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Seth is joined by JM Casey from Chrononauts, to discuss the 1958 winner of the Hugo Award for Best Novel, The Big Time, by Fritz Leiber.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hugospodcast
Time Codes:
| Start – 11:51 | Intro/getting to know my guest |
| 11:52 – 40:49 | Non-Spoiler discussion |
| 40:50 – end | Spoiler discussion |
Links:
Chrononauts: https://anchor.fm/chrononauts/
Chrononauts’ Twitter: https://twitter.com/chrononautssf
Notes & Mentions:
12 Angry Men
The Quiet, Dry War, by Tony Daniel
New Doctor Who
Timecop
DC’s Legends of Tomorrow
It’s worth setting this story in it’s 1958 political context. Leading up to WWII, it seemed the great conflict in Europe was between Communism and Fascism as powerful systems. After WWII, we saw the US and the Soviets compete for German scientists. (See Operation Paperclip. Perhaps the most high-profile example: Werhner von Braun developed the V-2 for Germany, then was “de-Nazied” and developed ballistic missiles for the US and rockets for the American space program.) The battle between the ideologies of Communism and Fascism seemed to morph seamlessly into Capitalism vs Communism. The US and the USSR are squared off in the Cold War (with China kind of still consolidating itself) and hot proxy wars have been active throughout South East Asia.
At the level of abstract ideologies doing battle, as viewed from the people actually in the battle, the mysterious motives of the Snakes and Spiders seem not so different. What is each side fighting for? And what does that mean to the individuals actually in the conflict? This story is very much coming out of that Cold War tension. The Nazi threat has been met, but there’s still this great conflict that’s ever-present as an existential “Us and Them,” where it’s not so clear who benefits from the conflict. I think this story does well bringing those tensions down to a personal level.
This is the kind of intelligent content I rely 100% on other people to bring! It’s a great point I hadn’t really considered. I’ll definitely keep it in mind when I revisit the book.
Thanks for commenting!