New Releases 8/27/13

Paperbacks

1635: Papal Stakes by Eric Flint and Charles E. Gannon

Description from Amazon.

A new addition to the multiple New York Times best-selling Ring of Fire series. After carving a place for itself in war-torn 17th century Europe, citizens of the modern town of Grantville, West Virginia take on the Borgias and Papal succession shenanigans that could undermine a Spring of freedom that has come to Europe three centuries early.

#15 in the multiple bestselling Ring of Fire Series.

It’s springtime in the Eternal City, 1635. But it’s no Roman holiday for uptimer Frank Stone and his pregnant downtime wife, Giovanna. They’re in the clutches of would-be Pope Cardinal Borgia, with the real Pope–Urban VII –on the run with the renegade embassy of uptime Ambassador Sharon Nichols and her swashbuckling downtime husband, Ruy Sanchez de Casador y Ortiz. Up to their necks in papal assassins, power politics, murder, and mayhem, the uptimers and their spouses need help and they need it quickly.

Special rescue teams–including Harry Lefferts and his infamous Wrecking Crew–converge on Rome to extract Frank and Gia. And an uptime airplane is on its way to spirit the Pope to safety before Borja’s assassins can find him. It seems that everything is going to work out just fine in sunny Italy.

Until, that is, everything goes wrong. Now, whether they are prisoners in Rome or renegades protecting a pope on the run, it’s up to the rough and ready can-do attitude of Grantville natives to once again escape the clutches of aristocratic skullduggery and ring in freedom for a war-torn land.

Age of Godpunk: Collecting Age of Anansi, Age of Satan and Age of Gaia by James Lovegrove

Description from Amazon.

James Lovegrove presents three novellas with three different 'gods' and their appreance in the worlds of man. Age of Anansi, Age of Satan, and a third novella Age of Gaia appearing both in print and ebook for the first time with the release of this exciting omnibus.

James Lovegrove presents three novellas with three different 'gods' and their appreance in the worlds of man. Age of Anansi, Age of Satan, and a third novella, Age of Gaia, appearing both in print and ebook for the first time with the release of this exciting omnibus.

Doorways to Extra Time edited by Trisha Wooldridge

Description from Amazon.

In our busy world of meetings and microwaves, car radios and cellphones, people always wish they could get an extra hour in the day. But what if they could? Doorways to Extra Time is an anthology that explores ways to get extra time (be it an hour, a day, or a decade) and the impact it would have--whether upon a single life, a family or an entire world.

Sherlock Holmes - The Stuff of Nightmares by James Lovegrove

Description from Amazon.

It's the autumn of 1890, and a spate of bombings has hit London. The newspapers are full of fevered speculation about anarchists, anti-monarchists and Fenians. But one man suspects an even more sinister hand behind the violence.  Sherlock Holmes believes Professor Moriarty is orchestrating a nationwide campaign of terror, but to what end? At the same time, a bizarrely garbed figure has been spotted on the rooftops and in the grimy back alleys of the capital.  He moves with the extraordinary agility of a latter-day Spring-heeled Jack.  He possesses weaponry and armour of unprecedented sophistication.  He is known only by the name Baron Cauchemar, and he appears to be a scourge of crime and villainy. But is this masked man truly the force for good that he seems?  Is he connected somehow to the bombings?  Holmes and his faithful companion Dr. Watson are about to embark on one of their strangest and most exhilarating adventures yet.

SideQuest Adventures by Mark Teppo, Angus Trim, Michael Tinker Pearce and Linda Pearce

Description from Amazon.

Three exciting stand-alone SideQuest adventures set in the alternate history world of the popular Foreworld Saga, collected in a single volume.

The Beast of Calatrava, by Mark Teppo, is an intriguing alternate history tale in which both a battle-scarred former knight with a blood-soaked history and a monk with a mysterious past face the encroaching Templar crusade and the war coming to Iberia.

In The Shield Maiden, by Michael “Tinker” Pearce and Linda Pearce, a headstrong and skilled young Viking woman struggles through the stigmas of her time to claim her spot among the fiercest of fighters.

The Lion in Chains, by Angus Trim and Mark Teppo, is a visionary adventure in which the legendary Robin Hood joins forces with a clandestine order of warrior monks to rescue the kidnapped King Richard the Lionheart.

Audiobooks

Hearts of Iron by Scott James Magner

Description from Amazon.

When The Italian Job meets the Knights of the Round Table, the ultimate medieval heist caper is born.

It is the summer of 1035 AD and three sons of Tancred de Hauteville are in ambivalent service to Guimar, Prince of Salerno. The three men, who have been trained by their father in the art of war since childhood, spend the sweltering afternoons practicing swordplay, trading barbs, and thinking of how many men they would need to take the prince's poorly fortified castle for themselves.

But when a mysterious agent asks the prince for the brothers' services in obtaining a gilded chest, eldest brother William recognizes an opportunity to strengthen the Hauteville legacy. When he assembles a crew of skilled mercenaries, loyalties are tested and truths revealed. Among the group, there is a traitor, a spy, and the carrier of a long-held secret. The trust William places in each of his men will decide the future for himself and his family.

A bold new SideQuest in the Foreworld Saga, HEARTS OF IRON shows a different side of the middle ages , but with all the deft-sword play, historical accuracy, and political intrigue you would expect from the series that brought you The Mongoliad trilogy.

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 story "The Enchanted Bean" can be found in Once Upon a Clockwork Tale from Echelon Press. 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 2/12/13

Hardcover

The Afrika Reich by Guy Saville

Description from Amazon.

Africa, 1952. More than a decade has passed since Britain’s humiliation at Dunkirk brought an end to the war and the beginning of an uneasy peace with Hitler.

The swastika flies from the Sahara to the Indian Ocean. Britain and a victorious Nazi Germany have divided the continent. The SS has crushed the native populations and forced them into labor. Gleaming autobahns bisect the jungle, jet fighters patrol the skies. For almost a decade an uneasy peace has ensued.

Now, however, the plans of Walter Hochburg, messianic racist and architect of Nazi Africa, threaten Britain’s ailing colonies.

Sent to curb his ambitions is Burton Cole: a one-time assassin torn between the woman he loves and settling an old score with Hochburg. If he fails unimaginable horrors will be unleashed on the continent. No one – black or white – will be spared.

But when his mission turns to disaster, Burton must flee for his life.

It is a flight that will take him from the unholy ground of Kongo to SS slave camps to war-torn Angola – and finally a conspiracy that leads to the dark heart of The Afrika Reich itself.

Check out Seb's review and his conversation with Guy in the comment section.

Paperback

Homunculus by James P. Blaylock

Description from Amazon.

It is the late 19th century and a mysterious airship orbits through the foggy skies. Its terrible secrets are sought by many, including the Royal Society, a fraudulent evangelist, a fiendish vivisectionist, an evil millionaire and an assorted group led by the scientist and explorer Professor Langdon St. Ives.

Can St. Ives keep the alien homunculus out of the claws of the villainous Ignacio Narbondo?

The Mirage by Matt Ruff

Description from Amazon.

11/9/2001: Christian fundamentalists hijack four jetliners. They fly two into the Tigris & Euphrates World Trade Towers in Baghdad, and a third into the Arab Defense Ministry in Riyadh. The fourth plane, believed to be bound for Mecca, is brought down by its passengers. The United Arab States declares a War on Terror. Arabian and Persian troops invade the Eastern Seaboard and establish a Green Zone in Washington, D.C. . . .

Summer, 2009: Arab Homeland Security agent Mustafa al Baghdadi interrogates a captured suicide bomber. The prisoner claims that the world they are living in is a mirage—in the real world, America is a superpower, and the Arab states are just a collection of "backward third-world countries." Other captured terrorists have been telling the same story.

The gangster Saddam Hussein is conducting his own investigation. And the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee—a war hero named Osama bin Laden—will stop at nothing to hide the truth. As Mustafa and his colleagues venture deeper into the unsettling world of terrorism, politics, and espionage, they are confronted with questions without any rational answers, and the terrifying possibility that their world is not what it seems.

Check out Brian's review of the novel.

Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories edited by Gavin J. Grant and Kelly Link

Description from Amazon.

Imagine an alternate universe where tinkerers and dreamers craft and re-craft a world of automatons, clockworks, calculating machines, and other marvels that never were. Visionaries Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant have taken a genre already rich, strange, and inventive and challenged fourteen masters of speculative fiction, including two graphic storytellers, to embrace its established themes and refashion them in surprising ways and settings. The result is an anthology that defies its genre even as it defines it.

Audio

1635: The Papal Stakes by Charles E. Gannon and Eric Flint

Description from Amazon.

