New Releases 8/21/12

New paperback

Faultline 49 by David Danson

Description from Amazon.

The harrowing account of reporter David Danson's journey through US-occupied Canada in search of the principal provocateur in the Canadian-American War: terrorist mastermind Bruce Kalnychuk. As Danson draws closer to the truth about the 2001 World Trade Center Bombing in Edmonton, Alberta, and the criminal war it propagated, his journalistic distance to the story collapses, rendering him not only a brutalized participant, but an enemy of the state. David's findings are as daunting as the personal price he's paid to make them available to the North American public.

The People's Princess by Tabitha DeHavilland

Description from Amazon.

Fifteen years ago a princess died and the world mourned. I mourned along with them. That princess had fueled my adolescent belief in fairy tales and happily-ever-afters. I watched her wedding. And then I watched her funeral. I cried with her children. I cried with the world. And I wondered… what if? What if she really hadn’t died? What if it was all some grand scheme so she could have a happily-ever-after? So I wrote her that happy ending. Names have been changed, events re-ordered or altered—even completely fabricated—and thoughts and feelings and conversations made up for my version of what happened at the end of that summer. Some events will have to be given the benefit of the doubt because none of us knows what we’d do in similar situations. Take everything you read in these pages with several grains of salt. Because, remember, what you are reading is fiction. But, oh, what if it wasn’t…

New e-books

Moment of Destiny by Roger Branfill-Cook

Description from Amazon.

A lavishly illustrated alternate history which springs from the possibility that the Royal Navy does not attack the French Fleet at Mers el-Kébir in July 1940.

Close Anglo-French naval and military cooperation was thrown away when Adolf Hitler stole a march on the western democracies, and started the Second World War before his opponents were ready.

Churchill panicked that the powerful modern French Fleet could join the Axis, and gave the order to neutralize French warships.

At Mers el-Kébir Admiral Somerville, blindly obeyed orders, fired on the French squadron tied up in port, knocked out three capital ships and killed 1,300 French sailors. Somerville realized he had committed the greatest error of his entire life.

This alternate history examines what might have happened if Somerville had followed a different course. After all, as the admiral on the spot, he was next only to God in his freedom of action.

Suddenly, events began to unfold in a very different manner. The narrative takes on a life of its own, each cause and effect following on naturally. The French based in North Africa wreak vengeance on the perfidious Italian Fascists who had stabbed them in the back, and the balance of power in the Mediterranean is dramatically altered.

There is no point in Hitler delaying his plans to attack Russia, to go to the aid of his friend Mussolini, locked up in Monte Grosso. So Operation Barbarossa begins much earlier, and Stalin’s Soviet Union is effectively knocked out of the war.

After waging undeclared war on the Germans in the western Atlantic, FDR embroils the USA in the European conflict through the presence of American “observers”, in much the same way as the Americans would do in Vietnam.

In the Far East, Japan’s expansion plans are totally upset by the arrival of a powerful French fleet. Here too everything turns out slightly differently, with surprising results.

Well-led and properly armed, the French soldier, airman and sailor could, and did, deal effectively with their Axis opponents, as in Norway, at Bir Hacheim and under Leclerc. In reality, most never got the chance.

Moment of Destiny introduces eye-witness accounts of alternate events, together with photo montages (with a “health warning” for future historians), includes an analysis of fact versus fiction, provides parallel time charts, and ends with a further frightening possibility.

Based on feedback from the First Edition, this enlarged Second Edition refines certain aspects of the story, and adds significant eye-witness accounts of the aerial combats over the Atlantic, and in the skies of Eastern France, where the dive bomber concept is finally vindicated.

Oracles of Aragret by Mark Whitney

Description from Amazon.

An airship captain, hell-bent on avenging the murder of his crew, is dragged into a desperate war against a blood thirsty priest who is determined to rule the world. A banished Wanderer, a beautiful young thief, and a retired mercenary join him in the hopeless battle. Together they fight against all odds to save the people of Aragret from a fate worse than death.

Project VI by James Badke

Description from Amazon.

Allie is a market research analyst from New York who receives a surprising invitation, a scoop of epic proportions. The Directorate of a tiny but affluent offshore country near North America’s west coast grants her an unprecedented commercial research visa, which she readily accepts.

Initially, Allie and her young daughter fall in love with the Island as they experience its generous lifestyle. But she learns too much and disturbs a system that cannot tolerate defiance. Confronted by the true power behind the facade of benevolence, Allie discovers why an Island should not become an island, entire of itself.

At the same time, Allie wrestles with inexplicable incidents that rattle her perspectives, a personal revolution that counters her outward rebellion. Help appears in diverse and mysterious forms, but whom can she trust? And will it be enough to save both Allie and her daughter?

The setting is Vancouver Island with an alternate history: instead of becoming part of Canada, the Island has emerged as a sovereign nation, very rich in resources and under the control of a shrewd and enigmatic power.

Tannhauser: Operation Night Eagle by Blaine Lee Pardoe

Description from Amazon.

When the occult-obsessed Reich sets its sights on an ancient artifact held in Washington, D.C.’s Smithsonian Castle, the ruthless Hermann Von Heïzinger plans an unprecedented raid on U.S. soil...and only Major John MacNeal and the elite soldiers of the 42nd Marines stand before them. There’s more to this mission than meets the eye, however. Why has the enigmatic Matriarchy mobilized its forces? And to whom is the mysterious mercenary Wolf truly loyal? Prepare for an epic battle that will rage deep into America’s heartland!

New short stories

Roma Islamica by Jordan Harbour

Description from Amazon.

It only took one small accident to change the course of history.

A sailor accidentally dropped a lit torch into the hold of his ship causing a fire that burned the core of the Byzantine navy. The armies of Islam entered the isolated city not long after. The year? 715--over 700 years before the Turks would do the same in our universe. The removal of Constantinople allowed a wave of Islam to enter Europe. Soon the continent was Islamic, a pillar upon which the new western empire, Roma Islamica, would be built.

Roma Islamica is a companion book for the alternate history podcast, the Twilight Histories. This book gives the backstory, the historical events and colourful characters that together make up this exotic alternate reality. When you are done reading this book, please visit www.twilighthistories.com and listen to the podcast.

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 at gmail dot 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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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update, a volunteer editor for Alt Hist and a contributor to Just Below the Law. His fiction can be found at Echelon Press, Jake's Monthly and his own writing blog. When not writing he works as an attorney and enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana.