I know this book is ancient, but I had never read it before and wanted to get some discussion. I read some Twain in high school, but like most students I don't think I was old enough to really appreciate the wit that he displays in his stories. Lately, I have been getting into Project Gutenberg and just happened upon this novel the other day. On a whim, I started it and was immediately sucked in. There were a lot of funny moments in the book, but what I enjoyed most was the dialogue between "The Boss" and the 6th century characters, especially his sidekick Clarence. A seemingly mundane conversation often made me chuckle aloud due to the way the characters interacted with each other. One of my favorite quips was when The Boss speaks to a page before he realizes he is in the 6th century:
>This was an airy slim boy in shrimp-colored tights that made him look like a forked carrot, the rest of his gear was blue silk and dainty laces and ruffles; and he had long yellow curls, and wore a plumed pink satin cap tilted complacently over his ear. By his look, he was good-natured; by his gait, he was satisfied with himself. He was pretty enough to frame. He arrived, looked me over with a smiling and impudent curiosity; said he had come for me, and informed me that he was a page. “Go ’long,” I said; “you ain’t more than a paragraph.”
I also liked The Boss's "soap missionary" knights, who rode around the kingdom with cheesy old-timey advertising slogans on their armor, selling soap, hats, "prophylactic toothbrushes", and other household items. Whenever one of the missionary knights popped up I was just dying to know what their slogan said lol.
Everyone has heard of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer. I think this book is sort of slept on compared to Twain's other works. It does begin to drag in the middle, when I think Twain's political philosophies begin to overtake the story. Also, I found the ending really depressing, and a bit dark and over the top. Spoiler alert: The Boss builds a gatling gun and modern military equipment, and kills 40,000 knights with like 50 men. Despite this, I thought the book was a great read and really funny at times. What do those of you that have read it think about it?
Backstory time.
So there was a fantasy world (in the vein of conan the barbarian). Deadly, dangerous, and all that. There was a civilization of lizard-men near the equator, and a race of elves in the more temperate regions (on one continent). And then a meteorite hit, smashing the place of the elves to bits. The elves were forced way underground, and the lizard-men reduced to ruins, because of the sudden drop in temperature and the massive ecological damage.
Human populations were reduced to the thousands, and were turned to hunter-gatherers. They didn't even have stone tools and fire, and were on the verge of extinction between disease, low numbers, starvation, deadly megafauna, the marauding remnants of the previous 2 master races, and other unfortunate shit that happens to you when you're at the bottom of the food chain. They were doomed.
It was a shitty time. Then something happened. Someone came, and saved them. He was the first one amongst them to introduce magic. He invented agriculture. He invented medicine. He used magic to create genetically engineered creatures to produce clothes, medicine, food, and other things. He invented pottery, metal, writing, tea, schools, coffee, and everything else that was the bare basics of civilisation. He wrote the book on warfare, and led them to victory against monsters. Think about every single figure, ranging form Shennong, to Hammurabi, to Isis, to Thoth. He's all of them combined.
He was the one that wiped out the warrens of the earth-spiders, marching into their lairs with his armies, burning them out with primitive flamethrowers and nightvision goggles, protecting themselves with steel armour and combat drugs. He was the one who toppled the remaining citadels of the reptile-men, destroying them with plastic explosive and rocket-propelled grenades from steam-powered tanks. He was the one who detonated explosives, flooding their underground caverns with magma. And he was the one who wiped out the demonic race, using flashbangs and silvered bullets to cut them down.
He was the one who first wrote down laws onto stone tablets, who set up the first court system. He was the one who wrote in the precepts of equality, enshrining an ideal that would never be met, only sought after. He made the first welfare system, the first hospital, the first universities and schools, and whatnot.
Think about every single innovation that would require a pre-stone age tribe to go to making cities, creating trains and wo
... keep reading on reddit ➡Basically, a comedic retelling of the Mark Twain story, but in this case, the Yankee barely knows how to boil water. Rather than becoming the Boss, he becomes the village idiot. While Twain was mocking notions and legends of chivalry, this will mock our modern "connected" culture. But, y'know, with gags.
Just started listening and it's perfect. Offerman's wry, sardonic and somewhat flat delivery matches the sarcasm of the narrator better than anyone I can imagine.
I missed this when it came out in September last year but it popped up in the Audible recommendations, I listened to maybe 30 seconds of the sample and bought it on the spot. My commute for the next week or two just got a lot better.
Kindle Version = $1 Audible whispersync add-on = $2
I'm not sure if I have all the terminology correct as I'm sort of new but the audible add on to the 99 cent kindle is an amazing deal.
Nick Offerman was born to narrate Twain. I really enjoyed his take on Tom Sawyer and Connecticut Yankee is great so far too.
Highly recommended!
