in return for independence helped the then formed 'Confederated States of America' take control of Canada. In the novel Babylon Babies by the French-born Canadian cyberpunk writer Maurice Dantec, loosely adapted as the film Babylon A.D., Quebec is independent and referred to as the "Free Province of Quebec". In the roleplaying game Shadowrun, Quebec exists as a sovereign nation alongside the United Canadian American States and the Confederated American States. In the film Die Hard, Hans Gruber, the terrorist leader, demands, as a ruse, the release of imprisoned members of the fictional group Liberté du Québec. (Presumably meant to be a fictional version of the FLQ.) In Peter Watts' science fiction series, starting with Starfish, Quebec has attained sovereignty and is an energetic/economic superpower within North America. In the alternate history novel The Two Georges, co-authored by Richard Dreyfuss and Harry Turtledove, the American Revolution never occurs, resulting in the creation of the North American Union, a dominion of the British Empire. En route to the Six Nations, Thomas Bushell and Samuel Stanley of the Royal American Mounted Police discuss the nearby province of Quebec. Stanley muses that, being culturally French, the Québécois people would want to split off from the N.A.U. to become part of the Franco-Spanish Holy Alliance. However, the Francophobia of the Sons of Liberty prevents them from effectively joining forces with Québécois separatists. In the Simpsons episode "Homer to the Max", Homer Simpson is invited to an exclusive garden party by Trent Steel, a successful businessman whom he meets as a result of changing his name to Max Power. President Bill Clinton, a guest at the garden party, is called away to deal with Quebec 'getting the bomb'. In The Critic episode "L.A. Jay", in a dream sequence, Jay Sherman, at his Oscar acceptance speech says he supports independence for Quebec, cutting to a room of Québécois saying "Viva Jay Sherman! Viva Quebec!" and unfurling a banner depicting Sherman as a beaver. In the young adults' alternate history novel The Disunited States of America by Harry Turtledove, the United States collapsed in the 1800s due to the retention of the Articles of Confederation, with states becoming sovereign nations by the 2090s. Quebec is an independent country in the 2090s, although it is not mentioned whether it remained an independent entity or seceded from a Canadian union. Explanatory notes See also Quebec nationalism List of subjects related