. Synopsis. Five weeks before the main events of the series, Martian Manhunter tries to telepathically fight Black Adam following his near obliteration of Bialya, first disguising himself as a young girl, but is overwhelmed by his darkest memory and flees into space, from where he will observe the upcoming battle, which is narrated through his point of view. During Week 50, Black Adam rampages all over the planet, killing many innocent citizens, leaving destruction and disease behind him. For example, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and many in the city are slain. Sydney, Australia is also devastated. The Great Pyramids are damaged. Father Time unsuccessfully tries to stop him on American shores and his face is ripped off for his efforts (though he survives). In retaliation for the attack despite him not crossing America's borders, Black Adam throws an aircraft carrier at New York City. Firestorm is forced out of retirement, along with Firehawk. Combined, the two turn the ship into snow. Nightwing (hinted to be Jason Todd while in the role by his ruthlessness) battles a gang of looters; his dialogue hints he kills them; he is later seen with their money. In the meantime, J'onn observes Supergirl return from the 31st century. Unstable from the time travel, she passes through J'onn. Her form stabilizes as she plunges to Earth. Every hero then tries to do his/her best in their respective roles, with Harvey Dent defending Gotham from Killer Croc, the Doom Patrol trying to halt Black Adam's rampage in Pisa and Donna Troy taking over Wonder Woman's mantle. Black Adam defeats Captain Marvel Jr. and Mary Marvel. In Sub Diego the effects of the Geiss serum are wearing off, turning the population into air-breathers again, except for Aquagirl and a few others, who asks for the help of Aquaman. The latter confers with the sea-gods, Poseidon and Triton, asking for the power to save the Sub Diegoans. The gods, while denying any involvement with the aquatic humans' fate, grant Aquaman new powers, with a ritual meant to give him the power of the "dark gods" of Atlantis, involving his new aquatic hand and the bones of his severed former one. Aquaman succeeds in raising back a big portion of Sub Diego, saving his inhabitants. As he expected, he pays a difficult price; he is transfigured in a monstrous, amnesiac and almost mad form, the "Dweller in the Depths". J'onn continues following Black Adam's trail, distracting his thoughts from the Justice Society, once again united to give aid to the suffering populace. He finds him battling the Teen Titans, asking vengeance for their supposed betrayal of Osiris. Over the course of two confrontations, he kills Young Frankenstein and Terra. This causes J'onn to come back to Earth, and alert Checkmate. Kate Spencer's cover as Manhunter is almost blown; still her pursuing of the greater good convinced J'onn to enact another step in his maturation: he goes to his former police district as John Jones, revealing himself to his former friends, and burning his former detective agency to the ground to prevent himself from ever assuming a disguise again. Not even Captain Marvel can beat Adam and asks the Egyptian Gods to remove Adam's powers, but they tell him he has their blessing. Finally Black Adam is delayed in China by the Great Ten. At first, the assembled heroes can do nothing, as China has promised to fire its nuclear missiles if they cross the Great Wall of China. Finally, the Justice Society and the other superheroes are allowed to join in battle. J'onn himself shows up, fighting actively with Adam, and using his link with him to fill his mind with images from the destruction of Mars and from every death he has caused during "World War III". Black Adam is halted for a few minutes, just the time needed for Captain Marvel to force a magic lightning bolt on him as Power Girl and Alan Scott hold him, turning Black Adam back to Teth-Adam and changing his magic word into an unknown one. However the lightning tears him from Kara and Alan, but he is caught by Atom-Smasher as he falls. This lightning also wounds J'onn, who nevertheless is able to awake in his One Year Later form, freed from the forced link with Adam's mind, but willing to rethink his whole life as a Martian being on Earth, and no more an alien being pretending to be as human as possible. From their satellite base, the Monitors declare the end of "World War III", intended as the war of one man against the whole world, but they do express fear for an even darker event looming over Earth. Collected editions. Both stories have been collected into trade paperbacks:

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Team Yankee Team Yankee is a techno-thriller novel written in 1987 by Harold Coyle, then a major in the United States Army, whose subject is the actions of a company-sized armor unit of the United States Army in the World War III scenario as depicted by General Sir John Hackett in his novel, "". General Hackett's scenario takes place in 1985; Coyle never specifies the year, but it is assumed to take place in the late 1980s. While Hackett's book emphasizes strategy and world politics, Coyle's features the experiences of the tank crews and infantrymen fighting on the front lines. The novel achieved best-selling status and became a series of comic books, an Origins Award-winning board wargame and later a video game. In 2015, it was adapted as a sister scenario for the "Flames of War" wargame. Plot summary. The novel is set in West Germany and East Germany in the months of August and September; the year is unspecified. Team Yankee ("Y" in the ICAO and NATO phonetic alphabet) is an armor-heavy company-sized unit (a "Team" in Army parlance). There is nothing special about this team; it is an average company-sized U.S. unit in an average battalion of the Regular Army. Team Yankee is composed of First Platoon (Lieutenant Murray Weiss), Second Platoon (Second Lieutenant McAllister), Mech(anized Infantry) Platoon (Staff Sergeant Polgar), and Third Platoon (Second Lieutenant Gerry Garger). Captain Sean Bannon is company commander; First Lieutenant Robert Uleski is the executive officer; and company first sergeant is First Sergeant Raymond Harrert. Captain Bannon is 27 years old, married and has three children. He studied military history, with a graduate degree, but is seen as an average officer; Coyle notes in the preface that Bannon will probably never rise in rank above lieutenant colonel. The team has 4 M1 Abrams tanks per platoon numbered 11, 12, 13, 14, 21... to 34, with the first digit corresponding to the respective platoon. The XO's tank is numbered 55; the CO's tank 66. Thus, the team has 10 M1s in the first twelve chapters when its First Platoon is attached to another unit. The team also has 5 M113 armored personnel carriers, and 2 M901 ITV TOW missile vehicles. The infantry is armed with Dragon antitank missiles and 66-millimeter LAWs. The Team also has a M113 AMEV (Armored Medical Evacuation Vehicle) and an M88 recovery vehicle. The parent unit of Team Yankee is the First Battalion, 4th Armor. During the first twelve chapters it is attached to Task Force 3-78 Mechanized Infantry, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds. The brigade commander is Colonel Brunn. The task force is composed of Team Yankee, C Company (Captain Craven) a standard infantry company, D Company, and another armor-heavy Team Bravo. In addition, there is an artillery support team (a FIST) (Second Lieutenant Rodney Unger) attached. Prologue. The prologue begins with a series of quotations from international news sources listing the deteriorating international situation between the United States and the Soviet Union, particularly in the Persian Gulf, from July 15 to August 1, when NATO forces are mobilized and moved to the inter-German frontier. Chapter 1: Stand-To. The novel begins with Team Yankee deployed forward towards the frontier with the German Democratic Republic. Captain Bannon is awakened by a radio check from his Third Platoon Leader, Lieutenant Garger—the third straight day Garger has used his radio to break radio silence. Unable to go back to sleep, Bannon inspects his unit and meets the other principal characters of the novel. He finds Garger, berates him, and decides that with a war coming on, Garger would need to be replaced as a liability. Meanwhile, at the Army base, Pat Bannon, Sean's wife, understands that the possibility of war is high, and prepares to evacuate her small children while exercising the informal leadership over the other Army wives of Team Yankee. Chapter 2: First Battle. Colonel Reynolds inspects the forward positions of his task force, including Team Yankee, when the war starts. The Soviets push through the armored cavalry screen and attack the team, in dug in positions under cover. Team Bravo's company commander is killed in combat. Team Yankee repels the Soviet attack. To Captain Bannon's pleasant surprise, his problem lieutenant is proving to be quite competent in combat. At the base, Pat serves as the informal head of Team Yankee's dependents. She makes a trip into the nearest town to make sure Sue Garger, Gerry's wife, is recovered. The roads are choked with military and refugee traffic. Chapter 3: Change of Mission. Pat Bannon, her children, and all the other dependents make it to Rhein-Main Air Base, where they await evacuation. As soon as an aircraft lands and offloads U.S. reinforcements, dependents are loaded on the plane. A Soviet air strike occurs while the dependents wait; Pat and her children must run past dead civilians to make the flight. Meanwhile, the task force and the Team recover from the first firefight. Bannon finds that the attitude of those who have actually seen combat differs from the staff, who are more enthusiastic about the war. Chapter 4: Into the Vacuum. Team Yankee is ordered to attack Hill 214 with C Company in support. There is confusion in orders; Major Jordan, the battalion S-3, orders the attack be halted, while Colonel Reynolds, the battalion commander, orders Bannon to attack. 2LT McAllister, in Tank 21, is killed during the attack. Chapter 5: Hunter and Hunted. In the fighting, Bannon's tank, 66, is crippled and his driver is killed. The surviving three crewmen in 66 defeat three T-62 tanks, which did not suspect 66 was still in action; the crew destroys 66 to prevent its capture. Bannon rejoins the Team and takes over Lt. Uleski's tank 55. C Company never arrives and the Team is forced to fight to hold Hill 214 on its own. Chapter 6: On The Razor's Edge. Team Yankee holds off an attack by a Soviet battalion on Hill 214 during the night. Bannon's loader, PFC Richard Kelp, and Private McCauley volunteer to lead a Dragon gunner to engage the enemy on foot. The Dragon gunner is killed and Kelp and McCauley race against time to destroy a T-72 before it destroys them. Kelp is later awarded a Silver Star for his efforts. Chapter 7: Check and Checkmate. The Team was scheduled to withdraw at 0330 to U.S. lines, but every man in the company, fatigued from the fighting, falls asleep. Bannon wakes up two hours later, wakes up his tank crew and platoon leaders to the universal chorus of "Oh, shit!" Bannon works out a way that the Team can withdraw in daylight with minimal casualties. Chapter 8: R and R. The Team reaches the nearest town, where, to his fury, Bannon finds soldiers from C Company lounging around. Bannon reports to the task force commander; the Team is placed in reserve, where it can recover and receive reinforcements. 2nd Lt. Avery, an Armor School classmate of 2nd Lt Garger's, reports as Lt McAllister's replacement. Avery is puzzled by the slightly distant reception he gets from the Team's officers, including Garger. Chapter 9: Deep Attack. Lt. Avery, who has yet to enter combat, finds himself isolated from the other members of the Team. He finds himself even more isolated when the Team starts to paint kill rings on the barrels of each tank. The brigade to which Team Yankee belongs is ordered to follow up a West German counterattack into East Germany though the Thuringer Wald towards Leipzig and Berlin to cut off the Soviet offensive against the Northern Army Group. Because of the Team's combat experience, Bannon is ordered to lead the attack. Bannon expresses doubts to Colonel Reynolds that the rest of the battalion, in particular C Company, can carry out their role in supporting the armor teams; he is promised that there will be no more "rat-fucks". The attack is delayed because the enemy, a Polish T-55 tank battalion, launches its attack first, which gives the Team a chance to fight from defensive cover. The Poles fall back and the Task Force pursues. Avery gets his first kill. Chapter 10: Red Dawn. The Task Force attack stops to consolidate its gains; the Polish unit that was scattered by Team Yankee reforms and attacks C Company. The Task Force, assisted by a German company, moves to support Captain Cravin's company. In the fight, the battalion XO is hit and taken out of action. D Company, Team Bravo, and the German unit, assisted by U.S. artillery, crush the Polish battalion. The Task Force halts to reorganize. Bannon sends the Mech Platoon to secure the nearest town. An East German teenager, apparently a member of the Free German Youth, wounds one of Polgar's infantrymen with an AK-47 rifle and is killed immediately. Chapter 11: Counterattack. Lt. Avery, in Tank 21, is wounded in an air attack by a Soviet helicopter. First Sergeant Harrert and the maintenance crew salvage the tank, grimly noting it would be back in combat in 24 hours. The task force headquarters is attacked, severely wounding Colonel Reynolds and cutting off the XO, Major Jordan, from communicating with the Task Force; Bannon finds himself in command of the Task Force and leads three companies to defeat the Soviet counterattack and rescue the Task Force staff. Chapter 12: "They Came in the Same Old Way". The surviving Task Force staff, led by Major Jordan, resume command. C Company is effectively wiped out and its survivors are integrated with D Company. The Task Force plans to ambush a Soviet battalion heading westward into their position, centered on an East German town. Jordan plans a reverse slope defense, not attacking the Soviets at the logical choke point. The Soviet attackers, harassed by the Task Force scout platoon and U.S. artillery-delivered mines, fail to take the town or the hills to the north of the valley. The Soviet commander moves south, into Bannon's Team's guns. When asked to give his after-action report, Bannon flippantly quotes the Duke of Wellington, "They came, you know, in the same old way and we beat them in the same old way." Chapter 13: To the Saale. NATO as a whole, and the U.S. in particular, are running short of equipment and manpower. Units that are no longer capable of going on the offensive, or are not holding key terrain, are stripped of their most effective units. Team Yankee is thus moved from Task Force 3-78 to Task Force 1-4 Armored, which is their parent battalion, to continue the attack into Leipzig and Berlin. The Team is assigned a screening role to the main effort, and is ordered to feint as if they intend to capture a bridge over the Saale River. However, due to speed of their attack and a divided command between the Soviet Army and the KGB, Lt. Weiss' platoon is able to capture the bridge intact. Chapter 14: The Day After. The next day, Bannon finds out that the Soviets have launched a nuclear attack on the city of Birmingham, England; NATO retaliates by destroying the city of Minsk, Belarus. The Task Force is ordered to prepare for nuclear warfare (by dispersion, deeper cover, and protection against the effects of a blast on electronics and optics). Bannon immediately orders a tightening on hygiene and equipment maintenance to lessen the long-term effects of nuclear war. Bannon prepares for the next attack when the news comes that a cease-fire was declared and the war is over. Epilogue. The cease-fire holds. Life slowly resumes a routine closer to peacetime. A National Guard division relieves Bannon's division, and Bannon returns to his quarters only two months after he left, to reconnect with his family life. Major themes. The novel has as a theme the actions of a company-sized armor unit of the United States Army in the World War III scenario as depicted by General Sir John Hackett in his novel, "". It also deals with, to a lesser degree, the reactions of men facing combat for the first time, and how they react after seeing combat. The novel also refers to "Company Commander", the WW2 infantry service memoir by Charles B. Macdonald... a recollection of Macdonald's service as an infantry officer. Non-fiction books describing similar experiences to those of the fictional Team Yankee are "Brazen Chariots" by Robert Crisp, which describes his service in the North African armored campaigns in the Second World War, and "Heights of Courage" by Avigdor Kahalani, an account of his experiences in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Significance. "Team Yankee" was Coyle's first novel, and its success made Coyle a prominent writer in the field of military fiction. Other adaptations. Comic book. First Comics published a six-issue comic book series based on "Team Yankee", which was reissued as a graphic novel in 1989. David Drake wrote the strip. Table-top game. In November 2015, the gaming system Flames of War, released the miniature based table-top game "Team Yankee", inspired by both "The Third World War" and "Team Yankee" novels. It allows the player to build a Team Yankee, NATO, or Warsaw Pact force to play with. It also has missions based on missions in the novel.

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Marius (Anderson) '"Marius" is a science fiction short story by American writer Poul Anderson, first published in the March 1957 issue of "Astounding Science Fiction" and reprinted in the collections "The Horn of Time" (1968) and "The Psychotechnic League" (1981). As a component of the Psychotechnic League future history / alternate history, "Marius" takes place in 1964, six years after the initial nuclear exchanges of World War III. Although it is chronologically the first story in the Psychotechnic League sequence, "Marius" was one of the last to be written. It serves as a prequel to the earlier novella "Un-Man", introducing the character of Étienne Fourre. Plot summary. In 1964, General Étienne Fourre, once a village apothecary, is the leader of the French Maquisard Brotherhood and serves as France's representative in the Supreme Council of United Free Europe. He is on his way to confront his friend Commandant Jacques Reinach, the chairman of the Supreme Council. Fourre has studied psychodynamics, a mathematical technique for predicting future trends, and he believes that Reinach is leading Europe down a dead-end path. Reinach is sending a tiny delegation to Rio de Janeiro to represent Europe at the relaunch of the United Nations, refuses to establish a parliamentary government, and intends to recognize a neo-fascist dictator as ruler of Macedonia. Fourre confronts Reinach in his office on the campus of the University of Strasbourg - now used as a makeshift government center - and presents him with an ultimatum: a majority of the Supreme Council have ordered Reinach to step down as chairman. When Reinach refuses, Fourre compares him to the Roman general Gaius Marius, who showed a unique talent as a general and rescued Rome from the barbarian Cimbri, but then proved incompetent in civil politics, inadvertently setting off a civil war that ultimately led to the fall of the Roman Republic. Fourre keeps Reinach distracted with small talk while his men infiltrate the university and stage a coup. As Reinach is about to shoot Fourre, Stefan Rostomily bursts in through his office window and unintentionally kills Reinach. Tragic Conflict. A tragic conflict - a common theme in many Anderson stories - is at the center of this one. Fourre and Reinach are long-time personal friends and comrades-in-arms, who had been through an enormous lot together; even minutes before Reinach's death, they swap anecdotes and reminisces about their carefree younger life in pre-World War III Paris. Throughout, Fourre hopes against hope that Reinach would give in and that it would be possible to call off the armed confrontation; and at the end, he is consumed with remorse and guilt at having caused his old friend's death. So is the young Rostomily, who had admired Reinach and shot instinctively without realizing whom he was killing. Despite all the above, Fourre had become convinced by Professor Valti, the Finnish inventor of psychodynamics, that Reinach's "rule of thumb" politics, which were enough to conduct the war and free Europe from Soviet occupation, are woefully inadequate to define the course of the post-war world, and that Reinach's mistakes - taken from the best of intentions - could lead the world to a course ending in another nuclear war, fifty years hence, which humanity might not survive. Such considerations are grave enough to override Fourre's personal friendship with Reinach and lead him to the eventually fatal confrontation. The story thus has no villains, other than the off-stage sinister figure of the "clever and ruthless" Macedonian dictator Pappas. In effect, the struggle between Reinach and Fourre is a struggle by proxy between Pappas - representing the forces of disruption, political extremism, militarism and tyranny which brought about the recent World War III and might bring another one - and Professor Valti, representing world unification in a regime of liberal democracy subtly "guided" by an elite of scientists. Fourre's victory over Reinach (and over Pappas, whom he would overthrow in the immediate aftermath) ensures that the latter would dominate the world for the next several centuries. Long term implications and the relation between "Marius" and "Brake". The forces of disruption and destruction have been only temporarily pushed back. As depicted in "Brake" - set centuries later, but actually written by Anderson immediately after "Marius", the two stories being published only two months apart - by the year 2270, ideological and religious fanaticism would once again become predominant on Earth, with two opposing ideological factions emerging, determined to destroy each other and all set to tear apart the world state set up through the efforts of Fourre and his co-workers. Ironically, at least one of these opposing factions would spuriously claim Fourre as its ideological forefather. The new war which might have happened in about 2010, but for the efforts of Fourre and Valti, does break out three centuries later. Still, not only did humanity enjoy three centuries of (mostly) peace and prosperity, but it had the chance to go into space, become established throughout the Solar System and take its first interstellar steps - so that a war on Earth, however vastly destructive, would not imperil humankind as a whole. This is a cardinal point in Anderson's perception of Humanity's future, reiterated countless times in his fiction and non-fiction writings throughout his career. The Psychotechnic League. "Marius" serves as an introduction to the Psychotechnic League future history. The science of psychodynamics is introduced, as are Étienne Fourre, who will become head of the United Nations Inspectorate, and Stefan Rostomily, whose cloned sons will make up the secret Rostomily Brotherhood. It is also made clear that the new United Nations being established in Rio will be much more powerful than its pre-war incarnation, and will be dominated for the foreseeable future by Western democracies. The Macedonian flashpoint. Macedonia, which serves as the proximate cause setting off the armed confrontation in the story, had been a hotly disputed territory ever since the beginning of the 20th century, due to the incompatible claims of Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia/Yugoslavia and its own Macedonian nationalism. Most recently, less than ten years before the story was written, much of the fighting in the Greek Civil War of 1946-1949 took place in this area. To judge from his name, the malevolent Papas is Greek rather than a Slavic-speaking Macedonian, possibly a veteran of the civil war who had lain low since 1949. The devastation caused by the 1958 global conflict gave Papas the chance to carve out his "Macedonian Free State", presumably transcending the former borders and taking in parts of pre-war Greek territory ("Aegean Macedonia") as well as those which had been in Yugoslavia and Bulgaria - a plausible enough development given the previous history of this corner of the Balkan, up to the time Anderson wrote the story.

