Literal Fiction Book Club

This week we’re reading ‘The Road to Kalamata’ by “Mad” Mike Hoare. This is Hoare’s personal account of what it was like as a mercenary for the Katanga secessionists in the early 1960’s. Hoare exposes us to the logistical challenges, camaraderie, mortal ambivalence, and appeal of the mercenary life while dodging Baluba ambushes, escaping arrest by the U.N, and leading men through the Congo bush.

Between events, Hoare gives us some insight into his own thoughts. How he  understands the Katanga secession, the death of Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba, how the U.N peacekeeping forces are deployed and operated, among other musings.

Hoare writes in a muscular style that doesn’t try to do more than it should, and frames his memoir as a story. We are introduced to the men of his unit 4 Commando, their training regiment and mission, their trek from the training base to a strategic location, and their run in with the U.N Peacekeeping mission. While the U.N is trying to arrest 4 Commando two of his men, Simon Donaldson and Ted Mackay, are separated from the group and are lost in Baluba territory. The second half of the memoir is the story of how Hoare and Simon’s wealthy father search for Simon and Ted and eventually discover their death, both that it happened and it’s brutal manner.

This week we’re discussing the second half of Burmese Days by George Orwell.

The Tannerite has been lit and the explosion, rather than revealing the gender of a baby on the way, sends sharpnel of despair into the reader’s eyes.

For the first few chapters, Flory’s star is rising. He has made up with Elizabeth by going hunting with her. On their hunt Flory and Elizabeth encounter a leopard which they successfully slay. Elizabeth is overcome with emotional whimsey and expects Flory to ask for her hand in marriage before the week is up. This is for sensible reasons as well - to preclude a life of absolute poverty and escape the grasp of her lecherous Uncle. Elizabeth’s affection even gives Flory the courage to recommend Dr. Veraswami to the English Club, as a way to protect his friend from the machinations of U Po Kyin.

But wait, the dashing, polo-playing, horse riding Lieutenant Verrall arrives and sweeps Elizabeth off her feet. She discovers Flory’s “beastly” relationship with the Burmese woman Ma Hla May and her affections shift directions. But Verrall’s poise is only matched by his debts, and he leaves Kyauktada without a word to Elizabeth or to his creditors. Like the gentle Burmese breeze, Elizabeth’s attention now shifts back to Flory.

The “crocodile” U Po Kyin executes a dastardly plan and fomented a fake rebellion, with the idea that if U Po Kyin were to stop the rebellion he would gain favor with the English. This faux rebellion morphs into a real one after reprisals and counter-reprisals. Eventually, a mob of Burmese villagers show up at the English Club to take revenge on the scoundrel Ellis, but Flory saves the day by both dispersing the mob and avoiding any unnecessary death. U Po Kyin seems to have been foiled, Elizabeth is smitten with Flory, and all seems right with the world, or Flory’s world at least.

However, the crocodile has another snap left in him. U Po Kyin recruits Flory’s former mistress, Ma Hla May to demand money from Flory at a Sunday church service. Elizabeth in a characteristic fashion, responds with disgust towards Flory and rejects him once again. Flory makes his way home, shoots our most redeemable character, the dog Flo, and does himself in with a bullet to the chest.

The final chapter gives us some insight into life after Flory’s suicide. Verasami is sent out of Kyauktada, Elizabeth marries the outpostt military man McGregor, and U Po Kyin dies soon after.

This week we’re discussing the first half of Burmese Days by George Orwell.

The first half of the novel is an evocative, semi-autobiographical account of the man John Flory, an English timber merchant living in the Burmese imperial district of Kyauktada. Flory is a sensitive and depraved fellow, a person whose life did not play out exactly as he planned. Lacking other prospects, Flory secured a job at the timber company with the help of his parents, and was sent out to Burma in his early twenties. It has been fifteen years since that moment. He has not seen England since.

He is a man with no friends and no prospects for them. The English imperial agents with their racist bravado does not appeal to him, and true friendship with the subjected Burmese is socially impossible. The closest Flory gets is with the striving Indian doctor Veraswami. The doctor is a loyal British subject, advocating for imperial virtues where Flory refuses to. Veraswami is also being targeted by the corrupt deputy U Po Kyin whom Verawswami refers to as the crocodile.  Veraswami appeals to Flory for assistance in fending off U Po Kyin, but Flory’s cowardly behavior stops him from doing so.

The final chapters of this section introduce us to Elizabeth. She is the orphaned daughter of an overly optimistic businessman and a faux artist mother, coming to Kyauktada to live with her aunt and Uncle - Mr and Mrs. Lackersteen, two frequenters to the English Club. Flory falls for her almost immediately and hopes that she will be the friend and companion that he had been hoping for, but Elizabeth is perhaps more imperial than any of the other British subjects in Burma. Flory tries to introduce Elizabeth to different aspects of Burmese life - dances, bazzaars, the natives generally, but all Elizabeth can see is a beastly people below her as contrasted to the beautiful life of luxury she aspires to.

This week we’re reading the last third of The Scorching Wind by Walter Macken.

The final section of the book brings us to the apex of the Irish struggle for independence. Dominic’s character trajectory from vacillating fellow traveler to full blooded Irish Republican is brought to fruition, as is the cementing of Dualta’s and Dominic’s relationship as brothers. The conflict between Irish Republicans and British imperial soldiers heats up to the point where Dominic is constantly on the run - sleeping in the houses of brave Irish citizens, ditches, and eventually finds himself in a tomb with Dualta after Dualta assassinates the Irish traitor Sergeant Nick.

The wiley Sam finds Dominic and Dualta to tell them that the British and Irish authorities have entered negotiations and Dualta heads to be part of the treaty settlement while Dominic goes home to his mother. The Peace Treaty is signed and two factions emerge - on the one hand the radical Republicans who see the peace treaty as a farcical betrayal and those that accept the Peace Treaty as a step towards freedom. Surprisingly Dominc takes up the former, whereas Dualta becomes an agent of the state.

The final tragedy of the book is in it’s description of the war between brothers, both generally within the Irish community and specifically between Dominc and Dualta, as the sparkish Irish Civil War takes form. The final scene is an attack on an Irish army barracks by Dominic and company where Dualta is killed by Dominic.

From the book:

“Walter Macken was born in Galway in 1915. He was a writer of short stories, novels, and plays. Originally an actor, principally with Taibhdhearc in Galway, and the Abbey Theatre, he played lead roles on Broadway in M.J Molloy’s The King of Friday’s Men and his own play Home Is The Hero. He also acted in films, notably in Arthur Dreifuss’ adaption of Brendan Behan’s The Quare Fellow. He is perhaps best known for his trilogy of Irish historical novels. Seek The Fair Land, The Silent People and The Scorching Wind. He passed away in 1967.”

This week we’re reading the second third of The Scorching Wind by Walter Macken.

This section opens up with Dominic on a train, bringing with him weapons and grenades for the Irish Independence movement. While he is on the train, two British soldiers, Skin and Mac, take seats next to him. They chat Dominic up about playing snooker (pool in American), poker, and politics. Dominic escapes without being found out and is picked up by Sam in a buggy which brings them to a “safe” house. In this house is Dominic’s brother Dualta and their mother. Unsurprisingly in this tale of constant action the house is raided by British soldiers, including Skin and Mac, Dominic is beaten half to death while they try to coax out of him Dualta's whereabouts. This is a kind of coming of age moment for Dominic, who is thoroughly converted to the Irish Independence movement.

The rest of the section is a mix of cloak and dagger guerilla warfare, prison escapes, remembrances of the dead, drowning torture scenes, and soliloquies on the meaning of the Irish struggle for freedom. By the end of Chapter 21, Dominic has become a man embroiled in the struggle for Irish Independence, for good or ill.

From the book:

“Walter Macken was born in Galway in 1915. He was a writer of short stories, novels, and plays. Originally an actor, principally with Taibhdhearc in Galway, and the Abbey Theatre, he played lead roles on Broadway in M.J Molloy’s The King of Friday’s Men and his own play Home Is The Hero. He also acted in films, notably in Arthur Dreifuss’ adaption of Brendan Behan’s The Quare Fellow. He is perhaps best known for his trilogy of Irish historical novels. Seek The Fair Land, The Silent People and The Scorching Wind. He passed away in 1967.”

This week we’re reading the first third of The Scorching Wind by Walter Macken.

