As many of you know, the recent re-make of ‘Red Dawn’ was tweaked ‘slightly’ in post-production. The original bad guys were changed from Chinese to North Korean. Nevermind that those two countries have a vastly different level of military capability. The change was, ostensibly, to make the movie more marketable in the lucrative Chinese market. The more likely reason is that when the original outfit that made this movie went under, it was bailed out by another outfit that had some close financial ties to the Chinese. In short, they didn’t wanna offend the new owners.
Anyway……
I was reminded of a book with a very similar premise – ‘Invasion
Like a lot of books I found fun to read, this one is outta print but used copies abound. If you want something to read to warmup to the new Red Dawn remake, this would be an excellent choice.
Why can’t they just port these “outta print” books over to the kindle??? It’s not rocket science, and it’s not expensive. Very cheap. Maybe a few hundred bucks, if that.
I enjoyed that book when I read it way back when. I thought his previous book Arc Light was better (more of your standard US v. USSR [or maybe even then it was Russia] WWIII kind of thing.) What has always been dissapointing to me is that he leaves Invasion open for a sequel and there has never been anything. Is the guy still alive?
And speaking of writers passing before the completion of a series…have you had a chance to check out the Morning Star Strain series by Z.A. Recht? For me, that is post apocalyptic zombie action at its best.
I’ve been reading through “Tomorrow, When the War Began” as well. It’s young adult fiction about a group of high school Aussies who go camping and come back to find that a foreign country has invaded. Not bad.
A book with a similar premise is “Arlsan” by M.J. Engh. Basically the US is invaded by a third-rate power, and the invaders’ HQ ends up being a small town in the Midwest. Very disturbing book but, IMHO, excellent. More political than sci-fi, and much more about the emotional tolls and anguish of suffering the indignity of an invasion by a downright evil and nasty bastard than a “how to survive after something bad happens” book. Or maybe it actually *is* a “how to survive after something awful happens” book but just not in the way you find in most books of the conventional post-apocalyptic genre.
Also out of print, but used copies are around and on Amazon. Warning: I first read it while in middle school and it was WAY out of my age group. If the nuns had known what I was reading I would have been pummeled mercilessly.
Damn, screwed that up. Should be “Arslan”, not “Arlsan”. Also, Orson Scott Card gave the book glowing praise, if that means anything to anyone.