Rome in the year 1635 finds Frank Stone and his pregnant wife Giovanna in the clutches of Cardinal Borgia, whose political machinations and papal assassins may soon elevate him to Pope Borgia. Now Frank, along with Harry Lefferts and his infamous Wrecking Crew, must protect Pope Urban VII from all manner of treachery.

The Beast of Calatrava by Mark Teppo

Description from Amazon.

After a battle left Ramiro Ibáñez de Tolosa¿s face terribly disfigured, the knight of the Order of Calatrava abandoned his sword for a pastoral existence. But his beastly appearance horrifies all those who cross his path - with the exception of his adoring and pregnant wife. Can he keep Louisa and their unborn child safe from the war that is coming to Iberia?

As Ramiro prepares for his child¿s birth, Brother Lazare of the Cistercian order searches for a means to inspire men as he travels with the crusading Templars. He seeks swords of legend - named blades carried by heroes of old - believing such symbols have the ability to rally men in a way no king could ever accomplish. But when he learns of the stories told of the mysterious monster that haunts the Iberian battlefields, he wonders what sort of power this new legend might contain - the legend of a man whose scarred face and cold demeanor cannot hide his heroic soul.

To fans, authors and publishers...

Do you want to see your work given a shout out on our New Releases segment? Contact Mitro at ahwupdate at gmail dot com.  We are looking for works of alternate history, counterfactual history, steampunk, historical fantasy, time travel or anything that warps history beyond our understanding.

* * *

Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update, a blogger on Amazing Stories and a volunteer editor for Alt Hist magazine. His fiction can be found at Echelon Press, Jake's Monthly and The Were-Traveler. When not writing he works as an attorney, enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana and prepares for the inevitable zombie apocalypse. You can follow him on Facebook or Twitter.

New Releases 10/2/12

New hardcover

1635: Papal Stakes by Eric Flint and Charles E. Gannon

Description from Amazon.

#15 in the multiple bestselling Ring of Fire Series.

It’s springtime in the Eternal City, 1635. But it’s no Roman holiday for uptimer Frank Stone and his pregnant downtime wife, Giovanna. They’re in the clutches of would-be Pope Cardinal Borgia, with the real Pope–Urban VII –on the run with the renegade embassy of uptime Ambassador Sharon Nichols and her swashbuckling downtime husband, Ruy Sanchez de Casador y Ortiz. Up to their necks in papal assassins, power politics, murder, and mayhem, the uptimers and their spouses need help and they need it quickly.

Special rescue teams–including Harry Lefferts and his infamous Wrecking Crew–converge on Rome to extract Frank and Gia. And an uptime airplane is on its way to spirit the Pope to safety before Borja’s assassins can find him. It seems that everything is going to work out just fine in sunny Italy.

Until, that is, everything goes wrong. Now, whether they are prisoners in Rome or renegades protecting a pope on the run, it’s up to the rough and ready can-do attitude of Grantville natives to once again escape the clutches of aristocratic skullduggery and ring in freedom for a war-torn land.

New paperback

Firestorm by Taylor Anderson

Description from Amazon.

Designated Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, Matt Reddy must now contend with a new threat; the Dominion—humans whose lust for power matches the Grik. But even though the Grand Alliance recognizes the danger of the Dominion, it must deal with the land-based Grik first, leaving the Imperial navy—and USS Walker—with little assistance.

As war rages, more Japanese ships come through the time-space maelstrom that the Americans call The Squall. One is a “Hell Ship,” carrying prisoners of an Imperial Japan that is growing ever more ruthless in the face of looming defeat. Escorting it is a new, state-of-the-art destroyer, whose officers recognize no rules of war.

Fighting on two fronts, Reddy is plunged into a firestorm of loyalty, betrayal, and sacrifice. But nothing can prepare him for a devastating new Grik weapon—a weapon that could wipe out all who oppose them…

The Mechanical Messiah and Other Marvels of the Modern Age by Robert Rankin

Description from Amazon.

