New Releases 4/15/14

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Paperbacks

Age of Shiva by James Lovegrove

Zachary Bramwell, better known as the comics artist Zak Zap, is pushing forty and wondering why his life isn t as exciting as the lives of the superheroes he draws. Then he s shanghaied by black-suited goons and flown to Mount Meru, a vast complex built atop an island in the Maldives. There, Zak meets a trio of billionaire businessmen who put him to work designing costumes for a team of godlike super-powered beings based on the ten avatars of Vishnu from Hindu mythology. The Ten Avatars battle demons and aliens and seem to be the saviours of a world teetering on collapse. But their presence is itself a harbinger of apocalypse. The Vedic fourth age of civilisation, Kali Yuga, is coming to an end, and Zak has a ringside seat for the final, all-out war that threatens the destruction of Earth.

E-books

Antioch Burns by Daniel Ottalini

When a scouting expedition goes disastrously wrong, Marius Quinctius Regillus finds himself in a horde of trouble. With the Mongols encircling the grand fortress city of Antioch, Regillus and his men are trapped between a governor’s ambitions and the Mongolian weaponry. With nowhere to turn, can they save the city, or will Antioch Burn?

Discover a new threat to the industrial Imperium of Rome in Antioch Burns, the latest novella by award-winning author Daniel Ottalini.

Audio

Boneshaker by Cherie Priest

Cherie Priest's long-awaited steampunk debut, Boneshaker, opens in the early days of the Civil War when rumors of gold in the frozen Klondike brought hordes of newcomers to the Pacific Northwest. Anxious to compete, Russian prospectors commissioned inventor Leviticus Blue to create a great machine that could mine through Alaska’s ice. Thus was Dr. Blue’s Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine born.

But on its first test run the Boneshaker went terribly awry, destroying several blocks of downtown Seattle and unearthing a subterranean vein of blight gas that turned anyone who breathed it into the living dead.

Now it is sixteen years later, and a wall has been built to enclose the devastated and toxic city. Just beyond it lives Blue’s widow, Briar Wilkes. Life is hard with a ruined reputation and a teenaged boy to support, but she and Ezekiel are managing. Until Ezekiel undertakes a secret crusade to rewrite history.

His quest will take him under the wall and into a city teeming with ravenous undead, air pirates, criminal overlords, and heavily armed refugees. And only Briar can bring him out alive.

Games

War of the Vikings by Paradox

War of the Vikings delivers the next generation of Paradox’s close quarter combat focused brands that moves the setting to the Viking Age. All of these factors enabled us to create a game experience that has an increased intensity, improved accessibility, and more intuitive combat experiences ensuring you’re always presented with interesting choices.

Launch onto the battlefields of the Viking Age in intense close quarter combat, where skill beats strength and the possibility of death is always one opponent away.

To fans, 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 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.

Review: "Boneshaker" by Cherie Priest

Grade: B

I seem to have a steampunk craving these last couple of weeks.  First The Five Fists of Science and now Boneshaker by Cherie Priest.  I am not saying here is anything wrong about liking steampunk, it brings a lot of good things to the genre.

A good thing.

Since Boneshaker has been getting a lot of press lately, however, I wanted to see if the novels holds up to the hype.  Thankfully, it does.

The story is set in an alternate 1880s Seattle.  Mad scientist Leviticus Blue is blamed for destroying much of the city when his new invention, a mining device known as the "Boneshaker", causes a massive earthquake that expels a gas known as the "Blight".  The gas is incredibly lethal and worse yet, causes the dead to rise and hunger for human flesh (called "Rotters").  The people of Seattle build a wall around downtown Seattle and retreat to the remaining safe portions of the city, called the Outskirts.

Sixteen years later, Zeke Wilkes, Blue's son, goes into the walled city to clear his father's name.  Zeke's mother, Briar Wilkes, follows him in an airship, determined to rescue her son. Inside she finds people who stayed behind after the wall went up.  Most are helpful, but there is also the mysterious Dr. Minnericht, who eerily resembles her dead husband. Zeke and Briar's arrival upsets the status quo and they find themselves caught in a battle between the factions within the wall.

The story is exciting, with mysteries and secrets aplenty, and twist at the end.  Plausibility hounds, however, will cringe at the number of points of divergence.  The earliest POD involves an earlier Klondike Gold Rush that leads to Seattle being a larger city by the time the Boneshaker destroys most of it.  Besides smaller changes to Seattle history to allow for iconic buildings to be included, the American Civil War is also still going on.  There are a lot of PODs involving the war, including a southern transcontinental railroad and Stonewall Jackson having a longer life. 