I need a thumbs up/down guys
Im going to start LMoP, and since I'm starting the game with half the party (3 of 6) I was toying with the idea of having those three teleported from "this world" to theirs, then meeting the others who would be natives of Greyhawk. Wacky hijinks ensue.
Has anyone tried this before? Not sure if this is a good idea or if it's asking too much of my players.
I was wondering if there are more modern versions of this type of story where a modern person gets transported back in time and they pass off their modern knowledge/technology as magic.
It has time travel, knights, adventure, con artists masquerading as wizards, and a glorious battle for the finale. Also it's by Mark Twain. I think a lot of r/Fantasy would really enjoy it because it's a fantasy novel without any actual fantasy (aside from the time travel).
On observing how quickly serfs came to the defense of an oppressive lord:
> It reminded me of a time thirteen centuries away, when the “poor whites” of our South who were always despised and frequently insulted by the slave-lords around them, and who owed their base condition simply to the presence of slavery in their midst, were yet pusillanimously ready to side with the slave-lords in all political moves for the upholding and perpetuating of slavery, and did also finally shoulder their muskets and pour out their lives in an effort to prevent the destruction of that very institution which degraded them.
History repeats itself again and again and again...
Edit: The rest of the paragraph is more optimistic:
> And there was only one redeeming feature connected with that pitiful piece of history; and that was, that secretly the “poor white” did detest the slave-lord, and did feel his own shame. That feeling was not brought to the surface, but the fact that it was there and could have been brought out, under favoring circumstances, was something—in fact, it was enough; for it showed that a man is at bottom a man, after all, even if it doesn’t show on the outside.
Election 2018 anybody?
Preface
It’s a pretty common trope, person from the present ends up in the past and fixes everything wrong with that time period, with proper application of common sense, advanced, knowledge, and the like.
In A Connecticut Yankee in King Author’s Court, the main character becomes a knight and revolutionizes England, attacking the credibility of the Church, the standard norms of the state, and the credulity of the populace, offering a better world to a benighted and overly knighted dystpoia.
In No Game No Life, the main characters appear in a feudal human society and transform it into a superpower, both with greater understanding of games and with offhand comments like “start crop rotation.”
In the Conrad Stargard series, the MC is a Polish chemist who is teleported into the past and turns 14th century Poland into a superpower with technology from the mid 20th century, preventing the Mongols from sacking Europe and establishing a hyper advanced utopian society.
All these have similar basic implications, it would be possible, if not downright easy, to fix all the problems of the past if the right person with the right knowledge was in charge.
Similar to the White Man’s Burden trope, where the enlightened can and are morally obligated help the primitive savages, time travel rulers tend to overlook the major problems with actually stepping into another society and attempting to “fix” it.
As well as how difficult it is for the “right person” to be in charge.
Aside from at least two centuries of evidence against that mindset, the underlying basis of the trope is completely unreasonable; the idea that, without an overwhelming military, you could force a society to adapt to your ideas.
Being absolutely generous, so
- the MC speaks the same language
- their clothing doesn’t get them killed on sight (not wearing socially appropriate clothing was illegal in some feudal societies, as they could be trying to impersonate someone of a higher rank)
- the society isn’t xenophobic and kills outsiders (there are examples of travelers with beards being killed on suspicion of being werewolves)
- and half a dozen other possibilities that would prevent someone from even making it far enough to talk to a member of that society
the system is still absurdly biased against anything approaching merit based advancement.
There’s a reason why many last names in English are professions.
Because you inherited your father
Title says it all. The combination of satire, social commentary and play on a familiar legend, all in the hands of a master, is what I'm looking for.
This is my first time on your sub -- it is terrific. Keep up the good work.
As a reference to the Mark Twain novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, I am suggesting an idea for an event that can occur for Canada if they puppet New England.
From our new allies in New England comes many strong men; they pride themselves on their patriotic spirit and ingenuity. In particular, their skill as sailors. The Coast Guard Academy lies on the shores of Connecticut, and it would be of great benefit to have the same rigor imposed into the training of our own sailors. We have invited them as advisors to our naval department, and they have graciously accepted.
To New England and Canada! Gain + 20 naval experience
Akra had been fortunate. His parents had been well off Siangi farmers, owning the largest herd of cattle for miles around. He had also been fortunate in that he had been born with an inquisitive mind, he had always wondered about the world, and as a child was fascinated with stories of the Peresi to the east. He had always wondered what they lived like and how they survived without the sustaining waters of the Choeuen river.
It was his 18th winter when he decided to learn more. He had just had the best harvest of his life, his herds multiplied greatly. Deciding to sell a large amount of his herds, he travelled east to the Peresi.
He travelled for weeks, eventually arriving in what he guessed to be a Peresi settlement.
