New Releases 3/15/16

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Hardcovers

A Man Lies Dreaming by Lavie Tidhar

The novel that stunned—and scandalized—Europe comes to America

Wolf, a low-rent private detective, roams London’s gloomy, grimy streets, haunted by dark visions of a future that could have been—and a dangerous present populated by British Fascists and Nazis escaping Germany. Shomer, a pulp fiction writer, lies in a concentration camp, imagining another world. And when Wolf and Shomer's stories converge, we find ourselves drawn into a novel both shocking and profoundly haunting.

At once a perfectly pitched hard-boiled noir thriller (with an utterly shocking twist) and a “Holocaust novel like no other” (The Guardian), A Man Lies Dreaming is a masterful, unforgettable literary experiment from “one of our best and most adventurous writers” (Locus).

Neo-Victorian Freakery: The Cultural Afterlife of the Victorian Freak Show by Helen Davies

Neo-Victorian Freakery explores the way in which contemporary fiction, film, and television has revisited the lives of nineteenth-century freak show performers. It locates the neo-Victorian freak show as a crucial forum for debating the politics of disability, gender, sexuality and race within the genre more broadly.

Paperbacks

Jani and the Great Pursuit by Eric Brown

Jani and her stalwart companions Lieutenant Alfie Littlebody and Anand Doshi find themselves chased from India, via Greece, to London by the British authorities, Russian spies and a Hindu priest - who all want what Jani carries, the ventha-di: the key that will open the door to other worlds. In London she attempts to rescue the imprisoned alien Mahran - the only person who might help her save the Earth from the invasion of the merciless Zhell, the self-styled Masters of the Cosmos. But will she escape London and reach Tibet before the forces of evil capture her - and before she is betrayed by someone she considers loyal to her cause?

Ides of March by Bob Mayer

What does it take to change history and destroy our reality? The same date; six different years.

44 BC. Caesar heads to the Senate for his date with death.

1493 AD: Christopher Columbus returns to Spain after ‘discovering’ the New World. But more than acclaim awaits him.

1917 AD: The Last Czar, Nicholas II, abdicates. He, and his family, are supposed to be taken prisoner; but some have other plans.

493 AD: The First King of Italy, Odoacer, is executed by Theodoric, an event considered the end of the Western Roman Empire. But if the sword goes the other way?

480 BC: A massive Persian Army is invading Greece. Standing in its way: King Leonidas and 300 Spartans. And whispering in Leonidas’ ear is a priestess from the Oracle of Delphi. But what is she telling him?

The Time Patrol must send an agent back to each day, with just each having 24 hours to defeat the Shadow’s plan to disrupt our time-line, creating a time tsunami and wiping our present out.

E-Books

Dreams of the Space Age by Ian Sales

Yuri Gagarin goes to Mars. The Voyager 1 space probe carries an astronaut to the edge of the Solar System. The first man in space is an American boxer. These are just some of the re-imaginings of the Space Race contained in this slim collection of tautly-written tales. Rigorously researched, they feature rocket sleds, Space Age fashion and the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo space programmes. This is the Right Stuff, it put twelve men on the Moon and could have put a husband and wife on Mars. But all that ended in 1972, when the crew of Apollo 17 splashed down in the Atlantic. All we have now is nostalgia, a slowly fading yearning for more adventurous and optimistic times. All we have now are... DREAMS OF THE SPACE AGE.

Union Forever by William R. Forstchen

The defeat of the Tugar horde by Andrew Keane, his Civil War regiment and soldiers from the now-liberated Russian city Rus was cause for great celebration (RALLY CRY, Book 1 in The Lost Regiment series). However, Andrew once again must mobilize his American and Russian troops, as another terrifying horde called the Merki have attacked Roum, with the help of human troops from Cartha, a Carthaginian city hostile to Rome back on Earth before both Romans and Carthaginians were transported to this strange planet.

Andrew Keane insists the existing alliance of Rus and Roum must be honored, and so the army of Rus and American soldiers begins a long march towards Roum to help defend it. While Andrew’s troops are successful in saving Roum with the help of the Patrician Marcus and his freed slaves, Andrew and his colleagues realize they’ve been tricked. The Horde’s strategy was to divert the Rus/American army, sending them South, so the horde and their Cartha allies can destroy Rus. It’s a race against time as Andrew and his army of Rus, Roum and American soldiers struggle to return in time.

Politics – Rus, Roum and Merki – add to the fun of this brilliantly-conceived alternate world novel.

To readers, authors and publishers...

Is your 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, a blogger on Amazing Stories and a Sidewise Awards for Alternate History judge. When not writing he works as an attorney, enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana and prepares for the day when travel between parallel universes becomes a reality. You can follow him on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Learn how you can support his alternate history projects on Patreon.

Weekly Update #196

Editor's Note

I really want to make an important announcement today, but I am not sure if I am allowed too yet. So you guys are stuck with this teaser for now. Nevertheless, I am very excited and can't wait to share the good news.

