New Releases 6/14/16

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Hardcovers

Blood In the Water by Taylor Anderson

Taylor Anderson’s enthralling New York Times bestselling series of alternate history continues as game-changing revelations upend the Grand Alliance in a potentially cataclysmic war.

Ever since the USS Walker came from another world war to defy the terrifying Grik and diabolical Dominion, Matt Reddy and his crew have given their all to protect the oppressed Lemurians. But with the Walker in desperate need of repairs just as the Grik’s First General is poised to strike, Reddy is desperate.

With more enemies than ever before arrayed against them, the crew of the Walker needs new allies. That means combing the lethal wilds of Madagascar to find the Lemurians’ fabled ancestors, as well as the enigmatic dwellers east of the Pass of Fire. But what Reddy’s crew unearths may be more than they can handle—discoveries so shattering they could tilt the balance of the war in either direction.

But Reddy’s greatest adversary is from his past: a madman named Kurokawa whose single-minded mission of revenge will shake the Alliance to its core and raise the stakes to the most personal and terrifying levels Reddy has ever faced.

The Book of Esther by Emily Barton

What if an empire of Jewish warriors that really existed in the Middle Ages had never fallen—and was the only thing standing between Hitler and his conquest of Russia?

Eastern Europe, August 1942. The Khazar kaganate, an isolated nation of Turkic warrior Jews, lies between the Pontus Euxinus (the Black Sea) and the Khazar Sea (the Caspian). It also happens to lie between a belligerent nation to the west that the Khazars call Germania—and a city the rest of the world calls Stalingrad.

After years of Jewish refugees streaming across the border from Europa, fleeing the war, Germania launches its siege of Khazaria. Only Esther, the daughter of the nation’s chief policy adviser, sees the ominous implications of Germania's disregard for Jewish lives. Only she realizes that this isn’t just another war but an existential threat. After witnessing the enemy warplanes’ first foray into sovereign Khazar territory, Esther knows she must fight for her country. But as the elder daughter in a traditional home, her urgent question is how.

Before daybreak one fateful morning, she embarks on a perilous journey across the open steppe. She seeks a fabled village of Kabbalists who may hold the key to her destiny: their rumored ability to change her into a man so that she may convince her entire nation to join in the fight for its very existence against an enemy like none Khazaria has ever faced before.

The Book of Esther is a profound saga of war, technology, mysticism, power, and faith. This novel—simultaneously a steampunk Joan of Arc and a genre-bending tale of a counterfactual Jewish state by a writer who invents worlds “out of Calvino or Borges” (The New Yorker)—is a stunning achievement. Reminiscent of Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policemen’s Union and Philip Roth’s The Plot Against America, The Book of Esther reaffirms Barton’s place as one of her generation’s most gifted storytellers.

League of Dragons by Naomi Novik

With the acclaimed Temeraire novels, New York Times bestselling author Naomi Novik has created a fantasy series like no other, combining the high-flying appeal of Anne McCaffrey’s Pern saga and the swashbuckling derring-do of Patrick O’Brian’s historical seafaring adventures. Now, with League of Dragons, Novik brings the imaginative tour de force that has captivated millions to an unforgettable finish.

Napoleon’s invasion of Russia has been roundly thwarted. But even as Capt. William Laurence and the dragon Temeraire pursue the retreating enemy through an unforgiving winter, Napoleon is raising a new force, and he’ll soon have enough men and dragons to resume the offensive. While the emperor regroups, the allies have an opportunity to strike first and defeat him once and for all—if internal struggles and petty squabbles don’t tear them apart.

Aware of his weakened position, Napoleon has promised the dragons of every country—and the ferals, loyal only to themselves—vast new rights and powers if they fight under his banner. It is an offer eagerly embraced from Asia to Africa—and even by England, whose dragons have long rankled at their disrespectful treatment.

But Laurence and his faithful dragon soon discover that the wily Napoleon has one more gambit at the ready—one that that may win him the war, and the world.

The Long Cosmos by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter

The thrilling conclusion to the internationally bestselling Long Earth series explores the greatest question of all: What is the meaning of life?

2070-71. Nearly six decades after Step Day, a new society continues to evolve in the Long Earth. Now, a message has been received: “Join us.”

The Next—the hyper-intelligent post-humans—realize that the missive contains instructions for kick-starting the development of an immense artificial intelligence known as The Machine. But to build this computer the size of an Earth continent, they must obtain help from the more populous and still industrious worlds of mankind.

Meanwhile, on a trek in the High Meggers, Joshua Valienté, now nearing seventy, is saved from death when a troll band discovers him. Living among the trolls as he recovers, Joshua develops a deeper understanding of this collective-intelligence species and its society. He discovers that some older trolls, with capacious memories, act as communal libraries, and live on a very strange Long Earth world, in caverns under the root systems of trees as tall as mountains.

Valienté also learns something much more profound . . . about life and its purpose in the Long Earth: We cultivate the cosmos to maximize the opportunities for life and joy in this universe, and to prepare for new universes to come.

Paperbacks

The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

Collecting books can be a dangerous prospect in this fun, time-traveling, fantasy adventure from a spectacular debut author.

One thing any Librarian will tell you: the truth is much stranger than fiction...

Irene is a professional spy for the mysterious Library, a shadowy organization that collects important works of fiction from all of the different realities. Most recently, she and her enigmatic assistant Kai have been sent to an alternative London. Their mission: Retrieve a particularly dangerous book. The problem: By the time they arrive, it's already been stolen.