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In the Presence of Mine Enemies In the Presence of Mine Enemies is a 2003 alternate history novel by American author Harry Turtledove, expanded from the eponymous short story. The title comes from the fifth verse of the 23rd Psalm. The novel depicts a world in which the United States remained isolationist and so did not participate in the Second World War, thus allowing a victory to the Axis powers, which divided the world among themselves. However, some years after the war, the Third World War occurred and featured the Axis powers defeating the United States and Canada. Set in 2010, the novel focuses on Heinrich Gimpel and a small group of Jews who survived the Holocaust by passing as Gentiles. The events occur against a backdrop that parallels the Soviet Union's last days, with characters based upon Mikhail Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin, and others. Plot summary. Wehrmacht officer Heinrich Gimpel astonishes his 10-year-old daughter, Alicia, with a secret that has been hidden from her all her life: the family is Jewish. He explains that the Gimpels, their friends Walther and Esther Stutzman, and their extended families all belong to the remnants of Jews who now survive by hiding in plain sight within the very society that wants them dead. Now old enough, by family tradition, to be trusted with this life-or-death deception, Alicia is obliged to hide the truth from her friends, her classmates, and even her younger sisters, even as she is forced to regard her school's racist curriculum from a new perspective that leaves her sick and angry over all the anti-Semitic propaganda that she had always learned and parroted without question. Meanwhile, Heinrich finds himself caught in the marital strife between his co-worker, Willi Dorsch, and Willi's wife, Erika. Willi, doubting Erika's fidelity due to her constant flirting with Heinrich, begins an extra-marital affair with his secretary. Embittered by her husband's infidelity, Erika seeks to have a retaliatory affair with Heinrich. He resists, which leads to Erika accusing him of being a Jew and Heinrich being arrested by the Sicherheitspolizei. It is only after Erika realizes that her accusation caused Heinrich's children to be taken as well that she confesses her lie and attempts to commit suicide, unaware the entire time that Heinrich and his family actually are Jewish. Esther Stutzman, who works as a receptionist in a doctor's office, also experiences a close call with Nazi policies when her friends Richard and Maria Klein, closeted Jews like herself, bring their ailing eight-month-old baby, Paul, in for a checkup. The diagnosis, Tay–Sachs disease, is a disease known to be prevalent among Jews. A subsequent investigation into his family background would spell doom for his parents and any names that they might be forced to reveal under torture. Although Esther's husband, Walther, is able to hack into the Reich's computer network and change the Klein's family history, it is the revelation that Reichsführer-SS Lothar Prützmann has a nephew with Tay-Sachs that brings the investigation to a halt. In the background, the death of the current Führer, Kurt Haldweim (modelled on the real-life Austrian president Kurt Waldheim), causes him to be replaced by the reform-minded Heinz Buckliger, who relaxes the oppressive laws of the Reich. In a secret speech, with word-of-mouth spreading it to the populace, the new Führer denounces his predecessors and says that the Reich committed crimes in the past. Reactionary opposition rallies around the SS, and the populist Gauleiter of Berlin, Rolf Stolle, champions accelerates reform. Things come to a head with the announcement of relatively free elections: candidates need not be Nazi Party members though they must be Aryan. Led by Reichsführer-SS Lothar Prützmann, the SS carries out a conservative "coup d'état", imprisons the Führer, and installs former High Commissioner of Ostland Affairs, Odilo Globocnik, as the new Führer. However, Stolle instigates a "people power" movement, which the Wehrmacht supports. The "coup d'état" is defeated after Walther Stutzman salts the country's computer network with the information about Reichsführer-SS Prützmann's Tay-Sachs afflicted nephew. Soon, Berlin comes to the conclusion that Prützmann is a Jew, which definitively turns the tide against the coup. In the aftermath, Prützmann kills himself, Globocnik is lynched, and Buckliger is re-enstated as Führer (albeit harrowed by his detainment and eclipsed by the popular Stolle). At the end of the novel, elections deliver a pro-reform majority to the Reichstag, with Stolle as its speaker, and produces a mandate for the independence of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia in a concurrent referendum. Also, the Gimpels and the Stutzmans gather to tell the ten-year-old Francesca that she is a Jew. Setting. World politics and geography. Political alignment. The Führer of the Greater German Reich is the world's most powerful political leader. Besides the Reich itself, the "Greater Germanic Empire" includes countries that are occupied (but not annexed) and others that are allied. The occupied countries have their own governments but limited sovereignty; the Nazis interfere in their internal affairs, especially in applying racist ideology. The allies, though technically independent, are subject to heavy Nazi influence; most of them represent the local varieties of racist, fascist, and radical nationalist forces. Italy's empire is around the Mediterranean Sea, including the parts of Africa granted by the Reich. The Nazis compel the Italians to carry out large-scale massacres of Arabs in their territories in the Middle East. The nation is controlled by the House of Savoy (headed by King Umberto) and the Duce of the Italian Empire. While much of Africa is divided up among Germany, Italy, Spain, and Portugal, an "Aryan-dominated" Union of South Africa remains as an independent ally of the German Reich. Spain is mentioned as being governed by a caudillo, but no mention is made about the status of the Spanish monarchy. Although it is less powerful than Germany, Imperial Japan is a nuclear power that keeps the Reich at bay with the implicit threat of mutually assured destruction. Moreover, Japan has its own subordinate rulers (only the Emperor of Manchukuo is mentioned) in the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. Despite having "an ocean of slave labor" at its disposal, Japan now concentrates upon developing high technologies. Despite the Germano–Nipponese alliance, the Nazis consider the Japanese to be racially inferior and lacking in creativity, using propaganda pointing to a perceived decrease in Japan's technological advances as proof. Even so, Japanese tourists, students and restaurants are commonly seen within the Reich. United States and Canada. In the 1960s and the 1970s, Germany and the Axis powers defeated the United States and Canada in the Third World War with the nuclear bombs that they had developed. The key American cities of Washington, DC and Philadelphia were destroyed by the bombs, with their environments being rendered uninhabitable for years to come. Other cities such as New York City, St. Louis, and Chicago were damaged by conventional bombing raids. The US capital was moved to Omaha, Nebraska, where a pro-Nazi puppet government was set up, and the Reich maintains Wehrmacht occupation forces in New York City, Chicago, St. Louis, and Omaha itself. Upon conquering the US, the "Einsatzkommandos" and the American white supremacists systematically kill the country's Jewish and most of its Black populations, with any remaining Black people being used for slave labor by the Reich. The US pays annual tribute, an important income for Germany's economy, despite US hyperinflation and the US dollar's disappearance as a world currency, but whenever possible, the US evades paying the tribute. Other occupied nations. Henry IX is the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom (although his lineage is never explained), which has been annexed by the Reich. The British Union of Fascists is the governing party, with Charlie Lynton as Prime Minister; however, it is internally divided over the extent of the Reich's influence in its governance (reminiscent of British euoscepticism) and the selection process for a new Füthrer. The Poles, Russians, Ukrainians, Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, and Serbs are killed because they are "Untermenschen", and the Arabs for being as "Semitic as Jews." Moreover, the Reich, Italian Empire, Portugal, and Spain commit the genocide of the African populations and enslave survivors. South Africa, however, still continues its apartheid and so ironically keeps the Black South Africans from being either killed off or used for slave labor. Any Jews found are immediately killed on sight, and while "the surviving Russians were pushed far east of the Urals," there is much guerrilla fighting, which requires forts to protect the German settlers. The Nazis treat the Czechs, Croats, and Bulgarians relatively well although they are Slavs: the Czechs greatly contribute to the Reich's economy, and the Croats and Bulgarians savagely persecute the Serbs by severe racial discrimination, suppressing rebellions, and enslavement or killing of dissidents. Iranians and Indians are classified as "Aryan" are not persecuted, and some are even invited to study at German universities. Technology. The level of technology in the novel is much the same as in the actual 21st century. The Wehrmacht uses jet aircraft, panzers, U-boats, armoured personnel carriers, assault rifles, and a variety of naval warships. The "Ministry of Air and Space" is mentioned as having planted a permanent outpost on the Moon and to be carrying out a manned landing on Mars, and it may be planning a manned mission to the Jovian moons. Orbital weather platforms are also mentioned in the novel. Civilian technology has also advanced similarly to its military counterpart in the 21st century. Jet airliners, televisions (called televisors), computers (although the Internet has not reached the same level as its real-life counterpart for fear of it being a "security nightmare"), modern cars, microwaves, and dishwashers are used throughout the Reich. The German population enjoys very high living standards at the expense of non-Germans throughout the Reich and occupied nations. Society. The Reich's society is culturally dominant because of its victories in the Second and the Third World Wars, and German companies and organizations dominate the economies of the allied and occupied nations. Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen are thriving, and Zeiss produces the Reich's computers and software. Agfa-Gevaert produces television commercials that encourage Germans to migrate to the Ostland territories, and Lufthansa covers the air. The British Broadcasting Corporation is mentioned throughout the novel, with the Reich's counterpart being the RRG. A RRG newscaster, Horst Witzleben, appears several times in the novel, and his "Seven O'clock News" is highly influential. The Reich Genealogical Office has online genealogical records, which can define life and death to persons suspected of being Jewish. (The real-life Nazis already used the punchcards developed by IBM to mark out the Jews and eventually arrest them and send them to extermination camps.) Economy. The Reichsmark is the dominant world currency and is legal tender in the Greater German Reich, but most of the Reich's member states, territories, and allies (including the Empire of Japan, Latin America, Britain, and America) have national currencies. Since the Reich dictates favorable exchange rates, the Reichsmark is readily accepted (and apparently welcome) even in places in which it is not legal tender. Britain continues to use its pre-decimal pound sterling currency, but the five-shilling Crown coin is struck in cheap aluminum, not silver, as "silver" coins were at least partly made of before World War II and briefly afterward. Education. School is the way with which the German Reich indoctrinates and controls the citizenry, starting in its youth. Corporal punishment is practiced in schools against actions such as disrespecting a superior, not doing one's school work, and for not knowing the correct answers to teachers' questions in the classroom. The school year occupies most of the calendar year, with the only major holidays being the two-week holiday between Christmas and the New Year, and the week-long break after Easter. The remainder of the year is school work though one-day holidays occur infrequently. The Hitler Jugend and Bund Deutscher Mädel are compulsory for children in the German Reich, the Nazi gender roles having changed little. At the end of the novel, the Hitler Jugend implements changes towards preparing boys into becoming responsible, adult citizens, rather than army conscripts. The Reich education system is only for Germany; allied states and occupied territories control their own education systems. In the US, American children continue to have long summer holidays from school, a fact that German teachers emphasize as one of the reasons for its defeat to the German Reich. German academics have key roles in the processes of racial discrimination and genocide. The German Institute for Racial Studies, part of Friedrich Wilhelm University, is charged with defining the peoples and ethnic groups of the "Germanic Empire" that are subhuman and so are marked for genocide or slavery. At its side, as the smiling face of the Reich, is the German Institute for Foreigners (founded in 1922), charged with instructing those foreigners who fortunately were classed as "Aryans", such as Iranians and Indians, in the German language and culture. Academic life is male-dominated. Although it is possible for a woman to have an academic career, the few who do so face great difficulties and must engage in daily, petty struggles to gain privileges that are granted to men. Under Reich sexism, an assertive woman might be accused that she is "not a proper National Socialist woman," but such attitudes are regarded as old-fashioned and challenged by younger people. Sports. The Reich's sports are the sole province of the Aryans and are controlled by the German Federation of Sport, which favors German sportsmen over sportsmen from other states. It has the power to reserve the right to withdraw from competition with foreign teams and to withhold the rights of foreign teams to tour the Reich when political relations sour. An example is the boycott of Italian sports teams after a riot at a football match in Milan between the home team's fans and the visiting Leipzig team's fans. The deprivation of the right to tour the Reich and of having the Reich's teams visit is financially hurtful. Germany won a recent World Cup but now is challenged by a powerful, multi-racial Brazil, with Negroes and Native Americans, among others. Surviving Jews. Although the Jews are considered to be exterminated in 2010, anti-Semitic stereotypes remain strong in popular culture and official propaganda and are an important part of school education. The books of anti-Semitic author Julius Streicher ("Trust No Fox in the Green Meadow", "No Jew on His Oath", and "The Poison Mushroom") are universal reading for German children. The hidden Jews feel obliged to buy them for their children since doing otherwise might arouse suspicion. Jews both are and are not of the society surrounding them. They must constantly play the role of parroting the prevailing anti-Semitic clichés. They keep as much of their Jewish identity as can be imparted in secret meetings among themselves, with purely oral lore though some written Hebrew is taught. With the exception of the Bible, which can be kept openly, since Christianity, while not encouraged, is allowed by the Reich, they dare not possess books on Judaism though they still exist. All of the viewpoint characters were born under the Nazis, and maintaining the masquerade is second nature. The greatest danger is when a child is told of his or her true identity, usually at age of ten, which is considered old enough to keep the secret. Children often are shocked, since like all other German children, they grew up exposed to constant anti-Semitism from teachers and children's books. The adults soften the shock by teaching the children to feel privileged to belong to such a secret society. It is mentioned that the hidden Jews regard it as too dangerous to gather on the Major Holidays and fasts of Judaism, such as Passover and Yom Kippur, and so they hold their secret gatherings on Minor Holidays such as Purim. Other minorities. German industry uses Slavic, Black, and Arab slave laborers for "dirty" or dangerous work. In one passage, an industrial accident in the Ruhr is reported on television as having caused the deaths of "Twelve Aryans and an unknown number of Untermenschen." Homosexuals are actively persecuted. Unlike Jews, Gypsies, and other "inferior races," which are thought to have been wiped out" homosexuals continue to arise and are hunted by the security police unless they have political connections to protect them. Locales. Berlin. Much of the story occurs in Berlin. The Reich capital is replete with the monumental architecture of Albert Speer. An important example is the Great Hall, which can house more than 100,000 people and held the funeral of deceased Führer Kurt Haldweim. With a dome 200 m high and 250 m wide, it is crowned with a massive, gilded German eagle holding a swastika. Nearby is the Führer's Palace, the Führer's official residence, which is guarded by soldiers from the Infantry Regiment Großdeutschland, which is barracked near the Palace. Aside from security, it is a ceremonial, dress corps armed with (antique) "Gewehr 98" rifles and an arsenal that includes assault rifles and tanks. Next is the Adolf-Hitler-Platz, a grand public square for rallies and such. The Soldier's Hall commemorates the German Reich's military might by exhibiting the radioactive remains of the Liberty Bell (displayed behind lead glass), gliders that were used to invade Britain, the first Panzer IV to enter the Kremlin, and the railroad carriage in which Imperial Germany surrendered to the Allies in 1918, at Compiègne, France, and in which France surrendered to Nazi Germany in 1940. The Arch of Triumph is 170 m wide and 1700 m deep although it is modelled on the smaller Arc de Triomphe in Paris; much of the Berlin district's automobile traffic transits through it. Because the city is populous, public transport (rapid transit trains, U-Bahn, and commuter railroads) is well developed; one rail station is the "South Station," near government offices. Speer's plans cause the anchoring of the south end of the main boulevard with the most monumental structures. Captured enemy weapons and battle wreckage (a British fighter plane, a Soviet tank, a US submarine conning tower) are displayed outside the station. Berlin also has the headquarters to the key government ministries: Air and Space, Justice, Interior, Transport, Food, Economics, Colonial, the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, and the Führer's Office. The Kurfürstendamm is a commercial district that glitters with neon signs and reflected sun light, but the citizens of Berlin use the street's full name in their daily lives, instead of the abbreviated slang of the native. Berlin is culturally vibrant by offering residents and visitors a wildly successful musical on Churchill and Stalin and cosmopolitan cuisines, but under the "Reinheitsgebot", the nation's medieval beer-purity law bans the importation of Japanese beer. American fast food is a rarity because of the American economic collapse after it was defeated in World War III defeat, despite the existence of eateries such as "The Greasy Spoon". Culturally, the toy store Ulbright offers pretty "Vicki" dolls and the "Landser Sepp" action figures (a boy's doll) to the Reich's children. Vicki dolls are made in the US with slave labour and come in different varieties, but all dolls look perfectly Aryan and so abide to Reich policy. London. Parts of the story also take place in London, the capital of Britain. In the novel, the British people are impoverished because of the German occupation. William Shakespeare and his works are more widely known and published in Germany than in his homeland, partly because of Britain's economic collapse. During the war, much of London was destroyed by dive bombers and panzers as well as the last-ditch resistance by Churchill and his supporters. Key British buildings, including the Parliament building, Big Ben and St Paul's Cathedral, have been completely destroyed, with photographs and paintings being their only remaining legacy. Some areas of the city have been in ruins for over 70 years because of both the harsh reparations imposed on the British by the Germans and the partisan uprisings that were completely crushed only by the mid-1970s. German city planners often visit Britain to see how it deals with building from the clean slate that they can never have. The Crown is a hotel that serves as the meeting place of the British Union of Fascists; as its name implies, it is dominated by an enormous crown. The BUF's members have a reputation of being violent thugs, and a fight involving its members takes place outside and within the hotel. A second hotel, the Silver Eagle, hosts the Medieval English Association conference and bears a glass and steel eagle on its top. Both hotels are modern, glass-fronted structures. Literary criticism and significance. Gavriel David Rosenfeld, in his work "The World Hitler Never Made", notes that unlike other alternate histories that deal with a Nazi victory, "In the Presence of Mine Enemies" humanizes the Nazis. Rosenfeld stated that would have been impossible in earlier years, when the trend was to show the Nazis in alternate histories as the "incarnation of evil." Rosenfeld, however, noted that despite Turtledove's reputation as an acclaimed and skilled writer in alternate history, Turtledove received a lot of criticism for the novel, which made Rosenfeld assume that most American audiences do not wish to humanize the Nazis. Adam-Troy Castro, however, gave a good review of the novel. Though he found that the hidden Jewish characters of the novel weathered their secret life too well and compared others who live secret lives in our society (for examples homosexuals) who sometimes have to deal with incidents of self-loathing, alcoholism, drug abuse and even suicide. In the end Castro was thrilled to see at the end of the novel the main characters standing tall against an oppressive government.

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Second Variety "Second Variety" is a science fiction novelette by American writer Philip K. Dick, first published in "Space Science Fiction" magazine, in May 1953. Set in a world where war between the Soviet Union and United Nations has reduced most of the world to a barren wasteland, the story concerns the discovery, by the few remaining soldiers left, that self-replicating robots originally built to assassinate Soviet agents have gained sentience and are now plotting against both sides. It is one of many stories by Dick to examine the implications of nuclear war, particularly after it has destroyed much or all of the planet. The story was adapted into the movie "Screamers" in 1995. The short story "Jon's World", written in 1954, serves as a sequel. Plot summary. "Second Variety" occurs in the aftermath of an extensive nuclear war between the Soviet Union (sometimes referred to as Russia) and the United Nations. Early Soviet victories forced the North American government and production to flee to a Moon Base, leaving the majority of their troops behind. To counter the almost complete Soviet victory, U.N. technicians develop robots, nicknamed "claws" —the basic models are "a churning sphere of blades and metal" that ambush their unsuspecting victims "spinning, creeping, shaking themselves up suddenly from the gray ash and darting toward… [any warm body]." U.N. forces are protected from the claws by a special radiation-emitting wrist tab. Within six years, the sophisticated and independent claws have destroyed the Soviet forces, repairing and redesigning themselves in automated underground factories run without any human oversight. The U.N. forces receive a message from the Soviets asking for a policy-level officer to go to them for a gravely urgent conference. The U.N. victory was costlier than they had expected. Major Joseph Hendricks is sent to negotiate with the Soviets. En route to the rendezvous, he meets a small boy named David who asks to accompany Hendricks. When they near the Soviet bunker, soldiers immediately kill the boy, revealing him to be an android. The claws' development program has evolved to develop sophisticated robots, indistinguishable from humans, designed to infiltrate and kill. The three Soviets met by Major Hendricks—soldiers Klaus, Rudi, and a young woman named Tasso—reveal that the entire Soviet army and command structure collapsed under the onslaught of the new robots - they are all that are left in the command center. From salvaged internal metal identification plates, two varieties are identified: I-V, a wounded soldier, and III-V, David. II-V—the "second variety"—remains unknown. The different models are produced independently of each other in different factories. The Soviets also reveal that the U.N. protective tabs are ineffective against the new robots. Hendricks attempts to transmit a warning to his H.Q. bunker, but is unable to do so. During the night, Klaus claims Rudi is the II-V and kills him, only for human organs to be revealed. The next morning, Hendricks and the two remaining Soviets return to the U.N. lines. When they reach the bunker, they discover it overrun: a crowd of David and Wounded Soldier robots attack, but Tasso destroys them with a very powerful hand grenade, stating that it was designed to destroy the robots. Hendricks and Tasso flee, leaving Klaus to the old-style claws. However, Klaus survives both the claws and the bomb blast only to be shot by Tasso, sending "gears and wheels" flying. Tasso tells Hendricks that Klaus must have been the II-V robot. Hendricks, now suffering from a wounded arm and internal injuries, hopes to escape to the Moon Base. He and Tasso search for a hidden escape rocket, which is found to be a single-seat spacecraft. Hendricks attempts to leave, but Tasso convinces him to let her leave and send back help. In his injured state, he has no choice but to agree. Hendricks provides Tasso with the signal code needed to find the Moon Base. Alone and armed with Tasso's pistol, Hendricks returns to Klaus' remains and discovers from the parts that the robot was not a II-V, but a IV-V. A group of robots then attack Hendricks, including Davids, Wounded Soldiers, and several Tasso—the true II-V—models. Hendricks recognizes that he has doomed the Moon Base by sending a robot to them, and that he cannot withstand the onslaught of robots attacking him. Noticing the bombs carried by all the Tasso models, Hendricks' final thought is that the robots are already producing weapons designed for killing each other. Reception. "Strange Horizons" called the story one of "Dick's most compelling works", and stated that it is "often singled out as one of the early stories that most anticipates Dick's preoccupations in his more famous novels". In 2004, the story was a finalist for the 1954 Retro-Hugo Award for Best Novelette. Publication history. "Second Variety" was first published in the May 1953 issue of "Space Science Fiction" magazine. It has since been republished in the following collections: Adaptations. A Canadian film based on "Second Variety", titled "Screamers", was made in 1995, featuring Peter Weller. Produced after the fall of the Soviet Union, the film employs a new backstory involving a proxy war between disgruntled miners and mercenaries over working conditions on a hostile planet. Jason P. Vest, in "Future Imperfect: Philip K. Dick at the Movies", writes that the film is more faithful than most other adaptations, but it received a mixed critical reception and failed at the box office. An audio-drama mini-series based on "Second Variety" was made in 2020 as part of the Curious Matter Anthology podcast.

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Un-Man "Un-Man" is a science fiction novella by American writer Poul Anderson, first published in the January 1953 issue of "Astounding Science Fiction". It was included in the 1962 collection "Un-Man and Other Novellas", and the 1981 collection "The Psychotechnic League". As a component of the Psychotechnic League future history, "Un-Man" takes place in the year 2004, between "Marius" and "The Sensitive Man". Plot summary. Robert Naysmith is a member of the United Nations Inspectorate, an international police force that neutralizes threats to world peace. He is also a member of the Rostomily Brotherhood, a secret order within the Inspectorate made up of men cloned from Stefan Rostomily, a member of the French resistance during World War III. Naysmith is ordered to carry on the assignment of Martin Donner, another member of the Brotherhood who was killed while investigating an anti-UN conspiracy. Atypically for a Brother, Donner had a wife and child, and Naysmith's first task is to impersonate Donner long enough to persuade his family to go into hiding with him. Naysmith leaves Donner's wife and son in an isolated cabin in the Canadian Rockies. He then kidnaps and drugs a member of the conspiracy, learning that he has been assigned to assassinate Barney Rosenberg, a Martian colonist who is returning to Earth to retire. Naysmith teams up with a Finnish Brother named Juho Lampi to rescue Rosenberg, and learns that he was a close friend of the original Rostomily. After leaving Rosenberg with the Donners, Naysmith and his partner arrange to be captured by the conspiracy. They are brought to the secret sea base of Arnold Besser, UN Minister of International Finance and the leader of the conspiracy. They find themselves joined by two more captive Brothers, along with Besser himself. Before Besser can begin torturing Naysmith and the others, the secret base is attacked by UN police, and Besser's bodyguard (actually another Brother, surgically altered to look like Besser's bodyguard) kills Besser and frees the others. Following the raid, the information found in Besser's secret base allows the UN to roll up the conspiracy. Donner's wife tracks down Naysmith and asks him to marry her. Reception. In 2003, "Un-Man" was nominated for the 1954 Retro-Hugo Award for Best Novella. "Locus"s Rich Horton called it "interesting"; however, Evelyn Leeper found it "fairly basic" and "much less appealing and more strident than [Anderson's] non-political [writing]", while noting that the title is a pun ("un-" is both a privative — referring to Naysmith being a clone — and a reference to the UN).

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The Door into Summer The Door into Summer is a science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, originally serialized in "The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction" (October, November, December 1956, with covers and interior illustrations by Kelly Freas). It was published in hardcover in 1957. The novel is largely hard science fiction, but includes elements of fantasy and a romance. Its title was triggered by a remark which Heinlein's wife Virginia made when their cat refused to leave the house: "He's looking for a door into summer." Heinlein wrote the novel in 13 days. Plot. The idea for the novel came from an incident outlined by Heinlein later: The novel opens in 1970 with Daniel Boone Davis, an engineer and inventor, well into a long drinking binge. He has lost his company, Hired Girl, Inc., to his partner Miles Gentry and the company bookkeeper, Belle Darkin. She had been Dan's fiancée, deceiving him into giving her enough voting stock to allow her and Miles to seize control. Dan's only friend in the world is his cat, "Pete" (short for Petronius the Arbiter), a feisty tomcat who hates going outdoors in the snow. Hired Girl, Inc. manufactures robot vacuum cleaners, but Dan had been developing a new line of all-purpose household robots, Flexible Frank, when Miles announces his intention to sell the company (and Flexible Frank) to Mannix Enterprises in which Miles would become a vice-president. Wishing to stay independent, Dan opposes the takeover, but is outvoted and then fired as Chief Engineer. Left with a large financial settlement, and his remaining Hired Girl stock, he elects to take "cold sleep" (suspended animation), hoping to wake up thirty years later to a brighter future. The examining doctor at the cold sleep facility immediately sees that Dan has been drinking. He warns him to show up sober or not at all 24 hours later for the actual procedure. After becoming sober, Dan decides instead to mount a counter-attack. First he mails his Hired Girl stock certificate to the one person he trusts, Miles' stepdaughter Frederica "Ricky" Virginia Gentry. Dan confronts Miles and finds Belle in Miles' home. Belle injects him with an illegal "zombie" drug, reducing him to somnolent compliance. Belle and Miles discover Dan's plans to go into cold sleep and have him committed, but to a different repository run by one of Belle's shady associates for the Mannix corporation. Dan wakes up in the year 2000 with no money to his name and no idea how to find the people he once knew. What little money Belle let him keep went with the collapse of Mannix in 1987. He has lost Pete the cat, who fled Miles' house after Dan was drugged, and has no idea how to find a now middle-aged Ricky. Dan begins rebuilding his life. He persuades Geary Manufacturing, which now owns Hired Girl, to take him on as a figurehead. He discovers that Miles died in 1972, while Belle has become a shrill and gin-sodden wreck. All she recalls is that Ricky went to live with her grandmother about the time Dan went into cold sleep. Her scheme with Miles collapsed, as Flexible Frank disappeared the same night she shanghaied Dan. Dan finds Flexible Frank in use everywhere, filling many menial jobs once filled by people. It is called "Eager Beaver", made by a company called "Aladdin Auto-engineering," but Dan can see that someone has taken his prototype and developed it. He is even more baffled to find that the patent is credited to a "D.B. Davis". His friend Chuck at Geary lets slip that he once saw time travel working, in a lab in Colorado. At that point Dan finds that Ricky has been awakened from cold sleep and left Los Angeles for Brawley, California. Dan tracks her to Yuma, Arizona, where she was apparently married. When Dan looks at the marriage register, he finds that she married "Daniel Boone Davis". He immediately empties his bank account and heads for Colorado. In Boulder, he befriends Dr. Twitchell, a once-brilliant scientist reduced to drinking away his frustrations. Eventually, Twitchell admits to having created a time machine of sorts. With the machine powered up, Dan goads Twitchell into sending him back to 1970, some months before his confrontation with Miles and Belle. He materializes in a Denver naturist retreat in front of a couple, John and Jenny Sutton, whom he befriends. The husband, a lawyer by trade, helps Dan cash in the gold he has brought back with him. In the future gold is no longer a coinage metal and costs a fraction of its value in 1970. Working rapidly, Dan creates "Drafting Dan", which he then uses to design "Protean Pete", the first version of Eager Beaver. He sets up a new corporation with the Suttons called "Aladdin Auto-engineering", returns to Los Angeles, and stakes out Miles' house on the fateful night. Watching himself arrive, he lets events unfold until Pete the cat emerges, then takes his own car and uses it to remove Flexible Frank and all his engineering drawings from Miles' garage. Destroying the drawings and scattering machine parts across the landscape, he heads out to meet Ricky at her Girl Scout summer camp. Dan assigns his stock in Hired Girl to Ricky and suggests that she takes cold sleep when she is 21 so they can meet again. Ricky asks Dan if he will marry her after their cold sleep and Dan agrees. Dan returns to Los Angeles to use his original appointment for cold sleep, pleading that he lost the original paperwork. With Pete in his arms, he sleeps for the second time until 2001. He greets Ricky, now twenty-something, when she awakes. They leave for Brawley to retrieve her possessions from storage, and then are married in Yuma. Setting himself up as an independent inventor, he uses Ricky's Hired Girl stock to make changes at Geary, settling back to watch the healthy competition with Aladdin. Major themes. Some of Heinlein's stories, such as "'—All You Zombies—'" and "By His Bootstraps", feature time travel in which the protagonist re-creates himself using a time-travel paradox. This novel follows a similar theme, although the paradox is not central to the story. The idea recurs in the novel "Farnham's Freehold", which hurls its protagonists into the future and then returns them to their own time, where they alter their destiny. The novel is also post-apocalyptic, in that it takes place after a nuclear armed conflict. The United States was the clear victor, thanks to technologies that include the "cold sleep", which was used to maintain a large standing army that could be revived quickly and put into the field. The "zombie drug" used was a by-product of interrogation techniques. In the future time, "zombie recruiters" are apparently active, suggesting that the drug is widely used to recruit a form of slave labor. It is mentioned that Washington, D.C., was destroyed, with the capital moved to Denver, Colorado, and there were also some hits on the East Coast and in Texas. However, the book in effect makes light of it. The United States rapidly recovers, refugees from devastated areas move to unharmed places, especially California, and the nuclear war leaves no lasting trauma. The 1984 book "Warday" by Whitley Strieber and James Kunetka takes up a limited nuclear attack in precisely the locations mentioned in Heinlein's book and depicts how hugely destructive it could be. The early Heinlein biographer and critic Alexei Panshin, in his 1968 biography "Heinlein in Dimension", took note of a controversial theme: "The romantic situation in this story is a very interesting, very odd one: it is nothing less than a mutual sexual interest between an engineer of thirty and a girl of twelve ('adorable' is Heinlein's word for her), that culminates in marriage after some hop-scotching around in time to adjust their ages a bit." The novel "worried and bothered" John W. Campbell, who said "Bob can write a better story, with one hand tied behind him, than most people in the field can do with both hands. But Jesus, I wish that son of a gun would take that other hand out of his pocket." Reception. Science fiction writer and critic James Blish, writing in 1957, shortly after publication, criticized the lack of characterization of its hero Dan Davis, saying, "It is surely an odd novel that is at its "best" when the author is openly editorializing ..." — in this case about the "parity system of farm price supports, which in 2000 is applied to automobiles. ... Every other important subject of science fiction which Heinlein has examined at length has come out remade, vitalized and made the author's own property. It didn't happen here, for the first time in Heinlein's long and distinguished career — and not because Heinlein didn't have something to say, but because he failed to embody it in a real protagonist. Evidently, Heinlein as his own hero is about played out." Floyd C. Gale was more positive in his 1957 review, comparing the book to "The Sleeper Awakes" and writing that "Heinlein paints a detailed picture of both civilizations, so evocative that 1970 emerges clearly in the reader's mind as the old days, and pretty primitive at that ... Of course you'll like Heinlein's latest". The critic Alexei Panshin, writing in 1968, said that "as a whole, the story is thoroughly melodramatic but very good fun. ... It was as though Heinlein the engineer said, 'If I had the parts available, what little gadgets would I most enjoy building?' and then went ahead and built them fictionally. A good story." After criticizing unrealistic science fiction, Carl Sagan in 1978 listed "The Door Into Summer" as among stories "that are so tautly constructed, so rich in the accommodating details of an unfamiliar society that they sweep me along before I have even a chance to be critical". In three "Locus" magazine readers' polls from 1975 to 1998, it was judged the 36th, 29th, and the 43rd all-time best science-fiction novel. In popular culture. In 1967, the American rock group The Monkees, recorded the song "The Door into Summer" for their album "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd." The song was written by Chip Douglas and Bill Martin and performed by Michael Nesmith (lead vocals) and Micky Dolenz (back-up vocals). In an livestream interview in 2020, Nesmith directly attributes the inspiration for the song to the story about Heinlein's cat looking for the "Door into Summer". The song is about longing and regret for a life based primarily on the accumulation of material things. Other than the title, the song has little to do with the story told in the novel.

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The Valley-Westside War The Valley-Westside War is a 2008 American young adult alternate history novel by Harry Turtledove. It is the sixth and final book in the Crosstime Traffic series. Background. In "The Valley-Westside War", a global nuclear war broke out between the United States and the Soviet Union in 1967, leading to the collapse of civilization. The book is set in the ruins in what was once Los Angeles, 130 years after the war. The area of the city is controlled by two rival feudal states at war with one another: the Kingdom of Westside and the Kingdom of the Valley. The Crosstime Traffic team is dispatched to investigate the remains of the UCLA library in an attempt to discover what happened to cause the initial nuclear war, but are caught up in the local war by citizens of both kingdoms who believe that they are trying to access the knowledge of the old people to create advanced weapons. Plot summary. The Mendoza family, funded by a Crosstime Traffic grant and disguised as traders, return to postwar Earth to learn who initiated the hostilities. Liz Mendoza frequently visits the UCLA library to analyze the period books and magazines, searching for insight and reasons for the conflict. It is on her regular trips to the library that she meets Dan, a Valley soldier whom she initially considers dull and dumb. Dan, however, is not as unschooled and ignorant as Liz thinks, and, although he is attracted to her, he has his misgivings about the Mendozas. His suspicions are confirmed, and he blows their cover and causes them to return to their own time alternate, but not before he asks why someone from a different time, who has the knowledge and expertise to help Earth recover from its postwar havoc, does nothing. Reception. The School Library Journal gave the novel a good review saying fans of dystopias would enjoy the story. SF Scope said the novel was "an interesting exploration of what a post-apocalyptic world might be" but found the characters, except for Liz and Dan, to be little more than ciphers. The "Los Angeles Times" did not give a positive review describing the book as sloppy and saying it failed to live up to other dystopias based on alternate histories like "The Man in the High Castle", "The Difference Engine", or "The Plot Against America".

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Red Army (novel) Red Army is a 1989 Cold War-era war novel written by U.S. Army intelligence analyst Ralph Peters. The alternate history explores a World War III scenario based on a Soviet attack on West Germany across the North German Plain, with defense provided by NATO army corps from the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany. "Red Army" is unique among military fiction published in the United States during the 1980s, as it presented the material exclusively from the perspective of officers and men in the Soviet Army. Plot summary. The book takes the perspective of soldiers with the Group of Soviet Forces in East Germany as they prepare to launch an invasion of West Germany. Soviet General Mikhail Malinsky, commander of the First Western Front, discusses the upcoming invasion with other Soviet leaders. The plans call for a simultaneous thrust on three fronts: across the North German Plain, through the Fulda Gap, and across Bavaria. NATO commanders are to be bluffed into thinking the main assault will come at the Fulda Gap, but the main effort will be on the North German Plain, led by Malinsky. Airborne forces will be dropped deep into West Germany to disrupt the NATO rearguard. The Soviet commanders believe that if Soviet forces are deep inside West Germany in three days, NATO will not be able to use its nuclear weapons to blunt the advance. A Soviet propaganda film about the destruction of Lueneberg (carefully produced at a Moscow studio) will be used to psychologically shock the West Germans. When the invasion begins, the Soviets advance quickly, bypassing strong points whenever possible. The successful capture of a NATO command post and a Soviet tank company's capture and shepherding of a German refugee convoy outside Hildesheim adds to the speed of movement. The West German forces positioned on the inter-German border are gradually cut off from their resupply lines, while a unit trapped in the Cuxhaven peninsula fights to the last man. Deprived of reconnaissance assets, however, Malinsky worries that the U.S. Army forces based near the Fulda Gap will come to the aid of the British, Dutch, and West German forces that he faces. Day three of the war finds the Soviets nearing the industrial Ruhr valley. Hoping to forestall a complete West German collapse, remaining NATO forces in the north, joined by the strong and relatively unbloodied U.S. Army from the south, hit Malinsky's First Western Front from all sides. It is not enough; before the NATO counterattack has a chance to succeed, the West German government asks the USSR for a cease-fire. In the aftermath, the Soviet Army occupies all of Germany east of the Rhine.

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Long Voyage Back Long Voyage Back was written by George Cockcroft under the pen name of Luke Rhinehart. It was published in 1983, at the height of the Cold War, and it shows that influence. The author sides with the nuclear disarmament side of the debate and the only character in the book with vociferous views on the subject, the daughter of the lead character, probably represents his own views. It also reflects his love of sailing. Plot summary. The story concerns a hypothetical World War III between the USSR and the United States, and graphically depicts the ensuing carnage. One family and some friends try to run away in a sailboat, and the story describes their battles with nuclear winter and fallout, and with the ensuing collapse of civilization. Reception. Dave Pringle reviewed "Long Voyage Back" for "Imagine" magazine, and stated that "it does not live up to one's expectations of yet another 'cosy catastrophe' [...] There are no pastoral fantasies of Noble Self Sufficiency here."

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Dark December Dark December is a 1960 post-holocaust novel by Alfred Coppel. Plot. A nuclear war which left the US and the entire world devastated is over at last. The war-weary Major Kenneth Gavin is discharged. Leaving the enclave where the remnants of the US Army keep some semblance of order, he sets off on a quest into the wilderness which had been California, on a quest to reach his home - though having no idea if anything was left of it - and trying to make something of the life left to him in this harsh new world. He crosses areas where every living thing had been vaporized, countryside where anthrax and radiation sickness are killing off the survivors, where gangs of homeless kids had reverted to savagery and would murder for a pair of shoes and where women had slipped to the last stages of degradation. A crucial point in the book is the moment when Gavin finds a Soviet Air Force pilot who had parachuted onto American soil. With no organized government left to establish Prisoner of War Camps and uphold the Geneva Conventions, the pilot was captured by boys who are constantly torturing and degrading him, venting upon him their anger and frustration. Gavin's determination to save the Russian brings him into a head-on confrontation with another officer roaming the ruins - Major Collingwood, a fanatic and ruthless militarist and nationalist determined to rebuild the same order which had led to the devastating war. Eventually, Gavin wins his struggle with Collingwood - a moral as well as material victory - and in the cautiously optimistic ending, finds a new love and the possibility of making a new start. Themes. As noted by Edward Cook "Coppel clearly disapproved of the Cold War ideology, prevalent at the time of writing - but his book should not be reduced to simply a cautionary tale about the danger of nuclear war, a danger which we in 1993 consider (hopefully, not prematurely) to have receded. 'Dark December' carries a strongly humane message, which could be relevant as long as human beings are faced with moral choices. In this book, bestial and dark instincts make their very conspicuous appearance, but unlike in 'The Lord of the Flies' they can be overcome. Common decency, solidarity, compassion, love, eventually win out in the most harsh of tests, against overwhelming odds.(...) It is not an overtly religious book, but Collingwood is gradually transformed from simply an extremely authoritarian and fanatic human being into a virtual manifestation of Satan, Evil incarnate - and Coppel manages to make that transformation chillingly believable. (...) The choice of the protagonist's name might not be accidental. Sir Gavin (or Gawain) was among the most famous of King Arthur's Knights, and the quest he undertakes in "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" is decided on moral more than physical grounds". David Seed wrote: "An altogether more ambiguous and less high-minded view of human response [is provided by] novels like Alfred Coppel's "Dark December". [They] show a single character making his way across a shattered landscape presenting obvious physical dangers to his survival, but the prime danger presented to this man comes from another army officer who uses the necessities of the post-war situation to justify the most savage acts. Again and again nuclear war is shown as stripping away the superego of the survivors. And if social restraints are lost, does this mean that the war allows free play to bloodlust and other impulses held in check? Not quite, since the rupture between pre-war and post-war is never total. In Coppel's novel the protagonist has been serving in an underground bunker when the nuclear attack happened, and so the action of Dark December, as well as describing encounters with physical dangers, becomes an extended psychological drama between Gavin's old self and his dark double personified in the crazy Major Collingwood who shadows him everywhere. Collingwood's eventual death therefore symbolises the survival of pre-war civilization, albeit in a tenuous way".

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Warday Warday is a novel by Whitley Strieber and James Kunetka, first published in 1984. It is a fictional account of the authors travelling across the U.S. five years after a limited nuclear attack in order to assess how the nation has changed after the war. The novel takes the form of a first-person narrative research article and includes government documents, interviews with survivors and aid workers, and present-tense narration. Plot. Strieber is in New York City in October 1988 when it is attacked by Soviet nuclear weapons. He experiences the initial blast while riding a bus, and witnesses the flooding of the subway system by a tsunami in the wake of a nuclear detonation at sea. Strieber is reunited with his family at his son's school and shelters there, but experiences radiation sickness. Upon his recovery, he and his family leave New York for San Antonio which they soon discover was destroyed as well. They eventually settle in Dallas, where he becomes a news reporter for the "Dallas Times Herald". Five years later, Strieber and Kunetka decide to document the effects of Warday on the United States; they travel first through devastated southeast and southwest Texas. They then visit the new nation-state of Aztlan in the former American Southwest, and conduct interviews with its foreign minister and citizens. They then conduct interviews while trying to evade the omnipresent police in Los Angeles, California. California, physically not touched by the attack, has become a self-governing, authoritarian police state which treats outsiders as "illegal immigrants." In San Francisco they reunite with an old friend of Strieber's, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, but then are captured, arrested, and sentenced to years of hard labor in prison. En route to prison they escape by train and continue their interviews across the Midwest, taking refuge periodically from the highly radioactive dust storms now ubiquitous in the dustbowl conditions of the Midwest (created by the nuclear bombing of the Dakotas). After visiting Chicago, they continue east into Pennsylvania and into what remains of New York City, where Strieber, overcome with emotion, returns to his old apartment in the very dangerous ruins of Manhattan. The book ends with Strieber and Kunetka back in Texas facing an uncertain future. The war. The former Undersecretary of Defense tells Strieber that the United States was deploying Spiderweb, an advanced anti-ballistic missile system which could use an orbiting particle beam to destroy both land and submarine launched missiles. To prevent its deployment, the Soviets destroyed the Space Shuttle "Enterprise" with a hunter-killer satellite. The Soviets then detonated a set of six large nuclear warheads in space above the United States, causing a massive electromagnetic pulse that crippled electronics across the country. The Soviets then launched a limited first strike using satellites to deploy their warheads. In response, the U.S. president, aboard Boeing E-4 NEACP, authorized a counterattack, destroying Moscow, Leningrad, Sevastopol, and the capitals of the Soviet Republics. Shortly afterwards, the NEACP, crippled by the electromagnetic pulse, crash-landed in North Carolina, killing the President but leaving other survivors including the Undersecretary. The "limited attack" by the Soviets destroyed Washington, D.C., San Antonio, and most of Long Island, and ICBM missile fields and major air bases in North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming, killing about 7 million people. The subsequent firestorms and fallout destroyed most of Brooklyn, Queens, Baltimore, and most of southwest Texas. The Soviet Navy also launched nuclear attacks that destroyed about 90 percent of the United States Navy. The duration of the war was 36 minutes. Post-war United States. Manhattan and the remaining undamaged boroughs are evacuated, cordoned off, and eventually fall into ruin, without water, electrical, or transit systems. Water in New Jersey is contaminated by runoff from damaged petrochemical industries. Philadelphia and Houston are evacuated because of heavy fallout from the D.C. and San Antonio bombings. Radioactive dusting of the Midwest and Central Plains causes a famine that kills millions. Less than a year after the war, a new strain of influenza known as the Cincinnati Flu quickly reached epidemic levels, killing 21 million throughout the United States and millions more worldwide. The remaining US citizens remain in danger from radiation poisoning and from a new incurable disease of unknown origin, Non-Specific Sclerosing Disease. Soon there is no longer a single United States; California and Texas form "de facto" independent nations, with autonomous military forces and currencies. The now-nearly-powerless federal government is re-established in Los Angeles. West Coast. Having suffered no direct attacks or fallout, California has recovered from the EMP to a prewar standard of living, with heavy Japanese and British investment and influence. Fearful that millions of refugees from the rest of the U.S. would deluge the state and greatly damage its enviable standard of living, California closed off its borders, suspended "habeas corpus", and became overtly authoritarian in both outlook and operation. Suspected illegal immigrants are immediately imprisoned or deported, or even executed. Other regions, such as the Pacific Northwest and the Deep South that also escaped the worst of Warday, have adopted similar but less draconian measures. Though it hosts the President and remnants of the Federal Government, California in practice is a sovereign nation, hosting "de facto" embassies of the world's surviving powers in Sacramento. Aztlan. A new Hispanic/Native American nation named Aztlan emerges through secession. Its government claims all of the area from West Texas to the California border up to Nevada, has forcibly expelled almost all white residents, and has set up a libertarian socialist country that grants total autonomy to the Native American tribes within its borders. It welcomes Mexican immigrants, and announces plans to form a Hispanic nation along the Mexican border that includes California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas west of the Pecos. The Japanese provide economic aid to Aztlan in exchange for exploitation of natural resources such as soy and uranium, and there is evidence that in reality, Aztlan has become a client state of Japan. Aztlan is recognized by most nations in Africa and Latin America, but the Governor of Texas plans to retake Aztlan by force. Economy, culture, and society. The EMP destroyed most bank accounts, 401ks, pension funds, financial records, the stock market, the credit system and other electronically stored assets in the United States and Canada. Money had undergone a rapid deflation and the economy reverted to a Gold Dollar system. Most electronic machinery and devices are also irretrievably damaged. Oil falls to 12 cents a barrel, while many other nations have called in loans and debts owed them by the United States. The Catholic and Episcopal churches reunite, and assisted suicide in the face of painful terminal illness is accepted and sanctioned by religious leaders including the Holy See. Wicca, "alternative" medicine, and organic medicine become common. Many Americans become Destructuralists, anarchists, and Luddites, rejecting civic authority and returning to a primitive lifestyle. Damaged communication systems mean that the American people remain isolated, and many believe that the USSR had won the war. Foreign companies move into the unaffected regions of the US to sell electronics, machinery, and investments, while exploiting it for natural resources, leading to fears that the United States will be reduced to Third World dependency. In spite of this, most Americans believe that the United States will recover its status as a great power. The USSR. Through their interviews Strieber and Kunetka hear many reports and rumors on the current state of the Soviet Union. It is certain that the USSR collapsed, with almost half its population killed on Warday or dead by the time the authors are writing the book five years later. Yet whether the Soviet Premier and the Politburo survived remains a mystery. Some former Soviet republics (such as the "Kingdom of Azerbaijan" as well as a White Russian enclave) have declared themselves independent states. It has been reported, though unconfirmed, that mysterious "purple bombs" destroyed Ukraine's wheat fields. Although the Soviet Army units stationed in the Warsaw Pact nations disbanded due to the lack of orders or direction from Moscow, rogue Soviet submarines still roam the Arctic, raiding Alaskan and Canadian coastal towns for supplies. These are actively hunted by the Royal Navy, and their remaining warheads are still targeted on the United States. The rest of the world. As the conflict escalated between the U.S. and the Soviets, the United Kingdom, France, and West Germany signed a secret "Treaty of Coventry", that declared themselves neutral to the Soviets while they seized U.S. military facilities in their respective countries. In exchange, the Soviets spared Western Europe from invasion and nuclear attack. In the vacuum left by the destruction of the Soviets and the U.S., the United Kingdom and Japan have become superpowers. West Germany and East Germany have reunited, the United States is dependent on the British and Japan for aid and financial support, and many Americans hope to emigrate to the United Kingdom. An intergovernmental aid organization called "British Relief", with backing from British military units stationed in the United States, has a large role in governing the country and occupies some areas—in effect, a restoration of British America, but includes areas that had never been under British rule before 1775. A large Japanese military presence also exists, especially in the Aztlan region around El Paso. Important technological resources, such as the Los Alamos National Laboratory, have been seized by the Japanese, with scientists being shipped to Japan in a similar manner to Operation Paperclip after World War II. Many interviewees mention the potential of a future Cold War between Britain and Japan. Mexico, while escaping immediate destruction, without U.S. aid and trade quickly collapsed into anarchy with revolutions reported in Mexico City, mass death from famine, and outbreaks of the Cincinnati Flu. Canada, despite escaping direct hits from nuclear weapons, was affected by the electromagnetic pulse attack on the United States and its economy was destroyed as a result. The country has closed its borders to U.S. refugees, expelling many people from North Dakota who had sought shelter in the days following the war. The Canadians blamed the United States for having sparked the war without thinking of the consequences to neighboring countries. The U.S. sold Alaska to the Canadians, with the oil of Prudhoe Bay being diverted to Vancouver. Argentina and most of Latin America, though undamaged, was occupied and partitioned among Western nations to stabilize food stocks allocated to Europe and to prevent a fate similar to Mexico's. What remains of the Soviet Union has lost control of its former satellite states in the Eastern Bloc. Elsewhere, Poland invaded the Ukraine to retake territory ceded to the Soviet Union during World War II, while South Africa is at war with Zimbabwe. In the Middle East, the Israeli–Palestinian conflict continues. The developing world, particularly the Indian subcontinent, Latin America, Asia, and Africa, experienced severe population declines due to famine. Adaptations. A radio drama based closely on the book, with some exceptions was broadcast on National Public Radio soon after the book was published. It was released in segments weekly. A film version was planned but never produced.

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Alas, Babylon Alas, Babylon is a 1959 novel by American writer Pat Frank (the pen name of Harry Hart Frank). It was one of the first apocalyptic novels of the nuclear age and has remained popular more than half a century after it was first published, consistently ranking in Amazon.com's Top 20 Science Fiction Short Stories list (which groups together short story collections and novels) and has an entry in David Pringle's book "". The novel deals with the effects of a nuclear war on the fictional small town of Fort Repose, Florida, which is based upon the actual city of Mount Dora, Florida. The novel's title is derived from the Book of Revelation: "Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come." The cover art for the Bantam paperback edition was made by Robert Hunt. Plot. The story is set in a fictional 1959, following two years of escalating tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union for dominance in the Middle East and in the Mediterranean Sea. The Soviets are menacing Turkey from three sides through their proxies in Egypt, Syria and Iraq in order to gain control of the Bosporus and give free passage to their large Mediterranean fleet. To counteract the Soviet menace the United States established a military presence in Lebanon and are providing aid to their Turkish and Israeli allies. As detailed in the book, the Soviets gained a temporary space supremacy through the launch of a massive fleet of militarized Sputniks; moreover, they are aware that, within three or four years, the United States will cover the gap. Intelligence from a Soviet officer who defected in Berlin provided information about a Soviet war plan involving a sudden, overwhelming nuclear first strike on U.S. and NATO military and civilian targets, in order to minimize retaliation and become the leading world power. According to the leaked war plan the Soviet leadership considers acceptable the loss of 20 to 30 million of their own civilian population due to the retaliatory strike by NATO. Narration follows the point of view of Randy Bragg, who lives an aimless life in the small Central Florida town of Fort Repose. His older brother, Colonel Mark Bragg, an Air Force Intelligence officer, sends a telegram ending in the words, "Alas, Babylon", a pre-established code between the brothers to warn of imminent disaster. Mark flies his family down to Fort Repose for their protection while he stays at Strategic Air Command headquarters at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska. Soon afterward, a U.S. fighter pilot, attempting to intercept an enemy plane over the Mediterranean, inadvertently destroys an ammunition depot in a large Soviet submarine base in Latakia, Syria. The explosion is mistaken for a large-scale U.S. air assault on the military facility and, by the following day, the Soviet Union retaliates with its planned full-scale nuclear strike against the United States and its allies. With Mark as a witness, U.S. missiles are sent in retaliation. Randy and his guests awake to the shaking from the bombing of nearby military bases; one explosion temporarily blinds Peyton, Randy's niece. Fort Repose descends into chaos: tourists are trapped in their hotels, communication lines fail, the CONELRAD radio system barely operates, convicts escape from prisons and a run on the banks makes currency worthless. In the weeks and months after the attack sporadic news gathered through an old but still-functioning vacuum tube radio receiver show that many major cities of the U.S. are in ruins and vast regions of the Continental United States are labeled by the government as off-limits, "contaminated zones". The whole of Florida is among the contaminated areas, leaving the stranded survivors of Fort Repose without hope of immediate assistance. Most of the government has been eliminated, with the U.S. presidency defaulting to Josephine Vanbruuker-Brown, the former Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare. Other international broadcasts reveal that Western Europe was badly hit by Soviet missiles as well (a dire situation in southern France is mentioned). Soviet leadership was eliminated by U.S. retaliation and the capital of the Soviet Union was moved to Central Asia, but war still rages for months after the attack, although it is fought mostly between the remnants of U.S. Air Force and scattered Soviet Navy nuclear submarines. Since Randy was an Army Reserve officer before the Soviet attack, a radio dispatch by President Vanbruuker-Brown formally empowers him as the local authority under the current emergency situation. Randy then organizes a community self-defence team against bandits and tries to rid the community of radioactive jewellery taken into Fort Repose from the radioactive ruins of Miami. The search for alternative food sources is also prominent in the months following the attack, leading to the launch of a rag-tag fleet of fishing boats to sift the surrounding swamps for fish and to a desperate search for the much-needed salt. The following year, an Air Force helicopter arrives at Fort Repose. The crew assess the status of the residents and the local environment, explaining that the area around Fort Repose is perhaps the largest patch of non-contaminated soil in the whole State of Florida and that, after all, the survivors of Fort Repose managed to fare better than many other places in the U.S. Randy also learns that his brother Mark has most likely died when Omaha and Offutt Base were destroyed by multiple hits. When the crew of the helicopter offer to evacuate the residents out of Florida, the residents choose to stay. It is finally revealed that the United States formally won the war, but at a tremendous cost: the country lost most of its population (45 million survivors are estimated overall), its military, its infrastructure and most of its natural resources (ironically, the government is planning to use the large stockpiles of military-grade uranium and plutonium left from the war to power the surviving towns and cities). The U.S. is now receiving food, fuel and medicine aid from third-world countries such as Thailand, Indonesia and Venezuela. Apparently, the "Three Greats" (deliberately left unclear but likely India, China and Japan) have taken the role of world leading powers in place of U.S. and Soviet Union. Reception. "Galaxy" reviewer Floyd C. Gale gave the novel a mixed review, rating it three stars out of five and concluding: "Frank stopped too soon with too little." Adaptations. An adaptation of "Alas, Babylon" was broadcast on April 3, 1960, as the 131st episode of the "Playhouse 90" dramatic television series. It starred Don Murray, Burt Reynolds, and Rita Moreno.

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Down to a Sunless Sea (Graham novel) David Graham's Down to a Sunless Sea (1979) is a post-apocalyptic novel about a planeload of people during and after a short nuclear war, set in a near-future world where the USA is critically short of oil. The title of the book is taken from a line of the poem "Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Lin Carter wrote a fantasy novel with the same title (), also derived from the same Coleridge poem. Plot summary. The story is told in the first person by Jonah Scott, a British pilot for the fictional airline Air Britain who has arrived in New York City on his regular flight from London. The United States has collapsed after using up nearly all of its oil reserves and the collapse of the dollar. During the night, Jonah and the apartment superintendent and guard, John Capel, must fight off armed burglars disguised as military police looking for the food Jonah and Senior Flight Attendant Kate Monahan brought with them. Capel is wounded but Kate demonstrates her basic medical skills in cleaning and dressing the wound. Jonah offers to help Capel and a newly orphaned girlfriend, Nikki, of one of his crew travel illegally to London aboard his aircraft, in order to escape the anarchy that has befallen America. Shortly after takeoff from New York, Jonah is informed that Israel has attacked Beirut, Damascus, and Cairo with nuclear weapons in retaliation for their radioactive poisoning of Tel Aviv's water supply. Israel's strike triggers a worldwide nuclear holocaust while the plane is "en route" to London, the Soviet Union and China attacking America and its allies. Four Soviet diplomats on board try to hijack the plane, only to be killed. Unable to continue to Europe due to the fact that it has suffered nuclear attack, or return to also-attacked New York, the crew attempt to find a place to land their plane. They are granted landing rights at Funchal, but its airport is destroyed by the collision of an El Al flight and a desperate pilot disobeying instructions. Jonah and his crew wonder whether to crash land on an island in the Azores chain with the help of Juan, a local resident who has contacted them via amateur radio. Jonah sights a NATO airfield, Lajes Field, which is mostly intact. Jonah and the nuclear scientists who are on board deduce that the Soviets needed Lajes intact and accordingly attacked it with a short-lived neutron bomb to occupy it. Jonah lands the plane at Lajes. Although safe for now, rising levels of fallout from Europe require that they evacuate, and they decide to fly to Antarctica. They are not sure how many passengers they can bring and how many supplies they will need to bring. Jonah and the SAS soldiers on board manage to re-activate the base radar and use the teletype machines to make contact with a sheltered-in-place British naval officer in the Falkland Islands who is able to break cover and confirm with the McMurdo Antarctic base the existence of sufficient provisions, plus a nuclear reactor for warmth. He dies quickly. A Soviet Antonov freighter aircraft lands at Lajes. Initially suspected of being a Soviet landing party to secure the crucial mid-Atlantic air force base, it turns out to be carrying two female Soviet Air Force crew and a large number of civilian refugees. Next morning both aircraft, fully fueled plus carrying as much extra fuel as possible, fly to Antarctica. When the Antonov cannot make the necessary altitude to overfly the worldwide belt of hot radiation (with the weight of cargo, passengers, and fuel), fifty Soviet volunteers sacrifice themselves by jumping from the plane. Soon after the characters arrive at McMurdo, it is realised that the tilt of the Earth on its axis is being affected by the numerous nuclear explosions. There are two different endings of "Down To A Sunless Sea" which suggest either a radioactive death for all the survivors with a theological twist, or minus the polar advance of radiation, a chance for the almost one thousand survivors to rebuild the world. Movie. Apparently, a film adaptation is in development, according to IMDB. In the movie, an Airbus A-380 with 600 passengers on a flight from Los Angeles to Tokyo is in-flight when nuclear war breaks out. The movie will possibly star Morgan Freeman.

