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Interviewing the AH Community: Carlos Arturo Serrano
- Thread starter Gary Oswald
- Start date
A very interesting interview of a very interesting author, I hope his novel meets the success it richly deserves. As someone who also writes in English as my second language, I appreciated his answer to the question of writing in English rather than Spanish.
He hasn't mentioned whether he is a member of AH.com, but I hope that place doesn't come across to newcomers as "overwhelmingly dominated by wargaming scenarios". It's true there are a lot of those, but there is a lot more beside for those who, like him, aren't into military history.
He hasn't mentioned whether he is a member of AH.com, but I hope that place doesn't come across to newcomers as "overwhelmingly dominated by wargaming scenarios". It's true there are a lot of those, but there is a lot more beside for those who, like him, aren't into military history.
- Location
- Arlington, Virginia
I'm elated to see Serrano's interview here - as I said in my review of To Climates Unknown, it's the most innovative book in the genre I've read in a very long time.
In my original draft I said (and was edited out by Nick Ottens) that the question is now whether we as a community embrace Mr. Serrano's innovations. If we remain a community 'overwhelmingly dominated by wargaming scenarios,' we'll become stagnant (and some would argue we are already there). I see a bold way forward for the community in Serrano's work, and I think anyone interested in the genre should read it.
In my original draft I said (and was edited out by Nick Ottens) that the question is now whether we as a community embrace Mr. Serrano's innovations. If we remain a community 'overwhelmingly dominated by wargaming scenarios,' we'll become stagnant (and some would argue we are already there). I see a bold way forward for the community in Serrano's work, and I think anyone interested in the genre should read it.
In my original draft I said (and was edited out by Nick Ottens) that the question is now whether we as a community embrace Mr. Serrano's innovations. If we remain a community 'overwhelmingly dominated by wargaming scenarios,' we'll become stagnant (and some would argue we are already there).
As a wargamer, I feel offended...
Just kidding. But I do want to defend the use of it. Ideally, both outright wargaming and related simulations can play a big role in actually helping the creation of giant-change Rice And Salt-style sweeping "AH as a Genre" books. If used properly with a good enough ruleset and/or author's judgement, it can add a touch of science to what's otherwise a total art and aid with making a "it feels right" kind of tone.
But I do see Serrano's point, and seeing the culture of wargame-centric discussion has made me more sympathetic. Even in the context of a rivet-licious Fuldapocalypse that's utterly unlike this book, there's a giant difference between reading the smooth-flowing Team Yankee and Red Army (both of which have very legitimate technical issues), and seeing a dreary discussion on the same topic that consists of "how many B-52s can dance on the head of a pin" arguments around technical minutiae while only citing early 1980s western sources for anything involving the Soviets.
- Location
- Arlington, Virginia
I'll note that I'm not quite the pacifist that Serrano is - I do enjoy violent films and shows and games, but I find them most interesting when they address the fact that war is essentially massive social change (it's why I'm particularly in media about insurgencies and civil unrest), or as an effect of the distribution of power in society. It probably is how I'm Filipino, and we've had to fight multiple awful wars for our freedom.As a wargamer, I feel offended...
Just kidding. But I do want to defend the use of it. Ideally, both outright wargaming and related simulations can play a big role in actually helping the creation of giant-change Rice And Salt-style sweeping "AH as a Genre" books. If used properly with a good enough ruleset and/or author's judgement, it can add a touch of science to what's otherwise a total art and aid with making a "it feels right" kind of tone.
But I do see Serrano's point, and seeing the culture of wargame-centric discussion has made me more sympathetic. Even in the context of a rivet-licious Fuldapocalypse that's utterly unlike this book, there's a giant difference between reading the smooth-flowing Team Yankee and Red Army (both of which have very legitimate technical issues), and seeing a dreary discussion on the same topic that consists of "how many B-52s can dance on the head of a pin" arguments around technical minutiae while only citing early 1980s western sources for anything involving the Soviets.
But war, necessary it may be, is always an evil, and it always does horrible things to people. Too much abstraction makes it far too easy to forget that (queue the quote allegedly from Stalin about a million deaths being a statistic). Essentially it's @SenatorChickpea's 'peasants not kings' again.
Essentially, it's a problem of authorial intent (see the discussion of Tarrantry in the general AH discussion thread recently), like so:
One of the worst parts of AH is when people with tiny imaginations create radically different worlds. Sounds like Tarranty was that sort of thing.
We, as a genre, need to be more imaginative, so that we see the meaning of what we speculate about.
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