New Releases 12/16/14

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Paperbacks

Robinson Crusoe on Zombie Island by Daniel Defoe and Ivan Fanti

Inspired by the original literary classic, this horror mash-up tells the story of Robinson Crusoe and his 28-year struggle to survive on an island beset by ravenous zombies. Crusoe is forced to improvise in the wake of total isolation and terror. His only hope may be Friday, a native cannibal woman, as he is caught between the warring factions of cannibals and zombies. Told through the pages of Robinson Crusoe’s diary, this book offers a satisfying combination of serious and silly as readers find just how badly things can go for this all-time favorite once the living dead are added to the mix.

The Royals: Masters of War by Rob Williams and Simon Coleby

The year is 1940. As the Blitz destroys London and kills thousands, the Royal Family looks on. But in this world, the only people with special abilities are Royalty, and the purer the bloodline, the greater their abilities. So why don't they stop the carnage with their powers? A truce between the Earth's nobles has kept them out of our wars--until now. When England's Prince Henry can take no more and intervenes, will it stop the planet's suffering or take it to another level?

Writer Rob Williams (Judge Dredd: Trifecta, Low Life, ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN and Daken) and artist Simon Coleby (The Authority, Judge Dredd: Year One and Trifecta) team up to bring you this epic of World War proportions. History will be transformed in a way you've never seen before.

Collects THE ROYALS: MASTERS OF WAR  #1-6

[Editor's Note: Read Chris Nuttall's review.]

Zombie Apocalypse! End Game by Stephen Jones

Through interconnected eyewitness accounts—emails, text messages, reports, diaries, found video footage, and graphic adaptations, Zombie Apocalypse! Endgame tells the story of the climactic final battle between the ZZ infantry of the New Zombie Order and the fighters of the human resistance. Who will win the endgame?

E-books

Jazz Age Cthulhu by Orrin Grey, Jennifer Brozek and A.D. Cahill

Three new novelettes inspired by Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos, set against the background of the Roaring Twenties.

Journey to Kansas City, the “Paris of the Plains,” a city of glamor and sin where cults, secret societies and music intermingle.

Visit Assam, India, where a British dilettante wakes up one morning covered in bruises and welts, with a dead man in her bed and no memory of what happened in the last 24 hours. Her only clue is a trashed invitation to the exclusive Black Ram Club.

Relax on the resort island of Pomptinia, an Italian enclave of wealthy socialites, expats and intellectuals. But beware - the sea conceals dark secrets.

Fiction by Jennifer Brozek, A.D. Cahill and Orrin Grey.

To fans, authors and publishers...

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

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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update and a blogger on Amazing Stories. Check out his short fiction. When not writing he works as an attorney, enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana and prepares for the inevitable zombie apocalypse. You can follow him on Facebook or Twitter.

The Strange Death of Sokullu Mehmed Pasha

Guest post Matthew W. Quinn.

From A New Look at Sokullu Mehmed Pasha, published at Miskatonic University.

The consensus of historians on the assassination of Grand Vizier Sokullu Mehmed Pasha on October 11, 1579 AD (or 20 Sha'ban 987 AH in the Islamic reckoning) is fairly well-known in our field. The Ottoman Sultan Murad III, alienated from the vizier who had served his father and grandfather so long and ably by his mother Narbanu Sultan and Venetian-born wife Safiye Sultan, took steps to reduce the vizier's influence on government. The vizier's allies were sent to faraway positions or assassinated. Ultimately, a mentally-unstable dervish talked his way into the vizier's office and stabbed him. This kind of intrigue was fairly common in the Ottoman Empire, especially during the period known as the Sultanate of Women.

However, some recent discoveries by Miskatonic University researchers of documents thought lost forever during the civil unrest that wracked Constantinople when the Janissaries were suppressed has shed new light on the circumstances of the vizier's assassination and an incident that took place in 1571.

