Weekly Update #173

Editor's Note

Merry Christmas everybody. This is the last Weekly Update of the year. I got a couple of more articles I will be posting, but in general I am going to be taking a long break to spend time with family over the holiday season. I will see you guys all again in 2015!

And now the news...

What do the critics think of Ascension?

Last week, SyFy premiered the SF mini-series called Ascension. It is a murder mystery set on a nuclear powered spaceship secretly launched in the 1960s to colonize a nearby star system to ensure humanity's survival in case we ever decided to nuke the Earth. The ship itself is inspired by the real life Project Orion, a program Mark Appleton covered in his articles on atompunk on The Update. So what did the critics think of this show? Well there have been mixed reviews and I will do my best to avoid potential spoilers (trust me there is a big one that was already ruined for me).

Pilot Viruet at Flavorwire praised the first episode, but did say that the show failed as mini-series due to its poor ending. David Wharton at Giant Freaking Robot had similar gripes about the ending, but still left him wanting more. Natalie Zutter of Tor said the show relied on "archetypes and trope shorthand", but "still succeeds in worldbuilding." Cheryl Eddy of io9 was less forgiving of Ascension. She slammed the first episode, but did say the final episodes improved over time before ending with a WTF moment. Meanwhile, Jeff Jensen at Entertainment Weekly gave the overall series a "B-".

So the general consensus seems to be that Ascension made a great pilot, but mediocre mini-series. Personally I would rather watch a show featuring a Solar System that was explored and colonized during the Cold War using nuclear powered spaceships. What would 2014 look like in such a universe? Perhaps we would see a Soviet remnant state in the Asteroid Belt causing problems or some utopian communes out in the Oort Cloud. Nevertheless, I probably will check out Ascension in the near future so stay tuned for my review.

Author Updates: Charles Stross and Paul Levinson

Just a couple of updates on some alternate history writers. First up, we have Charles Stross, the author of the Merchant Princes series. Cory Doctorow at BoingBoing wrote a short review about the series, calling them "surprising and delightful, simultaneously zippy and fun and hefty and deep." Stross also mentioned he is working on a new trilogy of Merchant Princes books in a mini-interview done at The Boskone Blog.

Next up we have friend of The Update, Paul Levinson, who has been sharing reviews of his two works, The Plot to Save Socrates and "Loose Ends" on his blog. I actually got a copy of "Loose Ends" when Paul offered it for free on Amazon and I hope to post a review in the near future. Speaking of Paul, you can check out his review of Ascension as well on his blog.

Coming Soon

Due to a lack of new releases this week and wanting to keep Tuesday morning open for something else, I am bringing your New Releases to you a little early.

DMZ The Deluxe Edition Book Three by Brian Wood, Riccardo Burchielli and Ryan Kelly

In the near future, America's worst nightmare has come true. With military adventurism overseas bogging down the Army and National Guard, the U.S. government mistakenly neglects the very real threat of anti-establishment militias scattered across the 50 states. Like a sleeping giant, Middle America rises up and violently pushes its way to the shining seas, coming to a standstill at the line in the sand--Manhattan or, as the world now knows it, the DMZ.

In this new DMZ hardcover, a new leader rises in the DMZ - but what will that mean for Matty Roth, a journalist who calls the zone home? After a near-tragic misadventure in Staten Island, Matty returns to find Parco Delgado in office as provisional governor of New York. Matty's first task under the Delgado regime? Tracking down the source of one of the DMZ's greatest urban legends.

Collects DMZ #29-44.

Videos for Alternate Historians

Last week in videos begins as it usually does with another episode of Epic Rap Battles of History. Featuring a showdown between Steven Spielberg and Alfred Hitchcock (plus special guests):

Next up, lets take an in-depth look at The Order: 1886, PlayStation's exclusive steampunk game, on The Nerdist:

And finally, for those who like WWII tank battles, lets watch Joel, Adam, Matt and Jeremy play World of Tanks in this episode of How To:

