A New Years Nuclear Update

A Merry 2021 to our reader out there. We actually stayed up for the whole thing as Middle Daughter was determined to make it till midnight. She watched the ball drop and then got totally grossed out as A-Rod and J-Lo kissed. Mrs. Stroock was well asleep as she was exhausted from the fondue prep, the girls' favorite, and yet another day of winter cleaning. She's been on a rampage this week. The wise man will lay low till told to bring another garbage bag out. 'Do you want this?' she challenges while holding up a vintage New York Giants print. 'No...no of course not. Wouldn't dream of keeping it.' That's how it's done, young fellas.

We had fun at dinner explaining New Year's past to the Stroocklettes. 'What's Y2K?' Oldest Daughter asked. Heh. We remember that New Years, what a lot of hype. Mrs. Stroock and we were living in Arlington VA, just outside of DC. There was a hill near us where you could see the fireworks. We can't for the life of us think what we were doing New Years 2000. It's a bit of a big deal for us. We'll write about it in another post.

Yesterday we looked at The Great Nuclear War of 1975's one-off scenes for potential end of the book updates.  So far we really only found one that we think would be interesting. Readers would see these characters while listening to President Rockefeller's SOTU. We think that's more interesting than  reading a long speech. 

Consulting with a fellow North American we had a great idea for the Great Nuclear War of 1975. We're adding a series of international scenes.  We've long thought the story was missing something, and this was it. Early on the Indian cabinet will contemplate the cold math of what's about to happen without US grain imports. In Argentina President Peron will insist the military organize a relief effort for the United States while the generals have other ideas about you know who's you know what.

Speaking of, the British have a slew of issues to deal with as they try to fill the role played by the United States. They don't get hit that hard, London, a few military installations, but overall the nation is intact. The Pound just become the world's reserve currency. The Queen is going to become very important internationally. Or did they get her? Are we writing about a young king? Hmmm, does anyone really want to read about King Charles? In 1975 he was a chopper pilot on HMS Hermes. We admit a chopper landing on the carrier with some British General Staff types come to get Charles has some dramatic potential. We're not writing about PM Harold Wilson or Ted Heath, but do we want to do Thatcher again? She was head of the opposition in 1975. What was Enoch Powell doing? Na, it's Maggie, right?

So anyway, The Great Nuclear War of 1975 is on track. We'll make our final additions this month and do a final screen readthrough. That should be it, right? Right!