primeideal (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
primeideal) wrote2022-11-22 07:06 pm
primeideal) wrote2022-11-22 07:06 pm
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More Turtledove
Some colleagues were having a discussion about the Dark Forest (as described in the Three-Body Problem trilogy) as an explanation for "why haven't we met any aliens yet?" and it veered off into other SF takes on this trope. Harry Turtledove has a short story called "The Road Not Taken" which posits another theory. Three Miles Down didn't really work for me, but this one was much pithier and to the point!
Also, it's completely unnecessary for the plot of the story, but it's also dripping with LA/Dodgers allusions. The human POV begins with astronauts on a mission to Mars learning that Fernando Valenzuela passed away at age 79, placing first contact in 2039-40. One of the military dudes is named Amoros, and goes by Sandy. The military convenes on the campus of UCLA, where a bunch of buildings are "New" X Hall, the original X Halls having been destroyed in the great earthquake of 2034. And there's a linguist named Hilda Chester.
Also, it's completely unnecessary for the plot of the story, but it's also dripping with LA/Dodgers allusions. The human POV begins with astronauts on a mission to Mars learning that Fernando Valenzuela passed away at age 79, placing first contact in 2039-40. One of the military dudes is named Amoros, and goes by Sandy. The military convenes on the campus of UCLA, where a bunch of buildings are "New" X Hall, the original X Halls having been destroyed in the great earthquake of 2034. And there's a linguist named Hilda Chester.
My reaction to this goes back and forth between "short stories are more his speed, yay for stuff actually happening in this one instead of lampshading and going nowhere for 300 pages" and "how come when he namedrops his baseball heroes he's clever and an alternate history champion but when I do it I'm probably a boring tryhard." Meh.