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{{Short description|Short story collection}}
{{about||the song by KMFDM|Boots (EP)|the song by the Beatles|Back In the U.S.S.R.}}
{{about||the song by KMFDM|Boots (EP)|the song by the Beatles|Back In the U.S.S.R.}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox book
{{Infobox book
| name = Back in the USSA
| name = Back in the USSA
| image = BackInUSSA.jpg
| image = BackInUSSA.jpg
| image_size = 200px
| image_size = 200px
| caption =
| caption = Book cover
| author = [[Eugene Byrne]] &<br />[[Kim Newman]]
| author = [[Eugene Byrne]] &<br />[[Kim Newman]]
| illustrator =
| illustrator =
| cover_artist = Arnie Fenner
| cover_artist = Arnie Fenner
| country = United Kingdom
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| language = English
| subject =
| subject =
| genre = [[Alternate history]]
| genre = [[Alternate history]]
| publisher = [[Mark V. Ziesing]]
| publisher = [[Mark V. Ziesing]]
| release_date = September 1997
| release_date = September 1997
| english_release_date =
| english_release_date =
| media_type = hardcover
| media_type = Hardcover
| pages = 356
| pages = 356
| isbn = 0-929480-84-8
| isbn = 0-929480-84-8
}}
}}
'''''Back in the USSA''''' is a 1997 collection of seven short stories by English writers [[Eugene Byrne]] and [[Kim Newman]], which was published by Mark V. Ziesing Books. The title is a reference to the song "[[Back in the U.S.S.R.]]" by [[The Beatles]]. The stories are linked through their setting, an [[alternate history]] of the twentieth century in which the United States experienced a [[Second American Revolution|communist revolution]] in 1917 and became a communist [[superpower]], whereas [[Russian Empire|Russia]] did not. Six of the stories first appeared in ''[[Interzone (magazine)|Interzone]]'' magazine, and the concluding story in the sequence, "On the Road", was written especially for the collection.
'''''Back in the USSA''''' is a 1997 collection of seven short stories by English writers [[Eugene Byrne]] and [[Kim Newman]], which was published by Mark V. Ziesing Books.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.uchronia.net/label/newmbackin.html|title=Uchronia: Back in the USSA|website=www.uchronia.net}}</ref>
The title is a reference to the song "[[Back in the U.S.S.R.]]" by [[The Beatles]]. The stories are linked through their setting, an [[alternate history]] of the twentieth century in which the United States experienced a communist Second Revolution in 1917 and became a communist [[superpower]], whereas [[Russian Empire|Russia]] did not. Six of the stories first appeared in ''[[Interzone (magazine)|Interzone]]'' magazine, and the concluding story in the sequence, "On the Road", was written especially for the collection.


==Background==
==Background==
⚫
[[Theodore Roosevelt]] is re-elected [[President of the United States]] as the [[Bull Moose Party|Progressive Party]] candidate [[1912 United States presidential election|in 1912]]. On December 19, 1912, prior to assuming office, Roosevelt is assassinated by [[Annie Oakley]] while personally breaking a [[labor strike]] at the [[Chicago Union Stockyards]] with the help of the [[Rough Riders]]. Vice president-elect [[Charles Foster Kane]] takes power, and gradually leads the United States into greater levels of oppression, [[class division]] and bureaucratic incompetence and corruption &ndash; including an earlier entry into [[World War I]] in 1914 and the assassination of his rival candidate, [[Woodrow Wilson]], during [[1916 United States presidential election|the 1916 election campaign]].


⚫
By 1917, the United States is unstable politically and socially, with overwhelming [[civil unrest]] stemming from the massive (and seemingly pointless) loss of American lives in the mud of the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] and the increasing gap between the wealthy '[[robber baron (industrialist)|robber baron]]s' and the poor [[working class in the United States|working class]], and the massive corruption and exploitation this has resulted in. The [[Socialist Party of America]], led by [[Eugene V. Debs]], gains increasing support, and soon the unrest has led to a Second American Revolution and Second American Civil War, following which Kane is ousted from the [[White House]], overthrown, and executed for treason. Afterwards, a new socialist order, led by Debs, takes over. The United States of America becomes the United Socialist States of America.
⚫
The stories imagine [[Alexander II of Russia]] was not [[Assassination of Alexander II of Russia|assassinated]] in 1881 as in the current timeline. Instead, [[Theodore Roosevelt]] was [[1912 United States presidential election|reelected President]] of the United States as the [[Progressive Party (United States, 1912)|Progressive Party]] candidate in 1912, only to be assassinated on December 19, 1912 at the Chicago [[Union Stockyards]] by the sharpshooter and exhibition shooter [[Annie Oakley]], before he took office, when personally breaking a [[Strike action|labor strike]] with the help of the [[Rough Riders]]. Following this, his vice president, [[Charles Foster Kane]] takes power, and gradually leads the United States into greater levels of oppression, [[class division]] and bureaucratic incompetence and corruption &ndash; including an earlier entry into [[World War I]] in 1914 and the assassination of his rival candidate, [[Woodrow Wilson]], during the [[1916 United States presidential election|1916 election campaign]].


