Well, the Giants were horrifying last night. We hope head coach Brian Dabold broke some stuff in the locker room. For the first time ever we saw Phil Simms, Jeff Hostettler and Eli Manning standing together, which was pretty cool. We like Queen Latifah's version of the Star Spangled Banner. Mrs. Stroock was pleased as her Eagles defeated the Patriots 25-20.
Crap, it's that day again. We're not doing this. Not after 20 years of forever war ending in defeat. The evacuation of Saigon was less humiliating. Our girls hate this day because, as they say, 'That's all anyone talks about in school.' Were people obsessing over Pearl Harbor on 12/7/63? September 11th broke America, and we've not yet begun to fix it.
We will share one thing about this day, and it's a 2003 and Me. 9/11/02 was a dank, rainy day in the NY metro area, suitable for the occasion. 9/11/03 was sunny, crisp and cool, just like 9/11. The weather was odd, jarring even. It felt like 9/11. We recall Mike and the Mad Dog noting the weather on the radio as we drove to our new teaching gig at a second-rate yeshiva in Passaic.
Yeah, we're....bitter? Annoyed? Pissed? All three. Before times, America would have kicked the ever living shit out her mortal enemies until they begged us stop. And we would have done so in the meanest way possible and not even considered their cultural sensitives. 'Those prisoners don't eat pork? Fuck them. Give them nothing but pork. They don't like it, they can starve.'
Imagine saying, 'You can't do that' to General Sherman or Admiral Halsey. Sherman would have put you to work clearing road mines on the march to Svannah, and Halsey would have said, 'You like the nips so much, go swim with them. Toss this SOB overboard.' Before times, America was made of sterner stuff.
Moving on...
It's interesting how the World War 1990 universe has split in two. We write the main narrative beginning two weeks into the war, and we write the side narrative of one-off novels. We can't help but notice that novels like Nederland, the Weser, and now Norway are smooth and tight, Bristol fashion. We know which post war novels we want to write*, but other than Battle of the GIUK Gap, we haven't thought much about writing one-off novels taking place before Arctic Storm or during the war. Ideas welcome.
There remains the matter of what non-World War 1990 novel we want to write in 2024. The nuke trilogy worked so well, and has sold so well, we should consider starting a new trilogy. The Red Dawn Thingy, which might be titled Invasion 1984 [Really?-Ed], is in the lead.
This week we're working on the Froy Line counterattack and finishing up a few odds and ends in Norway. 'Comrade Captain, Saratoga is heading almost directly for our position.' We've written the intro to the Marine armor company without actually naming anyone, though we have the personalities. The C/O is holding the rear of the line because he's an Annapolis grad and the battalion commander hates him for it. 'Hey, Captain! There's a hell of a lot of tanks coming down the pike, and they don't look Norwegian.'
*Saddam's War, Thatcher's War, Esercito Italiano, Election 92.
How about a book describing through the eyes of both Warsaw Pact and NATO troops 24 hours before war and it's first 48 hours. You could use previously established characters from the series.
ReplyDeleteHow about a book on the first days of a national guard unit being called up how they report how they train to get to Europe and they first battle and how they handle it could be the conclusion people being dragged from civilian life to combat would make a interesting story
ReplyDeleteOh look. Your imaginary friends are talking to you again. 🤔
ReplyDelete