Random Question

[nancylebov]

I'm currently reading This Is the Way the World Ends (1986) by James Morrow.

What was the last WWIII novel?

Comments

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

Yes, exactly that sort of WWWIII novel--the old-fashioned kind we grew up with.

I was wondering about Swan Song.

Meanwhile, I'm reading John Barnes' Payback City--it's about a big terrorist attack on the US by Arabs. It noodled around though the 90s, not finding a publisher, and then 9/11 happened, making it unpublishable for a while.

I haven't read the intro about what Barnes got right and wrong yet--he warned that it has spoilers. However, I'll note that the motivation is nationalistic rather than religious.

It's a good enough read so far (with lots about arson investigations), but I can see why it didn't get published. It's nice if you're in the mood for a talky rationalist novel, but it's got "I like the characters and tone and talk about how things work" pull rather than a lot of narrative drive.

It's the novel the narrator of Barnes' Gaudeamus is working on.

[avram]

The real-world 9/11 attacks weren't solely religious in motivation. And the line between nationalistic and religious motivations is not a sharp one. See Robert Pape's research.

And that link to Payback City is broken -- you forgot to put the http:// at the front of the URL.

[avram]

Although you can't edit a comment, now that I think of it, so it did no good for me to point out the broken link.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

I could delete my comment and replace it with a corrected version, but I'm not sure it would be in the right place in the thread.

Here's the corrected link.

Thanks for pointing out the problem. It wasn't useless.