The Scorching Wind opens from the perspective of Dominic, who is preparing to accompany his older, more handsome brother Dualta to the train that will bring Dualta to the Western Front of World War I. The boys come from a family steeped in the politics of Irish Independence. The Irish Nationalist movement is split at the outbreak of the Great War, on the one side the Redmond volunteers agreeing to fight for the empire in exchange for Home Rule, on the other the hardcore nationalists who wish to prosecute a national independence struggle in Ireland. The family of Dominic and Dualta reflect this split, Dualta is volunteering with Redmond, their father a principled nationalist.

After Dualta is sent off, the book transports us to the future, which culminates in the Easter Rebellion of 1916. The hardcore nationalists, led by the likes of Patrick Pearse and James Connoly, attempt an insurrection against the British state to establish an Irish Republic. Their efforts failed and 16 of the leaders of that rebellion are hanged by the British state.

In the wake of the Easter Rebellion, Dominic’s father is arrested by the British military and dies from a persistent cold exacerbated by prison conditions, Dualta returns from the Western front crippled but still impressive. Dominic remains resistant and intentionally aloof of the bubbling Irish resistance brewing around him, but is inevitably sucked into the schemes of his friends and associates.

The sections leaves off with Dominic on a train, watching as the charismatic Irish section leader Lorry is arrested by the infamous Black and Tans. Dominic wonders of Lorry’s fate and little does he know that Lorry was executed, with two bullets to his head and thrown in a ditch.

This week we’re reading the first half of Kim by Rudyard Kipling

Kim is an odd tale of an Irish orphan from the Indian city of Lahore. He is known to the people of Lahore as “Friend of the World” and Kipling shows us the varied peoples that consider Kim such a friend. The main arc of the story begins when Kim meets a Holy Man from Tibet, known to us as llama. This man is searching for a great River which will wash away his sins and release the llama from the Wheel of Life, coincidentally Kim also has a prophesy to fulfill, he must find a Red Bull in green grass which portends war. Off Kim and the llama go in search of the River over roads and on trains, the llama impressive in his forbearance and wisdom, Kim in his sly trickery. Until Kim comes upon a British regiment which turns out to be the regiment of his now deceased father. Kim is captured by the soldiers and sent to a school far away to be trained as a learned British subject - will Kim escape, does he even want to, and what happens to the llama? We’ll find out next week in this  strange fairy-tale of a story.

Or will we?

This week we’re She by H Rider Haggard

She is the quintessential story of British Adventure during the height of the nation’s imperialist empire. The story is written as a manuscript sent to an academic for later publication, the author another academic Holly. In the manuscript Holly recounts how he became the adopted father to Leo, the descendent of a long line of men whose destiny is to fulfill their vengeance on a sorceress in East Africa. Holly, Leo, and their manservant Job sail to discover more about this sorceress and fulfill the quest left by Leo’s father. They are faced with many trials. After being shipwrecked and forced to travel up a river with the super cool British airtight river boat, they are captured by the Amahagger people, but are informed that “She who must be obeyed” has ordered that any white man captured must remain unharmed (which turned out poorly for their Mohamadin traveling companion, the captain of their shipwrecked transport). It is revealed that Leo is the descendent of Kallikrates, the lover that She had fallen for two millennia ago. Will Holly and Leo escape the grasp of the immortal and captivating She? Read the book and find out!

H Rider Haggard was the author of many light Victorian adventure novels such as She, his most famous being King Solomon’s Mine. After a brief stint as a colonial bureaucrat in South Africa, he returned to England in 1882 and wrote several unsuccessful novels until King Solomon’s Mine, which he wisely took the 10% royalties on rather than the 100 pound upfront payment. He was an advocate for agricultural reform throughout the empire and a hard critic of Bolshevism later in his life, developing a friendship over his opposition to Bolshevism with Rudyard Kipling. He died in 1925.

This week we’re discussing Part 5 from the Rise and Fall of the British Empire by Lawrence James.

Parts 5 bring us from the Second World War to the anti-climactic end of the British Empire. Lawrence gives much focus to how the empire’s colonial subjects responded to the call for support from Britain during its fight against Hitler - whole hearted support with an implicit understanding that independence would soon follow. The Suez Crisis of 1956, in which British and French forces attempted to reclaim the Suez Canal from the Egyptian President Nasser, turned out to be the last hurrah of “great” British imperialism. Slowly and then quickly the British Empire began to dissolve, from Canada to India to South Africa - with the final major decolonisation taking place in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbawbwe) in 1979. Lawrence mulls over the legacy of the British Empire, was it the spread of civilization, the spread of barbarism, or as with most things, a lot a bit of both?

