Thursday, May 08, 2008

Why I am not an Admiral.

I have been working on the sci fi book for the last couple days. It is going along fairly well. All the fun stuff is done. Now is just the drudgery of making sure stuff is spelled correctly and everything makes sense. Grammar and spelling take a great deal of the fun out of writing.

On the up side I should have something to show for my efforts soon. This issue is a scene on the Tojo Maru. This scene is where many of the characters from different times meet and over lap. This section must line up with the similar sections in other books.

On the up side I like the point of view from Admiral Garrison. He is not a member of The Salvation Army. In many ways he could care less about the central plot of the books. He is simply doing his job. He is not as emotionally invested as the rest of the characters.

Beyond this scene there is also some mumbo jumbo stuff as well. The time period this one is taking place is between the present day and the time when most of the other books take place. So I have make the technology more advanced than today but less advanced than the other books.

It was easy to just say that a ship had shields in the distant future. In this book the US Navy is one of the military powers. The heritage of Pearl Harbor and the politic ramifications of our time still cast a dark shadow on the Characters. The battle tactics are still influence by Nimitz and Halsey.

It is odd but I feel responsible for portraying the Navy correctly. A church is easy. Sin is sin and Salvation is Salvation. It is easy to project The Salvation Army into the future. Most churches do not like to think they change over time. So I can just take the Army and throw in a couple of star chips and there you go.

A good Military officer is open to the idea of change. If I have the same Navy with star ships it would not be believable. If I make it too different then it will not be believable.

This also bring in a lot of my misgivings about other science fiction. Why are there no fighters half the time? How can a group become a powerful force in space if their most expensive ships are getting the daylights beat out of them on a regular basis. Naval history is full of examples of a relatively cheap ship, sub or air craft taking it's toll on expensive and hard to replace capital ships.

I have no idea where this post is going. And I suppose it is obvious why I am not an Admiral. Fortunately most people just want to read about things blowing up.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

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