New Releases 8/27/13

Paperbacks

1635: Papal Stakes by Eric Flint and Charles E. Gannon

Description from Amazon.

A new addition to the multiple New York Times best-selling Ring of Fire series. After carving a place for itself in war-torn 17th century Europe, citizens of the modern town of Grantville, West Virginia take on the Borgias and Papal succession shenanigans that could undermine a Spring of freedom that has come to Europe three centuries early.

#15 in the multiple bestselling Ring of Fire Series.

It’s springtime in the Eternal City, 1635. But it’s no Roman holiday for uptimer Frank Stone and his pregnant downtime wife, Giovanna. They’re in the clutches of would-be Pope Cardinal Borgia, with the real Pope–Urban VII –on the run with the renegade embassy of uptime Ambassador Sharon Nichols and her swashbuckling downtime husband, Ruy Sanchez de Casador y Ortiz. Up to their necks in papal assassins, power politics, murder, and mayhem, the uptimers and their spouses need help and they need it quickly.

Special rescue teams–including Harry Lefferts and his infamous Wrecking Crew–converge on Rome to extract Frank and Gia. And an uptime airplane is on its way to spirit the Pope to safety before Borja’s assassins can find him. It seems that everything is going to work out just fine in sunny Italy.

Until, that is, everything goes wrong. Now, whether they are prisoners in Rome or renegades protecting a pope on the run, it’s up to the rough and ready can-do attitude of Grantville natives to once again escape the clutches of aristocratic skullduggery and ring in freedom for a war-torn land.

Age of Godpunk: Collecting Age of Anansi, Age of Satan and Age of Gaia by James Lovegrove

Description from Amazon.

James Lovegrove presents three novellas with three different 'gods' and their appreance in the worlds of man. Age of Anansi, Age of Satan, and a third novella Age of Gaia appearing both in print and ebook for the first time with the release of this exciting omnibus.

James Lovegrove presents three novellas with three different 'gods' and their appreance in the worlds of man. Age of Anansi, Age of Satan, and a third novella, Age of Gaia, appearing both in print and ebook for the first time with the release of this exciting omnibus.

Doorways to Extra Time edited by Trisha Wooldridge

Description from Amazon.

In our busy world of meetings and microwaves, car radios and cellphones, people always wish they could get an extra hour in the day. But what if they could? Doorways to Extra Time is an anthology that explores ways to get extra time (be it an hour, a day, or a decade) and the impact it would have--whether upon a single life, a family or an entire world.

Sherlock Holmes - The Stuff of Nightmares by James Lovegrove

Description from Amazon.

It's the autumn of 1890, and a spate of bombings has hit London. The newspapers are full of fevered speculation about anarchists, anti-monarchists and Fenians. But one man suspects an even more sinister hand behind the violence.  Sherlock Holmes believes Professor Moriarty is orchestrating a nationwide campaign of terror, but to what end? At the same time, a bizarrely garbed figure has been spotted on the rooftops and in the grimy back alleys of the capital.  He moves with the extraordinary agility of a latter-day Spring-heeled Jack.  He possesses weaponry and armour of unprecedented sophistication.  He is known only by the name Baron Cauchemar, and he appears to be a scourge of crime and villainy. But is this masked man truly the force for good that he seems?  Is he connected somehow to the bombings?  Holmes and his faithful companion Dr. Watson are about to embark on one of their strangest and most exhilarating adventures yet.

SideQuest Adventures by Mark Teppo, Angus Trim, Michael Tinker Pearce and Linda Pearce

Description from Amazon.

Three exciting stand-alone SideQuest adventures set in the alternate history world of the popular Foreworld Saga, collected in a single volume.

The Beast of Calatrava, by Mark Teppo, is an intriguing alternate history tale in which both a battle-scarred former knight with a blood-soaked history and a monk with a mysterious past face the encroaching Templar crusade and the war coming to Iberia.

In The Shield Maiden, by Michael “Tinker” Pearce and Linda Pearce, a headstrong and skilled young Viking woman struggles through the stigmas of her time to claim her spot among the fiercest of fighters.

The Lion in Chains, by Angus Trim and Mark Teppo, is a visionary adventure in which the legendary Robin Hood joins forces with a clandestine order of warrior monks to rescue the kidnapped King Richard the Lionheart.

Audiobooks

Hearts of Iron by Scott James Magner

Description from Amazon.

When The Italian Job meets the Knights of the Round Table, the ultimate medieval heist caper is born.

It is the summer of 1035 AD and three sons of Tancred de Hauteville are in ambivalent service to Guimar, Prince of Salerno. The three men, who have been trained by their father in the art of war since childhood, spend the sweltering afternoons practicing swordplay, trading barbs, and thinking of how many men they would need to take the prince's poorly fortified castle for themselves.

But when a mysterious agent asks the prince for the brothers' services in obtaining a gilded chest, eldest brother William recognizes an opportunity to strengthen the Hauteville legacy. When he assembles a crew of skilled mercenaries, loyalties are tested and truths revealed. Among the group, there is a traitor, a spy, and the carrier of a long-held secret. The trust William places in each of his men will decide the future for himself and his family.

A bold new SideQuest in the Foreworld Saga, HEARTS OF IRON shows a different side of the middle ages , but with all the deft-sword play, historical accuracy, and political intrigue you would expect from the series that brought you The Mongoliad trilogy.

To fans, authors and publishers...

Is you story going to be published in time for the next New Releases? Contact us 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 and a blogger on Amazing Stories. His new story "The Enchanted Bean" can be found in Once Upon a Clockwork Tale from Echelon Press. When not writing he works as an attorney, enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana and prepares for the inevitable zombie apocalypse. You can follow him on Facebook or Twitter.