Nearly Done!

I'm down to the last few chapters of the rewrite of Firestar. The plot has changed around a lot, there's a bit more action, and I've taken the trouble to draw out Corey's problem: how to win the war. And the key point is that while she doesn't single-handedly do that, she serves as the catalyst for those who can change the policies. That has taken a little more work than I'd anticipated.

Of course when I'm done I'll have to go back through it and see where I have inconsistencies and so on.

I think the only other thing that's new on the writing front is Little Lost Dryad, a short story in the dryad sequence that includes potential child abuse, and the revenge for that. I had a rather lame ending, but some of the feedback was pointed and direct, and has resulted in my rewriting parts of the beginning to put in more detail, and rewriting the ending completely. We'll see how it turns out, I'm not totally satisfied with it in this form, either.

What would make me satisfied? Hmm, good question. The ending has to be something that could only come about because the narrator is a dryad, that the narrator does, and is emotionally satisfying (a short story, for me, is as much about emotion as it is anything else). I did have one idea that was completely off the wall, and I may go with it just to see how it fits. We'll see.

Frederick the Great Modifications and Errata


1) A garrison granted the honors of war must be moved to a non-besieged friendly garrison of the same nationality (which may result in the splitting of the garrison, if made up of different nationalities).

2) A demoralized force inside a fortress does not demoralize a friendly force outside the same fortress, and a demoralized force outside a fortress does not demoralize a friendly force inside the same fortress. You remember that forces on a hex with a fortress aren't automatically inside the fortress.

3) The captor has the choice of which leader to offer for exchange when an uneven number of leaders are held as prisoners.

4) The river hexsides between hexes 1730-1630, 1730-1731, and 1731-1830 should not be there; consider those hexsides clear.

5) On the CRT, the "25L" Attacker result for a modified die roll result of "7" under the 66-99% column should be a "20" instead (with no leader loss).

6) The towns of Cassel (1811) and Eger (1121) are fortified. Cassel is held by the Hanoverians (well, actually Hessians, but in game terms the Hanoverians) at the start of all individual year scenarios. Eger is held by the Austrians at the start of all individual year scenarios.

7) Minden is a "weaker" fortresses. All siege resolution rolls add 1 to the die roll on this fortress.

8) The Russians have no siege train. All Russian siege resolution rolls where the Russians alone are besieging a place subtract 1 from the die roll.

9) The Russians have bases in Poland. Starting in any year after the capture of Konigsberg, the Russians may move forces from Poland. They enter the map anywhere between hexes 2136 and 2356 inclusive. If they are coming they must enter no later than Turn 6, and must exit through those hexes no later than Turn 14. Russian forces doing this draw supply as if there is a supply counter in 2436 or 2236 (but not both). The Russian player must indicate where it is upon entering. This supply counter may not be captured and has an intrinsic garrison.

10) If Konigsberg is being besieged by the Russians and Winter starts, the garrison is automatically granted the Honors of War and the Russians occupy Konigsberg.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I've adapted Frederick the Great to other maps. This is for earlier campaigning, or for campaigning with miniatures. These rules follow.

1) Roads are two types: solid lines (rare) and dashed lines (dusty lanes). Solid line roads add 1MP and negate terrain, but that can only be used once in a movement for that force. Dashed lines just negate terrain.

2) "Fortified Lines" - these were the Non Plus Ultra Lines and the Lines of Brabant from earlier wars. These are established with "intrinsic" garrisons that do not show on the map. They cost 1 extra MP to move through, cumulative with other terrain, if regular troops are not there. If regular troops are there, they increase the strength of the defending force by 50%. "Fortified Lines" may be destroyed by an attacking force moving through them. "Fortified Lines" hexes with destroyed fortifications can no longer provide any advantages for either side.

3) Conversion to miniatures: instead of having an SP counter in a stack, there are lettered counters. Each one represents specific units, and players must note the composition of that force. For example, Counter B is foot regiments Baden-Durlach, Baden-Baden, Baden-Overhaul, Horse Brigades v. Tinkelwasser and v. Eissenessen, and an artillery park of one brigade. This is 16 SP. Losses in battle have to be traced (I'm set up for Volley & Bayonet), or 8,000 men.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If it isn't obvious, I happen to think that for strategic warfare from 1640 to 1790, the game system in Frederick the Great can't be beat. It is an intuitive system where, after some experience, you only need the CRT chart. I've used the above modifications on other maps, and found them to work rather well. You can get a tense game with chances on either side.

HoTTs for Ancients





HoTTs is short-hand for Hordes of the Things, a set of fantasy battle rules by Richard Bodley Scott and Phil Barker. It's a fun set of rules. In my opinion, it is better written than the companion De Bellis Antiquitatis (aka DBA). Others disagree with me on this.



The army seen to the left is the Syrian City State Army I've put together for HoTTs Historical. Its composition is listed below.


We've been using HoTTs for ancient gaming. To do that, we've had to add a little to the rules. Herewith are the changes we made.


Troop Types:
Scouts
· Foot element.
· 40x20 base, 2 figs/base
· 300p movement. Mounted can pass through Scouts, or Scouts through any friends, which are facing in the same or opposite direction if there is room beyond the first element met.
· Combat factor +2 against anyone. If the Scouts are equipped with a shooting weapon, they can support Warband, Spears, or Blades against Mounted/Aerial (+1 factor) and suffers same fate as supported unit.
· No -2 if fighting in difficult or bad going.
· If beaten, destroyed by Knights, Riders, or Flyers in good going, otherwise recoil.
· If doubled, destroyed by Knights, Riders, or Flyers in good going or by Rangers or Scouts; otherwise, flee 600p.


Light Horse
· Mounted element.
· 40x30 base in 15mm, 2 figs/base
· 500p movement.
· Combat factor +2 against anyone. If the Light Horse are equipped with a shooting weapon, they can shoot 100p.
· If beaten, destroyed if in bad going, otherwise, flee 600p.
· If doubled, destroyed by Riders, Light Horse, or Flyers in good going, or if in bad going; otherwise, flee 600p.


Phalanx - Pikes - 4 fig/stand, same movement as Spears, count 2nd rank, +3 for each rank against all troop types. 2 AP/element.

Levy - "normal" spears (i.e. not phalangites like the Greeks developed). No 2nd rank allowed. +3 against all troop types. 2 AP/element.

Changes to Rules
Warbands - only count the 2nd rank on turns they initiate combat

Stronghold - both sides have strongholds.





In historical HoTTs, suppress the supernatural elements (i.e. magic users, dragons, Gods and similar).

We've used the above for the better part of two years, and the thing we've discovered is you need a "basic" army list like you see in DBA. Players would be free to add additional elements to suit their style of play, or campaign situations. Players would have a selected list of troop types to draw from. In all cases these would include Heroes. Let's look at some typical "basic" armies.



Hittite Army: 3xHCh as Kn; 2xLCh as Riders; 4xLevy; for 18 pts.


New Kingdom Egyptian Army: 2xLCh as Riders; 2xLevy; 2xBows as Shooters; 1xAxe, for 14 pts.

Notice that I don't list any maximums. So if a Hittite wants to include 3 elements of blades, or 3 of HCh, he can. Note that the "light" troops such as Scouts aren't normally included as "mandatory".

We've also found that playing on a 32"x24" deep table actually works quite well. We've also played on a 30"x30" table. This gives both sides at least one open flank.

We've also done "largee-battle" HoTTs games. This is 2 or more armies that could be historical allies on one side vs. 2 or more armies that would be historical opponents that could be allies on the other side. For example, I recently did a Hittite Army allied with a Trojan Army and a Syrian City State Army vs. three Egyptian armies. The various armies were:





Hittite: 4xHCh as Kn; 3xLCh as Riders; 4xLevy; 1xAxe


Trojan: 1xHero (in chariot); 4xLCh; 4xWarbands; 2xBows as Shooters


Syrian: 2xLCh as Riders; 1xAxe; 2xLevy; 10xHordes; 2xBows as shooters





Egyptians: 4xLCh; 4xLevy; 2xBows; 2xAxe



In the Hittite case the contingents had to be kept separate. In the Egyptian case the troops could be rearranged before the battle started into "commands". The CiC would roll first, then could "give" pips to a lower command. The resulting battle was frustrating to the Egyptians (who eventually won) because the Syrian commander used his troops as the anchor for everyone else (brought on by his being able to bring Hordes that had been lost back to the field). The Hittite Heavy Chariots just motored over the top of everything, but got pip challenged so they really couldn't get turned around. The rules in HoTTs for Big Battles work just find.



I'm gradually putting together a "base" army for all of the ones we normally use.



By the way, none of this is to denigrate using HoTTs as it was intended: as a set of fantasy battle rules.

More Firestar

Stories have sub-plots. In Kassandra's Song it's her flashbacks, and the same in Crosstime Cop. In Firestar it is Alan Young, an officer in the navy of the People's Star Kingdom.

Alan is there for a reason, and not just to pad the story to some wordcount. We get to see the Families through his eyes, and Corey gets to tell him things, which means the reader learns them. It adds 2.5 to 3.0 chapters to the story.

This changes the end of the story. As before, it ends with a battle in system K-303 (Families Catalogue). In this one there is no mention of Morosini's Children. Instead, Corey and Alan will work closely together, and that will be critical in winning the battle.

The battle won't be the end of the story, though. Because there will be the aftermath. After all, one of the themes is Corey trying to find a way to win the war.

Wingman on Storiesonline.net

I posted Wingman to Storiesonline yesterday morning. For those who don't know, this is a website where a lot of erotica gets posted, but so does a lot of non-erotica. I've put my share of erotica up there (Devlin's Story, Three Valleys - Sammi, and The Office stories. But I've also put the Kalliste extract stories there. You get feedback, and you get votes on the quality. It's a mixed bag at times, because it's all just impressions.