Links to the Multiverse

Books and Short Fiction

Best Alternate History of 2014 at The Book Plank.
The Emirate of Kabat by Chris Nuttall at The Chrishanger.
The Grand War News & Patreon by Lynn Davis at Maps, Writing, and Ramblings.
The Infinite Points of Interest in Alternate History by Jacopo Della Quercia at Tor.
Leicester author Rod Duncan to complete trilogy after signing book deal at Leicester Mercury.
Never Wars is Finally Available by Blaine L. Pardoe at Notes From The Bunker.
Philip K. Dick would have been 86 today: Some thoughts on his legacy at Los Angeles Times.
Philip Pullman Releases New His Dark Materials Story for Christmas at Tor.
Review: Sherlock Holmes: The Man Who Never Lived And Can Never Die at SFcrowsnest.
Review: Steampunk Soldiers by Philip Smith and Joseph McCullough at Falcata Times.
What if the World Had Taken a Different Turn? at The New Indian Express.
What...? Johnny Cash and SF? I Fell Into a Burning Ring Of by Steve Fahnestalk at Amazing Stories.

Counterfactuals, History and News

Drone Footage Shows Extent Of Greenpeace's Damage To Peru's Nazca Site by Mark Strauss at io9.
Modern Day Britain Finds Itself in 1884 Part 1 and 2 by Dale Cozort.
The Posters that Warned against the Horrors of a World with Women’s Rights at Messy Nessy Chic.
Russia risks Soviet-style collapse as rouble defence fails at The Telegraph.
The U.S. And Cuba: A Brief History Of A Complicated Relationship at NPR.
The Year Hitler Broke the Internet by Anna Goldenberg at The Jewish Daily Forward.

Films and Television

10 Movies That Hollywood Won't Let You See by Gwynne Watkins at Yahoo.
Agents of Re.L.I.E.F by Dan Bensen at The Kingdoms of Evil.
Black List Of Beloved (But Unfilmed) Scripts Unloads Tons Of New Scifi at io9.
Cast Set For BBC & Carnival’s ‘Game Of Thrones’-Style Epic ‘The Last Kingdom’ at Deadline.
Review: About Time at Ramblings of the Easily Distracted.
The World of ‘The Man in the High Castle' at Far Future Horizons.

Graphic Novels and Comics

Funding Friday, "Moonshot" - Comics & Crowdfunding News at Watercolour Horizons.
A Holiday Gift Guide for New Comics Readers by Ali Collucccio at Panels.
Review: The Royals: Masters of War by Rob Williams at It's All Comic To Me.

Interviews

Lynne Thomas, editor of Chicks Dig Time Lords, at Fantasy Scroll.

Podcasts

Show 19 – Cato’s War at Twilight Histories.

* * *

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.

New Releases 12/3/14

Who said there would be no New Releases this week? Oops!

Hardcovers

Brass Sun: The Wheel of Worlds by Ian Edington and I. N. J. Culbard

Wren's father has revealed to her the secret of their world, that it is only one of many in a clockwork solar system; but it is dying and to save her home, she must first escape it.

The Orrery is a fully functional, life-size clockwork solar system, a clutch of planets orbiting a vast Brass Sun via immense metal spars.

But the once-unified collection of worlds has regressed into eccentric fiefdoms, and ice is encroaching on the outer planets as the sun is dying. Wren and Eptimus must find the key to restart the sun, but first must escape the world known as The Keep....

This is a wholly original new SF-clockpunk series from the bestselling artist of New Deadwardians and the hit writer of Scarlet Traces and Hinterkind.

Irish Science Fiction by Jack Fennell

Irish Science Fiction revisits a critical paradigm that has often been overlooked or dismissed by science fiction scholars - namely, that science fiction can be understood in terms of myth. Science fiction springs from pseudo-science rather than 'proper' science, because pseudo-science is more easily converted into narrative; in this book it is argued that different cultures produce distinct pseudo-sciences, and thus, unique science fiction traditions. Fennell's innovative framework is used to examine Irish science fiction from the 1850s to the present day, covering material written both in Irish and in English. Considering science fiction novels and short stories in their historical context, Irish Science Fiction analyses a body of literature that has largely been ignored by Irish literature researchers. This is the first book to focus exclusively on Irish science fiction, and the first to consider Irish-language stories and novels alongside works published in English.

Sustenance by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

The vampire Count Saint-Germain protects Americans fleeing persecution—and becomes trapped in a web of betrayal, deceit, and murder in post-WWII Europe in Chelsea Quinn Yarbro’s SUSTENANCE

The powerful House Un-American Activities Committee hunted communists both at home and abroad.  In the late 1940s, the vampire Count Saint-Germain is caught up in intrigue surrounding a group of Americans who have fled to postwar Paris. Some speak out against HUAC and battle the authorities.