London's underground factions are prepared to fight to the death to find the tome before Irene and Kai do, a problem compounded by the fact that this world is chaos-infested—the laws of nature bent to allow supernatural creatures and unpredictable magic to run rampant. To make matters worse, Kai is hiding something—secrets that could be just as volatile as the chaos-filled world itself.

Now Irene is caught in a puzzling web of deadly danger, conflicting clues, and sinister secret societies. And failure is not an option—because it isn’t just Irene’s reputation at stake, it’s the nature of reality itself...

FEATURING BONUS MATERIAL: including an interview with the author, a legend from the Library, and more!

E-Books

Hellfire by Jeff Provine

Locomotive fireman, Nate Kemp, uncovers a conspiracy around the miraculous Newton’s Catalyst, a powder that makes fires burn hotter than they should—secretly releasing the fires of Hell. Now, more is beginning to slip through, and the Rail Agency tries to tuck him away in a mental institution. Nurse Ozzie Jacey helps him escape. They must warn the capital, Lake Providence, before Hell literally breaks loose.

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.

* * *

Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update, a blogger for Amazing Stories, a volunteer interviewer for SFFWorld and a Sidewise Awards for Alternate History judge. When not exploring alternate timelines he 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, Tumblr and YouTube. Learn how you can support his alternate history projects on Patreon.

Weekly Update #214: The Massacre of Mankind, The Curse of Jacob Tracy and a New Segment Debuts!

Editor's Note

You know the present can be a scary place at times, but as alternate historians we must never forget our timeline's history. There have been many horrible tragedies (wars, oppression, genocide, disease, etc.) just in the last century, that are much worse then what we see today on the news. Let's remember that as we move forward into the future.

And now the news...

Gollancz Signs Stephen Baxter to Write Sequel to H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds

SF Signal reported last week that Gollancz acquired the rights to The Massacre of Mankind by award-winning author and Sidewise Award judge Stephen Baxter, which is a sequel to The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells.

Marcus Gipps, Gollancz Commissioning Editor and the editor overseeing the book, said, “Steve has a great track record of collaborating with other authors, from Arthur C. Clarke and Alastair Reynolds to Terry Pratchett. I’ve seen early material from this remarkable new project, and can’t wait to unleash Steve’s new Martian terror upon the world.”

First published in 1897, The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells has been both popular (having never gone out of print) and influential, spawning half a dozen feature films, radio dramas, a record album, various comic book adaptations, and a television series. Stephen Baxter’s sequel, set in late 1920s London, has the Martians return and renew their war against Earth, but the aliens do not repeat the mistakes of their last invasion.

Steve Baxter said: “HG Wells is the daddy of modern SF. He drew on deep traditions, for instance of scientific horror dating back to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) and fantastic voyages such as Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels (1726). And he had important near-contemporaries such as Jules Verne. But Wells did more than any other writer to shape the form and themes of modern science fiction, and indeed through his wider work exerted a profound influence on the history of the twentieth century. Now it’s an honour for me to celebrate his enduring imaginative legacy, more than a hundred and fifty years after his birth.”

This isn't Baxter's first sequel of a Wells original. His novel The Time Ships, is also an authorized sequel to The Time Machine by H. G. Wells and marked the centenary of the original’s publication.

The Massacre of Mankind will be published on the January 19, 2017.

Book of the Week: The Curse of Jacob Tracy by Holly Messinger

Last week there was one book I couldn't avoid on social media and that was The Curse of Jacob Tracy by Holly Messinger. Check out the description from Amazon:

St. Louis in 1880 is full of ghosts -- mangled soldiers, tortured slaves, the innocent victims of war -- and Jacob Tracy can see them all. Ever since Antietam, when he lay delirious among the dead and dying, Trace has been haunted by the country's restless spirits. The curse cost him his family, his calling to the church, and damn near his sanity. He stays out of ghost-populated cities as much as possible these days, guiding wagon trains West with his pragmatic and skeptical partner, Boz. 

Then, just before the spring rush, Trace gets a letter from the wealthy and reclusive Sabine Fairweather. Sickly, sharp-tongued, and far too clever for her own good, Miss Fairweather needs a worthy man to retrieve a dead friend's legacy from a nearby town -- or so she says. When the errand proves far more sinister than advertised, Miss Fairweather admits to knowing about Trace's curse, and suggests she might be able to help him -- in exchange for a few more odd jobs. 

Trace has no interest in being her pet psychic, but he's been searching eighteen years for a way to curb his unruly curse, and Miss Fairweather's knowledge of the spirit world is too tempting to ignore. As she steers him into one macabre situation after another, his powers flourish, and Trace begins to realize some good might be done with this curse of his. But Miss Fairweather is harboring some dark secrets of her own, and her meddling has brought Trace to the attention of something much older and more dangerous than any ghost.

Rich in historical detail and emotional depth, The Curse of Jacob Tracy is a fast-paced and inventive debut, an intriguing introduction to a bold new hero.

For those who want to learn more can check out Molly's interview at The Qwillery and the book's 4 star review on SF Signal where John DeNardo said the book was "[f]un, fast-moving and leaves me wanting more."

You should also check out...

• Angry Robot revealed the cover for The United States of Japan by Peter Tieryas.
• Historian Mary Beard talks about the common misconceptions of ancient Rome.
• Did the dinosaurs not evolve enough in The Good Dinosaur?
• Anne Charnock (Sleeping Embers of an Ordinary Mind) discusses taking risks with her writing on SF Signal.
• BBC covers alternate history's impact on popular culture.
• Milo's Rambles calls Tony Schumacher's The British Lion: "Gripping, entertaining and utterly compelling."

* * *

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.