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Patriots (novel series) The "Patriots" novel series is a five-novel series by survivalist novelist and former U.S. Army officer and blogger, James Wesley Rawles. It is followed by his "Counter-Caliphate Chronicles" novel series. Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse, the first book in the series, was first distributed as shareware in 1995 and first published in paperback in 1998. It was updated and re-published in paperback 2009, and then in hardback in 2012. In one week of April 2009, shortly after its release, it was ranked #6 in Amazon.com's overall book sales rankings, which was attributed by the Library Journal to the book's appeal to "a small but vociferous group of people concerned with survivalism". Set in the near future midst hyperinflation and a catastrophic global economic collapse, "Patriots" tells the story of a group of survivalists that flee riots and chaos in metropolitan Chicago to a survivalist retreat that they have prepared near Bovill, Idaho. Origins. The first novel is based on a 19-chapter draft that Rawles wrote in 1990, and first distributed as shareware, under the title "The Gray Nineties". It was later expanded to 27 chapters and retitled "Triple Ought", and then 33 chapters, under the title "TEOTWAWKI: The End of the World as We Know It". In 1997, the rights to the novel were purchased by Huntington House Publishers, a small Christian publishing firm in Lafayette, Louisiana. They abridged the book to 31 chapters and re-titled it "Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse". This was the publisher's best-selling title from November 1998 to January 2005. In early 2005, Huntington House went out of business, and the copyright reverted to the author. In November 2006, responding to pent-up market demand, Rawles self-published a restored 33-chapter edition of the novel, through XLibris, a vanity press. "Patriots" was the best-selling title for XLibris from late 2006 to early 2009. In late 2008, the rights to the novel were purchased by Ulysses Press of Berkeley, California. After updating the novel and adding both a glossary and an index, in April 2009 Ulysses Press released the 33-chapter edition under the new title "Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse". Setting. Much of "Patriots" takes place in the Intermountain west, specifically in the Palouse Hills region, in and around Moscow, Idaho. Reception. Critical reception for the various releases of the book has been generally positive, gaining a cult following among the survivalist community and a positive review from the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung". A reviewer for the "Tennessean" newspaper called the novel a "combination military thriller and how-to survivalist guide." Over time the book has gained a larger following, with Rawles speculating that the ongoing financial crisis accounted for the book's popularity among a wider readership traditionally not interested in survivalist themes. Sara Nelson of "The Daily Beast" referred to the novel as "The Most Dangerous Novel in America." The Kirkus Review described the series as "long on details about guns, survival techniques and military capabilities and short on the suspense". Translations. The first translation of "Patriots" was released in May 2012. This was a Spanish edition, titled "Patriotas". It was translated by Ernesto Rubio Garcia and published by La Factoria De Ideas, in Madrid, Spain. . Sequels. Rawles authored four sequels in the "Patriots" series. The first two sequels were published by Simon & Schuster: "Survivors: A Novel of the Coming Collapse" in 2011 and "Founders: A Novel of the Coming Collapse" in 2012. Both of these sequels were also been produced as audiobooks (by Brilliance Audio), and as e-books. In 2013, E.P. Dutton released the fourth novel in the series, titled "Expatriates". This sequel is set primarily in Australia, the Philippines, and Tavares, Florida. This was followed in 2014 by a fourth sequel, titled "Liberators: A Novel of the Coming Global Collapse". It was released on October 21, 2014. Sales for the sequels were strong, with "Survivors", "Founders" and "Expatriates" all achieving places on "The New York Times" Best Seller list. "Survivors: A Novel of the Coming Collapse". Much of Survivors: A Novel of the Coming Collapse takes place in the Four Corners region, specifically in and around Bloomfield and Farmington, New Mexico, although the book's climax takes place in and near Prescott, Arizona and several sub-plots take place as far away as Afghanistan. The cover artwork was created by Tony Mauro, Jr. On its release day, October 4, 2011, "Survivors" rose to #2 in Amazon's overall book sales ranks and #1 in their action-adventure category. On October 23, 2011, it was listed at #3 in the New York Times bestseller list in the fiction hardback category. Rawles and "Survivors" were the centerpiece of a Vancouver Sun article by Kim Murphy about the American Redoubt movement that was run by dozens of newspapers, including the "Los Angeles Times". A review in "The New American" magazine was positive, summarizing: "In short, Rawles' Survivors is well worth reading; astute readers may find themselves making notes of passages pertaining to survival planning which will be worth returning to once one has finished reading the novel." Marvin Olasky of "World (magazine)" called "Survivors" "...not as well-written as some articles Rawles has penned" Rawles uses an unusual contemporaneous approach to writing sequels. Rather than the traditional formula of following the same group of characters farther into the future, he instead uses a novel sequence method that portrays different characters in different geographic regions, but in the same near-future timeframe as in "Patriots." In his Introductory note to "Survivors", Rawles stated: "Unlike most novel sequels, the storyline of "Survivors" is contemporaneous with the events described in my previously-published novel "Patriots". Thus, there is no need to read it first (or subsequently), but you'll likely find it entertaining." The first of several translations of "Survivors" was released in May 2014. This was a Spanish edition, titled "Supervivientes". It was translated by Ernesto Rubio Garcia and published by La Factoria De Ideas, in Madrid, Spain. . A Kindle edition in Spanish was also released in May, 2014. Additional translations into French, German, Russian, Bulgarian, Portuguese, and Korean are planned. "Founders: A Novel of the Coming Collapse". Founders: A Novel of the Coming Collapse is a 2012 "New York Times" best-selling novel by author James Wesley Rawles and is a sequel to "Survivors: A Novel of the Coming Collapse". The novel was released on September 25, 2012, by Atria Books. The book peaked at #4 in Amazon's overall book sales ranks, on its release day. The book premiered on the New York Times Bestsellers list at #11, but dropped to #27 a week later. "Founders: A Novel of the Coming Collapse" is set primarily in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Montana. It details how U.S. Army Captain Andy Laine infiltrates the Provisional Government's New Army headquartered at Fort Knox in the midst of a War of Resistance. It also details the cross-country trek of Ken and Terry Layton, and introduces a new character: Joshua Watanabe, a U.S. Air Force NCO, stationed at Malmstrom Air Force Base, in Montana. The cover artwork was created by Tony Mauro, Jr. "Founders" was released on September 25, 2012, by Atria Books. The book premiered on the New York Times Bestsellers list at #11, but dropped to #27 a week later. In his brief review of "Founders", Gregory Cowles of the influential "The New York Times Book Review" poked fun at the comma in Rawles's name, but granted: "Rawles is a well-known survivalist, and he's surely the only writer on this list whose fans frequently ask him how best to stockpile food (it depends on which food) or whether to favor bullets over gold during the total collapse of civilization ("You can't defend yourself near as well with a Krugerrand")." "Expatriates: A Novel of the Coming Global Collapse". The third sequel in the Patriots series is entitled "Expatriates: A Novel of the Coming Global Collapse" (). It was written under contract for E.P. Dutton. The book was released on October 1, 2013. It is set "primarily in central Florida, the Philippines, and northern Australia." The cover artwork was created by Tony Mauro, Jr. The audio book was narrated by Eric G. Dove. The publisher's web page summarizes the storyline: "When the United States suffers a major socioeconomic collapse, a power vacuum sweeps the globe. A newly radicalized Islamic government rises to power in Indonesia, invades the Philippines, East Timor, Papua New Guinea, and finally northern Australia. No longer protected by American military interests, Australia must repel an invasion alone." "Liberators: A Novel of the Coming Global Collapse". The fourth and final sequel in the "Patriots" novel series is a 416-page book entitled "Liberators: A Novel of the Coming Global Collapse". It was released on October 21, 2014. This sequel was written under contract for E.P. Dutton. It is set primarily in the Bella Coola region of western Canada. Reviews of "Liberators" were also positive. Publishers Weekly called "Liberators" the "rousing fifth after-the-apocalypse thriller [installment in the novel series]" and also mentioned that "Supporters of the 'prepper' movement…will lap up every detail." Jeff Soyer of "North Country Review of Books" gave the novel a three star rating overall, and a four star rating for Writing Style. Mark Rubinstein of The Huffington Post called the book "[A]nother entertaining and thought-provoking novel, describing steps people can take in the event of a global collapse." In a radio interview on October 20, 2014, Alan Colmes mentioned that the novel's title indicates that Rawles actually expects an economic collapse in the near future, and Rawles confirmed that because of uncontrolled government spending and indebtedness he does indeed anticipate a collapse. The novel debuted at #48 in Amazon.com's overall rankings, #1 in their Science Fiction-Dystopian novels category, #1 in their Mystery novels category, and at #1 in their Action & Adventure, War & Military novels category. The novel premiered at #20 on the "Publishers Weekly" hardcover bestsellers list, reported on November 3, 2014. "Counter-Caliphate Chronicles" novel series. Rawles followed "Patriots" series with the "Counter-Caliphate Chronicles" novel series. On December 1, 2015, Rawles released the novel "Land of Promise", the first book in the "Counter-Caliphate Chronicles" novel series. This science fiction novel is a geopolitical thriller that is a considerable departure from his previous "Patriots" thriller novel series. Set in the late 2130s, "Land of Promise" fictionally describes the world under the economic and military domination of a Global Islamic Caliphate, brought about by a fictional new branch of Islam, called The Thirdists. The novel also describes the establishment of a Christian nation of refuge called The Ilemi Republic, in East Africa. It is the first release from Liberty Paradigm Publishing, a publishing venture launched by Rawles in partnership with his literary agent Robert Gottlieb of Trident Media Group.

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Not This August Not This August, also known as "Christmas Eve", is a Hugo Award shortlisted science fiction novel by Cyril M. Kornbluth. It was originally published in 1955 by Doubleday. It was serialized in "Maclean's" magazine (Canada) in May and June 1955. A revised edition with a new foreword and afterword by Frederik Pohl was published in 1981 by Tor Books, . The title comes from author Ernest Hemingway's "Notes on the Next War". Plot summary. By 1965, the United States and Canada have been at war with the Soviet Union and Chinese People’s Republic for three years. Both sides' atomic weapons are ineffective as surface-to-air missiles shoot down any bombers or guided missiles, so ground forces have done most of the fighting. The Communist nations—whose armies greatly outnumber the North Americans—conquered Western Europe, invaded South America, and are moving toward Texas. All American males are required to either perform agricultural work to feed the armed forces or be drafted into military, construction, or factory service. Food, electricity, and gasoline are rationed, only two CONELRAD stations broadcast on radio, and New York City is reportedly under martial law. Billy Justin, a 37-year-old commercial artist and Korean War veteran, is working as a dairy farmer in Chiunga Center, New York when the radio announces that Soviet and Chinese forces have overrun the Canadian-American line at El Paso, Texas, and also learns that the last American naval forces were destroyed three months earlier but the news had been kept secret. The Communist armies destroy in Los Alamos, New Mexico the incomplete "Yankee Doodle", a satellite capable of dropping hydrogen bombs from orbit that are impossible to shoot down. The President of the United States surrenders to the Communists, who over the next several months divide the country at the Mississippi River, and together form the North American People's Democratic Republic. Other than a military garrison, a formal disarmament, searches for fissionable material, and the establishment of production quotas for food, the surrender of the United States leaves Chiunga Center largely untouched. The Soviets execute the Communist fifth column members who had secretly aided the invasion to prevent them from organizing against the new government, but are otherwise relatively peaceful and amenable to the black market. A paraplegic comes to Justin's farm asking for work; he is General Hollerith, a veteran of the previous war. He and Justin join a conspiracy to finish the real satellite, a manned space station buried in Chiunga County that the United States had been building for 15 years. It requires parts and engineering knowledge to launch. MVD troops arrive, shoot the corrupt Soviet soldiers, and are much more cruel. They capture, to Justin's knowledge, all of the conspirators but himself and the general. Justin deduces that the contacts he needs to make are in Washington, Pennsylvania. With a traveling preacher, Sparhawk, Justin walks the hundreds of miles from Chiunga Center to Washington, benefiting from the Democratic Republic's policy of respecting the Americans' freedom of religion. At Washington Justin receives instructions from the nationwide resistance movement for an attack planned for Christmas Eve on Chiunga Center to liberate the satellite. Despite the Soviets' arrest and torture of a local farmer, they are ignorant of what "Christmas Eve", a mild oath they have heard sworn by various citizens, means until the battle begins. Coordinated by Hollerith, bridges around the area are blown up and nearby arsenals are sabotaged. The townspeople, many of whom are veterans, battle the Soviets as the space station launches. Hollerith's forces triumph, and the Americans transmit an ultimatum to the Soviets and Chinese: The satellite is armed and will destroy Moscow and Peking in 24 hours if occupation soldiers do not leave American soil and free all prisoners of war. Hollerith offers Justin important positions in the new government and society, but he refuses them and kneels in prayer with Sparhawk, fearing the fulfillment of mutual assured destruction. Reception. "Galaxy" reviewer Floyd C. Gale praised the novel as "believable throughout and thoroughly frightening." The "Boston Herald" gave a positive review and the "Chicago Tribune" called it "The most shockingly realistic science fiction book since Orwell's 1984..."

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Alternate Tyrants Alternate Tyrants is a 1997 Tor alternate history anthology, edited by Mike Resnick. The anthology contains 20 short stories, with each story by a different author, and presents a scenario where an individual becomes a tyrant or dictator in a way that did not occur in real life.

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Ape and Essence Ape and Essence (1948) is a novel by Aldous Huxley, published by Chatto & Windus in the UK and Harper & Brothers in the US. It is set in a dystopia, as is "Brave New World", Huxley's more famous work. It is largely a satire of the rise of large-scale warfare and warmongering in the 20th century, and presents a pessimistic view of the politics of mutually assured destruction. The book makes extensive use of surreal imagery, depicting humans as apes who, as a whole, will inevitably kill themselves. Structure. The novel is divided into two sections, "Tallis"—the name of the novel's character most like Huxley himself—and "the Script"—the screenplay titled "Ape and Essence" which Tallis had submitted to the studio (it was rejected on 26 November 1947, a fortnight before his death, but not returned to him). Frame. "Tallis" introduces two movie industry intellectuals—the narrator and screenwriter Bob Briggs—who, on the day of Gandhi's murder (30 January 1948), rescue "Ape and Essence" from the trash. Intrigued, they make the drive two days later to Los Angeles County's high desert to find its author, William Tallis. En route they discuss a range of ideas cultural and topical, from Gandhi to Goya. They arrive at a remote and isolated old ranch, a solitary homestead in a surreal setting. They interact with the home's inhabitants, learning that Tallis died suddenly just six weeks before. As these characters serve mainly to establish the narrative frame, or context, they are not seen again, except insofar as Tallis has written himself into the script's final scene, foreknowing his death (but misimagining his grave to lie at the desert farm he rents, rather than in a proper cemetery away in Lancaster). Story. "Ape and Essence" is presented in its entirety, without remark by interruption, footnote or afterword. It begins with a vignette describing the destruction of the world by nuclear and chemical warfare at the hands of intelligent baboons. The two warring sides each have an Einstein on a leash which they force to press the button, releasing clouds of disease-causing gases toward each other. The story then advances to a time 100 years after the catastrophic events of World War III, which characters in the book refer to as "the Thing", when nuclear and chemical weapons eventually destroyed most of human civilisation. In the script's timeframe, radiation has subsided to safer levels and in 2107, an exploratory team of New Zealand rediscovery scientists (New Zealand was spared from direct nuclear attack because it was "of no strategic importance") travel to California. Meanwhile, a strange society has emerged from the radiation and three of its men capture one of the scientists (Dr. Poole). Dr. Poole is introduced to an illiterate society which survives by "mining" graves for clothes, burning library books as fuel, and killing off newborns deformed by radiation (that is, newborns with over three pairs of nipples and more than seven toes or fingers) to preserve genetic purity. The society has also taken to worshipping Satan, whom they refer to as "Belial", and limiting reproduction to an annual two-week orgy which begins on "Belial's Day Eve" after the deformed babies are "purified by blood". The story climaxes during the purification ceremonies of Belial's Day Eve with an intellectual confrontation between Dr. Poole and the arch-vicar, the head of the Church of Belial. During the conversation the arch-vicar reveals that there is a minority of "hots" who do not express an interest in the post-World War III style of reproduction, but they are severely punished to keep them in line. In exchange for his life, Dr. Poole agrees to do what he can as a botanist to help increase their crops yields, but about a year later he escapes with Loola in search of the community of "hots" that is rumoured to exist north of the desert. The script—and the novel—end with Dr. Poole and Loola in the desert north of Los Angeles, breaking their trek by a tombstone which bears the author's name of Tallis, the dates 1882–1948, and three lines from the antepenultimate verse of Percy Bysshe Shelley's elegy on the death of John Keats. Lest Loola find it sad, Dr. Poole, happily possessed of a "duodecimo Shelley", reads her the poem's penultimate verse: <poem>That Light whose smile kindles the Universe That Beauty in which all things work and move That Benediction, which the eclipsing Curse Of birth can quench not, that sustaining Love, Which through the web of being blindly wove By man and beast and earth and air and sea, Burns bright or dim, as each are mirrors of The fire for which all thirst, now beams on me Consuming the last clouds of cold mortality.</poem> Vignettes. The story in the script is punctuated by a series of vignettes centring on a society which is much like 20th century human society, but with baboons substituted for men. The opening scene shows two Einsteins, tied to leashes held by baboons on either side of a pair of baboon armies, facing each other and preparing for battle. They are then directed to operate machines which release "improved" disease-causing clouds at the opposition. Several of the vignettes portray a female baboon singing sensually to an all-baboon audience "Give me, give me, give me detumescence..." Other vignettes involve apes performing various human activities, ape armies assembling, and other more surreal imagery.

