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Vietnam has a rather odd place in my life. It is, in fact, the war I've always thought of as "mine". . . Although when I showed up at Fort Benning in 1973, the ground forces had been withdrawn (1972), none of us thought the truce would hold and that we would end up going back. The Ranger school I attended in the summer of 1973 was all about counterinsurgency. The slang I retained for the rest of my career was Vietnam-era. My 4 years as an Army ROTC cadet was all about reading about and studying Vietnam. All our instructors were Vietnam veterans. In some ways, that war remains more "real" to me than the fights I actually deployed to later. It's . . . strange.
As a side note, I've noticed that, if one knows how to "read" it, you can tell the arc of a professional officer's career by the books on his book shelf. I've collected books all my life (mostly military history) and as I read my bookshelves shortly after retiring, what I found was: The first books were all about Vietnam (a few classics mixed, e.g., Clausewitz), lots of Bernard B. Fall. Next was a lot about fighting the Soviets and their proxies, which included a lot of "wars of national liberation" stuff. In the mid-80s the Iran-Iraq war and other Mid-East stuff was creeping in, but it was still mostly duking it out with the Soviets. After Gulf War 1 and into the 90s it was Mid-east, quickly blending in books about the Balkans with, by 2000 more China stuff starting to intrude. Then, 9/11 . . . And it was counter-terror all the time, with a few more China books here and there, until I retired in 2005. Of course, a lot of military biography and any really good military history book I came across during (and after) my career, are sprinkled throughout my shelves.
The Colonel also noticed a major omission on my part
Something about military slang: Every Army of a specific era (and Cook's Army would be no different) has its own slang. The Vietnam (and a lot of WWII and even some Civil War) slang has endured in the Army till today (although most young soldiers don't know where the words they're using came from). The slang changed a lot with the first Gulf War, then changed radically during the prolonged Global War on Terror — to the point where older veterans often need a translator. I know you're finishing up the Westrons story, but if it was continuing I think it would be fun to create some soldier slang for Cook's army.
Darn ... I really wish I'd done something like that ...
- COMMENTS
PandaMan8580about 1 year agoI really liked how the story ended. Everyone got their happy endings. I kept expecting something terrible to happen, like Cook wins the war and then logs out of his sim, and none of the story was real. I'm glad you didn't go that route. Also, I got a strong Enders Game vibe from the first few chapters.
MediocreGingerover 2 years agoI loved how you did like a piecemeal goodbye to the main characters. However I dislike and feel you left one out. However that could make way for an epilogue or possible another series. Venova. You never said what happened to her. Here's what I think happened. She found out a while after Cook left that she was pregnant and turns out to be twins. Male and Female. She tells them of their father and they follow in his footsteps joining the AFOTA. There they meet Karpov. He had advance his career and when he found out they were cook's children he let them know he never forgot their dad and what he did to help him. He also let them know they he finally got enough influence to be able to get an actual investigation into what happened to him because the "mistake had been discovered when he tried to find Cook to inform him of the children. The higher ups of course didn't want a media storm AGAIN because of him and agreed to interview the crew of the Halygon. They got very little details but learned Cook was dropped off as ordered and were surprised to learn that the program had been decommissioned. Its suggested to ask Rosen and Guild, the guides, and its revealed they were killed very shortly after returning in a barfight that's remained unsolved. So its decided that an exploratory trip would be conducted under the guise of checking up on the place seeing as it had been decommissioned almost 40 years prior and to see what progress had been made since a generation had passed. The twins find out about it and sneak aboard the ship. After over a month into the voyage the Twins are finally found by Long who fondly remembers their father and takes pity on them and puts them in stasis and secretly awakes them throughout the trip. After they land the secret is out and so the crew has no other choice but to let them tag along. At arriving at the port and start asking if anyone knows a Poly named Cook. They are brought before a fishing boat captain by the name of Limset who asks "I've sent a message ahead to let him know your here and asking for him, but if I may know, what do you want with my father?"
My idea of a rough outline for CH1 of a new series while tying up some loose ends...
MediocreGingerover 2 years agoI thoroughly enjoyed the story. I'm not much of a history nut but I enjoyed the little lessons throughout. I am forever thankful that Isa with have at least another change. I hope that it was even longer or somehow never ended. I guess that is the romantic in me. I always thought Kanitz was going to be murdered. Playing politics have killed more people then wars in my opinion. Playing politics has led to wars. I knew they were doomed as a couple when she told him not to trust her because a great romantic relationship can't survive without trust. When Tallia hid her jealously I knew there was very very little chance of reviving a romantic relationship with Cook. I figured then it would mainly only be physical like when she went into hemmer and since Senau was completely devoted to her she would turn to Cook because the still love each other but not in love anymore but that would be a dicey outcome at best because she would have the same devotion.
Anonymousover 3 years agoI found this story after it was finished, and was hooked from the first chapter. I binge read the entire thing over the course of two or three days and loved every bit of it, except for the ending.
You yourself state that many readers expected Kanitz, Tallia, or Avette to be "the main squeeze, and I myself was no different. That most certainly influenced my opinion of the ending.
While I understand Avette's resolution, I dislike it because I feel that it sort of ruins my memories of what they had at Tonol.
I understand why Cook & Kanitz split - a lack of trust will ruin a relationship. The resolution to their relationship dissatisfies me because it was earlier foreshadowed that she would die, perhaps killed by one of her own machinations backfiring. I feel that it was a wasted opportunity, and that them simply splitting was lukewarm compared to what I was anticipating.
Now that you've explained it, I can understand Tallia's resolution. That most certainly does not mean that I have to like it. I hated it. To me, Tallia's continued presence led me to consider her the "main squeeze," so seeing her and Cook split hurt. I thought that the relationship that they had was stronger. That their relationship wouldnot be challenged by psychic, Viagra producing, shapeshifting hermaphrodites that can alter their bodies to match their partners ideals. Clearly, I was wrong.
Enjoyment of a plot twist comes when it allows the reader to look back after the fact and "connect the dots," so to speak. It casts previous events in a New light forthe reader to reexamine. Foreshadowing must occur for a plot twist to be effective. Furthermore, the details of the foreshadowing must be present in the readers mind when the plot twist occurs - the previous events must click into place, there needs to be an, "aha," moment. With Tallia's plot twist, there was no, "aha," moment because the foreshadowing was the last thing on my mind. I most certainly was not thinking about his Tallia was relishing in her #1 status when Cook was preparing to fight another war. Timing the foreshadowing better possibly could have made me more ambivalent about the twist, as opposed to downright hating it.
The lack of recognition for Cook's achievements at the end, as well as the resolutions to his relationships with Avette, Kanitz, & Tallia, ensured that the ending left me feeling depressed, rather than happy; bitter, not bittersweet; disappointed, as opposed to wanting more.
Still though, the fact that I bothered or cared to write all this out means that you did a pretty good job with the story overall. I just feel that the ending was a letdown in comparison to everything else.
