THE WAR UNDER THE SEA (1892) – Written by Georges Le Faure. This sci-fi work was intended as an escapist societal salve to a French public still smarting from their loss to Germanic forces during the Franco-Prussian War just over two decades earlier.
One of the main characters in The War Under The Sea is Count Andre Petersen, a French military man who saw service in the Franco-Prussian War. The Count was appalled at France’s humiliation and since then has been running a secret intelligence organization to ensure that his homeland will be much better prepared the next time they must face Germans in war. And that’s not the only outrageous science fiction concept put forth in this novel. (I’m kidding.)
Unfortunately for Count Andre the Germans have been outmaneuvering his organization at the arts of spycraft and know the names of every member of his secret organization – even the Danish, Austrian and Alsation operatives. Unless the Count agrees to a political marriage to the daughter of a German Consul followed by the disbanding of his spy network the Germans will kill every one of his agents.
Interestingly enough, despite this threat the Germans are not depicted as being any more bloodthirsty than the alleged “heroes” of this story as we will see. Though the Count and his allies prove equally callous about large-scale killing (and worse) their attitude is romanticized and approved of by the narrative since Andre and the others are fighting France’s traditional Continental foes the Germans. Instead of Film Noir think of this novel’s approach as callous enough to be called World Noir. Or at least Politics Noir.
The Count is rescued from his dilemma by Jacobus Delborg, a Dutch scientist who has created an incredibly advanced submarine and has been running an anti-German spy network of his own. Continue reading
Mixed media artist Natalie Shau should have been featured in one of Balladeer’s Blog’s month-long celebrations of Halloween by now. Unfortunately, I’m late to the game when it comes to Shau’s dark, haunting and disturbing works of art. 
DOWN GOES NUMBER THREE – The BENEDICTINE COLLEGE RAVENS welcomed the number 3 team in the nation – the WILLIAM PENN UNIVERSITY STATESMEN. The Ravens built up a formidable 40-28 lead over the Statesmen by Halftime, then followed through with a 97-91 Upset. Matt Austin led Benedictine College with 27 points. 
OTHER UPSETS IN THE RANKINGS – The VANGUARD UNIVERSITY LIONS traveled to face the 18th ranked HOPE INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY ROYALS and defeated them in a 62-61 Instant Classic ### And the CENTRAL CHRISTIAN COLLEGE OF KANSAS TIGERS notched a 78-75 Upset of the home-standing (19) TEXAS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY RAMS. 
CENTURY CLUB – Teams scoring 100 points or more in Regulation: The UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE & ARTS OF OKLAHOMA DROVERS visited the SOUTHWESTERN CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY EAGLES and knocked them off 102-92 ### And the WAYLAND BAPTIST UNIVERSITY PIONEERS utterly annihilated the visiting BACONE COLLEGE WARRIORS to the tune of 104-47. 
It’s no secret that America’s career politicians are basically career criminals. White-collar criminals, of course, but career criminals all the same. We need Third Parties. 
KILLRAVEN GRAPHIC NOVEL (1983) 
A MODERN DAEDALUS (1887) – By Tom Greer. No, the title’s not referring to James Joyce’s character Stephen Dedalus (sic) but this tale IS about Ireland. The main character is a young man named Jack O’Halloran, a recent college graduate who returns to his native Ireland. 
PEOPLE WHO HATED TRUMP STILL HATE HIM, PEOPLE WHO LIKED HIM STILL LIKE HIM
Balladeer’s Blog is telling you this: From now on, instead of BC and AD, years will be recorded in terms of BCG and ACG, as in Before Cash Grab and After Cash Grab. Well, maybe not. But you will always remember where you were and what the weather was like and what you were wearing when you first heard about Cash Grab: The Graphic Novel by Cecil. 
THE SPIDER OF GUYANA (1860) – Written by the team of Emile Erckmann and Alexandre Chatrian. Balladeer’s Blog’s previous looks at ancient works of science fiction have established how far back the “big bug” trope goes. Creature Feature movies were far from the first appearance of oversized insects and arachnids. And atomic radiation wasn’t needed to justify such outrageous mutations. 
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