Tuesday, April 17, 2012

New Releases 4/17/2012

Editor's Note

I learned something very important about book releases since starting this new series last week.  While big publishers tend to release their works on Tuesdays, smaller publishers and self-publishing authors choose other days to release their works.  So for now on I will not only be reporting new releases coming out on Tuesday, but also any releases that came out the week before.

Now with that out of the way, here are some new alternate history books for you to enjoy.

New Books (e-books)

Beyond the Wall by Howard Parker

Description from Amazon.

Beyond the Wall is an historical fiction set in 170 AD mixed with a touch of magic. The Roman garrison in Northern Britianna has been order to move 20 miles beyond Hadrians Wall and build another. During the night a vital supply caravan is attacked not by Picts but a new enemy. The guard is called out to rescue the supplies lead by Centurion Antonius. After a brief savage fight the supplies are saved, yet a new element is added to the strategic situation the Jutes. Will this new invasion threaten the wall? Centurion Antonius stands on the frontier of the Empire, beyond is the wild lands of the Picts. Our story begins with a storm rollling in off the North Sea. Taking advantage of the tempest is a raiding party of Jutes who fall upon a supply train headed for the Centurion’s outpost. Sent to rescue the badly needed supplies Antonius confronts the raiding party of Jutes. In the ensuing battle the brother of the Jute king is killed which sets of a chain of events which leads to a conflict between the raiding Jutes, the Picts and the Roman garrisons in the North. Already stretched to the point of breaking the Romans mount a party to scout out what the new threat of the Jutes will mean to the Empire, the new wall and how they can deal with it. Who will win?

Cold War Hot: Alternate Decisions of the Cold War by Peter Tsouras

Description from Amazon.

It was in the Third World that the ambitions and fears of the two Cold War superpowers were played out v Korea, Vietnam, Egypt and Syria, Afghanistan. In their bizarre way, these were carefully controlled wars, carefully controlled in the sense that neither great power allowed itself to become directly engaged in a hot war with the other. Equally, neither allowed itself to go for broke in a grand sweep across the Third World in fear of provoking that final confrontation. But this fear of direct confrontation was never as rigidly controlled as one would think. Again and again events veered towards a clash between Eagle and Bear. The authors of this book make real such terrifying possibilities as Korea or the 67 War dragging in both superpowers; they predict the consequences of the United States or the Soviet Union attempting radical strategies in Vietnam or in a divided Germany, either to follow the British success in Malaya or to invade the North; they imagine the invasion of Cuba when the delicate signals failed to find a way out of the Missile Crisis and bring to life a scenario in which the Soviet Union knocks the Great Game off the board by using Afghanistan as base to bring down Pakistan and achieve its warm water port on the Indian Ocean. Cold War Hot vividly brings to life these and many other alternate scenarios, taking the reader behind the scenes at these momentous moments in history. In showing what could have happened, the authors show how precarious the Cold War peace actually was, and how little it would have taken to tip the balance into World War Three.

Deceptions by Sean Hayden

Description from Amazon.

The great State of California has elected themselves a new governor…and he's a vampire!

Many hope it will bring some peace between the humans and vampires. Many don't, which could be the reason someone is trying to kill him. Knowing they can't protect him from supernatural terrorist attacks, the Department of Homeland Security turns to the only people who can, the FBI. More importantly, their only vampire agent.

Ashlyn may be Governor Greer's only hope, but can she keep him alive without starting a war of her own?

When the lines become blurred and it becomes difficult to separate her enemies from her allies, Ashlyn may end up doing just that.

Disaster at D-Day: The Germans Defeat the Allies, June 1944 by Peter Tsouras

Description from Amazon.

This alternate history of the Allied D-Day landings is based very firmly on fact and is a brilliant study of how a campaign could lead to unexpected results. It is June 1944. The Allied armies are poised for the full-scale invasion of Fortress Europe. Across the Channel, the vaunted Wehrmacht lies waiting for the first signs of the invasion, ready for the final battle. What happens next is well known to any student of modern history - but the outcome could have been very different, as Peter Tsouras shows in this devastating account of a D-Day in which plans, missions and landings go horribly wrong. Peter Tsouras introduces minor adjustments at the opening of the campaign - the repositioning of a unit, bad weather and misjudged orders - and examines their effect as they gather momentum and impact upon all subsequent events. Without deviating from the genuine possibilities of the situation, he presents a scenario that keeps the reader guessing and changes the course of history.

The Hannover Assassins by Alexander Rooksmoor

Description from Amazon.

It is 1864 in the Kingdom of Hanover, North-West Germany, but not the 1864 that our world saw. Commander Wilfried

This is a steampunk short story mixing actual historical figures into a fictional political conspiracy to provide adventure handling the challenges and benefits that greater industrialisation would have brought to those policing the burgeoning cities of Britain and its possessions.

If the South Won Gettysburg by Mark Nesbitt

Description from Amazon.

Gettysburg: a turning point in the Civil War. It was here that the Confederate "High Tide" failed to brim over the Union defenders. Many historical accounts have been written about the Battle of Gettysburg and the Civil War detailing the technical and humanistic aspects of the soldiers and their leaders. In "If the South Won Gettysburg" author Mark Nesbitt makes a dramatic hypothetical examination of precisely that theory: What if the South won at Gettysburg as a result of a change in the South's battle tactics ? What would have been the fate of this great nation?

From key moments at the Battle of Gettysburg and throughout the rest of the war, and beyond, Nesbitt makes a bold speculation on the ways in which the end results could have differed had the South been successful at Gettysburg.