Colonel Katterfelto has returned to London, having departed America under something of a cloud—of smoke, issuing from his Spiritual Laboratory, which the townsfolk of Wormcast, Arizona, marched upon with their flaming torches. This catastrophic conflagration caused considerable concern to the pious colonel, who had been engaged in the creation of "Heaven's last and best gift to Mankind," The Mechanical Messiah—he was, after all, being guided in this Great Work by holy angels, communicating to him through his monkey butler, Darwin. It is 1897, the British Empire encompasses Mars, and an uneasy peace exists between the peoples of Venus, Jupiter, and Earth. In London the marvels of the modern age to be experienced include the Electric Alhambra Music Hall, where crowds thrill to the Earl Grey Whistle Test—a musical extravaganza featuring such top turns as Hayward's Acrobatic Kiwis, the Travelling Formbys, and the newly arrived Colonel Katterfelto's Clockwork Minstrels. But all is far from well in old Whitechapel, where a monster is once more abroad in the night-time streets, committing hideous acts of murder. Can this be the return of Jack the Ripper, or has something altogether unearthly and hellishly evil materialized? Famed consulting detective Cameron Bell is already on the case, but it may take nothing less than the new Messiah himself to save London, the Empire, and all of the solar system from the impending apocalypse!

New e-books

The British Alien by John Lewis

Description from Amazon.

An alternative history of the British Empire in the dark days of the Second World War. Be astonished by this first hand account of how the British Secret Service attempted to make deals with otherworldly demonic entities in order to counter a similar deal made by the Nazis.

A mysterious package is dropped from an RAF bomber over the Atlantic. Nazi secret societies conspire against the British Empire and a small team is created to investigate the situation. Dark secrets are revealed that lie at the heart of the British establishment.

The Hundred Years Farce by Scott Skipper

Description from Amazon.

Most people don't recall—if they ever knew—that the United States Army invaded México in 1846. A year later they entered México City and received an unconditional surrender. Then they walked away with Texas, New México and California. What would have happened if they hadn't walked away?

History is full of crossroads. Alexander conquered Egypt, Persia and Afghanistan then he went to India and died of fever at twenty-three. How would he have redrawn the world map if he had lived to a ripe old age?

Arab enemies very nearly killed Mohamed before he wrote the Koran. How would the world look today if there were no such thing as Islam?

Washington was pressured to crown himself king. What would have come of the United States if he hadn't been quite so altruistic?

The sum of all events that led us to where we are could have turned quite differently had small things been tweaked. This quirky and irreverent 'what if' story starts with the truth then looks at plausible, bizarre and absurd alternatives to what came later. Do we have here a simple alternative history or could it be an allegorical reflection of modern times? Will the end always look the same no matter how many parallel universes we examine? Is our fate hard wired or are we at the mercy of some cosmic coin toss?

The Lady Astronomer by Katy O'Dowd

Description from Amazon.

Lucretia's quiet life as an astronomer and hat-maker is quickly turned on its head by her brother. He is commanded by the king to build the grandest telescope in the land. Unfortunately for Lucretia, she is introduced to his majesty as her brother's assistant. Her nights spent on rooftops gazing at the stars are replaced by adventure and danger. In a race to build the Forty-foot telescope on time for the king, her misfortunes take their toll. When Lucretia finds herself held hostage at the Clockwork Court, the innocent country girl doesn't know who to trust. The lady astronomer finds court life to be more dangerous than she could have ever imagined. Even if her brothers manage to build the telescope on time, she might not live to earn her freedom.

With the help of her brothers, Freddie and Al, and her constant companions Leibniz the Lemur and Orion the Eagle Owl, Lucretia embarks on a journey that could change her life forever. Can she find the strength inside to balance her new life and overcome the obstacles threatening her destiny? Only the stars will tell.

To fans, authors and publishers...

Do you want to see your work given a shout out on our New Releases segment? Contact Mitro 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 volunteer editor for Alt Hist and a contributor to Just Below the Law. His fiction can be found at Echelon Press, Jake's Monthly and his own writing blog. When not writing he works as an attorney and enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana.

Weekly Update #61

Editor's Notes

Phew!  It is finally over, my marathon month of double-posting.  I am returning to the normal schedule, but thanks again to all our readers for helping us celebrate our one-year anniversary.  You sent us an awesome birthday present: a new monthly page view record of 9,235.  I would love to make an attempt to break 10,000 but I think I might put that off until August.  July is the month of my birth so I am going to take it easy and focus on my own writing.  I have some fiction being published this month, plus some guest posting to do.

The poll for the Short Form Sidewise Award has closed.  The winner, by a huge margin, is "Lee at the Alamo" by Harry Turtledove.  We will have to wait until Chicon for the official announcement, but in the meantime, a new poll is up for the Long Form Sidewise Award.  Cast your vote for the best alternate history novel of 2011.