Take votes, for instance. I had someone really slam one of my stories because he didn't like the premise. He voted as many times as he could, and gave it the lowest ratings he could. Lazzo, the sitemaster, caught on, and stepped in. Your ego gets caught up in those votes, and you can get really depressed if the scores are going down. Especially because the technical ability votes remain high (that was apparently cued Lazzo in that something was going on).

You can also send e-mails to the author, and since there's a lot of erotica, the sender doesn't know the e-mail address of the recipient. When you're getting good feedback, and even praise, and scores that keep dropping, you know something's up. When Lazzo removed this troll's low scores, suddenly everything jumped up consistent with my other stories.

All that aside (you can tell it hit a nerve), Wingman has gotten a lot of responses. Apparently the story of someone recovering the body of someone he knew in 1968 resonated through a lot of the Vietnam era readers. I've gotten several very emotional responses.

Red Stevenson is a Vice Admiral in the Navy, and CNO/Aviation, which means he's the boss flier in the US Navy. A lot of what that office does is procurement, personnel moves, and so on. There's also a CNO/Surface, and a CNO/Submarine (I think there are a couple more). In 1968 he was a nugget (new aviator on his first deployment). In October of that year he was flying as wingman to Jack MacLean when the latter was hit by flak and shot down. Red ignored the FAC (forward air controller) and blew that gun away with his bombs, though it didn't do Jack any good.

Fast forward to 1997. Red Stevenson is temporarily heading a recovery team in Vietnam. He is specifically looking for Jack MacLean, whose body was never recovered. He finds him and brings him home. A year later, in a bar in Washington DC, another guy who was in the squadron in 1968, David Hughes, looks him up. The story proceeds from there.

Even though the story was posted on a site with erotica, there's no sex, or even nudity in the story. The characters do drink a good single malt, and in one scene, smoke cigarettes (which in Washington State would offend more people than the sex).

For those who haven't read Nick Scipio's Summer Camp stories, go to www.nickscipio.com and enjoy. These are erotica, but Nick has a deft hand at drawing characters. It is a 'coming of age' story that has garnered a large following and a very intense discussion group on Yahoo. David Hughes is one of the characters, as is Jack MacLean's widow, Susan. Nick very graciously let me use David, and provided some editorial feedback. He had me show the story to a public member of his Editorial Team, as well as several who aren't. And I'm sorry, my lips are sealed on who they were.

There was a personal element in working on Wingman, but I won't comment on it.

Now back to other stories.

Re-Thinking Firestar

It's amazing what time away from a story can accomplish. I was all set to start Firestar with Corey graduating from Command & Staff School. I wrote two chapters and part of a third. I then sort of dribbled out of energy.

I've learned that in my case, writer's block is an disinclination to work on a story. And the cause isn't energy or the lack thereof, but that I'm going down the wrong path. The usual cure is to not work on a story for a day or six, and then back up.

Now the trouble with Firestar is that I have all of this stuff written which I think makes a great story. Any substantial changes I make to it negates all of this work. And Corey's story is the story of the Families, too. But something I said to Joshua when he pinned me down on it reverberated last week.

Who is Corey Andersen? What drives her? What is her "got to fix" problem? I'd said, when questioned, Ulysses Grant. I'm not sure if I thought about it, or it was my subconscious finally getting fed up and providing me the answer.

Grant was a failure at everything he tried. Farming - failed. Clerking - failed. The only thing he was good at was the thing he hated the most: the military. And he was very good at the fighting part, though he learned (as 1861-62 shows) that he learned the logistics/admin side very well, too. And he was flexible. He didn't quite say "You look at a situation until it makes sense." He might as well have.

So why is Corey Andersen like Ulysses Grant? She looks at situations until she understands them. Sometimes she goes in with a pre-conceived plan. Sometimes she just takes advantage of what happens around her, and runs with it, just like Grant did. And she's lonely, just like Grant.

When Grant was posted to the West Coast it was no-dependents-allowed. Julia was his anchor. Without her he was alone, and he would drink. That's why he left the army in the 1850s. Corey is alone, too. There are her sib-sisters, shy Heather who opens up with colleagues, party-girl Sonia, and Corey, who is with the coyote packs, or reading, or running errands (alone). A party will find her on the sidelines, watching.

Corey most wants to be accepted. To be brought into a group. To be made to feel part of it. She gradually forms a group around her, which is the point of the story. And it's the stresses of combat that make that happen. People group around her, believing in her. She doesn't join a group, people join her. They accept her for what and who she is.

So that means I back up again. I go back to earlier in Firestar, back to Corey being a Squadron Lead. She is successful in combat. She goes to C&S. She goes on her Graduation Cruise (where she loses a hand) and is very successful there. She recuperates, and powers that be try to force her out of the Navy because people are looking to her, and they don't like the symbol she has become. When that doesn't work, she is posted to the de Ruyter so Edith Matsuoko can force her out of the Navy. Then comes The Raid. Does that end the story? Perhaps. I'm projecting 16-20 chapters out of this. I've got 6+ chapters done.

Other things now -
Two more short stories are in the bag. One I won't comment on for reasons that I'll reveal much later. The other is another dryad story, Heart of the Woods. Jen the dryad is married now (to her sweetie Andy), and while on their honeymoon to the Redwoods National Park, discover a body with a hand buried in a tree as only a dryad could do it. It's a sad story, and one of the people who read it called it lyrical. We'll see.

Don't worry, there's at least one more story about Jen before she marries, and I think Chloe the Hamadryad wants some attention.

I've got another porn/erotica story going, this time with an SF twist. It came from my brief introduction to online games where you inhabit and interact in a computer generated world. I want to finish it before posting it to SOL, so we'll see.

So, now it's back to the grindstone. Progress in some places is better/faster than I'd hoped for.

Time for more updates -

Off the top, my brother has a book coming out. Here's the link: http://tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=978-1-60462-288-1

On to other things -

Dryad4 - in my whimsical way of giving stories working titles, this is the third Dryad story to emerge. Just finished its first draft last night. The working title is Hearts of Oak which is the absolute pits for a title, but we'll see. Jen the Dryad has married, and on their honeymoon they discover a dead body. The man was killed by an axe to the chest, and his hand is stuck in a tree (in a way only a dryad can do). Jen knows right away it was done by one of her relatives.

What of Dryad3? Well, we'll see. It turned into a story much longer than I anticipated, and I hauled it back into the shop.

Welded Wing is a short story set in the Scipioverse. Translation - this is a short story set in the same world as Nick Scipio's (http://www.nickscipio.com) Summer Camp stories. Nick's stories are erotica, and are a coming of age story about a young man named Paul Hughes. Even though erotica might not be your thing, these are well-written. He's 10 chapters into Book 4, with the central mysteries unresolved: who died, and who did Paul marry. I have my guesses, but so do a lot of people.

One of the characters in a prequel is Jack MacLean, a Navy pilot. We meet him in Nereids as he and his wife Susan become the best friends of David and Beth Hughes (Paul Hughes' parents). Jack was shot down and killed over North Vietnam in 1968 (he was an A-4 pilot). Welded Wing is about the recovery of his body in 1998. BTW, the US ambassador to Vietnam (when we opened diplomatic relations with them) was an ex-POW shot down during Rolling Thunder. The POV character is a senior Navy official who had floew with Jack MacLean and was with him the day he was killed.

One of the problems of working in another 'verse is that you have to follow the canons of that place, and you seek permission, and clear it, with the owner. Scipioverse is not an open 'verse, and Nick has some pretty high standards. A number of people have written stories in the Scipioverse, and I ran this past at least one of them before sending it to Nick. Another BTW - there is no nudity or sex in this story.

Firestar - Since I last updated this blog, there have been some changes. I had originally written three chapters of Corey doing well at Command & Staff, and then going on a 'graduation cruise' where she got some final polish. Then she goes to the carrier de Ruyter so she can be in place for The Raid. Well, my story sense said no. Instead, we start en media res. She's on her cruise, and it is combat at bad odds. Corey succeeds (and loses her hand). Then, during her recovery, we get the pressure for her to quit the Navy, and we get deliberate attempts to shuffle her off somewhere out of the way so she'll resign anyway (de Ruyter). The culmination will be The Raid, but I have to show Corey being successful so the reader sees her as one of the hopes of the Families, and see her skills as a tactician.

It's slow going at the moment, but I just did a final read-through of Chapter 1, and am nearing that for Chapter 2. The action will end about Chapter 3, and then we'll get into the non-combat consequences of decisions Corey and others made during the heat of battle. There shouldn't be any, but one of Corey's opponents is the Establishment. Bureaucracy has settled in, and the Navy is seen as a sinecure.

Danielle - a story set in Three Valleys, but without the lifestyle. Dani is from Zero Phase, and is moved there to get her out of a bad situation. She has no clue about a world that evolved from the 1950s without the heavy influence of socialism and left-wing ideology on our culture. I'm into Chapter 4, and it's interesting writing. No sex, but plenty of other things going on in her life, including a growing sense of her own self-worth.

Other works - sort of in abeyance while I grappled with the holidays, got in some gaming, saw some friends, and did some short stories as well as the one about Corey. I expect there'll be more time for Corey Andersen as I've gotten these other stories out of my system.

Update Time...

Well, Devlin's Story is complete and up on SOL. And, in the last month, I've gone back over it, doing the little things, like line-edits, converting em-dashes, ellipses, and so on. It's in much better shape than it was before. I won't update what's on SOL, but I might go to one of the other sites. We'll see.

