Justin K K itibaren Lower Township, NJ, Сполучені Штати Америки
The godfather of the modern disaster movie, George R Stewart is famous for his novels such as Fire and Flood where the disaster is the central character. However with Earth Abides, written in 1949, he has written an enduring post apocolyptic tale of survival and hope for mankind. The inspiration for Stephen King’s The Stand I could see many parallels but rather than a supernatural tale what we have here is a matter of fact chronicle of what will happen when man loses his footprint on the Earth. The central character Isherwood Williams is a post graduate Geography student, recovering from a snake bite he obtained whilst taking a break in the mountains, when a plague decimates most of the world’s population. The novel spans through Ish’s lifetime as he comes to terms with the loss of his family, civilization and learning. As nature recovers from Man’s dominance, those that are left find that rather than trying to reclaim civilization they slip back to a simple laid back existence, scavenging from the supermarkets and clothes stores. Relationships are formed and children are born and Ish becomes more of a tribal leader, much revered due to his learning but also a figure of awe who is rarely seen without the hammer that he had found in the mountains (and which becomes a symbol of superstition for the younger members of the tribe). The University Library is taboo, and Ish’s last link to his life as a student, but as he grows older he realises that studious learning is no longer important. Practical knowledge of how to hunt without bullets and how to make fire without matches are the only way to survival as the last links of civilization rust away or are burned to the ground. Ish was lucky in a way that he still had his books, as you have to wonder with the advent of electronic resources and with book stores now closing their doors what would there be left if such a plague took place is our distant future?
I'm a sucker for airships, even if they are powered by flying carpets. This is finally the war between the Fables of mundy New York and Gepetto's multi-dimensional Empire. I can see why Willingham was nervous to finally give us this war. While his characters are great and small-group actions (like Cindarella's spy mission at the start of the book) are well presented. The bigger military portions seem badly forced though. It's all over a little too fast for my taste, but still a worthy addition to the series.
It's a rather older Flashman who stars in these three short stories. He's in his sixties in the traditional Flashman tale 'The Road to Charing Cross'; knocking on 70 in the almost locked door mystery of 'The Subtleties of Baccarat' and older again in 'Flashman and the Tiger' (where he has a very amusing encounter with Holmes and Watson.) His age means that - after the first story - there is a different, more elgiac pace to proceedings. And while for a fan it is interesting to see the character after he's no longer bluff and hearty, it probably wouldn't be the best place for a Flash-virgin to begin.