Saint-Germain swears to do his best to protect his friends, but even his skills may not be able to stand against agents of the OSS and the brand-new CIA.  And he has an unexpected weakness: his lover, Charis, who has returned to Paris under mysterious circumstances.

Ticker by Lisa Mantchev

A girl with a clockwork heart must make every second count.

When Penny Farthing nearly dies, brilliant surgeon Calvin Warwick manages to implant a brass “Ticker” in her chest, transforming her into the first of the Augmented. But soon it’s discovered that Warwick killed dozens of people as he strove to perfect another improved Ticker for Penny, and he’s put on trial for mass murder.

On the last day of Warwick’s trial, the Farthings’ factory is bombed, Penny’s parents disappear, and Penny and her brother, Nic, receive a ransom note demanding all of their Augmentation research if they want to see their parents again. Is someone trying to destroy the Farthings...or is the motive more sinister?

Desperate to reunite their family and rescue their research, Penny and her brother recruit fiery baker Violet Nesselrode, gentleman-about-town Sebastian Stirling, and Marcus Kingsley, a young army general who has his own reasons for wanting to lift the veil between this world and the next. Wagers are placed, friends are lost, romance stages an ambush, and time is running out for the girl with the clockwork heart.

Paperbacks

On Her Majesty's Behalf by Joseph Nassise

The outrageously inventive follow-up to By the Blood of Heroes from New York Times and USA Today bestseller Joseph Nassise!

At the close of 1917, the Germans introduced a new type of gas, T-Leiche--"corpse gas"--a revolutionary weapon that changed the war. Instead of killing the living, T-Leiche resurrected the bodies of the dead.

For those who survived the killing fields of France, the danger has only just begun. Veteran Michael "Madman" Burke and his company have just been assigned a daring new mission by the president himself: rescue the members of the British royal family.  But Manfred von Richthofen, the undead Red Baron and newly self-appointed leader of Germany, is also determined to find the family.

In the devastated, zombie-infested city of London, Burke and his men will face off in an unholy battle with their most formidable opponent yet: a team of infected super soldiers - shredders - who have greater speed and strength than their shambler predecessors.  If they don't succeed, all of Britain will fall into undead enemy hands.

E-books

Chronica by Paul Levinson

Sierra and Max arrive in 2062, and find the world has somewhat changed. Joe Biden was President from 2009-2017, and train travel is much more prominent. Was this due to the scrolls that she rescued from the Library of Alexandria? Heron's Chronica, which describes how to building a time travel device and was one of the texts Sierra saved from burning, has not yet been published, and Sierra soon realizes that Heron is doing everything in his lethal power to prevent that from happening. Her attempt to safeguard the Chronica, which she left in William Henry Appleton's keeping, takes her to the end of the 1890s, where she interacts with John Jacob Astor IV, Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, J. P. Morgan, film pioneers William Dickson and Edwin Porter, and other denizens of The Gilded Age.

A Clockwork Victim by Quinn Langston

Beware when a vampire loses control!

In 1850s London, most mortals are not aware that vampires walk amongst them. Lord Sebastian Hawthorne, himself a vampire, intends to keep it that way. Unfortunately, when someone begins killing off well-known citizens—in gruesome ways—all signs point to a newborn vampire unable to control the bloodlust.

Marcus Dwyer, a fellow vampire, admits to turning a woman for companionship, and now she’s out of control. He needs Sebastian’s help. Together, Marcus, Sebastian and Theo, Sebastian’s human friend, set out to catch the rogue killer before she exposes their secret.

Will they find her in time? Or will the police capture her first, and will their discovery lay waste to the vampires’ immortal world?

Iron Horsemen by Brad R. Cook

Alexander Armitage doesn't fit in at Eton College. Not only is he an American, his father, a new teacher at the college, is obsessed with ancient languages and the dusty old books he makes Alexander spend his time studying instead of trying to make friends. When his father is kidnapped, Alexander gladly leaves school behind and finds himself partnered with a baron's daughter, her little bronze dragon, and an eclectic crew of Sky Raiders in a quest to find him. When their search leads them to Malta, they discover a secret society intent on unleashing the ancient Iron Horsemen and usurping the reins of power in London.