⚫
The early idealism of this change is misplaced, however; upon Debs' death in 1926, power is seized by [[Al Capone]] (an obvious parallel to [[Joseph Stalin]], just as Debs is used to mirror the achievements of [[Vladimir Lenin]]), who proceeds to rule over the USSA with a brutal, repressive fist of iron, establishing a [[cult of personality]] around himself, exiling and executing his political rivals and ruling the country more brutally and ruthlessly (and incompetently) than any of the robber barons who were previously deposed. Gradually, following [[World War II]], the [[Cold War]] between the USSA, the United Kingdom and a [[Constitutional Monarchy|semi-constitutional monarchist]] [[Russian Empire]], and the [[Vietnam War|war in Indo-China]], the USSA begins to [[Era of Stagnation|stagnate]] economically and socially, before finally collapsing into separate, bickering nations by 1991, leading to an uncertain future for both the former USSA and the rest of the world.
⚫
Gradually, by 1917 the United States is unstable politically and socially, with overwhelming civil unrest stemming from the massive (and seemingly pointless) loss of American lives in the mud of the [[Western Front (World War 1)|Western Front]] and the increasing gap between the wealthy '[[Robber baron (industrialist)|robber baron]]s' and the poor workers, and the massive corruption and exploitation this has resulted in. The [[Socialist Party of America]] led by [[Eugene V. Debs]] gains increasing support, and soon the unrest has led to a [[Second American Revolution]] and [[Second American Civil War]], following which Kane is ousted from the [[White House]], overthrown, and executed for treason. Afterwards, a new socialist order, led by Debs, takes over. The United States of America becomes the United Socialist States of America.

⚫
The early idealism of this change is misplaced, however; upon Debs' death in 1926, power is seized by [[Al Capone]] (an obvious parallel to [[Joseph Stalin]], just as Debs is used to mirror the achievements of [[Vladimir Lenin]]), who proceeds to rule over the USSA with a brutal, repressive fist of iron, establishing a [[cult of personality]] around himself, exiling and executing his political rivals and ruling the country more brutally and ruthlessly (and incompetently) than any of the robber barons who were previously deposed. Gradually, following [[World War II]], the [[Cold War]] between the USSA, the United Kingdom and a [[Constitutional Monarchy|semi-constitutional monarchist]] [[Russian Empire]], and the war in [[Indo-China]] (a [[Vietnam War]]-like affair in which armies from Russia and Great Britain attempted to support a somewhat democratic regime under attack from USSA-backed Communist guerillas), the USSA begins to [[Era of Stagnation|stagnate]] economically and socially, before finally collapsing into separate, bickering nations by 1991, leading to an uncertain future for both the former USSA and the rest of the world.


==Stories==
==Stories==
*'''In the Air''': 1989. As First Secretary [[Kurt Vonnegut]] introduces policies of '[[glasnost|Straight Talking]]' and '[[perestroika|Getting It Together]]' into the stagnating United Socialist States. Lowe, a British journalist, arrives in [[Chicago]] to meet and interview one of the cultural figureheads of the thawing of repression — [[Buddy Holly|Charles Hardin Holley]], an underground musician achieving greater popularity in the seemingly more open and relaxed atmosphere of the previously repressive country. Giving their Party Handler (a functionary called [[Hunter S. Thompson|Hunt Thompson]]) the slip, Holley takes Lowe to a [[speakeasy]], where he relates the story of his own political awakening, involving his small-town childhood in the Socialist United States in the 1950s, a chance meeting with two idealistic drifters named [[Howard Hughes]] and [[Jack Kerouac]] coinciding with the propaganda visit of a troupe of 'war heroes' (including [[Joseph McCarthy]], [[Charles Lindbergh]], [[John Wayne|Mitch "Duke" Morrison]], [[L. Ron Hubbard|Lafayette Hubbard]], and [[Curtis LeMay]]), and a girl named [[Peggy Sue (song)|Peggy Sue]].
*'''In the Air''': 1989. As First Secretary [[Kurt Vonnegut]] introduces policies of '[[glasnost|Straight Talking]]' and '[[perestroika|Getting It Together]]' into the stagnating United Socialist States. Lowe, a British journalist, arrives in [[Chicago]] to meet and interview one of the cultural figureheads of the thawing of repression — [[Buddy Holly|Charles Hardin Holley]], an underground musician achieving greater popularity in the seemingly more open and relaxed atmosphere of the previously repressive country. Giving their Party Handler (a functionary called [[Hunter S. Thompson|Hunt Thompson]]) the slip, Holley takes Lowe to a [[speakeasy]], where he relates the story of his own political awakening, involving his small-town childhood in the Socialist United States in the 1950s, a chance meeting with two idealistic drifters named [[Howard Hughes]] and [[Jack Kerouac]] coinciding with the propaganda visit of a troupe of 'war heroes' (including [[Joseph McCarthy]], [[Charles Lindbergh]], [[John Wayne|Mitch "Duke" Morrison]], [[L. Ron Hubbard|Lafayette Hubbard]], and General [[Curtis LeMay]]) and a girl named [[Peggy Sue (song)|Peggy Sue]].
*'''Ten Days That Shook The World''': 1912–1917. A collection of ten vignettes outlining the foundation of the United Socialist States of America, from the assassination of [[Theodore Roosevelt]] and the inauguration of Charles Foster Kane in 1912, through the sinking of the ''[[RMS Titanic|Titanic]]'' and the United States entry into [[World War I]] in 1914, and the increasing corruption, class-divisions and injustice that saw the [[Second American Revolution]] occur in 1917.
*'''Ten Days That Shook The World''': 1912–1917. A collection of ten vignettes outlining the foundation of the United Socialist States of America, from the assassination of [[Theodore Roosevelt]] in 1912 and the inauguration of Charles Foster Kane in 1913, through the sinking of the ''[[RMS Titanic|Titanic]]'' and the American entry into [[World War I]] in 1914, and the increasing corruption, class-divisions and injustice that saw the Second American Revolution occur in 1917.
*'''Tom Joad''': 1937. [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|Federal Bureau of Ideology]] agents [[Eliot Ness]] and [[Melvin Purvis]] travel to a shanty-town in [[Nevada]], chasing rumours that legendary underground labour activist [[Tom Joad]] has been seen. Whilst there, they must contend with a counter-revolutionary conspiracy, the people's unshakeable belief in their hero, and [[Frank Nitti]], Secretary [[Al Capone]]'s personal enforcer, present to ensure that Joad is caught by any means necessary.
*'''Tom Joad''': 1937. [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|Federal Bureau of Ideology]] agents [[Eliot Ness]] and [[Melvin Purvis]] travel to a shanty-town in [[Nevada]], chasing rumours that legendary underground labour activist [[Tom Joad]] has been seen. Whilst there, they must contend with a [[counter-revolutionary]] conspiracy, the people's unshakeable belief in their hero, and [[Frank Nitti]], Secretary [[Al Capone]]'s personal enforcer, present to ensure that Joad is caught by any means necessary.
*'''Teddy Bears' Picnic''': 1965–1969. [[The Likely Lads|Bob and Terry]], two working-class boys from [[Newcastle upon Tyne|Newcastle]] and lifelong best friends, enlist in the [[British Army]] to go and fight the war against [[communism]] in [[Indo-China]]. Following a brutal training regiment, the two are thrust into the [[Vietnam War|brutal war]] in South-East Asia, where they are captured and imprisoned by [[Viet Cong]] guerrillas. Upon their escape, Bob returns to Britain and writes a book chronicling his experiences, which later is turned into a movie — and during the making of the movie, he is forced to confront his new lifestyle and the hidden secrets from his terrible experiences that saw Terry shamed and dishonoured.
*'''Teddy Bears' Picnic''': 1965–1969. [[The Likely Lads|Bob and Terry]], two working-class boys from [[Newcastle upon Tyne|Newcastle]] and lifelong best friends, enlist in the [[British Army]] to go and fight the war against communism in [[Indo-China]]. Following a brutal training regiment, the two are thrust into the [[Vietnam War|brutal war]] in South-East Asia, where they are captured and imprisoned by [[Viet Cong]] guerrillas. Upon their escape, Bob returns to Britain and writes a book chronicling his experiences, which later is turned into a movie — and during the making of the movie, he is forced to confront his new lifestyle and the hidden secrets from his terrible experiences that saw Terry shamed and dishonoured.
*'''Citizen Ed''': 1945–1984. The story of [[Ed Gein]] — Socialist Hero, local luminary, and horrific serial murderer. For over forty years, Gein and the sheriff of his local town — more than aware of Gein's monstrous perversions and murders — do battle, but the sheriff's attempts to stop Gein's evil are hampered by Party corruption and incompetence and the belief that in a perfect socialist state, a serial killer is an impossibility (this treatment was based upon the actual case of the Ukrainian serial killer [[Andrei Chikatilo]], who was convicted of killing 53 women and children, and the efforts of Soviet detectives in the real-world to capture him).
*'''Citizen Ed''': 1945–1984. The story of [[Ed Gein]] — Socialist Hero, local luminary, and horrific serial murderer. For over forty years, Gein and the sheriff of his local town — more than aware of Gein's monstrous perversions and murders — do battle, but the sheriff's attempts to stop Gein's evil are hampered by Party corruption and incompetence and the belief that in a perfect socialist state, a serial killer is an impossibility (this treatment was based upon the actual case of the Ukrainian serial killer [[Andrei Chikatilo]], who was convicted of killing 53 women and children, and the efforts of Soviet detectives in the real-world to capture him).
*'''Abdication Street''': 1972. Cinzia Davidovna Bronstein is a make-up girl at Russia's largest state-owned television station. [[Charles, Prince of Wales|Charles]], the Duke of Cornwall, grand-nephew of King [[Edward VIII]] and heir to the throne of the United Kingdom, is in Russia to marry his bride, Grand Duchess Ekaterina, the spoiled daughter of Tsar Nicholas III, and Cinzia has been assigned to provide his make-up for the television coverage. Much is riding on this royal wedding, including the future of democracy in Russia — so when Cinzia and Charles fall in love, this causes no end of problems…
*'''Abdication Street''': 1972. Cinzia Davidovna Bronstein is a make-up girl at Russia's largest state-owned television station. [[Charles, Prince of Wales|Charles]], the Duke of Cornwall, grand-nephew of King [[Edward VIII]] and heir to the throne of the United Kingdom, is in Russia to marry his bride, Grand Duchess Ekaterina, the spoiled daughter of Tsar Nicholas III, and Cinzia has been assigned to provide his make-up for the television coverage. Much is riding on this royal wedding, including the future of democracy in Russia — so when Cinzia and Charles fall in love, this causes more problems.
*'''On the Road''': 1998. A follow-up to 'In the Air', the USSA has split into the Confederation of Independent North American States (similar to the USSR's successor, the [[Commonwealth of Independent States]]), a vaguely connected series of nations riddled with institutional corruption and gangsterism. British reporter Lowe, down on his luck, has returned to the former USSA to follow [[Robert Maxwell]]'s Freedom and Enterprise Roadshow as it travels [[U.S. Route 66|Route 66]], bringing capitalism, Christianity and [[Cliff Richard]] to the former USSA.
*'''On the Road''': 1998. A follow-up to 'In the Air', the USSA has split into the Confederation of Independent North American States (similar to the USSR's successor, the [[Commonwealth of Independent States]]), a vaguely connected series of nations riddled with [[institutional corruption]] and gangsterism. British reporter Lowe, down on his luck, has returned to the former USSA to follow [[Robert Maxwell]]'s Freedom and Enterprise Roadshow as it travels [[U.S. Route 66|Route 66]], bringing capitalism, Christianity and [[Cliff Richard]] to the former USSA.


