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  • The Black Chamber

    From Bobbie Sellers@21:1/5 to All on Sun May 18 12:18:46 2025
    Hello again denizens of sf written,

    Black Chamber by S.M.Sterling
    Have you found and followed the Sterling novels about the Black
    Chamber?
    I happen to have been quite lucky in that regard and I found one
    I did not
    believe I had read but turns out that I had done so but will spend some
    time with it again as the buses to the library do not run frequently
    on the
    weekend and we are having a windstorm this weekend..
    Oh and I am enjoying it again.
    The background is alternate World War I, Teddy Roosevelt and the Progressive
    Republican Party are running the USA and because of German
    intervention have
    had to conquer Mexico and Canada, annex Greenland and a bit more. Now
    from
    my 20th & 21st Century sensibility it seems a rather Fascist regime.

    The scientists of Germany have devised what they are calling "Annihilation Gas""
    which has been used to kill the population of London and Paris among
    other places.
    In the first book of the novel we are introduced to heroines and villains. The
    heroes have a smaller but important part to play but the villains end
    up mutilated
    at best when they tangle with the Black Chamber operative. The Black
    Chamber
    is a Roosevelt invention and does undercover work where intelligence
    is needed
    and deadly skills are required. So in the course of her duties the BC
    Op. has to
    assault French Intelligence who want to kill the German Scientist she
    is traveling
    with to gain entry to the circles where she will meet the love of her
    life, an Irish
    maiden and gain valuable intelligence of an attack planned on the
    East Coast
    of the USA using the nasty gas. She meets a young JohnHoover who
    reacts quickly
    with some intelligence to her identity.
    If you want some spoilers and names you can go to the
    Wikipedia entry:
    <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Chamber_(novel)>

    bliss would rather have gotten new books to read but I picked out 3 I
    had read.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Ted Nolan @21:1/5 to blissInSanFrancisco@mouse-potato.co on Mon May 19 01:44:39 2025
    In article <100dbqm$14vfr$1@dont-email.me>,
    Bobbie Sellers <blissInSanFrancisco@mouse-potato.com> wrote:
    Hello again denizens of sf written,

    Black Chamber by S.M.Sterling
    Have you found and followed the Sterling novels about the Black
    Chamber?


    That's Stirling, but interestingly, I have not. I generally enjoy Stirling (though I have skipped the Emberverse stuff), but had not even heard of this. --
    columbiaclosings.com
    What's not in Columbia anymore..

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Bobbie Sellers@21:1/5 to Bobbie Sellers on Wed May 21 10:15:45 2025
    On 5/18/25 12:18, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
    Hello again denizens of sf written,

                        Black Chamber by S.M.Sterling
          Have you found and followed the Sterling novels about the Black Chamber?
          I happen to have been quite lucky in that regard and I found one I did not
      believe I had read but turns out that I had done so but will spend some
      time with it again as the buses to the library do not run frequently
    on the
      weekend and we are having a windstorm this weekend..
        Oh and I am enjoying it  again.
          The background is alternate World War I, Teddy Roosevelt and the Progressive
      Republican Party are running the USA and because of German
    intervention have
      had to conquer Mexico and Canada, annex Greenland and a bit more. Now from
      my 20th & 21st Century sensibility it seems a rather Fascist regime.

          The scientists of Germany have devised what they are calling "Annihilation Gas""
      which has been used to kill the population of London and Paris among other places.
          In the first book of the novel we are  introduced to heroines and
    villains. The
      heroes have a smaller but important part to play but the villains end
    up mutilated
      at best when they tangle with the Black Chamber operative. The Black Chamber
      is a Roosevelt invention and does undercover work where intelligence
    is needed
      and deadly skills are required. So in the course of her duties the BC
    Op. has to
      assault French Intelligence who want to kill the German Scientist she
    is traveling
      with to gain entry to the circles where she will meet the love of her life, an Irish
      maiden and gain valuable intelligence of an attack planned on the
    East Coast
      of the USA using the nasty gas. She meets a young JohnHoover who
    reacts quickly
      with some intelligence to her identity.
               If you want some spoilers and names you can go to the Wikipedia entry:
                       <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Chamber_(novel)>

    bliss would rather have gotten new books to read but I  picked out 3 I
    had read.

    I just finished the last of the novels of the Black Chamber which is set
    in Mexico,
    now an American administered dependency after the USA intervened in a
    Mexican
    Civil War.

    "Shadows of Annihilation" is the title and it stars the female couple again as
    they head off a German motivated attack on the deadly gas plant being
    built there.
    One or more of the villains are terminated and the women go on to plan a
    family
    with the concurrence of TR. I give away no significant parts of the
    story here
    but I seem to remember reading it where the ending included the choice of
    a male who impregnates both of the heroines. Then he is sent away from the abode of bliss.

    Yes Stirling is the author's last name but "S" stands for Sam possibly Samuel.

    bliss

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)