Engage the Enemy More Closely - the Josie Davenport story. Josie, when I blazed through a reread of Firestar, Setosha and Lexeon, was always the one picked last, but who clearly out-classed her opponents. She was always included as an afterthought, except by two people: Edita Macquarrie, and (more significantly) Corey Andersen (if you're going to have only two friends in high places, Corey and Edita are the ones, almost as good as Admiral Hughes). I'm up to Chapter 3, and I'm workshopping this one.

Firestar - for more than a month I was stuck. The past was keeping a dead hand on me about this story. Finally(!) I decided to start it at graduation from Command & Staff. I just started Chapter 2, and we'll see. I have a pretty good idea about the plot.

Danielle - a new one in the Three Valleys universe, except Danielle does not partake of the culture there (and is mostly unaware of it). This is really a look at the whole Project story scene from an outsider. Danielle is a teenager from Tiburon California (Zero Phase). She is coming off her second abortion for being sexually active in high school without protection of any kind (she has or has had several of the more common STD's, but not AIDS). Her parents (who know more of what's going on that she realizes) send her to her Aunt and Uncle who live in Valley's End in Three Valleys. There she gets a purpose/interest in life. Chapter 3 is nearly in the books.

Different World - is on hold. Other stories are coming first at the moment.

So what happened these last seven weeks? Well, we went on a cruise around the time of Thanksgiving. Princess Cruises to St. Maarten/St. Martin, and St. Thomas. Had a blast. Got a lot of rewriting done (mostly Devlin). St. Thomas convinced us to seriously look into moving there in later years. I may or may not post an account of the cruise. St. Maarten was...interesting. There were the two or so blocks of tourist facade, and then poverty. It wasn't as bad as a Third World country, but by comparison St. Thomas was tremendously more populous. The culture/political climate account for a lot of that.

The USVI are basically mountaintops sticking up out of the ocean. They're very steep in a lot of places. At it's highest (1,547 feet above sea level) the temperatures were pleasant, while at sea level it was very warm. We'll have to try them again without the cruise ship.

About Princess Cruises. Holland America seemed to cater to the older folks. I'm in my late 50s, and I felt young. Norweigan - I think they have undercooked food, and while I didn't notice anything I disliked, Karel had issues. Princess gave the feeling of pampering you (even if the waiter at dinner, Ernesto, tried to overfeed us), without it being overwhelming or cloying. I think NCL, now that I think about it, tried too hard.

What's on tap? - More work on Firestar and Engage. And maybe a short story. We'll see.

A New Idea/Story -

I tried to restart Firestar, I tried 8 times. My hard drive is littered with the attempts. None of them worked.

I came to three possible conclusions about this:

1) my subconscious says I've told that story, and doesn't want to work on it any more.

2) I like the story as it is, and tweaking will or won't help it at all.

3) I started it in the wrong place, and my subsconsious knew it.

Let's look at them in turn.

#1 - it's possible this is true. I rely upon my subconscious a great deal for my writing, and in many cases my "plot outline" consists of some scribbled notes, and I compose as I go, trusting my subconscious to get me where I'm supposed to be. The danger of this is that I'll repeat my self a great deal, and I can wander down long sideroads without getting to the point. This started to happen in Devlin's Story, and a reader brought me up short. I admit working on another story has been refreshing.

#2 - this, also is very likely. I want to cut a bunch out of the story, but I like it too much. Tough love, though. The trouble is, I recognized taht one of the characters in the story is the war itself. And I want to show all of the neat, intricate things that went on. I think I'm a prisoner of everything I've already written. I know I've been corrupted by the Clancy style, multiple stories weaving back and forth like a tapestry to tell a much bigger story.

#3 - this, too, is possible. I started the rewrite with Corey already on the de Ruyter, and went forward from there. Maybe if I started somewhere else... But I want to show how Corey got there, what's made her the person she is at the Battle off Lexeon. I want to show her growth as a commander, and use that to demonstrate how military ability is an innate talent.

So what have I done in the meantime?

I started Engage the Enemy More Closely, aka, Josie Davenport's story. The first chapter is to give a flavor of the Families, and to have a brief fight in which Josie wins a battle.

The second chapter she gets chewed out for not doing more (she achieved her objective). Life sucks sometimes, and for Josie, for underappreciated Josie, it certainly does.

So Chapter 3 she meets Edita Macquarrie, who recalls certain incidents in their past relations. But it ends on an upbeat note as she is put in command of a squadron (the 7th); Part of this is a rehabilitation of Edita Macquarrie, but that's another story.

The rest of the story is already plotted. Josie is present during the Raid on Home, and gets promoted in the general shuffling after that. She has some difficult times (not with Edita) as she is detached and used in an independent manner. But her successes are always cast as somebody else's. This twists her guts until K-303 where there is no doubt how good she is.

And this is downplayed, lost in the "everyone did their part" view. Have to rethink the conclusion I already have.

So that's it at the moment. We'll see where this takes us. I'm going to meet with Ted and talk it over, see what ideas he has. But I'm excited about this one.

He came, he read, he gave a 30-minute critique. He then gave 15 minutes of building the author back up by showing what he did right.

Joshua Bilmes of JABberwocky Literary Agency stopped by on his way home from Bouchercon in Anchorage. He had earlier asked to see the entire m/s of Firestar. Somehow he found the time to read it all (and I thought I read fast!).

We had lunch, and he went through the problems he found in Firestar. There were a number of things:
1) What was the central problem Corey has to solve? That should be evident by the end of the first chapter (if not much earlier in the chapter).

2) There were too many viewpoint characters. He counted 5 in the first six chapters (I counted 8 overall). The story (see #1 above) can get lost with all of those viewpoints.

3) Corey was passive at the wrong points, being acted upon rather than acting. Some of this will happen in a military organization, but the leader and/or main character will attempt to dominate the situation. Those places where she was the active, dominating character were well-written and showed what I should be doing.

4) There was a lack of visuals (you mentioned the same thing). The reader should take a mental picture away when they put the book down for any reason. This was made worse because I had a marvelous opportunity to describe the Firestar Nebula on more than one occasion, and didn't do it.

5) I set up several conflicts: men vs. women; connected Family vs. small one; junior officer vs. superior officer just to name three, but I didn't follow through on any of them.

6) I had a number of annoyances for Corey, but either she bypassed them, they didn't pan out as anything other than minor, or somebody else solved them. From time to time Corey would solve one, and those were well done.

7) I made some use of the conflict between Family obligation and Navy obligation, but that didn't square with what I was setting up earlier. I sort of popped it up, and then resolved it. Corey didn't struggle against it, getting deeper and deeper into trouble until she changed the parameters.

8) The whole bit about their missing kin seemed mythic rather than a driving element.

There were a number of things I did right.
a) Overall the writing was clean and crisp. It wasn't outstanding except in a few places when Corey was being clever.

b) The dialogues were all well-done. I managed to convey a lot of information in those dialogues without being preachy or doing an info-dump.

c) I got the story going quickly and established some of Corey's character very early in the story.

d) the best scenes had a combination of rising tension, good conversation, and a punch at the end that advanced the plot and showed off character. Examples were the massive debrief and the court-martial investigation.

e) I put in enough techno-babble to show off the rules of this story without being too over the top.

Bottom Line: Firestar is in the shop for a major rewrite.

September Update -

The month started off with a bang - positive e-mail from the agent about Firestar. He had critiques about the pacing, and in truth it drags a bit and there's plenty of repetition. So it's time to fix that. I printed out the first three chapters, and in short order I did some consolidating, trimming, and rematching. I found a couple of other places to trim, and one whole scene to delete. That took care of 13 pages that, in retrospect, I didn't need.

The focus here is to focus down on what Corey feels she needs to do. In this case, it is to beat the Idenux. She feels it's the only way to get the Families' kin back (little does she know what this involves). Now I just have to make that clear (in the first chapter), but without beating anyone over the head with it. This may lead to restructuring Chapter 1 into two chapters.

Of course I'll have to rewrite the other chapters.

That has occupied my time, but what about before that wonderful e-mail arrived. I wrote another short story about a hamadryad. The difference (at least in my fantasy world) is that the hamadryads are bonded to one tree, dryads to all trees. And hamadryads are the breeders, which explains their intense interest in men. Chloe is an ex-streetwalker, and her eyes enrapture men. She has to fight that. In this story she is a PI, and she and her partner have a case that blows up in their face, leaving two dead bodies behind. The name for the story sort of came from the poem Jabberwocky; I call it Eyes That Catch.

I also worked on Chapter 9 of Different World. Gina and her temporary partner Sam uncover information about their suspects in the case. Some of it is even relevant. I didn't get a chance to run it past Laura, Sarah and Darlene; that'll be next month (I did the hamadryad story instead). I'm already into Chapter 10 when Gina goes back to New Essex to get caught up there.

Other things - I rewrote a couple of chapters of Lexeon; I'd told about honoring the memory of Liz Elia. Now I showed the ceremony (and ran it past a couple of Marines to make sure I had the feel of it right). I finished Chapter 69 of Devlin's Story. It's all downhill from here on, sort of. I have a big climactic scene to write, and then the ending. And then the epilogue. It'll be a relief (sort of) to be done with it.

So, back to Firestar, and then...cross your fingers.

Answering Questions -

One of the joys when you read a story at a writer's group is the inevitable questions that follow. These are good, people are trying to find broken logic and inconsistencies. It makes for a stronger story. As an example, I offer up my latest short story, currently unnamed.

The story is about an unlikely pair started up a detective agency. They specialize (at least at first) in the kinds of things that happen in academia. In this particular case, a woman thinks her professor husband has a mistress. He denies it. The detectives are hired to find out the truth. They do, and before the dust settles, several people are dead. They decide to find out who did the killings. They do, and have a final confrontation.