==Overview==
==Overview==
{{original research|section|date=July 2009}}
{{original research|section|date=July 2009}}
As is common with much of Newman's work, the stories feature a great deal of [[intertextuality]], both with actual historical events (many of the stories feature events which mirror actual events that took place within the real twentieth century, in particular the 1917 [[Russian Revolution]] and the [[Vietnam War]]) and with popular culture. The stories are significant in that they feature famous fictional characters (particularly from American and British texts) interacting with real personages; President Charles Foster Kane, for example, is the main character from [[Orson Welles]]' 1941 motion picture ''[[Citizen Kane]]'', whereas Tom Joad — hunted by real-life law enforcers Elliot Ness and Melvin Purvis in 'Tom Joad' — is the protagonist of [[John Steinbeck]]'s ''[[The Grapes of Wrath]]''. [[Hannibal Lecter]] appears as the head of the [[United States Department of Health and Human Services|Department of Health]], and [[John Rambo]] helps train Vietnamese Communists. Rambo is played in a film by [[Raymond Massey]]. [[Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart]] appears as a British officer in ''Teddy Bears' Picnic'' (though ''[[Doctor Who]]'' is referred to as fiction in the same story), as do [[Nigel Molesworth]] and [[Fotherington-Thomas|Basil Fotherington-Thomas]].
As is common with much of Newman's work, the stories feature a great deal of [[intertextuality]], both with actual historical events (many of the stories feature events which mirror actual events that took place within the real 20th century; in particular, the 1917 [[Russian Revolution]] and the [[Vietnam War]]) and with popular culture. The stories are significant in that they feature famous fictional characters (particularly from American and British texts) interacting with real personages; President Charles Foster Kane, for example, is the main character from [[Orson Welles]]' 1941 motion picture ''[[Citizen Kane]]'', whereas Tom Joad — hunted by real-life law enforcers Eliot Ness and Melvin Purvis in 'Tom Joad' — is the protagonist of [[John Steinbeck]]'s ''[[The Grapes of Wrath]]''. [[Hannibal Lecter]] appears as the head of the [[United States Department of Health and Human Services|Department of Health]], and [[John Rambo]] helps train Vietnamese Communists. Rambo is played in a film by [[Raymond Massey]]. [[Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart]] appears as a British officer in ''Teddy Bears' Picnic'' (though ''[[Doctor Who]]'' is referred to as fiction in the same story), as do [[Nigel Molesworth]] and [[Basil Fotherington-Thomas]].


