Groups | Search | Server Info | Keyboard shortcuts | Login | Register [http] [https] [nntp] [nntps]
Groups > rec.arts.sf.written > #443591
| From | Lynn McGuire <lmc@winsim.com> |
|---|---|
| Newsgroups | rec.arts.sf.written |
| Subject | Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? |
| Date | 2016-07-07 15:22 -0500 |
| Organization | A noiseless patient Spider |
| Message-ID | <nlmdml$vu2$1@dont-email.me> (permalink) |
| References | <j0ag6g$aj3$1@panix3.panix.com> <7b3f0fe9-c2f0-498c-82b2-99f87e41b865@googlegroups.com> |
On 7/6/2016 12:27 PM, marilyn.trent@ironmountainsolutions.com wrote:
> On Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 7:28:00 PM UTC-5, William December Starr wrote:
>> I'm guessing the former, sigh. Nice cover art though.
>>
>> Barnes & Noble review, seen via Salon:
>>
>> <http://tinyurl.com/3j56qwu>
>> <http://www.salon.com/books/fiction/index.html?story=/books/2011/07/20/flashback_don_simmons>
>>
>> Fiction
>> Wednesday, Jul 20, 2011 20:19 ET
>> "Flashback": Imagining Obama's apocalyptic American future
>>
>> Dan Simmons' atrocious, hyper-conservative new novel predicts an
>> Islamic Caliphate and a second Jewish Holocaust
>>
>> By Katherine A. Powers, Barnes & Noble Review
>>
>> [This article appears courtesy of The Barnes & Noble Review.]
>>
>> Dan Simmons, for years familiar to fans of science fiction,
>> fantasy, and horror, made his way to the general reader with two
>> historical/horror hybrids. "The Terror," published in 2007, was
>> an enthralling and fantastical conjuring up of Sir John
>> Franklin's doomed voyage in search of a Northwest Passage.
>> "Drood," appearing two years later, was a creepily ingenious
>> extrapolation of Charles Dickens' unfinished last novel and his
>> vexed friendship with Wilkie Collins. Then came last year's
>> "Black Hills," a less satisfying story that posited an American
>> Indian's mystical union with the soul of General George Custer.
>>
>> So much for history. With "Flashback," Simmons has, for the
>> moment at least, put the past behind him and turned a righteous
>> pen to a dystopian future. It is circa 2032, or more precisely,
>> the 23rd year of Jobless Recovery. The U.S. is tottering,
>> weighing in at only 44-1/2 states, its mass eaten away by Mexico,
>> its interior rotted out by floods of immigrants, by loss of faith
>> in a free-market economy, by national healthcare and a myriad of
>> other entitlement programs, by the global-warming hoax and
>> green-energy boondoggles, and by drugs, the most pervasive being
>> "flashback," which allows its users to visit their pasts in a
>> dream state. It's a bad, bad time, and its fatal origins lie, we
>> are instructed, with the Obama presidency, its spendthrift
>> domestic programs and pusillanimous foreign policy.
>>
>> Highways are disintegrating, people live in former malls cut into
>> cubicles, and, adding insult to injury, right-wing talk radio has
>> been banned. Japanese overlords have set up "green zones" across
>> the land and America's once proud and powerful military is now
>> hired out as mercenaries to fight for Japan and India. At the
>> same time, a New Global Caliphate flourishes and Islam
>> spreads. An immense and towering mosque sits at ground zero and
>> annual celebrations commemorate the attacks of Sept. 11,
>> 2001. In Los Angeles, where much of the story takes place, the
>> bells of Christian churches add their peels to "the cries of the
>> muezzin ... to show their solidarity, understanding, and
>> forgiveness." The Caliphate has obliterated Israel with 11
>> exceedingly dirty nuclear bombs, killing 6 million Jews. The
>> survivors of this "Second Holocaust" are now sequestered in a
>> former Six Flags amusement park in Denver by a U.S. government
>> "terrified of angering the Global Caliphate" that is waiting to
>> exterminate them.
>>
>> With all this going on (and on), there hardly seems room for a
>> plot, and yet there is one, balky and encumbered by jeremiads
>> though it may be. Nick Bottom, Denver resident, ex-policemen, and
>> sometime private detective, has been addicted to flashback ever
>> since his wife was killed in a car crash five years ago. The
>> drug lets him relive their happy times, but it has ruined his
>> actual life and alienated his son. This is Val, who has gone to
>> live in Los Angeles with his maternal grandfather. But the boy,
>> tumid with anger and angst, is going to the bad, having joined
>> one of the many "flash gangs" that roam the disintegrating city,
>> committing violent and unspeakable acts in order to revisit the
>> thrill through flashback. Val's gang has something big planned,
>> but he himself just wants to get back to Denver to kill his dad
>> for not phoning him on his birthday. Plus, L.A. is erupting into
>> full-blown war; so Val and the old man join a convoy of big rigs
>> traveling west over lurid and lawless highways and meet people
>> with strong views, all thoroughly aired.
