The Man in the High Castle 2.4-2.6: Rails and Realities

First, let me say that I what I like most in The Man in the High Castle on Amazon television - and there's a lot to enormously like in this extraordinary series - is the almost casual way it shows the melding of our American history with the way it might have been had the Germans and the Japanese won the Second World War.   Signs like see the "American Reich on rail" - hanging in a New York City train terminal (I couldn't tell whether it was Grand Central or Penn Station), next to a picture of Hitler with white hair - says everything you want to know about this story.   Europeans always put more stock than we did in travel by rails - in the aftermath of World War II, American rail travel was systematically overtaken and dismantled by our love of automobiles - but the rails also had a special, horrible role in the Holocaust, being the vehicle of delivery of victims to the death camps.

So that sign, on screen for just a fast moment, conveyed all of that.   And more ... because if you love rail travel, and wish there was more of it today in America (I take Amtrak to Washington and Philadelphia and Boston whenever I can, and wish I could take it further), then that sign also speaks of a kind of progress we missed here in our real history in America.   Just as with those super fast, Nazi rocket planes.

The second group of three episodes of The Man in High Castle - 2.4-2.6 - are all about comparison between that alternate reality and ours, so much so that Tagomi actually goes into and back to our reality for the better part of two episodes.   Indeed, the ending of 2.6, with Tagomi watching JFK address the nation about the Cuban Missile Crisis, with his voice playing in the alternate reality with Joe in Nazi Germany in 1962 and Smith and his family in American Reich New York, is a memorable piece of cinema in itself.   We victors of WWII came close to blowing up the world at that point, lest we comfortably sit back and smugly assume even for a moment that our winning World War II led to a world of unbridled peace, prosperity, and security. In all realities, we humans are never too far from the precipice.

Lots of outright surprises and surprising interconnections in these three episodes, too.   Juliana is married to Tagomi's son in our reality - that is, in the America that won the Second World War.  That closes a nice loop which opened in the first season, when she went to work for Tagomi in the Japanese-won reality, which in turn jump-started in some way his entry into our reality.   And Joe is not just an American working for Nazis - he was born in Germany, like a boy from Brazil, part of the Hitler perfection of the race program.

How all of these pieces on the alternate-reality cross-dimensional board will fall out is anyone's guess - and we likely won't have final answers at the end of the season, either.  Which is good, since this story needs all the room it can get.  The man in high castle himself no doubt knows some of the answers.  It occurred to me that he's also a time traveler of sorts - or has access to futures in some way.  But he burned most of the films, and now has all of that crucial knowledge of all of those realities only in one place - his head.

See also The Man in the High Castle 3.1: Real People in Alternate History...  The Man in the High Castle 3.2: Alternate Realities, Frederic Brown, and Rockwells ...  The Man in the High Castle 3.4-6: "Tis Death that's Dead" ... The Man in the High Castle 3.7-10: The Metaphysics of Alternate Realities

See also The Man in the High Castle 2.1-2.3: My Heimisch Town ... The Man in the High Castle 2.7-2.10: Alternate Reality to the Rescue, Literally

See also The Man in the High Castle on Amazon ... The Man in the High Castle 2-10: Timely Alternate Reality Par Excellence ... The Man in the High Castle in Reality - Well, on NYC Subway Cars


podcast review of 2nd season

"Author's Cut" Kindle Edition of The Consciousness Plague Published by JoSara MeDia

I'm pleased to announce that JoSara MeDia has just published a Kindle edition of my novel, The Consciousness Plague.

The Consciousness Plague was originally published by Tor Books in 2002, and was praised by Booklist ("more nearly reaches the heights of Isaac Asimov's classic SF mysteries than those of most other genre hands"), Library Journal ("intelligent blend of police procedural and speculative fiction"), and reviews in numerous other places.

Like the JoSara author’s cuts of The Silk Code and The Plot to Save Socrates, this new edition of The Consciousness Plague restores bits of my original wording lost to copy-editing.  But it also contains significant updates in the world inhabited by Dr. Phil D'Amato, the protagonist whose first appearance in a novel was in The Silk Code. Google Drive and smartphones didn't yet exist in 2002, but they play a role in this 2013 edition of The Consciousness Plague.   