New Releases 8/4/15

You can support The Update by clicking the banner to your right or the links below if you are purchasing through Amazon!

Hardcovers

The Madagaskar Plan: A Novel by Guy Saville

Guy Saville's The Madagaskar Plan imagines a disturbing alternate history in which Nazi victory in World War II brings their "Final Solution" ever closer

The year is 1953. There is peace in Europe, but a victorious Germany consolidates power in Africa. The lynchpin to its final solution is Madagaskar. Hitler has ordered the resettlement of European Jews to the remote island.

British forces conspire to incite colony-wide revolt, resting their hopes on the expertise of Reuben Salois, an escaped leader of Jewish resistance.

Ex-mercenary Burton Cole scours the island for his wife and child. But as chaos descends and the Nazis brutally suppress the nascent insurrection, Cole must decide whether he is master of-or at the mercy of-history.

The Madagaskar Plan is alternate history of the highest order, a thriller of terrifying scope based on the Nazis' actual plans prior to the Holocaust.

Paperbacks

Blood and Honor: The Foreworld Saga Graphic Novels by Tony Wolf , Erik Bear and Christian Cameron

Collected for the first time: three exciting alternate history graphic novel adventures exploring fantasy, magic, and martial arts in The Foreworld Saga! Including:

Suffrajitsu: Mrs. Pankhurst’s Amazons #1–3:

London, 1914: The leaders of the radical women’s rights movement are fugitives from the law. Their last line of defense is the secret society of “Amazons”: women trained in the martial art of bartitsu and sworn to defend their leaders from arrest and assault.

After a series of daring escapes and battles with the police, the stakes rise dramatically when the Amazons are forced into a deadly game of cat and mouse against an aristocratic, utopian cult…

The Dead God #1–3:

In the year 536 AD, the land of Frisia is a hostile place of swords and sorcery. Across the dark, cold countryside, three valiant warriors quest for a treasure, the likes of which few can comprehend. These three—the mighty grappler, Eadhild; the skilled archer, Coll; and the charming young Valens—are searching for the head of Yvrnn, the sky-god. For, according to legend, the head of Yvrnn will grant its possessors great wisdom and fortune.

The trio’s quest won’t be easy, as they must not only contend with Yvrnn’s followers who have set obstacles in their paths, but also the mystical creatures and bandits that haunt the roads of Frisia.

Symposium #1–3:

The Shield-Brethren is a secret martial order that has defended the West for centuries. Now, the origins of the order are revealed in this stunning three-issue tale.

Our heroes, seeking to realize the idea offered to them by the philosopher Plato, leave Athens and travel to Delphi with hope of visiting the oracle. They have a dream to found a city of their own, and they desire insight from the oracle as to their question. But their skills—both as warriors and as thinking men—will be tested by adversaries they do not even know they have.

Comics as History, Comics as Literature: Roles of the Comic Book in Scholarship, Society, and Entertainment edited by Annessa Ann Babic

This anthology hosts a collection of essays examining the role of comics as portals for historical and academic content, while keeping the approach on an international market versus the American one. Few resources currently exist showing the cross-disciplinary aspects of comics. Some of the chapters examine the use of Wonder Woman during World War II, the development and culture of French comics, and theories of Locke and Hobbs in regards to the state of nature and the bonds of community. More so, the continual use of comics for the retelling of classic tales and current events demonstrates that the genre has long passed the phase of for children’s eyes only. Additionally, this anthology also weaves graphic novels into the dialogue with comics.

The Contrary Tale of the Butterfly Girl: From the Peculiar Adventures of John Lovehart, Esq., Volume 2 by Ishbelle Bee

1888. A little girl called Mirror and her extraordinary shape-shifting guardian Goliath Honeyflower are washed up on the shores of Victorian England. Something has been wrong with Mirror since the day her grandfather locked her inside a mysterious clock that was painted all over with ladybirds. Mirror does not know what she is, but she knows she is no longer human.

John Loveheart, meanwhile, was not born wicked. But after the sinister death of his parents, he was taken by Mr Fingers, the demon lord of the underworld. Some say he is mad. John would be inclined to agree.

Now Mr Fingers is determined to find the little girl called Mirror, whose flesh he intends to eat, and whose soul is the key to his eternal reign. And John Loveheart has been called by his otherworldly father to help him track Mirror down…

An extraordinary dark fairytale for adults, for fans of Catherine Valente and Neil Gaiman.

The Einstein Prophecy by Robert Masello

As war rages in 1944, young army lieutenant Lucas Athan recovers a sarcophagus excavated from an Egyptian tomb. Shipped to Princeton University for study, the box contains mysteries that only Lucas, aided by brilliant archaeologist Simone Rashid, can unlock.

These mysteries may, in fact, defy—or fulfill—the dire prophecies of Albert Einstein himself.

Struggling to decipher the sarcophagus’s strange contents, Lucas and Simone unwittingly release forces for both good and unmitigated evil. The fate of the world hangs not only on Professor Einstein’s secret research but also on Lucas’s ability to defeat an unholy adversary more powerful than anything he ever imagined.

From the mind of bestselling author and award-winning journalist Robert Masello comes a thrilling, page-turning adventure where modern science and primordial supernatural powers collide.

Proxima by Stephen Baxter

Mankind’s future in this galaxy could be all but infinite.

There are hundreds of billions of red dwarf stars, lasting trillions of years—and their planets can be habitable for humans. Such is the world of Proxima Centauri. And its promise could mean the never-ending existence of humanity.

But first it must be colonized, and no one wants to be a settler. There is no glamor that accompanies it, nor is there the ease of becoming a citizen of an already-tamed world. There is only hardship...loneliness...emptiness, even as war brews in the solar system.

But that’s where Yuri comes in. Because sometimes exploration isn’t voluntary. It must be coerced.

Soldiers Out of Time by Steve White

Book #5 in Steve White's exciting TRA series. Jason faces down humanity's arch-enemies in an action-packed space adventure.

Special operations officer Jason Thanou of the Temporal Regulatory Authority must once again plunge into Earth’s blood-drenched past to combat the plots of the Transhumanist underground to subvert that past and create a secret history leading up to the fulfillment of their mad dream of transforming humanity into a race of gods and monsters.

E-Books

Alt.History 101 edited by Samuel Peralta and Nolie Wilson

The future is history... From Samuel Peralta, creator of the bestselling Future Chronicles anthology series, comes a new speculative anthology series that turns the world you know upside down.

In Alt.History 101, thirteen top speculative fiction authors re-imagine the world - as one where the inventor of the smallpox vaccine died before he'd created it, as one where the women's suffragist movement failed to win the right to vote, as one where the death penalty exists but where all forms of capital punishment are ruled inhumane - and ten other compelling stories charting the histories of these worlds.

Enter worlds so much like our own, yet so different - where everything you know... is history.

Ultima by Stephen Baxter

Hailed as “one of the most inventive writers that science fiction has ever produced" (SF Site), Stephen Baxter builds on the massive success of Proxima with a career-defining novel of big ideas....

On the planet of Per Ardua, alien artifacts were discovered—hatches that allowed humans to step across light-years of space as if they were stepping into another room. But this newfound freedom has consequences....

As humanity discovers the real nature of the universe, a terrifying truth comes to light. We all have countless pasts converging in this present—and our future is terrifyingly finite. There are minds in the universe that are billions of years old and now we are vulnerable to their plans for us....

It’s time to fight back and take control.

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.

* * *

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.

New Releases 6/23/15

You can support The Update by clicking the banner to your right or the links below if you are purchasing through Amazon!

Hardcovers

The Long Utopia by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter

The fourth novel in Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter’s internationally bestselling “Long Earth” series, hailed as “a brilliant science fiction collaboration . . . a love letter to all Pratchett fans, readers, and lovers of wonder everywhere” (Io9).

2045-2059. Human society continues to evolve on Datum Earth, its battered and weary origin planet, as the spread of humanity progresses throughout the many Earths beyond.

Lobsang, now an elderly and complex AI, suffers a breakdown, and disguised as a human attempts to live a “normal” life on one of the millions of Long Earth worlds. His old friend, Joshua, now in his fifties, searches for his father and discovers a heretofore unknown family history. And the super-intelligent post-humans known as “the Next” continue to adapt to life among “lesser” humans.

But an alarming new challenge looms. An alien planet has somehow become “entangled” with one of the Long Earth worlds and, as Lobsang and Joshua learn, its voracious denizens intend to capture, conquer, and colonize the new universe—the Long Earth—they have inadvertently discovered.

World-building, the intersection of universes, the coexistence of diverse species, and the cosmic meaning of the Long Earth itself are among the mind-expanding themes explored in this exciting new installment of Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter's extraordinary Long Earth series.

Paperbacks

The Brass Giant: A Chroniker City Story by Brooke Johnson

Sometimes, even the most unlikely person can change the world

Seventeen-year-old Petra Wade, self-taught clockwork engineer, wants nothing more than to become a certified member of the Guild, an impossible dream for a lowly shop girl. Still, she refuses to give up and tinkers with any machine she can get her hands on, in between working and babysitting her foster siblings.

When Emmerich Goss—handsome, privileged, and newly recruited into the Guild—needs help designing a new clockwork system for a top-secret automaton, it seems Petra has finally found the opportunity she's been waiting for. But if her involvement on the project is discovered, Emmerich will be marked for treason, and a far more dire fate will await Petra.

Working together in secret, they build the clockwork giant, but as the deadline for its completion nears, Petra discovers a sinister conspiracy from within the Guild council…and their automaton is just the beginning.

E-Books

1636: The Cardinal Virtues by Eric Flint and Walter H. Hunt

Book #19 in the multiple New York Times best-selling Ring of Fire series. After carving a free state for itself in war-torn 17th century Europe, citizens of the modern town of Grantville, West Virginia must contend with France's infamous Cardinal Richilieu, who is determined to keep his grip on power no matter what history says.

France, 1636 . . . It has been twenty years since King Louis took Aña Maria Mauricia, daughter of Spain's King Philip III, as his wife, and their union has not yet produced an heir. Under the guidance of his chief minister, Cardinal Richelieu, a plan is developed to remedy that situation. Once she is with child, Queen Anne goes into seclusion to guard her health and protect her from those who would prefer that the child is never born—France’s foreign enemies as well as schemers such as Monsieur Gaston d’Orleans, the King’s younger brother and heir. When the Crown’s opponents make their move, factions inside and outside France must choose sides and help determine the future and fate of the Kingdom.

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.

* * *

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.

Book Review: Proxima by Stephen Baxter

Before the Sideways in Time Conference began, there was a pre-conference social event where Stephen Baxter and Adam Roberts were going to talk about their new books at a local Liverpool book store. Wanting to get an autograph from Baxter, but not having brought any books I owned due to the desire to pack light on an international trip, I decided to buy a book there and the one I picked up was Proxima, the first book in the series of the same name.