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Code Geass , often referred to simply as Code Geass, is a Japanese anime relevision series produced by Sunrise. It was directed by Gorō Taniguchi and written by Ichirō Ōkouchi, with original character designs by Clamp. Set in an alternate timeline, the series follows the exiled prince Lelouch vi Britannia, who obtains the "power of absolute obedience" from a mysterious woman named C.C. Using this supernatural power, known as Geass, he leads a rebellion against the rule of the Holy Britannian Empire, commanding a series of mecha battles. "Code Geass" was broadcast in Japan on MBS from October 2006 to July 2007. Its sequel series, "Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2", ran as a simulcast on MBS and TBS from April 2008 to September 2008. The series has also been adapted into various manga and light novels with the former showing various alternate scenarios from the TV series. A compilation film trilogy that recapped the events from both seasons of the anime series, which altered storylines for various characters and established an alternate universe, was released in 2017 and 2018. A new film, titled "", taking place after the Zero Requiem of the films' alternate universe, was released in theaters in February 2019. A "Code Geass: Z of the Recapture" anime series, set in the alternate universe after the movie "Lelouch of the Resurrection", was announced in December 2020 as part of a 10-year plan project. Bandai Entertainment licensed most parts from the franchise for English release in December 2007, airing the two TV series on Adult Swim. Most manga and light novels have also been published in North America by Bandai. "Code Geass" has been well received in Japan, selling over a million DVD and Blu-ray Disc volumes. Both seasons have won several awards at the Tokyo International Anime Fair, "Animage" Anime Grand Prix, and Animation Kobe event. It received critical acclaim for its story, voice acting, large audience appeal as well as the cross conflicts shown among the main characters and the moral questions presented. Synopsis. Setting. In an alternative timeline, the world is divided into three superpowers: the Holy Britannian Empire (the Americas; also called Britannia), the Chinese Federation (Asia), and the European Union (Europe and Africa; previously known as the Euro-Universe, also known as Europa United in "Akito the Exiled"). The story takes place after the Holy Britannian Empire's conquest of Japan on August 10, 2010 a.t.b., by means of Britannia's newest weapon, the "Autonomous Armored Knight", or "Knightmare Frame". In turn, Britannia effectively strips Japan and its citizens of all rights and freedoms and renames the country Area 11 with its citizens referred to as Elevens. The point of divergence for this timeline appears to be that King Henry VIII of England had a male heir who became King Henry IX. Later, England, lead by Queen Elizabeth III, was defeated by Napoleon at the Battle of Trafalgar. The queen fled to Britain's American colonies where the Britiannian Empire was established. Plot. Lelouch vi Britannia is an exiled Britannian prince, son of Emperor Charles zi Britannia and his royal consort Marianne vi Britannia. Lelouch has a sister, Nunnally vi Britannia. Marianne was brutally murdered in the palace and Nunnally, who witnessed the murder of their mother, was so traumatized she lost both her sight and ability to walk. Lelouch is furious with his father, believing his father failed his mother and sister by turning a blind eye to their mother's death and failing to pursue their mother's killer. Lelouch and Nunnally are sent as political pawns to Japan to lull the Japanese government into a false sense of security. After the siblings are sent to Japan, Japan is attacked and defeated by Britannia. With the ruins of Japan as a background, Lelouch vows to his Japanese friend Suzaku Kururugi that he will one day obliterate Britannia as an act of vengeance against his father. Seven years later, Lelouch (now going by the name Lelouch Lamperouge), is now a popular yet withdrawn student at Ashford Academy. Lelouch becomes involved in a terrorist attack and finds a mysterious girl called C.C. (C2), who saves Lelouch's life from the Britannian Royal Guard, by making a contract with him and granting Lelouch a power known as . This power, also known as the , allows him to command anyone to do whatever he wants, including bending their will to live, fight, or die on his behalf. This power can affect an individual just once and only through direct eye contact. Lelouch decides to use his Geass to find his mother's murderers, destroy the Britannian Empire, and create a better world where Nunnally can live happily. In the process, Lelouch becomes Zero, a masked vigilante and the leader of the resistance movement known as The Black Knights, gaining popularity and support among the Japanese on his way towards the rebellion of Britannia. However, this does not come without a cost. Caught up in a conflict where he does not know the full extent of his powers, Lelouch will have to battle Suzaku, a resistance member named Kallen Stadtfeld, the strongest army in the world, his own half-siblings, and many others in a battle that will forever change the world. Production. "Code Geass" began as a concept developed at Sunrise by Ichirō Ōkouchi and Gorō Taniguchi, who proposed it to producer Yoshitaka Kawaguchi. Kawaguchi had previously approached Okouchi and Taniguchi during the production of "Planetes". The basic idea for the plot consisted of a "hero" who led a secret organization, which was later developed into a conflict between two characters with different values and who belonged to the same military unit, who eventually became Lelouch Lamperouge and Suzaku Kururugi. During these initial planning stages, Kawaguchi also contacted the noted manga artist group Clamp. This was the first time Clamp had ever been requested to design the characters of an anime series. Clamp signed onto the project early during these development stages and provided numerous ideas, which helped develop the series' setting and characters. While developing the character designs for Lelouch, the protagonist of the series, Clamp had originally conceived of his hair color as being white. Ageha Ohkawa, head writer at Clamp, said she had visualized him as being a character to which "everyone" could relate to as being "cool", literally, a "beauty". During these planning stages, Clamp and the Sunrise staff had discussed a number of possible inspirations for the characters, including KinKi Kids and Tackey & Tsubasa. They had wanted to create a "hit show," a series which would appeal to "everyone." Lelouch's alter ego, Zero, was one of the earliest developed characters, with Ōkouchi having wanted a mask to be included as a part of the series, feeling it was necessary for it to be a Sunrise show, and Clamp wanting a unique design never prior seen in any Sunrise series (said mask was nicknamed "tulip" for its distinctive design). The concept for the Geass may have been inspired by the Irish and Welsh legends of "Geas" or "Geis". A geas is a compulsion laid on someone to do or not do something. While the geas itself does not lie on any spectrum, the benefits or actions of it may be decidedly benevolent or malevolent. The concept fits in into the wider fictional world and its lore of British inspirations. Clamp's finalized original character design art, illustrated by its lead artist Mokona, was subsequently converted into animation character designs for the series by Sunrise's character designer Takahiro Kimura, who had previously spent "every day" analyzing Clamp's art and style from their artbooks and manga series. In working on the animation character designs, he focused on designing them so as to enable the series' other animators to apply them without deviating from Clamp's original art style. The music for the series was composed by Kōtarō Nakagawa and Hitomi Kuroishi, who had earlier worked with the series' core staff in "Planetes" and Taniguchi's earlier work "Gun X Sword". In addition to the incidental music featured in each episode, Kuroishi also composed numerous insert songs for the series, including "Stories", "Masquerade", "Alone", and "Innocent Days", which were each performed by Kuroishi herself, while "Picaresque" and "Callin'" were performed by the singer-songwriter Mikio Sakai, who had also earlier worked with Nakagawa and Kuroishi in "Planetes". The bands FLOW, Ali Project, Jinn, SunSet Swish, Access, and Orange Range have provided songs for the opening and ending themes. When the series was being developed for broadcast on MBS TV, it had been given the network's Saturday evening prime time slot, which was later changed to a Thursday late night time slot. Due to this change, the overall outlook and some elements of the series were changed and further developed to suit the more mature, late night audience. The supernatural "Geass" ability finally came into the show at this point and was first conceived as a special power granted by an "angel" to the main characters, though this last part was also modified. Media. Anime. "Code Geass" officially premiered on the Mainichi Broadcasting System (MBS) television station on October 5, 2006 (01:25 JST on October 6, 2006). Its satellite television premiere across Japan on Animax was on November 7, 2006. Upon the airing of the first 23 episodes, the series went on hiatus on March 29, 2007, and completed broadcast of the first series with a contiguous one-hour broadcast of episodes 24 and 25 on Saturday, July 28, 2007. The immense popularity of "Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion" followed with the development of its sequel, , which was first announced on the March 2007 issue of "Newtype" and later confirmed by Sunrise producer Yoshitaka Kawaguchi on the series' official staff blog on March 9, 2007. "Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2" premiered on all Japan News Network (JNN) member stations (like MBS and TBS) on April 6, 2008, in the primetime anime timeslot, with the timeslot changing from 18:00 JST on Saturdays to 17:00 JST on Sundays. Prior to the series' television broadcast, three private preview screenings of episode 1 were held on March 15 and March 16 in Osaka and Tokyo respectively, which was attended by the series' Japanese voice actors as well as a pool of 3800 randomly selected applicants. On April 15, 2008, at 17:00 JST, the last 6 minutes of the then unaired third episode was accidentally posted onto the Internet due to an error by Bandai Channel, Bandai's online broadcast channel and the series online distributor, in the midst of testing a system preventing illegal online uploads. The picture drama was based on a live event held in Tokyo, Japan on Lelouch's birthday. Another OVA anime titled was announced and revealed through the anime's official website. Takahiro Kimura did the character designs of the series. Makoto Baba was assigned as the director of the OVA while episode scriptwriter Yuuichi Nomura and music composer Kotaro Nakagawa returned for the said project. In the story, Lelouch makes the ultimate use of his Geass for his little sister Nunnally, who loves Alice in Wonderland. The Blu-ray was released by Bandai Visual on July 27, 2012 with English subtitles and bundled with a 40 page picture book. A 3-part theatrical film remake of the TV anime was released, with the first film titled released on October 21, 2017. The second film titled was released February 10, 2018. The film placed 8th at the mini-theater ranking on its opening weekend. The third compilation film, titled was released in theaters on May 26, 2018. Each film has several changes to the storyline, as Taniguchi stated, to give it more of a "what if" scenarios leading to the new film. movie was announced on November 27, 2016. It was released in theaters in Japan on February 9, 2019. It takes place in the alternate continuity established in the recap films and is a sequel to the "Zero Requiem" arc of that continuity. A new anime television series titled "Code Geass: Z of the Recapture" was announced on December 5, 2020, Lelouch's birthday. The new anime project is part of a new 10-year plan for the franchise by Studio Sunrise, with Yoshimitsu Ohashi is directing the series, Noboru Kimura writing the scripts, and Takahiro Kimura returning to design the characters. In celebration of the new anime, the "" movie was re-released in 4D in Japanese theaters on January 29, 2021. Akito the Exiled. The new "Code Geass" series was first revealed on December 5, 2009. In April 2010, it was officially revealed that a new "Code Geass" side story anime called would be directed by Kazuki Akane ("The Vision of Escaflowne"). The side story is an OVA series set in Europe during the Britannian invasion of the continent between "Lelouch of the Rebellion"s two seasons. Originally intended to be released in four chapters, production of a fifth "Akito the Exiled" episode was announced after the Japanese debut of the third entry on May 2, 2015. Along with the two seasons of the television series, the OVAs are licensed by Funimation. In January 2016, Manga Entertainment, who licensed the series in the UK, listed that they will release the first two episodes on Blu-Ray with an English dub on December 5, 2016. They later changed the date to April 10, 2017 and as of most recently the release is now scheduled to be on October 1, 2017. Madman Entertainment has also released the first three episodes on DVD. Funimation announced it will release the series in early 2017. On March 15, 2017, Funimation officially announced the pre order and release date, June 27, 2017. The release will be a Blu-ray and DVD Combo pack with both subbed and dubbed audio. The picture drama has been released in only Japan and Italy. International licensing. Both seasons of "Code Geass" have been licensed for release in the United States by Bandai Entertainment, and the first season began airing on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block in the U.S. on April 27, 2008; the second began airing on November 2, immediately following the first season, both viewable in English on Adult Swim Video. The series finale premiered on June 7, 2009, ending the second season and the rest of the story. On April 23, 2010, Adult Swim's rights to this series expired. Following the closure of Bandai Entertainment in 2012, Sunrise announced at their official panel during Otakon 2013 that Funimation has rescued both seasons of "Code Geass" and in addition licensed "Akito the Exiled", along with a handful of other former Bandai Entertainment titles. In Australia and New Zealand, the series is sub-licensed to Madman Entertainment by Bandai Entertainment USA, and began airing on Australian channel ABC2 from January 19, 2009. As at 2018 it is available on Australian Netflix. In the Philippines, the first season of "Code Geass" premiered on November 10, 2008, weekday nights at 7:30pm PST and ended on December 15, 2008 through TV5, while season 2 premiered on May 4, 2009 and ended on June 5, 2009, weekday nights at 6:00pm PST with a weekend afternoon recap of the week's episodes also on TV5. Despite the poor ratings it attained due to competition with local TV newscasts and prime time soaps, the series was able to gain a huge following and became one of the most talked-about anime series in the country during its run. "Code Geass" had its Philippine cable premiere on July 27, 2010 through Hero TV. In Italy, the first season aired from September 23, 2009 to February 25, 2010 on Rai 4, while season 2 was broadcast on Rai 4 from March 4, 2010 to August 12, 2010; both seasons were broadcast at about 11:10 pm. Sunrise announced at its Anime Boston panel on Friday that Funimation licensed the remake film trilogy. Funimation announced that they licensed the "Code Geass: Lelouch of the Re;surrection" film for its North American theatrical release in May 2019. Manga. Kadokawa Shoten has published four separate manga adaptations, each containing an alternate storyline. The first four of the manga series have been licensed for an English language release in North America by Bandai Entertainment. The first, "Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion", by Majiko~! and originally serialized "Monthly Asuka", focused on the protagonist of the series, Lelouch Lamperouge, with few differences from the anime's basic storyline. The most noticeable difference from the anime version is the absence of the Knightmare frames. Its chapters were collected in eight "tankōbon" volumes released from December 26, 2008 to March 26, 2010. Bandai's English adaptation of the series was published from July 29, 2008 to February 15, 2011. The second manga is . It was written by Atsuro Yomino and serialized in "Beans A" magazine. It focuses on the character Suzaku Kururugi in an alternate reality, where he fights against the criminal organization known as the Black Knights. It was released in two volumes on June 26, 2007 and September 26, 2008. The first English volume was released on January 6, 2009, and the second followed it on October 13, 2009. , serialized in "Comp Ace" and written by Tomomasa Takuma, focuses on Lelouch's sister, Nunnally Lamperouge who goes into searching her missing brother when her health is restored by an entity named Nemo. It was published in five volumes from June 26, 2007 to April 25, 2009. The English volumes were published from June 9, 2009 to March 23, 2010. A fourth manga adaptation, , was serialized in Kerokero Ace. Set in an alternate 1853, Lelouch is the commander of the Shogunate's military counterinsurgence brigade known as the Shinsengumi, which fights the Black Revolutionaries, a rebel group led by a masked individual known as Rei. It was released on a single volume on October 25, 2010, while the English version was published on May 10, 2011. In late 2009, Bandai announced a new project greenlit for 2010. A manga, titled , was the first product announced. The story takes place in the same official "Code Geass" history as the anime, but in a different era with the anime director Goro Taniguchi scripting the story. The title character, Renya, is a 17-year-old boy who encounters a mysterious, perpetually young witch named "Reifū C.C.", who has appeared in Japan's historical Edo era to seek a new partner for a covenant. It began publication in the May 2010 issue of "Shōnen Ace". Bandai Entertainment announced that it will publish the manga in English as with the other adaptions. On January 2, 2012 as a part of Bandai Entertainment's announced restructuring, they have since, among other titles, revoked publishing of "Code Geass: Renya of Darkness" for English release. The spinoff takes place between the first and second seasons of the anime television and is told from two perspectives. The photo story in Hobby Japan centers around Orpheus Zevon, a young terrorist with the Knightmare Frame Byakuen who is in pursuit of his lover's killer. The manga in Newtype Ace revolves around Oldrin Zevon, a girl in the Britannia Empire's anti-terrorist unit Glinda Knights who pilots the Knightmare Frame Lancelot Grail. The story of Oz the Reflection and Akito the Exiled takes place at the same time in between season 1 and 2 of the TV series. Audio CDs. The series has been adapted into a series of drama CDs, called "Sound Episodes", the first of which was released in Japan in April 2007 by Victor Entertainment, with new volumes released monthly. Written by many of the same writers as the series, these episodes are set between episodes and feature theme songs performed by the series' voice actors. They have also been available online on a limited streaming basis on the Japanese internet website Biglobe. In total, twelve drama CDs have been released. The first six, released between April 25, 2007 and September 27, 2007 cover the first season of the series, and the other six focusing on the second season. Soundtrack. The music for the series, composed by Kōtarō Nakagawa and Hitomi Kuroishi, has been released across two original soundtracks produced by Yoshimoto Ishikawa and released by Victor Entertainment. The first was released in Japan on December 20, 2006, and the second on March 24, 2007. The covers and jackets for both soundtracks were illustrated by Takahiro Kimura. Light novels. "Code Geass" ('Code Geass') has been additionally novelized into a series of light novels. First serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's "The Sneaker" magazine, they are divided into two separate series corresponding with the series two seasons. The first series, "Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion", spanned five volumes with the first, labelled as volume 0, released in Japan on April 28, 2007 and the last on March 1, 2008. All five volumes in the first series of novels have been released in English by Bandai Visual. The first volume was released in November 2008 and the last one on February 23, 2010. The first novel acts as a prologue, focusing on how Lelouch befriended Suzaku Kururugi, when the former prince and his sister Nunnally Lamperouge were sent to Japan as political hostages. The second novel series, "Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2", covers the second season of the anime series in which Lelouch continues his battle against the Britannian Empire. It was released in four volumes from June 1, 2008 to March 1, 2009. A single volume side story novel, was released on April 1, 2008 in Japan. It focuses on the life of teenager girl Kallen Stadtfeld who becomes a soldier from the organization the Black Knights under Lelouch's leadership to defeat Britannia. On January 3, 2012, the English publication of the light novel adaptation of R2 had been announced as cancelled as part of Bandai Entertainment's planned restructuring which had been announced the day before. Video games. The series was also slated to be adapted into a series of video games, developed for the Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 2 platforms, which was published by Namco Bandai Games. All three games have been available in only Japanese, although an incomplete unofficial patch for the Nintendo DS game exists on the internet that partially translates the game into English. A release on the Wii platform was cancelled for unknown reasons. The official website for the first Nintendo DS game launched on July 16, 2007, with the game being released a few months later on October 25. A second game, titled "Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion Lost Colors", was developed for the PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 2, and released in Japan on March 27, 2008. It is a visual novel game which follows a new protagonist named , who suffers from amnesia. He has a Geass ability similar to Lelouch's, but activated by voice. The third game for the Nintendo DS is a collection of minigames featuring super deformed forms of the characters. The player moves along a board through dice rolls, landing on different spots to activate minigames. The minigames are parody-style events with multiple genres. These include helping Jeremiah grow oranges, racing against C.C. and Shirley in swimming, and a sidescrolling beat-em-up featuring Kallen in Guren-like armor. "Code Geass R2" appeared in From Software ("Demon's Souls", "Armored Core") and Banpresto's PlayStation 3 exclusive mecha action game "Another Century's Episode R", released in Japan in August 2010 and in which both versions of Suzaku's Lancelot, Lelouch's Shinkiro, both versions of Kallen's Guren, and C.C.'s Akatsuki are playable. A fourth installment of the ACE franchise for the PlayStation Portable, Another Century's Episode Portable, included Suzaku's Lancelot Albion and Lelouch/Zero's Shinkiro. "Code Geass" characters have appeared as costumes in the Japanese version of the PlayStation 3 game "Tales of Graces F". These characters are Zero, Suzaku, C.C. and Kallen. These costumes were never released from the US version for unknown reasons. It was discontinued to download on September 27, 2019. On December 5, 2020, a new mobile game called "" was announced as part of the 10-year plan by Studio Sunrise. Considered a direct sequel, the smartphone game features stories about the main Code Geass characters, including several new characters. It's scheduled for a Spring 2021 release. Artbooks. Two artbooks featuring illustrations of the series, "Code Geass Graphics Zero" () and "Code Geass Graphics Ashford" (), have been published in Japan. Coinciding with the release of the second season of "Code Geass" was the publication of another artbook, "Code Geass – Lelouch of the Rebellion illustrations Rebels" (), which featured 134 art pieces of the first season. Another 95 page artbook titled "Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion – The Complete Artbook" () has also been published. Finally, CLAMP, the well-known manga artist team who did the designs for Code Geass, put out their own artbook, entitled Code Geass x CLAMP: Mutuality. Internet radio broadcasts. "Code Geass" has also been adapted into a series of weekly internet radio broadcasts, which were streamed online on the BEAT☆Net Radio! portal, the first of which, , began streaming from October 6, 2006. It featured Sayaka Ohara (voice actor of Milly Ashford) and Satomi Arai (voice actor of Sayoko Shinazaki). The second, , was first streamed on December 12, 2006, and were hosted by Jun Fukuyama (voice actor of Lelouch) and Noriaki Sugiyama (voice actor of Rivalz). During "R2", a new show named was streamed, hosted by Fukuyama and Takahiro Sakurai (voice actor of Suzaku). Reception. Critical response. "Code Geass" has received best-selling success and critical acclaim since its release. Anime News Network's columnist Todd Ciolek attributes the soaring popularity of "Code Geass" to "the series hitting every important fan sector", with the audience appeal points ranging from a "complex cast of characters and a fast-paced story, told with Goro Taniguchi's capable direction" for "general-interest fans" to "pretty and just-a-little-broken heroes" for "yaoi-buying female fans". Carl Kimlinger also finds that the series "has the skill and energy to carry viewers over the top with it, where they can spend a pleasurable few hours reveling in its melodramatic charms." He also adds that Taniguchi "executes the excesses of his series with care, skillfully intercutting events as Lelouch's plans come together (or fall apart) and using kinetic mecha combat". T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews reviewer Dallas Marshall gave the series 4 out of 5 stars, stating, "a melodramatic piece of science fiction that has more than enough going for it in terms of action and visuals but tends to go overboard with its emotionalism. If this minor flaw can be overlooked, there is an epic story to be told with a rather intriguing main character at the helm. Take away one star if that minor 'flaw' cannot be ignored." A less favorable review was given by Carlo Santos of Anime News Network, who gave it an overall "C" and wrote that the franchise "in a way, [...] reflects the malaise of a generation: the realization that old, rich, powerful people have screwed up the world and that the young are helpless to do anything about it". According to him, Lelouch's actions exemplify the wish to see problems like "economic collapse, class conflict, political instability, radical extremism" solved by "Zero's vigilante methods" but Santos expresses doubt in such an approach and concludes that "the series is at its best when raising questions rather than offering a final solution" (the review is focused on the manga adaptation of the story, which has certain differences compared with the original anime). Home video sales. When the first episode was shown during a special test screening, which was attended by Ōkawa, other members of the series' staff, as well as several journalists and other media-related personnel in response to the hype surrounding the series' upcoming release, the audience fell into immediate silence after it ended, followed by "tremendous applause." By August 2008, over 900,000 "Code Geass" discs had been sold in Japan. Reportedly, Bandai Visual shipped over one million DVD and Blu-ray Discs related to the "Code Geass" franchise by November 2008, placing it among the most popular contemporary anime series in both Japan and North America. During 2008, the first volume from "R2" was the fourth bestselling anime DVD and Blu-ray Disc in Japan according to Amazon.com. Box office. Episodes 1, 3 and 5 of "Akito the Exiled" were screened theatrically in Japan between 2012 and 2016, with episode 1 grossing ¥35,112,097 () in 2012, and episodes 3 and 5 grossing ¥216,957,460 () during 20152016. Combined, the three episodes grossed ¥252,069,557 () at the Japanese box office. During 2017–2018, Code Geass launched three theatrical recap movies in Japan (October 21, February 10, and May 26 respectively), across 79 Theaters. The first part, "The Awakening Path", grossed ¥67,954,086.40 opening night, rising to number #8 on the charts. "The Rebellion Path" grossed ¥57,241,203.20 during its opening premiere, ranking #7 on the charts. "The Imperial Path" grossed ¥67,864,834,800 on its opening day, and debuted at #8 on the charts. Combined, the film trilogy grossed ¥647,802,700 in Japan. Accolades. Since its premiere, "Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion" has collected numerous awards and accolades. At the sixth annual Tokyo Anime Awards held at the 2007 Tokyo International Anime Fair, "Code Geass" won the best anime television series award. The second season also got the award of "Best Screenplay" in the 2009 Tokyo Anime Fair. In noted Japanese anime magazine "Animage"s 29th Annual Anime Grand Prix, "Code Geass" won the most popular series award, with Lelouch Lamperouge also being chosen as the most popular male character and "Colors" being chosen as the most popular song. In the 30th Annual Anime Grand Prix, Lelouch won first place again and C.C. was voted most popular female character. At the first Seiyu Awards held in 2007, Jun Fukuyama won the award for best actor in a leading role for his performance as Lelouch Lamperouge in the series, while Ami Koshimizu won the award for best actress in a supporting role for her performance as Kallen Stadtfeld. Furthermore, "Code Geass" won the award for Best TV Animation at the twelfth Animation Kobe event, held annually in Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, with "R2" taking the award in the following year. In the 2009, Seiun Award, "Code Geass R2" was a nominee in the category "Best Media Award".

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Night of the Auk Night of the Auk is a 1956 Broadway drama in three acts written by Arch Oboler. It is a science fiction drama in blank verse about space travelers returning to Earth after the first Moon landing. The play was based on Oboler's radio play "Rocket from Manhattan", which aired as part of "Arch Oboler's Plays" in September 1945. "Night of the Auk" was published in book form in 1958. Summary. The action takes place aboard a spacecraft returning from the first manned Moon landing, the crew of which witnesses nuclear war break out on Earth. In his foreword to the published edition of the play, Oboler expressed the hope that its vision of a potential future would prove to be "a playwright's fancy". History of the play. "Night of the Auk" was based on Oboler's radio play "Rocket from Manhattan", which aired as part of "Arch Oboler's Plays" on September 20, 1945, the month after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. "Rocket from Manhattan" featured only three characters: Dr. Chamberlain (Lou Merrill), Maj. Russell (Elliott Lewis) and Maj. Reynolds (Ervin Lee). The play's action was explicitly set on September 20, 2000 (exactly 55 years after the date of broadcast), rather than in the indefinite near future of "Night of the Auk". The published edition of "Night of the Auk" is dedicated "To NORMAN COUSINS who has tried to hold back the holocaust and to PETER who never had his chance". On April 7, 1958, Oboler's six-year-old son, Peter, drowned in rainwater collected in excavations for a bomb shelter at Oboler's Malibu, California, home, causing Oboler to regard him as a casualty of the atomic age. Productions. Produced by Kermit Bloomgarden and directed by Sidney Lumet, "Night of the Auk"'s original production starred Martin Brooks (Lt. Jan Kephart), Wendell Corey (Colonel Tom Russell), Christopher Plummer (Lewis Rohnen), Claude Rains (Doctor Bruner) and Dick York (Lt. Mac Hartman). The play's world premiere took place at the Shubert Theatre in Washington, D.C., on November 12, 1956. Reviewing the play in "The Washington Star", Jay Carmody wrote: "...if prizes were awarded for the most provocative play of the season, Mr. Oboler might already be busy making room on his mantel... a lively and imaginative theater piece." Opening at the Playhouse in New York on December 3, 1956, the play ran there for only eight performances. Writing for the United Press, Jack Gaver wrote: "This is a coldly powerful, strangely moving drama of stature... It is a good season that can produce Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey Into Night" and "Night of the Auk"." Brooks Atkinson wrote in "The New York Times": "Stirring up scientific jargon with portentous ideas, [Oboler] writes dialogue that is streaked with purple patches and sounds a good deal like gibberish." In the December 17, 1956 issue, "Time" reviewed: According to his own later account, Oboler came to feel during the play's Washington run that the production was doomed due to its overly realistic presentation, which conflicted with the poetic tone of the dialogue. However, scholar Charles A. Carpenter would later write that the play's "failure as a theatrical as well as literary work... might more accurately be traced to its conflicting modes of parable and melodrama, the first compatible with Oboler's nonrealistic treatment, the second not." In his memoir, Christopher Plummer lamented Oboler's decision to write the play in blank verse, stating that Bloomgarden made suggestions for making the text less pretentious which Oboler ignored. Claude Rains regarded "Night of the Auk" as "a damned good play". A television adaptation of "Night of the Auk" was broadcast on "The Play of the Week" on May 2, 1960, featuring William Shatner as Lewis Rohnen and James MacArthur as Lt. Hartman. This was the first time that Shatner played a spacecraft crew member on television. An Off-Broadway production at the Cricket Theatre opened on May 21, 1963, and lasted for three performances. In August 2012, Outside Inside Productions presented the first New York revival of "Night of the Auk" at the 16th Annual New York International Fringe Festival. Authorized by the Oboler family, this new production, directed by Adam Levi with co-direction by Kaitlyn Samuel, was a 75-minute one-act version of the original play, adapted by playwright Michael Ross Albert (who also played Lewis Rohnen). The production featured women as Hartman and Bruner, but did not change the dialogue to make the characters female.

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The Answer (short story) "The Answer" is a science fiction short story by American writer H. Beam Piper. It is not a part of either Piper’s Terro-Human Future History series nor his Paratime series. It made its first appearance in the December 1959 issue of "Fantastic Universe Science Fiction". Synopsis. It is 1984, fifteen years since the nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union devastated the entire Northern Hemisphere of the planet Earth, nuclear scientists Professor Doctor Lee Richardson and Comrade Professor Alexis Petrovitch Pitov are working together on a project in Argentina. During their research, they have created fifteen kilograms of negamatter iron, and they are going to drop it from space to see what happens. The resulting explosion has a very distinctive signature, and Dr. Richardson realizes that that signature is the same as the one that occurred at Auburn, New York. The American government had assumed that the explosion was the result of a premeditated attack by the Soviets, and had retaliated, resulting in a general exchange of nuclear weapons. During the course of analyzing the Argentinean explosion Dr. Richardson realizes that the “Auburn Bomb” was not a bomb after all, but a negamatter meteor.

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One More Pallbearer "One More Pallbearer" is episode 82 of the American television anthology series "The Twilight Zone". It originally aired on January 12, 1962. Plot. Millionaire Paul Radin invites three people to the bomb shelter that he has built. He greets them politely but without genuine warmth as he holds a personal grudge against each of them. One is a high school teacher (Mrs. Langsford) who failed him when he was caught cheating on a test and attempting to frame another student to avoid the consequences; the second is Colonel Hawthorne, who had him court-martialed when Radin endangered lives by disobeying orders; and the third is Rev. Hughes, who made a public scandal out of a woman who committed suicide over him. Radin, with the aid of sound effects and fake radio messages, convinces the trio that an apocalyptic nuclear war will occur in just moments. He offers them refuge in the shelter if they do one thing: apologize for their actions. All three refuse his offer, valuing their honor above their lives and preferring to spend a last few moments with their loved ones or alone than to live with Radin. Radin, unable to believe that, opens the way out and pursues them to the elevator. Mrs. Langsford, still believing Radin will survive but be left alone, tells him to try to cope. She tells him that he has spent his life deluding himself about his own character and what is right and wrong. As the elevator leaves, Radin screams hysterically that this is not true. Suddenly, the sound of a bomb detonation shakes Radin's shelter. He takes the elevator to the surface and emerges to see the world devastated and in ruin. This twist ending is given another twist, however, when we learn that Radin, devastated by his hoax's failure, has lost his mind and is only imagining the total destruction. Radin sobs helplessly at the foot of a fountain outside his intact building while a police officer tries to aid him.

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A Little Peace and Quiet "A Little Peace and Quiet" is the second segment of the first episode of the first season (1985–86) of the television series "The Twilight Zone". In this segment, a woman discovers a pendant which allows her to freeze time. Plot. While digging in her garden, harried housewife Penny unearths a wooden box containing a gold pendant in the shape of a sundial. She discovers that saying "Shut up" while wearing the pendant causes the entire world but herself to become frozen in time, and saying "Start talking" makes everything begin moving again. She uses this power to give herself much-needed reprieves from the demands of her dim-witted and hapless husband Russell and their four children: Janet and Susan, who are always fighting; Bertie, who is clumsy; and Russell Jr., who is always playing pranks. She also silences news programs about recent arms talks between the United States and the Soviet Union and moves door-to-door anti-nuclear weapons activists away from her house while they are frozen in time. One evening, the radio announces that nuclear missiles are heading for the United States from the Soviet Union. When the radio reveals that ICBMs have entered U.S. airspace, the terrified Penny freezes time, then leaves her house and walks through town. As she notices terrified people looking skyward, she looks up to see a Soviet nuclear missile frozen a few hundred feet in the air, nose down, and moments from impact. Production. No visual effects were used for the time stops; the actors and numerous extras, even the dog, all had to hold themselves perfectly still during these sequences. In the cases of characters who were frozen in off-balance positions (e.g. running or lunging), concealed armatures were used to support their weight. The mid-pour orange juice and mid-spill milk were both plastic. Director Wes Craven said the child actors needed little encouragement to be rambunctious, being naturally full of energy. In conjunction with the exceptionally large cast, the set was always chaotic between takes. Lead actress Melinda Dillon's shouting "Shut up!" an extra two times as the nuclear missiles approach was unscripted. In the final scene, the two films playing in the theater when Penny stops time are "Dr. Strangelove" and "Fail Safe." Both 1964 films depict nuclear warfare.