So, the questions:
1) originally 6 people were killed. Why? - I, uh, you see, the bad guy...okay, I deleted two of the murders and references to those two victims. There was no plausible plot reason for the bad guy to off them.

2) the main character has a special talent. Can you make this evident earlier? I can plant more clues, but I don't want to come right out and say it. That's part of the mystery.
do you think your ending is pretty lame? You have the confrontation, the good guys win easily, and then depart the scene bidkering good-naturedly. It is pretty lame. I need to set up the confrontation, and make the main character more at risk.

3) what do you mean by 'once living'? Those are things that have lived, or are derived from living things. Metal hasn't. Contact lenses - no. True, oil comes from an organic chemical, but I'm going to decide that there was too much processing to that oil to make plastic for it to qualify. I did add a bit where the main character has a barrette in her hair, and loses some of that hair.

4)did the police really do a ballistics test in two hours? That only happens on the CSI shows. True. That's easily fixed. I'll put in references to shell casings that are awfully similar, leading the police to conclude it is very likely the same gun was used.

5) why in the world did the bad guy commit the murders? He tried to shakedown the professor, that didn't work, they had a fight, the prof got killed. He then shoots the girl to get rid of witnesses, and while driving away sees the Prof's wife and lawyer, and out of anger shoots them. I'll make that clearer in the story.

6) why didn't she use her special ability in the office at the start of the confrontation? She wasn't sure it would work, and she knew it took a second or two to happen. She'd have that time elsehwere (such as in the parking lot).

Mind you, that doesn't take into account any of the detailed things the group wanted to correct. I should be able to get a second draft out today. We'll see how it goes.

Update to the previous post -

I mentioned that I'd finished Three Valleys - Sammi a second time. This wasn't confusion. I wasn't satisfied with the last chapter, and I rewrote it completely. There were a number of reasons for that.

In the original version, posted at Storiesonline, Sammi was working in a small town below the falls. That was in the 'no-clothing' zone, so she stripped, and we end with her in a town that combines the nudity of Seaside with the frequent sex of Three Valleys, especially among the schoolage kids. For a number of reasons, that was an adequate ending.

In the rewritten version Sammi is a teacher at a new town in a new valley, making this 'Four Valleys' rather than Three. No public/constant nudity; same clothing rules as in Three Valleys: while swimming, and casual nudity while changing and so on is accepted (but clothes are the norm). She has her regular classes (English); she teaches beginning Sex Ed to some girls who are just coming of age, and Sex Ed to some older students, too. Her friend Jeannette, who is pregnant, is there, too as the P.E. teacher. I add more detail and more description.

When I put the whole thing together, that's the version to end the story with.

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Update Time

The last post wasn't the monthly update I've been trying to keep to. So let's see where I am, and what all is going on with my writing.

Different World - Chapter 7 to writer's group, and, as usual, a lot of little changes. Some of them are so minor as to fall below the radar screen, even in ground search mode. But they all add up to a total package. It was also my first time writing a scene where two detectives question someone. I had to go reread some 'questioning scenes' from Ed McBain's stories. I also took a dip into Mickey Spillane. Gina and her former partner aren't as tough as Mike Hammer, but I laid the groundwork for at least two red herrings and a clue. And I started Chapter 8.

Counterfeit Line - Yes, some rewrites. As I have a chance to consider that story I've gone back and put in some of the things I removed to get it to 85,000 words. They add color and texture to the story. I had to do that, or cut plot for the 'feel' of the story. I chose to add words and accept that it's going to be more than 85,000 words.

Other Updates - Three Valleys - Sammi was completed and posted on SOL. Interesting reactions from readers, including one long, thoughtful comment about how he never liked to read SF, but 'Sammi' was an exception; and that it would only work in an SF environment like I outlined. Devlin's Story is up to Chapter 66 or so. I'm hoping to finish by 70.

Families Arc - I took Lexeon and added in all of the things I took out. It comes in as a much longer story, but a more complete one. Jeff and Milt were right: Boabdil should be extracted from the story and done as a separate story. But.... I like the contrast of the stories merged. They are right, however, and I've got to do some--a lot--of work on them.

I also heard from Steve Mancino! I'm going to be sending him the first three chapters, synopsis and outline again, this time electronically. He had some hospital time, and when he got back to his office he couldn't find all sorts of things. He normally does not accept electronic submissions. I've taken the opportunity to do a quick pass through Firestar. As I've had a recent virus infestation requiring me to nuke my system to its factory state and start over, I don't want to take the chance of infecting his system with whatever residual code I may still have. I'll send it as a PDF. I just have to load CutePDF on my wife's system.

That does bring up a point: we were discussing older work at writer's group Tuesday night. Sarah joked that she's been at her story for twice as long as her daughter Lucy has been around (including pregnancy); Darlene is rewriting a story she wrote 5 years ago, and discovering a lot of changes to what she thought was a good story. And Laura is dealing with a story she first wrote in high school. My brother found a couple of short stories of mine, and I reworked one of them ("Dragon Flight"). I posted it on Gina Wylie's site for comment, and sparked an interesting discussion of POV. The story is in 1st Person, not one I would normally choose, but lately all of my short stories have used that POV. But it's a bar story, and those "sound" better in 1st Person.

I'd submitted Spiked! as an e-story to an e-magazine in Australia. Haven't heard boo from them. I'm now 2/3rds of the way through another story about the dryad Jennifer Oaks. It was sparked by reading about a drug lab found in the woods by a logging team. The druggies had guns and sought to defend the lab. The loggers called for help, and company rangers turned out (former US Army Rangers). The druggies decided surrendering to the lone deputy sheriff was preferable to a shoot-out with the ex-Rangers. That doesn't happen here, but it's hard dealing with someone who can hide inside trees. Her family are the original tree-huggers.

Other short stories - I've thought of one for SOL that might prove pretty popular; and it ends with a twist. We'll see when I find the time for it. And that brings up sequels to Kassandra's Song and an Indian Shaman who serves Trickster/Coyote. I have this image, see, of Trickster, the Jade Lady, at least one other, and Kassandra playing poker at Raffles in Singapore, and it won't go away.

That's the June/July update. PNWA is coming next month (30 days out). I may or may not be attending.

Another What-If

Most of the time you'll find what-ifs for an alternate history based on a battle. Why? In part, that's because there's documentation for the battle. In part, the consequences can be seen. This isn't necessarily the case for non-battle causes.

Let's look at ones I've used:

1. Jutland - it's decisive for the British;
2. Gallipoli - an enterprising officer doesn't stop on Suvla Beach, but moves inland to capture the critical heights, cutting the Gallipoli Peninsula in two;
3. Falling Waters - Meade attacks right away;
4. Minden - Sackville charges;
5. Rome, 370 AD - modern saboteurs blow up the Senate and Emperor. Okay, not a what-if, but it was how I could generate a new timeline.

The only one I've used in a story that didn't feature a battle was Oswald Mosley becoming British Prime Minister in 1936 (an outgrowth of Edward VIII not abdicating). But it could have happened, and there was a lot of documentation about it.

Picking a Cause Event (CE) that is not based on a battle is harder. The classic one was H. Beam Piper's Aryan Transpacific, where the local shaman took it in his head to go east with the Aryan migration, not west. An off-shoot ended up populating North America. See Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen by Piper, and Tangent by Gina Marie Wylie (you'll find it on the web). People pick battles for their splits because it's easier, the most popular being Gettysburg and Waterloo (and only a few picking Antietam). Let's look at a few others.

1. Francis II does not die early from an abcess in his ear; this lead to an extended regency and religious civil wars in France.
2. Nero blames some other small group for problems in Rome, not the Christians. Not sure what this will do, have to dialogue it out sometime.
3. In 1914 the German Foreign Minister decides not to give Austria-Hungary a blank check on what to do about Serbia. WW1 would probably have still broken out, just not in July/August of 1914.
4. Julian Apostate (Emperor of Rome) puts on his armor before rushing to lead his troops in a counterattack (when he was subsequently assassinated by a Christian zealot). Christianity might have suffered from a major survival problem with somebody willing to massacre freely.

These are nowhere near exclusive, just ones I could think of off the top of my head. These splits don't have to be the primary cause of a time split in a story, they can just be something that leads to an important plot twist in a story. Most (but not all) revolve around whether somebody would survive. Most admit of some deep currents in the affairs of mankind, but more as a cultural baggage, not of major events. I realize that this suggests mankind has a hand in its own fate, but that's a discussion for some other time.

Enfilade After Action

Enfilade is the NWHMGS' annual big gaming bash. It's held every year around Memorial Day. Miniatures (and some board) gamers come from all over the Pacific Northwest for this one. There's a painting competition, a whole mess of DBA games, some innovative designs, some traditional games, and so on. This year was certainly no different, an I went down on Saturday to put on Little Big Battles (more about that later).

This year The Game Matrix sponsored a table that featured King's War in most gaming sessions. I got there in time to play in the Saturday afternoon game. That was the most one-sided game I can recall. The cards and dice were against my opponent from the beginning, and I pretty much drove him back. It couldn't have been much fun for him, but that happens (I've been on the receiving end a few times). The Games Matrix sold a number of copies of the rules, which is good.

Jeff and I put on Little Big Battles, 6mm Napoleonics. This was the Battle of Gorodeschna, 1812 in Russia, Austrians & Saxons vs. Russians (an actual battle). Historically it was a two-day affair with the Russians getting the worst of it. Our recreation was a bit of the same thing, even if it just recreated the first day. Here's my "after action" analysis.

