Dissecting Harry Turtledove's Powerless
with James Corbett on The Corbett Report
Blazing Reader,
In my last appearance on The Corbett Report, James Corbett revealed that he disliked one of my favourite novels, Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead. Considering that, I was a little nervous when he decided to run with my suggestion to discuss another novel I enjoyed immensely — Powerless by Harry Turtledove — for this month's episode of his Film, Literature and the New World Order podcast.
On Monday, I joined him for the livestream "book club" meeting with his members to discuss Turtledove's alternative history about a produce manager living in a Soviet-ruled California (not a far-fetched setting).
So did James like Powerless more than The Fountainhead?
Find out for yourself. The recording of the event is now available:
Here's some of what we talked about:
- How the novel shows us the power of gumming up the system in little ways (without getting martyred).
- Whether the "saviour politician" in the story was pro-freedom, pro-communist or just a naive politician with a warm heart.
- Did the protagonist, Charlie Simpkins, end up better off by the final chapter or did all his freedom-fighting only make life more miserable?
- How does the oppressive government and resistance movement in the story compare to those harrowing years of COVID mandates?
- Did the novel hinge too much on passive political hopium rather than grassroots resistance?
- What James, the members and I didn't like about the story and how we would have written it differently.
You can watch or listen to the episode on The Corbett Report website, YouTube (where it's already surpassed 8,400 views and 700 thumbs up), Rumble or Bitchute.
—John C.A. Manley
P.S. One attendee commented: "I was thrilled and excited for this very rare live chat with Corbett and guest John C.A. Manley. The schedule was a little tricky, [I] thought it ended too early, and loved the discussion."
John C. A. Manley is the author of Much Ado About Corona, All The Humans Are Sleeping and other works of philosophical fiction that are "so completely engaging that you find yourself alternately laughing, gasping, hanging on for dear life." Get free samples of his stories by becoming a Blazing Pine Cone email subscriber.
