Five SFF Books About Idealistic Pursuits That Failed

True believers can change society--though not always in a positive way,
according to these SFF stories...

https://reactormag.com/five-sff-books-about-idealistic-pursuits-that-failed/
--
My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll

On 2024-04-01, James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:

> Five SFF Books About Idealistic Pursuits That Failed
>
> https://reactormag.com/five-sff-books-about-idealistic-pursuits-that-failed/

I'm confused. I'm pretty sure I read _The Mercenary_ in some form[1]
and I don't recognize the description. I don't remember any plot
set on Earth. The CoDominium was a poorly elaborated background
for soldiering on faraway planets, with military exploits more or
less explicitly based on historical events, Pournelle's personal
Korean War experience, and some other military memoirs.

[1] _The Mercenary_ was a fix-up novel of earlier stories. It and
_West of Honor_ were later combined into _Falkenberg's Legion_,
which in turn was later incorporated into _The Prince_. It's
hard to keep track.
--
Christian "naddy" Weisgerber naddy@mips.inka.de

On 4/1/2024 11:12 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
> Five SFF Books About Idealistic Pursuits That Failed
>
> True believers can change society--though not always in a positive way,
> according to these SFF stories...
>
> https://reactormag.com/five-sff-books-about-idealistic-pursuits-that-failed/

I have read one of the five, "The Mercenary". Which, was a prequel for
"King David's Spaceship".

Lynn

In article <slrnv0m740.3i0.naddy@lorvorc.mips.inka.de>,
Christian Weisgerber <naddy@mips.inka.de> wrote:
>On 2024-04-01, James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:
>
>> Five SFF Books About Idealistic Pursuits That Failed
>>
>> https://reactormag.com/five-sff-books-about-idealistic-pursuits-that-failed/
>
>I'm confused. I'm pretty sure I read _The Mercenary_ in some form[1]
>and I don't recognize the description. I don't remember any plot
>set on Earth. The CoDominium was a poorly elaborated background
>for soldiering on faraway planets, with military exploits more or
>less explicitly based on historical events, Pournelle's personal
>Korean War experience, and some other military memoirs.
>
>
>[1] _The Mercenary_ was a fix-up novel of earlier stories. It and
> _West of Honor_ were later combined into _Falkenberg's Legion_,
> which in turn was later incorporated into _The Prince_. It's
> hard to keep track.

In my Pocket Books MMPB, the first section, Peace With Honor,
is about a senior politician staving off doomsday by, among other
things, exiling a sincere but misguided idealist off to ... Sparta,
I think. The planet, not the Greek city state. There's an unpleasant
complication in that the young man is the politician's daughter.
He exiles her too.

If ISFDB can be believed, Peace With Honor didn't make it
into Legion or Prince. However, for some reason ISFDB doesn't
show Peace as being in Mercenary unless I actually go look
spefically at Mercenary's entry so stuff may be missing.

--
My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll

On Apr 1, 2024, Lynn McGuire wrote
(in article <uufbrf$2o787$1@dont-email.me>):

> On 4/1/2024 11:12 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
> > Five SFF Books About Idealistic Pursuits That Failed
> >
> > True believers can change society--though not always in a positive way,
> > according to these SFF stories...
> >
> > https://reactormag.com/five-sff-books-about-idealistic-pursuits-that-failed/
>
> I have read one of the five, "The Mercenary". Which, was a prequel for
> "King David's Spaceship".
>
> Lynn

err.. the mercenary is set in the co-dominum/early first empire. King david
is in second empire, several centuries later.

begin fnord
jdnicoll@panix.com (James Nicoll) writes:

> In my Pocket Books MMPB, the first section, Peace With Honor,
> is about a senior politician staving off doomsday by, among other
> things, exiling a sincere but misguided idealist off to ... Sparta,
> I think. The planet, not the Greek city state. There's an unpleasant
> complication in that the young man is the politician's daughter.
> He exiles her too.

By removing three words, you made the story much more interesting than
anything Pournelle ever wrote in his life.

--
Steve Coltrin spcoltri@omcl.org
"A group known as the League of Human Dignity helped arrange for Deuel
to be driven to a local livestock scale, where he could be weighed."
- Associated Press

In article <m2o7astzt3.fsf@kelutral.omcl.org>,
Steve Coltrin <spcoltri@omcl.org> wrote:
>begin fnord
>jdnicoll@panix.com (James Nicoll) writes:
>
>> In my Pocket Books MMPB, the first section, Peace With Honor,
>> is about a senior politician staving off doomsday by, among other
>> things, exiling a sincere but misguided idealist off to ... Sparta,
>> I think. The planet, not the Greek city state. There's an unpleasant
>> complication in that the young man is the politician's daughter.
>> He exiles her too.
>
>By removing three words, you made the story much more interesting than
>anything Pournelle ever wrote in his life.
>
AUGH fiance! The idealist is the daughter's fiance!

