Fascinating thing about science fiction is the opportunity to predict, to extrapolate current tends and events and fabricate a world around those hopes and fears. Someone once said we take shovelfuls of the present and throw it into the gaping blank we call the future. Sometimes it sticks.
IMO, there are very few genuinely prescient writers in the genre; William Gibson being at the top of my list. Steven Pressfield’s latest novel demonstrates his ability to see the future in the past and definitely places him if not among the prophetic then certainly the remarkably insightful.
Human beings being made of the same stuff for centuries, it’s funny how the more things change, the more they stay the same.
The Profession by Steven Pressfield
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Another insightful, well-written, novel by the master of historical fiction, this time addressing an all-too-possible future for America. A disgraced charismatic Marine commander becomes the leader of the largest private military company in the world and through deft maneuvering and military action, secures a majority of the world’s oil supply to facilitate an (almost) bloodless coup and return to his home country poised for the White House.
Mr. Pressfield’s novel aptly illustrates how those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.
Hot Space Station Justice 