This week I will be continuing my "The Art of Steampunk" segment and I will have the usual New Releases on Tuesday.  I will also be previewing the next book on my reading list and reviewing The Houdini Specter by Daniel Stashower.  Remember you can see updates from Weekly Update on the Althistory subreddit or our own subreddit (which I primarily use in case one of posts gets down-voted in the other subreddit).

And now the news...

Supreme Court Decision Provides Alternate History Moment

In the era of the 24-hour news cycle, it pays to be the first to report on a breaking story.  So with Americans eager to hear the Supreme Court's ruling on the Affordable Health Care Act (or Obamacare) the major networks raced to make an announcement as soon as the decision was released.

Though ultimately the Supreme Court upheld the individual insurance mandate that was at the heart of the controversy, major news networks like Fox News and CNN at first reported that the Supreme Court had struck down the mandate.  Pundits also took to Twitter, some gleefully tweeting that Obamacare was over.

Of course they were wrong and eventually the truth came out, though it took CNN a full 8 minutes longer than Fox News to realize they had made a mistake.  It was a moment reminiscent of the famous "Dewey Defeats Truman" headline published by the Chicago Tribune.  Surely there are already some alternate historians out there writing and/or posting timelines where the mandate was struck down, but if you want my advice, slow down there Tex.  Let time pass and have last week's news become actual history.  A good alternate history is like a fine wine.  It gets better with age.

Things to do

Readers from the Los Angeles area can check out Rogue Fool Fest 2.  Described as a "DANCE PARTY+ SPECTACLE with a hint of CIRCUS, SEXY & COMEDY set to a STEAMPUNK ambiance" the show is put on by art collective Rogue Artists Ensemble.  It is located at Depict Inc Warehouse and is happens on July 20 starting @ 9 pm.  Tickets and more info can be found here.

Update: Eric Flint

With a new book out, alternate history author Eric Flint has been busy promoting it and preparing for his next release.  He was interviewed on the Adventures in Sci Fi Publishing podcast where he discussed "his work, lawsuits, Amazon’s power, ebooks and how Baen is setting an example more publishers should follow."

Speaking of his work, Geeky Scifi posted a review of 1636: The Kremlin Games calling it "one of the best books in the series and a great addition to this wonderful alternative world that Eric Flint created." A very nice compliment, but Flint is not about to stop one of the longest-running alternate history series (don't quote me on that).  Last week he posted three samples to his upcoming novel 1635: The Papal Stakes (Snippet 6, 7, 8).

As one of the three most prolific alternate history writers, I do not expect Flint to stop writing for a long time, and you should not either.

Links to the Multiverse

Articles

Detroit came close to holding Olympics by David Briggs at Toledo Blade.

The Importance Of The Responsible Use Of History In Fiction by bryantschmidt at Adventures in Sci Fi Publishing.

Books

ALTAFF’s “Books Without Boundaries: Crossover Fiction for YAs and Adults”: ALA Annual 2012 by Barbara Hoffert at Library Journal.

Cherie Priest's The Inexplicables Cover Art, Summary and Release Date by Upcoming4.me.

Coming Soon: Gideon Smith by David Barnett.

Lavie Tidhar: True Confessions of a Book Junkie.

Review of The Real German War Plan: 1904-1914 by Terence Zuber done by Kilobooks.

Comics

Archaia unveils 'Rust vol 2' by Hugh Armitage at Digital Spy.

COMIC REVIEW: Atomic Robo and the Flying She-Devils of the Pacific done by Leo Johnson at Geek Syndicate.

COMIC REVIEW: Titan One Shot done by comicgeekboy at Geek Syndicate.

Comics You Should Own - Rex Mundi by Greg Burgas at CBR.

Games

Alternate History Space Race by Carl at Back Screen Pass.

Clockwork Brain Review by Jennifer Allen at 148Apps.

Dark Harvest: Legacy of Frankenstein reviewed by Tim Franklin at Twisted Tales.

Pokémon Conquest Review – An Alternate History I Can Get Behind by Piki Geek at Next Video Games.

*       *       *

Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update, a volunteer editor for Alt Hist and a contributor to Just Below the Law. His fiction can be found at Echelon Press, Jake's Monthly and his own writing blog. When not writing he works as an attorney and enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana.