Weekly Update #141

Editor's Note

Alright I am back!

So I learned that I might have bitten off a little more than I could chew with this double rate of posting. I am still going to do the Map Mondays, Flag Friday and Amazing Stories announcement every Tuesday; but What If Wednesday and Timeline Thursday are being downgraded to "when I can get to it". If anyone would like to take those two posts over for me, I would appreciate it.

Got some good posts coming at you this week. I wax about a world where the Soviets win the Cold War and Mark Appleton returns with another atompunk sampler. That is just a taste of what I have coming up.

And now the news...

Dramatic Audio Rights Sale for David Barnett Steampunk Trilogy

According to a press release from John Jarrold, GraphicAudio will be producing dramatic audio editions (abridged audio with a full cast, sound effects, and music) of David Barnett’s Gideon Smith steampunk trilogy, having acquired the rights from Tor US.

Claire Eddy, Senior Editor at Tor Books in New York, acquired World English Language rights deal for the books in 2011. Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl (which I reviewed at Amazing Stories) was released by Tor (and by Snowbooks in the UK) in September 2013.  The sequel, Gideon Smith and the Brass Dragon, will follow in September 2014.

The only audio book I have ever listened to was the full cast reading of World War Z, although it did not have sound effects or music, it did have several great voice talents. If the Gideon Smith books can live up to that kind of quality, I will certainly check it out.

Japanese deal for Gareth L. Powell’s Ack-Ack Macaque

For our Japanese readers out there (and I know there are a few of you) Tokyo Sogensha Co., Ltd. has acquired the Japanese rights for Ack-Ack Macaque by Gareth L. Powell from Corinne Shioji of The English Agency (Japan) Ltd in Tokyo, representing the John Jarrold (see above) Literary Agency. The book was published in the UK and US by Solaris in 2012.

Ack-Ack Macaque has been shortlisted for the British SF Award for Best Novel, which will be announced over the Easter weekend. The sequel, Hive Monkey, was published in 2013.  A third volume will follow early in 2015.

So congrats Japan, you have some more steampunk coming your way.

Coming in June: Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer complete in one volume!

For those who enjoy fictional mash-ups, artist Dusty Higgins (Knights of the Living Dead) and writer Van Jensen (Green Lantern Corps) will be releasing the complete collection of Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer through Top Shelf. You can see the 12-page preview here.

Here is the description from the press release:

This puppet may not be a real boy… but he just might be a real hero.

When bloodthirsty monsters invade Pinocchio’s hometown and kill his father Geppetto, Pinocchio discovers a new benefit to his magical nose: telling lies produces a never-ending supply of wooden stakes to combat the vampire hordes! Will Pinocchio be able to defeat these horrors, avenge his father, and save his friends?

I am not sure about this one myself. Didn't we already have a famous person slaying vampires recently?

Video

Okay we have a few videos to get through, so bear with me. First up the release trailer for Crusader Kings II: Rajas of India:

Next we see the dieselpunk inspired Captain America: The First Avenger get the Honest Trailer treatment:

If you liked that, watch Cinema Sins eviscerate the same film:

Enough superheroes, we finish with Cody Franklin who is here to talk about what if the United States "won" the Vietnam War:

Cody also has a new channel out, FilmSleuth, so go there if you want to see his most recent alternate history video of the week.

Links to the Multiverse

Books

The Clockwork Dagger (Excerpt) at Tor.
Coming Soon: The Royal Sorceress III: Necropolis by Chris Nuttall at The Chrishanger.
Creating Steampunk Worlds by Tina Christopher at Steampunk Romance.
Do You Have the Time? by Violette Malan at Black Gate.
An Exclusive Sneak Peek At Christopher Priest's Next Mind-Bending Novel by Charlie Jane Anders at io9.
Fatherland and the Power of Alternative History by Ibtisam Ahmed at The Boar.
Germany on Mars in 1889, in The Dream Forge at Frank Chadwick's Space: 1889.
REVIEW: The Abominable by Dan Simmons at SF Signal.
REVIEW: Age of Shiva by James Lovegrove at SF Signal.
REVIEW: Altered Pasts: Counterfactuals in History by Richard J. Evans at Times Higher Education.
REVIEW: Then Everything Changed by Jeff Greenfield at Luna Sea Notes.
REVIEW: Phileas Fogg and the War of Shadows by Josh Reynolds at Meteor House.
REVIEW: The Revolutions by Felix Gilman at NPR.
REVIEW: Three Princes by Ramona Wheeler at io9.
A Steamtrunk of Steampunk at Kindle Daily Post.
The Unmasking of Moriarty by Melissa at Today I Found Out.

Comics

Comic Book Counterfactual: What If Marvel Had Bought DC In 1984? by lightninglouie at Observation Deck.
ELEVATOR PITCH: Skies of Fire at Geek Syndicate.
Fighting Racism at Home and Abroad: PW Talks with Max Brooks at Publishers Weekly.

Counterfactual/Traditional History

10 Shocking Ways the Second World War Could Have Ended Differently by George Dvorsky at io9.
Early Design Specs Show The Space Shuttle Could Have Been Much Cooler by Ron Miller at io9.
The Four Biggest Libertarian Myths About the Civil War by James Oakes at History News Network.
It Seems More and More Certain That We Live in a Multiverse by Annalee Newitz at io9.
Putin Wouldn't Dare Take Alaska by Stephen L. Carter at Bloomberg View.
Rand Paul and the Alternate History of World War II by David Weigel at Slate.
The Ukes and Their Nukes: Why the Bomb wouldn't have helped Kiev protect Crimea from Russia by Jeffrey Lewis at Foreign Policy.

Films

Sunday Cinema: The Time Shifters (a.k.a Thrill Seekers) at SF Signal.

Games

Papers, Please, Gone Home, and more named finalists at the 11th Annual Games for Change Awards by Anthony John Agnello at Joystiq.
REVIEW: Da Vinci’s Art of War at Pocket Tactics.
Tom Sparks And The Quakes Of Ruin Coming To Mac at Inside Mac Games.

Interviews

Tee Morris and Pip Ballantine at Gail Carriger.
Jeff Norton at Sci-Fi-London.
Daniel Ottalini at SC Barrus.
Liesel Schwarz at Alison Morton's Roma Nova.
Ann VanderMeer at Paste.

Podcast

Episode 182: Steven Erikson and Ian McDonald at Notes from Coode Street.
Episode 184 – With Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris at Functional Nerds.
Introducing Rocket Talk: The Tor.com Podcast! by Justin Landon at Tor.

Short Fiction

Cover & Synopsis: LOWBALL: A WILD CARDS NOVEL Edited by George R.R. Martin and Melinda Snodgrass at SF Signal.
REVIEW: Picking Up Plans in Palma by Matthew Quinn at The M.
REVIEW: Then Will The GreatOcean Wash Deep Above by Ian Sales at Michael J. Martineck.

Television

Da Vinci's Demons 2.1: Science Fiction v Fantasy at Paul Levionson's Infinite Regress.
Da Vinci's Demons 2.2: Renaissance Radio at Paul Levionson's Infinite Regress.
Elementary: Season 2, Episode 19. The Many Mouths of Andrew Colville at Thinking about books.
Meanwhile, back in the Elementary-verse by Brad Keefauver at Sherlock Peoria.
REVIEW: The Great Martian War at Far Future Horizons.
REVIEW: To Mars and Beyond by A-Bomb at Far Future Horizons.
This Is The Moment We Kept Rewatching From Last Night's Continuum by Charlie Jane Anders at io9.

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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update and a blogger on Amazing Stories. Check out his short fiction. 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.