All Comments on 'North of the River'

I have ta tell ya...when I first read your little note in the beginning, I wasn't sure what to expect. Dark? Yeah I can see that...but you have a way about you...you've gotten an interesting plot going here, and though it's somewhat dark, it's a good read and quite honestly, I am looking forward to finding out the next installment...so ya better write one.

Really enjoyed your story. Your obvious military knowledge made for a very plausible reality. I have recently read a number of autobiographies of German and Russian soldiers who fought on the Eastern Front in WW2. Your reality echos theirs. And hey the love story and the first time sex were great too !!!

Hmmm ... you might have a good knowledge of military history but I have grave doubts about your geopolitical understanding. There is no logical reason for China to invade USA because you have no significant natural resources that you have not already depleted, and you would be difficult to control; if on the entirely unlikely basis that China was likely to adopt the military option, they are more likely to go for Africa or Australia ... BC.

The previous comments about a lack of natural resources may be correct, but history teaches us that war may not always be fought over logical reasons. No to mention the idea of beating down the last of the super-powers to prove that you have the resources to do so. The way the characters act is not to realistic, but this a fantasy of a sort. Your two stories in this genre are a little repetitive as to the young male being seduced, but that happens also. As a former resident of both Vancouver WA and North Highlands CA, I was happy to see these cities used as a local. Keep up the good work.

...when I saw that it was a war story, but on the other hand I've seldom met a post-apocalyptic tale I didn't like. I agree with the 2nd Anon. that there would be little reason for the Chinese to occupy this continent, but it was a good read anyway. All the military stuff sounded quite credible, and the two characters were likable.

I find the idea behind the story was interesting. No need to try and rationalize why something might happen. It is a story of what might happen...

This was a very good story- it is fiction so theres no need for you to explain why the chinese would invade. i challenge those that argue about that point to write their own story first- great plot and quite realistic i personally liked it

let's put IT (in the year 2012?, about 3 and a half yaers from now?) into some sensible perspective: <p>

1. china has a few spy satellites in orbit... <p>

2. america has a few dozen of them.... <p>

3. china's few mid-sized submarines (1-2 decently equipped nuclear-powered subs) --- with vew few, if any, having the capability to do year-long, long-ranged patrol from east to west and pole to pole, carrying no more than a dozen or so single "nukular" warhead... <p>

4. america has a fleet (close to 20) of super-sized, nuclear powered subs that are equipped with ICBM type "nukular" warheads, and these subs are all over the world, carrying HUNDREDS of multiple ICBM's, each with dozens of MULTIPLE warheads [merv's], that are programmed to split from the mother warhead, to fly to a different target.... <p>

5. china has a standing armed forces that out-number america's by 4-6, that's true....<p>

6. but rowing your way across, from Hongkong and Shanghai harbors toward Oregon and Washington states, even with a Red Army of 2,000,000 is a bit awkward and slow, isn't it? how you're going to do that without triggering america detection, from both land and space? <p>

[[[How did Gen. Li Chang get across the Pacific Ocean? AFTER America's armed forces have already been reduced to no more than a few thousand militia type units? HOW?]]]

7. while china's few hundred military airplanes --- from helicopters to jets --- are mostly modified technolgies and parts, and wholes, from russia, of the 1980s and 90's,,,,,,,, america's fleet of supersonic jets and stealth planes, which could fly in any weather, in darkness ('cuz they are guilded by SPY/military satellites, which america has outnumbering the chinese by a large margin and with more senstive software, too) outnumbered the chinese by a few good hundreds.... <p>

8. china's overt military budget is less than $25 billion a year; america's overt pentagon budget --- with all stupid Libral's cuts --- is close to $600 BILLION a year, more than half of the world's military expenditures on militarism! <p>

9. while china has a few hundred moderate size ICBM type "nukular" warheads, america has a couple thousands, most of which have been upgraded, so that they not only have higher yield but also so that each has multiple re-entry smaller and programmable warheads ["mirv's"]... <p>

