Weekly Update #156

Editor's Note

WE'RE BACK!!!

I am writing this at Alternate History Weekly Update's new world headquarters...which is the fancy title for the half-unpacked, spare bedroom in my new home. Still the move went as smooth as it could have and I am a little less stressed out. I even find myself with some rare free time so I sat down and wrote out a Weekly Update.

Sadly sacrifices had to be made. All the research I collected on news and events of the last couple of weeks had to be deleted. Thus nothing, absolutely nothing, happened between 7/14 and 7/27 in the world of alternate history, steampunk, time travel, etc.

O by the way, I got a promotion at work, which means a little more financial security, but possibly a little less time to give to The Update. I will keep you posted on the details, but expect some small blackouts as I get accustomed to my new responsibilities.

And now the news...

Preview: California Bones by Greg van Eekhout

I mentioned California Bones by Greg van Eekhout in New Releases 6/10/14 and several Weekly Updates, but this week the alternate fantasy got some shout outs on a couple sites of note so I decided to give a little more detail on the novel.

In his guest review on SF Signal, Ben Blattberg said "I wouldn't want to live in van Eekhout’s grim, magical LA, but it’s a fantastic place to visit; and despite a few hiccups, the book is a fun thrill-ride." Meanwhile, Greg was a guest on the Adventures in SciFi Publishing podcast, the fourth time he has been on the show (although his voice is used in the podcast intro, so technically he has been present for a lot more episodes).

If you have read California Bones please let us know. We would love to post your review here on The Update.

Videos for Alternate Historians

This week is a special film edition of Videos for Alternate Historians. First up, a NSFW trailer for Hot Tub Time Machine 2:

Huh...I guess there wasn't enough cash, cocaine or hookers to get John Cusack to sign up for the sequel. Sad really, I liked the original. It was a dumb, but entertaining, movie that was just self-aware enough to upend some old time travel cliches. Next up, something probably a little more thoughtful. Here is the new trailer for Nolan's Interstellar:

I'm still holding out hope that some of the early rumors that this film would involve parallel universes are true. Finally we end with what could have been the greatest comic book movie that was never made. I bring you the test footage for Deadpool:

Let me know if you can't see anything. Seems like Fox is trying to purge all mentions of it from the Internet.

Got anymore videos you would like to recommend? Let us know at ahwupdate at gmail dot com.

Links to the Multiverse

Books and Short Fiction

Author’s fantasy novel marks centenary of Great War by John Herring at Newbury Today.
Cover & Synopsis: A DARKER SHADE OF MAGIC by V. E. Schwab at SF Signal.
Defining Steampunk with Authors Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris at Bitten by Books.
Review: Flashing Steel Flashing Fire by Matthew Quinn at The M.
Review: The Language of Stones by Robert Carter at Fantasy Book Review.
Review: Maplecroft: The Borden Dispatches by Cherie Priest at Publishers Weekly.
Review: Napoleon in America by Shannon Selin at Other Times.
Sealed by Noeleen Kavanagh – Free Story Extract at Alt Hist.
Table of Contents: WARS TO END ALL WARS: ALTERNATE TALES FROM THE TRENCHES Edited by N.E. White at SF Signal.

Comics

How to promote a feminist/action/alt. history graphic novel? by Michael Munro at io9.

Counterfactuals, History and News

The 1944 science fiction story that predicted the atomic bomb at Boing Boing.
Bill Clinton's Lost Tape: I Could Have Killed Osama Bin Laden at NBC.
The Bukharin Alternative Part One and Part Two by Scott Blair at The World According to Quinn.
Federal Employee Gets Fired After Writing An Article Criticizing Nukes by Mark Strauss at io9.
If Ireland was treated like Palestine - An alternate history by Andrew Flood at Workers Solidarity Movement.
Lockport’s Steampunk costume gala combines Victorian era, science fiction by Erin Gallagher at Southtown Star.
A Map Of The U.S., If There Had Never Been A Mexican-American War by Mark Strauss at io9.
Watch The European Colonization Of North America In Just 14 Seconds by Mark Strauss at io9.

Film and Television

Ascension: An Alternate History About a Planned Community in Space by Katharine Trendacosta at io9.
Outlander: is this the next Game of Thrones? by Charlotte Runcie at The Telegraph.

Games

The Order: 1886 – A Game That Combines History with Fantasy at The Fuse Joplin.