Terrain - Rather than replicate the terrain exactly, a stylized terrain was used that captured the essence. This consisted of three parts:
1) the stream that bisected the battlefield was fordable everywhere, but was no hindrance to movement on the Russian Right (Russian cavalry charged across it repeatedly);
2) the marsh that the Russians relied upon to protect their left and L of C was dry - ironically the Russians had relied upon Cossack reports for this;
3) the road that led behind the Russian left to their depot; cutting this would cut their supplies.

Deployment - The moment of deployment was when the Austrian/Saxon attack appeared to the Russian’s startled eyes. They have just appeared from the high ground and cover and started to file across the dry marsh. So:

The Austro-Saxons - deployed with "divisions" parallel rather than one behind the other. This was because these were experienced generals (Schwarzenberg and Reynier) and would know that to do otherwise would lead to intermixed units. The troops facing the bridge were arrayed with two "divisions", one behind the other, and the left flank cavalry handy.

The Russians historically deployed in three lines, so I deployed that way;

Tomassovich wasn’t that experienced a commander. The first line consisted of light troops, including people occupying the village; the second line was a line division; the third line was a line division. Cavalry covered both flanks, with the heavier cavalry on the right where there was good going. Artillery was sprinkled along the front in the best Russian 1812 tradition (they didn’t concentrate large amounts of artillery until 1916).

Scenario Modifications - In the interest of simplicity, all Division Commanders were a 5. Schwarzenberg was a 4. Reynier was a 3. Tomassovich was a 4.

Victory Conditions - The Austro-Saxons were told that they won if they cut the road with line infantry. If they lost the crossing over the stream they had a minor victory.
The Russians were told the same thing.

Course of Action - The Austro-Saxon forces pushed across the dry marsh. Their hinge was attacked by spoiling forces, and some sacrificial troops supported by light cavalry. The Austro-Saxons swept across the road. In the center, Austrians were pushed up to dispute the stream crossing, but this mostly consisted of an artillery duel, but with some infantry fighting from time to time.

Winners & Losers - The Austro-Saxons won. Losses on both sides were minor:
Austro-Saxons - 900; Russians - 600.

Options - I thought the best Russian effort would be to do the following (based on a solo play test).

1. On Turn 1, immediately move the rear Russian division toward the left. This turns the fight on the Russian left into an encounter battle. Draw on the other division for the hinge to the main Russian position.
2. Try to create a concave position that will impose a longer command reach on the part of the Austro-Saxons, thus taking a lot of the punch out of their sails. This will be aided and abetted by:
   Launch a spoiling attack by attacking the Austrian cavalry on their left. Sweep them away and bring infantry across to turn the village, seizing the crossing, and drawing the Austrians into a series of counterattacks into Russian Artillery.

This won't guarantee a Russian victory, but I think it gives them their best chance.

Future Scenario Changes - I thought about changes to the scenario. First, I think it’s a good scenario with a lot of possibility, and provides a good visual of a Napoleonic battle. My list of things to do wasn’t extensive, and these are just my first cuts.

1) add at least one brigade of infantry to the Russians, preferably grenadiers; they need the bodies.

2) set a scenario time limit to give the Russians a chance by just holding on (yes, I think the Austro-Saxons will win); a time limit (sunset) will force the Austro-Saxons to be aggressive. Historically this was a two-day battle, and we’re only after Day 1.

3) move the road at least 3" farther back to make it at least one more move for the Allies to go to "win".

4) change the victory conditions for the Austro-Saxons so they have to hold the road with line infantry at sunset and/or hold it for three turns.

5) change the terrain on both sides to have larger hill masses; this will be obvious along the road as the Russians will benefit by being "uphill" of the Allies.

6) remind the Russians of the Special Russian Infantry Rule so they become more stubborn on the defensive, and can hold on longer.

7) written Victory Conditions and orders of battle for both sides.

8) organize the troops at home before taking them - seems I make this one every time. Someday I may even learn it. This will make deployment quicker, and can also make the take-down nearly as fast.

9) have a sketch map of the deployment. I did this with Warburg, and we were set up in 15 minutes!

Lessons Learned - Create a page with examples of how to play. This will cut down on the "learning" at the start of the game, and get the game going sooner. Otherwise you need an experienced player on each side to help "drive" the game, at least initially. This will go out to each person who participated, first to the people experienced with the system, and then to the other participants.

Comments from E-Mail about the previous posts. First, from Mike Lonie about the Alternate Jutland scenario.

Michael Lonie wrote:

France will want Alsace and Lorraine back. Absent a definite land defeat for Germany she won't get them. Gallia irredenta.

If Italy was upset after the real war at how little those 13 battles of the Isonzo earned her, how mad will she be here? Looks like promising ground for Benny the Moose and his Fascisti. Italia irredenta.

Neither Russia, nor Germany nor Austria-Hungary want a revived Poland. Absent a clear land victory by the allies there won't be one.

The US Army will remain a frontier constabulary fit only for chasing Indians and Mexican bandits into the 1930s and 40s.

Germany will try again in twenty years. "We weren't defeated, it was the Navy who let us down." "Next time we'll do it right." The reform of the German constitution will allow more populist parties to enter the Reichstag, including a small one representing artisans disturbed by economic changes and resentful of the "unnecessary" defeat of the Great War: the National Socialist German Worker's Party.

Is there a Revolution in Russia? The original Revo was intended to make prosecution of the war more effective since the Empress, with her "German sympathies" was impeding the war effort. With what might pass for a victory, and a negotiated peace conference coming up in the Spring of 1917, that would be nipped at the bud. No Lenin and no Bolshevik Revo. Now THERE's a happier prospect. With no alienated Russia separated from Europe Russia can play a constructive part in any new round of crises.


Or maybe an unconstructive one. Maybe the Krauts and Russkies would find their way to a Rapallo anyway.


America marches off into the jazz Age and the Roaring twenties while Europe stagnates because all the belligerents want to go back to the gold standard at prewar rates (which is what Britain did ). No League of Nations, no multilateral economic institutions. Rise of protectionism earlier than in our world. Diminution of trade versus prewar, due to protective tariffs and unrealistic exchange rates. Bad for the Brits. Internally deflation in all the countries keeps economies slowed, leading to labor unrest and low agricultural prices.


For Britain Troubles in Ireland. So what else is new?


Muslim uprisings all over the place in 1919. This actually happened. The Mad Mullah in Somalia fought the Brits, Afghanistan invaded India (now there's chutzpah), trouble in French colonies. Probably even the Turks would have troubles from people like the Wahhabis (Ibn Saud captured Mecca, and massacred the populace there, in 1925).


There will be no end of fun in your world.

---------------

Granted, all of it. I never said it would be a better world, just that it was different. If they didn't solve the problems of Europe in 1914-1919, they won't in this world, either. Some minor points:

No Revolution in Russia. That is one pleasant thought. It is possible that the Grand Duke Michael becomes the heir shortly after the end of the war. He was the Tsar's brother as I recall.

There would have been the Easter Rising in Ireland, so, yes, troubles. What the Brits do about it is another question.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now from Colin (and my reply) about Space Habitats.

Looks good.

I hope some more people volunteer their informed comments to our discussions.

It would be really great to hear from scholars, field workers and others with hands-on knowledge about technology, historic scenarios, etc.

I'm pretty sure you're doing useful things with your "spare" time these days, rather than wallowing in new technology reports like I do.

Thus, I wonder if you have access to the same sense of advancing developments that I do, and I have to keep prodding at our "optimism/pessimism" discussion.

Bluntly, as far as "optimistic" versus "pessimistic" I just don't see any "there" there.

When I suggest that all sorts of really nifty technology will happen long before the first large long-term space habitat can be constructed, that does not seem like optimism to me. It's a functional requirement. First, and foremost, lots of fancy tech will be required to work and work well before it is even possible to build the habitat. Second, in the time it takes to develop habitat technology, many other technology fields will be leveraged forward by develpments in habitat technology. Third, there is always a continuing general advance of technology, even in the utter depths of WWII or Stalinist postwar Russia.

Time equals progress. It's that simple. You cannot have "X" years pass without "X times TechDevRate" progress.

Treat it as an absolute that there will be no time in the next century when technology does not advance much faster than any of us can truly grasp.

Again, that's not optimism for me. That is observed events extrapolated logically.

For the purposes of story writing, it might be useful to consider that who benefits from developments in technology is entirely separate from who creates the developments.

If you need obnoxious bureaucrats like Sir Humphrey, you have to give them power. Do so. We can both imagine the sort of nation that might produce that future history. Then deal with the frictions the "Sir Humphreys" inevitably create with their fearful, power-seeking ways.

It is not necessary to create a "dark future" in order to have dark actors, dark powers and dark fates.

The world is a big place.

The solar system is a bigger place.

Many different futures will codevelop and exist side-by-side.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
While I wrote "my sandbox, my rules", I think some clarification is in order. I'm not pessimistic about the future. What I am pessimistic about are the institutions we have in place that deals with the changes roaring down the pike. Some of those institutions have a great deal of money and clout. The best example to hand is the X-31. The people making the decision chose the one design that needed a lot of unproven technology and vaporware to work right the first time. Not going to happen.

My personal view is that private enterprise in space is the way to go. But we are going to have to have additional places other than the US and its legal climate. An example is the Arlington Air Show held every summer at Arlington Airport here in Washington. Last year there was a crash. The family of the victim has filed a lawsuit alleging various problems that contributed to the fatality. The large sums of money that they are asking for will put the Airshow out of business. BTW, the lawyer gets 60%. The aircraft was experimental, and accidents happen. The NTSB found the airport and the airshow not culpable, but even defending against this suit will drive the airshow out of business.