From the back of the book:

“Lawrence James studied history and English at York University and subsequently took a research degree at Merton College, Oxford. Following a career as a teacher, he became a full-time writer in 1985. He is the author of seven critically acclaimed works of nonfiction. He lives in St. Andrews, Scotland, with his wife, who is the headmistress of St. Leonard’s School, and his two sons.”

The Life of Charles Edward Cornwallis the Fifth aka the 1st Marquess Cornwallis aka Viscount Brome aka Earl Cornwallis aka Failure at Yorktown aka George Washington’s bitch.

This week we’re discussing Parts 3 and 4 from the Rise and Fall of the British Empire by Lawrence James.

Parts 3 and 4 take us from the emerging dominance of British imperialism after the defeat of Napoleon in 1815 to its inevitable sunset at the end of World War II. The extent of the British Empire and its importance, for good or ill, is truly felt in James’ account. From the imperial cooperation of the two world wars to the postage stamps decorated with oddities at the far reaches of the Empire, James impresses upon us how the changing attitudes of all people inside the Empire understood the project - as a contradictory patchwork of progress, domination, prestige, and paternalism. Furthermore, James exposes the reader to the British Empire as a political entity, a living organism of indirect and directly ruled states and dominions full of a diverse range of peoples with political aspirations within and outside of the Empire, rather than simply an inflexible iron fist (although there was plenty of that).

From the back of the book:

“Lawrence James studied history and English at York University and subsequently took a research degree at Merton College, Oxford. Following a career as a teacher, he became a full-time writer in 1985. He is the author of seven critically acclaimed works of nonfiction. He lives in St. Andrews, Scotland, with his wife, who is the headmistress of St. Leonard’s School, and his two sons.”

This week we’re discussing Part 1 and 2 from the Rise and Fall of the British Empire by Lawrence James. James takes a sober approach to the early phases of the British Empire, avoiding condemnation or affirmation of the project itself while detailing both the Empire’s triumphs and it’s horrors.

The first two sections lay the groundwork for the rest of this history and treats the British Empire as a heavily coupled phenomena with the international scramble for colonies - first against the Spanish and then against the French. James treats each of the major regions of early British conquest - the Americas, India, and Australia with a light touch and gives us insight into the reasons for British ascendency, it’s naval and financial superiority, as well as how the emerging Empire affected British society - the solidifying of British nationalism, a newfound respect for the soldier profession, and the desire to spread this Empire of Liberty.

From the back of the book:

“Lawrence James studied history and English at York University and subsequently took a research degree at Merton College, Oxford. Following a career as a teacher, he became a full-time writer in 1985. He is the author of seven critically acclaimed works of nonfiction. He lives in St. Andrews, Scotland, with his wife, who is the headmistress of St. Leonard’s School, and his two sons.”

Next week we’ll be reading Part 3 of The Rise and Fall of the British Empire by Lawrence James

This week we’re discussing the second half of Fear and Loathing On The Campaign Trail of ‘72 by Hunter S. Thompson.

The second half brings us from the Demcoratic Party convention in Miami up to the post-mortem on McGovern’s shellacking in the primary against Nixon. There’s a play by play of the battle between the McGovernites and the Anything But McGovern coalition at the convention, insights into the craven and drug fueled world of presidential campaigning, and the steady decline of Thompson’s psyche as the election, and his candidate’s doom, approaches

Hunter S. Thompson was a writer for Rolling Stone and author of many books. He founded the style of journalism known as “Gonzo”, distinguished by its stream of consciousness and immersion in the subject at hand. He was a weird and interesting guy and the only good way to get to know him is through his books.

Next week we begin our British Adventure unit with "The Rise and Fall of the British Empire" by Lawrence James

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This week we’re discussing the first half of Fear and Loathing On The Campaign Trail of ‘72 by every adolescent boy’s favorite author Hunter S. Thompson. Unlike other ephemeral teenage interests, Hunter S. Thompson ages like a block of cheese - it gets stinkier but also objectively better.

