The SFFaudio Podcast #852 – Jesse and Alex (Pulpcovers) talk about Beat To Quarters by C.S. Forester

Talked about on today’s show:
The Happy Return aka Beat To Quarters, more exciting sounding, the drum, red alert, double red alert, get to your stations, spoken in the book, in searching twitter, a conversation, Cirsova, C.S. Hornblower Books is hard science fiction, anything set in space is not science fiction, flawlessly longical, the Honor Harrington books, same initials, same idea, career arc, broadsides in space, he crafted his science fiction technology to require broadsides in space, Star Trek was modeled after Horatio Hornblower, Picard’s character research, the tight-ass personality, badly reminded, a Hornblower scene on holodeck, when they did it on the show, recreation, sex fantasies, Worf’s going there to get stabbed, the Sherlock Holmes investigations, they’re doing their own recreation, trying to get your boss and the guy who does the photocopying to play your D&D, this works as a book, read this as a kid, always loved, a certain amount of wishfulfilment for the author, not a Mary Sue, kind of a jerk, see me being a great captain, very novel, the Horatio Hornblower tv series, you can’t do interior stuff in TV and movies, voice over narration, have somebody tell you what Conan’s feelings are, Subotai, almost completely through the eyes of Hornblower, the careful crafting of a first time author, intended to be a book series?, an established writer, brought to Hollywood to write a pirate movie, Hornblow and Bush, Captain Blood (1935), Errol Flynn, hounded by the prospect, hopped a freighter, voyage with this woman, a Wellsley, her name was Barbara, falling in love, an unfaithful womanizer, a guy who delivers the meals, lends itself to series, the romance, almost doesn’t fit, it’s fun, Sharpe is a response to Hornblower, Hornblower on land, comedic fat guy, a wagonmaster general, Baron Harkonnen, the same actor doing essentially the same role, a fat diplomat bad at his job, Ian McNeice, the main guy who’s awesome, men he has to convince, everybody think’s he’s great, seems like very very Mary Sue, counterbalanced, going bald, so obsessed with his own image, he refuses to talk to anybody, hm hmm, the narrator does a lot of hm hmmming, the 1951 adaptation, almost the entire novel, 2 other books, very faithful, the interiority, the officers betting, are we gonna die before we find shore?, the fawning, do the same job, C.S. Forester worked on the ship, a very Hollywood thing, the female servant some generic south american brown skinned person, so much shoepolish, El Supremo, so cartoonish, Aubrey–Maturin, Master And Commander Far Side Of The World (2003), first exposure to audiobooks, a lot of sitting, poetry, the double meaning of words, Jesse’s favourite joke, I was impressed by the British Navy’s recruiting methods, works both ways, very stupid, institutions being very bad, hospitals, they’re everywhere, they turn the people they work in them into soulless drudges, doing their best within the system, an impressed sailor, volunteers as well, a bigger part of the navy than it really was, when there’s no war there’s not a lot of impressment, dockyard, the rum ration, an institutionalized way of controlling people through drugs, stories from the 1950s, alcohol usage, excited about getting the rum, Pervitin, amphetamines, single seater aircraft, they don’t issue it to for you every day, SS and tanks, Robert Shaw, dye job, Battle Of The Bulge (1965), From Russia With Love (1963), keep pushing those tanks, worked against the French, institutions like prisons or mental hospitals, old-folks homes, during COVID, Ontario, getting uppity, drugged them, keep em calm, keep em under control, a certain feeling, part of your pay, not enough to get drunk on, double rations, a nice buzz, horrible work, a lot of pain, a miserable job, making people into cogs, the best example of that in a positive sense, in the next book, drilled and perfect, an incredibly well honed crew, prisoners and landsmen, kidnapping a bunch of guys, amateurs, weeks whipping them into shape, to be able to run up the mast, a lot of Hornblower is forming a mentality in the men, that image is represented, walk the deck, make sure they see him, keep that pot-belly down, Gregory Peck, by special arrangement, in their stable, these guys are like impressed sailors, under contract, thanks to Warner Brothers for giving us to this movie, Sony owns some of Marvel, if we wanna have the Spider-Man, just the character, TV shows, ER for all those year, a Michael Crichton show, Remington Steele, to be Bond, prevented him from being Bond for a while, Tom Selleck didn’t get Indiana Jones because, The High Road To China (1983), opens with flogging, starts the same way, to blame, Mr Bush, do you know why I’m flogging this man?, he was fighting, sir, more careful about what you say, that leadership, that aura, a few times, a lot more needing to show, the movie stops right after they blow up the other ship, our ship in rags, a cut, shipshape, the island, careening, unnecessary, why is it in there?, he has to be a complete man, fell