Five Books Featuring Sudden, Unexpected Calamities That Change Everything

The problem with being a protagonist is that many readers do not want to
read about uneventful days.

https://www.tor.com/2023/11/29/five-books-featuring-sudden-unexpected-calamities-that-change-everything/
--
My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll

On 11/29/2023 12:07 PM, James Nicoll wrote:
> Five Books Featuring Sudden, Unexpected Calamities That Change Everything
>
> The problem with being a protagonist is that many readers do not want to
> read about uneventful days.
>
> https://www.tor.com/2023/11/29/five-books-featuring-sudden-unexpected-calamities-that-change-everything/

I saw The Andromeda Strain movie. Does that count ?

Just about half of SF fits this category depending on what the actual
definition of sudden is.

Lynn

On 2023-11-29, Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:

>> https://www.tor.com/2023/11/29/five-books-featuring-sudden-unexpected-calamities-that-change-everything/
>
> I saw The Andromeda Strain movie. Does that count ?

The book is good, too, if you forgive the deus ex machine ending
it shares with the movie. The book also provides an explanation
for the weird effects of the laser gauntlet at the end of the movie.
In the novel, the security system shoots curare flechettes, so the
target starts suffering paralysis. This must have been changed
very, very late to lasers during production of the movie.

> Just about half of SF fits this category depending on what the actual
> definition of sudden is.

Indeed.

--
Christian "naddy" Weisgerber naddy@mips.inka.de

In article <uk7ukt$t7f$1@reader1.panix.com>,
jdnicoll@panix.com (James Nicoll) wrote:

> Five Books Featuring Sudden, Unexpected Calamities That Change Everything
>
> The problem with being a protagonist is that many readers do not want to
> read about uneventful days.
>
> https://www.tor.com/2023/11/29/five-books-featuring-sudden-unexpected-calamiti
> es-that-change-everything/

An adventure is something bad happening to somebody else far away.

--
"We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement."
Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan describes progress in _Komarr_.
�-----------------------------------------------------
Robert Woodward robertaw@drizzle.com

On Wednesday, 29 November 2023 at 21:52:09 UTC, Lynn McGuire wrote:
> On 11/29/2023 12:07 PM, James Nicoll wrote:
> > Five Books Featuring Sudden, Unexpected Calamities That Change Everything
> >
> > The problem with being a protagonist is that many readers do not want to
> > read about uneventful days.
> >
> > https://www.tor.com/2023/11/29/five-books-featuring-sudden-unexpected-calamities-that-change-everything/
> I saw The Andromeda Strain movie. Does that count ?
>
> Just about half of SF fits this category depending on what the actual
> definition of sudden is.

You forgot "unexpected", and I believe you're overstating.

A while back, every book that you mentioned with
the abrupt collapse of present-day North American
society, usually because a nuclear bomb caused
an electromagnetic pulse and zapped all of the things.
A man with some weapons must make his way to
the home of his usually estranged wife and children,
for some reason.

It's not all like that.

On Wed, 29 Nov 2023 23:11:46 -0000 (UTC), Christian Weisgerber
<naddy@mips.inka.de> wrote:

>On 2023-11-29, Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>> https://www.tor.com/2023/11/29/five-books-featuring-sudden-unexpected-calamities-that-change-everything/
>>
>> I saw The Andromeda Strain movie. Does that count ?
>
>The book is good, too, if you forgive the deus ex machine ending
>it shares with the movie. The book also provides an explanation
>for the weird effects of the laser gauntlet at the end of the movie.
>In the novel, the security system shoots curare flechettes, so the
>target starts suffering paralysis. This must have been changed
>very, very late to lasers during production of the movie.

I suppose it depends on what is seen as the ending.

I see the ending as "hero braves central core and turns key".

A true deus-ex-machina ending would have the "deus" appear
undexpectedly and solve everything instantly. The T-Rex-ex-machina
ending to /Jurassic Park/ had a T-Rex showing up unexpectedly and
eating the last of the velociraptors (or their larger cousins)
attacking our heroes, thus ending the /only/ part of the film that
could be called "original".

But there is nothing unexpected about finding a working sub-station
and turning the key; it was set up at the beginning of the story.
Indeed, having explained the system so carefully, it became
/unavoidable/ that this be needed at some point. Otherwise, it would
have been a "loose end that was mentioned once and went nowhere".

But perhaps you see it as "strain washes out" (film) or "strain
encircles Earth, ending the space age" (book, IIRC). I don't see a
"deus", but the first could be considered a fairy-tale ending ("a
handsome prince kissed Snow White and she woke up"), I suppose.
--
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

On 2023-11-30, Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:

>>> I saw The Andromeda Strain movie. Does that count ?
>>
>>The book is good, too, if you forgive the deus ex machine ending
>>it shares with the movie.
>
> I suppose it depends on what is seen as the ending.

After the humans have failed to control Andromeda, it just like
that mutates into a benign form.

--
Christian "naddy" Weisgerber naddy@mips.inka.de

Christian Weisgerber <naddy@mips.inka.de> wrote:
>On 2023-11-30, Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:
>
>>>> I saw The Andromeda Strain movie. Does that count ?
>>>
>>>The book is good, too, if you forgive the deus ex machine ending
>>>it shares with the movie.
>>
>> I suppose it depends on what is seen as the ending.
>
>After the humans have failed to control Andromeda, it just like
>that mutates into a benign form.

It mutates into a "benign" form while the humans are still trying to
control it, but they don't know that has happened because they aren't paying
attention to their teletype. It's not all THAT benign since it destroys
plastics.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

On 2 Dec 2023 01:22:58 -0000, kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) wrote:

>Christian Weisgerber <naddy@mips.inka.de> wrote:
>>On 2023-11-30, Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:
>>
>>>>> I saw The Andromeda Strain movie. Does that count ?
>>>>
>>>>The book is good, too, if you forgive the deus ex machine ending
>>>>it shares with the movie.
>>>
>>> I suppose it depends on what is seen as the ending.
>>
>>After the humans have failed to control Andromeda, it just like
>>that mutates into a benign form.
>
>It mutates into a "benign" form while the humans are still trying to
>control it, but they don't know that has happened because they aren't paying
>attention to their teletype. It's not all THAT benign since it destroys
>plastics.

I did wonder if it might mutate again, back into a directly
human-threatening variant. And immune to high ph values.

--
Jerry Brown

A cat may look at a king
(but probably won't bother)

On Fri, 1 Dec 2023 19:11:26 -0000 (UTC), Christian Weisgerber
<naddy@mips.inka.de> wrote:

>On 2023-11-30, Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:
>
>>>> I saw The Andromeda Strain movie. Does that count ?
>>>
>>>The book is good, too, if you forgive the deus ex machine ending
>>>it shares with the movie.
>>
>> I suppose it depends on what is seen as the ending.
>
>After the humans have failed to control Andromeda, it just like
>that mutates into a benign form.

In the film, it is destroyed.

Apparently, in the book, it migrates to the upper atmosphere and (per
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Andromeda_Strain])

"The novel's epilogue reveals that a crewed spacecraft, Andros V, was
incinerated during atmospheric re-entry, presumably because Andromeda
had eaten its tungsten/plastic laminate heat shield and caused it to
burn up."

So hardly "benign". Just not directly lethal to humans.
--
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"