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Guilty Crown is a 2011 Japanese anime television series produced by Production I.G which aired on Fuji TV's noitamina program block from October 13, 2011. The story revolves around Shu Ouma, a high school boy who comes into possession of an ability called the "Power of the King" allowing him to draw out items called "Voids" from other people. He is then thrown into the conflict between a quasi-governmental organization known as GHQ and a rebel organization called Funeral Parlor which aims to restore Japan's independence from the GHQ. In the process, Shu has to deal with the burden his ability puts on his shoulders and the horrific mystery of his past. Two manga adaptations were published, one each by ASCII Media Works and Square Enix. A light novel was published by Nitroplus in April 2012, titled "Guilty Crown: Princess of Deadpool". A spin-off visual novel for Windows, named "Guilty Crown: Lost Christmas", was also developed by Nitroplus, which came bundled with a 15-minute original video animation (OVA) titled "Guilty Crown: Lost Christmas". Plot. Setting. Before the events of the main story, on December 24, 2029, a biological hazard known as the Apocalypse Virus brought on by an impact event plunges Japan into a state of chaos. This event is later named the Lost Christmas incident. Unable to contain the threat, Japan sought international help and the United Nations dispatches an organization known as the GHQ to their aid. The GHQ successfully contains the outbreak and restores a level of normality at the cost of Japan's independence. Ten years later, a resistance organization known as the Funeral Parlor wages a campaign against the GHQ to liberate Japan once more. Synopsis. In the Roppongi district of Tokyo, high school student Shu Ouma encounters a wounded girl named Inori Yuzuriha, the vocalist of a popular internet group Egoist, taking refuge at his film club's workshop. The GHQ Anti Bodies storm the workshop and arrest her for involvement with Funeral Parlor. Shu follows the coordinates of Inori's robot to a drop zone where he meets Funeral Parlor's leader, Gai Tsutsugami, who asks him to safeguard a vial. As the Anti-Bodies begin attacking the Roppongi area looking for the vial, it shatters as Shu goes to rescue Inori when she becomes threatened by GHQ Endlave mechs. The vial contains the Void Genome, a powerful genetic weapon derived from the Apocalypse Virus that grants Shu the "Power of the King", an ability that allows his right hand to extract Voids, weapons of people's psyche given physical form. Shu then extracts Inori's Void and destroys the attacking Endlaves. Upon deciding to join Funeral Parlor, Shu begins to fall in love with Inori, who bears a striking resemblance to his late sister, Mana. However, he deserts the group after causing the death of a classmate's younger brother during one of his missions. In Shu's absence, Funeral Parlor attempt to steal from GHQ the meteorite that originally caused the Apocalypse Virus outbreak. In the process, Gai and his forces fall into a trap as the Anti-Bodies decimate their ranks with a "genetic resonance" broadcast that unleashes the Virus throughout Tokyo. Amidst the chaos, the Anti-Bodies' leader, Shūichirō Keido, seizes control of the GHQ and directs his attention towards wiping out the remains of Funeral Parlor. After learning his former comrades are in imminent danger of annihilation, Shu races to the center of Tokyo to rescue them. With the help of his classmates, he breaks through the barricade where they are being pinned down. Meanwhile, Inori begins to reverse the effects of the outbreak through a resonance broadcast channeled by one of her songs. This sudden change in fortune proves only temporary when Yu, a mysterious boy possessing the "Power of the King", appears out of thin air and kidnaps Inori, causing the outbreak to resume with full force. Shu finds Inori being held captive by Keido, who is using her as part of a "marriage ceremony" to resurrect Mana. Keido explains Inori was created to provide a physical body for Mana's soul so she could give birth to a new human race once the present population was destroyed by the Apocalypse Virus. Shu's repressed memories suddenly return, causing him to remember how Mana was the first to be infected by the virus, and her mental breakdown resulted in the events of Lost Christmas. Shu also recalls from his past that Gai is none other than Triton, a childhood friend he first met ten years ago when Mana rescued him from the sea. With Gai's help, Shu frees Inori from Keido's grasp before stabbing Mana's stasis pod. Shu's actions save the world from the Virus, but Gai is killed in the process. Two weeks later, the GHQ under Keido's leadership seals off the area surrounding Roppongi, now called Loop 7, before proceeding to systematically eliminate the inhabitants within. A large number of teenagers take refuge at Tennouzu High School along with Funeral Parlor members Shu, Inori, Ayase and Tsugumi. With food and vaccine supplies running low, Shu is elected the new student council president. Despite initially aspiring to provide just governance to those under his charge, his leadership grows increasingly despotic and cynical after his initial refusal to adopt the exclusionary Voids-Ranking system leads to the death of his close friend and love interest, Hare Menjou. Shu and the others eventually break out of Loop 7. However, upon their escape, a resurrected Gai suddenly appears and severs Shu's right arm before transferring the Void Genome to himself. In order to insure Shu's escape, Inori single-handedly holds off GHQ until their forces overwhelm her. Shortly thereafter, Shu's stepmother, Haruka Ohma, betrays the GHQ and steals the third Void Genome. Shu ultimately injects himself with it before assuming command of Funeral Parlor to rescue Inori and free Japan once and for all. After Gai broadcasts a message to the world not to interfere with GHQ's actions in Japan, he joins Yu and Keido in preparing Mana's resurrection in Inori's body. It is revealed that GHQ is merely serving as a front for Da'ath, an ancient cult seeking to forcefully bring about mankind's evolution with the Apocalypse Virus. As the virus begins spreading across the planet from Tokyo Tower, Funeral Parlor and its allies mount a massive offensive against Tokyo Bay to save the world. In the series' climactic final battle, Shu manages to defeat Yu and Gai while Funeral Parlor destroys GHQ's forces. Seeing his plans ruined beyond repair, Keido commits suicide by injecting himself with the virus. A dying Gai explains to Shu that he helped Da'ath so Mana could fulfill her cursed role as the Fourth Apocalypse's Eve. With her role completed, he says that Mana is finally able to rest in peace. Gai then dies with Mana as the Virus envelops them both. Upon coming across a heavily infected Inori, Shu embraces her and activates his Void to absorb all traces of the Apocalypse Virus into himself. Before he is consumed, Inori saves Shu by sacrificing her body to destroy the virus permanently. With the virus finally eradicated, the GHQ Tower collapses and everyone escapes. Some years later, Ayase, Tsugumi, Yahiro, Kanon, Souta and a now blind Shu celebrate Hare's birthday in a rebuilt Tokyo. Production. In the making of the series, the staff wanted to make "the next generation of anime with this show." For this they wanted it to be an original anime rather than an adaptation. The staff also wanted it to be a "two-season show" regardless of possible difficulties. The basic concept of the show is in a "Japanese style, a Japanese concept, and that is what makes it more original than other shows." When asked about similarities between Shu and "Neon Genesis Evangelion"s lead Shinji Ikari, the staff answered they are both passive characters although they found Shinji more passive. When asked what circumstances led to his involvement, Redjuice responded that the production staff's illustrators and animators felt that his concept art exhibited a sense of compatibility with the final product. While Ryo of Supercell was providing the insert songs for the show, Redjuice himself was not participating in the project as a member of Supercell. Besides liking Inori, the main heroine of "Guilty Crown", Redjuice stated that he had done many drawings of Tsugumi. The staff had no qualms with the cat-like ears of Tsugumi so Redjuice feels that he has slipped his personal tastes into the series. Redjuice also likes Kanon although she was not originally written into the scenario. As Redjuice has not worked with 3D CG much, he was able to learn a lot from the staff at Production I.G. Music. The music used in the "Guilty Crown" anime is composed by Hiroyuki Sawano. Both the opening and ending themes of "Guilty Crown" are written by Supercell. The first opening theme is titled "My Dearest" and is performed by Koeda. The CD single for "My Dearest" was released on November 23, 2011. The first ending theme is titled and is performed by Egoist, a fictional band from the series. The single for "Departures (Anata ni Okuru Ai no Uta)" was released on November 30, 2011. A 17-year-old artist named Chelly provided the vocals. Chelly was picked by Ryo of Supercell after an audition of 2,000 candidates. Chelly also sang the insert songs in "Guilty Crown". The second opening theme is "The Everlasting Guilty Crown" by Egoist and the second ending theme is by Supercell. Release. "Guilty Crown" was directed by Tetsuro Araki with the series' script supervision being handled by Hiroyuki Yoshino and assisted by Ichirō Ōkouchi. Jin Hanegaya from Nitroplus will also be assisting with the screenplay. The mechanical designs were done by Atsushi Takeuchi and prop designs handled by Yō Moriyama. The original character designs were drawn by Redjuice, with Hiromi Katō providing the character designs for the anime. Yusuke Takeda was the anime's art director. The animation production was done by Production I.G's Division 6. An Internet radio show named "Guilty Crown Radio Council" to promote "Guilty Crown" began airing every other Friday starting on October 7, 2011. The show is hosted by Yūki Kaji, the voice actor of Shu Ouma, and Ai Kayano, the voice actress of Inori Yuzuriha. New York Anime Festival screened the first two episodes of "Guilty Crown" on October 15, 2011. The screening of the second episode was a world premiere as the episode did not air in Japan until October 20, 2011. At Anime Weekend Atlanta 2011, Funimation announced that it would simulcast the series in October, followed by a DVD and Blu-ray release in 2012. Related media. Print. A manga adaptation titled "Guilty Crown", written by Yōsuke Miyagi and illustrated by Shion Mizuki, was serialized in Square Enix's "Monthly Shōnen Gangan" between the November 2011 and December 2013 issues. Square Enix released seven "tankōbon" volumes between January 21, 2012 and December 21, 2013. A second manga titled "Guilty Crown: Dancing Endlaves", written by Gan Sunaaku and illustrated by Ryōsuke Fukai, was serialized in ASCII Media Works' "Dengeki G's Magazine" between the July 2012 and May 2014 issues. Three volumes were released between January 26, 2013 and May 27, 2014. A side story novel titled "Guilty Crown: Princess of Deadpool" was written by Gan Sunaaku from Nitroplus, with illustrations done by a Production I.G and Nitroplus collaboration. A special version that came along with a special book cover was first sold at Anime Contents Expo 2012 in between March 31 and April 1, while the official release was on April 25. The first chapter was put up for public reading. Visual novel. Nitroplus developed a spin-off visual novel for Windows, named . The visual novel was previously known as "Lost X". The scenario writer for this game is Jin Hanegaya, who also penned "Demonbane". The game focuses on the "Lost Christmas" incident. The full version of the game includes a short 10-minute anime. Reception. The series received mixed critical reaction. Carl Kimlinger from Anime News Network commended the series' bravery on reinventing its plot but described the plot as jumbled and continued the trend of weak characters and clichés. Aiden Foote of THEM Anime Reviews agreed with Kimlinger on the presentation and plot and added that the characters are unsympathetic with back stories that do not add depth to them. On the other hand, Foote remarks the aesthetics and the musical appeal, stating that "Guilty Crown is its own jewel in terms of music, visual flare and design from the characters to the setting, to the set pieces." Chris Beveridge from The Fandom Post commented "While it goes big and throws a lot at us, the end result that defines the rest of the season is one that works fantastically well for me because it introduces radical change into the series." He praised Shu's character development as well as the setting chosen for its second half. DVD Talk's Kyle Mills gave the series more praise, noting that despite small criticism "the 1st 11 episodes of the series are great." He praised the story and setting but criticized the development of certain characters comparing them to "flaws" "Gurren Lagann" made. UK Anime Network commented on the series' second half that the series "bites off more than it can chew, and at times the fervent mastication that comes from this leaves certain aspects of its narrative as something of a sloppy mess, but there's still an interesting story being told here and much of it is delivered in an enjoyable fashion thanks to a superb soundtrack, slick action set pieces, and some strong ideas that make good use of the show's cast of characters." Despite criticism, Andy Hanley of UK Anime Network praised the animation as "visually eye-catching."

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World War III World War III (WWIII or WW3) and the Third World War are names given to a hypothetical third worldwide large-scale military conflict subsequent to World War I and II. The term has been in use since at least as early as 1941. Some have applied it loosely to refer to limited or smaller conflicts such as the Cold War or the War on Terror, while others assumed that such a conflict would surpass prior world wars both in its scope and in its destructive impact. Due to the development and use of nuclear weapons near the end of World WarII and their subsequent acquisition and deployment by many countries, the potential risk of a nuclear devastation of Earth's civilization and life is a common theme in speculations about a Third World War. Another major concern is that biological warfare could cause a very large number of casualties, either intentionally or inadvertently by an accidental release of a biological agent, the unexpected mutation of an agent, or its adaptation to other species after use. Large-scale apocalyptic events like these, caused by advanced technology used for destruction, could potentially make the Earth's surface uninhabitable. Prior to the beginning of the Second World War, the First World War (1914–1918) was believed to have been "the war to end all wars", as it was popularly believed that never again could there possibly be a global conflict of such magnitude. During the interwar period, WWI was typically referred to simply as "The Great War". The outbreak of World WarII in 1939 disproved the hope that mankind might have already "outgrown" the need for such widespread global wars. With the advent of the Cold War in 1945 and with the spread of nuclear weapons technology to the Soviet Union, the possibility of a third global conflict became more plausible. During the Cold War years, the possibility of a Third World War was anticipated and planned for by military and civil authorities in many countries. Scenarios ranged from conventional warfare to limited or total nuclear warfare. At the height of the Cold War, the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction ("MAD") had been developed, in which determined an all-out nuclear confrontation would cause the annihilation of all of the states involved in the confrontation. The potential absolute destruction of the human race may have contributed to the ability of both American and Soviet leaders to avoid such a scenario. Origin of the term. "Time" magazine. "Time" magazine was an early adopter, if not originator, of the term "World WarIII". The first usage appears in its 3 November 1941 issue (preceding the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941) under its "National Affairs" section and entitled "World WarIII?" about Nazi refugee Dr. Hermann Rauschning, who had just arrived in the United States. In its 22 March 1943, issue under its "Foreign News" section, "Time" reused the same title "World WarIII?" with regard to statements by then-U.S. Vice President Henry A. Wallace: "We shall decide some time in 1943 or 1944... whether to plant the seeds of World War III." "Time" continued to entitle with or mention in stories the term "World WarIII" for the rest of the decade (and onwards): 1944, 1945, 1946 ("bacterial warfare"), 1947, and 1948. ("Time" persists in using this term, for example, in a 2015 book review entitled "This Is What World War III Will Look Like".) Military plans. Military planners have been war gaming various scenarios, preparing for the worst, since the early days of the Cold War. Some of those plans are now out of date and have been partially or fully declassified. Operation Unthinkable. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was concerned that, with the enormous size of Soviet forces deployed in Europe at the end of WWII and the unreliability of the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, there was a serious threat to Western Europe. In April–May 1945, the British Armed Forces developed Operation Unthinkable, thought to be the first scenario of the Third World War. Its primary goal was "to impose upon Russia the will of the United States and the British Empire". The plan was rejected by the British Chiefs of Staff Committee as militarily unfeasible. Operation Dropshot. "Operation Dropshot" was the 1950s United States contingency plan for a possible nuclear and conventional war with the Soviet Union in the Western European and Asian theaters. Although the scenario made use of nuclear weapons, they were not expected to play a decisive role. At the time the US nuclear arsenal was limited in size, based mostly in the United States, and depended on bombers for delivery. "Dropshot" included mission profiles that would have used 300 nuclear bombs and 29,000 high-explosive bombs on 200 targets in 100 cities and towns to wipe out 85% of the Soviet Union's industrial potential at a single stroke. Between 75 and 100 of the 300 nuclear weapons were targeted to destroy Soviet combat aircraft on the ground. The scenario was devised prior to the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles. It was also devised before U.S. President John F. Kennedy and his Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara changed the US Nuclear War plan from the 'city killing' countervalue strike plan to a "counterforce" plan (targeted more at military forces). Nuclear weapons at this time were not accurate enough to hit a naval base without destroying the city adjacent to it, so the aim in using them was to destroy the enemy industrial capacity in an effort to cripple their war economy. Exercises Grand Slam, Longstep, and Mainbrace. In January 1950, the North Atlantic Council approved NATO's military strategy of containment. NATO military planning took on a renewed urgency following the outbreak of the Korean War in the early 1950s, prompting NATO to establish a "force under a centralised command, adequate to deter aggression and to ensure the defence of Western Europe". Allied Command Europe was established under General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower, US Army, on 2 April 1951. The Western Union Defence Organization had previously carried out Exercise Verity, a 1949 multilateral exercise involving naval air strikes and submarine attacks. Exercise Mainbrace brought together 200 ships and over 50,000 personnel to practice the defence of Denmark and Norway from Soviet attack in 1952. It was the first major NATO exercise. The exercise was jointly commanded by Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic Admiral Lynde D. McCormick, USN, and Supreme Allied Commander Europe General Matthew B. Ridgeway, US Army, during the autumn of 1952. The United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Netherlands, and Belgium all participated. Exercises Grand Slam and Longstep were naval exercises held in the Mediterranean Sea during 1952 to practice dislodging an enemy occupying force and amphibious assault. It involved over 170 warships and 700 aircraft under the overall command of Admiral Robert B. Carney. The overall exercise commander, Admiral Carney summarized the accomplishments of Exercise Grand Slam by stating: "We have demonstrated that the senior commanders of all four powers can successfully take charge of a mixed task force and handle it effectively as a working unit." The Soviet Union called the exercises "war-like acts" by NATO, with particular reference to the participation of Norway and Denmark, and prepared for its own military maneuvers in the Soviet Zone. Exercise Strikeback. This was a major NATO naval exercise held in 1957, simulating a response to an all-out Soviet attack on NATO. The exercise involved over 200 warships, 650 aircraft, and 75,000 personnel from the United States Navy, the United Kingdom's Royal Navy, the Royal Canadian Navy, the French Navy, the Royal Netherlands Navy, and the Royal Norwegian Navy. As the largest peacetime naval operation up to that time, Exercise Strikeback was characterized by military analyst Hanson W. Baldwin of "The New York Times" as "constituting the strongest striking fleet assembled since World WarII". Exercise Reforger. Exercise Reforger (from return of forces to Germany) was an annual exercise conducted, during the Cold War, by NATO. The exercise was intended to ensure that NATO had the ability to quickly deploy forces to West Germany in the event of a conflict with the Warsaw Pact. The Warsaw Pact outnumbered NATO throughout the Cold War in conventional forces, especially armor. Therefore, in the event of a Soviet invasion, in order not to resort to tactical nuclear strikes, NATO forces holding the line against a Warsaw Pact armored spearhead would have to be quickly resupplied and replaced. Most of this support would have come across the Atlantic from North America. Reforger was not merely a show of force—in the event of a conflict, it would be the actual plan to strengthen the NATO presence in Europe. In that instance, it would have been referred to as Operation Reforger. Important components in Reforger included the Military Airlift Command, the Military Sealift Command, and the Civil Reserve Air Fleet. Seven Days to the River Rhine. Seven Days to the River Rhine was a top-secret military simulation exercise developed in 1979 by the Warsaw Pact. It started with the assumption that NATO would launch a nuclear attack on the Vistula river valley in a first-strike scenario, which would result in as many as two million Polish civilian casualties. In response, a Soviet counter-strike would be carried out against West Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark, with Warsaw Pact forces invading West Germany and aiming to stop at the River Rhine by the seventh day. Other USSR plans stopped only upon reaching the French border on day nine. Individual Warsaw Pact states were only assigned their own subpart of the strategic picture; in this case, the Polish forces were only expected to go as far as Germany. The Seven Days to the Rhine plan envisioned that Poland and Germany would be largely destroyed by nuclear exchanges, and that large numbers of troops would die of radiation sickness. It was estimated that NATO would fire nuclear weapons behind the advancing Soviet lines to cut off their supply lines and thus blunt their advance. While this plan assumed that NATO would use nuclear weapons to push back any Warsaw Pact invasion, it did not include nuclear strikes on France or the United Kingdom. Newspapers speculated when this plan was declassified, that France and the UK were not to be hit in an effort to get them to withhold use of their own nuclear weapons. Exercise Able Archer. Exercise Able Archer was an annual exercise by the U.S. European Command that practised command and control procedures, with emphasis on the transition from solely conventional operations to chemical, nuclear, and conventional operations during a time of war. "Able Archer 83" was a five-day North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) command post exercise starting on 7 November 1983, that spanned Western Europe, centered on the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) Headquarters in Casteau, north of the city of Mons. Able Archer exercises simulated a period of conflict escalation, culminating in a coordinated nuclear attack. The realistic nature of the 1983 exercise, coupled with deteriorating relations between the United States and the Soviet Union and the anticipated arrival of strategic Pershing II nuclear missiles in Europe, led some members of the Soviet Politburo and military to believe that Able Archer 83 was a ruse of war, obscuring preparations for a genuine nuclear first strike. In response, the Soviets readied their nuclear forces and placed air units in East Germany and Poland on alert. This "1983 war scare" is considered by many historians to be the closest the world has come to nuclear war since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. The threat of nuclear war ended with the conclusion of the exercise on 11 November, however. Strategic Defense Initiative. The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) was proposed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan on 23 March 1983. In the latter part of his presidency, numerous factors (which included watching the 1983 movie "The Day After" and hearing through a Soviet defector that Able Archer 83 almost triggered a Russian first strike) had turned Ronald Reagan against the concept of winnable nuclear war, and he began to see nuclear weapons as more of a "wild card" than a strategic deterrent. Although he later believed in disarmament treaties slowly blunting the danger of nuclear weaponry by reducing their number and alert status, he also believed a technological solution might allow incoming ICBMs to be shot down, thus making the US invulnerable to a first strike. However, the USSR saw the SDI concept as a major threat, since a unilateral deployment of the system would allow the US to launch a massive first strike on the Soviet Union without any fear of retaliation. The SDI concept was to use ground-based and space-based systems to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic missiles. The initiative focused on strategic defense rather than the prior strategic offense doctrine of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD). The Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO) was set up in 1984 within the United States Department of Defense to oversee the Strategic Defense Initiative. NATO nuclear sharing. NATO operational plans for a Third World War have involved NATO allies who do not have their own nuclear weapons, using nuclear weapons supplied by the United States as part of a general NATO war plan, under the direction of NATO's Supreme Allied Commander. Of the three nuclear powers in NATO (France, the United Kingdom, and the United States) only the United States has provided weapons for nuclear sharing. , Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey are still hosting US nuclear weapons as part of NATO's nuclear sharing policy. Canada hosted weapons until 1984, and Greece until 2001. The United Kingdom also received US tactical nuclear weapons such as nuclear artillery and Lance missiles until 1992, despite the UK being a nuclear weapons state in its own right; these were mainly deployed in Germany. In peacetime, the nuclear weapons stored in non-nuclear countries are guarded by US airmen though previously some artillery and missile systems were guarded by US Army soldiers; the codes required for detonating them are under American control. In case of war, the weapons are to be mounted on the participating countries' warplanes. The weapons are under custody and control of USAF Munitions Support Squadrons co-located on NATO main operating bases who work together with the host nation forces. , 180 tactical B61 nuclear bombs of the 480 US nuclear weapons believed to be deployed in Europe fall under the nuclear sharing arrangement. The weapons are stored within a vault in hardened aircraft shelters, using the USAF WS3 Weapon Storage and Security System. The delivery warplanes used are F-16 Fighting Falcons and Panavia Tornados. Historical close calls. With the initiation of the Cold War arms race in the 1950s, an apocalyptic war between the United States and the Soviet Union became a real possibility. During the Cold War era (1947–1991), a number of military events have been described as having come quite close to potentially triggering World WarIII. Korean War: 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953. The Korean War was a war between two coalitions fighting for control over the Korean Peninsula: a communist coalition including North Korea, China and the Soviet Union, and a capitalist coalition including South Korea, the United States and the United Nations Command. Many then believed that the conflict was likely to soon escalate into a full-scale war between the three countries, the US, the USSR, and China. CBS war correspondent Bill Downs wrote in 1951 that, "To my mind, the answer is: Yes, Korea is the beginning of World WarIII. The landings at Inchon and the cooperative efforts of the American armed forces with the United Nations Allies have won us a victory in Korea. But this is only the first battle in a major international struggle which now is engulfing the Far East and the entire world." Downs afterwards repeated this belief on "ABC Evening News" while reporting on the USS "Pueblo" incident in 1968. Berlin Crisis: 4 June – 9 November 1961. The Berlin Crisis of 1961 was a political-military confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union at Checkpoint Charlie with both a number of American and Soviet/East German tanks and troops at stand off at each other only 100 yards on either side of the checkpoint. The reason behind the confrontation was about the occupational status of the German capital city, Berlin, and of post–World War II Germany. The Berlin Crisis started when the USSR launched an ultimatum demanding the withdrawal of all armed forces from Berlin, including the Western armed forces in West Berlin. The crisis culminated in the city's de facto partition with the East German erection of the Berlin Wall. This stand-off ended peacefully on 28 October following a US-Soviet understanding to withdraw tanks and reduce tensions. Cuban Missile Crisis: 15–28 October 1962. The Cuban Missile Crisis: a confrontation on the stationing of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba, in response to the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion, is considered as having been the closest to a nuclear exchange, which could have precipitated a Third World War. The crisis peaked on 27 October, with three separate major incidents occurring on the same day, all of these incidents having been initiated by the US military. Despite what many believe to be the closest the world has come to a nuclear conflict, throughout the entire standoff, the Doomsday Clock, which is run by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists to estimate how close the end of the world, or doomsday, is, with midnight being the apocalypse, stayed at a relatively stable seven minutes to midnight. This has been explained as being due to the brevity of the crisis, since the clock monitored more long term factors such as leadership of countries, conflicts, wars, and political upheavals, as well as societies reactions to said factors. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists now credits the political developments resulting from the Cuban Missile Crisis with having actually enhanced global stability. The Bulletin posits that future crises and occasions that might otherwise escalate, were rendered as more stable due to two major factors: Sino-Soviet border conflicts: 2 March – 11 September 1969. The Sino-Soviet border conflict was a seven-month undeclared military border war between the Soviet Union and China at the height of the Sino-Soviet split in 1969. The most serious of these border clashes, which brought the world's two largest communist states to the brink of war, occurred in March 1969 in the vicinity of Zhenbao (Damansky) Island on the Ussuri (Wusuli) River, near Manchuria. The conflict resulted in a ceasefire, with a return to the status quo. Critics point out that the Chinese attack on Zhenbao was to deter any potential future Soviet invasions; that by killing some Soviets, China demonstrated that it could not be 'bullied'; and that Mao wanted to teach them 'a bitter lesson'. China's relations with the USSR remained sour after the conflict, despite the border talks, which began in 1969 and continued inconclusively for a decade. Domestically, the threat of war caused by the border clashes inaugurated a new stage in the Cultural Revolution; that of China's thorough militarization. The 9th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, held in the aftermath of the Zhenbao Island incident, confirmed Defense Minister Lin Biao as Mao's heir apparent. Following the events of 1969, the Soviet Union further increased its forces along the Sino-Soviet border, and in the Mongolian People's Republic. Bangladesh liberation War of 1971. The Bangladesh Liberation War was a military confrontation between Bangladeshi nationalist forces called Mukti Bahini and Pakistan that occurred in East Pakistan as a war independence. The war began with the Bangladeshi declaration of independence on 26th March, following the Operation Searchlight by the Pakistan armed forces. The preemptive aerial strikes on 11 Indian Air Force stations by Pakistan led to the commencement of hostilities with India and India's entry into the war of independence in East Pakistan on the side of Bengali nationalist forces. The Soviet Union sympathised with the East Pakistanis, and supported the Indian Army and Mukti Bahini's incursion against Pakistan during the war, in a broader view of recognising that the succession of East Pakistan as Independent Bangladesh would weaken the position of its rivals—the United States and China. The Soviet Union gave assurances to India that if a confrontation with the United States or China developed, it would take counter-measures. This assurance was enshrined in the Indo-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation signed in August 1971. The United States stood with Pakistan by supporting it morally, politically, economically and materially when U.S. President Richard Nixon and his Secretary of State Henry Kissinger refused to use rhetoric in a hopeless attempt to intervene in a large civil war. The U.S. establishment perceived to the impression that they needed Pakistan to help stop Soviet influence in South Asia in an informal alliance with India. Nixon feared that an Indian invasion of Pakistan would mean total Soviet domination of the region, and that it would seriously undermine the global position of the United States and the regional position of America's new tactical ally, China. Nixon encouraged Jordan and Iran to send military supplies to Pakistan, while also encouraging China to increase its arms supplies to Pakistan, but all supplies were very limited. The Nixon administration also ignored reports it received of the "genocidal" activities of the Pakistani Armed Forces in East Pakistan, most notably the Blood telegram, and this prompted widespread criticism and condemnation—both by the United States Congress and in the international press. Then United States Ambassador to the United Nations, George H. W. Bush, introduced a resolution in the United Nations Security Council calling for a cease-fire and the withdrawal of armed forces by India and Pakistan. However, it was vetoed by the Soviet Union, and the following days witnessed the use of great pressure on the Soviets from the Nixon-Kissinger duo to get India to withdraw, but to no avail. When Pakistan's defeat in the eastern sector seemed certain, Nixon deployed Task Force 74—led by the aircraft carrier —into the Bay of Bengal. "Enterprise" and its escort ships arrived on station on 11 December 1971. The United Kingdom also deployed a carrier battle group led by the aircraft carrier to the Bay, on her final deployment. On 6 and 13 December, the Soviet Navy dispatched two groups of cruisers and destroyers from Vladivostok; they trailed US Task Force 74 into the Indian Ocean from 18 December 1971 until 7 January 1972. The Soviets also had a nuclear submarine to help ward off the threat posed by the USS "Enterprise" task force in the Indian Ocean. As the war progressed, it became apparent to the United States that India was going to invade and disintegrate Pakistan in a matter of weeks, therefore President Nixon spoke with the USSR General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev on a hotline on 10 December, where Nixon reportedly urged Brezhnev to restrain India as he quoted: "in the strongest possible terms to restrain India with which … you [Brezhnev] have great influence and for whose actions you must share responsibility." After the war, the United States accepted the new balance of power and recognised India as a dominant player in South Asia; the US immediately engaged in strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries in the successive years. The Soviet Union, while being sympathetic to Pakistan's loss, decided to engage with Pakistan after sending an invitation through Rodionov to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who paid a state visit to the Soviet Union in 1972 to strengthen bilateral relations that continued over the years. Yom Kippur War super-power tensions: 6–25 October 1973. The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, or October War, began with Arab victories. Israel successfully counterattacked. Tensions grew between the US (which supported Israel) and the Soviet Union (which sided with the Arab states). American and Soviet naval forces came close to firing upon each other. Admiral Murphy of the US reckoned the chances of the Soviet squadron attempting a first strike against his fleet at 40 percent. The Pentagon moved Defcon status from 4to3. The superpowers had been pushed to the brink of war, but tensions eased with the ceasefire brought in under UNSC 339. NORAD computer error of 1979: 9 November 1979. The United States made emergency retaliation preparations after NORAD saw on-screen indications that a full-scale Soviet attack had been launched. No attempt was made to use the "red telephone" hotline to clarify the situation with the USSR and it was not until early-warning radar systems confirmed no such launch had taken place that NORAD realized that a computer system test had caused the display errors. A senator inside the NORAD facility at the time described an atmosphere of absolute panic. A GAO investigation led to the construction of an off-site test facility to prevent similar mistakes. "Petrov save" incident: 26 September 1983. A false alarm occurred on the Soviet nuclear early warning system, showing the launch of American LGM-30 Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missiles from bases in the United States. A retaliatory attack was prevented by Stanislav Petrov, a Soviet Air Defence Forces officer, who realised the system had simply malfunctioned (which was borne out by later investigations). Able Archer escalations: 2–11 November 1983. During Able Archer 83, a ten-day NATO exercise simulating a period of conflict escalation that culminated in a DEFCON 1 nuclear strike, some members of the Soviet Politburo and armed forces treated the events as a ruse of war concealing a genuine first strike. In response, the military prepared for a coordinated counter-attack by readying nuclear forces and placing air units stationed in the Warsaw Pact states of East Germany and Poland under high alert. However, the state of Soviet preparation for retaliation ceased upon completion of the Able Archer exercises. Norwegian rocket incident: 25 January 1995. The Norwegian rocket incident is the first World WarIII close call to occur outside the Cold War. This incident occurred when Russia's Olenegorsk early warning station accidentally mistook the radar signature from a Black Brant XII research rocket (being jointly launched by Norwegian and US scientists from Andøya Rocket Range), as appearing to be the radar signature of the launch of a Trident SLBM missile. In response, Russian President Boris Yeltsin was summoned and the "Cheget" nuclear briefcase was activated for the first and only time. However, the high command was soon able to determine that the rocket was not entering Russian airspace, and promptly aborted plans for combat readiness and retaliation. It was retrospectively determined that, while the rocket scientists had informed thirty states including Russia about the test launch, the information had not reached Russian radar technicians. Incident at Pristina airport: 12 June 1999. On 12 June 1999, the day following the end of the Kosovo War, some 250 Russian peacekeepers occupied the Pristina International Airport ahead of the arrival of NATO troops and were to secure the arrival of reinforcements by air. American NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe General Wesley Clark ordered the use of force against the Russians. Mike Jackson, a British Army general who contacted the Russians during the incident, refused to enforce Clark's orders, famously telling him "I'm not going to start the Third World War for you". Captain James Blunt, the lead officer at the front of the NATO column in the direct armed stand-off against the Russians, received the "Destroy!" orders from Clark over the radio, but he followed Jackson's orders to encircle the airfield instead and later said in an interview that even without Jackson's intervention he would have refused to follow Clark's order. Extended usage of the term. Cold War. As Soviet-American relations grew more tense in the post-World WarII period, the fear that it could escalate into World WarIII was ever-present. A Gallup poll in December 1950 found that more than half of Americans considered World WarIII to have already started. In 2004, commentator Norman Podhoretz proposed that the Cold War, lasting from the surrender of the Axis Powers until the fall of the Berlin Wall, might rightly be called World WarIII. By Podhoretz's reckoning, "World WarIV" would be the global campaign against Islamofascism. Still the majority of historians would seem to hold that World WarIII would necessarily have to be a worldwide "war in which large forces from many countries fought" and a war that "involves most of the principal nations of the world". In his book "Secret Weapons of the Cold War", Bill Yenne explains that the military standoff that occurred between the two 'Superpowers', namely the United States and the Soviet Union, from the 1940s through to 1991, was only the Cold War, which ultimately helped to enable mankind to avert the possibility of an all out nuclear confrontation, and that it certainly was not World WarIII. War on terror. The "war on terror" that began with the September 11 attacks has been claimed by some to be World WarIII or sometimes as World WarIV. Others have disparaged such claims as "distorting American history." While there is general agreement amongst historians regarding the definitions and extent of the first two world wars, namely due to the unmistakable global scale of aggression and self-destruction of these two wars, a few have claimed that a "World War" might now no longer require such worldwide and large scale aggression and carnage. Still, such claims of a new "lower threshold of aggression", that might now be sufficient to qualify a war as a "World War" have not gained such widespread acceptance and support as the definitions of the first two world wars have received amongst historians. War on ISIL. On 1 February 2015, Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari declared that the War on ISIL was effectively "World WarIII", due to ISIL's declaration of a Worldwide Caliphate, its aims to conquer the world, and its success in spreading the conflict to multiple countries outside of the Levant region. In response to the November 2015 Paris attacks, King of Jordan Abdullah II said "We are facing a Third World War [within Islam]". In his State of the Union Address on 12 January 2016, U.S. President Barack Obama warned that news reports granting ISIL the supposed ability to foment WWIII might be excessive and irresponsible, stating that, "as we focus on destroying ISIL, over-the-top claims that this is World WarIII just play into their hands. Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages pose an enormous danger to civilians and must be stopped. But they do not threaten our national existence." Multiple small wars as a "third war". In multiple recorded interviews under somewhat casual circumstances, comparing the conflagrations of World WarI andII to the ongoing lower intensity wars of the 21st century, Pope Francis has said, "The world is at war, "because it has lost peace"", and "perhaps one can speak of a third war, one fought piecemeal". Hypothetical scenarios. In 1949, after the unleashing of nuclear weaponry at the end of WWII, physicist Albert Einstein suggested that any outcome of a possible WWIII would be so dire as to revert mankind back to the Stone Age. When asked by journalist Alfred Werner what types of weapons Einstein believed World WarIII might be fought with, Einstein warned, "I know not with what weapons World WarIII will be fought, but World WarIV will be fought with sticks and stones". A 1998 "New England Journal of Medicine" overview found that "Although many people believe that the threat of a nuclear attack largely disappeared with the end of the Cold War, there is considerable evidence to the contrary". The United States – Russia mutual detargeting agreement in 1994 was largely symbolic, and did not change the amount of time required to launch an attack. The most likely "accidental-attack" scenario was believed to be a retaliatory launch due to a false warning. Historically, World War I happened through an escalating crisis; World War II happened through deliberate action. Both sides often assume their side will win a "short" fight; according to a 2014 poll, 3/4 of the public in China believes their military would win in a war with the U.S. Hypothesized flashpoints in the 2010s and the 2020s included Russian intervention in Ukraine, Chinese expansion into adjacent islands and seas and Russian, American, Turkish and other foreign interventions in the Syrian Civil War. Other hypothesized risks are that a war involving or between Iran–Saudi Arabia, Iran–Israel, India–Pakistan, Russia–Ukraine, North Korea–South Korea, China–India and China–Taiwan. Wars that could escalate via alliances or intervention into a war between "great powers" such as the United States, Russia, China and India; or that a "rogue commander" under any nuclear power might launch an unauthorized strike that escalates into full war. Some scenarios involve risks due to upcoming changes from the known "status quo". In the 1980s the Strategic Defense Initiative made an effort at nullifying the USSR's nuclear arsenal; some analysts believe the initiative was "destabilizing". In his book "Destined for War", Graham Allison views the global rivalry between the established power, the US, and the rising power, China, as an example of the Thucydides Trap. Allison states that historically, "12 of 16 past cases where a rising power has confronted a ruling power" have led to fighting. In January 2020 the Union of Concerned Scientists advanced its Doomsday Clock, citing (among other factors) a predicted destabilizing effect from upcoming hypersonic weapons. Emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, could hypothetically generate risk in the decades ahead. A 2018 RAND Corporation report has argued that AI and associated information technology "will have a large effect on nuclear-security issues in the next quarter century". A hypothetical future AI could provide a destabilizing ability to track "second-launch" launchers. Incorporating AI into decision support systems used to decide whether to launch, could also generate new risks, including the risk of an adversarial exploitation of such an AI's algorithms by a third party to trigger a launch recommendation. A perception that some sort of emerging technology would lead to "world domination" might also be destabilizing, for example by leading to fear of a pre-emptive strike.