In a steam-powered Victorian world where pirates prowl the sky and secret societies determine the future like a game of chess, Alexander must confront the harsh legacy of the divided country he left behind, a new aristocratic world that rejects him, and the overwhelming pressure of being offered to become a Horseman himself.

Vietnam and Other Alien Worlds by Joe Haldeman

An engaging tour through the work and life of one of America’s great science fiction writers

Nebula and Hugo Award–winning author Joe Haldeman burst onto the literary scene with the hugely popular novel The Forever War, but his career also took off on the strength of his short fiction. This brilliant collection brings together examples of his science fiction as well as his writing on Vietnam—and reveals the inexorable connections between the two.

The works included in Vietnam and Other Alien Worlds are united by its title essay, in which Haldeman explains how his past informs his envisioned futures. One of these futures is a grouping of four stories from the Confederación universe, which includes his novels All My Sins Remembered and There Is No Darkness. An anthropological expedition goes awry as a research team’s subjects become murderous, and trade negotiations fall apart, comically lost in translation. The collection closes with one of Haldeman’s most affective works about Vietnam—the moving narrative poem “DX.”

Vietnam and Other Alien Worlds proves to be an anthology as versatile and multifaceted as the author who wrote it.

This ebook features an illustrated biography of Joe Haldeman including rare images from the author’s personal collection.

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.

* * *

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 #128

Editor's Note

Thanks everyone for in last week's poll. I wanted to know just how useful the Links to the Multiverse were to you guys because to be honest it takes a hell of a lot of time to list them all out. A slight majority of you, however, appear to benefit from them. So I decided to compromise. I will continue with the Links to the Multiverse segment at the bottom of every Weekly Update, but I won't be pulling from so many sources. That way I get a lot more time for other projects, while still providing relevant alternate history links.

We have a NEW POLL up now. I want to know what recurring posts you like the best. Pick as many as you want.

Fair warning, probably won't have many articles this week as I need time to write up some posts for the blog tour I am doing to promote my new short story. Hopefully next week things can return to normal.

And now the news...

The Chronology Protection Case released with new, extended ending

You might have heard the name Paul Levinson, a time travel and alternate history author, if you read The Update regularly. I link to post links from his blog, Infinite Regress, and he seems to be a fan of The Update from the tweets I have seen from him (thanks again Paul). Well I am happy to report that the short film based on Paul's short story “The Chronology Protection Case,” first published in Analog Magazine in September 1995, has been released on iTunes with a new, extended ending.

The 40-minute movie by Jay Kensinger, first released in 2002, is an adaptation of Paul Levinson’s novelette. The novelette was a finalist for the Nebula Award, reprinted five times, including in the recent Mammoth Book of Time Travel, and made into an Edgar nominated radio play.

Kensinger directed, produced, wrote, and plays the role of Dr. Phil D’Amato in the movie. D’Amato has appeared in two other novelettes by Levinson, “The Copyright Notice Case” and “The Mendelian Lamp Case”, and in three novels by Levinson, The Silk Code, The Consciousness Plague, and The Pixel Eye.

The extended ending in the 2013 release of the movie brings the story forward from 2002 to 2013, and was written by Levinson and Kensinger. The 2002 release was shown at science fiction conventions around the east coast, including ICon and Philcon. More details about the movie on IMDB.

Congrats to Paul Levinson and everyone who worked on the film!

Tinker – The Steampunk Series Crowd Funding Campaign

The brass and goggles crowd might be interested in the Tinker Kickstarter campaign. Steampunk Partners, the producers behind the forthcoming steampunk series, have compiled a new list of incentives designed to stimulate audience participation in the form of pledges as a part of their crowd funding effort.

Described as "Blade Runner meets Firefly meets Dr. Who, wrapped in an envelope of Victorian Era-inspired Futurism", the press release describes Tinker as an alternate history where we follow a father/daughter engineering duo, who have achieved a level of notoriety as inventors in their native San Francisco of the Northwest American territory. When a wealthy and eccentric expatriate, now residing in British controlled Hong Kong, named Lady Cushing engages their services to build a device from the incomplete plans left behind by her late father, also an inventor and gentleman explorer. From the moment the pair accept Lady Cushing’s offer, they are thrust headlong into a world of intrigue, lies, deceit, greed and eminent danger in which the balance of worldly power rests unaware, alternately in both the calloused hands of Sho Tinker and the gloved hands of Lady Cushing.