We follow the drug-addled, big drinking, screed writing Thompson on his journey ywith the Democratic Primary campaign of 1972 - the year Richard Nixon sought re-election. We are introduced to hacks and idealists, empty suits and serious statesmen, press secretaries and press wizards, hitch-hikers and dope fiends. Thompson’s punchy writing breaths life into what he describes as one of the most boring, mind smoothing gauntlets that one can be subjected to. But have no fear, if you want to know the drug habits of the candidate’s entourage, how Thompson had an informed discussion on football with Nixon, the strategy of the underdog McGovern, or what kind of slime ball Hubert Humphrey is - Thompson’s your guy. Will McGovern win the primary and defeat President Nixon? We all know the answer, but with Hunter as our guide it’s worth it to find out with him.

Hunter S. Thompson was a writer for Rolling Stone and author of many books. He founded the style of journalism known as “Gonzo”, distinguished by its stream of consciousness and immersion in the subject at hand. He was a weird and interesting guy and the only good way to get to know him is through his books.

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This week is our wrap up episode for the Japanese literature unit. We’ve learned to enjoy the three main ingredients of the Japanese Spirit - koku, depravity, and suicide. There have been many memorable characters as well, the goshin in his search for Yam Gruel, the outcast eta Segawa, the hysterical Komako and her emotionally distant lover Shimamura, and of course Noboru and his sadistic friends.

We also had the pleasure of learning of Saigo Takamori’s failed rebellion with Mark Ravina and the forces that shaped the Meiji Restoration with Beasly. All in all, this unit had a breadth and depth that the others lacked - partly due to our more purposeful selection of books and partly due to the unique and rich experience of the land of the rising sun.

Across snowy mountains to see a mountain geisha, to the seaside to kill our step dad, investigating the murder of a nobleman in a grove, it feels like we’ve been everywhere on this strange island.

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This week we’re discussing the second half of The Last Samurai: The Life and Battles of Saigo Takamori by Mark Ravina. This is a biography of Saigo Takamori, who we met briefly in Beasly’s Meiji Restoration. Saigo is a legendary figure in modern Japanese history and was an early proponent of imperial as opposed to shogunate rule in Japan. However, as the Meiji Restoration’s direction pointed towards modernization of Japan rather than preservation of it’s traditions, Saigo became the last rebel of a dying world.

The second half takes us through Saigo’s ascendancy in domestic politics, the establishment of the Meiji government and to his rebellion against and death by the very state he helped to found. Saigo is a contradictory figure of principle and practicality - supporting the needs of a modern state that will maintain virtue and compete with the West while liquidating the traditional hierarchies of Japan. By the time Saigo realized that the needs of modernization won out on the ideals of samurai virtue, it was too late.

Mark Ravina is a professor of history at Emory College who specializes in eighteenth and nineteenth century Japanese history. He has written many articles for various journals as well as another book on modern Japan Land and Lordship in Early Modern Japan. Ravina is currently working on a history of the Meiji Restoration called Japan’s Nineteenth Century Revolution: A Transnational History of the Meiji Restoration.

Next week we're reading the first half of Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail of '72.

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This week we're bringing to you a special bonus episode for Halloween. We're discussing Dunwich Horror by H.P Lovecraft - enjoy!

Next week will be our first of two episodes on Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing on The Campaign Trail of '72

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This week we’re discussing the first half of The Last Samurai: The Life and Battles of Saigo Takamori by Mark Ravina. This is a biography of Saigo Takamori, who we met briefly in Beasly’s Meiji Restoration. Saigo is a legendary figure in modern Japanese history and was an early proponent of imperial as opposed to shogunate rule in Japan. However, as the Meiji Restoration’s direction pointed towards modernization of Japan rather than preservation of it’s traditions, Saigo became the last rebel of a dying world.

The first half takes us through Saigo’s early life, his unlikely rise in Japanese politics, and the ideological developments he undertakes as the battle for the future of Japan unfolds - most notably Mito Learning or the restoration of imperial authority through the Mito dynastic lineage. Saigo is a charming and dynamic character, both in the life events he experienced - from Commadore Perry’s arrival to being exiled multiple times to distant southern islands - and the legends that would eventually be made of his life.

Mark Ravina is a professor of history at Emory College who specializes in eighteenth and nineteenth century Japanese history. He has written many articles for various journals as well as another book on modern Japan Land and Lordship in Early Modern Japan. Ravina is currently working on a history of the Meiji Restoration called Japan’s Nineteenth Century Revolution: A Transnational History of the Meiji Restoration.