Also of note: a major section of the novel takes place on The Lake Shore Ltd - Amtrak's train between New York City and Chicago - and was written when I took that train to the World Science Fiction Convention in Chicago in 2000.

The new ebook edition of the novel has a specially commissioned cover by Joel Iskowitz, who designed the covers for The Silk Code, The Plot to Save Socrates, and Unburning Alexandria ebooks, and  whose designs have appeared on stamps around the world, US coins, and NASA murals.

I again chose JoSara MeDia because this small, savvy publisher did such a good job with The Silk Code, The Plot to Save Socrates, and Unburning Alexandria ebooks, as well as the Unburning Alexandria paperback published last month. JoSara MeDia has published award-winning authors in multiple formats, including print, eBook, and enhanced eBooks as iPad and Android applications. JoSara MeDia also works with non-profit organizations, such as the Texas State Historical Association, assisting them with strategies and solutions to get their content available in these multiple formats.



free sample of The Consciousness Plague

reviews

• "more nearly reaches the heights of Isaac Asimov's classic SF mysteries than those of most other genre hands who attempt them manage to do these days" - Roland Green, Booklist 
• "Levinson's intelligent blend of police procedural and speculative fiction should appeal to fans of mystery and science fiction" - Library Journal
• "Intriguing speculation, solid sleuthing, and agreeably baffling suspects" - Kirkus
• "A satisfying blend of murder mystery, police procedure, and science fiction" - Orlando Sentinel
• "D'Amato [is] ... an earnest Everyman, operating on a shoeshine and a hunch" - Paul Di Filippo, SFWeekly
• "Quincy would be proud!" - SciFiDimensions
• "satisfying and properly links up the plots" - Scott's Corner
• "a quick, enjoyable read" - Rambles
• "A little bit mystery, a little bit sci-fi and a whole lot of inquisitive character development kept me glued to The Consciousness Plague from beginning to end. For those interested in medicine, serial killers and mysteries you’ll find this book a quick read and you’ll wish it didn’t have to end so soon." - scrink.com

Enjoy listening to audio books? Get a free audio book copy of The Consciousness Plague - or any one of 85,000 other titles - with a 14-day trial membership at Audible.com ...

#SFWApro

Hell on Wheels 1.6: Horse vs. Rail

Well, the iron horse beat the flesh-and-blood kind in Hell on Wheels 1.6 last evening, as it always did in the long run - of any track and any history.   And in this episode, the victory of the stoked engine symbolized the victory of the Industrial Revolution, which was just beginning, over the Native Americans across the Plains.

The tribes, of course, had lost in the East well before the Industrial Revolution and the rails across America.   As Senator Crane helpfully tells Cheyenne Chief Many Horses, his people are living in "The Stone Age".  True enough, but the Chief is more than wise enough not to go for Crane's generous offer of a reservation for his people.

Crane is not doing much better driving Durant in this episode.  When the Swede - in many ways the most commanding character, following his own and no one else's lights (fine acting by Christopher Heyerdahl) - tells the Senator that Durant has embezzled over $100,000 of government supplied funds for the railroad, the Senator tries to get Durant to admit that, and therein get Durant under his thumb.  Durant refuses, leaving Crane no option other than to leave with the threat of commencing charges against Durant when Crane gets back to Chicago.   As despicable as Durant often is, Crane is clearly worse, and the more dangerous  villains in Hell on Wheels are in government not railroad building.   Whatever that says about the political predilections today of the show's creators, the Durant-Crane confrontation back in 1865 certainly leaves me rooting for Durant.

Durant does get one good piece of fortune - from Lily, who gives him her husband's surveys, that she was previously holding out in hopes of a big payout (which her slain husband eminently deserved).  But her act was based on her realization of the importance of the railroad - to the country, to progress and civilization - which her husband certainly believed in, too.   And this, increasingly, will be what everyone believes in most - not just Durant for the money and the dream - but sooner or later Cullen and Elam, as well.  The transcontinental railroad, after all, not exceeded the horse, but pulled into play a lot of visions of destiny along the way.

Hey, though I love driving and flying, the rails are still my favorite way to travel, and I'd jump on a bullet train across America tomorrow if Amtrak had one.