in love with, writing about what you know, having him married, Wellesley, wife is dead, a very happy ending, a new family, someone else’s baby, widower and widow, the cheating we anticipate is made all fair, bigger ship of the line, his boss the admiral, they get married right away, I guess she really didn’t love me, he resents his own wife, lost two kids to smallpox, an act of parliament, remain this faithful husband, I hate her, back to war, captured by the French, his boss’ widow, they can now get married, a pure adaptation of the first three novels, a bit long for a film, fantastic, he’s not British is he?, Cary Grant, shove em in Europe and it is find, is this a science fiction novel?, no, but, are those science fiction novels if they’re built on this structure, a kind of technology, not future technology, understanding how these ships, work, oh!, I bet it is real, when they’re becalmed, he has the sailors wet down the sails, years at sea, sails are better, we have boat engines, you take down your sail, a little outboard, no need to rely on precision, there is one scene in the first Honor Harrington Jesse read, first time writer’s mistake, the captain looking in the mirror describing his shape to us, my hips are a little wide, especially prominent with female characters, I’m not happy with my double ds, many men have told me, too big of a tush, bad writing, oh really, it was brief, the men seeing him standing on deck, that double picture, it isn’t complete over the shoulder or into the mind of our hero, at two points in the book, Lady Barbara, down in the guts of the ship, Florence Nightingaling, Crimea, Sevastapol, physically demanding, this kind of nursing is not really women’s work, holding some hands and here’s your pill, explicitly excluded, pressing women to become nurses on ships, their better relationship to come, acting like a mother to one of these dying Scotsman, how to kiss him the way he wanted to be kissed by his mother, on the eyes and on the lips, he dies, that’s how the mom kissed him, acting as a mother, a good mother to his son, a similar scene, jumps out of the text, she and he are heavy petting, my poppet, in loving terms, except as a child, baby language, how people talk to each other, child honey, wife honey, very action packed, business oriented, the El Supremo incident, in the Pacific near Nicaragua and Panama, her packet being taken, already come around the horn, the return journey, asked Grok, the name of the island they fixed, the Isle of Pigs, Grok might be lying, there is an island in the right spot, in the Pacific that’s pretty obscure, on their way to the Horn, named after a pirate, a volcanic reef with a central body of water, on the wrong side, in the Coiba Island, Panama, sticking to the history, how many times did the Spanish change sides during the Napoleonic Wars, mostly from Sharpe, Spanish allies, conflict with other stuff, fictional, comparable, so cartoonish, much more like a Star Trek episode, on some planet, Hitler in hiding, Thanos action, to save food, The Conscience of the King, they don’t have discipline, a lot more guns, sunk, the local Indians recruited, except for the officers, very interesting, a background contempt, the negress, Hebe?, lock her up, she won’t stay away from the men, technically, she won’t stay away from a man either, she’s the fictional sister, a Red Sonja situation, invented a sister, just means God, worshiped as a god, if Kirk was in this situation, one of the guns that doesn’t go off, the money never comes up again, even just as ballast, the movie version of Master And Commander: The Far Side Of The World (2003), pulling from at least two books, the colon in the title, should have had a sequel, beautiful in execution, everything that’s good in this book amped up, the model work is fine, the Peter Weir movie, the captain and his doctor, McCoy and Kirk, stop at the Galapagos and sort of pause, all the horror of the battles, the strategy is even more amped up, give you a sense, feel the weather, usually books are better, why people get addicted to reading the whole series, fun, interesting, the historical setting isn’t so faked, The Pirates Of The Caribbean movie, nothing matters, talking about Tortuga, just flags you can throw up to get you excited, a fantasy town, a fake culture they’ve slapped a real name on, outrageous behavior, verges on that, all of the British people watching, this guy is crazy and terrifying and weird, people being tortured, whipping is something we should try to avoid, his general/admiral, the cartoon of every dictator of every cartoon, a dark mirror of Hornblower, expect instant obedience, other books, a complete psychopath, a kinship, maybe I’m a complete psychopath, he has orders to follow, what will they think if I do this, lose my commission, go on half-pay, I have to follow my orders, that gold in the hold, that niggling feeling, not the perfect, what’s next?, it has all the goods you want, he pretends to be a whaler, trickery thing, in the Mediterranean, the Spanish French coast, you got three days, go cause some havok, switches flags real quick, trickery stuff, Star