More Lovecraft-arama

When I wrote the last time about Lovecraft I received a number of emails showing great interest in more covers from his books.  Here they are, some of them are from the UK, that I especially enjoy.

Perhaps you don't care but I do

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Comics and Atom Bombs

The world, not just the United States or Japan, changed when the two atomic bombs were dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  The war's end was simply one change, the world changed in many different ways than that sole end.

The world became aware of the bomb to end all wars.  This mighty power of destruction that previously was considered to be futurist and science fiction or fantasy, was for now in the hands of just one or two countries in the Allied powers.

The end of the war allowed the fashioning of a new world, with new alliances, and between the two most powerful allies, new enmity and distrust.  The acknowledgement that the system of war and recovery was changed was evident, in the fall out from the war.  The resort to big open wars would no longer work, as eventually both super powers and later the great powers would acquire nuclear weapons as well. 

This does present a change in plans for Ares, God of War.  When both parties making war have the ability to end it with a few dropped bombs on both civilian and military targets, the wars we fight are no longer clean and easy to sort out.  And this ignores even the fact that the world might well take sides, but, is it out of loyalty, or is it for the benefits that your umbrella of nuclear arms might provide?

The new world as found in the post nuclear era was considered by many in comic book form.  Whether the new, polluted world, as found in Nausicaa, or the urban anarchy and street gangs of Akira, Japanese talents considered the new world from a profoundly individual perspective.  Whereas other artists and writers might understand the horror of nuclear weapons, the Japanese had in fact suffered their use.  Rightly or wrongly, they suffered the use, as many still debate that issue.  Some people might consider the use of a nuclear background for stories to be wallowing in the moment and the suffering, but if it is done with care, I disagree.  It is a valid avenue of thought to consider a world with more destruction, and more fear, as a result of more bombs.

But the Cold War of the 1950s to late 1970s offered a powerful reminder to the world what could happen if both sides were to feel challenged enough to lose the war.  In those considerations many comic books were published showing a world shattered by unlimited use, and suggest that there is no winner should the world face such wars.

There was a wave, in the 1980s of comic books that showed the worlds found after the bombs, and considered what kind of forms of government might rise up after the destruction.  V For Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd suggested that in response to world catastrophe a fascist state would rise.  From that rise a response to the concentration of power within the hands of the state would give birth to anarchism and anti-government violence.  The book was solemn and dark, but was not without hope.  But nuclear war does present quite a challenge for survival.

In the present, while dystopia based stories exist, the gnawing fears of the Cold War offer fewer options.  Catastrophes still exist, but more now come from fears of environmental disasters, and the loss of control of the fabrics of society due to the internet and anti-state movements.  It seems hard for me, a 50 year old man, to imagine a world without a fear of nuclear war, but few people think of it now as the cause of the future disasters.  But it does still exist.

The Price of Entertainment in paintings and more

Since very early times humans have paid to watch sports/spectacles for entertainment.  That the athletic people might be injured or killed was not the concern of the viewer, in fact, it was part of the attraction for the sport.  In ancient Rome gladiatorial events drew thousands of fans, spectacles and events drew people from across the empire, to see the bravest, best, and most gory.  There is no reason to think this was the first expression of spectacle as entertainment, but it is well documented and remembered, because the empire kept records.

In modernity we still see sports as entertainment and much entertainment through spectacle.  However, the attitudes about safety are changing the games people watch, and the fear of a spectacle of a tragedy or tragic injury is changing those sports.  The cost of injuries are making people reconsider participation.  And there is part of the rub.  In ancient Rome the participants in most of the gladiatorial combats were not free men.  They were slaves, trained and some quite able, but the lack of freedom meant they had no choice to compete.

Concussions are the main source of fear, but there are also game related issues that cause worry.  Use of human performance enhancing drugs means more spectacular sports, but also at a cost of human physical damage and dna changes in some.

A fair question too, is, what role does economic class play in the choice of people who see sports as the only way to escape poverty.  If an athlete has no option, it might not be slavery, but it is very possible that the athlete will ignore injury concerns in the hope for a great payday.

RISK OF CONCUSSIONS

PERFORMANCE ENHANCING DRUGS

There are other sports as well that are often as much spectacle as they are competition.  Auto racing fans often challenge the notion that they like a sport for the crashes, and that is by no means false.  But the possible crashes add to the edge of the seat excitement that the sports fan is hoping to view.  So crashes aren't desired, perhaps are even hoped not to happen, but the danger of such is part of the draw.  In ancient Rome the chariots were not always driven by slaves, so, the aspect of that sport being a choice is more relevant, but, it is a spectacle due to the possible fatal crashes.

THE WORST CRASH

THE LIST OF DEATHS FROM THE EVENT

Solitary confinement, with games and books

UPON READING ABOUT AND REENACTING WAR

Because I write poetry and a lot more fiction than non-fiction it might come as a surprise that I have two degrees in History and Political Science.  As a creative writer I try to make history and the unwritten deeper past come to life.  I might fail, I am not suggesting I am a great writer, but I've always loved history, and this entry to Poplitiko is about solitaire games (either made specifically to be played alone, or those that can be played as solitaire) that reflect and game play battles and campaigns in World War Two.  Alongside the games, I offer you a focused book, that displays and describes great details on the subject.  None of these were provided by the publishers, they came from my home hidden stash of awesomeness.