I hope everyone had a fun Father's Day weekend. Due to all the fun I had with my Dad and family, I didn't have as much time as usual to write for The Update. So my apologies for any days where I have nothing to post.

And now the (just okay) news...

Update: A Man Lies Dreaming by Lavie Tidhar

Lavie Tidhar's A Man Lies Dreaming is one of the winners of the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize. For those who don't know what A Man Lies Dreaming is, here is the description from Amazon:

Deep in the heart of history's most infamous concentration camp, a man lies dreaming. His name is Shomer, and before the war he was a pulp fiction author. Now, to escape the brutal reality of life in Auschwitz, Shomer spends his nights imagining another world - a world where a disgraced former dictator now known only as Wolf ekes out a miserable existence as a low-rent PI in London's grimiest streets. An extraordinary story of revenge and redemption, A Man Lies Dreaming is the unforgettable testament to the power of imagination.

As for the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize, it is an annual prize fund of £40,000 divided between eight British authors. Lavie's novel was the alternate historian represented among this group and our hearty congratulations go out to him.

What you may have missed...

Three articles shined across social media last week. First up, Mark Johnson wrote a long article on the "alternate history aesthetics" in the Command & Conquer: Red Alert series. Its a cool article featuring a combination of concept art and in-game footage. Fans of perhaps the most well-known alternate history RTS should definitely check it out.

Next up, ever wondered what the plan is in case an asteroid is ever on a collision course with the Earth (you know, besides panicking and looting)? Well now we know thanks to David S. F. Portree who shared with us how a group of MIT students tried to prevent exactly that. Thanks also to David for not treating me like a complete idiot when I originally said "meteor".

Finally, if you ever worried about what to do in case you accidentally traveled back in time or stepped into a parallel timeline, here is some good advice from Mallory Ortberg of The Toast.

Video of the Week

Didn't I say I would be doing a video of the week? For our inaugural video of the week we have Part Two of How the Avengers: Age of Ultron should have ended:

I am surprised it took me this long to start sharing videos from How It Should Have Ended (HISHE). Granted its alternate fictional history, but we have all wondered at some point about what if our favorite characters made different choices.

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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.

Weekly Update #167

Editor's Note

Even though my Halloween celebrations prevented me from posting the next Weekly Update, I have no regrets. Not only did we surpass 500,000 page views, we also broke our monthly page view record AGAIN. The new record is 24,095. Thanks again everybody.

Well enough chat. Make sure you check out the Links to the Multiverse. There are a lot of them from the past two weeks.

And now the news...

Out Now: A Man Lies Dreaming by Lavie Tidhar

Out in the UK now is a new alternate history novel by Lavie Tidhar called A Man Lies Dreaming. Here is the description from Amazon:

Deep in the heart of history's most infamous concentration camp, a man lies dreaming. His name is Shomer, and before the war he was a pulp fiction author. Now, to escape the brutal reality of life in Auschwitz, Shomer spends his nights imagining another world - a world where a disgraced former dictator now known only as Wolf ekes out a miserable existence as a low-rent PI in London's grimiest streets.

An extraordinary story of revenge and redemption, A Man Lies Dreaming is the unforgettable testament to the power of imagination.

So what do the reviewers think of this book? Adam Roberts of The Guardian called it a "twisted masterpiece". Meanwhile, Mahvesh Murad of Tor said "[t]here is eloquence and gravitas in the sparselness and brevity of noir fiction when it is good, and Tidhar’s is quite incredible." Finally David of Blue Book Balloon said it was "[b]y far and away the best book I've read this year."

Wow that is some high praise, although Americans might have to wait a while before we can get our hands on a copy.

Out Now: Waistcoats and Weaponry by Gail Carriger

For steampunk fans, Gail Carriger's Waistcoats and Weaponry is out as well. Here is the description from Amazon:

Class is back in session...

Sophronia continues her second year at finishing school in style--with a steel-bladed fan secreted in the folds of her ball gown, of course. Such a fashionable choice of weapon comes in handy when Sophronia, her best friend Dimity, sweet sootie Soap, and the charming Lord Felix Mersey stowaway on a train to return their classmate Sidheag to her werewolf pack in Scotland. No one suspected what--or who--they would find aboard that suspiciously empty train. Sophronia uncovers a plot that threatens to throw all of London into chaos and she must decide where her loyalties lie, once and for all. 

Gather your poison, steel tipped quill, and the rest of your school supplies and join Mademoiselle Geraldine's proper young killing machines in the third rousing installment in the New York Times bestselling Finishing School Series by steampunk author, Gail Carriger.

So what do the critics have to say? John DeNardo of SF Signal fame listed as one of the books you should check out in November. Karin Kross of Tor, on the other hand, said it wasn't the strongest entry in the series, but Karin did like the "depiction of friendship among a group of very different young women."