==Real-world comparisons==
==Real-world comparisons==
Line 51: Line 53:
! Real-world equivalent
! Real-world equivalent
|-
|-
⚫
| Father O'Shaughnessy
| [[Theodore Roosevelt]]
| [[Alexander II of Russia|Alexander II]]
|-
⚫
| [[Michael O'Shaughnessy|Father O'Shaughnessy]]
| [[Georgy Gapon]]
| [[Georgy Gapon]]
|-
|-
Line 68: Line 67:
| [[The Great Gatsby|Nick Carraway]]
| [[The Great Gatsby|Nick Carraway]]
| [[Felix Yusupov]]
| [[Felix Yusupov]]
|-
| [[Samuel Gompers]]
| [[Alexander Kerensky]]
|-
| [[John J. Pershing]]
| [[Alexander Kolchak]]
|-
|-
| [[Eugene V. Debs]]
| [[Eugene V. Debs]]
| [[Vladimir Lenin]]
| [[Vladimir Lenin]]
|-
| [[Upton Sinclair]]
| [[Leon Trotsky]]
|-
|-
| [[Al Capone]]
| [[Al Capone]]
Line 87: Line 77:
| [[Sergei Eisenstein]]
| [[Sergei Eisenstein]]
|-
|-
| [[Charles de Gaulle]]
| [[Joseph P. Kennedy Sr.]]
| [[Chiang Kai-shek]]
|-
| [[Frank Nitti]]
| [[Lavrentiy Beria]]
|-
| [[Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.]]
| [[Al Capone]]
| [[Al Capone]]
|-
| [[Jimmy Hoffa]]
| [[Vyacheslav Molotov]]
|-
|-
| [[Jean-Luc Godard]]
| [[Jean-Luc Godard]]
Line 108: Line 89:
| [[L. Ron Hubbard]]
| [[L. Ron Hubbard]]
|-
|-
⚫
| [[Sean Connery]]
| [[Rudolf Nureyev]]
| [[Rudolf Nureyev]]
⚫
| [[Sean Connery]]
|-
|-
| [[Barry Goldwater]]
| [[Barry Goldwater]]
Line 128: Line 109:
| [[Henry Kissinger]]
| [[Henry Kissinger]]
| [[Richard Nixon]]
| [[Richard Nixon]]
|-
| [[Jimmy Carter]]
| [[Leonid Brezhnev]]
|-
|-
| [[Kurt Vonnegut]]
| [[Kurt Vonnegut]]
Line 137: Line 115:
| [[J. R. Ewing]]
| [[J. R. Ewing]]
| [[Boris Yeltsin]]
| [[Boris Yeltsin]]
|-
| [[Colin Powell]]
| [[Mikhail Gorbachev]]
|-
| [[Nikita Khrushchev]]
| [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]
|-
|-
| [[Margaret Thatcher]]
| [[Margaret Thatcher]]
| [[Ronald Reagan]]
| [[Ronald Reagan]]
|-
| [[Bill Clinton]]
| [[Vladimir Putin]]
|}
|}


