I will have this draft of APoS done this weekend. It's closing in on 120,000 words, so it's a real novel. I just did the part where Brendan takes Joanna to see the circle fort, Grianan Aileach, atop a nearby Donegal hill, and he reveals he's planning to leave Derry. He knows his history and can see the place sliding into chaos, and wants no part of it.
So far I haven't come across a book dealing with the catastrophic way in which British Forces set in motion the next 10 years with their heavy-handedness. Almost like it was deliberate, it was so stupid. I've read some who think it was just British arrogance that caused this to happen. Their certainty that if they worked the plans out just right, they would succeed.
But history shows that doesn't work. You can have the best plans ever, with each detail in just the right spot, but expecting hundreds of men to carry it out with precision and without anger or fear or any human emotion? It's always going to go wrong. And it did on Bloody Sunday. And the British being idiots, they assumed they could control the narrative with their press releases...but that didn't happen. Too many people in Northern Ireland had friends and relatives in the Republic, and word got around.
It's the same, today, albeit a lot faster. The people in power don't understand how pervasive the internet is and how there are always methods bloggers and hackers can use to get around even the most stringent safeguards and censorship. Right now, Chinese officials are trying to manage the disappearance of a tennis star who made allegations of sexual assault against a high-ranking politician, and they're finding it is impossible. One woman vanished...and the Chinese censors can't keep it quiet. They've lost but just cannot accept that reality.
The 60s brought about the beginning of the end for control of the information flow by those who would oppress others...and the Troubles exacerbated it.
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