NorsePlay Reviews: Project Millennium.

 

After buying this book a year & a half ago, NorsePlay finally gets into the text inside this crazy Thor versus this Jormungantic starship cover, and we were not disappointed.

Project Millennium (1987 CE) by Curtis H. Hoffmann is a strong-handed conceit where a real war is set up to celebrate the 1,000-year anniversary of Muspell's Planet who has hired the megacorporation E.C. (which actually just stands for Entertainment Company [obvi-simple, right?]) to stage the battle in 100 years. The android who handles such under-the-table questionable high-cost private arrangements sets up two A.I. computers to head up each side, make armies, and square off.

Now here's where the NorsePlay comes in: One computer decides to take on the identity of Snorri Sturluson, and because of this, begins vat "growing a force of mutant fighters" based on the Æsir! The other computer decides to avatar as King Richard III, but follows Snorri's lead in creating the Norse adversarial force that in the Lore is destined to defeat the Æsir. Also the jötnar race is cast as the indigenous people on the planet the Æsir are grown on, so that conflict's already in place to train the Æsir in warcraft for the upcoming larger invasion that they remain totally unaware of.

Because Snorri's side's crafted as the Norse Gods, events work out to type in many instances of the Norse Lore's plotting that we already know & love, but because this is sci-fi there's some pretty neat futuristic contexts that give us some twists, and by the time the pre-arranged battle happens, it's anyone's game thanks to some technology and intelligence leaks.

Beyond the impending conflict is some semi-tongue-in-cheek criticism of mega-corporate ethics, journalistic practices, A.I. autonomy (which reads prescient given this was written 40+ years ago), and ephemeral fashion/aesthetics.

Weighing in at only 198 pages, this author's one-off novella's rewriting & expansion of what's essentially mid-Lore to "Ragnaroque" goes pretty quickly and is an enjoyable NorsePlay in the same way (but far shorter) that Dennis Schmidt's Twilight of the Gods (1985-1987) trilogy does for the ancient pre-historical world as Hoffmann does for the far future. All this only testifies to the polyvalence & timeless adaptability of the Eddiac stories.

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Guillermo Maytorena IV knew there was something special in the Norse Lore when he picked up a copy of the d'Aulaires' Norse Gods and Giants at age seven. Since then he's been fascinated by the truthful potency of Norse Mythology, passionately read & studied, embraced Ásatrú, launched the Map of Midgard project, and spearheaded the neologism/brand NorsePlay. If you have employment/opportunities in investigative mythology,  field research, or product development to offer, do contact him.

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