Fitzpatrick's War



Fitzpatrick's War is a 2004 post-apocalyptic Steampunk Science Fiction book by Theodore Judson (author of The Martian General's Daughter), as well as the author's first novel.

Set in the 25th Century, the story is frame through the annotated autobiography of Brigadier General Sir Robert Mayfair Bruce of the Yukon Confederacy, which also chronicles the life of Lord Isaac Prophet Fitzpatrick, a consul of the Confederacy whose life closely parallels that of Alexander the Great and is glorified as a hero after his death. But as deadly intrigue lurks behind the scenes and more of the world's backstory is revealed, all is not what it seems. Something that extends into the very notion of history itself.

See also Julian Comstock for a similar premise involving a post-apocalyptic America.


 * Aerith and Bob: This was apparently a trend in 21st Century America according to the backstory, with some groups and cliques changing their own names to something more "exotic." Subverted however with the Yukons, who tend to have more archaic and vintage names.
 * After the End: The Storm Times in the late 21st Century trashed all electrical and electronic technology as well as devastated the developed world. The Yukon Confederacy in particular emerged from the ashes of the United States.
 * Airstrip One: Great Britain is part of the Yukon Confederacy, though it's mentioned that save for farmland, some ruins and towns, it's little more than a massive military garrison to deter the Muslim "Turks" in continental Europe.
 * Author Filibuster:
 * Some of the exposition and in-verse annotations from Professor Van Buren can come across as this.
 * Whenever the Timermen show up, it also tends to be seen as this, albeit justified given their role.
 * As You Know/Lecture as Exposition: The general history of how the world turned into a post-apocalyptic steampunk Neo-British Empire-dominated dystopia is recited in a verbal exam by the novel's protagonist, Sir Robert Mayfair Bruce. Coincidentally Bruce was shocked to have gotten such an easy topic.
 * The Bad Guy Wins:
 * Brutal Honesty: While Bruce remained a close, loyal friend to Fitzpatrick in life, he didn't mince words with his criticisms about the man's less than noble tendencies and actions.
 * The Conspiracy: The Timermen. Though their existence and general activities are relatively well-known among the Yukons, the extent of their machinations go much deeper.
 * Crap Saccharine World: For what it's worth, like in the Yukon Confederacy is generally pleasant, if you're actually a Yukon.
 * Deadly Decadent Court: Fitzpatrick is shown having to contend with various nobles and political rivals.
 * Depopulation Bomb: The Storm Times also coincided with an epidemic that would leave regions like Japan and the British Isles sparsely inhabited.
 * Deliberate Values Dissonance: Yukon society comes across as a twisted melange of Victorian and Edwardian cultural norms.
 * Enforced Cold War:
 * Expy:
 * Fitzpatrick is this to Alexander the Great. It's also deconstructed however, in how his deliberate efforts to emulate his hero wind up causing much death and destruction.
 * Fitzpatrick's friends and allies, including Bruce, are this to Alexander's Companions, something that Fitzpatrick is intentionally invoking.
 * The Everyman: Deconstructed with Bruce, who started off as an Impoverished Patrician and regular soldier-in-training.
 * Fallen States of America: It's strongly implied that the 21st Century United States was very much this, with the authorities so weak and civil unrest widespread that groups like the Yukon could take root. And this was before the Storm Times.
 * Fantasy Counterpart Culture/Days of Future Past: The Yukon Confederacy is very much a warped, deliberate recreation of The British Empire and memories of 19th Century America by way of Columbia. This is in addition to being based on the Yukons' own origins as a collective of rural survivalists.
 * Fake Ultimate Hero: Played with. While Fitzpatrick is shown to be a great, ambitious man on par with Alexander the Great, his life and exploits have been utterly whitewashed by the time the book's Framing Device is actually set. The "real" Fitzpatrick meanwhile, as painted by Bruce, is another story though he does live up to the reputation.
 * The Federation: The Yukon Confederacy tends to view itself as this (in part stemming from its survivalist origins), complete with a nominal democracy. In practice, the Yukons come across more like The Empire.
 * Feudal Future: Deliberately invoked by the Yukons and their Timermen colleagues after the fall of 21st Century America. It helped as well that the chaos of those times made such arrangements more appealing.
 * Foil: In a meta sense, the book is this to Julian Comstock despite roughly similar premises.