Set in the 22nd Century, Proxima tells the story of humanity's first interstellar colony. In this future mankind is split primarily between the Chinese led "Framework" and a federalized United Nations. Most of the inner Solar System is colonized and the outer system is well on its way to being developed as well. There are references to the "Jolts", a period of intense climate change that almost destroyed humanity, but that was prevented by the actions of the "Heroic Generation". As noble as that generation's name sounds, their "ends justify the means" attitude meant that by the time the story takes place the leaders of that generation are reviled and even their descendants can suffer legal consequences for the actions of their ancestors. Baxter never goes into too much details about what the Heroic Generation actually did, but you get the sense that they cared little for how much organic and artificial intelligence suffered at the hands of their own projects to save the planet.

The story is told from multiple points of views (including a sentient interstellar probe made up of nano-bots), but the primary protagonists are Yuri Eden and Stef Kalinski. Yuri is actually a member of the Heroic Generation who was cryogenically frozen on Earth and later thawed out on Mars far into the future. Never fitting in the new society he found himself in, Yuri is made an involuntary member of the UN backed plan to colonize a new planet that the colonists will call "Per Ardua", an extrasolar planet near Earth. He, and many other undesirables that are dumped on the alien planet, are told to start reproducing quickly if they have any hope of surviving. Stef, meanwhile, is a scientist and only child who studies "kernels". These are strange materials found under the crust of Mercury that make interstellar travel possible. No one really understands how they work and, frankly, many suspect they may not be natural at all. This is confirmed when the "Hatch" is discovered on Mercury. After Stef goes in alone to investigate it, she comes out with a twin sister that everyone assures her has been around since they were born.

I found myself absorbed into the story of Proxima almost immediately. It is an intense space opera with a lot of historical references, such as how Per Ardua is originally colonized by convicts, much like how Australia and Georgia were colonized in our history. On top of that the book does have a subtle sense of humor with references to SF works like Doctor Who, Futurama, Dune, the works of Lovecraft and others works I probably missed. That all being said, the book can be depressing in a The Martian Chronicles-esque kind of way. There were a couple times I had to take a break from the book because it made me pessimistic about the future. I still recommend this book, however, because not every space opera needs to be like Guardians of the Galaxy to be good.

Of course, the big question is: why the hell am I talking about a space opera on an alternate history blog? Well that is because Proxima is actually an alternate history. Besides to mysterious edit to Stef's personal history, there is a moment of pure alternate history at the very end of the book, which I won't spoil since then I would have to give away the ending. The presence of an alternate history is much more evident so I hear in the sequel, Ultima, but since I haven't read it yet I can't really comment. Nevertheless, I do plan to pick up a copy soon and I hope you will join me as well.

* * *

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.

RIP: Terry Pratchett (1948-2015)

It is with a heavy heart that I must announce the death of Terry Prachett. Sir Terence David John "Terry" Pratchett was an author and satirist probably best known for his Discworld fantasy series, which has sold over 80 millions copies in 37 languages. He announced in 2007 that he was suffering from early-onset Alzheimer's disease and his passing was reported today by the BBC and numerous SF sites.

According to Uchronia, Pratchett's entrance into alternate history came rather late in his career when he published The Long Earth series with co-author Stephen Baxter. The series was a unique take on the multiverse since instead of an infinite series of parallel Earths with alternate human histories, we were instead presented with Earths that had alternate geological and climate histories and lightly populated by primitive humanoids. The series highlighted Pratchett's fantasy and Baxter's hard SF backgrounds rather well and you can check out my review of the first two novels over at Amazing Stories.

Sadly I have not read The Long Mars yet, but I hope to complete the series in the next few weeks. The Internet is full of people pouring out their grief for the loss of Terry Pratchett and I only wish that I could read more of his works before he died. My prayers go out to Terry's family, friends and fans, and it is my sincere wish that his influence will be felt on all the generations to come.

Weekly Update #181

Editor's Note

Well Lent has begun and so has my exile from YouTube. So far I haven't seen much benefit to my writing from my self-imposed ban. Real life events continue to intrude on the solitude necessary to get some real writing done, although I did manage to get a lot of work done on my Sideways in Time paper on Sunday. I just have to keep telling myself that no once cares how much time I had to relax or how much sleep I got (I only really need 6 or 7 hours, right?). They only care what I could have been doing during that time.

And now the news...

Check out King of the Cracksmen by Dennis O’Flaherty

Want to read a bizarre steampunk alternate history? Then you should check out King of the Cracksmen by Dennis O'Flaherty. Here is the description from Amazon:

How far will the luck of the Irish stretch?

The year is 1877. Automatons and steam-powered dirigible gunships have transformed the United States in the aftermath of the Civil War. All of the country’s land west of the Mississippi was sold to Russia nearly fifty years earlier, and “Little Russia,” as it’s now called, is ruled by the son of Tsar Alexander II. Lincoln is still president, having never been assassinated, but he’s not been seen for six months, and rumors are flying about his disappearance. The country is being run as a police state by his former secretary of war Edwin Stanton, a power-hungry criminal who rules with an iron fist.

Liam McCool is an outlaw, known among other crooks as “King of the Cracksmen.” But his glory days as a safecracker and the head of a powerful New York gang end when he’s caught red-handed. Threatened with prison unless he informs on his own brethren fighting a guerilla war against Stanton’s tyranny, McCool’s been biding his time, trying to keeping the heat off him long enough to escape to San Francisco with his sweetheart Maggie. But when she turns up murdered, McCool discovers a trail of breadcrumbs that look to lead all the way up to the top of Stanton’s criminal organization. Joining forces with world-famed lady reporter Becky Fox, he plunges deep into the underground war, racing to find Maggie’s killer and stop Stanton once and for all.

King of the Cracksmen is an explosive, action-packed look at a Victorian empire that never was, part To Catch a Thief, part Little Big Man, steampunk as you’ve never seen it before.

Last week Dennis was promoting his new novel at some prominent SF sites. He did an interview over at The Qwillery and the first chapter of the novel was posted at Bibliotropic. If you get a chance to read King of the Cracksmen, let us know. We would love to post a review.

Videos for Alternate Historians

This week I have an older video to showcase. It was originally published in 2010, but it goes along nicely with my recent review of Baxter's Voyage:

Its a computer simulation of Baxter's proposed Mars mission. It is actually pretty cool to watch and the musical accompaniment makes it an intense video. The channel, Rseferino Orbiter Filmmaker, appears to show computer animated simulations of various space-based missions, including several proposed missions, meaning there is a lot of alternate history content to this channel. I highly recommend you go check it out.

If you know of any other alternate history videos or YouTube channels, don't forget to share them with me at ahwupdate at gmail dot com.

Links to the Multiverse

Books & Short Fiction

Five Books About the Perils of Education by Ian Macleod at Tor.
For Steampunk Hands 2015: The Raj Revised: Steampunking History at Steampunk India.
John Mierau Explores What Happened After “War of the Worlds” in ASUNDER at SF Signal.
On My Radar: The Suicide Exhibition, Razorhurst and Bone Gap at SF Signal.
Review: The Case of the Missing Moonstone by Jordan Stratford at Fantasy Literature.
Review: The Janus Affair by Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris at Bibliotropic.
Review: The Mechanical by Ian Tregillis at Pat's Fantasy Hotlist.
Review: Wild Cards: Aces Abroad edited by George R R Martin at The Little Red Reviewer.
Steampunk…. Seriously? by Professor Elemental at Airship Ambassador.
Table of Contents: The Change: Tales of Downfall and Rebirth Edited by S.M. Stirling at SF Signal.

Counterfactuals, History & News

5 Uprisings Cut from U.S. History for Being Too Successful at Cracked.
10 people who very nearly became President at Yahoo!
Oklahoma lawmaker seeks to do away with AP history courses at News Channel 4.
The UK government wants to get this massive airship back in the air at The Verge.
Why ISIS Isn’t Medieval by John Terry at Slate.

Film & Television

10 Time Travel Books That Need To Be Movies Right Now (If Not Sooner) at io9.
10 YouTube Channels That Actually Make Learning Fun at Learning Lift Off.
12 Monkeys 1.6: Can I Get a Witness? at Paul Levinson's Infinite Regress.
Alternate history? Shanahan says 2 game-changing QBs were in play at CSN Washington.
Frank Spotnitz Takes Us Inside Amazon's The Man In The High Castle at TV Fanatic.
J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions is Developing a Thomas Edison Biopic at Best Movies Ever.
Review: Agent Carter Ep.6 at Geek Syndicate.

Games

Airship Q Coming Soon To PlayStation 4 and Vita at Geek Syndicate.
Civilization Players Are Sending The Entire World To War at Kotaku.
The Great Gatsby Nintendo Game at Dieselpunk.
Review: The Order: 1886 at PlayStation Universe.
YouTube Leak Derails Launch Of Big PS4 Exclusive at Kotaku.

Graphic Novels & Comics

The 19XX Dieselpunk Epic Concludes Its First Trilogy In Shining Skull: 1936 at Bleeding Cool.

Interviews

Elizabeth Bear at My Bookish Ways.
VE Schwab at Fran Wilde.

Theater

Musical on alternate EDSA history to feature Eraserheads composition at Phil Star.

* * *

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 6/17/14

You can support The Update by clicking the banner to yout right or the links below if you are purchasing through Amazon!

Hardcovers

The Long Mars by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter

The third novel in Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter’s “Long Earth” series, which Io9 calls “a brilliant science fiction collaboration.” [Editor's Note: I don't hold the series in such high regard as io9 does. Read my review over at Amazing Stories.]

2040-2045: In the years after the cataclysmic Yellowstone eruption there is massive economic dislocation as populations flee Datum Earth to myriad Long Earth worlds. Sally, Joshua, and Lobsang are all involved in this perilous rescue work when, out of the blue, Sally is contacted by her long-vanished father and inventor of the original Stepper device, Willis Linsay. He tells her he is planning a fantastic voyage across the Long Mars and wants her to accompany him. But Sally soon learns that Willis has an ulterior motive for his request. . . .

Meanwhile U. S. Navy Commander Maggie Kauffman has embarked on an incredible journey of her own, leading an expedition to the outer limits of the far Long Earth.

For Joshua, the crisis he faces is much closer to home. He becomes embroiled in the plight of the Next: the super-bright post-humans who are beginning to emerge from their “long childhood” in the community called Happy Landings, located deep in the Long Earth. Ignorance and fear have caused “normal” human society to turn against the Next. A dramatic showdown seems inevitable. . .

Paperbacks

Two Fronts by Harry Turtledove

In 1942, two nations switch sides—and World War II takes a horrifying new course.

In the real world, England and France allowed Adolf Hitler to gobble up the Sudetenland in 1938. Once Hitler finished dismembering Czechoslovakia, he was ready to go to war over Poland a year later. But Hitler had always been eager to seize Czechoslovakia, no matter the consequences. So what if England and France had stood up to the Nazis from the start, and not eleven months later? That is the question behind the War That Came Early series.

