The real-life Tunguska Event

Planet-man said:
We researched/wrote articles about this in 6th Grade. Really cool stuff. One of my friends actually started writing a novel about the repercussions it had and some sort of alien conspiracy.
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I knew Warren Ellis was a hack, but to steal an idea from a 6th grader...
 
http://www.tfot.info/news/1070/in-search-of-the-tunguska-meteorite.html

A team of Italian scientists from the University of Bologna recently identified a lake in the Tunguska region as the possible impact crater from the 1908 Tunguska event. Lake Cheko is a small bowl-shaped lake, situated approximately 8 kilometers north-north-west of the epicenter of the cataclysmic event. Although the lake is relatively shallow and more elliptical in its form (elliptical craters usually occur only if the angle of entry is less than about 10 degrees), samples from the basin suggest that the lake fills an impact crater.

The largest impact in recorded history took place over Siberia on June 30th, 1908. . Although it is believed that the meteor or comet burst prior to hitting the Earth's surface, this event, called the Tunguska Event, is referred to as an impact event. It is estimated that the Tunguska impact induced a blast of energy at the same magnitude as an explosion of 10-20 megatons of TNT. The explosion was 1,000 times more powerful than the nuclear explosion over Hiroshima, Japan and could have easily liquidated a large metropolitan area. This possibility helped spark the discussion of asteroid deflection strategies in recent years, and has inspired a number of Hollywood blockbusters.

For the past century, many teams combed the Siberian impact site in an attempt to find the object that caused the explosion. Despite the efforts, none of the teams managed to discover even one fragment of an object that could have triggered the Tunguska event. The Cheko Lake is located along the most probable track of the cosmic body that caused the explosion. The unusual funnel-like shape of the lake's basin, which is extremely different than that of the neighboring lakes, may have been formed by compacted lake sediments or by a fragment of space rock. However, had pieces of space rock survived the impact with the atmosphere, they would have been too small and would have been traveling too slowly to have produced a crater the size of Lake Cheko. Also, an impact at the lake would have felled the trees all around the crater, yet there are trees older than 100 years old still standing around the lake today...
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Apparently the Tunguska Event plays some part in Thomas Pynchon's new book. Just thought you should know.
 
It's called Against the Day, and yes, Tunguska plays a role in regards to one of the characters (Kit Traverse) stories. However, trying to explain both how it plays a role and how it affects the story is absolutely impossible without having to explain the whole book, and that would take several days of intense conversation. Just go read the book. It's pretty damn good, in my opinion, and (even considering the length and encyclopædic nature) pretty accessible to even non-Pynchon fans.
 
I actually had a story idea where the Tungusta Event was a death cult opening a door into the afterlife.



I seriously need to find a writer to work with.
 
Entropy said:
It's called Against the Day, and yes, Tunguska plays a role in regards to one of the characters (Kit Traverse) stories. However, trying to explain both how it plays a role and how it affects the story is absolutely impossible without having to explain the whole book, and that would take several days of intense conversation. Just go read the book. It's pretty damn good, in my opinion, and (even considering the length and encyclopædic nature) pretty accessible to even non-Pynchon fans.
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Please don't. I'm only about 100 pages in, and I don't want it ruined for me.

If we're talking about accessible Pynchon books, you've got to go with Vineland. It's short and brisk and very easy to understand, but still very good.
 
Zombipanda said:
Please don't. I'm only about 100 pages in, and I don't want it ruined for me.

If we're talking about accessible Pynchon books, you've got to go with Vineland. It's short and brisk and very easy to understand, but still very good.
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Nah, if I'm starting someone out on Pynchon, I still send them to The Crying of Lot 49 first. A compact little sketch rehearsal for Gravity's Rainbow that I think gives them the best taste to start on.

In fact, I think the read order I would prescribe to most people (who are reading this, have no idea who Thomas Pynchon is, but want to join in the fun) is--

1. The Crying of Lot 49
2. Vineland
3. V.
4. Against the Day
5. Gravity's Rainbow
6. Mason & Dixon

Crying is great, it's short and it introduces you to a lot of his themes. Vineland is post Gravity's Rainbow, so it's directly rooted in the hysterical realist style, but was definitely a book written for the 80s. V. was his first novel, a little raw but its also more dense than Crying or Vineland. Against the Day is his longest, and it's super-Pynchonesque but at this point you should be ready for it, and he does a good job of holding your hand so you don't get lost.

Don't depend on that too much because Gravity's Rainbow and Mason & Dixon are his masterpieces and they run and read like a speed freak entering the Lemurian dyslexic cliffdiving competition. Enjoy.

Zombipanda, good to see another Pynchon fan around.
 
skotti-chan said:
I actually had a story idea where the Tungusta Event was a death cult opening a door into the afterlife.



I seriously need to find a writer to work with.
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*raises hand!* Seriously, I'm very good, and extensively knowledgable, and I've already done a pretty decent amount of research on fringe spirituality and cults for my novel.


Also, I had something to say to you Entropy, but it was long, and my computer froze, so you'll see it sometime. But, I think we've talked about Pynchon before.
 
I love that it's called the "event". It seems so mysterious, like there's some kind of dark secret behind it (other than scientists failing to find a crater for a hundred years. Way to go, science).
 
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