Warlord of the Air

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The Warlord of the Air
cover of the first edition
Author	Michael Moorcock
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	Oswald Bastable
Genre(s)	Science Fiction, Alternate History, Steampunk
Publisher	Ace Books
Publication date	1971
Media type	Print (Paperback)
Pages	187 pp
ISBN	NA
Followed by	The Land Leviathan

The Warlord of the Air is a 1971 British alternate history science fiction novel written by Michael Moorcock. It concerns the adventures of Oswald Bastable, an Edwardian-era soldier stationed in India, and his adventures in an alternate universe wherein the First World War never happened. It is part of Moorcock's 'A Nomad of the Time Streams' trilogy and, in both its use of technology extrapolated from the Edwardian era (such as airships) and a cod-Victorian / Edwardian era writing style, is generally considered a precursor to steampunk fiction.^{[citation needed]} The novel was first published by Ace Books as part of their Ace Science Fiction Specials series.

1 Plot summary
2 Series connections
3 Famous personages
4 The British Empire and dirigibles
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Plot summary

The novel is transcribed by 'Michael Moorcock' (purportedly the (true) author's grandfather) in 1903. Holidaying at the remote Rowe Island, he befriends Oswald Bastable, an ex-soldier stowaway who seems confused and disoriented beyond what could explained by his opium addiction, and who is tormented by great guilt from an action he performed in his past. Bastable agrees to tell Moorcock the story, and begins his narrative with his experiences in North East India in 1902, sent as part of a British expedition to deal with Sharan Kang, an Indian high priest at the temple of Teku Benga, a mysterious and seemingly supernaturally powerful region. After a confrontation with Kang and his men, Bastable finds himself lost and alone in the caves around the 'Temple of the Future Buddha', where he is assaulted by a mysterious force and knocked into unconsciousness.

When he awakes, and manages to escape the caves, the Temple is in ruins, as if a great amount of time has passed; and he is soon found and picked up by a massive airship, where he learns that it is in fact the year 1973. He is not in his own future, but that of an alternate universe. The First World War never happened. The colonial powers continue to assert dominance over their empires--for example, India remains a British territory, though Winston Churchill had still been viceroy there.

At first, Bastable marvels at the wonders that await him in his 'future' — London is a clean and peaceful city, and the world seems to be a utopia, held in balance by the great empires. Gaining employment amongst the great airship armadas, however, he soon comes into contact with a troop of anarchists — among them a mysterious woman named Una Persson, and an ancient Russian revolutionary named Ulianov. He initially maintains a patriotic resistance to their activities, but gradually discovers the truth: life is peaceful for the dominant empires but their utopia is based on decades of unimpeded and unopposed colonial oppression, brutality and domination. As the First World War never happened to bankrupt the colonial empires and begin the gradual liberalisation and freedom of the colonies, imperialism remains unchecked and the world is greatly unfair and unjust. Great Britain, France, the Tsarist Russian Empire, the German Empire, Japan, the Italian Empire and the United States ruthlessly dominate this world and suppress anti-imperialist and anti-colonialist dissent.

Bastable, a fair and honorable man, is outraged by the cruelty, injustice and horror revealed to him, and begins to fight for the oppressed peoples of the world (opposing, amongst others, his former friend in the airship service, Major Enoch Powell). However, tragically, his mission to generate war and hostility between the empires (thus breaking them down) is all too successful, resulting in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima at the hands of the anarchists.

Wracked with guilt over his part in the destruction of countless millions of innocent lives, and dreading the 'future' of science and imperialism gone mad, Bastable makes his way to the caves of Teku Benga and returns to 1903, but not his own time. His experiences have altered him too much to settle into life in this new alternate universe; both his experiences and this sense of dislocation have driven him to opium. The novel ends with Bastable disappearing mysteriously, much to the 1903 Moorcock's amazement; and a postscript from the author (Moorcock himself), establishing his grandfather's death on the Western Front in 1916; Bastable had found himself in our universe.

[edit] Series connections

This book is followed by The Land Leviathan and The Steel Tsar.
As with many of Moorcock's other books, this book is connected to his larger 'Eternal Champion' multiverse series; as such, many frequently recurring characters / character names (including Una Persson, Major Nye and, in later editions, Count von Bek) appear in the novel.^{[citation needed]}
Oswald Bastable is a character created by author E. Nesbit for her book The Story of the Treasure Seekers.

[edit] Famous personages

As with most alternate history novels, a variety of famous figures are mentioned and rasied as being part of the fabric of the alternative society. These include:

Winston Churchill as a former Viceroy of India;
Enoch Powell as an airship major;
Mick Jagger is a junior army officer
Lenin as an aged revolutionary, the Russian Revolution having never happened;
A Californian boy scout troop leader named Reagan (who claims to have powerful connections) appears; this would seem to be a reference then-Californian Governor Ronald Reagan.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] The British Empire and dirigibles

The assumption that survival of the British Empire as a political entity would entail survival of the dirigible as the main or only way of traveling by air is shared by various other alternate British Empires (otherwise considerably different from each other) such as depicted in Great Work of Time by John Crowley, The Two Georges by Harry Turtledove and Richard Dreyfuss, The Peshawar Lancers by S.M. Stirling, and At the Narrow Passage by Richard C. Meredith.