RIP: Robert Conroy (1938–2014)

Alternate history lost one of its most prolific writers with the passing of Robert Conroy, who died on December 30 due to thymus cancer. Conroy, who has won and been nominated for several Sidewise Awards, is best known for his novel-length military alternate history works. His bibliography includes Rising Sun, Himmler's War and Red Inferno: 1945. Before his death Conroy finished two more novels that will be published in 2015, 1882: Custer in Chains and Germanica.

Although I never read any books by Conroy, I had every intention of doing so soon not only because his multiple award nominations, but also the number of fans I talked to who stated that it was Conroy who got them interested in alternate history. He will be missed by many.

New Releases 10/29/13

Hardcovers

The Violent Century by Lavie Tidhar

Description from Amazon.

For seventy years they guarded the British Empire. Oblivion and Fogg, inseparable friends, bound together by a shared fate. Until one night in Berlin, in the aftermath of the Second World War, and a secret that tore them apart. But there must always be an account...and the past has a habit of catching up to the present. Now, recalled to the Retirement Bureau from which no one can retire, Fogg and Oblivion must face up to a past of terrible war and unacknowledged heroism, - a life of dusty corridors and secret rooms, of furtive meetings and blood-stained fields - to answer one last, impossible question: What makes a hero?

Paperbacks

Katabasis by Joseph Brassey, Cooper Moo, Mark Teppo and Angus Trim

Description from Amazon.

The death of the fearsome Ögedei Khan has brought the Mongol invasion of the West to an abrupt halt. Exhausted, plagued by uncertainty and self-doubt, and reeling from betrayal by one of their own, the surviving Shield-Brethren struggle across a frozen, shattered wasteland to return home after their desperate battle in Mongolia.

Their mission is complete—Christendom has been saved—but new and terrible questions haunt each member of the company: Are they heroes or villains? Or just pawns in a larger game, trapped in a world gone mad in the wake of the unspeakable devastation visited upon it by the Mongol horde?

And most poignant of all, where—and what—is “home” now, and what will be their place in the world they fought to defend?

Katabasis, a new novel in the acclaimed Foreworld Saga, follows the survivors as they struggle to confront their own fears and decide who they truly are—and whom they will ultimately serve.

Rising Sun by Robert Conroy

Description from Amazon.

By the author of breakout WW II era alternate history Himmler’s War, another compelling alternate history thriller. With an American loss at the Battle of Midway, Japan runs rampant in the Pacific.

It is the summer of 1942 and what our historians have called the Incredible Victory in the Battle of Midway has become a horrendous disaster in this world. Two of America’s handful of carriers in the Pacific have blundered into a Japanese submarine picket line and have been sunk, while a third is destroyed the next day. The United States has only one carrier remaining in the Pacific against nine Japanese, while the ragtag remnants of U.S. battleships – an armada still reeling from the defeat at Pearl Harbor – are in even worse shape.

Now the Pacific belongs to the Japanese. And it doesn’t stop there, as Japan has thrust her sword in to the hilt. Alaska is invaded. Hawaii is under blockade. The Panama Canal is nearly plugged. Worst of all, the West Coast of America is ripe for destruction as bombers of the Empire of the Sun bombard west coast American cities at will.

Despite these disasters, the U.S. begins to fight back. Limited counterattacks are made and a grand plan is put forth to lure the Japanese into an ambush that could restore the balance in the Pacific and give the forces of freedom a fighting chance once more.

A Study in Darkness by Emma Jane Holloway

Description from Amazon.

When a bomb goes off at 221B Baker Street, Evelina Cooper is thrown into her uncle Sherlock’s world of mystery and murder. But just when she thought it was safe to return to the ballroom, old, new, and even dead enemies are clamoring for a place on her dance card.

Before Evelina’s even unpacked her gowns for a country house party, an indiscretion puts her in the power of the ruthless Gold King, who recruits her as his spy. He knows her disreputable past and exiles her to the rank alleyways of Whitechapel with orders to unmask his foe.

As danger mounts, Evelina struggles between hiding her illegal magic and succumbing to the darker aspects of her power. One path keeps her secure; the other keeps her alive. For rebellion is brewing, a sorcerer wants her soul, and no one can protect her in the hunting grounds of Jack the Ripper.

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. 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.

Review: Rising Sun by Robert Conroy

Guest post by A.J. Nolte.

There's nothing fundamentally wrong with Rising Sun, the newest World War II novel by Robert Conroy. The writing is fine, the scenario is plausible [Editor's Note: Not everyone would agree with you.], the action scenes are interesting and engaging, and the characters are moderately intriguing. By far the biggest problem with Rising Sun isn't this book on its own, but rather when you compare it to all of Conroy's other books, particularly his recent string of World War II novels.

I started reading Conroy with 1862, his re-imagining of the American Civil War in which the British support the Confederates. While I could certainly quibble with some of the choices Conroy made in 1862, the novel was enjoyable, engaging and not entirely implausible. By far my favorite  Conroy novel was 1901, which posited a German invasion of the United States in order to gain control of America's newly-one colonies. This scenario isn't Conroy's most plausible, but it was definitely one of a kind. Since 1901 however, Conroy has written four consecutive World War II scenarios: Red Inferno 1945, 1942, Himmler's War and Rising Sun. In all four of these books, the  characters, initial scenario and eventual outcome are remarkably similar. So if you've read 1942, Rising Sun is going to feel extremely familiar, perhaps too much so.