 * Forever War: The Yukons have been in an on-off war with a "Turkish" Muslim empire that's since expanded to include much of continental Europe. They've also been fighting the Chinese, who are implied to still be Communist.
 * Foregone Conclusion: The Framing Device establishes very early on that Fitzpatrick is celebrated as a hero by the Yukons and that Bruce died an old, distinguished if ill-remembered officer. The story itself however shows that not everything is as it seems.
 * Framing Device: The story is told through Bruce's autobiography, as annotated by the ludicrously biased Professor Roland Modesty Van Buren in the 26th Century, long after all the characters involved are dead.
 * Future Imperfect: While the Yukons aren't ignorant about the past, much of the surviving relics and records from the 20th-21st Centuries are censored or heavily edited.
 * Government Conspiracy: Played with. The Timermen's existence is generally known among the Yukons as is their status as a "secret society." On the other hand, they make a point not to let the full extent of their machinations known.
 * Impoverished Patrician: Bruce starts out as one. His title is initially shown to be barely worth much such that early on, he's seen as not much better than a commoner.
 * In Your Nature to Destroy Yourselves: This is apparently what the Timermen believe, which explains why they support the status quo.
 * Insult Backfire: How the first Yukons got their name back in 21st Century America, being seen as a collective of Crazy Survivalists and country bumpkins. Not only did they wear the intended insult with pride but in time it would serve as their country's name.
 * Ludd Was Right: Downplayed, but it's mentioned that much of the "First World" suffered terribly as a result of the Storm Times, its' citizenry's complacency and reliance on technology their own undoing. The developing world meanwhile fared comparatively better, while some like the Yukon rebuilt civilized society and a new technological base from the countryside.
 * Man Behind the Man: The Timermen, the Yukon Confederacy's "secret society" of their best and brightest. Their origins are traced to the earliest Yukons in 21st Century America.
 * Modern Stasis: Or what passes for "modern" in-verse at any rate, as it's implied that the Yukon Confederacy has largely been the way it's been for centuries.
 * My Country, Right or Wrong: The Timermen, for all their secrecy and machinations remain loyal to the Yukons.
 * Please Select New City Name: Over the centuries, the Yukons had renamed many Spanish and native places in the former US alone with Anglo-Saxon and Latin ones, with San Francisco becoming "Grand Harbor" and Kansas City rebuilt as "Centralia."
 * Pragmatic Villainy:
 * Rising Empire: The Yukon Confederacy has been generally on the up and up since the Storm Times.
 * The Reason You Suck Speech: Bruce gets a backhanded one in the end, explaining how he should be thankful for their actions.
 * Recycled in Space: Similarly to Julian Comstock, the story transplants Alexander the Great's life into what amounts to a 25th Century Columbia.
 * Schizo-Tech: This is a world where sailing ships and steam-powered fleets have carbon-polymer holds, and where satellite communications are made possible with special paper and industrial equipment.
 * Space-Filling Empire: At the start of Bruce's tale, the Yukons' territory covers much of North America, Britain and Australasia. This is addition to their network of allies like India and Pan-Slavia, which are considered by some of the more bigoted Yukons as backward if not little better than savages.
 * Standard Sci Fi History: Averted. In addition to the Storm Times throwing much of the world into a new dark age and the Yukons creating their retro-futuristic order
 * Status Quo Is God:
 * Steampunk: With a little bit of Dieselpunk for good measure, which has been going on for centuries..
 * Unreliable Narrator: It's left to the reader to figure out whether it's Bruce or Professor Van Buren who's the unreliable narrator.
 * Vestigial Empire: Pan-Slavia, the remains of Russia and the various Slavic countries is also the last true "European" country after the "Turks" took over everything else.
 * Was It Really Worth It?: Bruce ultimately arrives at this question, given what he learns about Fitzpatrick.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremists
 * Fitzpatrick, who has grand plans on moving all humanity forward under Yukon rule.
 * The Timermen, who not only maintain an enclave of advanced technology to ensure "perpetual" Yukon survival.
 * The World Is Not Ready:
 * Written by the Winners: The novel goes quite a bit into satirizing and deconstructing the premise.
 * Zeppelins from Another World: The Yukons make plentiful use of them in their air force.