"If the South Won Gettysburg" was first published in 1980. A second edition was published in 1993. The theories put forth by Mr. Nesbitt have proven to be timeless.

Portal to Adventure by E. Patrick Dorris

Description from Amazon.

Waking from a traumatic brain injury in a field hospital during World War I, amnesiac "John Smith" quickly realizes he is not like other men. John can alter the way time flows around him and can even travel to parallel worlds, through portals seemingly activated by the power of his own mind.

Hurtled by accident through the first of these portals, John discovers an alternate Earth still trapped in an ice age and populated by mammoths and other strange creatures. Stranger still are the human cultures John finds, some primitive but some advanced in ways not seen in the 20th century Earth he left.

As John tries to come to grips with his abilities and situation, he is catapaulted through a series of cliffhangers and pulp-like adventures. Complete with airships, plenty of peril, and a princess to rescue, Portal to Adventure is a fun romp of a tale that could have been written at the turn of the century.

Spartacus Imperator by Richard Hofing

Description from Amazon.

An alternate history of ancient Rome.

What if certain events in ancient Rome had happened a little differently?
A young Julius Caesar, desperate to avenge a personal tragedy for which he blames Sulla, the blood-thirsty dictator of Rome, amasses a small army while serving as a military tribune in Asia Minor. He knows his army is not large enough or powerful enough to defeat Rome but he has an idea where he can get more soldiers. A lot more.

Spartacus, seeking vengeance on Rome for years of slavery, degradation and humiliation as a gladiator, escapes his enslavement and begins to build his own army. The slave army cuts a bloody swath across Italy, defeating multiple Roman armies. Spartacus knows that Rome will never give up, no matter how many Roman soldiers he kills, and sets his sights on the city of Rome itself.

And what if Spartacus and Caesar, perhaps two of the most brilliant military commanders of their time, joined forces and marched together on Rome?

This is that story.

A Sword For Arthur by John Barrett Rose

Description from Amazon.

How King Arthur got his sword is something glossed over by Historians, a dab of magic, a hand rising from a lake, and Ho! all is supposed to be explained.

Hooey! The sword was actually made in a high-tech 20th century workshop. Getting it into Fifth Century Arthur's hands became a matter of perseverance in the face of death and other interesting difficulties, including trying to find and identify Arthur.

Here we bring you for the first time, reports by People Who Were There, with first hand accounts in which King Arthur XXII, Time Slither, sheer terror, and certain anomalies in the Time Equations are properly considered.

At first glance it may all seem strange.

The truth often does.

Time's Fugitive by Jennette Marie Powell

Description from Amazon.

A past shrouded in mystery.
Violet Sinclair remembers nothing of her life before the day she awoke several years earlier, drenched in blood that wasn’t hers. But since she met Tony Solomon, she’s been certain of one thing – sometime in her hidden past, she knew him… loved him… and did something terrible to him.

A present fraught with danger.
Time-traveler Tony Solomon is sure he never met Violet before they were coworkers, yet she bears an uncanny resemblance to the woman he loved and lost decades before he was born. After an impulse encounter leaves Violet pregnant with his child, she becomes the target of killers from the future.

A future feared in jeopardy.
Framed for murder, Tony will do anything to protect Violet and their child, even if their only escape is to jump into the past, something he swore he’d never do again. But when they jump back much further than planned, they find their troubles are only beginning—and secrets can get them killed.

Timewreck Titanic by Rhys Davies

Description from Amazon.

A fleet of ships have gathered in the North Atlantic to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the most famous maritime disaster of all history.

Suddenly, a pulse of light engulfs several of the ships, who find themselves on an open ocean dotted with icebergs. Desperately trying to make contact with the outside world, they detect no satellite or radio signals, except for a single vessel just off to the north, who is sending out messages of distress in archaic Morse code.

Her name is the RMS Titanic. She has struck an iceberg and is sinking.

Displaced a century into the past, the ships of the Titanic Memorial Fleet find themselves suddenly intervening in the very disaster that they had gathered to remember.

Can they change the outcome of this night?

Should they even try?

What will be the consequences of introducing modern ideas and technologies into a world ill-prepared to handle them, on the brink of a century of catastrophic war and change?

Titanic with ZOMBIES by Richard Brown

Description from Amazon.

This is the story...
of a shipbuilder who designed the greatest ocean liner ever imagined.
of a captain on the final voyage of his long and distinguished career.
of a crew dedicated to the safety and well-being of all passengers.
of an unsinkable woman who stood up when everyone told her to sit down.
Oh, and there's an infection that turns hundreds of passengers into violent, flesh-eating ghouls.

That's right. This ain't no love story.

This is the story of the Titanic with ZOMBIES.

All aboard. It's about to go down!

Twigs of Chance by R. B. Parsons

Description from Amazon.

Some say time hinges on a single act of fate...or choice.

Coup de Temps -- Cruel times dictate cruel methods. Four freedom fighters race against the clock to take out the one man responsible for the nightmare their world had become -- before he grows up.

Infield on Retainer -- It's brains against brawn when Horace Grubin takes on the high school bully on his own playing field -- the baseball diamond. But is he teaching the bully or himself?

The Avenger -- Officer Steve Whorton follows a killer into the future to learn the killer is the only person who can help Whorton save his family in the past.

Desperate Measures -- A professor of history shangais a young pre-med student to save the life of a young woman -- and alter the course of American history.

To fans, authors and publishers...

Do you want to see your work given a shout out on our New Releases segment? Contact Mitro at ahwupdate@gmail.com.  We are looking for works of alternate history, counterfactual history, steampunk, historical fantasy, time travel or anything that warps history beyond our understanding.

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