The premise of Rising Sun is a crushing U.S. defeat at the Battle of Midway. In the aftermath, the U.S. scrambles to pull together its fleet, while the Japanese attempt to take the war to the Americans more directly. Unfortunately, the book rapidly engages all of Conroy's favorite tropes: the young military hero, with the assistance and support of his skinny, intellectual love interest attempts to implement a strategy which will culminate in American victory, despite grumbling from high command and the intervention of military politics. I'll leave the ending for you to guess, and if you've read many of Conroy's books, it shouldn't be difficult.

There were certainly some strong scenes and characters in Rising Sun. Amanda, the previously-mentioned skinny, intellectual love interest, is a rather compelling character who faces interesting challenges (think crossing the Pacific in a small boat). Conroy also focuses on the U.S. mainland here, which is somewhat unique. The addition of the FBI angle, and the land action in Alaska sort of set this book apart. And, as I mentioned above, there's nothing fundamentally wrong with this book; if you liked the Conroy formula in his previous novels, you'll probably like this one. For real World War II buffs and people new to Robert Conroy's writings, I might recommend Rising Sun. But if you've already read Red Inferno 1945 or 1942, Conroy's other novels set in the Pacific, and don't have a deep personal interest in the Battle of Midway, you might want to spend your money somewhere else.

Grade: 3.5 out of 5 stars.

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A.J. Nolte is a PHD candidate in international relations at Catholic University and an aspiring sci-fi and alternate history writer . He is knowledgeable in Byzantine, medieval, ACW, Cold War, Islamic and post-colonial history. Also, he'll read almost anything once if it's got an airship in it.

Sounds like the most stupid Conroy novel so far...

Guest post by Sebastian Breit.

Robert Conroy is busy writing what feels like half a dozen alternate history novels lately, and their quality seems to be sliding down the mountainside if this newest example (to be released in December) is to be believed:

It is the summer of 1942 and what our historians have called the Incredible Victory in the Battle of Midway has become a horrendous disaster in the world. Two of America’s handful of carriers in the Pacific have blundered into a Japanese submarine picket line and have been sunk, while a third is destroyed the next day.  The United States has only one carrier remaining in the Pacific against nine Japanese, while the ragtag remnants of U.S. battleships – an armada still reeling from the defeat at Pearl Harbor – are in even worse shape. 

Now the Pacific belongs to the Japanese.  And it doesn’t stop there as Japan thrust her sword in to the hilt. Alaska is invaded. Hawaii is under blockade. The Panama Canal is nearly plugged. Worst of all, the West Coast of America is ripe with destruction as bombers of the Empire of the Sun bombard West Coast American cities at will. 

Despite these disasters, the U.S. begins to fight back.  Limited counterattacks are made and a grand plan is put forth to lure the Japanese into an ambush that could restore the balance in the Pacific and give the forces of freedom a fighting chance once more.

Do I really need to go into how mind-bogglingly retarded that scenario (not the loss at Midway itself, mind you, but what follows) is?

*sighs*

I probably will have to. So here's the gist of it in a nutshell: Japan lacks the logistics to pull this off, plain and simple. Getting the Pearl Harbor strikeforce where it was without detection was a major gamble and only worked because it came there to attack, not to occupy. Invading Alaska, of all places? Talk about throwing men into a sink hole. Even assuming the IJN could resupply them - which, given the scarcity of large harbors in Alaska at the time is a doubtful proposition - the relative proximity of US and Allied harbors and the comparably fast time in which significant forces to repel such an invasion could be mustered makes the whole operation look like something a Bond villain would come up. And considering we're talking about the massively defective Japanese Imperial High Command that's saying a lot!

The Panama Canal being nearly plugged? Fine, I can believe that since the Japanese actually planned on doing just that with floatplanes launched from large submarines (which, again, does sound like a Bond villain plot, come to think of it...).

But the West Coast of America being ripe with destruction because of Japanese bomber attacks? Are you kidding me? With the only tool available to the Japanese being these guys? Really? Even all of them let loose on a single city for weeks wouldn't amount to the destruction a single bombing run of the 8th USAF achieved! You know what a city looks like that's been subject to real bombing? Take a look to your right. And that took years of strategic bombing by waves of hundreds, sometimes thousands of four-engined heavy bombers! The West Coast of America being ripe with destruction because of what maybe 200 single-engine low-payload divebombers do? Because, you know that's what the Japanese got in range of the coast.

Even if they somehow ended up taking Hawaii, none of their medium and heavy bombers have the operational range to attack the continental US. So, again, I call bullshit on this. Or Conroy having a warped sense of what ripe with destruction meant in WW2. Probably both.

In the end, I'm not sure why I would want to read this novel, even assuming Conroy finally manages to come up with characters that aren't boring or wooden or both. No matter what the Japanese do by late 1943/early 1944 the Pacific will be swamped by a flood of US warships, making the whole POD of the novel moot. Maybe he ends up surprising me, who knows? But I somehow doubt it. Just like Turtledove I think he's past his zenith.

It probably won't be quite as bad as this here, but the description doesn't exactly raise my desire to read, let alone buy it.

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War Blogger is the Internet handle of Sebastian P. Breit, author of the alternate history novel Wolf Hunt. You can find news, reviews, and commentary on all matters regarding WW2 on his blog, The War Blog, and follow his writing progress on his personal website.