Line 159: Line 128:
| United Socialist States of America (USSA)
| United Socialist States of America (USSA)
| [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)]]
| [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)]]
|-
| [[United States of America]]
| [[Russian Empire]]
|-
| American Republic
| [[Russian Republic]]
|-
| [[United Kingdom]]/[[British Empire]]
| [[United States of America]]
|-
| [[The Russian Empire|Russian Empire]]
| [[United Kingdom]]
|-
|-
| [[Washington, D.C.|Washington, D.C./Debs, D.C.]]
| [[Washington, D.C.|Washington, D.C./Debs, D.C.]]
Line 178: Line 135:
| [[Commonwealth of Independent States]]
| [[Commonwealth of Independent States]]
|-
|-
| [[Second American Revolution]]
| Second American Revolution
| [[Russian Revolution (1917)|Russian Revolution]]
| [[Russian Revolution (1917)|Russian Revolution]]
|-
|-
| [[Second American Civil War]]
| Second American Civil War
| [[Russian Civil War]]
| [[Russian Civil War]]
|-
|-
Line 193: Line 150:
| [[Moscow]]
| [[Moscow]]
|-
|-
⚫
| [[Trump wall|Texican Wall]]
| [[France|Republic of France]] ([[Corsica]])
| [[Taiwan|Republic of China]] ([[Taiwan]])
|-
⚫
| Texican Wall
| [[Berlin Wall]]
| [[Berlin Wall]]
|-
|-
| People's Republic of France
| People's Republic of France
| [[China|People's Republic of China]]/[[Cuba]]
| [[China|People's Republic of China]]/[[Cuba]]
|-
| [[Free French Forces]]
| [[National Revolutionary Army]]
|-
|-
| [[Alsace-Lorraine]] Missile Crisis
| [[Alsace-Lorraine]] Missile Crisis
Line 211: Line 162:
| [[Czechoslovakia]]
| [[Czechoslovakia]]
|-
|-
| [[Progressive Party (United States, 1912)|Progressives]]
| [[Bull Moose Party|Progressives]]
| [[Tsarist]]s
| [[Tsarist]]s
|-
|-
Line 233: Line 184:


==References==
==References==
{{Reflist}}
*{{cite book | last = Clute | first = John | author-link = John Clute |author2=John Grant | title = [[The Encyclopedia of Fantasy]] | publisher = St. Martin's Griffin | year = 1999 | isbn = 0-312-19869-8| page = 682}}
*{{cite book | last = Clute | first = John | author-link = John Clute |author2=John Grant | title = [[The Encyclopedia of Fantasy]] | publisher = St. Martin's Griffin | year = 1999 | isbn = 0-312-19869-8| page = 682}}
*{{cite web |last=Egan |first=Greg |author-link=Greg Egan |title=Interzone index Issues 1 - 216 Fiction |url=http://gregegan.customer.netspace.net.au/IZ/fictn.htm |access-date=2008-06-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080223194747/http://gregegan.customer.netspace.net.au/IZ/fictn.htm |archive-date=2008-02-23 |url-status=dead }}
*{{cite web |last=Egan |first=Greg |author-link=Greg Egan |title=Interzone index Issues 1 - 216 Fiction |url=http://gregegan.customer.netspace.net.au/IZ/fictn.htm |access-date=2008-06-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080223194747/http://gregegan.customer.netspace.net.au/IZ/fictn.htm |archive-date=2008-02-23 |url-status=dead }}


==External links==
==External links==
* [http://www.sfsite.com/~silverag/byrne.html Review of ''Back in the USSA'' by Steven H. Silver]
* [http://www.stevenhsilver.com/byrne.html Review of ''Back in the USSA'' by Steven H. Silver]
*{{Isfdb title|id=10207}}
*{{Isfdb title|id=10207}}


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[[Category:Alternate history anthologies]]
[[Category:Alternate history anthologies]]
[[Category:American alternate history novels]]
[[Category:American alternate history novels]]
[[Category:British alternative history novels]]
[[Category:Crossover novels]]
[[Category:Crossover novels]]
[[Category:Novels by Kim Newman]]
[[Category:Novels by Kim Newman]]
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[[Category:Works originally published in Interzone (magazine)]]
[[Category:Works originally published in Interzone (magazine)]]
[[Category:Novels set in the 20th century]]
[[Category:Novels set in the 20th century]]
[[Category:Novels set in Russia]]
[[Category:Novels set in the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Novels set in the United States]]
[[Category:Novels set in the United States]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Woody Allen]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Woody Allen]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Al Capone]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Al Capone]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Charlie Chaplin]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Charlie Chaplin]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Charles, Prince of Wales]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Charles III]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Ed Gein]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Ed Gein]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Buddy Holly]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Buddy Holly]]
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[[Category:Cultural depictions of Joseph McCarthy]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Joseph McCarthy]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Eliot Ness]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Eliot Ness]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Richard Nixon]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Richard Nixon]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Annie Oakley]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Annie Oakley]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Ayn Rand]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Ayn Rand]]
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[[Category:Novels set during the Cold War]]
[[Category:Novels set during the Cold War]]
[[Category:Novels set during the Vietnam War]]
[[Category:Novels set during the Vietnam War]]
[[Category:Dystopian novels]]
[[Category:Second American Civil War speculative fiction]]

Latest revision as of 21:01, 13 November 2024

For the song by KMFDM, see Boots (EP). For the song by the Beatles, see Back In the U.S.S.R.

