Flight Over Misima - Semester Project

My short story is set during the Battle of the Coral Sea, 1942. This naval engagement was the first ever battle between aircraft carriers. The Japanese looked to take Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea, to control nearby islands and cut off Australia from U.S. supply lines. The Japanese sent an invasion convoy with three aircraft carriers for air cover: the Zuikaku and Shokaku, and a smaller light carrier, the Shoho. To counter the Japanese, the U.S. sent the Lexington and Yorktown.

On the 7th of May, both American carriers launched aircraft against the Shoho, which was isolated from the other Japanese carriers. The attack was successful, and the Shoho sank after several bomb and torpedo hits. My story takes place during this battle.

Link to short story

Link to bibliography

Comments

  1. ZonaMay 10, 2020 at 11:57 PM

    The concept of using a video game/VR as a frame/metanarrative to tell a historical narrative about a battle is super interesting and I really like how you wrote it. It really throws you as a reader into the story and makes it very exciting to read, but also gives you a concrete way to think about the kind of technology that can make you interact with history. Like, I never really thought of the combination of VR, and the feeling that comes with it, and history, but it provides a really interesting and more presently relevant way to think about our interaction with history.

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  2. NikaMay 11, 2020 at 1:23 PM

    The VR transition was absolutely brilliant. There were a lot of really interesting descriptions of the difference between the video game and the reality. I found myself especially worried / tense when Ryder was talking and almost blew his cover. It made me think about how what we know now about history is different than what the people living it knew.

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  3. Minji ChoiMay 12, 2020 at 12:38 PM

    The structure of your story is very original and intriguing. I found it very intriguing to read about VR in a story that has historical elements, and I think you did a great job of combining the two. The narration and descriptions were great and enhanced your story.

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  4. AnonymousMay 15, 2020 at 10:02 AM

    Amazing job with the video game frame. Makes it really postmodern and fun.

    ReplyDelete
  5. ZillesMay 15, 2020 at 11:00 AM

    I love how you blur the line between reality and the virtual world. In a society with technology as a central part of our lives, with movies and video games that are almost indistinguishable from real life at times, i'm interested to see if/when we get a virtual world in VR that takes over society similar to Ready Player One, or Warcross. I enjoyed how you kept the story surprising with twists all the way through. I also appreciated how you gave historical context, and how you used it in the video game.

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  6. SashaMay 19, 2020 at 8:09 PM

    Don't forget your dive flaps! He forgot his dive flaps. As you can probably guess I really enjoyed this one. Well written and a subject dear to my own heart. I was wondering how he was going to deal with a carrier landing, but it looks like that particular ending was averted.

    ReplyDelete

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