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Classic SF book review: War of Honor by David Weber (Honorverse 10)

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"I'd feel a lot better if I didn't know how many wars had started when neither side really wanted them to." The above quote which is spoken in the novel by Admiral Thomas Theisman perfectly encapsulates this story. It is one of the best fictional treatments I have ever read about how nations can stumble into wars nobody wants though a toxic mixture of  complacency,  overconfidence,  misreading the intentions of the other side, and  ambitious politicians playing political games for their own domestic advantage but failing to consider how the results of their actions may be seen by people in other nations (or their own.) NB - previous book spoiler alert ! There are no serious spoilers in this review for "War of Honor" but it is very difficult to discuss the setting for this novel without major spoilers concerning the ending of the previous book in the series, "Ashes of Victory," so if you have not read that yet and don't want it spoiled, stop rea...

Classic SF Book review: "Ashes of Victory" by David Weber (Honorverse 9)

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Back from the dead ... Like the other stories featuring Honor Harrington, "Echoes of Honor" is set about two thousand years in our future. It begins a few hours after the end of the previous book, "Echoes of Honor" as the heroine has retuned home where everyone believed her dead after the "Peeps" (People's Republic of Haven) claimed that they had hanged her and broadcast faked footage of her execution. But she wasn't dead and has managed to stage a successful rebellion on the most secure, escape-proof prison in human history,  a planet nicknamed "Hell" for good reason, and making it home from 200 light years behind enemy lines with half a million escaped prisoners. Honor was badly injured during the escape attempt, and even with the wonders which the novel assumes medicine will have achieved in two thousand years, she's going to be on light duties for a while recovering, so her main role in this book is as a viewpoint character while ...

Thrawn on the Unknown regions

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A fan fiction video supposing that Admiral Thrawn was about to take an Imperial expedition into the unknown regions. He discusses the area with his officers, including a Chiss navigational liaison.

Remembering D-Day

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82 years ago today, hundreds of thousands of Allied soldiers, sailors and airmen took part in the Normandy Landings as part of the liberation of Europe. The largest contingents came from the USA, Britain, and Canada, but heroes from all round the word also took part, with at least twelve other nations, some occupied by the Nazi powers,  involved. Some 54,000 Americans landed at the beaches at Utah Beach and Omaha Beach and about 15,500or were dropped by parachute into Normandy. About 61,700 British troops landed, mainly at Gold Beach, Sword beach or by parachute, and about 24,000 Canadians, mainly spearheading the assault at June Beach. There was also substantial Free French involvement at Sword Beach and some UK units supporting the Canadians at Juno.  An armada of nearly 7,000 vessels—comprising 1,200 warships, 4,000 landing craft, and support ships—was manned by over 195,000 naval personnel from eight Allied nations. The Royal Navy supplied the vast majority (nearly 79%) of...

Star Wars music spot to start the weekend: a Jedi parody of Careless Whisper

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Sheev Palpatine on the Saxophone accompanies Anakin Skywalker singing "I'm never gonna fight again" to the tune of "Careless Whisper."  Brilliant.

Joke of the week

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From X, posted today - and old exchange which is as funny today as it was during the pandemic ...

The Battle of North Cape how the Royal Navy sank the Scharnhorst

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In the battle of North Cape, on Boxing day 1943, a British and Norwegian force defeated and sank Scharnhorst, a powerful and fast German capital ship. Scharnhorst was referred to by the British at the time as a battlecruiser because of her speed, but by the Germans as a battleship. Whichever word you use she was a powerful and dangerous unit. The video below refers particularly to the role of HMS Norfolk, a county class heavy cruiser a third Scharnhorst's size, which could never have defeated the German capital ship on her own but scored a critical hit which took out Scharnhost's forward radar. That hit was pivotal to the allied victory. However, this was a victory which would not have been won without teamwork and the contribution of several allied vessels were essential.   The video below does also describe some of the other units which took part in the operation, including the battleship HMS Duke of York which did much of the damage to the German ship, and the cruiser HMS B...