>>
>> Meanwhile, Nick has been hired by a Catholic, multibillionaire
>> Japanese overlord to solve the six-year-old murder of his son, a
>> case Nick had failed to crack when he was on the police
>> force. Why call on him again? It's a mystery and a growing source
>> of great fishiness. Getting to the bottom of it involves
>> quantities of flashback, some high-tech virtual-reality
>> spectacles, an enormous, impassive Japanese warrior dude, a few
>> ninjas, two futuristic armored personnel carriers, and one 2015
>> Chevy Camaro with gun slits for windows and a "raging 6.2-liter
>> l99 V-8 engine" (delivering "603 horsepower and 518-pound-feet of
>> torque"). If anything can plow through polemics, this baby can,
>> and indeed, the battles and chases that interrupt their didactic
>> flow provide the book's only entertainment. In the end, the
>> novel's real mystery remains: How could the witty and potent
>> imagination that produced "The Terror" and "Drood" wither to such
>> smug and censorious dullness?
I have this book in my SBR in trade paperback and look forward to reading it:
https://www.amazon.com/Flashback-Dan-Simmons/dp/0316101982/
582 pages, it is a monster!
The book looks to a major expansion of his April 2006 message:
http://www.dansimmons.com/news/message/2006_04.htm
"The Time Traveler appeared suddenly in my study on New Year’s Eve, 2004. He was a stolid, grizzled man in a gray tunic and looked to
be in his late-sixties or older. He also appeared to be the veteran of wars or of some terrible accident since he had livid scars on
his face and neck and hands, some even visible in his scalp beneath a fuzz of gray hair cropped short in a military cut. One eye was
covered by a black eyepatch. Before I could finish dialing 911 he announced in a husky voice that he was a Time Traveler come back to
talk to me about the future."
Lynn
Back to rec.arts.sf.written | Previous | Next — Previous in thread | Next in thread | Find similar | Unroll thread
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? marilyn.trent@ironmountainsolutions.com - 2016-07-06 10:27 -0700
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) - 2016-07-06 18:11 +0000
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> - 2016-07-06 11:23 -0700
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? David Johnston <Davidjohnston29@yahoo.com> - 2016-07-06 13:20 -0600
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy <taustinca@gmail.com> - 2016-07-06 13:20 -0700
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Peter Trei <petertrei@gmail.com> - 2016-07-06 13:53 -0700
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy <taustinca@gmail.com> - 2016-07-06 15:29 -0700
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? David Johnston <Davidjohnston29@yahoo.com> - 2016-07-06 16:49 -0600
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) - 2016-07-06 22:13 +0000
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Robert Carnegie <rja.carnegie@excite.com> - 2016-07-07 02:23 -0700
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Peter Trei <petertrei@gmail.com> - 2016-07-07 05:44 -0700
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2016-07-07 13:27 +0000
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Lynn McGuire <lmc@winsim.com> - 2016-07-07 15:22 -0500
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Don Bruder <dakidd@sonic.net> - 2016-07-07 14:38 -0700
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Lynn McGuire <lmc@winsim.com> - 2016-07-07 17:43 -0500
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Don Bruder <dakidd@sonic.net> - 2016-07-07 19:20 -0700
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? goldfarb@ocf.berkeley.edu (David Goldfarb) - 2016-07-08 05:58 +0000
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-07-08 04:44 -0400
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? David DeLaney <daviddelaney@earthlink.net> - 2016-07-08 07:02 -0500
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Greg Goss <gossg@gossg.org> - 2016-07-08 10:08 -0600
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? goldfarb@ocf.berkeley.edu (David Goldfarb) - 2016-07-08 17:47 +0000
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy <taustinca@gmail.com> - 2016-07-08 11:08 -0700
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-07-08 19:46 -0400
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? goldfarb@ocf.berkeley.edu (David Goldfarb) - 2016-07-09 06:57 +0000
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-07-09 07:05 -0400
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? hamish.laws@gmail.com - 2016-07-10 03:07 -0700
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? David Johnston <Davidjohnston29@yahoo.com> - 2016-07-10 09:32 -0600
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-07-10 13:57 -0400
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? David Johnston <Davidjohnston29@yahoo.com> - 2016-07-10 12:15 -0600
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-07-10 14:49 -0400
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? David Johnston <Davidjohnston29@yahoo.com> - 2016-07-10 14:17 -0600
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-07-10 17:45 -0400
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? David Johnston <Davidjohnston29@yahoo.com> - 2016-07-10 17:41 -0600
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-07-10 19:49 -0400
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? David Johnston <Davidjohnston29@yahoo.com> - 2016-07-10 18:32 -0600
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-07-10 20:58 -0400
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-07-10 21:03 -0400
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? David Johnston <Davidjohnston29@yahoo.com> - 2016-07-10 20:30 -0600
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? goldfarb@ocf.berkeley.edu (David Goldfarb) - 2016-07-11 07:03 +0000
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? David Johnston <Davidjohnston29@yahoo.com> - 2016-07-10 20:29 -0600
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> - 2016-07-10 19:17 -0700
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Robert Woodward <robertaw@drizzle.com> - 2016-07-10 22:19 -0700
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? jdnicoll@panix.com (James Nicoll) - 2016-07-13 02:14 +0000