Tinker features Victorian era-inspired wardrobe, sets (both practical and digital), custom props, locations and technology. The series, being developed jointly by Steampunk Partners and Containment Field, will be offered over the Internet where anyone can watch at any time and where network-programming and scheduling consideration will not be an issue. Steampunk Partners will distribute the show initially over the Internet with all episodes being available on their website as well as other Web-based outlets to be announced. Collections of episodes will be made available to collectors on Blu-Ray DVD from the Tinker online store.

Video Gallery

This week we have what you missed by not playing Assassin's Creed III:

Next, the Achievement Hunter guys show you how to get Should Auld Acquantance achievement in BioShock Infinite:

And finally we have a crash course in American history regarding the Korean and Vietnam War:

Calendar

Nov 30: Last day to fund Winter in the City Kickstarter, featuring Harry Turtledove.

Dec 16: Last day to submit a story to Apex's Christmas flash fiction contest.

Links to the Multiverse

Books

8 Best Sci-Fi Steampunk Novels of All Time by Nigel G. Mitchell.
Coming Soon! JANI AND THE GREATER GAME by Eric Brown at SF Signal.
Hild: Fantasy or History? by Nicola Griffith at Tor.
Roma Nova world building by Alison Morton.

Counterfactual/Traditional History


6 Insane Schemes Attempted at the Dawn of Space Travel by Xavier Jackson, Evan V. Symon and Ivan Farkas at Cracked.
An alternate history where Twitter is genuinely disruptive by Annalee Newitz at io9.
What If JFK Had Lived? by Eric Niiler at Discovery News.

Interviews

Johan Andersson at Game Aspect.
Delphine Dryden at My Bookish Ways.
Matthew J. Kirby at The Enchanted Inkpot.
Cherie Priest at Tor.

Podcasts

Dissecting Worlds Series 8 Running Order Revealed! by Matt Farr at Geek Syndicate.

Reviews

Elementary 2.7 and 2.8 at Thinking about books.
Fiendish Schemes by K W Jeter at Thinking about books.
Hild by Nicola Griffith at Alabama Public Radio.
If Kennedy Lived by Jeff Greenfield at Greenwich Time.
Knight of Shadows by Toby Venables at Falcata Times.
Revolution 2.8 at Paul Levinson's Infinite Regress.

* * *

Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update and a blogger on Amazing Stories. His new short story "Road Trip" can be found in Forbidden Future: A Time Travel Anthology. 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 #102

Editor's Note

I could rant or rave about something here, but since I missed last Monday's Weekly Update, we are just going to cut straight to the good stuff.

And now the news...

Update: The Trader's War by Charles Stross

The second omnibus edition of Charles Stross' The Merchant Princes series, The Trader's War, came out last week. Here is the description from Amazon:

For one ex-journalist, the nightmare has just begun. Miriam Beckstein has said goodbye to her comfort zone, and the transition from journalist to captive in an alternative timeline was challenging to say the least. As was discovering her long-lost family, the Clan, were world-skipping assassins. Now civil war rages in her adopted home, she's pregnant with the heir to their throne and a splinter-group want her on their side of a desperate power struggle. But as a leader or figurehead?

Meanwhile, unknown to the Clan, the US government is on to them and preparing to exploit this knowledge. But it hadn't foreseen a dissident Clan faction carrying nuclear devices between worlds - with the US President in their sights. The War on Terror is about to go transdimensional. But Mike Fleming, CIA agent, knows the most terrifying secret of all. His government's true intentions.

Falcata Times said the omnibus has "top notch prose and a wonderful story arc [that] really does give the reader something special." For those looking for more information on the series, check out Storss' article on Tor.com where he discusses the worldbuilding in his series.

Update: Unburning Alexandria by Paul Levinson

Also coming out last week was Paul Levinson's Unburning Alexandria. Here is the description from Amazon:

Mid-twenty-first century time traveler Sierra Waters, fresh from her mission to save Socrates from the hemlock, is determined to alter history yet again, by saving the ancient Library of Alexandria - where as many as 750,000 one-of-a-kind texts were lost, an event described by many as “one of the greatest intellectual catastrophes in history.” 