Back in the USSA
Book cover
AuthorEugene Byrne &
Kim Newman
Cover artistArnie Fenner
LanguageEnglish
GenreAlternate history
PublisherMark V. Ziesing
Publication date
September 1997
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typeHardcover
Pages356
ISBN0-929480-84-8

Back in the USSA is a 1997 collection of seven short stories by English writers Eugene Byrne and Kim Newman, which was published by Mark V. Ziesing Books.[1] The title is a reference to the song "Back in the U.S.S.R." by The Beatles. The stories are linked through their setting, an alternate history of the twentieth century in which the United States experienced a communist Second Revolution in 1917 and became a communist superpower, whereas Russia did not. Six of the stories first appeared in Interzone magazine, and the concluding story in the sequence, "On the Road", was written especially for the collection.

Background

[edit]

Theodore Roosevelt is re-elected President of the United States as the Progressive Party candidate in 1912. On December 19, 1912, prior to assuming office, Roosevelt is assassinated by Annie Oakley while personally breaking a labor strike at the Chicago Union Stockyards with the help of the Rough Riders. Vice president-elect Charles Foster Kane takes power, and gradually leads the United States into greater levels of oppression, class division and bureaucratic incompetence and corruption – including an earlier entry into World War I in 1914 and the assassination of his rival candidate, Woodrow Wilson, during the 1916 election campaign.

By 1917, the United States is unstable politically and socially, with overwhelming civil unrest stemming from the massive (and seemingly pointless) loss of American lives in the mud of the Western Front and the increasing gap between the wealthy 'robber barons' and the poor working class, and the massive corruption and exploitation this has resulted in. The Socialist Party of America, led by Eugene V. Debs, gains increasing support, and soon the unrest has led to a Second American Revolution and Second American Civil War, following which Kane is ousted from the White House, overthrown, and executed for treason. Afterwards, a new socialist order, led by Debs, takes over. The United States of America becomes the United Socialist States of America.

The early idealism of this change is misplaced, however; upon Debs' death in 1926, power is seized by Al Capone (an obvious parallel to Joseph Stalin, just as Debs is used to mirror the achievements of Vladimir Lenin), who proceeds to rule over the USSA with a brutal, repressive fist of iron, establishing a cult of personality around himself, exiling and executing his political rivals and ruling the country more brutally and ruthlessly (and incompetently) than any of the robber barons who were previously deposed. Gradually, following World War II, the Cold War between the USSA, the United Kingdom and a semi-constitutional monarchist Russian Empire, and the war in Indo-China, the USSA begins to stagnate economically and socially, before finally collapsing into separate, bickering nations by 1991, leading to an uncertain future for both the former USSA and the rest of the world.

Stories

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  • In the Air: 1989. As First Secretary Kurt Vonnegut introduces policies of 'Straight Talking' and 'Getting It Together' into the stagnating United Socialist States. Lowe, a British journalist, arrives in Chicago to meet and interview one of the cultural figureheads of the thawing of repression — Charles Hardin Holley, an underground musician achieving greater popularity in the seemingly more open and relaxed atmosphere of the previously repressive country. Giving their Party Handler (a functionary called Hunt Thompson) the slip, Holley takes Lowe to a speakeasy, where he relates the story of his own political awakening, involving his small-town childhood in the Socialist United States in the 1950s, a chance meeting with two idealistic drifters named Howard Hughes and Jack Kerouac coinciding with the propaganda visit of a troupe of 'war heroes' (including Joseph McCarthy, Charles Lindbergh, Mitch "Duke" Morrison, Lafayette Hubbard, and General Curtis LeMay) and a girl named Peggy Sue.
  • Ten Days That Shook The World: 1912–1917. A collection of ten vignettes outlining the foundation of the United Socialist States of America, from the assassination of Theodore Roosevelt in 1912 and the inauguration of Charles Foster Kane in 1913, through the sinking of the Titanic and the American entry into World War I in 1914, and the increasing corruption, class-divisions and injustice that saw the Second American Revolution occur in 1917.
  • Tom Joad: 1937. Federal Bureau of Ideology agents Eliot Ness and Melvin Purvis travel to a shanty-town in Nevada, chasing rumours that legendary underground labour activist Tom Joad has been seen. Whilst there, they must contend with a counter-revolutionary conspiracy, the people's unshakeable belief in their hero, and Frank Nitti, Secretary Al Capone's personal enforcer, present to ensure that Joad is caught by any means necessary.
  • Teddy Bears' Picnic: 1965–1969. Bob and Terry, two working-class boys from Newcastle and lifelong best friends, enlist in the British Army to go and fight the war against communism in Indo-China. Following a brutal training regiment, the two are thrust into the brutal war in South-East Asia, where they are captured and imprisoned by Viet Cong guerrillas. Upon their escape, Bob returns to Britain and writes a book chronicling his experiences, which later is turned into a movie — and during the making of the movie, he is forced to confront his new lifestyle and the hidden secrets from his terrible experiences that saw Terry shamed and dishonoured.
  • Citizen Ed: 1945–1984. The story of Ed Gein — Socialist Hero, local luminary, and horrific serial murderer. For over forty years, Gein and the sheriff of his local town — more than aware of Gein's monstrous perversions and murders — do battle, but the sheriff's attempts to stop Gein's evil are hampered by Party corruption and incompetence and the belief that in a perfect socialist state, a serial killer is an impossibility (this treatment was based upon the actual case of the Ukrainian serial killer Andrei Chikatilo, who was convicted of killing 53 women and children, and the efforts of Soviet detectives in the real-world to capture him).
  • Abdication Street: 1972. Cinzia Davidovna Bronstein is a make-up girl at Russia's largest state-owned television station. Charles, the Duke of Cornwall, grand-nephew of King Edward VIII and heir to the throne of the United Kingdom, is in Russia to marry his bride, Grand Duchess Ekaterina, the spoiled daughter of Tsar Nicholas III, and Cinzia has been assigned to provide his make-up for the television coverage. Much is riding on this royal wedding, including the future of democracy in Russia — so when Cinzia and Charles fall in love, this causes more problems.
  • On the Road: 1998. A follow-up to 'In the Air', the USSA has split into the Confederation of Independent North American States (similar to the USSR's successor, the Commonwealth of Independent States), a vaguely connected series of nations riddled with institutional corruption and gangsterism. British reporter Lowe, down on his luck, has returned to the former USSA to follow Robert Maxwell's Freedom and Enterprise Roadshow as it travels Route 66, bringing capitalism, Christianity and Cliff Richard to the former USSA.

