There will be war volume.., p.37
There Will Be War Volume I,
p.37
Equally certainly, ships have become increasingly vulnerable. I don’t know whether the U.S. provided the Royal Navy with intelligence on the location of Argentine ships and aircraft, but certainly we could have. Imagine a sea battle of the future: satellites spot the enemy’s vessels and locate them to within a few feet (or even inches!) on the Earth’s surface. Missiles can then be dispatched from aircraft or submarines well over the horizon from their targets. If a single air-launched Exocet can sink a modern ship like HMS Sheffield, what’s safe from a dozen missiles?
There’s more to the High Frontier strategy. One of the systems examined by the Citizen’s Advisory Council was Project THOR: the ability to call down fire from heaven. The THOR system would consist of “flying crowbars” about five feet long, with a simple-minded guidance system and tiny vanes for aerodynamic control. They could “know” what a tank looks like from above—and when activated (de-orbited), thousands would home on anything that looked like a tank. THOR wouldn’t be easy to build—but then it isn’t easy to build Enhanced Radiation Weapons (and it may be even harder to deploy them in Europe, given the present mood…).
It would be even simpler to build orbital anti-ship weapons of the THOR type.
Now that final news item.
First the bad news for those who think “Better Red than dead.”: You may get both. How many science fiction readers publish fanzines? How many more are prepared to live where possession of an unlicensed mimeograph machine is a penal offense? Can you live under that kind of regime? I don’t mean “Are you willing to?;” I mean CAN YOU? For I suspect many of us cannot; that try as we might, we just wouldn’t be able to cooperate with people who see a mimeograph as a dangerous weapon.
Now the good news:
I’m writing this at midnight. When I get it done, I’ll log on to a computer network that connects me with thousands of friends all across the nation. There are a number of those networks, and given the computer revolution more are inevitable. Computers make it easy to communicate, and computer literates seem inevitably drawn toward communicating with each other.
Is it true that modern warfare is a battle of computers? Certainly it is a battle of high technology. I can’t prove it, but I am prepared to argue that a nation whose youth grow up as computer literates will have great advantages in high technology warfare; and that our home computers are producing hundreds of thousands of computer literates.
A nation that sends people to jail for possessing an unlicensed mimeograph machine cannot possibly allow a computer revolution within its borders: it would be tantamount to allowing freedom of speech. Yet a nation that suppresses the computer revolution may well lack the technical capability to engage in modern warfare.
We may, just may, be seeing a way out of the long impasse that has so long confronted us. Meanwhile, space technology offers us the chance for defense; an opportunity for the military to resume its historic duty; a chance for free men to stand between their loved homes and the war’s desolation.
It is a chance we must take.
Editor's Introduction to:
THE WIDOW’S PARTY
by Rudyard Kipling
For reasons of which I’m not sure, Kipling is no longer fashionable. In my opinion that’s a mistake. If poets come closest to baring humanity’s soul, it is certain that few poets have understood their fellow men quite as well as did Kipling.
The “Widow” in this poem is, of course, Victoria Regina, Queen of England and Empress of India. After the death of her beloved husband Prince Albert, Victoria shut herself away in Windsor Castle, and was seldom seen by her subjects. Yet did the Army obey: “Walk wide o’ the Widow o’ Windsor, for half of creation she owns…”
Philosophers and “social scientists” have talked endlessly about why men fight, but few of their treatises tell us much. “The Widow’s Party” doesn’t tell us intellectually; but it says a lot even so.
THE WIDOW’S PARTY
by Rudyard Kipling
“Where have you been this while away, Johnnie, Johnnie?”
Out with the rest on a picnic lay. Johnnie, my Johnnie, aha!
They called us out from the barrack-yard
To Gawd knows where from Gosport Hard,
And you can’t refuse when you get the card,
And the Widow give the party.
(Bugle: Ta-rara-ra-ra-rara!)
“What did you get to eat and drink, Johnnie, Johnnie?”
Standing water as thick as ink, Johnnie, my Johnnie, aha!
A bit o’ beef that were three year stored,
A bit o’ mutton as tough as a board,
And a fowl we killed with a sergeant’s sword,
When the Widow give the party.
“What did you do for knives and forks, Johnnie, Johnnie?”
We carries ’em with us wherever we walks,
Johnnie, my Johnnie, aha!
And some was sliced and some was halved,
And some was crimped and some was carved,
And some was gutted and some was starved,
When the Widow give the party.