Along the way she will encounter old friends such as William Henry Appleton the great 19th century American publisher and enemies like the enigmatic time travelling inventor Heron of Alexandria. And her quest will involve such other real historic personages as Hypatia, Cleopatra’s sister Arsinoe, Ptolemy the astronomer, and St. Augustine - again placing her friends, her loved-ones, and herself in deadly jeopardy. 

In this sequel to the THE PLOT TO SAVE SOCRATES, award winning author Paul Levinson offers another time-traveling adventure spanning millennia, full of surprising twists and turns, all the while attempting the seemingly impossible: UNBURNING ALEXANDRIA.

You can learn about some background info about writing the novel and listen to a reading over at Paul's blog. You can also read an excerpt from Unburning Alexandria at SF Signal.

Update: James Blaylock

Award-winning author James P. Blaylok has been called a "steampunk legend" or "one of the pioneers of the steampunk genre". No offense to Blaylok, but I have never read any of his works...yet. I am intrigued by the fact that he was mentored by the great Philip K. Dick so I probably need to add a few of his titles to my want to read list. I especially want to check out his Lord Kelvin's Machine recently reprinted by the good folks at Titan Books. You can check out a review of the novel at Steampunk Scholar, but be careful because there are spoilers. Blaylok also did some promotion for another of his books, The Aylesford Skull, over at Steamed. If you want to learn more about the author I highly recommend you go and check it out the interview.

Revolution's Ratings Improve

The show that alternate historians love to hate, Revolution, could be improving. The show experienced a ratings gain among adults, stopping its slide since the show began last year. Although renewed for a second season, Paul S. White at Johnny Jay's Sci Fi Cancellation Watch holds that the show will need to make some changes to be successful. Of course, whether it needs to make any changes could be a matter of opinion. The previously mentioned Paul Levinson has given good reviews to recent episodes. He said episode 15 "continues firing on all cylinders - and continues drawing on the fine female acting talent on 24" and said episode 16 was "[a] tight, taught, altogether excellent episode".

Have you been watching Revolution? What do you think?

LoneStarCon 3 Announces Opening of 2015 Worldcon and 2014 NASFiC Ballot

LoneStarCon 3, the 71st World Science Fiction Convention ("Worldcon"), is pleased to announce the opening of the voting process to select the host sites for the 2015 Worldcon and the 2014 North American Science Fiction Convention ("NASFiC").

Three bids have formally filed for the 2015 Worldcon. In alphabetical order, these are as follows:

• Helsinki in 2015. The convention would be held from August 6 to 10, 2015, with the main facilities being the Helsinki Exhibition and Conference Centre and the Holiday Inn Helsinki Exhibition & Convention Centre.
• Orlando in 2015. The convention would be held from September 2 to 6, 2015, at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort and Convention Center.
• Spokane in 2015. The convention would be held from August 19 to 23, 2015, with the main facilities being the Spokane Convention Center, the Doubletree Spokane, the Red Lion at the Park, and Red Lion River Inn.

Two bids have filed for the 2014 NASFiC. This convention is held in North America in any year when the Worldcon travels outside the continent. A NASFiC will be held in 2014 as the 2014 Worldcon will take place in London, UK. In alphabetical order, the NASFiC bids are as follows:

• Detroit in 2014. The convention would be held from July 17 to 20, 2014, at the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center.
• Phoenix in 2014. The convention would be held from July 30 to August 3, 2014, at the Tempe Mission Palms Hotel and Conference Center.

All Adult, Military, and Young Adult Attending and Supporting members of LoneStarCon 3 are eligible to take part in the site selection process.

Ballots may be submitted by postal mail or in-person at the convention. Postal ballots must be received by Sunday, August 18, 2013. Voting at the convention will continue until 6 p.m. on Saturday, August 31, 2013. All ballots must be accompanied by an Advance Membership (Voting) fee, set at $40 for the Worldcon election, and at $35 for the NASFiC election. In each case, the fee will automatically be converted to a Supporting Membership in the winning convention.

Members submitting postal ballots may pay their voting fee by US check, US money order, or credit card. Checks and money orders should be mailed to the Site Selection Administrator along with the ballot. Credit card payments must be made via the LoneStarCon 3 web site. Upon payment of the voting fee, members will be issued with a unique voting token reference, which must be written onto the ballot as evidence of payment.