So not as great of praise as was received for Lavie's book, but fans of the series probably won't be disappointed,

Videos for Alternate Historians

Two trailers were the talk of the web over the last two weeks. First up is the new trailer for Assassin's Creed: Unity:

So it looks like we are going to see some time travel to World War II. Interesting. Next up, a new teaser trailer was released for Iron Sky: The Coming Race. Let's check it out:

It looks like they are going for the lizard people/hollow Earth conspiracy theories. Will it work? I guess we will just have to find out.

Links to the Multiverse

Books and Short Fiction

7 Reasons Why Steampunk Is Totally "Now" by Desirina Boskovich at Huffington Post.
Cover & Synopsis: CROOKED by Austin Grossman at SF Signal.
Cover Reveal: The Temporal Element II by Martin T. Ingham at Three Cents Worth.
Harry Harrison! Harry Harrison! (Excerpt) by Harry Harrison at Tor.
Hell with the Lid Off — The Perfect Setting for Steampunk by Gail Z. Martin and Larry N. Martin at Risingshadow.
Lisa Mantchev: "It Started with a Pocket Watch" at Amazon Blogs.
New Story Live and More by Lauren C. Teffeau (he has a story in The Change).
Review: The Allied Invasion of France 1942-1943 by Paul Robinson at The Wargamer.
Review: Curious Notions by Harry Turtledove at The Great Adventure.
Review: The Time Roads by Beth Bernobich at Mania.
Richard Ellis Preston, Jr. on Airship Versus Flying Kraken Battle Tactics: A Steampunk Primer (Plus: Bonus Deals and Content) at SF Signal.
"Ruins of Time" wins Chinese sci-fi award at English.news.cn.
Table of Contents: CRANKY LADIES OF HISTORY Edited by Tehani Wessely and Tansy Rayner Roberts at SF Signal.
Up Now–The Mind’s Eye by Chris Nuttall at The Chrishanger.
The Well-Mannered Woman’s Guide to Kicking Ass Whilst Wearing a Corset by Gail Z. Martin at Dwelling in Probabilities.

Comics

Comic Review & Interview: Creature Cops: Special Varmint Unit by Bob Leeper at Nerdvana.

Counterfactuals, History and News

5 Backup Plans That Would Have Changed Modern History by Evan V. Symon at Cracked.
11 Intriguing Ways World War I Could Have Turned Out Differently by George Dvorsky at io9.
Alternate History: What If Catherine of Aragon Agreed to the Divorce With Henry VIII? by Alexandria Ingham at Wizzley.
Bob Dylan Wanted to Make an Album With the Beatles and Rolling Stones by Andy Greene at Rolling Stones.
Did A Pope And An Emperor Team Up To Erase 300 Years Of History? by Esther Inglis-Arkell at io9.
Friedman's Counterfactual Comparison of ISIS and Vietnam by Gavriel D. Rosenfeld at The Counterfactual History Review.
How One Soviet Submarine Commander Averted World War III by Mark Strauss at io9.
It's Looking More and More Likely That We Live in a Multiverse by Annalee Newitz at io9.
Ned Kelly Under the Microscope unravels bushranger myths by Cris Kennedy at The Sydney Morning Herald.
The One Basic Fact About History That Time Travelers Always Forget by Annalee Newitz at io9.
The Plots to Destroy America by Kurt Eichenwald at Newsweek.
Revealed: How the Soviets Planned To Go To War with America's Navy by Sam Roggeveen at The National Interest.
Vladimir Putin's Batshit Crazy Attempt To Create an Alternate History by George Dvorsky at io9.
What if ...? by Ron Eachus at Statesman Journal.
What Would Two Floridas Look Like? by Dallas Jensen at Slate.
Who Would Have Health Insurance if Medicaid Expansion Weren't Optional by Kevin Quealy and Margot Sanger-Katz at The New York Times.

Film and Television

1983: The Brink of Apocalypse at Far Future Horizons.
Just How Different Was Nolan's Third Batman Movie Supposed To Be? by Kit Simpson Browne at Movie Pilot.
Man Conquers Space by Alex Michael Bonnici at Far Future Horizons.
Review: Doctor Who, S8, E10: In the Forest of the Night and E11: Dark Water at Geek Syndicate.
Will 'Marco Polo' Be Netflix's 'Game of Thrones'? by Laura Rosenfeld at Tech Times.
You Have Chosen…Poorly: A Ranking Of Alternate Horror Film Endings by Mark Strauss at io9.

Games

'Dust.Evolution' Announced, Seeks Crowd Funding - Trailer by Rainier at Worth Playing.
Why Gandhi Is Such An Asshole In Civilization by Luke Plunkett at io9.

Interviews

Richard J. Evans at  Dublin Festival of History 2014.
Nicola Griffith at Tor.
Dan Jones at Word & Film.
Alison Morton at Unusual Historicals.
Diana M. Pho at Tor.
Anne Valente at The Collagist.

Podcasts


The 17 Greatest Movie Scenes Deleted from History at Cracked.
Dissecting Worlds Series 9 Episode 2: Game of Shadows (of the Apt) at Geek Syndicate.

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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.