Trek, they’re on the frontier, going to places on the edge of explored space, space cops, Mudd’s Women, he’s a space cop, that’s illegal, the worst episodes of Star Trek, the only British ship in the entire Pacific, stolen maps, a 300 year old map, doing their business, they know the shore, this is not the safe and happy Caribbean, this is the far frontier, the aluetians, Fred Heimbaugh, Typee by Herman Melville, swim in, hiding out, Pacific Islanders, Tahitians!, you guys are in terrible shape, are they gonna taste us, bein nice, cut up by brambles, hungry and thirsty, it rains, they make a house in 10 minutes, food is abundant, a little bit of rain, life is easy on these islands, the opposite experience, the water has green things, skin’s opening up, Melville was gay, you look sexy, the women don’t worry about that unless you’re king, marry their sister, let’s go swimming, different sort of culture, cannibals on this island, over this mountain, point back over the other side of the island, the Pitcairn Island experience, Hawaii, hide until the ship leaves, they go to Tahiti, steal a bunch of women, burn the ships that nobody can leave, the Fletcher Christian story is a nightmare, a mutiny, the mutiny in the Bounty, 1789 – 1808, concerned they’re gonna jump ship, it interacts with the idea of El Supremeo, a mirror of Hornblower, no one can judge him, not even God can judge him, bound by his duty, reduced by looking in the mirror, how much balder he is, I wish I had a bow for my hair, unchecked, do whatever you want, Kirk seems to violate orders all the time, bound by the organization, specific orders, loyalty to the king, never gets punished for it, they throw him in the briar patch, a recapitulation of the Nomad space probe episode, gee whizz, very psychedelic,every year in the background, while you’re not paying attention, Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) is getting better and better, The Wrath Of Khan, the space battle, also has Genesis, Star Trek VI is even moreso, he killed his son, he hates Kahn, it’s not personal, on a mission, prevent a war, a big space battle, the audience hates this guy, prevent that, Christopher Plummer, in the original klingon, I hate klingons, Star Trek IV, go back in time get some whales, back to the future, admiral kirk we’re demoting you to captain, solid ending, very bad all comedy Star Trek V, what does god need with a spaceship, product placement for marshmallows, with the nebula, clouds, comin out of a fog bank, coming out of a shoal, what the spanish ship is doing, whist, a rubber, Phileas Fogg, Around The World In 80 Days, the raid, take the ship, very cartoony in space, spock says he’s thinking two dimensionally, we think 3 dimensionally because we live in space, why Cirsova is right, they’re both right side up, the invisible ocean of ether, assembling for fleet battles, only when they’re sinking, listing to port, the horizon in space, the Constitution with Decker, planet killer [The Doomsday Machine], scratches a similar itch, a thesis, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and F&SF, a set of premises, these are the things that are possible, Will Emmons, another nautical guy, L. Ron Hubbard story, they’re not really science fiction stories because none of the premises he work for matter, mass to fuel, there is no wind that can suddenly save you, tides are super-goddamn predictable, otherwise your ship will sink, measuring the bottom, the tide situation, that stuff is very science fictional, the clocks, the solution being clocks, not the way we do it now, it’s all about clocks still, the difference between the two clocks, it tells us stuff, it’s science fiction in the sense that it plays by a certain set of rules, use them as weapons, makes this book worthy, ships and boats, he’s taught me, just research?, his first wife had a great uncle British naval captain, autobiographies of himself, the captain, manual of seamanship volume 1, look everything up as we need it, he’s studying for his lieutenant’s exams, a scenario like the Kobayashi Maru, dismasted, an attack outside, superheroic, commissioned lieutenant, about to fail, Kirk cheated on his exam, a test of character, TNG, some girl gives him help, leave one of these aliens behind, it was all a simulation on the holodeck, makes you grow as a man, all stolen from this, boosted so much, 20 of those, they’re chunky, this book was 7 hours, the next book in the series, Captain Horatio Hornblower, back to England, he’s rich, prizes, a son, Commodore Hornblower, invasion of Russia, fun, not as good as the first block of book, how series work, Killers Are My Meat by Stephen Marlowe, farmer, lady wants to ride a horse, disposive of their character, in certain genres, historical war novels, there was another battle, the war kept going, on the far side of the world for it, the French don’t show up in this book at all, an interesting setting, how the Sharpe series, Sharpe’s Tiger, Sean Bean, old retired guy, a weird phenomena, a new Dexter tv show, based on a novel, when the show becomes more popular than the original novel, Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay, a