Active Measures

by Janet E. Morris, David Drake

In 1999, the Soviets have made one of their own agents president of the U.S.A. and only one man and one woman can save the nation, and readers can win 10,000 dollars by providing correct answers to seven key questions

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

365 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1985

About the author

Janet Ellen Morris (born May 25, 1946) is a United States author. She began writing in 1976 and has since published more than 20 novels, many co-authored with David Drake or her husband Chris Morris. She has contributed short fiction to the shared universe fantasy series Thieves World, and edited the Bangsian fantasy series Heroes in Hell. Most of her work has been in the fantasy and science fiction genres, although she has also written several works of non-fiction.

Morris was elected to the New York Academy of Sciences in 1980.

In 1995, Morris and her husband and frequent co-writer Christopher Morris founded M2 Tech. Since that time, their writing output has decreased in proportion to the success of the company, which works with U.S. federal and military agencies on non-lethal weapon systems and software.

Reviews

[Glenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Active Measures is a geopolitical thriller with a cast of characters including the President of the United States, a number of his advisors in the national security space, especially the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and a Soviet intelligence operative. It's a pretty fast-paced thriller with lots of action, including some serious violence.

Let's be clear. Active Measures was written in 1985 and set in the 1990s. By the time the ostensible date rolled around, this book, and lots of other thrillers. was obsolete. The Wall fell, the Soviet Union collapsed, the Warsaw Pact dissolved, and the Cold War was over. By 2008, Russia was going to take up an adversarial position to NATO and the West again, but by then we were electing our first black president, an incidental feature in the plot of Active Measures.

On the other hand, the various domestic extremist groups created by the authors seem all too current. On which point, it may be worth noting that Morris and Drake were brought together by Jim Baen, who was acquainted with Newt Gingrich. Morris and Drake help to write Gingrich's opus Window of Opportunity. There are some remarkably right-leaning comments by characters in this book, although some current figures (such as Stephen Miller) would fit right into the world of Active Measures.

I enjoyed re-reading Active Measures. The near-future world it envisioned never arrived, and the course of history has largely deviated from Morris and Drakes forecast.

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

A techno-thriller written with Janet Morris