The most perplexing of these PODs, however, is the mention of British troops fighting in the south.  This seems to suggest that Britain has recognized the CSA and is at war with the USA.  Yet all the characters act as if the war is an eastern problem and not something they need to worry about.  Now my geography is a little rusty, but I believe Seattle is pretty damn close to British Columbia.  Did the Canadians decide to sit this one out or what?

I almost forgot: there are zombies.  That is why I can ignore (most of the time) the plausibility issues because the story is what makes this book an excellent read and a good introduction to steampunk if you have not tried that sub-genre yet.

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Mitro is founder, editor and contributor of Alternate History Weekly Update. When he is not busy writing about his passion for alternate history, he spends his time working as a licensed attorney in the state of Illinois and dreams of being a published author himself one day.

Weekly Update #32

Editor's Note

So what did you guys think of Henry Martin's new Op Ed column?  Please tell us your thoughts in the new poll to right.

Got some good things coming up for you.  War Blogger's got something coming down the pipeline and Korsgaard will be doing a review of Roswell, Texas.  In the meantime, check out his showcase on An Age of Miracles, the Revival of Rhomanion.

Surpassed 15,000 page views last Friday.  It was great accomplishment for Alternate History Weekly Update, however I decided to leave the announcement until this Weekly Update instead of making a new post.  It happen to soon after our 10,000 page view that I decided to wait until every 10,000th page view to make an announcement.  Still I want to thank our fans for sticking it out with this blog and remember that if you do like us then show it by liking us on Facebook, following us on Twitter (@ahwupdate) or following us with your Google account.

And now the news...

More Reviews on Boneshaker by Cherie Priest

The AH world is still blowing up about Cherie Priest's Hugo Award nominated novel Boneshaker.  Functional Nerds ran two reviews of the novel, one by Paul Weimer and Catherine Russell.  Weimer said of the novel "[i]t’s not hard to see why it was nominated and why Boneshaker is considered one of the seminal works of the subgenre of SF known as Steampunk."  Russell had good things to say as well: "The characters stand out, the setting is fantastic, and the situation dire. What better way to start a horror story?"

I really need to get my hands on this novel.

Update: S. M. Stirling

New updates on S. M. Stirling.  First he announced that he will be at the World Fantasy Convention in 2013, which will be in the UK that year.  Plus, for those fans of his Emberverse series, you can check out the second chapter of Lord of Mountains, which has been posted on Stirling's official website.  Stirling also announced on his Facebook fan page:

The whole Emberverse series (plus the Nantucket books) has been optioned for possible development as a TV miniseries. And no, THE GIVEN SACRIFICE probably won't be the last.

Not exactly anything we have not heard before, but it is good to know that the Nantucket books may be a TV series.  In the meantime, why not stop by Genre Web Shop and get your own We are the Wolves T-Shirt.

Links to the Multiverse

Articles

Nazi Fiction by Portable Homeland.

Playing with the Past: Alternate History and Historical Fiction in Science Fiction and Fantasy by Louise Marley at SF Signal.

Interview

Interview with Seamus Sweeney, author of "Dublin Can Be Heaven" at Alt Hist Fiction.

Online Alternate History

Into This Abyss: The Eurasian War (1915-1919) by Sarantapechaina at AH.com

Protect and Survive: A Timeline by Macragge1 at AH.com.

Books

Alternate History at Curated Science Fiction

Get your signed paperback edition of Wolf Hunt! by War Blogger at The Burning Ages.

The Literary Horizon: The Man in the High Castle, Conquistador by The Literary Omnivore.

Lois Tilton reviews Short Fiction, early December at Locus Online (Alt Hist #3 is reviewed).

Review of 11/22/63 by Stephen King done by Gopal Sathe at livemint.com.

Films

Alternate-history Spielberg: Who ALMOST starred in his most famous movies? by Anthony Breznican at Entertainment Weekly.

Weekly Update #31

Editor's Note

We broke our monthly page view record last month.  The most page views in a single month is now at 4404.  That is the second time in the row this blog has broken the record and I assure you we are going for three in the row this month.  Got some good stuff coming to you this week in an effort to reach that goal, including a new showcase by Korsgaard.  War Blogger also might have some posts next week once he finishes writing the first chapter to the sequel of Wolf Hunt.

If you have not seen it already, take a look at the new poll in the right side column.  I am planning on putting ads up on this blog, but I wanted to get the readers' opinion on this.  So please, answer the poll and help me make an important decision about the future of this blog.

