Stories depict the struggle for survival on Earth after it is devastated by war, as mutants prowl the ruins and new powers arise to challenge the survivors.
Kenyons to the Keep!, Jerry Pournelle
Holo-Caustic, Peter Dillingham
Collector’s Piece, Edward P. Hughes
Half the Battle, Harry Turtledove
Only the Strong Survive, F. G. Wyllis
The Last Cruise of the Zeppelin Tempest, J.P. Boyd
The Future of the Great Powers, Alan Brown
The Voice of the Cockroach, Leslie Fish
Song of the Red War-boat, Rudyard Kipling
Primum Non Nocere, Paul Edwards
Horatius at the Bridge, Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay
Fear and Survival, Reginald Bretnor
The Berendt Conversion, John Brunner
The Contract, Don Hawthorne
The Bodyguard, Vernon W. Glasser
The Palace at Midnight, Robert Silverberg
Wintergate II: The War of the Worlds, Russell Seitz
Torch, Christopher Anvil
Bringing Home the Bacon, Eric Oppen
Journals of the Plague Years, Norman Spinrad
Afterword, Jerry Pournelle
The following two quotes are from The Future of the Great Powers, Alan Brown. He is quoting from Kennedy’s book The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers that was published in 1988. An example of prospicience, great analysis or simply a good guess?
A last point is the identification of what Kennedy calls “imperial overstretch.” This is the almost-human tendency of Great Powers to ignore the erosion of their strength, rather like the aging prizefighter who continues to fight long after he should have retired. As [Professor Paul]Kennedy has pointed out, however, since the erosion is often relative to other powers rather than in real terms, it is difficult to perceive without the benefit of hindsight. Kennedy implies that it is the cost of maintaining empires or hegemonic dominance that is the force which eventually brings the dominant Great Powers down.
Kennedy goes to great lengths to show the decline of America’s economic and strategic position since its height in World War II. While he takes pains to point out that this decline is only relative at this point, the analysis still stings. The other preeminent power in the current “bipolar” world, the Soviet Union, fares no better; in fact, Kennedy’s prognosis for them is even bleaker. Instead of the current balance of power where two states dominate the world strategically, Kennedy sees a return to a world where a larger number of Great Powers jockey for position. He shies away from specific predictions, but does point out that for a number of reasons it appears that Asian powers, notably Japan, appear poised to take a much greater role in the world, due to their increasing economic strength. One other potential power he points out is the European Community. Due to its diversity of governments, languages, and cultures, however, he does not see its coalescing into a single power bloc as being too likely.
A lot of wind these these past three days. The weather guessers were forecast that all that wind was blowing in some rain this morning but it didn’t happen yest and does not look like it is going to. The wind gusts were in the 30-40 mph range with the wind continuing to blow after sundown. Forecast to be a lot cooler today with a high in the 60s so we will move back into Spring after those few days of Summer.