The first crash of a rocket plane carrying passengers will be trumpeted by the media, and the lawyers will circle the wreckage like vultures. General Aviation was virtually killed by lawsuits; when a plane crashed, every manufacturer of any part in the aircraft was sued. The theory is that most will settle out of court. The result was that people abandoned General Aviation in droves. Only after a version of tort reform was pushed through by the FAA and the NTSB did this change and Piper, Beech, Gulfstream and a couple of others resume making General Aviation aircraft. But what used to cost $20,000 (or $40,000 in today's dollars) now costs $250-400,000 to guard against the lawsuits that still come.

Tort reform, however, will die as long as at least 40% of the Congress is Democrat - they won't vote to kill their biggest contributors. This does not apply in jurisdictions outside of the US, as has been documented by various Space blogs.

There's also the "for the good of all mankind" clause in the Outer Space Treaty of 1968. My take is that the socialists want nothing to do with Space as it will open things up that they can't control. Their response will be to try to milk it for everything that it's worth. I think of the unelected aristocracy of the EU. They've begun dropping their complaints about Microsoft now that Bill and company have started contributing to "studies" and other lucrative contracts that filter through friends and into their pockets. The best example I've found for a view of the EU is the Mafia.

SSDD - Same Shit, Different Day.

This is the basis for the 'pessimism' that I occasionally show. I have a number of suggestions to end it, but it is better to change the sandbox completely and leave them with their hand out and no way to get a piece of the action.

Now for story purposes, I thought the future outlined in "Fallen Angels" to be a valid one for starters. And that includes the glaciers that suddenly advance despite all of the screaming of the Global Warming crowd. That's part of the background for the habitat of Brin.

Another What-If

This is an example of creating another alternate history. The story starts with the Battle of Jutland on May 31, 1916. I picked a battle because seemingly trivial decisions could have profound effects on history. In our history Scheer used Option #2, which led to a confrontation with the British Grand Fleet. The High Seas Fleet wasn't as badly hurt in the battle in our history as it was in what followed below (which, by the way, came from a game).

An Alternate North Sea Outcome

It was shortly after 5.30 p.m. on May 31st, 1916, and the commander of the High Seas Fleet, Vice Admiral Reinhard Scheer, was beginning to smell a rat. Before him, just tantalizingly at the maximum range of his guns, were four of Great Britain’s latest dreadnoughts, the 15" gunned Queen Elizabeths. Just ahead of them, barely visible through the intermittent haze, were Admiral Sir David Beatty’s battlecruisers.

His own battlecruisers, under the command of Rear Admiral Hipper, were a few miles ahead, trading shots with the Queen Elizabeths and Beatty’s battlecruisers. Just an hour before those battlecruisers had scored a spectacular success over Beatty, sinking two of his battlecruisers with a loss of only a few destroyers. Beatty, upon seeing the High Seas Fleet advancing to Hipper’s aid, had turned and quite rightly fled. But Beatty was fleeing north, not west or northwest toward his home ports on the English coast. That meant Beatty was falling back on Jellicoe and the 24 dreadnoughts of the British Grand Fleet, the last thing Scheer wanted to face.

Scheer paced the flag bridge of the Friederich der Grösse, weighing his possible courses. As he saw it, he had four choices:

1. He could turn about and return to Wilhelmshaven. However appealing this might be, it was also impossible. People, especially the Kaiser, would say “You had the Tommies on the run. This was exactly in accordance with the strategy the High Seas Fleet has been pursuing: overwhelm isolated portions of the Grand Fleet to achieve parity in numbers. Why, then, when you had the very situation you wanted, did you turn away? Especially when your U-Boats and zeppelins had reported no signs that the Grand Fleet was at sea?” He had to ask himself: did a lack of reports truly indicate a lack of something to report? Was Beatty fleeing north to make him think Jellicoe was at sea? Was he seeing phantoms?

2. He could keep on his present course and hope that a lucky engine room hit would deliver one of those Queen Elizabeths into his hands. His ships could then quickly overwhelm and sink it. Having sunk one of the most modern English battleships, as well as two battlecruisers, he could claim a victory and return home.

3. He could break off to the northeast, circle around Denmark, and head to the Baltic. He could claim he was only following Hipper’s battlecruisers, which were currently steering ENE, and saw nothing of the Tommies. That was probably the prudent thing to do, and if the ships he was chasing disappeared into the mist that was what he would do. He would still be criticized, but if Jellicoe was at sea, he didn’t know it. None of his scouting forces had sighted the British battleships.

4. He could turn west. He stopped his pacing and considered that. He was convinced Jellicoe was close at hand, and from the way Beatty was acting, he was probably somewhere to the ENE and steering a course that would put his 24 battleships between the High Seas Fleet and its bases. A turn to the west would be risky; most of his scouting ships were to the north and northeast at the moment, but except for Hipper they really hadn’t told him much of anything. Sailing west would probably negate any trap the English were setting. And if he then steered south during the night he could return to Wilhelmshaven via one of the southern entrances to the protective minefields around his home port. As an added bonus he could threaten Allied shipping near the English Channel and probably scare the daylights out of the Tommies, forcing them to disperse their fleet even more. That could pay dividends later in the year, giving him even more of a chance to locate and defeat portions of the British fleet. The more he thought about it, the more he liked this option.

Scheer summoned his signals officer. “Inform Fleet Headquarters in Wilhelmshaven. I want a zeppelin reconnaissance of the southern entrances to the minefields. Make it an urgent signal so they’ll act on it right away. Tell them I intend to be there about mid-morning.”

“Aye-aye, sir,” the officer replied as he jotted down the message. “It’ll be sent right away.” He handed the message to a rating to deliver to the radio room, where within 10 minutes the message was encoded and sent on its way.

“We’ll stay on this course a few more minutes,” Scheer went on. “Send a preparatory message to the battle squadrons: we will be turning west in succession. Pass a message to Hipper telling him what’s about to happen. I’ll want him to proceed northeast a little longer, and then turn south. He’s to make for Horn’s Reef on his own.”

“Aye-aye, sir,” the signals officer said for the second time. This message would go by blinker, and he would have to be ready for Hipper’s inevitable questions.

Scheer grunted and peered north with his binoculars. He could explain a lunge to the west to the Kaiser, who would like his thrust toward England. With any luck he could sink a few fishing boats, and maybe some coastal transports, too. Tomorrow morning promised to be a glorious day of shooting. And then he would escape back home, neatly evading the Tommies.

At the Admiralty, in Room 40, the code breakers quickly deciphered Scheer’s message. Captain Jackson, an imperious ass in the minds of most of the occupants of Room 40, had been in earlier demanding to know where Scheer’s ID was, and they had answered that the ID he used when in port was in harbor, where it always was. Scheer always transferred his home port call sign to a land station just before he sailed. They had explained that to Captain Jackson several times, but he had brushed them off as mere clerks.

With the latest message in hand they considered calling him back, but agreed that they’d had enough of Captain Jackson to last the rest of the day. Instead one of the civilians went looking for a different senior officer. He soon found the Royal Navy’s Chief of Intelligence.

That Admiral instantly grasped the import of the intercepted message. After a gruff “thank you” to the civilian, he took the message to the First Sea Lord. The First Sea Lord read it and began issuing orders.

The first was to Commodore Tyrwhitt, who had earlier sortied when Beatty had first encountered Hipper's ships. Now Tyrwhitt was order back to sea with his Harwich Force. He was to be off the southern entrance to the German minefields before first light. Any submarines based in Harwich should accompany him, if possible. The second was to Jellicoe, repeating the intercepted message, and giving the results of the radio direction finders on the origin of that message. As was customary with Admiralty practice, he issued no orders to Jellicoe, assuming he was in a better position than they to put all of the pieces together.

Jellicoe received the message on his flagship HMS Iron Duke at 6.15 p.m. He had not yet seen Beatty, and the pressure for the proper deployment was weighing on him. He knew the Germans were nearby--he could hear heavy gunfire to the south and southwest. The two forces were approaching each other at a combined 50 miles per hour. His battle squadrons were in cruising formation, six parallel columns of four ships each, and he needed to shake them out into a proper line of battle before the Germans came into view.

He had been contemplating a turn to the SE to endeavor to get between the Germans and their bases when the Admiralty’s message arrived; he had already moved one of his destroyer flotillas to the east in preparation. As he studied the compass, he was interrupted by a contact report forwarded to him from Admiral Burney, commanding the starboard-most squadron of battleships. Beatty was in sight bearing nearly south. Within a minute came a second message, this one from Commodore Goodenough of the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron. He had Scheer in sight.

Goodenough had been stung by a conflict of orders during the action at Dogger Bank, breaking away from the Germans even though he was in contact with their light cruiser screen. He had since decided that a light cruiser squadron’s job was to maintain contact with the enemy, not slavishly follow every pirouette and “bright idea” that forced its way into the heads of his superior officers. Earlier this day he had been the first to spot the High Seas Fleet, and he had maintained contact with the German battleships ever since. When he saw the outlying ships of the Grand Fleet, he immediately sent his updated contact report by blinker.

On the Iron Duke Jellicoe’s smile thinned. He knew where Scheer was, and he was much closer than he’d thought. There appeared to be some errors in navigation between Beatty, Goodenough, and the flagship. But the information from the Admiralty had helped clarify everything. And it gave him an idea for a new plan.

He reviewed the courses in his mind. He knew what he was about to do was a risk, but he thought the potential reward would be well worth it. He motioned to his Signal Officer. “Fleet Course West by Southwest. Notify Beatty. Tell him....” Jellicoe paused. “Tell Beatty that once he clears the head of the fleet he is to sweep to the southwest.”