Interviews

Gail Carriger at The Murverse Annex.
Alyx (A M) Dellamonica at Functional Nerds.
Jacopo della Quercia at The Qwillery.

Podcasts

Dissecting Worlds Series 8, Ep 7b: Religion Conclusions at Geek Syndicate.

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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.

New Releases 6/10/14

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

Hardcovers

California Bones by Greg van Eekhout

When Daniel Blackland was six, he ingested his first bone fragment, a bit of kraken spine plucked out of the sand during a visit with his demanding, brilliant, and powerful magician father, Sebastian.

When Daniel was twelve, he watched Sebastian die at the hands of the Hierarch of Southern California, devoured for the heightened magic layered deep within his bones.

Now, years later, Daniel is a petty thief with a forged identity. Hiding amid the crowds in Los Angeles—the capital of the Kingdom of Southern California—Daniel is trying to go straight. But his crime-boss uncle has a heist he wants Daniel to perform: break into the Hierarch's storehouse of magical artifacts and retrieve Sebastian's sword, an object of untold power.

For this dangerous mission, Daniel will need a team he can rely on, so he brings in his closest friends from his years in the criminal world. There's Moth, who can take a bullet and heal in mere minutes. Jo Alverado, illusionist. The multitalented Cassandra, Daniel’s ex. And, new to them all, the enigmatic, knowledgeable Emma, with her British accent and her own grudge against the powers-that-be. The stakes are high, and the stage is set for a showdown that might just break the magic that protects a long-corrupt regime.

Extravagant and yet moving, Greg van Eekhout's California Bones is an epic adventure set in a city of canals and secrets and casual brutality--different from the world we know, yet familiar and true.

Paperbacks

Flashing Steel, Flashing Fire: A Short Story Collection by Matthew Quinn

The vivid imagination of Matthew W. Quinn has carried him far from our mundane world to places of mystery, wonder, and terror. Now is your chance to join him on ten adventures ranging from Dark Age Denmark to a world where North America and Europe face off against the Indian Ocean in a Cold War to the forgotten and frightening corners of our own present day...

COIL GUN-On the opening night of the Third World War, an American spaceport official plays off against an Afrikaner intelligence officer with the fate of the world in the balance. Previously published in PRESSURE SUITE: DIGITAL SCIENCE FICTION #3.

LORD GIOVANNI'S DAUGHTER-A scholar and adventurer must rescue his employer's daughter from the fierce Talassos, prince of the serpentine Naga.

NICOR-A teenage Dane on his first Viking raid encounters something fiercer than the Anglish. Previously published in HEROIC FANTASY QUARTERLY.

MELON HEADS-A pair of young lovers in Ohio discover what they thought an urban legend is very, very real...

PICKING UP PLANS IN PALMA-An American spy infiltrates the brutal Afrikaner Confederation to retrieve vital plans, not knowing the terrible fate awaiting him...

ILLEGAL ALIEN-A group of undocumented migrants seeking the American dream encounter aliens of a different sort...

THE BEAST OF THE BOSPORUS-After the destruction of the Ottoman fleet at the Battle of Lepanto, Grand Vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha seeks power of a different sort, power that puts him at the mercy of powers beyond human comprehension.

I AM THE WENDIGO-Many tales have been told about the wendigo, the man-eating fiend of the northern woods, but when has the wendigo ever spoken for himself? Previously published in CHIMAERA SERIALS.

LORD OF THE DOLOROUS TOWER-In a world wracked once by a celestial impact and then again by a fierce Dark Lord, two adventurous teens go treasure-hunting in the Dark Lord's tomb...

WESTERNMOST THRONE-On the eve of the U.S. Presidential Election, a campaign receptionist finds out her boss is much more than he says he is...

Sherlock Holmes - Gods of War by James Lovegrove

1913. The clouds of war are gathering. The world's great empires vie for supremacy. Europe is in turmoil, a powder keg awaiting a spark. A body is discovered on the shore below Beachy Head, just a mile from Sherlock Holmes's retirement cottage. The local police are satisfied that it's a suicide. The victim, a young man, recently suffered a disappointment in love, and Beachy Head is notorious as a place where the desperate and depressed leap to their deaths. Holmes, however, suspects murder. As he and Watson investigate, they uncover a conspiracy with shocking ramifications.

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.