See also  Hell on Wheels: Blood, Sweat, and Tears on the Track, and the Telegraph

---

                 Special Discount Coupons for Angie's List, Avis, Budget Car, Garden.com, eMusic

---

Covert Affairs 1.7: Amtrak Split

Keeping an eye on Covert Affairs, the stylish, James Bondian, Aliasesque new spy series on the USA Network.   Episode 1.7, on last night, struck a chord with me - I'm always on the lookout for a good story whose resolution hinges on a train (probably because of Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train or North by Northwest, who knows).

Last night's story featured Auggie (good work by Christopher Gorham) - blind, cool, accomplished colleague of Annie at the CIA - though there was plenty of attractive Annie, and Jai (Sendhil Ramamurthy - from Heroes!), too!   Auggie has to reconnect with a former lover, another beauty, who's a master hacker.  She's attracted everyone's attention by bringing down the power grid for a brief period of time in Washington.   Everyone means not only ours but the Russian spy agency - Natasha is Russian - and throw in our own organized crime guys as well.

Lots of good scenes and action, but, to get back to my love of trains in fiction (I also love riding Amtrak in real life, too), the best part of the night had Auggie and Natasha undertaking an escape from New York to the north via Amtrak.  (Auggie has fallen back in love with Natasha.)  He fakes out most of the pursuing spies and bad guys by taking advantage of the Albany, NY station, where trains to the north can split and go due north to Montreal, or north by northwest to Toronto.   I can't recall the last time I saw a show on television utilize such good knowledge of the train system.

Hey, I like the Amtrak northern routes so much that I had my forensic detective, Dr. Phil D'Amato, take the Lake Shore Limited in my 2002 novel, The Consciousness Plague.   There's something about trains - the way they move, the fleeting community of people aboard - that makes them ideal vehicles for fiction.

Like Covert Affairs, they're smooth, fast, and chock full of atmosphere.

See also Covert Affairs on USA Network



5-min podcast review of Covert Affairs

---

                 Special Discount Coupons for Angie's List, Avis, Budget Car, eHarmony, eMusic, Mozy, Zazzle

---

Chris Matthews is Right about Fast Trains

I finally found something about Chris Matthews I can cheer about.  For the past few days, he's been urging the Federal government to embark on a campaign of getting interstate fast rail service all across America.  Matthews rightly points out that Europe has it, and the Chinese are constructing such service.   He also correctly notes that more people traveling on trains means fewer people traveling via gas-guzzling cars.

He's completely right.  I love driving, especially my Prius, which does save me money and time filling up at the pump.   But the Prius still uses some gasoline, and contributes to the US need for oil.  I feel the same about flying - it's magical.  But traveling by train is more fuel efficient, especially when we're talking about electrified rails.

Train travel is also the most relaxing, at least for me.   I can certainly get a lot more writing done on a train than as a driver (I wrote a good part of The Consciousness Plague on The Lake Shore, Ltd, from New York to Chicago), not to mention sleeping.   Although writing on planes is also easy, no conductor on a train has ever told me I have to shut off my computer, or any electronic device.

In the one part of the country where we do have fast rail service - the Acela, between Boston and Washington, DC and points in between - savvy people know it's best way to get from city to city, and these trains are slower than the ones in France, that is, slower than they could be here.

One of the appeals of the Obama ticket to me was Joe Biden, in particular Biden's devotion to Amtrak, which he long ago recognized as the most efficient means of traveling between Wilmington, DE and Washington, DC.    I hope the Obama administration and Congress take Chris Matthews' appeal to heart, and get America back to work and moving more efficiently, with reduced oil consumption, which can all be done in one master stroke: construction of a fast rail system across the United States of America.

Obama and Biden Training for the Future

I love trains. They don't have the impulse and pinpoint anyplace-to-anyplace travel capabilities of automobiles, and they can't get across vast distances as fast as airplanes - both of which are incredible - but, otherwise, trains have it over every other kind of transport. They are certainly the best way of traveling from New York City to Washington, which I do at least several times a year. You can eat, sleep, read, write, work, use the facilities while you're moving to your destination - you can only do the first, more or less safely, if you're driving - and trains are much more relaxing than planes.