Further information on the site selection process may be found on the LoneStarCon 3 website. Ballot forms may be downloaded from the website in PDF format for printing, and will also be included in Progress Report 4 which will mail in mid-May to members receiving printed publications.

For more information about the site selection process, please write to siteselection at LoneStarCon3 dot org.

Links to the Multiverse

Articles

Alternate Realities by Chudney at Smart Girls Love SciFi and Paranormal Romance.
Ask A Librarian: Bring Me Your Finest Histories, Real or Alternate by Jessica Werner at Persephone Magazine.
Coming Soon! “The Long War” by Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter at SF Signal.
Counterfactual Friday: Could Harden have been a Sixer? by Tom Sunnergren at Hoop 76.
Duck and Covers: Is the Baen art director taking side jobs? by Justin Landon at Staffer's Book Review.
Holy @#$%, Lego is making a steampunk line by Rob Bricken at io9.
INCEPTIO - An alternate history thriller by Alison Morton at Good Kindles.
Joseph H. Levie Creates Alternate History of 18th century Europe at PRWeb.
Kanye West Initially Offered “N***as In Paris” Beat To Pusha T, And Pusha Turned It Down by Carl Williott at Idolator.
Lavie Tidhar goes to the Red Planet in Martian Sands at SFScope.
Philip K. Dick and Our Predicament by J.R. Dunn at American Thinker.
'The Single Most Valuable Document In The History Of The World Wide Web' by Jacob Goldstein.
TOC: ‘A Very British History’ by Paul McAuley at SF Signal.
The Space City That Could Have Been, If Not For Wernher Von Braun by Ron Miller at io9.
What if Steven Spielberg Made ‘Space Lincoln’ as a ‘Star Trek’ Film by Rusty Blazenhoff at Laughing Squid.
Why is everything so much better with a little steam(punk)? by Joyce Lamb at USA Today.
Wild West Steampunk by David Lee Summers at Steamed!

Book Reviews

The Alteration by Kingsley Amis at Tap Milwaukee.
Ash: A Secret History by Mary Gentle at World Without End.
It Can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis at Amazing Stories.
Gideon’s Angel by Clifford Beal at Mass Movement Magazine.
The Merchant of Dreams by Anne Lyle at Geek Syndicate.
Prophet of Bones by Ted Kosmatka at Falcata Times.
Snodgrass and Other Illusions by Ian R MacLeod at Thinking about books.
Unfallen by Juliet Y. Mark at BooksWorld.com.

Comics

A Peter Pan Comic for Grown-ups by Dion at Geek Syndicate.
Clockwork Watch: Breakaway Preview at Geek Syndicate.
COMIC REVIEW: Half Past Danger #1 at Geek Syndicate.

Films

Concept Art shows off Darren Aronofsky's Batman movie that never was by Meredith Woerner at io9.
The Great Gatsby is an Alternate Timeline Where Jack Survived Titanic by Chris Lough at Tor.
Iron Man 3: What if...an Alternate History of Marvel Movies at Television Without Pity.
Is Shane Black Set to Direct and Co-Write Doc Savage Film? at Geek Syndicate.
'Tai Chi Hero' Blu-ray Dated and Detailed at High-Def Digest.
Review of Django Unchained at Thinking about books.
What is brilliant? (Wars of Other men: A review) at Fire and Water.

Games

'City of Steam' Goes Open Beta by Rainier at Worthplaying.
GAME REVIEW: Space Terror by Casey Douglass at Geek Syndicate.
Infinite Crisis Gameplay Video Unleashes Steampunk Catwoman by Pete Haas at Gaming Blend.
Meet Lady Katarina in The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing by Charlotte Woolley at Gamercast.
Pondering the Potential of Wolfenstein's Alternate History by Chris Watters at Gamespot.

Interviews

Adam Christopher at Sword & Laser.
Karina Cooper at USA Today.
Steven Harper interviewed by Gail Carriger.
Mary Robinette Kowal at Waylines Magazine.
Sean O’Reilly at ComicBook.com.
Mattew Quinn at Conversations With An Author.
Gypsey Elaine Teague at Examiner.com.

Podcasts

Ratchet RetroCast Episode 8: RetroCast, Transform and Roll Out at Earth Station One.