Four years later, the civil war in Spain drags on, even after General Franco’s death. The United States, still neutral in Europe, fights the Japanese in the Pacific. Russia and Germany go toe-to-toe in Eastern Europe—yet while Hitler stares east, not everything behind him is going as well as he would like. But nothing feeds ingenuity like the fear of losing. The Germans wheel out new tanks and planes, Japan deploys weapons of a very different sort against China, and the United States, England, and France do what they can to strengthen themselves against imminent danger.

Seen through the eyes of ordinary citizens caught in the maelstrom, this is a you-are-there chronicle of battle on land and sea and in the air. Here are terrifying bombing raids that shatter homes, businesses, and the rule of law. Here are commanders issuing orders that, once given, cannot be taken back. And here are the seeds of rebellion sown in blood-soaked soil.

In a war in which sides are switched and allies trust one another only slightly more than they trust their mortal enemies, Nazi Germany has yet to send its Jews to death camps, and dangerous new nationalist powers arise in Eastern Europe. From thrilling submarine battles to the horror of men fighting men and machines all through Europe, Two Fronts captures every aspect of a brilliantly reimagined conflict: the strategic, the political, and the personal force of leaders bending nations to their wills.

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.

New Releases 11/5/13

New Hardcovers

Curtsies & Conspiracies by Gail Carriger

Description from Amazon.

Does one need four fully grown foxgloves for decorating a dinner table for six guests? Or is it six foxgloves to kill four fully grown guests?

Sophronia's first year at Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality has certainly been rousing! For one thing, finishing school is training her to be a spy--won't Mumsy be surprised? Furthermore, Sophronia got mixed up in an intrigue over a stolen device and had a cheese pie thrown at her in a most horrid display of poor manners.

Now, as she sneaks around the dirigible school, eavesdropping on the teachers' quarters and making clandestine climbs to the ship's boiler room, she learns that there may be more to a field trip to London than is apparent at first. A conspiracy is afoot--one with dire implications for both supernaturals and humans. Sophronia must rely on her training to discover who is behind the dangerous plot-and survive the London Season with a full dance card.

In this sequel to New York Times bestselling Etiquette & Espionage, class is back in session with more petticoats and poison, tea trays and treason. Gail's distinctive voice, signature humor, and lush steampunk setting are sure to be the height of fashion this season.

Iron Winter: The Northland Trilog by Stephen Baxter

Description from Amazon.

Praised as “not only a gifted storyteller but also a master of speculative fiction” (Library Journal), bestselling author Stephen Baxter brings his epic Northland trilogy to a close as a once-thriving civilization faces winter without end....

Many generations ago, the Wall was built to hold back the sea. A simple dam, it grew into a vast linear city, home to scholars, builders, and merchants. Northland’s prosperity survived wars and unrest—and brought the whole of Europe together.

But now darkness is falling. Days grow shorter, temperatures colder, and in the wake of long winters come famine, destruction, and terror. As a mass exodus to warmer climes threatens to fracture Northland, one man believes he can outwit the cold, and even salvage some scraps of the great civilization—before interminable gloom settles over the land; before the fires of war lay waste to an empire; before the ice comes....

The Night Boat by Robert McCammon and Les Edwards

Description from Amazon.

The Night Boat, Robert McCammon's third published novel, first appeared as a paperback original in 1980. Following on the heels of Baal and Bethany's Sin, it offered further proof that a writer of great narrative power and limitless potential--a writer who would achieve a significant position in modern popular fiction--had arrived.

The story begins with a vividly written prologue in which a German U-boat--sometimes known as an 'Iron Coffin'--attacks an unsuspecting merchant vessel, and is itself attacked by a pair of Allied sub chasers. The action then shifts to the present day and to the idyllic Caribbean island of Coquina, where life is about to change in unimaginable ways. David Moore, a young man with a tragic and haunted past, is skin-diving in the waters off Coquina, searching for the salvageable remnants of shipwrecks. He accidentally detonates a long-unexploded depth charge, uncovering and releasing a submarine that has lain beneath those waters, virtually intact, for decades. The battered vessel that rises to the surface contains a bizarre and terrifying cargo that will transform a once peaceful island into a landscape of unrelenting nightmare.

The Night Boat is a story of cannibalism, ancient voodoo curses, and shambling, undead entities filled with a bottomless rage and an equally bottomless hunger. But it is also the story of a past that refuses to die, that lies in wait just beneath the surface of the unsuspecting present. Furiously paced and viscerally frightening, this horrific early gem is both an outstanding entertainment in its own right and a harbinger of the masterpieces to come.

New Paperbacks

Gossamer Wing by Delphine Dryden

Description from Amazon.

A SPY. AN AIRSHIP. AND A BROKEN HEART.

After losing her husband to a rogue French agent, Charlotte Moncrieffe wants to make her mark in international espionage. And what could be better for recovering secret long-lost documents from the Palais Garnier than her stealth dirigible, Gossamer Wing? Her spymaster father has one condition: He won’t send her to Paris without an ironclad cover.

Dexter Hardison prefers inventing to politics, but his title as Makesmith Baron and his formidable skills make him an ideal husband-imposter for Charlotte. And the unorthodox undercover arrangement would help him in his own field of discovery.

But from Charlotte and Dexter’s marriage of convenience comes a distraction—a passion that complicates an increasingly dangerous mission. For Charlotte, however, the thought of losing Dexter also opens her heart to a thrilling new future of love and adventure.

Sherlock Holmes: The Will of the Dead by George Mann

Description from Amazon.

A young man named Peter Maugram appears at the front door of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson’s Baker Street lodgings. Maugram’s uncle is dead and his will has disappeared, leaving the man afraid that he will be left penniless. Holmes agrees to take the case and he and Watson dig deep into the murky past of this complex family.