These documents paint a far more sinister picture of the vizier. They include accusations of dealings with agents of Safavid Persia, with whom the vizier had counseled peace as opposed to the usual border wars, and even black magic. The documents accuse the vizier of, under the influence of an agent of Persian Shah Tahmasp I, acquiring a book of black magic from an Armenian merchant who had visited the long-vacant shrine of a corrupted Sufi order that had been destroyed by Turkish nomads not long before. The use of this book resulted in an incident in Constantinople that killed dozens of Ottoman soldiers, destroyed one war galley and forced the scuttling of a second, and caused significant damage to the Bayezit II mosque.

These accusations against Sokullu are not new, but have been long dismissed as the slanders from his political enemies. However, the mosque was damaged somehow, necessitating repairs by the famed Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan in 1573 and 1574. Furthermore, it is often said that converts make the best zealots. Safiye Sultan was a Catholic before she became a Muslim, while the most recent evidence suggests Narbanu was an Orthodox Greek from Corfu before her conversion. If Sokullu was involved in the dark arts, or was widely believed so, this could have provoked the ire of the Imperial women. They would not wish one so tainted to continue virtually ruling the Ottoman Empire in place of their son and husband. And the dervish orders might be willing to provide an assassin to dispose of the vizier, especially given his (tangential) connection to a Sufi order that had become warped by dark forces.

Of course, this is all just speculation. The documents describe how the soldiers killed in the incident were buried in a mass grave outside Constantinople that was given special attention by Muslim imams, Orthodox Christian priests, and even a Jewish rabbi, while the materials used by Sokullu in the incident were confiscated, burned, and abandoned in Persia. Should this mass grave or the dumping site be found, it would lend credence to the incident described in the documents.

So just why was the Grand Vizier assassinated, and is the author's theory about dark powers manifesting in Constantinople actually true? Read "The Beast of the Bosporus" on Amazon.com or on Smashwords to find out!

Review: The Beast of the Bosporus by Matthew Quinn

H.P. Lovecraft is one of the underrated writers of speculative fiction. He is credited with influencing the horror writers of the 20th century, popularizing weird fiction and giving us the classic Cthulhu Mythos. Alternate historians have been infatuated by the author as well. Published alternate histories about the author or his fiction include "A Colder War" by Charles Stross and The Lovecraft Chronicles by Peter Cannon. Online you can find Lovecraft's influence in the timeline Green Antarctica by DValdron and many of the ASB Settings of Bruce Munro.

As a big fan of Lovecraft myself, I was of course excited to read the new short story "The Beast of the Bosporus" by Matthew W. Quinn (author of the alternate history short story "Coil Gun" and a contributor to this blog). The story is set in the Ottoman Empire, post-Battle of Lepanto. The Sublime State's navy has recovered from the defeat, but Grand Vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha fears Lepanto is one of many failures the Turks will experience in the future. Perhaps the strange book printed on skin brought to Istanbul by an Armenian merchant holds the key to victory...

The problem with short stories is, well, they're short. You can't give away to much in a review without spoiling the plot. Still short fiction is a wonderful medium of story-telling that I have come to appreciate in the past couple of years. Although I have been consuming short fiction recently through audio podcasts, it is refreshing to read a good short story like Quinn's.

"The Beast of the Bosporus" fits well into the Mythos. The characters' short-term greed causes them to experiment with forces they cannot possible understand, which is a theme of many Lovecraft works. Except for a couple of typos and moment of clumsy wording, the story is well-written and I think we can all look forward to quality short fiction from the prolific Quinn in the future.

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

Weekly Update #45

Editor's Note

We are almost at 100 Facebook followers, just 8 more to go.  If you read the blog and use Facebook, please like our Facebook page if you have not done so already.

I hope you guys enjoyed Chris Nuttall first guest post on Weekly Update.  We will be featuring two guest posts by Chris on the next two Fridays.  We also will be featuring a guest post later this week by Tbguy1992.  He will be doing a showcase on the Napoelon's World TL that you can find on the AH Wiki.

And now the news...

Things to Do in the Real World

Alternate history is not just about reading fictional worlds or discussing them in an online forum.  There are events in the real world where you can nerd out to your heart's content.

For example, the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul will be hosting an event called "What If? Alternate History Teen & Family Day" on April 21.  Here is a brief description:

Travel back in time and imagine a new future. Explore Minnesota through the eyes of science fiction and steampunk authors, artisans, and alternate historians. And by all means, don’t forget your goggles and top hat.

Activities will include: Interactive Steampunk Mystery with SteamCentury Minnesota, Music by Bad September, Ask a Writer with Minnesota science fiction authors Kelly Barnhill, Lyda Morehouse and Kelly McCullough, Fashion Art Activity with Leonardo’s Basement, fashion models styled by Blasphemenia’s Closet and Steampunk artisans selling fashion accessories to create a more fantastic you.

Then on May 4-6, you can take a quick drive into North Dakota to attend CoreCon 2012.  S. M. Stirling (Emberverse, Draka, ISOT) will be the guest of the honor.

So don't just sit at home in front of your computer (unless it is to read AH Weekly Update).  Get out there and meet some people face to face who enjoy the same interests you do.

Submissions Wanted

I discovered a couple more opportunities to get published.

First, Chaosium  is going to publish an anthology of short stories set in Cthulhu mythos created author H. P. Lovecraft.  The anthology, with the working title of Steampunk Cthulhu, wants authors to submit stories that put Lovecraft's dark universe into a steampunk setting.  Stories should be 2000 to 8000 words in length and must be submitted by July 31st.  More information can be found at the website of one of the editors.

Second, thanks to the San Francisco Chronicle, I learned about an interesting writing contest that all hopeful SF writers should keep in mind.  It is called the "L. Ron Hubbard presents Writers of the Future".  It is a yearly short fiction contest for authors who have never been professionally published.  Works must shorter than 17000 words and submitted before September 30 to be eligible for this year's contest, or else you will have to wait longer to be judged.  More rules can be found here.

Finally, those interested in submitting to Alt Hist should take note.  Editor Mark Lord has updated the Submission Policy.  The new policy is below:

1. Must be a short piece of fiction – under 10,000 words.
2. Must be either historical fiction, alternate history, or historical fantasy.
3. Must be a well written character based story rather than an exercise in ‘what if …’
4. Must not be simultaneously submitted to another publication.
5. Must be an original work that has not been published elsewhere.

As always, good luck.

New Releases: The Manhattan Projects #1

What if the Manhattan Project was actually a cover-up for something even more dangerous then the atomic bomb?  That is the premise for the new comic series titled The Manhattan Projects which follows alternate versions of the historical people who worked on the Manhattan Project, the research program that developed atomic weapons for the United States during World War II.  Written by Jonathan Hickman and art by Nick Pitarra, the comic appears to bend real history around the mad science usually found in comics.

Will it be a hit? J. Caleb Mozzocco at Las Vegas Weekly seems to think so. He gave the first issue 4 out of 5 stars and said "[i]t’s a pretty powerful premise, almost playfully executed, and it’s suspenseful enough to leave one wanting to know what happens next—the hallmark of a good comic book series." Those looking to learn more can follow "The Multiversity Projections" which will be following and dissecting each issue.

Links to the Multiverse

Articles

Alternate History by onyxhawke at Agent Incite.

A Chart That Explains How Long Ago Star Wars Actually Took Place by Keith Veronese at io9. (Good article if you ever wanted Star Wars characters to interact with historical persons from Earth.)

The Shadow City : Putting the Punk Back into Steampunk by The Catastaraphone Orchestra at Steamed!

Books

The Bloody Red Baron arrives! by Titan Books.

The brilliance of speculative sci-fi by Paul Di Filippo at Salon. Includes a review of The Mirage by Matt Ruff.

Naomi Novak’s Crucible of Gold published in the US by Mark Lord at Alt Hist.

Review of 1632 by Eric Flint done by The 6th Floor.

Review of The Two Georges by Richard Dreyfuss and Harry Turtledove done by Ben Babcock at Goodreads.

Online AH

1636: The Kremlin Games Snippet 08 by Eric Flint.

Winter of '79 - Wargaming an alternate timeline of Thatcherite Britain.

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