Meanwhile we got our first reader from Thailand, Saudi Arabia and Blangadesh.  Welcome!

And now the news...

What Can President Gingrich Do For Alternate History?

I and others have mentioned before that alternate history is an obscure genre.  It helps, however, when a well known mainstream author, like Stephen King, writes an alternate history novel.  The spotlight shines on everyone who works in the genre, but only for a little while.

So...what if an alternate history author becomes President of the United States of America?

For those not paying attention to the upcoming United States presidential election of 2012, one of the current front runners for the Republican nomination is former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.  Not only is Gingrich a history professor, but he is also an author of alternate history.  He has co-authored several alternate history novels with William R. Forstchen and Albert S. Hanser, usually set in either the American Civil War and World War II.

Now that Gingrich has become the new front runner in the Republican race, the news agencies have been buzzing about his alternate history credentials.  Mark Whittington at Yahoo! Voices discussed several of Gingrich's works and said they symbolized Newt's "fascination about how history can be shaped by individual decisions by people who happen to be in the right place at the right time." William Bradley at The Huffington Post described Gingrich's alternate histories as being "filled with colorful mavericks, technophilia, loathing for bureaucratic norms, and an evident zest for conflict."  Otis L. Sanford at The Commercial Appeal, however, has a different view of Gingrich's fondness for alternate history when he quotes Andrew Ferguson by saying "a counterfactual account of history appeals especially to people who are disappointed in the real thing. Settled fact is unsatisfying; history as it occurs seems somehow a cheat...It is true that history hasn't worked the way Newt Gingrich envisioned it."

This blogger cannot help but speculate what would happen if Gingrich not only won his party's nomination, but also defeated President Obama in 2012.  What would a President Gingrich do for the genre?  Would his novels act as gateways to a larger library of fiction as people read them to see what the new President did before he was elected?  As I have stated before, Alternate History Weekly Update has a "No Cross, No Crown" policy, but such a future does not seem that bad to this blogger.

Coming Soon: Boneshaker the film

Perhaps the film industry is experiencing a love affair for alternate history films.  Just last week I learned that Hammer Films has acquired the rights to make a film based on Cherie Priest's Boneshaker.  According to Uchronia, Boneshaker is a steampunk adventure set in a world in which the American Civil War has dragged on for 20 years...and there are zombies!  While the idea of steampunk zombies hunters in a war-torn America excites me to no end, we should not get our hopes up.  Many successful novels are optioned all the time and are never made into films, it is just part of the business.  Still I congratulate Priest on her success and if Hammer films notices that there is  a strong interest in this film being made we might just see Boneshaker on the big screen.

You can learn more about this story here and here.

Baen Books Christmas Carol Contest

Baen Books is holding a contest to see who can make the best alternate history Christmas Carol.  Submissions should include at least a verse and chorus. You also have to name the OTL traditional carol on which your lyrics are based.  Alternate history author Robert Conroy and the Baen editorial staff will pick the winning submission.  Lyrics will also be published in the January newsletter. The winner will receive an advanced reading copy and hardcover of Robert Conroy’s Himmler’s War, both signed by the author.

If you plan to enter the contest, please inform Alternate History Weekly Update.

Links to the Multiverse

Articles

Alternate History: A Lesser Known Genre Of Literature Which I Love by Dan Levy at Levy News Network.

Some Thoughts on Writing Steampunk Fiction by Frank Chadwick at Space 1889 Blog.

In an alternate reality, this pyramid is the Lincoln Memorial by Cyriaque Lamar at iO9. 

When novels change history by Stuart Kelly at The Guardian.

Online Alternate History

A counterfactual history of Tim Tebow as a Jacksonville Jaguar by Jeremy Stahl at Slate.

What if ... the FIFA World Cup had been played in a different year by Adam Bate at SI.com

Books

Lois Tilton reviews Short Fiction, late November (two alternate history short stories are present in the review)

Review of 11/22/63 by Stephen King, reviewed by Ron Capshaw at Big Hollywood.

Review of The Guns of the South by Harry Turtledove, reviewed by Rosboch Book Reviews.

Review of The Iron Thorn by Caitlin Kittredge, reviewed by San Jose Public Library.

Well Lit: Alternate histories by Umapagan Ampikaipakan at New Straits Times.

Video Games

Preview: BioShock Infinite by Duncan Geere at Wired.co.uk.

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Mitro is founder, editor and contributor of Alternate History Weekly Update. When he is not busy writing about his passion for alternate history, he spends his time working as a licensed attorney in the state of Illinois and dreams of being a published author himself one day.