I think the source of the confusion is that JEP wrote two different things
with the same title. The Mercenary can refer to the fix up as a whole
or the novelette it includes and from which the fix up took its title.
--
My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll

In article <0001HW.2BBB7C0400A4831C70000E64538F@news.supernews.com>,
WolfFan <akwolffan@zoho.com> wrote:
>On Apr 1, 2024, Lynn McGuire wrote
>(in article <uufbrf$2o787$1@dont-email.me>):
>
>> On 4/1/2024 11:12 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
>> > Five SFF Books About Idealistic Pursuits That Failed
>> >
>> > True believers can change society--though not always in a positive way,
>> > according to these SFF stories...
>> >
>> >
>https://reactormag.com/five-sff-books-about-idealistic-pursuits-that-failed/
>>
>> I have read one of the five, "The Mercenary". Which, was a prequel for
>> "King David's Spaceship".
>>
>> Lynn
>
>err.. the mercenary is set in the co-dominum/early first empire. King david
>is in second empire, several centuries later.
>

It's a prequel in the sense The Pillars of the Earth is a prequel to Shogun.
--
My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll

In article <uufbvl$8ms$1@reader1.panix.com>,
jdnicoll@panix.com (James Nicoll) wrote:

> In article <slrnv0m740.3i0.naddy@lorvorc.mips.inka.de>,
> Christian Weisgerber <naddy@mips.inka.de> wrote:
> >On 2024-04-01, James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:
> >
> >> Five SFF Books About Idealistic Pursuits That Failed
> >>
> >> https://reactormag.com/five-sff-books-about-idealistic-pursuits-that-failed
> >> /
> >
> >I'm confused. I'm pretty sure I read _The Mercenary_ in some form[1]
> >and I don't recognize the description. I don't remember any plot
> >set on Earth. The CoDominium was a poorly elaborated background
> >for soldiering on faraway planets, with military exploits more or
> >less explicitly based on historical events, Pournelle's personal
> >Korean War experience, and some other military memoirs.
> >
> >
> >[1] _The Mercenary_ was a fix-up novel of earlier stories. It and
> > _West of Honor_ were later combined into _Falkenberg's Legion_,
> > which in turn was later incorporated into _The Prince_. It's
> > hard to keep track.
>
> In my Pocket Books MMPB, the first section, Peace With Honor,
> is about a senior politician staving off doomsday by, among other
> things, exiling a sincere but misguided idealist off to ... Sparta,
> I think. The planet, not the Greek city state. There's an unpleasant
> complication in that the young man is the politician's daughter.
> He exiles her too.
>
> If ISFDB can be believed, Peace With Honor didn't make it
> into Legion or Prince. However, for some reason ISFDB doesn't
> show Peace as being in Mercenary unless I actually go look
> spefically at Mercenary's entry so stuff may be missing.

I don't have a copy of _Falkenberg's Legion_, but the text of "Peace
with Honor" (though perhaps lightly revised) is present in the initial
chapters of the omnibus _The Prince_. BTW, the copyright and table of
contents give not hint of this.

--
"We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement."
Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan describes progress in _Komarr_.
�-----------------------------------------------------
Robert Woodward robertaw@drizzle.com

In article <robertaw-C81F9F.22011001042024@news.individual.net>,
Robert Woodward <robertaw@drizzle.com> wrote:
>In article <uufbvl$8ms$1@reader1.panix.com>,
> jdnicoll@panix.com (James Nicoll) wrote:
>
>> In article <slrnv0m740.3i0.naddy@lorvorc.mips.inka.de>,
>> Christian Weisgerber <naddy@mips.inka.de> wrote:
>> >On 2024-04-01, James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:
>> >
>> >> Five SFF Books About Idealistic Pursuits That Failed
>> >>
>> >>
>https://reactormag.com/five-sff-books-about-idealistic-pursuits-that-failed
>> >> /
>> >
>> >I'm confused. I'm pretty sure I read _The Mercenary_ in some form[1]
>> >and I don't recognize the description. I don't remember any plot
>> >set on Earth. The CoDominium was a poorly elaborated background
>> >for soldiering on faraway planets, with military exploits more or
>> >less explicitly based on historical events, Pournelle's personal
>> >Korean War experience, and some other military memoirs.
>> >
>> >
>> >[1] _The Mercenary_ was a fix-up novel of earlier stories. It and
>> > _West of Honor_ were later combined into _Falkenberg's Legion_,
>> > which in turn was later incorporated into _The Prince_. It's
>> > hard to keep track.
>>
>> In my Pocket Books MMPB, the first section, Peace With Honor,
>> is about a senior politician staving off doomsday by, among other
>> things, exiling a sincere but misguided idealist off to ... Sparta,
>> I think. The planet, not the Greek city state. There's an unpleasant
>> complication in that the young man is the politician's daughter.
>> He exiles her too.
>>
>> If ISFDB can be believed, Peace With Honor didn't make it
>> into Legion or Prince. However, for some reason ISFDB doesn't
>> show Peace as being in Mercenary unless I actually go look
>> spefically at Mercenary's entry so stuff may be missing.
>
>I don't have a copy of _Falkenberg's Legion_, but the text of "Peace
>with Honor" (though perhaps lightly revised) is present in the initial
>chapters of the omnibus _The Prince_. BTW, the copyright and table of
>contents give not hint of this.
>
I don't think ISFDB links stories to fix-ups that incorporate those
stories. They just mention the connection in the fix-ups entry. That
would explain some of the gaps.

