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The more things change...

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The more things change...
Post by dscott8   » Tue Jul 26, 2022 9:27 am

dscott8
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I've heard it said that there are only seven basic plots, and all stories are variations on them. I just spotted a parallel between events in the Honorverse and another novel.

The scenario is that a repressive "People's Republic" decides to invade its neighbor and steal resources to prop up its stumbling economy. That neighbor has plenty of fighting spirit, but lacks the tools and tech to handle the invasion by itself. It joins an Alliance, and its new allies step up with dazzling new combat tech, hammering the aggressors so hard that the "People's Republic" undergoes an internally-driven regime change and sues for peace.

Sound familiar? That book is Tom Clancy's "The Bear And The Dragon", a military/political fantasy written back when there was still some hope that the former Soviet Union might rise above its institutional corruption and become an honest member of the international community. Clancy's a good storyteller, but he tends to grind some axes that should be beaten into plowshares.
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Re: The more things change...
Post by Theemile   » Thu Jul 28, 2022 10:41 am

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dscott8 wrote:I've heard it said that there are only seven basic plots, and all stories are variations on them. I just spotted a parallel between events in the Honorverse and another novel.

The scenario is that a repressive "People's Republic" decides to invade its neighbor and steal resources to prop up its stumbling economy. That neighbor has plenty of fighting spirit, but lacks the tools and tech to handle the invasion by itself. It joins an Alliance, and its new allies step up with dazzling new combat tech, hammering the aggressors so hard that the "People's Republic" undergoes an internally-driven regime change and sues for peace.

Sound familiar? That book is Tom Clancy's "The Bear And The Dragon", a military/political fantasy written back when there was still some hope that the former Soviet Union might rise above its institutional corruption and become an honest member of the international community. Clancy's a good storyteller, but he tends to grind some axes that should be beaten into plowshares.


Been awhile, I read that over 20 years ago in hardback.

That was one of the last books he wrote himself before he passed - most of the latter books have been storyboarded by Tom and passed off to to other writers... and the quality difference shows.
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Re: The more things change...
Post by phillies   » Thu Jul 28, 2022 11:38 am

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dscott8 wrote:I've heard it said that there are only seven basic plots, and all stories are variations on them. I just spotted a parallel between events in the Honorverse and another novel.

The scenario is that a repressive "People's Republic" decides to invade its neighbor and steal resources to prop up its stumbling economy. That neighbor has plenty of fighting spirit, but lacks the tools and tech to handle the invasion by itself. It joins an Alliance, and its new allies step up with dazzling new combat tech, hammering the aggressors so hard that the "People's Republic" undergoes an internally-driven regime change and sues for peace.

Sound familiar? That book is Tom Clancy's "The Bear And The Dragon", a military/political fantasy written back when there was still some hope that the former Soviet Union might rise above its institutional corruption and become an honest member of the international community. Clancy's a good storyteller, but he tends to grind some axes that should be beaten into plowshares.


Clancy sort of ran out of human opponents, and did not write "America Versus Flying Saucers". He did, however, note that there had been a film made about the second Iraq War. The film was George Pal's War of the Worlds, and we were the Martians.

Astute readers of the old UseNet news groups may recall that I had used the same line, some years before Clancy did, and if Clancy happened to have borrowed it rather than invented it himself I was delighted to see it in print.
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