Talk:Two Fronts

Creating this is probably very premature, but hell, if Silver let's a title slip, might as well run with it. We can move it if it gets retitled between now and July, 2013.

In the meantime-I suppose a successful Coup d'Etat could account for Two Fronts. But not automatically. TR 17:39, December 7, 2011 (UTC)

I also don't see much point in creating a 2013 Works category yet. While I'm sure it will be justified in the fullness of time, right now it seems silly to have one item with a tentative title. TR 17:46, December 7, 2011 (UTC)


 * It's pretty impossible to speculate about the title without having read CdE, but I'd suggest that the book would not be called "two fronts" simply in reference to the resumption of one of the two-front wars the belligerent powers were already in earlier in the series: Germany fighting the British and/or French while also fighting the Soviets, or the Soviets fighting the Japanese while also fighting the Germans. In either of those cases the title would fairly scream "Hey, you can skip Books 3 and 4 and not miss much!" (with the unspoken caveat of "And since Book 1 is barely readable, you can just about write off the whole series up to this point!")  The British are currently in a two-front war, which is pretty new for them as of the end of TBS, but by the time CdE ends that will become old news.


 * So the two-front scenario is one which is a new development, probably realized or at least heavily hinted at at the end of CdE. Maybe the US finally gets involved in Europe--almost certainly as an enemy of Germany, especially with FDR having been reelected.  Maybe they've had casus belli for a while but public opinion couldn't stomach waging war against a traditional ally like Britain (even though the tradition of an Atlanticist alliance was not a very longstanding one in the early 1940s, or wouldn't've been by then if they hadn't been firmly on the same side of the first half of WWII).  After the eponymous coup d'etat in Britain in Book 4, that impediment is removed and the US can jump on Hitler.


 * Or maybe in Book 4 Germany falls, possibly dragging France or even Britain down with it, and the Soviets turn their attention to revanchism in Northeast Asia. Now Japan is fighting on two fronts--three if you count the Second Sino-Japanese War, though for some reason people often don't--as Washington and Moscow do a little bromancing, beating up on Japan and congratulating one another on resisting the temptation to fascism that overtook all the other great powers.


 * But either of those would shift the focus of the series away from Europe. While it's not impossible that HT would decide to do so, that particular whisker's going to stick up when Occam gets out his razor.  So maybe the two fronts refers to Britain and/or France (but probably Britain, since it's the country with a home front POV who's into politics, assuming of course he continues doing through CdE what he was doing when we left him off) fighting both at home, as politics turns bloody, and abroad.


 * Also, I quite agree that the 2013 category can wait. Turtle Fan 20:17, December 7, 2011 (UTC)

Cover-Copy
This seems to be a preliminary summary. I expect something more detailed as we get closer to the release date.

http://www.risingshadow.net/library?action=book&book_id=39529  TR (talk) 18:15, January 30, 2013 (UTC)


 * D;oh, and I was right: this is already out at Del Rey:

http://www.randomhouse.com/book/206971/war-that-came-early-two-fronts-by-harry-turtledove TR (talk) 18:17, January 30, 2013 (UTC)

I approve of the more vague approach in this volume as compared to the last couple. Helps keep my expectations lower/more reasonable. The downside of course is that there isn't a whole hell of a lot to base speculation on.

"Russia and Germany go toe-to-toe in Eastern Europe"— When the last volume ended, Germany and its allies were on Russian soil, much further east than Eastern Europe. Is that a summary-writer gaff or does that mean the USSR is pushing the Germans back out?


 * Not to be too pedantic but Europe is generally considered to extend east to the Ural Mountains which is east of Moscow. So being in Western Russia but east of Moscow is still in Europe. ML4E (talk) 19:41, January 30, 2013 (UTC)

"Germany wheels out new tanks and planes"--Nelg can probably correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the Tiger I came into being in 1942, so something analogous to that. Planes are more nebulous, but I doubt we'll see jets.

"Japan deploys weapons of a different sort in China"-their various bio-weapons, obviously. The more interesting question is: will they release stuff in India? The plan was shot down in CdE, but a year later, things might be more desperate.

"And here are the seeds of rebellion"-Now that's interesting. We've already had the one rebellion in the UK, but it's not really a legal one. But we've also had the two failed coups in Germany, with Galen still a dangling plot line. But then again, there's also this:

"Dangerous new nationalist powers arise in Eastern Europe." That could be just about anyone, really. Perhaps the seeds of rebellion are in Slovakia or Poland?

That's what jumped out at me. TR (talk) 18:52, January 30, 2013 (UTC)