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Profile in Silver "Profile in Silver" is the first segment of the twentieth episode of the first season (1985–86) of the television series "The Twilight Zone". In this segment, a time traveler interferes in the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and must find a way to repair the resulting damage to the timeline. Plot. Dr. Joseph Fitzgerald has traveled back in time from the year 2172 and assumed the identity of an instructor at Harvard University. His mission is to video record the assassination of John F. Kennedy, from whom he is descended. Fitzgerald is nervous about watching his own ancestor be murdered. Dr. Kate Wang, a colleague from his own time, rebukes him for carrying around a 1964 coin with Kennedy's image, but he implores her to let this minor infraction against time travel rules slide. At the scene of the assassination, Fitzgerald impulsively shouts for the president to take cover. President Kennedy ducks, and the shot misses him. A grateful Kennedy invites Fitzgerald to stay at the White House. As Kennedy and his entourage return home, the president is notified that Secretary Nikita Khrushchev has been assassinated and Soviet troops have captured West Berlin. Fitzgerald consults his wrist computer, which informs him that his alteration of history has caused massive rips in the fabric of time. The assassination of Khrushchev was not enough to fix the damage; all possible outcomes to this timeline involve war between the superpowers. The only way to repair the timeline is for Kennedy to die in the exact manner as history recorded. The president's Secret Service bodyguard, Ray, has grown suspicious of Fitzgerald after finding his 1964 coin and examining his video camera, the shell of which is an unknown alloy that cannot be opened. Kennedy summons Fitzgerald, who tells them the whole story, showing a holographic display from the camera as partial proof. Kennedy volunteers to go back and be assassinated in order to repair time. Fitzgerald, overwhelmed by his ancestor's heroism, removes his Harvard school ring, which is actually his time travel device, and places it on Kennedy's hand. Kennedy is transported to Fitzgerald's home, in 2172. Fitzgerald takes Kennedy's place in the Dallas motorcade. At Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, the dead body of "President Kennedy" (actually Fitzgerald) is attended to by Dr. Wang. Ray recognizes her ring because it is identical to Fitzgerald's. She tells him she knew what Fitzgerald's fate would be, since even actions committed during time travel become part of history. At Harvard University in 2172, John F. Kennedy delivers a speech to a classroom full of students, in which he implicitly lauds Fitzgerald's sacrifice and the sacrifices of other honorable men like him. Response. Starloggers.com ranks it as number two on its top 10 "Twilight Zone" episodes from the 1980s.

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Future War 198X is a 1982 Japanese anime science fiction war film directed by Toshio Masuda and Tomoharu Katsumata. Partially inspired by the speculative war novel "" by General Sir John Hackett, the movie's plot is focused on a World War III set in the later part of the 1980s, with the digit X denoting the specific year the war breaks out. Plot. On 16 September of an unspecified year in the 1980s, the United States conducts an orbital test of the new Space Ranger antimissile laser defense system. American scientist Burt Gains oversees the test under the aegis of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency with the target warhead being launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base as the international media covers it. After the Space Ranger module successfully destroys the warhead, the crew of the "Space Voyager" shuttle carrying the module returns to worldwide adulation. Gains looks at the successful test as a sign that nuclear war can be prevented but has reservations about its potential to inflame the nuclear arms race. His sister Laura and his best friend Wataru Mikumo soon find out that he was kidnapped by Soviet spies while heading off to work. A Soviet Alfa-class submarine is tasked to transport Burt to Vladivostok. Seeing the danger of Burt forced to replicate his Space Ranger work for the Soviets, US President Gibson orders the submarine to sink with nuclear torpedoes. Tension builds up between the US and the USSR in the wake of the sinking, with President Gibson attempting a peaceful solution with the Soviets, who promptly put their forces in Eastern Europe on high alert. Wataru is promoted to lead the Space Ranger research team as Laura is medically confined due to depression over her brother's death. On Christmas Eve, the Soviets get the news that an elite Soviet Air Force pilot has defected, flying the USSR's most advanced strike aircraft, the Black Dragon, to a West German Air Force base in West Germany. Fearful of NATO acquiring Black Dragon's technology, the Soviets launch a Spetsnaz commando raid to kill the pilot and destroy the plane which leaves a wake of devastation in the process. The raid is viewed as an attack on West Germany and NATO forces and soon NATO declares war. The Soviets and the Warsaw Pact forces go into battle, and after months of fighting they easily blast their way across West Germany and the Low Countries, eventually capturing Paris. The Soviets keep up the offensive, with attacks on Iran, Turkey, and the other parts of the Middle East to capture oil resources while launching airstrikes on Japan due to Japan supporting NATO forces. China joins the war as well at first on the side of the Soviets and invades Taiwan, Hong Kong, and South Korea. However disagreements over which nation will control Japan and racial tensions lead to fighting between Soviet and PLA forces who then attack the USSR's Far East region. US forces invade Cuba and Nicaragua. Soviet First Deputy Premier Kutuzov convenes the Politburo on Premier Orlov's behalf and proposes a ceasefire to secure oil rights to the Middle East while plotting to arrest Defense Minister Bulgarin, who earlier pushed Orlov to go to war. However, Bulgarin appears and has the entire Politburo arrested by Soviet forces that are loyal to him. A Soviet Navy ballistic missile submarine receives orders to launch on the US, but comes under attack from the US Navy and sustains heavy damage. Waiting for a recall order from Premier Orlov himself, the submarine captain refuses to launch the missiles, but with the sub rapidly sinking, his executive officer kills him and completes the launch with his communications officer. Several US cities are destroyed in the attack and President Gibson authorizes a limited nuclear counterstrike. Bulgarin launches a second strike while one of his assistants kills Orlov as he tries to negotiate peace with Gibson over the hotline. The Soviet attack hits more US and allied cities, with casualties estimated at 20 million. Gibson learns that Vandenberg is still safe and authorizes the Space Ranger's deployment with Wataru sent up as well. Meanwhile, survivors in the war zones begin a peace movement together with deserting soldiers. When Bulgarin learns that the deserters include Soviet and Warsaw Pact troops, outraged that his forces are abandoning the Soviet cause he prepares to launch all remaining Soviet nuclear missiles, but Kutuzov reappears in a bid to force him to stop. Bulgarin is killed, but not before he presses the launch button with the override canceled. Word of the new strike inbound reaches Gibson and the Space Ranger forces, with four modules in orbit to stop the warheads. While the satellites destroy many MIRV warheads, three are destroyed by the Soviets' killer satellite network and one warhead severely damages the fourth and the Space Voyager shuttle. Wataru decides to head to the last remaining satellite and repair it ahead of another wave of MIRVs before his oxygen runs out. The module is repaired and Wataru shoots down seven MIRVs but is forced to maneuver the satellite to get close and shoot down the eighth bearing down on Los Angeles, but the blast shakes him loose from the module and out into space. Laura, who was evacuated to the US after being caught in the Soviet airstrikes on Japan, flies in another shuttle to save Wataru while Kutuzov orders the crew of a nearby Soviet space station to rescue him. A ceasefire is declared by both forces and both sides agree to work together to help rebuild the damaged world. Production. Toei made the film with the assistance of former JSDF Major General Iwano Masataka. It created a controversy when it was alleged that the film was frightening children with the depicted threat of the Soviet Union. Production was boycotted by the Toei Animation Company labor union, which was joined by more than thirty organizations. These included the Mothers Association of Japan and the Teachers Union in Tokyo. A 90-minute cut of the film was released on VHS in Australia by Wizard Video. This version was not a full English dub, but instead retained Japanese dialogue while providing an English voice-over summary of the plot.  It also featured music by Tangerine Dream, Asia and Rush. The original Japanese version was 125 minutes long, with a German-language release of 115 minutes.

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When the Wind Blows (1986 film) When the Wind Blows is a 1986 British animated disaster film directed by Jimmy Murakami based on Raymond Briggs' comic book of the same name. The film stars the voices of John Mills and Peggy Ashcroft as the two main characters and was scored by Roger Waters. The film accounts a rural English couple's attempt to survive a nearby nuclear attack and maintain a sense of normality in the subsequent fallout. The film was Briggs' second collaboration with TVC, after their efforts with a special based on another work of his, "The Snowman", in 1982. It was distributed by Recorded Releasing in the UK, and by Kings Road Entertainment in the United States. A subsequent graphic novel by Briggs, "Ethel and Ernest" (1998), makes it clear that Briggs based the protagonist couple in "When the Wind Blows" on his own parents. "When the Wind Blows" is a hybrid of traditional and stop-motion animation. The characters of Jim and Hilda Bloggs are hand-drawn, as well as the area outside of the Bloggses house, but their home and most of the objects in it are real objects that seldom move but are animated with stop motion when they do. The stop motion environments utilised are based on the style used for the "Protect and Survive" public information films. "Protect And Survive" is also featured as the booklet that Jim takes instructions from to survive the nuclear attack. The soundtrack album features music by David Bowie (who performed the title song), Roger Waters, Genesis, Squeeze, Hugh Cornwell and Paul Hardcastle. Plot. Jim and Hilda Bloggs are an elderly couple living in a tidy isolated cottage in rural Sussex, in southeast England. Jim frequently travels to the local town to read newspapers and keep abreast of the deteriorating international situation regarding the Soviet–Afghan War; while frequently misunderstanding some specifics of the conflict, he is fully aware of the growing risk of an all-out nuclear war with the Soviet Union. Jim is horrified at a radio news report stating that a war may be only three days away, and sets about preparing for the worst as instructed by his government-issued Protect and Survive pamphlets. As Hilda continues her daily routine, and their son Ron (living elsewhere), who is implied to have fallen into fatalistic despair, dismisses such preparations as pointless (referencing the song "We'll All Go Together When We Go" by Tom Lehrer), Jim builds a lean-to shelter out of several doors inside their home (which he consistently calls the "inner core or refuge" per the pamphlets) and prepares a stock of supplies. As Jim goes on a shopping trip for the food supplies, he is unable to get any bread, due to "panic purchasing". He also follows through seemingly strange instructions such as painting his windows with white paint and readying sacks to lie down in when a nuclear strike hits. Despite Jim's concerns, he and Hilda are confident they can survive the war, as they did World War II in their childhoods, and that a Soviet defeat will ensue. Hearing a warning on the radio of an imminent ICBM strike, Jim rushes himself and Hilda into their shelter, just escaping injury as distant shock waves batter their home. They remain in the shelter for a couple of nights, and when they emerge, they find all their utilities, services and communications have been destroyed by the nuclear blast. In spite of the shelter Jim has built, over the following days, they gradually grow sick from exposure to the radioactive fallout, resulting in radiation poisoning. Ron and his wife Beryl are not heard from again, though their deaths are heavily implied. In spite of all this, Jim and Hilda stoically attempt to carry on, preparing tea and dinners on a camping stove, noting numerous errands they will have to run once the crisis passes, and trying to renew their evaporated water stock with (contaminated) rainwater. Jim keeps faith that a rescue operation will be launched to help civilians. They step out into the garden, where radioactive ash has blocked out the sun and caused heavy fog. They are oblivious to the dead animals and the few remaining animals suffering from the radiation (or feeding on the dead in the case of rats), the destroyed buildings of the nearby town and scorched, dead vegetation outside their cottage (aside from their own garden). The couple initially remains optimistic; however, as they take in the debris of their home, prolonged isolation, lack of food and water, growing radiation sickness, and confusion about the events that have taken place, they begin to fall into a state of despair. As they continue to attempt to survive, Jim worries that the Russian military will come to attack their house (having a vision where a tall, red eyed Russian soldier with a bayoneted tommy gun breaks into their house), and that they will have to kill them or be sent to a concentration camp. Hilda humorously suggests offering a cup of tea to them, saying that "Russians like tea". The Russian military never comes however, as they too were wiped out by the nuclear war. As Hilda's symptoms are worsening, she encounters a rat in the dried toilet, which frightens her severely. Her encounter with the rat, as well as her worrying symptoms - bloody diarrhoea (which Jim says is haemorrhoids), and her bleeding gums (which Jim says is caused by ill-fitting dentures) - cause her to be become slightly more suspicious of her impending fate. Jim still tries to comfort her, still optimistic that he may be able to get medications for her from the chemist. After a few days, the Bloggs are practically bedridden, and Hilda is despondent when her hair begins to fall out, after vomiting, developing painful sores and lesions. Either in denial, unaware of the extent of the nuclear holocaust, unable to comprehend it, or trying to comfort Hilda. Jim is still confident that emergency services will eventually arrive, but they never do. Hilda is subliminally aware of her fate, and suggests getting back into the paper sacks. Jim, now losing the last of his optimism, agrees to Hilda's suggestion. The film ends with the dying Jim and Hilda getting into the paper sacks, crawling back into the shelter, and praying. Jim begins with the Lord's Prayer, but, forgetting the lines, switches to "The Charge of the Light Brigade", whose militaristic and ironic undertones distress the dying Hilda, who weakly asks him not to continue. Finally, Jim's voice mumbles away into silence as he finishes the line, "...rode the Six Hundred..." Outside the shelter, the smoke and ash-filled sky begins to clear, revealing the sun rising through the gloom. At the very end of the credits, a Morse code signal taps out "MAD", which stands for mutual assured destruction, implying that the world has indeed ended. Reception. "When the Wind Blows" received positive reviews, currently having an 88% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 8 reviews. Critic Barry Lappin called it "Absolutely brilliant... It was very subtly done but the message more than gets through well". He explained that the scenes are "more than touching" and encouraged people to watch it to the very end. Colin Greenland reviewed "When the Wind Blows" for "White Dwarf" #85, and stated that "The story of Jim and Hilda Bloggs preparing for the Bomb and trying to get back to normal afterwards is heavy-handed, especially at the end, and would have been better shorter; there are odd continuity problems between the pictures and the dialogue. But it is powerful, ludicrous and shocking. It gets to you. As it ought to." Soundtrack. Originally, David Bowie was supposed to contribute several songs to the soundtrack for the film, but decided to pull out so he could focus on his upcoming album "Never Let Me Down", and instead only submitted the title track. Roger Waters was brought in to complete the project instead. Track listing. All tracks written by Roger Waters and performed by Waters and The Bleeding Heart Band except where noted. On some versions of the album, the Roger Waters tracks are all put into one 24:26 song. The lyrics to the closing song, "Folded Flags", feature a reference to the song "Hey Joe" in the lines "Hey Joe, where you goin' with that gun in your hand?" and "Hey Joe, where you goin' with that dogma in your head?" Personnel. The Bleeding Heart Band Home media releases. The film was released on VHS in the United Kingdom by CBS/Fox Video after its theatrical run, and later on laserdisc. After a short theatrical run in the United States in one theatre and grossing $5,274 at the box office in 1988, it was released on VHS by International Video Entertainment and on laserdisc by Image Entertainment. It was released on DVD in 2005 by Channel 4, with 0 region coding: the official UK DVD is still PAL format. The film was re-released on DVD in September 2010, again by Channel 4, it is formatted in NTSC and All region coding. In the United States it was released on Blu-ray on 11 November 2014 by Twilight Time in a limited edition of 3000, and in the United Kingdom, a dual-format release containing both the DVD and Blu-ray version was released on 22 January 2018 by the BFI. Severin Films released another Blu-ray and a DVD of the movie in the United States through their Severin Kids label on 21 April 2020.

