June 2021 -- Tower of Mud and Straw (Spoilers Allowed)

[Oleksandr]

Spoil away!

[Kristenelle]

I listened to the audio of this a couple months ago. I enjoyed it! The tulips were super interesting and I liked the way we slowly learned more about what had happened in the main character's past.

I was a little confused how to picture the setting. Characters ride airships and horses and the titular tower is an anti-aircraft tower if I remember right. And I'm foggy on this one...were the tulips described as being transported on carts? So I kept going back and forth between imagining medieval fantasy and something more steampunk. Were the horses just for fun? What kind of vehicles did people usually use to get around on land?

I also missed why the tower was important. Was it just a vanity project or was there a threat of enemy aircrafts?

Also, these questions are not meant as criticisms. I may have been playing video games while listening to this and it is very likely I missed some stuff.

Congrats on the Nebula nomination, Yaroslav!

[Oleksandr]

Kristenelle wrote: "So I kept going back and forth between imagining medieval fantasy and something more steampunk."

Me too. The same goes for using crossbows as a hand weapon, but having anti-aicraft artilleries (which still can be a giant crossbow = ballista). Also initially I assumed that the protagonist is much older (a minister and I assumed gerontocracy of some kind).

Nevertheless I enjoyed the story as well
And I second the congrats!

[Oleksandr]

My review is here https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Now some words about what I found strange, maybe not fully thought out (or maybe I missed something).

The world is technically close to late 19th century - usage of gas, airships, elevators on the tower. There seems to be no magic (except from the break). There is at least some hi-tech items, relatively easy to achieve (the stack of tulips in a shop) means [1] even young people can get them [2] they aren't very expensive [3] there are a lot of them (no earlier attempt to retrieve). However, they aren't in widespread use - to transport goods, in airships, personal carriers, etc. Also, if I'm not mistaken only tulips are mentioned as Drakiri device - it is unusual that only one type of high tech device is preserved, but we don't see attempts to get more tech from them.

Also - was anti-airship the real reason the tower was build, or is is just a cover? Why one long tower, a wonder of engineering instead of a group of much shorter ones? Its length and its uniqueness may make is a prime target for a diversion (as was suspected). I'd suggest that its power was not in turrets ("artillery barking" - is it gunpowder based?) but that the height warped surrounding space (great turbulence), so no one can travel except extremely close to the ground

[Yaroslav]

All good points, @Kristenelle and @Oleksandr! (and many thanks for your reviews!)

As a starting point for the novella, I had a huge flak tower—I thought it was an alluring image, romantic even, that could also serve as a nice metaphor for the main character's journey. However, I didn't want to go full steampunk or gaslamp; the reasons for this mostly have to do with the current state of the publishing industry.

So I ended up keeping the minimal amount of steampunk to allow for the main element to function, and replacing the rest with the more traditional late-medieval fantasy fare.

How does it all work and is it self-contradictory?

1. Why do they have airships, but no cars?

An obvious answer would be that their airships use methods of propulsion other than internal combustion. There were some alternative designs in real life:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airship...

Another answer could be that fuel in their world isn't easy to come by, so they're only using it where necessary (thus no cars, only horses). Or maybe their design of the internal combustion engine is too bulky.

Then again, maybe they really love horses :)

Whichever answer you choose, I envisioned this as a world where technology had developed rapidly in certain areas, leaving others lagging behind. Why doesn't normal gunpowder work in Amber—and why Avalon's gunpowder does? How does a Holtzman engine allow a heighliner's navigator to fold space and where exactly does prescience come into play? I feel that science fiction and fantasy will always involve a certain amount of handwavium.

2. Does the tower being this tall even make sense?

A group of shorter towers is great for protecting a city—enemy bombers will have to assume a lower altitude before the attack—but the Owenbeg tower is supposed to take care of the invading airships. This assumes that:

- said airships will be travelling at a high altitude;
- the border with Duma is small enough.

The tower being a marvel of engineering, it also serves as a symbol inside and outside of the country: don't mess with us, we can build such things. Those who remember the Cold War era will understand the allusion.

3. How many hi-tech items are there?

We see at least two kinds in the novella: the "tulips" and Aidan's mechanical hand.

If you're paying attention, hi-tech is extremely scarce. Drakiri's homeland had been in Pangania (another continent), they developed and produced the stuff there. There was a genocide (mentioned twice, once by the airship captain and then by Shea himself), and only a small group of Drakiri survived. Most found refuge in Owenbeg. The only tech that remains is the stuff they managed to take with them.

How does Lena I get access to the "tulips" so easily? Well, Ashcrofts are obviously a wealthy wine-producing family. Shea and his sister bought a workshop, for chrissakes!

Why don't others attempt to procure / use the tech? People are always leery of new things unless they have an immediate impact on their daily comfort levels :)

Hopefully this makes sense and clears up some questions!

[Gabi]

Rebecca wrote: "... I found the succession plan news to be a bit abrupt, maybe it was a twist and maybe it was a leap. I’m really looking forward to the conclusion." (from the no spoiler thread)

There were several times where I had the feeling that the story jumped. I read this as an intentional style decision and found it intriguing. Overall I was fascinated by the sometimes clipped prose. It definitely held my attention, because it spoon fed nothing.

[Oleksandr]

Thanks Yaroslav for your answers! I guess our nitpicking is like discussing the brand of Chekhov's gun (i.e. not important to the story). However, back to hair splitting, for that's the thing fans like to do :)

I haven't assumed that airships had combustion engines, but I expect they are still use something lighter than air for a lift. Am I correct? In this case why no one uses antigrav for a lift? After all we have two instances where people independently got access to tulips, which suggest that they are known. I've read a while ago a bio of Vanderbilt - The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt. One episode captured my attention - he liked to drive fast and in epoche before cars, he used horse-driven carriages. in his 60s he fell off on a sudden stop and was in coma for a week. This suggests that enough rich people may try to risk own lives for a joy of a speedy ride.