Television

10 Things You Didn't Know About NBC's The Office by Michael Schneider at Yahoo!
Elementary: Season 1, Episode 20 and 21 at Thinking about books.
How Neil Gaiman did away with the "clanky clanky steampunk" Cybermen by Charlie Jane Anders at io9.

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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update, a blogger on Amazing Stories and a volunteer editor for Alt Hist magazine. His fiction can be found at Echelon Press, Jake's Monthly and The Were-Traveler. 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.

New Releases 5/7/13

Paperback

The Alteration by Kingsley Amis

Description from Amazon.

In Kingsley Amis’s virtuoso foray into virtual history it is 1976 but the modern world is a medieval relic, frozen in intellectual and spiritual time ever since Martin Luther was promoted to pope back in the sixteenth century. Stephen the Third, the king of England, has just died, and Mass (Mozart’s second requiem) is about to be sung to lay him to rest. In the choir is our hero, Hubert Anvil, an extremely ordinary ten-year-old boy with a faultless voice. In the audience is a select group of experts whose job is to determine whether that faultless voice should be preserved by performing a certain operation. Art, after all, is worth any sacrifice.

How Hubert realizes what lies in store for him and how he deals with the whirlpool of piety, menace, terror, and passion that he soon finds himself in are the subject of a classic piece of counterfactual fiction equal to Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle.

The Alteration won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best science-fiction novel in 1976. Hear what Alison Morton has to say about the book in her article: Sample Something a Little Alternative.

Dinocalypse Now by Chuck Wendig

Description from Amazon.

AN INVASION... FROM PREHISTORY!

When the Century Club is called in to prevent the assassination of FDR, it’s just another day on the job—but what they discover puts not just the President, but the entire world in jeopardy.

With psychic dinosaurs taking over Manhattan and beyond, it’s up to Sally Slick, Jet Black, Mack Silver, and the other Centurions to save humanity—from extinction!

Spirit of the Century™ Presents: DINOCALYPSE NOW. A novel by Chuck Wendig.

The Havoc Machine: A Novel of the Clockwork Empire by Steven Harper

Description from Amazon.

In a world riddled with the destruction of men and machines alike, Thaddeus Sharpe takes to the streets of St. Petersburg, geared toward the hunt of his life….

Thaddeus Sharpe’s life is dedicated to the hunting and killing of clockworkers. When a mysterious young woman named Sofiya Ekk approaches him with a proposition from a powerful employer, he cannot refuse. A man who calls himself Mr. Griffin seeks Thad’s help with mad clockwork scientist Lord Havoc, who has molded a dangerous machine. Mr. Griffin cares little if the evil Lord lives or dies; all he desires is Havoc’s invention.

Upon Thad’s arrival at Havoc’s laboratory, he is met with a chilling discovery. Havoc is not only concealing his precious machine; he has been using a young child by the name of Nikolai for cruel experiments. Locked into a clockwork web of intrigue, Thad must decipher the dangerous truth surrounding Nikolai and the chaos contraption before havoc reigns….

E-books

Unburning Alexandria by Paul Levinson

Description from Amazon.

Mid-twenty-first century time traveler Sierra Waters, fresh from her mission to save Socrates from the hemlock, is determined to alter history yet again, by saving the ancient Library of Alexandria - where as many as 750,000 one-of-a-kind texts were lost, an event described by many as “one of the greatest intellectual catastrophes in history.”

Along the way she will encounter old friends such as William Henry Appleton the great 19th century American publisher and enemies like the enigmatic time travelling inventor Heron of Alexandria. And her quest will involve such other real historic personages as Hypatia, Cleopatra’s sister Arsinoe, Ptolemy the astronomer, and St. Augustine - again placing her friends, her loved-ones, and herself in deadly jeopardy.

In this sequel to the THE PLOT TO SAVE SOCRATES, award winning author Paul Levinson offers another time-traveling adventure spanning millennia, full of surprising twists and turns, all the while attempting the seemingly impossible: UNBURNING ALEXANDRIA.

To fans, authors and publishers...

Do you want to see your work given a shout out on 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.

* * *

Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update, a blogger on Amazing Stories and a volunteer editor for Alt Hist magazine. His fiction can be found at Echelon Press, Jake's Monthly and The Were-Traveler. 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.