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Greg Goss <gossg@gossg.org> - 2016-07-10 21:48 -0600
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? hamish.laws@gmail.com - 2016-07-11 06:56 -0700
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan <tednolan>) - 2016-07-11 14:32 +0000
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Kevrob <kevrob@my-deja.com> - 2016-07-11 08:24 -0700
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? David Johnston <Davidjohnston29@yahoo.com> - 2016-07-11 10:08 -0600
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? David Johnston <Davidjohnston29@yahoo.com> - 2016-07-09 01:09 -0600
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-07-09 07:08 -0400
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Juho Julkunen <giaotanj@hotmail.com> - 2016-07-10 02:16 +0300
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-07-09 21:51 -0400
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> - 2016-07-09 20:45 -0700
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Cryptoengineer <treifamily@gmail.com> - 2016-07-09 23:48 -0500
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-07-10 01:07 -0400
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> - 2016-07-09 22:37 -0700
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-07-10 02:40 -0400
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> - 2016-07-10 09:43 -0700
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-07-10 13:58 -0400
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Cryptoengineer <treifamily@gmail.com> - 2016-07-10 11:53 -0500
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-07-10 14:00 -0400
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> - 2016-07-10 13:56 -0700
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-07-10 17:46 -0400
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> - 2016-07-10 16:32 -0700
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-07-10 19:40 -0400
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> - 2016-07-10 19:16 -0700
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-07-10 01:06 -0400
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Lynn McGuire <lmc@winsim.com> - 2016-07-09 22:54 -0500
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? hamish.laws@gmail.com - 2016-07-10 03:13 -0700
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Kevrob <kevrob@my-deja.com> - 2016-07-10 06:22 -0700
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-07-10 09:37 -0400
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Kevrob <kevrob@my-deja.com> - 2016-07-10 08:16 -0700
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-07-10 11:26 -0400
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Cryptoengineer <treifamily@gmail.com> - 2016-07-10 11:58 -0500
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-07-10 14:03 -0400
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Kevrob <kevrob@my-deja.com> - 2016-07-10 10:30 -0700
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-07-10 13:55 -0400
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Cryptoengineer <treifamily@gmail.com> - 2016-07-10 12:59 -0500
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? "Brian M. Scott" <b.scott@csuohio.edu> - 2016-07-10 14:45 -0400
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> - 2016-07-10 13:55 -0700
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Mart van de Wege <mvdwege@gmail.com> - 2016-07-13 15:01 +0200
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Lynn McGuire <lmc@winsim.com> - 2016-07-08 12:08 -0500
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? goldfarb@ocf.berkeley.edu (David Goldfarb) - 2016-07-08 17:20 +0000
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? goldfarb@ocf.berkeley.edu (David Goldfarb) - 2016-07-08 17:45 +0000
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? goldfarb@ocf.berkeley.edu (David Goldfarb) - 2016-07-08 18:34 +0000
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Lynn McGuire <lmc@winsim.com> - 2016-07-08 14:37 -0500
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-07-08 19:48 -0400
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Lynn McGuire <lmc@winsim.com> - 2016-07-08 21:46 -0500
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? David Johnston <Davidjohnston29@yahoo.com> - 2016-07-08 20:48 -0600
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Lynn McGuire <lmc@winsim.com> - 2016-07-09 22:56 -0500
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? "Brian M. Scott" <b.scott@csuohio.edu> - 2016-07-10 14:47 -0400
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Lynn McGuire <lmc@winsim.com> - 2016-07-10 17:54 -0500
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Moriarty <blues95@ivillage.com> - 2016-07-10 16:01 -0700
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? goldfarb@ocf.berkeley.edu (David Goldfarb) - 2016-07-10 23:13 +0000
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? "J. Clarke" <j.clarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2016-07-10 19:39 -0400
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Lynn McGuire <lmc@winsim.com> - 2016-07-10 18:17 -0500
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> - 2016-07-10 16:32 -0700
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? David Johnston <Davidjohnston29@yahoo.com> - 2016-07-10 17:42 -0600
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan <tednolan>) - 2016-07-11 02:51 +0000
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? "Brian M. Scott" <b.scott@csuohio.edu> - 2016-07-10 23:17 -0400
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Greg Goss <gossg@gossg.org> - 2016-07-10 22:17 -0600
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Lynn McGuire <lmc@winsim.com> - 2016-07-10 23:56 -0500
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? "Brian M. Scott" <b.scott@csuohio.edu> - 2016-07-11 01:41 -0400
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Joe Bernstein <joe@sfbooks.com> - 2016-07-10 11:23 -0700
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Kevrob <kevrob@my-deja.com> - 2016-07-10 11:36 -0700
Re: Has Dan Simmons truly lost it or is he just pandering? Greg Goss <gossg@gossg.org> - 2016-07-11 00:53 -0600
csiph-web