“Aye-aye, sir,” the signal officer replied. He issued the necessary orders to his yeomen, and the signal flags went up the halyards. At the same time they went out by wireless and blinker.

Jellicoe looked at the compass one more time. “Execute,” he said. Seconds later the Iron Duke sounded a horn to announce a course change, and the ship began to heel. Five other flagships swung with her. As each of the battleships in the six columns came up to the spot where their next-ahead had turned, they swung onto the new course. Alerted by the firing, each of them trained their guns out to port, where they expected to see the Germans.

Beatty was stunned to see the battleships sailing in the opposite direction. He tried to frame his anger in a coherent signal, but when he saw the new orders from Jellicoe, and looked at the plot, he smiled instead. He wasn’t going to lead the Grand Fleet’s battleships, as he'd expected. Instead he was going to remain detached, coming down on the Germans from a different direction. The only fly in that ointment was that the Queen Elizabeths of the 5th Battle Squadron were nowhere to be found. He had fought long and hard to have those fast battleships attached to his command, and now when he needed them Rear Admiral Evan Thomas had fallen behind. He made a note to reprimand Evan Thomas after they returned to port. But that was for the future. Admiral Hood had just joined him, giving him three more battlecruisers. Beatty knew right where Scheer was. He was going to push Hipper to one side, and then be the hammer to Jellicoe’s anvil. It was going to be a glorious day.

The only person left out of all of this calculation was Rear Admiral Evan Thomas in HMS Barham. He had been poorly served by his superior officer this afternoon, forgotten by Beatty in his initial impetuous turn toward the Germans. Later Beatty had overridden his natural intincts and held him on a course to the south far too long; Evan Thomas suspected it was to cover his battlecruisers, but knew there would be no proof. Now, faced with the Grand Fleet coming directly at him, and with no way to get to Beatty without blocking the fire of every one of the ships in the Grand Fleet, he decided he had no choice. He reversed his course, forming up just ahead of the lead battleships of the Grand Fleet. Ironically, this put him in the position originally foreseen by Jellicoe in the Grand Fleet’s Fighting Instructions, leading the battleships rather than trailing the battlecruisers.

The turrets on the Queen Elizabeths swung back around to port. The Germans had disappeared into the mist only a few minutes before, but Evan Thomas knew they were near. He knew that when contact came it would be sudden and at close range. He just wasn’t prepared for how close that range was about to be. As his ship steadied on its new course he thoughtfully directed his intentions to Goodenough, now visible on his starboard bow and told him what was happening with the rest of the Grand Fleet.

Goodenough read the message, stared at the distant shapes of the German fleet--he could see it turning toward him--and passed that information back to Evan Thomas. Then he swung around, prudently keeping his distance from the 12" guns of Scheer’s battleships.

The mists of the North Sea were always a variable, but never so much as on the early evening of May 31st, 1916. In some places it opened out to 15,000 or even 25,000 yards. In other places it closed down to under 4,000 yards. When Scheer made his turn to the west at 6:25 p.m. the visibility to the east from the flag bridge of Friederich der Grösse was measured at anywhere between 2,000 and 15,000 yards. The visibility to the west closed down in another bank of mist; one of Scheer’s officers measured visibility in that direction at 4,500 yards. That proved to be illusory; that particular bank of mist was thinner than anyone could know. Five minutes after entering the mist the König, lead ship of the III Battle Squadron, emerged from the fog directly at a line of British battleships.

HMS Revenge and her eight 15" guns were just 5,000 yards from the König. Revenge was flanked by the other ships of her squadron. It took only a few seconds for the gunnery crews to make minute adjustments to their aim before her guns roared.

The Grösser Kurfurst took the first hit, a 15" shell from HMS Revenge that barely missed the König. The shell plowed into the forecastle of the Grösser Kurfurst, opening the bow to the sea. The Grösser Kurfurst immediately took on several hundred tons of water. Two other shells from that same salvo slammed into König, knocking out one of the forward turrets and starting a severe fire. The other ships of that division of British battleships opened fire seconds later, punching hit after hit into every German ship in sight.

With those hits the carnage began. Shells ripped into the German ships from nearly all directions. One of the early hits smashed the bridge of the König, jamming the helm and starting the ship on a slow turn to port. The ships behind her twisted and turned to avoid the lead battleship, slowing and presenting an even better target to the British.

The Grösser Kurfurst and the Kaiser were soon en extremis, deluged by shells and taking on water in catastrophic progressive flooding. The Kaiserin, already on fire in a dozen places, swerved to starboard, losing weigh and listing heavily. The Markgraf, equally badly hit, collided with the Kaiserin, causing severe flooding in both ships and bringing them to a halt. They were both taken under fire by HMS Agincourt and her 14-12" guns. In six minutes, while firing full 14-gun salvos to confound the critics who claimed the ship would turn turtle if they tried that, the ‘Gin Palace’ pushed 16 hits into the Markgraf, and 10 more into the Kaiserin. With several hits from each salvo the results were devastating.

Within minutes the Grösser Kurfurst, the Kaiser, the Kaiserin, the Kronprinz, the Markgraf, and the Prinz Regent Luitpold were sinking. The Oldenberg, Friederich der Grösse and Ostfriesland stumbled onto the scene and were savaged. At ranges less than 6,000 yards, shells punched through armor, exploding deep within the ships. Fires blazed everywhere, and soon the sea was dotted with German sailors swimming for their lives.

It wasn’t all one-sided. Well-trained German gunnery crews fought back valiantly, trying to dish out a little of what their ships were receiving. Thunderer, St. Vincent, Canada and Temeraire left the line to fight fires and massive flooding caused by German fire. Of those only the Canada would survive rising wind and squalls that descended on the North Sea the next day.

When Friederich der Grösse turned out of the line on fire and listing heavily, Vice Admiral Schmidt, Commander of the High Seas Fleet’s II Battle Squadron, assumed command of the shattered remnants of the German force. He had no choice: he turned east, away from the English. There he ran afoul of Beatty.

Hipper had already turned east, and then south, and was out of sight on his way back to Wilhelmshaven. That left the field clear for Beatty’s ships. They opened fire at 15,000 yards. As had been demonstrated earlier in the day, Beatty’s ships put out a high rate of fire, but most of it missed. Hood’s ships, fresh from gunnery practice at Scapa Flow, locked onto the German ships within a couple of salvos and began hitting and hitting hard. The pre-dreadnoughts Posen and Schlesien, leading the column of German ships, were heavily damaged. They turned back into the mist, feeling lucky to have survived. Posen’s luck ran out later that night. Progressive flooding silenced her engines, and she was found by the British shortly after dawn. The results were inevitable, and motion pictures of Posen sinking by the bow played in English movie theaters for months after the battle. The other ships of her squadron evaded contact by turning north. A severe engagement between both side’s lighter ships brewed up as Schmidt endeavored to escape. The German cruisers and destroyers tried to push their attacks home against Beatty’s heavy ships, torpedoing Princess Royal and forcing him to briefly turn away.

The German I Battle Squadron, minus half their numbers caught up in the naval abbatoir that had consumed III Battle Squadron, got away more by accident than intent. They turned back into the mist, sailed north, somehow slipping between Jellicoe and Beatty. After dark Vice Admiral Schmidt found them and led the survivors around Denmark into the Baltic. Behind him, as darkness shrouded the scene, the German lighter ships tried to make their own independent ways home.

Some followed Hipper directly to Horn’s Reef. That led to a prolonged clash with Beatty’s forces the next morning when Hipper turned to fight and cover the escape of the lighter ships. While that cost Hipper his flagship, Lutzow, the rest of the scouting forces made it into the protection of the minefields. Seydlitz, battered by 23 major caliber hits and a torpedo, hit a mine and had to be towed in sinking condition over the bar. She finally grounded in shallow water, her decks awash and fires consuming the rest. She would still be there at the end of the war.

Other ships found different entrances through the minefields. II Scouting Group, accompanied by a dozen torpedo boats, made the unfortunate decision to use a southern entrance to the minefields. There they clashed with Tyrwhitt’s Harwich Force in the early dawn of the next day. That action cost them the rest of II Scouting Group and six torpedo boats before they got away.

#

The results of the battle were hardly encouraging for Germany. They had met the British in open battle, and had come away decidedly the losers. Ten battleships, several of the most modern design, two battlecruisers, one pre-dreadnought, four light cruisers and 34 torpedo boats were sunk. Thirty other ships of all sizes were badly damaged; some would be in dockyard hands for months. As if to add insult to injury, Admiral Scheer, badly wounded, was rescued from the sinking Friederich der Grösse by the British destroyer HMS Shark.

The British lost three battlecruisers; Indefatigable and Queen Mary had been lost earlier in the day. The Princess Royal put up a struggle against rising wind and water, but finally succumbed. Three battleships, two light cruisers and six destroyers were also sunk. Another 12 battleships, four battlecruisers, one armored cruiser, three light cruisers and five destroyers were damaged.

Jellicoe, upon returning to harbor, sent his worst hit ships to the dockyards, coaled and refilled his magazines, and reported 18 battleships ready for sea on four hours notice. The Germans could only put light forces to sea, and then only two days after they had returned to harbor.

As could only be expected, the newspapers had a field day. The news of the triumph in the North Sea resounded around the world, and Jellicoe was hailed as the new Nelson (much to the chagrin of Admiral Sir David Beatty).

Within a week of the battle the Royal Navy changed their strategy. German U-boats were becoming a major threat to Britain’s economic lifeline. Something had to be done about them, and with the High Seas Fleet out of action for several weeks, the time had come to deal with the U-boats in their lairs.

