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"Timespike" by Eric Flint
Topic Started: May 14 2008, 11:50 AM (385 Views)
TR1
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This is another Assisti Shard book. Seven years after Grantville vanished, a maximum security prison vanishes in much the same way, transported to the Cretaceous. But so is a group of Cherokee on the Trail of Tears and some Spanish soliders lead by Hernando de Soto.

I'm only a few chapters in, but so far so good. Certain of the themes and plot devices Flint used in 1632 are present (bad guy sees his chance to rule everyone, perfect good guy stops it, etc), but it's not quite clear if Flint is going to be doing much of a rewrite of history or what.

One smart addition in this novel is a secret group of scientists who run around investigating events like Grantville.
"Nobody's gay for Moleman." - Hans Moleman
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SladeJack
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Hard to rewrite history in the Cretaceous when almost anything they could do would be rendered moot in the eons till real human history began. If they set up a largescale human population someplace the odds approach unity it will be factored out long before the earliest conceivable time in which they could leave anything but a paleontological puzzle for posterity.
When you wipe your ass, make sure you wipe it really well.
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TR1
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That's actually addressed. The characters agree that whatever they establish will be wiped out via the extinction event that killed the dinosaurs.
"Nobody's gay for Moleman." - Hans Moleman
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MapleLeafs4Ever
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May 14 2008, 05:54 PM
That's actually addressed. The characters agree that whatever they establish will be wiped out via the extinction event that killed the dinosaurs.

Wouldn't that depend on how much earlier they are than the extinction event? If they have a couple of million years, and assuming they don't die out from other causes, then their technological development would be such that either colonies on other planets or the ability to divert the killer asteroid would let them survive the event or prevent it.
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LoneHawkBoy
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MapleLeafs4Ever
May 14 2008, 10:42 PM
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May 14 2008, 05:54 PM
That's actually addressed.  The characters agree that whatever they establish will be wiped out via the extinction event that killed the dinosaurs.

Wouldn't that depend on how much earlier they are than the extinction event? If they have a couple of million years, and assuming they don't die out from other causes, then their technological development would be such that either colonies on other planets or the ability to divert the killer asteroid would let them survive the event or prevent it.

That's feeling like this is more fantasy ASB style than Alt History because the events of the books won't change anything unless they butterfly something out of existence by accident.
Axe-time, sword-time shields are sundered,
Wind-time, wolf-time, ere the world falls;

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TR1
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MapleLeafs4Ever
May 14 2008, 10:42 PM
TR1
May 14 2008, 05:54 PM
That's actually addressed.  The characters agree that whatever they establish will be wiped out via the extinction event that killed the dinosaurs.

Wouldn't that depend on how much earlier they are than the extinction event? If they have a couple of million years, and assuming they don't die out from other causes, then their technological development would be such that either colonies on other planets or the ability to divert the killer asteroid would let them survive the event or prevent it.

There is that. The characters aren't thinking in those terms, though.
"Nobody's gay for Moleman." - Hans Moleman
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SladeJack
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Criminals, imperialist adventurers, and people whose lives were ruined by the ancestors of one and the descendants of the other--not the crowd I would choose to set up a stable, progressive society.
When you wipe your ass, make sure you wipe it really well.
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Makkabee
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I need to contact Amazon.com -- they said they shipped me a copy, but it never got here.
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TR1
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I'm roughly half-way in. It's an entertaining book. Not terribly deep, character-wise. There might be too many characters, as Flint sends a few characters off to do things, then forgets about them for chapters at a time, and then comes back after all the shooting's done.

But, it's still pretty fun, so I'm prepared to forgive that for the time being.

The name of the hero in incorrect on the cover copy. I kept waiting for Mark Stevens to show up (like we're told in the cover flap), wondering who this Andy Blacklock pussy was and why I was supposed to care about him. Then I realized that Andy was the quintessential Flint protagonist, and that the publishers screwed-up.

I'm not sure how useful the scientists in the present are to the overall. They hint that this particular event seems more planned than Grantville, and such a group makes sense in the context of the story, but they don't move the narrative along.
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alchemist
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Wasn't Flint going to write a Shards story with Washington and Frederick the Great fighting in ancient rome?
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MapleLeafs4Ever
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SladeJack
May 15 2008, 01:11 PM
Criminals, imperialist adventurers, and people whose lives were ruined by the ancestors of one and the descendants of the other--not the crowd I would choose to set up a stable, progressive society.

I would expect the groups to split up via time common groupings, especially the Cherokee since they would be the one group with a balanced male / female ratio. Unless the prison has a women's wing and even then I wouldn't expect the ratio to be close to 50-50.
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TR1
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alchemist
May 15 2008, 05:05 PM
Wasn't Flint going to write a Shards story with Washington and Frederick the Great fighting in ancient rome?

Yes, that's back on.
"Nobody's gay for Moleman." - Hans Moleman
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SladeJack
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"I need to contact Amazon.com -- they said they shipped me a copy, but it never got here."

That happened to me once. I got a full refund after a month, but the books--two of 'em--never did arrive. One I ordered again at a later date from bn.com and the other, well, I had already felt a certain level of buyer's remorse over that, so it was probably for the best.

"The name of the hero in incorrect on the cover copy. I kept waiting for Mark Stevens to show up (like we're told in the cover flap), wondering who this Andy Blacklock pussy was and why I was supposed to care about him. Then I realized that Andy was the quintessential Flint protagonist, and that the publishers screwed-up."

Well that's annoying. And the names aren't even similar.

"I'm not sure how useful the scientists in the present are to the overall. They hint that this particular event seems more planned than Grantville, and such a group makes sense in the context of the story, but they don't move the narrative along."

Not knowing anything about this universe beyond what I've gleaned from threads like this one my guess would be they're there to remind readers that the book is set in the same universe as his most popular series.

"I would expect the groups to split up via time common groupings, especially the Cherokee since they would be the one group with a balanced male / female ratio. Unless the prison has a women's wing and even then I wouldn't expect the ratio to be close to 50-50."

So the group with the potential for its population to take is also the group with the lowest level of technological prowess, historically the least innovation, and no knowledge of distant prehistory.
When you wipe your ass, make sure you wipe it really well.
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TR1
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Finished it last night. Good entertainment, with likable if flat characters and an air of predicability. A sequel seems to be in the offing.
"Nobody's gay for Moleman." - Hans Moleman
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