Do large parts read familiar? From something in the 60/70s?

I started expecting and anticipating events half-way through - like it was a re-read from decades back book.

I'm talking about sections not snippeted.

Montrose Toast wrote:I started expecting and anticipating events half-way through - like it was a re-read from decades back book.

I'm talking about sections not snippeted.

The following is a list with alternate futures fighting it out:

Fritz Leiber's Change War stories (_The Big Time_ is the longest - were the competitors known as the Snakes and the Spiders?)

Keith Laumer's _Dinosaur Beach_

Jack Williamson's _The Legion of Time_ (serialized in 1938, it is the oldest on this list)

Well, some parts have a striking similarity with old "Command & Conquer: Red Alert" game:

* Hitler dies early under mysterious circumstances - check.
* Nazi party not in power in Germany - check.
* Stalin became the Big Bad for totally nonsencial reasons - check.
* USSR started the World War 2 in 1945 by invading Estern Europe - check.
* Western nations eagerly formed some sort of "Great Alliance" - check.
* USA get involved for vasically no reasons for them to do so - check.
* ...Who cares about all those Russians killed, er, I mean, glorious victory for Democracy & Free Market - check.
* Totally ridiculous post-communist government (premier Romanov from Tsar family in Red Alert 2, german general as a "prince" of Ukraine in Gordian Protocol) - check.

Seriously, one or two similarities I would dismiss as aciidental. But eight?

Dilandu wrote:Well, some parts have a striking similarity with old "Command & Conquer: Red Alert" game:

* Hitler dies early under mysterious circumstances - check.
* Nazi party not in power in Germany - check.
* Stalin became the Big Bad for totally nonsencial reasons - check.
* USSR started the World War 2 in 1945 by invading Estern Europe - check.
* Western nations eagerly formed some sort of "Great Alliance" - check.
* USA get involved for vasically no reasons for them to do so - check.
* ...Who cares about all those Russians killed, er, I mean, glorious victory for Democracy & Free Market - check.
* Totally ridiculous post-communist government (premier Romanov from Tsar family in Red Alert 2, german general as a "prince" of Ukraine in Gordian Protocol) - check.

Seriously, one or two similarities I would dismiss as aciidental. But eight?

I would suggest that the common themes are a probable coincidence given American attitudes about Hitler, the Nazis, the Germans, Stalin, the USSR and Russians. Hitler is viewed as the trigger that turned Germans into monsters and started WW2. With Hitler eliminated, Germans rehabiliated, and WW2 (as we know it) averted, the only plausible nemises is Stalin and the USSR.

TFLYTSNBN wrote:
I would suggest that the common themes are a probable coincidence given American attitudes about Hitler, the Nazis, the Germans, Stalin, the USSR and Russians. Hitler is viewed as the trigger that turned Germans into monsters and started WW2. With Hitler eliminated, Germans rehabiliated, and WW2 (as we know it) averted, the only plausible nemises is Stalin and the USSR.

Yes, this is a (unfortunately) common oversimplification of the actual picture. Pretty annoying, must admit, but probably becuse I did not expect to meet such thing in RFC book.

Dilandu wrote:Well, some parts have a striking similarity with old "Command & Conquer: Red Alert" game:

* Hitler dies early under mysterious circumstances - check.
* Nazi party not in power in Germany - check.
* Stalin became the Big Bad for totally nonsencial reasons - check.
* USSR started the World War 2 in 1945 by invading Estern Europe - check.
* Western nations eagerly formed some sort of "Great Alliance" - check.
* USA get involved for vasically no reasons for them to do so - check.
* ...Who cares about all those Russians killed, er, I mean, glorious victory for Democracy & Free Market - check.
* Totally ridiculous post-communist government (premier Romanov from Tsar family in Red Alert 2, german general as a "prince" of Ukraine in Gordian Protocol) - check.

Seriously, one or two similarities I would dismiss as aciidental. But eight?

Well, I'll take your word for the similarities. I sort of have to, since I've never played or read the game in question.

runsforcelery wrote:
Well, I'll take your word for the similarities. I sort of have to, since I've never played or read the game in question.

Well, then it's just a perfect example of "how complex coincidence could sometimes be". Or, a parallel thinking from common starting point (and an example of historical determinism also...)

Dilandu wrote:

runsforcelery wrote:
Well, I'll take your word for the similarities. I sort of have to, since I've never played or read the game in question.

Well, then it's just a perfect example of "how complex coincidence could sometimes be". Or, a parallel thinking from common starting point (and an example of historical determinism also...)

Could it also at least possibly be a bit of "in the eye of the beholder"?

Just asking.

runsforcelery wrote:
Could it also at least possibly be a bit of "in the eye of the beholder"?

Just asking.

A probability, yes) After all, there are small lie, big lie, monstrous lie, and - above all them - statistical similarities)))