10. yes, it is true enough that with "nukular" warheads, whether it is a 500 kT 2,000 kT, if each side sends a couple hundred of them over to the other side, after a while the respective landscapes tend to all blur up, with intense radiation all over the place, hard to see or breath.... so it is true that america does NOT have that much advantage over china, in nukular exchange..... <p>

so, again, I wonder how Gen. Li Chang of the Red Army got to the Pacific northwest, in Oregon and Washington states, showly marching across the mine-fields of the Dakotas, littered with thousands of now-obsolete?, nukular ICBMs??? <p>

this sci-fi/fantasy MUST, then, be an "alternate history" piece....which there's nothing wrong with [[[I just don't read alternate history fiction, because to me straight pretending sci-fi is enough stretching of the imagination]]]

While not my normal choice for reading i loved your story. I agree with most of these guys. Does it really matter that this is an "unrealistic" scenario? Its fiction, if it bothers you so much to see it set in 2012 maybe imagine it happening a decade or 2 later. Who knows what china will have then. That being said i would love to see this story continue. It has a lot of potential.

I thought it was very good, however with everything in life, there were a few flaws in the story.'

I am not going to be listing the kind of flaws that the anonymous readers have posted, but other flaws.

I find it too typical that a cheerleader type of girl survives through a war in her hometown and flirts and has sex with a nerd soldier. I mean, come on. The least you could have done is write Madison as a drama/artsy type of girl. That way, it would have been a little more believable. Nonetheless, it seems those cheer practices have paying off as she was able to survive through bombs, bullets, napalm, ect.

I highly doubt eating a seagull would be sanitary. Granted, the place where Connor and Madison ate wasn't either, but seagulls are supposed to be rabid with diseases and flus. Especially the BIRD FLU!

Overall, it was a good story. I hope there will be a second/third/fourth part. I want to know if they live through the ordeal and start a family.

I have read both this and "Collateral Damage" and did not find them that dark. Then again I laugh when I hear of people saying that scenes of excessive and graphic violence in "Saving Private Ryan" should be remove.

Rarely do I leave comments or opinions as I rarely (reality never have when I use to) hear back from authors their thoughts on my opinions.

You have done well in crafting this stories and the results are very realistic and true to form, though your time line might be off a bit. They also open up areas that need to be addressed, such as our wounded troops coming back and the difficulties faced by care givers.

I have also found some of the comments of others entertaining. Though I would find rat on a stick infinitely better than boiled seagull, food is food or as we use to say in survival training "it's 70% water, 30% protein" to the refresher trainees.

I would hope that you continue your writing, if not in this venue at least in some other.

I wish Tom Hanks had spent 25% of the story getting Private Ryan laid with at least half the passion of Conner's first date. The fantasy is not that the Chinese invaded the US, but that Conner get laid before he got gutshot.

How did the Red Chinese Army do it? Perhaps every immigrant from China, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Malayasia, Phillipines and the Koreas who has two to three generations of resentment over their condescending treatment by Euro-Americans finally decided to act in unity to set things right. Perhaps they were all genetically seeded as deep cover operatives within every office of the US government including every wing of the White House and every ring of the Pentagon.

Perhaps Red China really does covet the entire U S oil and gas and gold and nuclear reserve, and all the technology that made it possible. If it is possible to take out the three largest office buildings in the US with 2 dozen operatives armed with box cutters, how much damage can you do with the fevered commitment of three hundred million armed military? How does a nation do it? How did the US defeat Nazi Germany and the Empire of the Rising Sun back to back? Simple commitment and leveraged debt.

How do you get across an ocean? The same way the US delivered nukes to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Catch a bus. A large bus. An airbus.

How do you create a safe harbor, controlled mass landing zone in North America? Buy one. If Harrison Ford can buy an 800 acre ranch just for a homestead, how many acres can you acquire with the joint efforts of thousands of Chinese immigrant millionaires in Vancouver alone?

Really need to see some more of this one!! Great!!!

WOW, an amazing story! Well done, and unfortunately, very believable. Good work!

like what I said above...lol...

Well that was traumatising, genocide, child rape and a women with the language skills of a bimbo