COMMANDO RAIDS AND ACTIONS

One thing I love about military history is that you are able to imagine the results as they happened, but, also, you can create the what if scenarios.
History itself is not malleable, but by understanding the event by facts, analysis, and images, you can imagine the entire of the scene.  Even if you are not on the ground in reality, you can see the events again through the facts presented, or playing games that reflect the troops, geography, and layout of the scene.  There are many valid reasons, of course, that one can like military history, but for me being able to try to change the result and thereby the course of history gives me a visual understanding of what happened far better than just books alone. 

Osprey's St. Nazaire 1942 shows the reader the course of the event, the people who fought, on both sides, and more.  Through maps and photos the reader is able to gain a perspective of the event, that most books fail in doing.  But not this.  Osprey works are famous for the depth of detail and the lack of errors of generality over focus. 

My favorite military board game was a solo game, RAID ON ST. NAZAIRE by Avalon Hill.  The elements of time, luck, and strategy all play out and you are able to see just how incredibly difficult the mission was, and you learn how incredible the Commandos were.   I almost never won.  I am not an idiot, maybe the dice were against me, but I truly learned respect for those who actually did it, and for those who planned it.

AIR WAR OVER GERMANY

Flying B-17s over Germany in World War 2 was not easy.  Many bomber crews never returned, some were captured, and the chance that one would reach the magic number of missions to be sent home was very low.  Bombing had grown from the lessons of war in World War 1, and most recently before WW2, in the Spanish Civil War.  Air power was more than fighter dogfights, the ability to effect change in the enemy through bombing was believed to be a crucial part of an overall strategy of winning the war.

Osprey's B-17 Flying Fortress Units of the Eighth Air Force takes a deeper look at the machines of war, and those who manned the controls, navigated, targeted and dropped the bombs, and those who looked through the cross hairs to shoot incoming enemy craft.  The struggle to reach 25 missions  was grueling, and Osprey captures real events and life in the units, while adding to our knowledge of the subject.

Unfortunately, it is rather hard to capture bombing raids and the dangers within by game.  B-17 Queen of the Skies was by no means a bad game, it just didn't feel like you were flying or sending out the missions. However, if one wishes to measure the difficulty of continuing missions, with depleted forces, this game does show you how difficult the mission purpose was to achieve.

THE GREAT TANK BATTLE OF KURSK


When you think of the Nazi war machine in WW2 you definitely think tanks, close air support by the Luftwaffe, and immediate counter attacks to any assault upon their lines.  The strategy was given its most serious test when Nazi Germany invaded with a surprise attack across the entire border of the Soviet Union, and the vast amount of formerly non Soviet territory the Soviets held.  As in the invasion of Poland the first resistance against the Nazi war machine was futile.  Entire armies disintegrated from the coordinated actions of a modern army versus a poorly led army, unready for war.  But eventually, after many losses, the Soviets fought back, and turned the tide.

The book Kursk 1943 by Osprey talks about the battle that saw the tide inexorably turn against Germany.  Thorough in the list of armies and equipment, leaders and tactics, Osprey leaves no stone unturned to find reasons for all it considers.

The game Eastern Front Solitaire by Omega Games is a fast moving, thoughtful game that allows you to simulate the events in the Soviet Union during the many battles and campaigns following the invasion.  It is a very good game, but got even better with the 3rd edition and I found it wonderfully demonstrative of the difficulty even the elite troops of the Wehrmacht would experience, conquering so much territory, so many troops, and facing shortages, and hostile partisans.

THE FINAL BATTLE OF BERLIN

The final battles to end the war in Europe in 1945 were brutal, bestial, and deadly.  They came as close to the unraveling of the bonds of humanity as possible, and the results are still visible in select areas of the battles.  The Soviet troops forced their way through Poland into Germany with great casualties, but undeniably great momentum.  By the time the various forces stood facing each other outside of Berlin, no one having imagined the end of the world could say, this was not Ragnarok.

Soviet troops were encouraged to pay the Nazis back for the savage cruelties done to their homeland.  Fear in the retreating Germans was real, and rape, torture, and simply dying were what lay ahead for many in the end that was Berlin 1945.

Battle for Germany now available from Decision games is a revamp of an SPI game of the mid 1970s.  It is fast, furious and easy to engage and understand. When played by veteran wargamers, the game might end in less than 5 hours.  This is considerably better than so many of the great games that took at least that long just to set up properly.

Berlin 1945 from Osprey is a book that could well have been written and illustrated without any sort of degree of compassion.  The tragedies of war by the end, with the death camps being liberated, the massive movements of native populations, and struggle for the claim to be the victors of the greatest conflict ever, all could have made the work one that felt like propaganda or filler.  But the professional writing and meticulous detail shows that this battle, like all before it, was in itself an interesting, important and exciting event.  Why should anyone think anything but that, with Osprey? 

FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO:
Osprey Publishing
Decision Games