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The War Game The War Game is a 1966 British pseudo-documentary film that depicts a nuclear war and its aftermath. Written, directed and produced by Peter Watkins for the BBC, it caused dismay within the BBC and also within government, and was subsequently withdrawn before the provisional screening date of 6 October 1965. The corporation said that "the effect of the film has been judged by the BBC to be too horrifying for the medium of broadcasting. It will, however, be shown to invited audiences..." The film eventually premiered at the National Film Theatre in London, on 13 April 1966, where it ran until 3 May. It was then shown abroad at several film festivals, including the Venice one where it won the Special Prize. It also won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 1967. The film was eventually televised in Great Britain on 31 July 1985, during the week before the fortieth anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing, the day before a repeat screening of "Threads". Synopsis. "The War Game" depicts the prelude to, and the immediate weeks of the aftermath of, a Soviet nuclear attack against Britain. The narrator says that Britain's current nuclear deterrent policy threatens a would-be aggressor with devastation from Vulcan and Victor nuclear bombers of the British V bomber force. The film begins on Friday, 16 September (presumably 1966; this date did not appear again until 1977). A news report tells of a Chinese invasion of South Vietnam; tensions escalate when the United States authorises tactical nuclear warfare against the Chinese. Although Soviet and East German forces threaten to invade West Berlin if the US does not withdraw its decision to use nuclear weapons against the Chinese, the US does not acquiesce to communist demands and the invasion takes place; two US Army divisions attempt to fight their way into Berlin to counter this, but the Russian and East German forces overwhelm them in conventional battle. In order to turn the tide, President Johnson authorises the NATO commanders to use their tactical nuclear weapons, and they soon do so. An escalating nuclear war results, during which larger Soviet strategic IRBMs are launched at Britain. The film remarks that many Soviet missiles were, at the time, believed to be liquid-fuelled and stored above ground, making them vulnerable to attack and bombings. It hypothesises that in any nuclear crisis, the Soviet Union would be obliged to fire all of them as early as possible in order to avoid their destruction by counterattack, hence the rapid progression from tactical to strategic nuclear exchange. In the chaos just before the attack, towns and cities are evacuated and residents forced to move to the country. On 18 September at 9:11am, a doctor visits a family with an ill patient. As he finishes checking up on her and steps outside the air-raid sirens start to wail in the distance, followed by a klaxon horn from a police car. The doctor rushes back in with two civil defence workers and starts bringing tables together to create a makeshift shelter. Suddenly, the town of Rochester is struck by an off-target one-megaton Soviet thermonuclear warhead aimed at RAF Manston, a target which, along with the Maidstone barracks, is mentioned in scenes showing the immediate effects of the attack. The missile's explosion causes instant flash blindness of those nearby, followed by a firestorm caused by the blast wave. The air in the centre of the firestorm is replaced by methane and carbon dioxide and monoxide and the temperature rises to about 500 degrees. The firemen soon pass out from the heat in the chaos. By then the V-bombers carrying green Yellow Sun gravity bombs and Blue Steel standoff missiles reach the border of the Soviet Union and presumably breach anti-aircraft defences by using a special instrument in their cockpits to jam defending radar signals. They head to their countervalue targets, civilian cities. Later, society collapses due to overwhelming radiation sickness and the depletion of food and medical supplies. There is widespread psychological damage and consequently a rising occurrence of suicide. The country's infrastructure is destroyed; the British Army burns corpses, while police shoot looters during food riots. The provisional government becomes increasingly disliked due to its rationing of resources and use of lethal force, and anti-authority uprisings begin. Civil disturbance and obstruction of government officers become capital offences; two men are shown being executed by firing squad for such acts. Several traumatised and bewildered orphan children are briefly featured, questioning whether they have any future and desiring to be "nothing." The film ends bleakly on the first Christmas Day after the nuclear war, held in a ruined church with a vicar who futilely attempts to provide hope to his traumatised congregation. The closing credits include a version of "Silent Night". Style. The story is told in the style of a news magazine programme. It wavers between a pseudo-documentary and a drama film, with characters acknowledging the presence of the camera crew in some segments and others (in particular the nuclear attack) filmed as if the camera was not present. It features several different strands that alternate throughout, including a documentary-style chronology of the main events, featuring reportage-like images of the war, the nuclear strikes, and their effects on civilians; brief contemporary interviews, in which passers-by are interviewed about what turns out to be their general lack of knowledge of nuclear war issues; optimistic commentary from public figures that clashes with the other images in the film; and fictional interviews with key figures as the war unfolds. The film also features a voice-over narration that describes the events depicted as plausible occurrences during and after a nuclear war. The narration attempts to instil in the viewing audience that the civil defence policies of 1965 have not realistically prepared the public for such events, particularly suggesting that the policies neglected the possibility of panic buying that would occur for building materials to construct improvised fallout shelters. The public are generally depicted as lacking all understanding of nuclear matters with the exception of the individual with a double-barrelled shotgun who successfully implemented the contemporary civil defence advice, and heavily sandbagged his home, but the docudrama does not return to this modestly prepared individual; instead, for the rest of the drama, it focuses primarily on individuals who did not understand the preparations to be made in advance or otherwise failed to make such preparations, and follows the pandemonium these individuals go on to experience. The film contains this quotation from the Stephen Vincent Benét poem "Song for Three Soldiers": Of his intent, Peter Watkins said: ... Interwoven among scenes of "reality" were stylized interviews with a series of "establishment figures" – an Anglican Bishop, a nuclear strategist, etc. The outrageous statements by some of these people (including the Bishop) – in favour of nuclear weapons, even nuclear war – were actually based on genuine quotations. Other interviews with a doctor, a psychiatrist, etc. were more sober, and gave details of the effects of nuclear weapons on the human body and mind. In this film I was interested in breaking the illusion of media-produced "reality". My question was – "Where is 'reality'? ... in the madness of statements by these artificially-lit establishment figures quoting the official doctrine of the day, or in the madness of the staged and fictional scenes from the rest of my film, which presented the consequences of their utterances? To this end, the docudrama employs juxtaposition by, for example, quickly cutting from the scenes of horror after an immediate escalation from military to city nuclear attacks to a snippet of a recording of a calm lecture by a person resembling Herman Kahn, a renowned RAND strategist, hypothesizing that a counterforce (military) nuclear war would not necessarily escalate immediately into countervalue-targeted (i.e. civilian-targeted) nuclear war. The effect of this juxtaposition is to make the speaker appear out of touch with the "reality" of rapid escalation, as depicted immediately before his contribution. Filming. The film was shot in the Kent towns of Tonbridge, Gravesend, Chatham and Dover. The cast was almost entirely made up of non-actors, casting having taken place via a series of public meetings several months earlier. Much of the filming of the post-strike devastation was shot at the Grand Shaft Barracks, Dover. The narration was provided by Peter Graham with Michael Aspel reading the quotations from source material. BBC screening. "The War Game" itself finally saw television broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC2 on 31 July 1985, as part of a special season of programming entitled "After the Bomb" (which had been Watkins's original working title for "The War Game"). "After the Bomb" commemorated the 40th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The broadcast was preceded by an introduction from Ludovic Kennedy. Reception. The film holds a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 93% based on 14 reviews, with an average score of 8.46/10. Roger Ebert gave the film a perfect score, calling it "[o]ne of the most skillful documentary films ever made." He praised the "remarkable authenticity" of the firestorm sequence and describes its portrayal of bombing's aftermath as "certainly the most horrifying ever put on film (although, to be sure, greater suffering has taken place in real life, and is taking place today)." "They should string up bedsheets between the trees and show "The War Game" in every public park" he concludes, "It should be shown on television, perhaps right after one of those half-witted war series in which none of the stars ever gets killed." David Cornelius of "DVD Talk" called it "one of the most disturbing, overwhelming, and downright important films ever produced." He writes that the film finds Watkins "at his very best, angry and provocative and desperate to tell the truth, yet not once dipping below anything but sheer greatness from a filmmaking perspective [...] an unquestionable masterpiece of raw journalism, political commentary, and unrestrained terror." Accolades. The film won the 1967 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. In a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000, voted for by industry professionals, "The War Game" was placed 27th. "The War Game" was also voted 74th in Channel Four's 100 Greatest Scary Moments.

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The Damned (1963 film) The Damned (released as These Are the Damned in the United States) is a 1963 British science fiction horror film directed by Joseph Losey and starring Macdonald Carey, Shirley Anne Field, Viveca Lindfors and Oliver Reed. Based on H.L. Lawrence's 1960 novel "The Children of Light", it was a Hammer Film production. Plot. Simon Wells, a middle-aged American tourist, is on a boating holiday off the south coast of England. He has recently divorced and left his career as an insurance executive. In Weymouth, he meets 20-year-old Joan, who lures him into a brutal mugging at the hands of her brother King and his motorbike gang. The next day Joan defies her overprotective brother and joins Simon on his boat. Simon is willing to forgive and forget; Joan implies that the beating was inevitable after Simon attempted to pick up Joan in a bar. She describes the abuse she suffers from King whenever men show interest in her. Simon urges her to run away with him but she insists upon returning to shore. Their time on the water is observed by a member of King's gang. That night, Joan and Simon meet at a cliff-top house where they have sex. The house is surrounded by King's gang but the couple escape and reach the relative safety of a nearby military base. The couple descend the cliff to the beach, pursued by King. They find a network of caves leading to an underground bunker attached to the military base. Within the caves live nine children, all aged 11, whose skin is cold to the touch. They appear healthy, well-dressed and intelligent but know little about the outside world. Their home is under continuous video surveillance and they are educated via closed circuit television by Bernard, who deflects questions about their purpose and their isolation with promises that they will learn the answers someday. The children are regularly visited by men in radiation protection suits. Although Bernard is forced to keep the children under watch, he allows them one chamber in the caves without cameras. The children are unaware that their "secret hideout" is known to their captors and they keep there mementos of people that they believe are their parents. The children host Joan, Simon and King in this "secret" room and smuggle food to them. Joan and Simon plan to rescue the children and they pressure King into helping them; the visitors soon feel unwell. Bernard urges the children to give up their new friends, and reveals his knowledge of their secret place. The children refuse and destroy the surveillance cameras. Bernard sends men in radiation suits but King and Simon overpower them. Simon uses one of their Geiger counters and discovers that the children are radioactive. The intruders lead the children out of the caves but they are ambushed by more men in radiation suits and most of the children are taken back to the bunker. King grabs one of the boys and escapes in a stolen car. He is overcome by radiation sickness and orders the boy out of the car. The boy is immediately recaptured. King is pursued by a helicopter, loses control of the car and is killed. Joan and Simon escape by boat, but they are also overcome by sickness. A helicopter hovers above as their boat drifts off course; the pilot has orders to destroy it once the occupants are confirmed dead. Bernard confides in his mistress Freya that he regrets the children now know they are prisoners. They were born radioactive, the result of a nuclear accident. This enables them to be resistant to nuclear fallout and so they will survive the "inevitable" nuclear war to come, according to Bernard. When Freya rejects him and his plan, he kills her. The final scene depicts holiday-goers enjoying the beach, unable to hear the desperate cries of the imprisoned children nearby. Production. American director Joseph Losey had moved to Britain after being blacklisted by Hollywood. The film was produced by Hammer, which had enjoyed great success with such horror films as "Dracula," and "The Curse of Frankenstein". A script was originally written by Ben Barzman which was reasonably faithful to the original novel. Losey then had this rewritten by Evan Jones two weeks prior to filming. Losey originally wanted Neilson the sculptor to be killed by one of the helicopters but the studio insisted that Bernard kill her. The studio also wished to tone down the incestuous references between King and Joan. The sculptures featured were all by British artist Elisabeth Frink. Frink not only lent these but also was on location for their shooting and coached Lindfors on performing the sculptor’s method of building up plaster, which was then ferociously worked and carved. The film was shot at Hammer's Bray Studios and on location around Weymouth and nearby Chesil Beach. The film went over budget by £25,000. Release. The film was shot in May–June 1961, and was reviewed by the British censors on 20 December 1961, who gave it an X certificate without any cuts. However, it wasn't released in the UK until 20 May 1963, when it was shown at the London Pavilion as the second half of a double bill of X-rated horror films. In spite of the very discreet release, it was noticed by a film critic from "The Times", who gave it a very positive review, stating that "Joseph Losey is one of the most intelligent, ambitious and constantly exciting film-makers now working in this country, if not indeed in the world—"The Damned" is very much a film to be seen, for at its best it hits with a certainty of aim which is as exciting as it is devastating, and hits perhaps in a place where it is important we should be hurt." When it was released in the United States in 1963, as "These Are the Damned", it had been cut to 77 minutes. A complete print was released in US art house cinemas in 2007. On 15 January 2010, it was released on DVD as part of the Icons of Suspense Collection from Hammer Films. "The Damned" was called "the highpoint of the first wave of the British postwar Science Fiction films".

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Fail Safe (2000 film) Fail Safe is a 2000 televised broadcast play, based on "Fail-Safe", the Cold War novel by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler. The play, broadcast live in black and white on CBS, starred George Clooney, Richard Dreyfuss, Harvey Keitel, and Noah Wyle, and was one of the few live dramas on American television since its Golden Age in the 1950s and 1960s. The broadcast was introduced by Walter Cronkite (his introduction, also broadcast in black and white, is included in the DVD releases of the film): it was directed by veteran British filmmaker Stephen Frears. The novel was first adapted into a 1964 film of the same name directed by Sidney Lumet; the TV version is shorter than the 1964 film due to commercial airtime and omits a number of subplots. Plot. The time is the early-to-mid-1960s, the height of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. An unknown aircraft approaches North America from Europe. American bombers of the Strategic Air Command (SAC) are scrambled to their fail safe points near Russia. The bombers have orders not to proceed past their fail safe points without receiving a special attack code. The original "threat" is proven to be innocuous and recall orders are issued. However, due to a technical failure, the attack code, CAP811, is transmitted to Group Six, which consists of six Vindicator supersonic bombers and four escort fighters. Colonel Grady, the commanding pilot of Group Six, tries to contact SAC headquarters in Omaha to verify the fail-safe order (called Positive Check), but due to Soviet radio jamming, Grady cannot hear Omaha. Concluding that the attack order and the radio jamming could only mean war, Grady commands Group Six towards Moscow, their intended destination. At meetings in Omaha, the Pentagon, and in the fallout shelter of the White House, American politicians and scholars debate the implications of the attack. Professor Groteschele suggests the United States follow this accidental attack with a full-scale attack to force the Soviets to surrender. The President orders the Air Force to send the four escort fighters after the bombers to shoot down the Vindicators. The attempt is to show that the Vindicator attack is an accident, not a full-scale nuclear assault. After using their afterburners in an attempt to catch the bombers, the fighters run out of fuel and crash, dooming the pilots to die of exposure in the Arctic Sea. The fighters fail to destroy any bombers. The President of the United States contacts the Premier of the Soviet Union and offers assistance in attacking the group. The Soviets decline at first; then they decide to accept help. Meanwhile, the Soviet PVO Strany air defense corps has managed to shoot down two of the six planes. After accepting American help they shoot down two more planes. Two bombers remain on course to Moscow. One is a decoy and carries no bombs. The other carries two 20 megaton devices. General Bogan tells Marshal Nevsky, the Soviet commander, to ignore the decoy plane because it is harmless. Nevsky, who mistrusts Bogan, instead orders his Soviet aircraft to pursue the decoy aircraft. The Soviet fighters are then out of position to intercept the final American bomber. The decoy's feint guarantees that the remaining bomber can successfully attack. Following the failure, Nevsky collapses. As the bomber approaches Moscow, Colonel Grady opens up the radio to contact SAC to inform them that they are about to make the strike. As a last-minute measure, the Soviets fire a barrage of nuclear-tipped missiles to form a fireball in an attempt to knock the low-flying Vindicator out of the sky. The bomber shoots up two decoy missiles, which successfully leads the Soviet missiles high in the air and Colonel Grady's plane survives. With the radio open, the President attempts to persuade Grady that there is no war. Grady's son also attempts to convince him. Under standing orders that such a late recall attempt must be a Soviet trick, Grady ignores them. Grady tells his crew that "We're not just walking wounded, we're walking dead men," due to radiation from the Soviet missiles. He intends to fly the aircraft over Moscow and detonate the bombs in the plane. His co-pilot notes, "There's nothing to go home to." Meanwhile, the American president has ordered another American bomber to circle over New York with a 40-megaton payload, which should be dropped in case of the bombing of Moscow. The American ambassador in Moscow reports about the final moments of the Soviet capital before being vaporized from the blast. The American bomber receives an order to drop its bombs over New York in order for the destruction of Moscow to be reciprocated and a Third World War avoided. It was earlier revealed that the American President's wife was in New York while the events of the film transpired, meaning she would be killed in the blast. The pilot of the American bomber, General Black, commits suicide with a lethal injection just after releasing the bombs. Production. The April 9, 2000 presentation was the first live broadcast of a dramatic movie (a televised play) on CBS since May 1960. The production was shot, and aired, in black and white (the same format as the 1964 theatrical film), using 22 cameras on multiple sets.

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Group of Marxist-Leninists/Red Dawn

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Def-Con 4 Def-Con 4 is a 1985 Canadian post-apocalyptic film, portraying three astronauts who survive World War III aboard a space station and return to Earth to find greatly changed circumstances. The film's title refers to the Defense Readiness Condition (DEFCON), the United States military's nuclear alert system. Synopsis. Three astronauts in a secret spaceship lose all contact with the ground and observe what appears to be a nuclear exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union on Earth. Two months later, the spacecraft's guidance system is mysteriously reprogrammed, forcing the crew's return to Earth. The spacecraft lands considerably off-course, on a beach in eastern Nova Scotia, Canada. Jordan (Kate Lynch) is knocked unconscious on impact. Walker (John Walsch) exits first and is quickly killed by "terminals" – humans crazed by disease. Several hours later, in the middle of the night, Howe (Tim Choate) ventures out in search of help and a way to escape. He soon encounters Vinny (Maury Chaykin), a survivalist who has fortified his house with barbed wire and booby-traps. Vinny effectively saves him from the "terminals," and makes him his prisoner. As the plot develops, Vinny, fellow survivor J.J. (Lenore Zann), and Howe are captured, and taken in chains to a makeshift fortress built out of junk. In order to survive, the crew must escape to the radiation-free zones while avoiding cannibal "terminals" and a sadistic military-school student-turned-despotic ruler, and escape before a malfunctioning nuclear warhead explodes in sixty hours. Production. The film was primarily directed by Paul Donovan. Digby C. Cook directed the WWN news segment. Tony Randel directed part of the film but received no credit. Reception. TV Guide gave the movie 3 out of 5 stars, praising the war scenario, the darker approach to the apocalypse genre and the overall disturbing effect of the movie. In Creature Feature, the movie received 2.5 out of 5 stars, finding the space scenes of the movie good, but the land-based scenes commonplace. Kim Newman found the plot of a pre-apocalyptic person thrust into a post-apocalyptic world to be a cliché based on "The Time Machine" by H. G. Wells.

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World War III (film) World War III (Der Dritte Weltkrieg) is a 1998 German alternate history television pseudo-documentary, directed by Robert Stone and distributed by ZDF. An English version, in collaboration with TLC, was made as well and aired in May 1999. It depicts what might have transpired if, following the overthrow of Mikhail Gorbachev, Soviet troops, under orders from a new hard-line regime, had opened fire on demonstrators in Berlin in the fall of 1989 and precipitated World War III. The film mixes real footage of world leaders and archive footage of (for example) combat exercises and news events, with newly shot footage of citizens, soldiers, and political staff. Plot. The movie opens with clips of the US military scrambling to respond to a Soviet nuclear attack. Daniel Schorr, reporting in front of the White House, is vaporized when a nuclear weapon detonates. In the summer of 1989, East Germany is in turmoil. Many citizens are dissatisfied with their nation’s Communist leadership and seek reunification with West Germany. On October 7, Mikhail Gorbachev, a supporter of those reforms, visits East Berlin. During his return flight, the hard-line Communist leadership stages a coup that deposes Gorbachev and installs (fictional) General Vladimir Soshkin as the new Soviet leader. The Soviet government announces that Gorbachev resigned for "reasons of ill health," but Gorbachev is never heard from again, his true fate "lost in the darkness of history." Pushkin and the hard-liners fiercely resist the rise of glasnost and perestroika. They are determined to end the uprisings in East Germany and the rest of the Eastern Bloc with a swift Chinese-style military crackdown in late October. (In East Germany at least, the crackdown is not limited to demonstrators; numerous moderate Communists such as Egon Krenz and Günter Schabowski are "disappeared", never to be heard from again.) The crackdown inflames popular opposition to communism. In late November, a demonstration in Leipzig is brutally repressed by the East German Army at great loss of life. Two days later, a demonstration at the Brandenburg Gate ends with East German soldiers killing many East Berlin residents trying to scale the Berlin Wall and a West German cameraman filming the events. Those soldiers also fire shots over the wall into West Berlin. Soon after, the East German government responds to the international condemnation of their conduct by ordering all foreign journalists out of the country. In mid-December, NATO airlifts military reinforcements to West Berlin. Soon after, Secretary of State James Baker arrives in West Berlin to secretly meet with General Dmitry Leonov, the Soviet commander in East Germany, who strongly opposes Soshkin's crackdown. However, on the way to the meeting, Leonov is killed by a car bomb, for which a West German neo-Nazi group claims responsibility. After an interview with West German TV in which Soshkin implicitly threatens West Berlin, an American colonel orders that tactical nuclear weapons in West Germany be placed on high alert Soshkin responds with new threats, a massive deployment of the Soviet submarine fleet, and incursions of Soviet Bear bombers into Alaskan airspace. On January 25, 1990, several East German and Soviet tank divisions are mobilized to cut off transportation and supply links between West Germany and West Berlin, and the Soviet Air Force moves to close off East Germany's airspace. Pushkin hopes the plan will prevent the West from encroaching into the Soviet sphere of influence and isolate Berlin from the West. NATO responds by deploying thousands of additional troops into West Germany to strengthen their existing garrisons there. As the United States prepares their first military convoy across the North Atlantic, the Soviets announce their intention to blockade the U.S. Navy transports. Pushkin desires to cut off Western Europe and weaken the NATO buildup. The US and Britain condemn the blockade and last-minute attempts at a compromise fall through. When the convoy crosses into the designated exclusion zone, Soviet forces are ordered to attack. Nearly a quarter of the convoy is sunk in the ensuing battle before the NATO fleet clears the air and sea lanes to Europe. Shortly afterward, the United Nations Security Council holds an emergency session in New York City in the hopes of diffusing the hostilities between the superpowers but proves fruitless when neither side refuses to back down until the other does so. World War III has effectively begun. The world panics after the failed session and the United States dispatches (fictional) National Security Advisor Martin Jacobs to the Soviet Union for last-ditch effort talks with Pushkin. Figuring that Soshkin knows that the Soviets are losing power in Eastern Europe, Jacobs offers Soshkin an extended timetable for the Soviet withdrawal from Eastern Europe in exchange for a de-escalation of the military buildup. Pushkin refuses him utterly with one word: "Nyet" (no). The battle for Germany. On March 12, Soshkin orders a massive amphibious landing near Kiel on the Baltic coast, carried out by the Volksmarine and the Soviet Navy's Baltic Fleet. The landings catch NATO off-guard, and they scramble forces northward to push back the beachhead. The next day, Warsaw Pact ground forces drive through the Fulda Gap, with orders to push to the Rhine to divide the stretched-out NATO armies. To support the assault, the Soviet Air Force bombards targets immediately on the Baltic coast and NATO bases further inland, such as Ramstein Air Base. The overall plan is to cripple the NATO buildup with a swift strike and then press for a new round of diplomatic bargaining from a stronger strategic position. NATO forces, surprised by an enemy that far outnumbers them, are pushed back, though they can inflict significant losses on the Warsaw Pact forces. By March 17, the Warsaw Pact forces have advanced 50 miles into West Germany. Entire towns are destroyed in the fighting as increasingly desperate NATO commanders try to stall the Warsaw Pact's advance, and civilian and military casualties are heavy, overwhelming NATO medical personnel. Public order collapses amid the mass panic, and 20 million automobiles jam the roads as West German civilians trying to flee. While preparing to launch a tactical nuclear counter-assault, NATO carries out a last-ditch conventional air campaign––code-named Operation Bloody Nose––launched 24 hours before the nuclear strikes were to begin. The already-overworked NATO aviators are given just one day to turn the tide of an entire war. Thanks in part to a daring raid on the Soviet Army's forward headquarters in Poland and the use of American stealth aircraft, Bloody Nose is an overwhelming success: the initial strikes cripple Warsaw Pact command and control posts, throwing their armies in the field into chaos. In the ensuing air battle, NATO also inflicts devastating losses on the Soviet Air Force (which had already lost 20% of the aircraft supporting the initial offensives), thereby gaining air supremacy over Eastern European airspace. Combined with assistance from the Polish underground that cuts off Soviet supply lines, the tide of the war turns. With their numerical superiority negated by Western technological superiority, the East German and Soviet armies melt under NATO airstrikes, and counterattacking NATO forces cross into East Germany on March 23. Global thermonuclear war. NATO forces reach and liberate West Berlin on March 27. Now in full retreat, the Soviet Army withdraws to Poland, abandoning the East Germans to fend for themselves. With the East German Army beaten, its central government falling apart, and foreign armies rapidly advancing into the country, East Germany essentially collapses, leaving many Germans on both sides of the Iron Curtain to hope that reunification is at hand. With victory at hand, the American leadership tries to reassure Soshkin that NATO has no intention of pressing their advance beyond East Germany. Open revolt erupts across the Eastern Bloc as citizens of the communist nations, as well ethnic minorities within the Soviet Union, press for the overthrow of their own leaders, emboldened by the collapse of East Germany and the fact that the Soviets are obviously losing the war. Soshkin's paranoia and desperation rise swiftly as the entire Eastern Bloc falls apart around him, and while NATO has no intention of actually doing so, Soshkin quickly becomes convinced that they will try to exploit the situation and fight all the way to Moscow. As a show of force, on March 31 Soshkin orders a symbolic nuclear strike above the North Sea. The United States responds by going to full nuclear alert and preparing to execute the Single Integrated Operational Plan. On April 1 (ironically April Fools Day), a Soviet radar post suffers an equipment malfunction. Falsely believing that the USSR is under nuclear attack, Soshkin orders an all-out retaliatory nuclear strike against the West. The nuclear powers of NATO have no choice but to respond in kind, and thousands of nuclear devices are launched across the Northern Hemisphere. The narrator intones, "There is no further historical record of what happens next," suggesting that civilization was either wiped out or destroyed to a great extent. Epilogue. The movie then rewinds to Gorbachev’s visit to East Germany. Archival footage is shown of the celebrations of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the peaceful reunification of Germany: "History...took a different course.".