A brand-new Sherlock Holmes novel from the acclaimed author of the Newbury & Hobbes series.

New E-books

Balfour and Meriwether in The Incident of the Harrowmoor Dogs by Daniel Abraham

Description from Amazon.

When a private envoy of the queen and member of Lord Carmichael's discreet service goes missing, Balfour and Meriwether are asked to look into the affair. They will find a labyrinth of dreams, horrors risen from hell, prophecy, sexual perversion, and an abandoned farmhouse on the moors outside Harrowmoor Sanitarium. The earth itself will bare its secrets and the Empire itself will tremble in the face of the hidden dangers they discover, but the greatest peril is the one they have brought with them.

Balfour and Meriwether in the Incident of the Harrowmoor Dogs is the first novella length work in the Balfour and Meriwether stories by Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award nominated author Daniel Abraham.

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. 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.

New Releases 10/1/13

Hardcover

1636: The Devil's Opera by Eric Flint and David Carrico

Description from Amazon.

It is the year 1636. The United States of Europe, the new nation formed by an alliance between the Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus and the West Virginians hurled back in time by a cosmic accident, is on the verge of civil war.  His brain injured in the war with Poland, the USE's emperor Gustavus Adolphus is no longer in command. Enter Swedish chancellor Oxenstierna, a leader of aristocratic reaction against democracy.  His goal:  to assemble the forces of the hidebound ruling class in Berlin and drown the revolution in a bloodbath.

In Magdeburg, the capital of the USE, Mike Stearns' wife Rebecca Abrabanel is organizing popular resistance to Oxenstierna's plot. As part of the resistance, the American musician Marla Linder and her company of down-time musical partners are staging an opera that will celebrate the struggle against oppression. Princess Kristina, the heir to the USE's throne, is now residing in Magdeburg and is giving them her support and encouragement.

But another plot is underway--this one right in the heart of the capital itself, and with murder as its method. The only people standing in the way are a crippled boy and the boxing champion who befriended him, and an unlikely pair of policemen. Can the American detective Byron Chieske and his down-timer partner Gotthilf Hoch thwart the killers before they succeed in their goal?

Alternate Histories of the World by Matthew Buchholz

Description from Amazon.

This remarkable collection of maps, photographs, engravings and paintings from the early ages to modern day provides a stunning new look at the world as defined by our struggles and alliances with the monsters and supernatural creatures that have defined our existence. Learn how a mechanical man helped write America’s Declaration of Independence. Track the course of the Living Dead virus from Africa to Europe and on to the New World. View artifacts from our uneasy alliance with the Martian race, or simply delight in the vibrant colors and illustrations from a bygone age. More than 100 full-color images and insightful essays make this book an essential addition to the libraries of dedicated historians as well as casual fans of monsters and mayhem.

Paperback

Bronze Summer: The Northland Trilogy by Stephen Baxter

Description from Amazon.

Stephen Baxter’s “imaginative [and] bold” (Daily Mail, UK) Stone Spring drew readers into an alternate prehistoric scenario. Now, thousands of years have passed, and a wall that was built to hold back the sea must now hold back the advancing armies of a reviving Troy....

Created by the building of the Wall, Northland has become a society of prosperous, literate, and self-sufficient people. Inhabited from end to end, the Wall is a linear city stretching for hundreds of miles, and a wonder of the world.

For millennia, the Wall has also kept the growing empires of the Bronze Age at bay. But a new and turbulent age is dawning. For any wall, no matter how strong, can be breached—particularly from within.…

The Educated Ape and Other Wonders of the Worlds by Robert Rankin

Description from Amazon.

The year is 1899 and the world is coming to an end. An epic in four movements, this is the third book in Robert Rankin's highly acclaimed meta-Victorian series, after Japanese Devil Fish Girl and The Mechanical Messiah

Comparable to Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams, the father of far-fetched fiction has pulled out all of the stops with this riotous tale of wicked women, a dangerous detective, and Darwin, the educated ape. Lord Brentford has a dream: to create a Grand Exposition that will showcase the wonders of the worlds and encourage peace between the inhabited planets of Venus, Jupiter, and Earth. Ernest Rutherford has a dream: to construct a time ship, powered by the large hadron collider he has built beneath the streets of London. Cameron Bell is England's greatest detective and he, too, has a dream: to solve the crime of the century before it takes place, without blowing up any more of London's landmarks. Darwin is a monkey butler and even he has a dream: to end man's inhumanity to monkey and bring a little joy into the world. Lavinia Dharkstorrm has a dream of her own, although hers is more of a nightmare: to erase man and monkey alike from the face of the Earth and to hasten in the End of Days. Then there is the crime-fighting superlady, all those chickens from the past, and the unwelcome arrival of the Antichrist. Things are looking rather grim on planet Earth.

Fatland: The Early Days by Frannie Zellman

Description from Amazon.

The hidden history of FatLand -- a territory established by people seeking freedom from the oppressive Pro-Health Laws of the United States of America -- is revealed in Volume II of The FatLand Trilogy. They only wanted to build a land where they would be accepted. But when three archivists set out to discover how FatLand began, they quickly become aware that someone doesn't want them to know. They may be opening a Pandora's Box of secrets they aren't meant to uncover. Seven thousand miles away a woman summons the courage to write about FatLand's beginnings, knowing her life will be in danger the moment the FatLand Board receives her memoir. As the four of them race to record their findings and insights, the early history of FatLand reveals itself in violence and heroism, and in the bravery, determination and treachery of its founders.

To fans, authors and publishers...

Is you 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. 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.