The great disillusionment

[james_davis_nicoll]

Is it wrong, on the occasion of H.G.Wells' 143 birthday, to ponder what War of the Worlds might have been like had it been written from a pro-Martian Imperialism perspective by Rudyard Kipling?

Comments

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

It would be awesome, and the Martians would win, at great personal cost.

[zibblsnrt.livejournal.com]

It's wrong not to.

[llennhoff.livejournal.com]

Take up the Red Man's burden ...

[(Anonymous)]

More "the brown octopus's burden" - the Martians are described as grey or oily brown in coloration, "glistening like wet leather"...anyway, we're not the Mughals or Chinese. At best we're Great Plains Indians, and more likely Tasmanian Aborigines.

Bruce

[stevendj.livejournal.com]

It would be wrong not to share the results of your pondering.

[carloshasanax.livejournal.com]

As far as H'trae is concerned, encasing them in chrysalids and exposing them to the morphogens would be a good start. Of course, there's the time-hallowed extension over the aperture of a heatray and activating the emission... Hmmm. What a pleasant choice!

[autopope.livejournal.com]

Is it wrong, on the occasion of H.G.Wells' 143 birthday, to ponder what War of the Worlds might have been like had it been written from a pro-Martian Imperialism perspective by Rudyard Kipling?

... And then filmed by Fritz Lang, with Leni Reifenstahl as cinematographer, at the behest of Josef Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda for the Martian Occupational Government (Central European Zone)?

[doc-lemming.livejournal.com]

Is Howard Waldrop free? I know he's not big on writing books, but this sounds like it's up his alley.

[(Anonymous)]

About as wrong as pondering what "The Forever War" would have been like if written by Heinlein.

William Hyde

[thesaucernews.livejournal.com]

nah, the twist in this one is that Hitler's the good guy, see, fighting to preserve the purity of the whole human race and culture against the Martian interlopers. Granted, his definition of "whole human race" is said to be a bit exclusionary...

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

Didn't Harry Turtledove write that?

[thesaucernews.livejournal.com]

Apparently he did.
And apparently it's entirely too long for me to be willing to read.

[t-guy.livejournal.com]

Only if it endorses the common misconception that Kipling was some kind of pro-imperialism propagandist.

[scifantasy.livejournal.com]

I can't figure the rest, but suddenly I hear "(Pods-pods-pods-pods-movin'-up-and-down-again)" in my head.

[ravenskyewalker.livejournal.com]

That's not wrong; that's kind of awesome, and I'd read it.

[(Anonymous)]

I up with my ray at a Yankee
Who carried a bloomin' Krag*
He was well in range but he tasted strange
and cough cough choke choke aghhhh...

*He'd have rayed down a Briton if 'Enfield' rhymed better.

As in many areas, the Simpsons has been there before us, in a Halloween Special.

[wintermuted.livejournal.com]

weird, I'd signed in before I hit post.

[(Anonymous)]

When you lie wounded on a wet Terran plain
And the Earthlings come out to cut up what remains
Then roll to your heat ray and melt your own brains
And go to the GLAARRRGH like a soldier.

- Ken, with apologies to R. Kipling

[martinl-00.livejournal.com]

Awesomesauce

[spikebrennan.livejournal.com]

I was thinking along the exact same lines, and had just composed "And go to the Iss like a Martian" (with additional apologies to Edgar Rice Burroughs) when I read your verse.

[velochicdunord.livejournal.com]

Right. When are you writing it?
Has possibilities as a graphic novel, it does.

[velochicdunord.livejournal.com]

High Victorian, at that.

[rpresser.livejournal.com]

For the ambitious, follow it up with _Fighting the Terran Insurgency_, where George W. Bush leads a band of rebels fighting a jihad against the Martian invaders. Again, told from the viewpoint of the Martians.

[rpresser.livejournal.com]

Never mind. George W. Bush in combat? I need to get back on my medication.

[martinl-00.livejournal.com]

GWB would not end up in a leadership position in an insurgency either.

OTOH, 'Geroge Bush' and 'Gunga Din' have the same number of syllables.

[tandw.livejournal.com]

Given the time period, how about a young Winston Churchill?

It occurs to me, though, that the Martian viewpoint Terran Resistance story might better be written by H Beam Piper.

[(Anonymous)]

Weren't H Beam Piper's Martians our ancestors?

Bruce

[tandw.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if that was canon in the Paratime stories, or if it was added by Roland Green in his Lord Kalvan sequel. The Martians of "Omnilingual" were humanoid, IIRC.

[tandw.livejournal.com]

On a tangentially-related topic, I see that Titan Books is reissuing Manly Wade & Wade Wellman's "Sherlock Holmes' War of the Worlds" in late October.