It's weird, the ReacTor poster who accused me of not reading The
Mercenary hasn't acknowledged his error yet. Must be terribly busy.
Hope they don't overwork themselves.

Oh, speaking of ReacTor: I tried to include two links in my reply and
it would not let me post. No explanation, just no action. Took both
links out and it was OK.
--
My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll

On 4/2/2024 9:05 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
> In article <robertaw-C81F9F.22011001042024@news.individual.net>,
> Robert Woodward <robertaw@drizzle.com> wrote:
>> In article <uufbvl$8ms$1@reader1.panix.com>,
>> jdnicoll@panix.com (James Nicoll) wrote:
>>
>>> In article <slrnv0m740.3i0.naddy@lorvorc.mips.inka.de>,
>>> Christian Weisgerber <naddy@mips.inka.de> wrote:
>>>> On 2024-04-01, James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Five SFF Books About Idealistic Pursuits That Failed
>>>>>
>>>>>
>> https://reactormag.com/five-sff-books-about-idealistic-pursuits-that-failed
>>>>> /
>>>>
>>>> I'm confused. I'm pretty sure I read _The Mercenary_ in some form[1]
>>>> and I don't recognize the description. I don't remember any plot
>>>> set on Earth. The CoDominium was a poorly elaborated background
>>>> for soldiering on faraway planets, with military exploits more or
>>>> less explicitly based on historical events, Pournelle's personal
>>>> Korean War experience, and some other military memoirs.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> [1] _The Mercenary_ was a fix-up novel of earlier stories. It and
>>>> _West of Honor_ were later combined into _Falkenberg's Legion_,
>>>> which in turn was later incorporated into _The Prince_. It's
>>>> hard to keep track.
>>>
>>> In my Pocket Books MMPB, the first section, Peace With Honor,
>>> is about a senior politician staving off doomsday by, among other
>>> things, exiling a sincere but misguided idealist off to ... Sparta,
>>> I think. The planet, not the Greek city state. There's an unpleasant
>>> complication in that the young man is the politician's daughter.
>>> He exiles her too.
>>>
>>> If ISFDB can be believed, Peace With Honor didn't make it
>>> into Legion or Prince. However, for some reason ISFDB doesn't
>>> show Peace as being in Mercenary unless I actually go look
>>> spefically at Mercenary's entry so stuff may be missing.
>>
>> I don't have a copy of _Falkenberg's Legion_, but the text of "Peace
>> with Honor" (though perhaps lightly revised) is present in the initial
>> chapters of the omnibus _The Prince_. BTW, the copyright and table of
>> contents give not hint of this.
>>
> I don't think ISFDB links stories to fix-ups that incorporate those
> stories. They just mention the connection in the fix-ups entry. That
> would explain some of the gaps.
>
> It's weird, the ReacTor poster who accused me of not reading The
> Mercenary hasn't acknowledged his error yet. Must be terribly busy.
> Hope they don't overwork themselves.
>
> Oh, speaking of ReacTor: I tried to include two links in my reply and
> it would not let me post. No explanation, just no action. Took both
> links out and it was OK.

Huh, nobody has accused me of not reading the book on reddit. But, they
continuously accuse me of being an AI. The funny thing is that I would
think that an AI review would be much better than mine.

Lynn

On 2024-04-01, James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:

> In my Pocket Books MMPB, the first section, Peace With Honor,
> is about a senior politician staving off doomsday by, among other
> things, exiling a sincere but misguided idealist off to ... Sparta,
> I think. The planet, not the Greek city state. There's an unpleasant
> complication in that the young man is the politician's daughter.
> He exiles her too.

Okay, taking _Falkenberg's Legion_ from the bookshelf and leafing
through it, I see that the first four chapters of "Part Two: Mercenary"
indeed seem to match that description.

--
Christian "naddy" Weisgerber naddy@mips.inka.de