So I would have been glad, in any case, about Barack Obama and Joe Biden going to Washington, DC today by train.

Obama began the trip with a speech in Philadelphia's 30th Street Station. It's a great, classic station, which opened in 1933, the year that FDR took office. A nice parallel there with Obama, in addition to the resonance with Lincoln's train rides.

The Obamas picked up the Bidens in Wilmington, Delaware. The men and their wives looked like a Currier & Ives come to life on television as they boarded the train, long overcoats and scarves and big smiles. Joe Biden has been a champion of Amtrak and train travel in America - which, given the hard time our government has been giving it, needs all the help it can get.

I've never actually boarded or left a train in Wilmington. But I've enjoyed what I've seen of the station and city from the train so much - especially the neon signage on the streets beyond - that I gave Wilmington Station a major role in my 2003 science fiction mystery novel, The Pixel Eye.

The train just slowed down as it passed through Edgewood, Maryland, Obama and Biden waving from the back...

Next stop, Baltimore ... and I'll be back with more after Baltimore and Washington, DC.

Joe Biden Rides Amtrak

One of the things I find most persuasive about Joe Biden is that he rides Amtrak every day between Washington, DC and Wilmington, Delaware.

I've made that trip many times myself, on my way from New York to Washington and vice versa. I've never actually stopped in Wilmington, but the city on the Amtrak line has always appealed to me. I'm not kidding, I even put in the Wilmington, DE Amtrak station as a major place of action in my 2004 novel, The Pixel Eye.

Biden's taking trains shows he's not only in touch with the people, but the future. Trains are much more comfortable than planes in America for short distances. They would work as well for long distances, if only we constructed decent long distance rails like they have in many other parts of the world.

McCain wants to kill Amtrak, and let private industry take over. That worked well up until about 50 years ago. Not surprising that McCain would have this position.

Obama wants to expand Amtrak's excellent high speed service in the Northeast corridor to the midwest, for starters. Much like Obama expanded and deepened his ticket with Joe Biden today in Illinois.

Hey, it's by no means the most important issue in this crucial election, but if Obama/Biden are elected, America will have the best chance it's had in years to finally put in convenient, energy-saving, fast intercity train service.

I'm looking forward to Biden taking the train down to Obama's inauguration in January 2009.

McCain Inane on Trains, Barack Backs Amtrak

I've always loved trains, especially in the Northeast corridor. You can get to the heart of just about any big city from Boston to Washington, DC with less aggravation and often faster than a plane. And, unlike a car if you're the driver, you can sleep, get lots of work done, grab a bite to eat whenever you like, and the scenery isn't half-bad, either.

All of that was before the insanely high prices of gas, which have made not only autos more expensive to drive, but air travel, too. Trains of course also use energy, but the electricity that moves the trains draws less oil than cars or planes. An article the other day in the New York Times gives the details, along with the unsettling news that growing train use in our age of soaring gas prices may not be able to keep track with the aging equipment. Amtrak clearly needs help - or, more help than it's been getting from the Federal government. The article concludes with a brief mention of McCain opposing subsidies for Amtrak, versus Obama, who co-sponsored a bill that would increase them.

I decided to look into this a bit more. A DCist article from early June has the amazing rundown.

McCain not only opposes Federal subsidies for Amtrak, he's been working for years to do away with it completely. Why? The perennial Republican pipe dream of privatizing the industry. Which of course could take years to succeed, if ever it does, and in the meantime our country is deprived of the single best alternative to gas-hungry cars and planes.

Obama, unsurprisingly, has a much more sensible, enlightened approach - we do what we can to improve Amtrak, including extending the high-speed rail service in the Northeast corridor to the midwest, and eventually to all of America. (I've taken trains from New York to Chicago, and New York to Atlanta, and the rides were wonderful, but slow.) Some of these ideas go back to Obama's work in 2003. Like his thinking on Iraq, they show he is in tune with where America and the world are heading.

Trains are of course by no means the most important issue we face. But the drastically different positions of McCain and Obama speak to how they contrast on most issues: rigid, unworkable, out-of-date positions by McCain, versus practical, common-sense, pathways to the future by Barack Obama.

With any luck, people from the Northeast corridor and beyond will be able to take a fast train down to Washington in January for his inauguration.