New Releases 7/5/16

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Hardcover

Paper and Fire by Rachel Caine

In Ink and Bone, New York Times bestselling author Rachel Caine introduced a world where knowledge is power, and power corrupts absolutely. Now, she continues the story of those who dare to defy the Great Library—and rewrite history...

With an iron fist, The Great Library controls the knowledge of the world, ruthlessly stamping out all rebellion, forbidding the personal ownership of books in the name of the greater good.

Jess Brightwell has survived his introduction to the sinister, seductive world of the Library, but serving in its army is nothing like he envisioned. His life and the lives of those he cares for have been altered forever. His best friend is lost, and Morgan, the girl he loves, is locked away in the Iron Tower and doomed to a life apart.

Embarking on a mission to save one of their own, Jess and his band of allies make one wrong move and suddenly find themselves hunted by the Library’s deadly automata and forced to flee Alexandria, all the way to London.

But Jess’s home isn't safe anymore. The Welsh army is coming, London is burning, and soon, Jess must choose between his friends, his family, or the Library willing to sacrifice anything and anyone in the search for ultimate control..

Underground Airlines by Ben Winters

It is the present-day, and the world is as we know it: smartphones, social networking and Happy Meals. Save for one thing: the Civil War never occurred.

A gifted young black man calling himself Victor has struck a bargain with federal law enforcement, working as a bounty hunter for the US Marshall Service. He's got plenty of work. In this version of America, slavery continues in four states called "the Hard Four." On the trail of a runaway known as Jackdaw, Victor arrives in Indianapolis knowing that something isn't right--with the case file, with his work, and with the country itself.

A mystery to himself, Victor suppresses his memories of his childhood on a plantation, and works to infiltrate the local cell of a abolitionist movement called the Underground Airlines. Tracking Jackdaw through the back rooms of churches, empty parking garages, hotels, and medical offices, Victor believes he's hot on the trail. But his strange, increasingly uncanny pursuit is complicated by a boss who won't reveal the extraordinary stakes of Jackdaw's case, as well as by a heartbreaking young woman and her child who may be Victor's salvation. Victor himself may be the biggest obstacle of all--though his true self remains buried, it threatens to surface.

Victor believes himself to be a good man doing bad work, unwilling to give up the freedom he has worked so hard to earn. But in pursuing Jackdaw, Victor discovers secrets at the core of the country's arrangement with the Hard Four, secrets the government will preserve at any cost.

Underground Airlines is a ground-breaking novel, a wickedly imaginative thriller, and a story of an America that is more like our own than we'd like to believe.

Audio

The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon

For 60 years Jewish refugees and their descendants have prospered in the federal district of Sitka, a temporary safe haven created in the wake of the Holocaust and the shocking 1948 collapse of the fledgling state of Israel. The Jews of the Sitka District have created their own little world in the Alaskan panhandle, a vibrant and complex frontier city that moves to the music of Yiddish. But now the district is set to revert to Alaskan control, and their dream is coming to an end.

Homicide detective Meyer Landsman of the district police has enough problems without worrying about the upcoming Reversion. His life is a shambles, his marriage a wreck, his career a disaster. And in the cheap hotel where Landsman has washed up, someone has just committed a murder - right under his nose. When he begins to investigate the killing of his neighbor, a former chess prodigy, word comes down from on high that the case is to be dropped immediately, and Landsman finds himself contending with all the powerful forces of faith, obsession, evil, and salvation that are his heritage.

At once a gripping whodunit, a love story, and an exploration of the mysteries of exile and redemption, The Yiddish Policemen's Union is a novel only Michael Chabon could have written.

To readers, authors and publishers...

Is your story going to be published in time for the next New Releases? Contact us at ahwupdate at gmail dot com.  We are looking for works of alternate history, counterfactual history, steampunk, historical fantasy, time travel or anything that warps history beyond our understanding.

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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update, a blogger 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.

Sample Something a Little Alternative

Guest post by Alison Morton.