Next week we're reading the second half of this book (The Last Samurai by Mark Ravina)

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A special episode where Troy shares his thoughts on the state of the world and recommends his favorite history books. Enjoy!

Next week we're reading the first half of the Last Samurai by Mark Ravina.

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This week we’re reading The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with The Sea by Yukio Mishima (who I’ve mispronounced as Yukia Mishima several times.) The book is about a young child named of Noboru, the son of the middle class mother. Noboru and his friends shun the world of adults as illusory and beneath contempt with only a few “permissible” things such as the sea and ships. Noboru’s mother Fusako falls in love with a sailor named Ryuiji who Noboru initially identifies as a hero. Ryuji rises above the domestication of modernity, only to fall from grace as he leaves the life of a sailor to become a husband and, worst of all, a father. Yukio’s grotesque and engrossing tale of Ubermensch children will leave you queasy and contemplative.

Yukio Mishima is perhaps Japan’s best known novelist. Of samurai lineage, he is known for his extreme, nationalist politics and intense devotion to his art. His works range from poetry to theatre, but he is best known for his magnum opus tetrology the Sea of Fertility. After finishing the last words of the Sea of Fertility, Mishima attempted a coup against the Japanese government to restore the Emperor in which he failed and performed seppuku - ritual Japanese suicide.

Next week we're reading the first half of the The Last Samurai by Mark Ravina.

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This week we’re reading the second half of Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata. Shimamura, Kamako, and to a lesser extent Yoko reveal themselves as people in this second section. The tragic love of Kamako for Shimamura is heightened by Kamako’s erratic and desperate behavior - her frequent drunken visits, her scolding of Shimamura’s broken promises, her oscillation between rejecting Shimamura and seeking his approval. Shimamura remains aloof, but leaks out a degree of emotional vulnerability in his compliments of her and awe struck reaction to the Milky Way at the end of the novel. Yoko remains an angelic and elusive figure, from Shimamura’s first sighting on the train to her final demise by fire - the embodiment of fleeting and decaying youth.

Next week we're reading The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea by Yukio Mishima

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This week we discuss a collection of short stories, Rashōmon and Other Stories by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa. 

Ryunosuke Akutagawa was considered a renegade of his time and had a prolific, if short lived, career as a writer. Born in 1882 and dying by suicide in 1927, he wrote in the Taisho period and rejected the main schools of literary thought of his time. He is considered the “father of the Japanese short story”, having produced 150 in his life. His story In A Grove was directly used for Akira Kirosawa’s film Rashomon.

Next week we're reading the first part of Snow Country by Yasnuari Kawabata.

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This week we discuss Tōson Shimazaki's Broken Commandment. This is the story of Ushimatsu Segawa who is a member of the oppressed minority group the eta. Segawa's father separated his family from the local eta community to give his son a chance to make a life for himself and gave Segawa a commandment to never reveal his ethnic origins.

To live authentically or to live by your father's commandment - that is the question.

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This week we finish our historical account of the Meiji Restoration. How does the newly found Restoration government secure it's legitimacy? How is the feudal hierarchy both preserved and abolished? Could the Restoration movement be considered a revolution? 

Next week we're reading the Broken Commandment by Toson Shimazaki.

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This week we ring in our new unit on Japanese literature with the first half of W.G Beasley's history of the Restoration movement, The Meiji Restoration.  Unlike Western revolutions, the push to modernize Japan came primarily from the large feudal samurai class. The aims of the samurai class while not homogenous in its entirety, primarily focused on the need to compete with the impressive industrial power of the West. Largely, they did not see their project as a progress towards social equality and human freedom, but of placing Japan as one among the great nations.

Was the Restoration movement a revolution? Listen in to find out.

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This week we have a special round up episode on our foreign science fiction unit. Thank you everyone for listening :)

Next week we begin our Japanese Literature unit, beginning with a William Beasly's history of the Meiji Restoration. 

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This week we discuss two more stories from the Soviet science fiction collection Red Star Tales, the Spontaneous Reflex by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky and My Dad's An Antibiotic by Sergei Lukyanenko

Next week we're doing a round up episode on our foreign science fiction unit.

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