In the weeks after Jutland the Royal Navy instituted a form of the close blockade that the Germans had expected at the start of the war. Lighter ships, backed by a distant Grand Fleet, patrolled incessantly. Additional minefields were laid, and aggressive patrols covered British minesweepers as they removed German mines. In the ensuing “Battle of the Minefield Exits” the Royal Navy’s destroyers sank at least eight U-boats. Several more that tried to evade the British light ships were lost to British mines. The rest, learning from this, stayed bottled up in their pens. A few got out into the open ocean via the Skaggerak (north of Denmark), but this took such a huge toll on their range that their impact was minimal. A few U-boats operated briefly from ports along the Belgian coast, but those ports were soon closed by mines and patrols. The U-boats had been a major threat to Britain’s economic lifeline, but these steps put an end to that threat.

The psychological shock of the defeat at Jutland was profound. The Kaiser shut himself in his rooms, not to emerge for several days. A feeling of despair swept through Germany. England had proved once more, and decisively, to be the master of the sea. All of Germany’s sacrifices for the naval building programs of the pre-war years were called into question. Questions were raised in the German Parliament about the tremendous expense of the Navy. Influential people were utterly convinced that the Navy, the Kaiser’s pet, had brought Britain into the war against Germany. The Kaiser’s unrelenting calls for a large navy were perceived as blind folly. There was even talk of demanding his abdication and seeking a general armistice.

Other, cooler heads called for Germany to draw down the Fleet in favor of the Army, Germany’s real strength. The war would continue, but after Jutland people acknowledged that Germany would not win the war; at most she could get a negotiated settlement. The bloodbath at Verdun and on the Somme brought death and injury to what seemed like every home in the Fatherland. The tremendous success of the Brusilov Offensive on the Eastern Front in the summer of 1916, coupled with the disaster in the North Sea, brought war weariness to Germany. When Franz Joseph, Emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire died at the end of summer, that was the last straw.

On August 30th German emissaries in Switzerland contacted the Allies seeking an end to the fighting. This started a stutter-step of diplomacy that slowly brought the fighting to an end. Negotiations were difficult, and broken off several times. But the diplomats, spurred by their governments, persevered. In mid-December the basic forms of an armistice were hammered out. Fighting ceased on January 1, 1917.

Over the next three months German armies grudgingly gave up their gains in the west, slowly falling back to the original frontier. Allied armies followed at arms length, ready for the fighting to begin anew. There were several clashes that threatened to upset the armistice, but in each case things were worked out. Nobody really wanted the bloodletting to begin again.

One of the sticking points had been Germany’s perceived success against Russia. When it was made clear that there would be no separate peace, and with Austro-Hungary threatening a unilateral peace with Russia, fighting stopped there, too. Russia demanded Germany and Austria-Hungary retreat to the pre-war borders. This was shelved when the Germans put their foot down, and assured that Franz Joseph’s successor did likewise. The armies halted in place, awaiting negotiation of a general peace.

In April of 1917 the diplomats of both sides sat down in Geneva to hammer out a peace treaty. There were faced with several seemingly intractable problems:

1) Italy had lost a lot of men with nothing to show for it. They wanted compensation. Specifically they wanted the Tyrol, Trieste and surrounding lands. Italian politicians were threatening to continue the war if they didn’t get them. Austria-Hungary resisted, and threatened to continue the war against Italy (but not anyone else).

2) President Wilson had his idealistic Fourteen Points, and was shoving them in everyone’s face. This was something nobody in Europe wanted any part of. He had to be kept out of the primary negotiations, but carefully because of the mountain of debt France and the UK owed the US.

3) France was suffering labor unrest brought on by Communists and Socialists. Something had to be done to quiet them. The best solution was probably to give the appearance of victory and a return to normalcy, whatever that proved to be.

4) Germany had a similar problem with social unrest. While the tendency was to ignore Germany’s desires, it was nonetheless painfully clear that this contagion might spread. Everyone remembered the lessons of 1848. The monarchies had paid lip-service to popular democracy, but still distrusted it.

5) Russia wanted a buffer between Germany and Russia. Only France and the Poles wanted to recreate Poland.

6) Various German overseas interests had been snapped up by the British and their ally, Japan. Was that just too bad, or were the British willing to give some back provided they could get something in return?

7) What would be done about the High Seas Fleet that had contributed so mightily to bringing England into the war? This touched on a different question: what to do about Kaiser Wilhelm, who was now seen as too erratic to be a modern monarch.

8) What was to be done with the Ottoman Empire? They were present at Geneva, and they had successfully repulsed all attacks on them. Were they to be allowed to keep them? Who would enforce any changes in the map?

Faced with these questions, the diplomats pulled out the maps and their pencils, ready to redraw the face of Europe for the first time in a century.

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What follows is a discusion I had with Colin about various aspects and fall-out from the above.

Colin’s comments on the “issues” and Bruce’s replies

1) Italy had lost a lot of men with nothing to show for it. They wanted compensation.--Stuff the Italians. They will make foolish noises in Africa and elsewhere. projecting a war in the 1920s in the Balkans, a war that threatened to bring Austria-Hungary back in. Serbian ambitions had to be squashed, too. They were seen as one of the causes of the Great War. This would occupy diplomats in all major European capitals for several years to come. Serbia's attempts to create a Yugoslavia were destined to failure because of the intransigence of Austria-Hungary and Italy.

2) President Wilson had his idealistic Fourteen Points, and was shoving them in everyone’s face. This was something nobody in Europe wanted any part of. He had to be kept out of the primary negotiations, but carefully because of the mountain of debt France and the UK owed the US.--How do you keep Wilson outside the door? Easy. Don’t invite him to the party.--Wilson has no cards on the table. America sent no troops and did not enter the war. --At worst, Wilson will fling ambassadors across the briny. Lovely job, that.--No League of Nations. Maybe a new “Treaty of Westphalia”? Probably. At the very least a new European “arrangement”. This might lead to problems in the next couple of decades as America continues to ramp up industrial strength. Remember, though, the massive debt France and the UK owed the US.

3) France was suffering labor unrest brought on by Communists and Socialists. Something had to be done to quiet them. The best solution was probably to give the appearance of victory and a return to normalcy, whatever that proved to be.--Subtle nuance? Bold-faced lies? Is there a challenge in this? Observation: in our history the French have still not solved this problem.

4) Germany had a similar problem with social unrest. While the tendency was to ignore Germany’s desires, it was nonetheless painfully clear that this contagion might spread. Everyone remembered the lessons of 1848.--Did everyone remember the lessons of 1848? What lessons did they remember? Popular democracy was seen as ‘mob rule’ by the crowned heads of Europe, and popular enthusiasm had both contributed to the war and made it such a bloodbath.--What about reparations? France and Britain do not have the muscle to force this. This problem would vex people for some time. France demanded reparations; the Imperial German government saw no need for reparations as they had been encircled and were only lashing out in self-defense. This would be a thorny issue at the peace conference...until everyone remembered the High Seas Fleet. The German fleet had one last service it could perform for Germany.

5) Russia wanted a buffer between Germany and Russia. Only France and the Poles wanted to recreate Poland.--Regardless of the terms of any treaty, Austria-Hungary will disintegrate soon. Um, perhaps not. Projection that it will move toward a more Federal system rather than fall apart with a clunk.--Will this provide a series of buffer states or a series of provocations?--Yes. Both.

6) Various German overseas interests had been snapped up by the British and their ally, Japan. Was that just too bad, or were the British willing to give some back provided they could get something in return?--This might answer the reparations question.--Germany loses everything and breathes a collective sigh of relief. --All Germans believe their Navy cannot defend a colonial empire. Agreed.

7) What would be done about the Kaiser’s Fleet (and the Kaiser) that had contributed so mightily to bringing England into the war?--Germans scrapping “The Kaiser’s Folly” should have interesting long-term effects.--The Kaiser will abdicate. An heir will be crowned, with MUCH reduced powers. Agreed. The loss of the High Seas Fleet and the overseas empire will be made up by the increase in German shipping. The Crown Prince, a more sober and less erratic monarch than his father, will ascend the throne. The Kaiser will live in genteel retirement writing his memoirs. The German constitution will be revised over a period of years to preclude what happened from 1890-1914.

8) What was to be done with the Ottoman Empire? They were present at Geneva, and they had successfully repulsed all attacks on them. Were they to be allowed to keep them? Who would enforce any changes in the map?--Mustapha Kemal and the other westernized army officers will still have their day.--Greece might be somewhat less inclined toward foolish adventures in Ionia.--Yeah, right. More likely, they will try to be “clever” and really mess things up! Agreed. The ‘Young Turk’ movement will be a flash in the pan. Kemal will make Turkey a secular state. However they will still have their grip over much of the Middle East.

9) What about the world economy? A “Lesser Depression” in the mid-1920s? Yes, but with less impact in the US due to an economy that didn’t get shackled to a war. Various economic problems in the US are resolved by a steady repayment of the loans extended to the UK.

10) Of course, Japan will still commence making a mess in China in 1927 or thereabouts.... There will be rising tensions with the US, and probably very frosty relations tending toward war in the late 20s and early 30s. Japanese militarists in the army wouldn’t stop being expansionistic until it was beaten out of them like it was in 1941-45 by the US in our history.
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Note the extra sections. The whole post-war history is a convoluted mess as politicians labored long and hard, driven by popular pressure, to resolve what the fighting had not (and lay the seeds for WW2). But given the above, and some of the discussion, now pick some place and picture how it would be without the massive loss of life of 1917 and 1918, and the outpouring of treasure from the fighting during those two years. What would the world look like?

That's what playing with alternate history is all about.