I stumbled on AHWU almost by accident and was thrilled to find a welcoming site full of news, articles and, best of all, book reviews. I read, absorbed and bought several recommended books. And have enjoyed them greatly.

Then it struck me. Not only on AHWU, but on other sites and even on the mighty Zon, many books designated as alternate history involved war of some kind, usually on a world scale. Troops were deployed, desperate defense of loyal enclaves made, resources from another time or planet used to change the course of history. Gripping stuff.

But in parallel to mainline historical fiction, shouldn't alternate history examine social, cultural and political events within an alternate historical society? I'm thinking here of Kingsley Amis' The Alteration which is firmly set within its world. Both title and dilemma of the story neatly reflect the altered society and the potential alteration of one of the characters within it. Like any good book, it has terrific characters, atmosphere, a heart-aching choice, sacrifice, the instinct for survival, tension, etc. The beautifully written world bustles with altered technology and yet retains familiar historical details: express barouches, seven-hour transport between London and Rome, gaslight, photograms and airships yet ermines, silks, velvet, fustian, servants and apprentices. The language is historical and structured, such as you would find in C J Sansom or Ann Lyle, but it never disguises people’s motivations or emotions. The most disturbing thing is how convincing this alternative world is.

Few people need introduction to Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policeman’s Union, featuring the world-weary Meyer Landsman, a detective with murder and chess dilemmas. A melancholy tone is relieved by glimpses of optimism and impossible bent-back-on-itself humor  Strong streaks of realism and universal dilemmas are woven into very rich world-building. Also, the plot is more than slightly mad. Again, no wars or forces from the future, just people in their world working through their problems against a background of political pressure and murder.

An equally richly described world, but without any comic tone, is found in Keith Thomas' Pavane, where after the assassination of Elizabeth I, England is constrained in the grip of the post-Armada Catholic church. Individual personal stories set from the 1960s to the 21st century in a semi-feudal England are linked through generations. The most advanced form of transport is the steam-powered traction engine; long-distance communication is achieved by the use of mechanical semaphore towers. But rebellion is in the air...

The classic, Robert Harris' Fatherland; what praise can I heap on it that isn't there already?  All policeman Xavier March wants to do is investigate the discovery of a dead body in a lake near Berlin's most prestigious suburb. That and survive in a corrupt society. Attempting to stay one step ahead of the Gestapo and racing against time, he uncovers a shocking secret which chills to the bone. The alternate history setting is impeccably drawn, with descriptions of Speer's thousand-year Reich vision of Berlin and celebrations of Hitler's 75th birthday, but the spare, clever writing,  tension and plot are essentially those of a crime thriller.

Although different in complexity and scope, but all the same mirroring the domestic rather than global, I recently read Dinah of Seneca by Corinna Lawson. The story unfolds using the alternate timeline as its natural setting. The Roman Empire of this tenth century stretches from Russia in the East to a new continent in the West. But a new continent brings new threats to their rule. The Roman garrison in Seneca, located in modern-day New York, lacks the supplies and men needed to defeat an alliance of native Mahicans and immigrant Vikings.

Dinah, a former slave trained in espionage, had hoped Seneca would be the start of a new life. Instead, she's pulled back into conflict, both political and very personal. If Seneca is to survive, Dinah must reconcile her allegiance to Rome with her chance to create her own destiny in the New World with Gerhard, the Viking leader. The novel focuses heavily on character interaction and Dinah is a sharp and mostly unbiased observer. The book also has sufficient spycraft, politics and action scenes to satisfy most readers but also plenty of emotional punch. In short, it’s a romance in an AH setting.

So here I've noted a few books which are firmly fastened in other genres: literary, historic, crime thriller, romance. I like time travel, timeslip and a good war story and these along with steampunk are perceived to be the staples of alternate history fiction, but I wonder if AH widened its scope, stretching out to embrace other genres, it would entice more readers from the fixed world to sample something a little alternative.

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Alison Morton writes Roman-themed thrillers with an alternative history setting and hopes to publish the first of a trilogy early next year. She muses on writing, Romans and alternate/alternative history at her blog.