Overview

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As is common with much of Newman's work, the stories feature a great deal of intertextuality, both with actual historical events (many of the stories feature events which mirror actual events that took place within the real 20th century; in particular, the 1917 Russian Revolution and the Vietnam War) and with popular culture. The stories are significant in that they feature famous fictional characters (particularly from American and British texts) interacting with real personages; President Charles Foster Kane, for example, is the main character from Orson Welles' 1941 motion picture Citizen Kane, whereas Tom Joad — hunted by real-life law enforcers Eliot Ness and Melvin Purvis in 'Tom Joad' — is the protagonist of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. Hannibal Lecter appears as the head of the Department of Health, and John Rambo helps train Vietnamese Communists. Rambo is played in a film by Raymond Massey. Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart appears as a British officer in Teddy Bears' Picnic (though Doctor Who is referred to as fiction in the same story), as do Nigel Molesworth and Basil Fotherington-Thomas.

Real-world comparisons

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Individuals

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Back in the USSA Individual Real-world equivalent
Father O'Shaughnessy Georgy Gapon
Charles Foster Kane Nicholas II
Emily Kane Alexandra
Aleister Crowley Grigori Rasputin
Nick Carraway Felix Yusupov
Eugene V. Debs Vladimir Lenin
Al Capone Joseph Stalin
Cecil B. DeMille Sergei Eisenstein
Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. Al Capone
Jean-Luc Godard Mao Zedong/Fidel Castro
Ed Gein Andrei Chikatilo
Arthur C. Clarke L. Ron Hubbard
Rudolf Nureyev Sean Connery
Barry Goldwater Nikita Khrushchev
Innokenty Smoktunovsky John F. Kennedy
Chuck Yeager Yuri Gagarin
Ayn Rand Joseph McCarthy
Richard Nixon Leonid Brezhnev
Henry Kissinger Richard Nixon
Kurt Vonnegut Mikhail Gorbachev
J. R. Ewing Boris Yeltsin
Margaret Thatcher Ronald Reagan

Events and objects

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Back in the USSA item Real-world equivalent
United Socialist States of America (USSA) Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)
Washington, D.C./Debs, D.C. Saint Petersburg/Leningrad
Confederation of Independent North American States Commonwealth of Independent States
Second American Revolution Russian Revolution
Second American Civil War Russian Civil War
Second Mexican–American War Polish-Soviet War
Dust Bowl Holodomor
Chicago Moscow
Texican Wall Berlin Wall
People's Republic of France People's Republic of China/Cuba
Alsace-Lorraine Missile Crisis Cuban Missile Crisis
Cuba Czechoslovakia
Progressives Tsarists
Socialists Bolsheviks
Telstar Sputnik 1
X-15 Vostok

Publication history

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  • In the Air: Interzone #43, January 1990
  • Ten Days That Shook The World: Interzone #48, June 1990
  • Tom Joad: Interzone #65, November 1992
  • Teddy Bears' Picnic: Interzone #122-#123, August & September 1997
  • Citizen Ed: Interzone #113, November 1996
  • Abdication Street: Interzone #105, March 1996

References

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  1. ^ "Uchronia: Back in the USSA". www.uchronia.net.
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