“What ha’ you done with half your mess, Johnnie, Johnnie?”
They couldn’t do more and they wouldn’t do less.
Johnnie, my Johnnie, aha!
They ate their whack and they drank their fill,
And I think the rations has made them ill.
For half my comp’ny’s lying still,
Where the Widow give the party.
“What was the end of all of the show, Johnnie, Johnnie?”
Ask my Colonel, for I don’t know, Johnnie, my Johnnie, aha!
We broke a King and we built a road—
A court-house stands where the Reg’ment goed.
And the river’s clean where the raw blood flowed.
And the Widow give the party.
(Bugle: Ta-rara-ra-ra-rara!)
THE END
Books by Jerry Pournelle
FICTION SERIES
CODOMINIUM UNIVERSE
CoDominion
A Spaceship for the King (1973) also appeared as King David's Spaceship (1981)
Falkenberg's Legion
1 Falkenberg's Legion (1990)
2 Prince of Mercenaries (1989)
3 Go Tell the Spartans (1991) with S. M. Stirling
4 Prince of Sparta (1993) with S. M. Stirling
His Truth Goes Marching On (1975)
West of Honor (1976)
Silent Leges (1977)
The Mercenary (1977)
Future History (1980)
Falkenberg's Legions (1990)
The Prince (2002) with S. M. Stirling
Laurie Jo Hansen
1 High Justice (1977) [C]
2 Exiles to Glory (1978)
Moties
1 The Mote in God's Eye (1974) with Larry Niven
2 The Gripping Hand (1993) with Larry Niven also appeared as The Moat Around Murcheson's Eye (1993)
Reflex (1982) with Larry Niven
War World
1 The Burning Eye (1988) [A]
2 Death's Head Rebellion (1990) [A]
3 Sauron Dominion (1991) [A]
4 Invasion (1994)
5 Codominium: Revolt on War World (1992)
7 Blood Vengeance (1994) with Susan Shwartz and Judith Tarr and Harry Turtledove and S. M. Stirling
Prolog (The Burning Eye) (1988)
HEOROT
1 The Legacy of Heorot (1987) with Larry Niven and Steven Barnes
2 Beowulf's Children (1995) with Larry Niven and Steven Barnes also appeared as The Dragons of Heorot (1995)
INFERNO
1 Inferno (1976) with Larry Niven
2 Escape from Hell (2009) with Larry Niven
JANISSARIES
1 Janissaries (1979)
2 Janissaries: Clan and Crown (1982) with Roland J. Green
3 Janissaries III: Storms of Victory (1987)
JUPITER
1 Higher Education (1996) with Charles Sheffield
5 Starswarm (1998)
MAGIC GOES AWAY
Golden Road
1 The Burning City (2000) with Larry Niven
2 Burning Tower (2005) with Larry Niven
PLANET OF THE APES
Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1974)
TALES OF KNOWN SPACE
Man-Kzin Wars
2 Man-Kzin Wars II (1989) [A] with Larry Niven and Dean Ing and S. M. Stirling
5 Man-Kzin Wars V (1992) [A] with Larry Niven and S. M. Stirling and Thomas T. Thomas
The Children's Hour (1991) with S. M. Stirling
In the Hall of the Mountain King (1992) with S. M. Stirling
The Houses of the Kzinti (2002) with S. M. Stirling and Dean Ing
NOVELS
Birth of Fire (1976)
Lucifer's Hammer (1977) with Larry Niven
Oath of Fealty (1981) with Larry Niven
Footfall (1985) with Larry Niven
Fallen Angels (1991) with Michael F. Flynn and Larry Niven
OMNIBUS
Fires of Freedom (2009)
ANTHOLOGY SERIES
Far Frontiers
1 Far Frontiers (1985) with Jim Baen
2 Far Frontiers, Volume II/Summer 1985 (1985) with Jim Baen
3 Far Frontiers, Volume III/Fall 1985 (1985) with Jim Baen
4 Far Frontiers, Volume IV/Winter 1985 (1986) with Jim Baen
5 Far Frontiers, Volume V/Spring 1986 (1986) with Jim Baen
6 Far Frontiers, Volume VI/Fall 1986 (1986) with Jim Baen
7 Far Frontiers, Volume VII/Winter 1986 (1986) with Jim Baen
Imperial Stars
1 The Stars At War (1986) with John F. Carr
2 Republic and Empire (1987) with John F. Carr
3 The Crash of Empire (1989) with John F. Carr
