V-S Day: A Novel of Alternate History

by Steele, Allen

  I suppose I should have let it go at that, but deep down inside, I considered it to be an unfinished work. In 1995, I published The Tranquillity Alternative, an alternate-history novel that used “Goddard’s People” and its companion story, “John Harper Wilson” (Asimov’s, June 1989, and also Rude Astronauts), as pseudohistorical background. By then I’d realized that the original story was flawed by historical errors: some my fault, others the inevitable result of later research by historians uncovering facts that contradicted what had been accepted truth at the time I wrote the first two versions. However, there wasn’t much I could do about it; “Goddard’s People” had been reprinted several times by then, and in that pre-ebook era, I couldn’t easily revise that which was already in cold print.

  In 1997, though, I got a chance to set things right when an independent filmmaker, John Ellis—with whom I’d previously worked in an effort to turn Orbital Decay into a movie—optioned the film rights to “Goddard’s People.” John was working on the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon at the time, and it was his intent to pitch “Goddard’s People” to them as a made-for-cable movie. I wrote the screenplay adaptation, during which I added, expanded, and revised many scenes. John also brought aboard illustrators and spaceflight historians Scott Lowther and my friend Ron Miller to act as technical advisors and concept artists, and they contributed their knowledge and insights to the multiple drafts the screenplay went through over the next couple of years.

  Unfortunately, HBO took a pass on “Goddard’s People,” and John was unable to find another studio that was interested in the project, so my screenplay went into a file cabinet. In 2005, a young Worcester impresario and Goddard buff, Robert Newton, bought the film rights and wrote a screenplay of his own, with the intent of pitching it to The History Channel, but nothing came of that, either. My involvement in the latter effort was minimal, and after it failed, I became convinced that a movie would never be made of this story.

  A couple of years ago, while fishing through my file cabinet in search of something else, I found the screenplay I’d written a dozen years earlier. Out of curiosity and perhaps nostalgia, I pulled it out and reread it, and realized that my original idea had been the right one: The story really should have been a novel all along.

  That screenplay gave me a rough outline for a much longer story. However, there are several places where the novel departs from the original story and my screenplay (Rob Newton’s script was not used as a source). A close reader may also find a couple of instances where V-S Day is inconsistent with The Tranquillity Alternative or “John Harper Wilson.” This is because I tried to stick as close to historical fact as I could, taking advantage of information I didn’t have in the eighties and nineties, and therefore decided that this was more important than trying to maintain consistency with material I wrote decades ago.

  As before, I had considerable help from my friends. Both Ron Miller and Scott Lowther returned as advisors, letting me bounce ideas off them and also contributing new illustrations of Silbervogel and Lucky Linda. Larry Manofsky, fellow high-school alumnus and former member of NASA’s astronaut training staff, reviewed the original Sanger-Bredt study and gave me a technical analysis that answered many questions I still had. Dr. Christopher Kovacs, MD, came to the rescue when I needed to find a way to kill someone in a training centrifuge. Rob Caswell acted as first reader, often making suggestions that resulted in even more rewrites but also helped the novel become stronger. If there are any mistakes this time around, it’s not because we didn’t try.

  For their encouragement many years ago, I’d like to thank Mike Warshaw, Greg Benford, the late Marty Greenberg, Gardner Dozois, John Ellis, and Rob Newton, all of whom were the original story’s godfathers at one point or another.

  Finally, special thanks to my editor, Ginjer Buchanan, and my agent, Martha Millard, for making it possible for me to take care of unfinished business, and my copy editors, Sara and Bob Schwager. As always, my greatest appreciation goes to my wife, Linda, who served at different times as muse, research assistant, travel agent, and ambulance driver.

  —WHATELY, MASSACHUSETTS

  JUNE 2012–APRIL 2013

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