post-one, the voiceover, recast everybody to play younger versions, James Remar is the father figure, taught him the code, you’ve got a dark passenger inside you son, the guy from Heathers (1988), Christian Slater, impressions, as close as possible, muppets and then muppet babies, Dexter with Muppet Babies, Miami Vice with an 18 year old Crockett, we don’t want old Sean Bean, old Harrison Ford, that’s all they’ll give us, still uncanny CGI deaging, a flashback, digitally deaged, fuckn move on, wrong accent, the historical setting, the weird deep, thugees, the second Indiana Jones movie, the Sankara Stones, it’s quite complicated, Kali is not all evil, most contemporary media is content with broadsides in space, war story with a historical setting, Overlord (2018), that’s not how it was, at least Quentin Tarantino holds it for the end of the film, attention to historical detail is superimportant, space magic, the original tweet, three year journey, why is it called The Happy Return?, something he’s returning from, reason to be returning, didn’t get the girl in real life, she didn’t die?, the Barbara from the boat, he’s kind of a jerk, not a super-heroic character, a lot of self-doubt, overcome self-doubt, his self-doubt drives him to do stupid things to a lot of people, good at math, cheats on both of his wives, a little bit of a terrible person, if I don’t do it it will look bad for me, let things happen to people, socially awkward, undermine my dignity as a captain, sold on this book in the battle, takes so long, the way it accelerates, let’s see what we can do here, the bodies start piling up, dropping fake wood on top of people, my midshipman, where’s his head, a powderboy turned into red mist, obliterated by a cannon ball, super-humanitarian, not allowed, there’s no way to do it, parodic, historical examples, everybody on the Island is named Christian, a contest for who’s going to be in charge of this harem, pretty fuckin hardcore, disciplinary captain, the recapitulation, well plotted book, a big success, in the canon of things people hear about, Greyhound (2020), Tom Hanks, theaters were closed, sold it to Apple, worthy of attention, always like that in his films, a big anti-fan of Castaway (2000), box of chocolates movie, extremely boomer, fan service for everybody, Zelig (1983), Woody Allen, a forgotten piece of history, the evil it is showing into a Hallmark card, Saving Private Ryan (1998), the D-Day opening, trying to convince this team of guys, some dude, his brothers are dead, fake, why is this worth it?, they didn’t do that, they let 8 brothers die on a ship, they changed the law, all 5 Sullivan brothers died, all stuck on the same ship, dropping into Normandy, Matt Damon, I gotta fight this battle, fight with him to protect him, Ryan gets home, cuts to old man Ryan at the cemetery, these guys all died to save me, the Titanic, that’s why Jesse rejected it, The Good Shepherd, sounds weirdly religious, one of those Christian movies, a war movie, Fury (2014), the anti-Saving Private Ryan, the opposite of sentimental, sentimental war movies, The Four Feathers (2002), Heath Ledger, 4 movie versions, a good story every time, Chinese Gordon era Sudan, a very unfamiliar setting, not well explored, the Great Game is happening, central Asia, what is now Pakistan, Kim by Rudyard Kipling, where does it fit in the chronology, the Crimean War, the Boer Wars, filling in those details through history, start researching the very small details, using chatgpt, all about crafting question, you have studied international relations, a ten point plan for peace in Palestine and Israel, you’re gonna have to lie, the two state solution, who was the badguy in WWII in WWII one sentence answer, now who is the badguy in the Gaza-Israeli conflict, it’s really complicated, the clear picture from the perspective in history, the much easier and cleaner, details smoothed over, the victors are telling the story, I can’t believe you said that, everyone involved in dead, the Huns invaded that was bad, the basic way of going into any question, you wanna buy a stove, that guy’s gonna try to sell you a stove you don’t need, Amazon, the first step, a hot topic in the news right now, we can learn that way as the first step, don’t do that because it is bad, a good book, not a bad book, despite the mirror scene, in the first of a lot of books, that period uncaring sloppiness, the sensitivity of your descriptors, we’ll fix this by not having her represented at all, more colour, literally, the casual racism, anti-Spanish, yep, she’s black, kinda slutty, these assholes, so sloppy, so arrogant, predictable too, while that ship is approaching, Suprize!, the Lydia is not much of a name, the Pluto, the Sutherland, just a name, the Terror, Pellew is mentioned, the Indefatigable, Dreadnought, the Victory, The Four Feathers by A.E.W. Mason, collaborative, good old books, Ben-Hur, a 24 hour book, a big book, looking forward to it, a really good story, how many film versions?, a silent, the Charlton Heston, an early 2000s, a tv miniseries, see you on the internet.

Posted by Jesse Willis