Nebula Awards
16 Nebula Award Stories Sixteen (1982) with John F. Carr
The Endless Frontier
1 The Endless Frontier (1979)
2 The Endless Frontier, Vol. II (1982) with John F. Carr
3 Cities in Space (1991) with John F. Carr
4 Life Among the Asteroids (1992) with John F. Carr
There Will Be War
1 There Will Be War (1983) with John F. Carr
2 Men of War (1984)
3 Blood and Iron (1984) with John F. Carr
4 Day of the Tyrant (1985) with John F. Carr
5 Warrior (1986) with John F. Carr
6 Guns of Darkness (1987) with John F. Carr
7 Call to Battle (1988) with John F. Carr
8 Armageddon! (1989) with John F. Carr
9 After Armageddon (1990)
ANTHOLOGIES
2020 Vision (1974)
Black Holes (1978)
The Survival of Freedom (1981) with John F. Carr
The Science Fiction Yearbook (1985) with John F. Carr and Jim Baen
Future Quartet: Earth in the Year 2042: A Four-Part Invention (1994) with Ben Bova and Frederik Pohl and Charles Sheffield
NONFICTION
That Buck Rogers Stuff (1977)
A Step Farther Out (1979)
Mutual Assured Survival (1984) with Dean Ing
The User's Guide to Small Computers (1984)
Adventures in Microland (1985)
NON-FICTION
Astronomy and Astrophysics by Dr. Sarah Salviander
A History of Strategy: From Sun Tzu to William S. Lind by Martin van Creveld
Equality: The Impossible Quest by Martin van Creveld
On War: The Collected Columns of William S. Lind 2003-2009 by William S. Lind
Four Generations of Modern War by William S. Lind
Transhuman and Subhuman: Essays on Science Fiction and Awful Truth by John C. Wright
MILITARY SCIENCE FICTION
Riding the Red Horse Vol. 1 ed. Tom Kratman and Vox Day
There Will Be War Vol. I ed. Jerry Pournelle
There Will Be War Vol. II ed. Jerry Pournelle
SCIENCE FICTION
Awake in the Night by John C. Wright
Awake in the Night Land by John C. Wright
City Beyond Time: Tales of the Fall of Metachronopolis by John C. Wright
Somewhither by John C. Wright
Big Boys Don't Cry by Tom Kratman
The Stars Came Back by Rolf Nelson
Hyperspace Demons by Jonathan Moeller
On a Starry Night by Tedd Roberts
Do Buddhas Dream of Enlightened Sheep by Josh M. Young
QUANTUM MORTIS A Man Disrupted by Steve Rzasa and Vox Day
QUANTUM MORTIS Gravity Kills by Steve Rzasa and Vox Day
QUANTUM MORTIS A Mind Programmed by Jeff Sutton, Jean Sutton, and Vox Day
Victoria: A Novel of Fourth Generation War by Thomas Hobbes
FANTASY
One Bright Star to Guide Them by John C. Wright
The Book of Feasts & Seasons by John C. Wright
A Magic Broken by Vox Day
A Throne of Bones by Vox Day
The Gladiator's Song by Vox Day
The Wardog's Coin by Vox Day
The Last Witchking by Vox Day
Summa Elvetica: A Casuistry of the Elvish Controversy by Vox Day
The Altar of Hate by Vox Day
The War in Heaven by Theodore Beale
The World in Shadow by Theodore Beale
The Wrath of Angels by Theodore Beale
CASTALIA CLASSICS
The Programmed Man by Jean and Jeff Sutton
Apollo at Go by Jeff Sutton
First on the Moon by Jeff Sutton
AUDIOBOOKS
A Magic Broken, narrated by Nick Afka Thomas
Four Generations of Modern War, narrated by William S. Lind
TRANSLATIONS
Särjetty taika
QUANTUM MORTIS Un Hombre Disperso
QUANTUM MORTIS Gravedad Mata
Una Estrella Brillante para Guiarlos
QUANTUM MORTIS Um Homem Desintegrado
QUANTUM MORTIS Gravidade Mortal
Uma Magia Perdida
Mantra yang Rusak
La Moneta dal Mercenario
I Ragazzoni non Piangono
QUANTUM MORTIS Тежина Смрти
QUANTUM MORTIS Der programmierte Verstand
Grosse Jungs weinen nicht
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Jerry Pournelle, There Will Be War Volume I
