Weekly Update #206! Chapelwood, World of Warships and More.

Editor's Note

So this Weekly Update is going to be shorter than usual for two big reasons. First, Alana and I had some people over on Saturday for a BBQ. So I was busy cleaning and preparing the house for that and thus did not have time to write. Second, on Sunday my stomach decided it was time for spring cleaning and didn't give a damn about my writing plans. I won't bore you with the gory details, but as I write this I am struggling more with staying awake then coming up with any good content. So sorry if I miss a day or two this week. I will hopefully return to full strength by next week.

And now the news...

Book of the Week: Chapelwood by Cherie Priest

One book that seemed to blow up my Twitter feed was Chapelwood by Cherie Priest, the sequel to Maplecroft. Here is the plot summary from Amazon:

From Cherie Priest, the award-winning author of Maplecroft, comes a new tale of Lizzie Borden’s continuing war against the cosmic horrors threatening humanity…

Birmingham, Alabama is infested with malevolence. Prejudice and hatred have consumed the minds and hearts of its populace. A murderer, unimaginatively named “Harry the Hacker” by the press, has been carving up citizens with a hatchet. And from the church known as Chapelwood, an unholy gospel is being spread by a sect that worships dark gods from beyond the heavens.  

This darkness calls to Lizzie Borden. It is reminiscent of an evil she had dared hoped was extinguished. The parishioners of Chapelwood plan to sacrifice a young woman to summon beings never meant to share reality with humanity. An apocalypse will follow in their wake which will scorch the earth of all life.

Unless she stops it…

Cherie was over at My Bookish Ways for an interview and a giveaway of Chapelwood, so I recommend you check that out if you are interested. You may also like the cover reveals for Arabella of Mars by David D. Levine and The Dinosaur Knights by Victor Milán over at Tor.

Video of the Week: RAMMED! - World Of Warships Launch Gameplay by DarrenTotalWar

Do you like WWII naval combat? Then you might like DarrenTotalWar's gameplay footage of World of Warships:

Certainly looks more exciting to me than World of Tanks. I may check it out if I ever buy a better computer.

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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.

Weekly Update #202! Nazi Treasure Train, Tyler Bugg and Darren Total War.

Editor's Note

For those who don't know, I joined Patreon a couple of weeks ago. If you haven't already, please consider becoming one of my patrons. I am offering rewards that range from exclusive content, early access to posts and the chance to tell me what to write about next. Additionally I have several milestone goals, the first being the return of the Flag Friday series. I have revised the amounts on those to make them more realistic, so please check them out when you get the chance.

Fair warning, I need to finish my abstract for the Sideways in Time edited collection and thus I may not post on one or more days. Thanks for your patience and hopefully I will have something really cool to share with you in 2016.

And now the news...

Headline: Two Men Believe They Have Found a Lost Nazi Treasure Train

There is an old rumor that the Nazis had collected a horde of treasure from pillaging Wroclaw, but when the Red Army was approaching the city in 1945, the Germans sent an armored train in to take all the valuables out. After the war, however, no one could find this train and the loot it held. Eventually the existence of this train was dismissed as nothing but a rumor.

That all changed when two men came forward last week saying they have found the train, but won't release the location until they are promised a 10% cut of whatever it holds. Although this is not alternate history, the story nevertheless blew up across the Internet and got people (including myself) comparing it to an Indiana Jones plot (although Operation Condor is more appropriate in hindsight).

Whether this train really is the legendary Nazi treasure train remains to be seen. There is still a lot of skepticism about the men's claim, but the fact that they have attorneys and are demanding a reasonable amount seems to confirm that at least they are taking it seriously. Some may wonder why they don't just hand the location over without demanding anything in return, but let's be honest. When they are old, frail and penniless, the satisfaction of finding someone else's stuff won't pay the bills.

Alternate Historian of the Week: Tyler Bugg

This week's featured alternate historian is Tyler Bugg. For those who don't know, Tyler is the author "From Enigma to Paradox" which appeared in the Substitution Cipher anthology. Additionally, Tyler has contributed several articles to The Update on topics ranging from FDR, Napoleon, Canada and the Titanic. He even came up with an entire backstory for the alternate history photos I use in the blog's promotional material. He is really a creative guy and I highly recommend you check out his work.

For example, he wrote a two part series on everyone's favorite fictional war: America vs. Canada (see part 2 here). Check it out on his blog, (Alt)History Inc., and see if his scenario is better than Turtledove's depiction of the scenario in Timeline-191.

Video of the Week: TACTICS! - Barbarians at the Gates! by Darren Total War

As I may have mentioned before, I am a huge fan of the Total War series of games, which combined real time tactical battles with grand strategy. It is a fun series and I got as far as Empire: Total War (where I spent many enjoyable hours conquering Europe as the Maratha Empire) before I had to stop playing. A combination of a full time job and a busy writing schedule prevented me from devoting the time to computer games like I used to.

Thankfully, we now live in the Age of YouTube, which means that even if I don't have the time to play the games myself, I can still watch other people play them. For example, lets watch Darren Total War provide commentary on his recent multiplayer battle where he led Tylis against Carthage on a Barbarian city settlement:

Yeah it may not be exactly alternate history, but being able to play out realistic battles with Classical era nations is a tool that more alternate historians need to utilize. More importantly, Lets Plays like this is what makes YouTube great.

And a honorable mention goes to...me! If you can forgive me for a little self-promotion, I highly recommend you check out me recent Trope Talk video on airships:

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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.

Weekly Update #197

Editor's Note

Do what you love, even if it doesn't make you any money. That way you always have something to look forward to after dealing with the usual stresses of life.

Well now that I started with some uplifting advice, my summer blogging break will begin next week. I will still have some "From the Archive" posts on my Facebook page and next week's New Releases will still go live, but I won't be blasting it over social media. So you will have to check out the blog on the 14th at 11 am CST to see the new books that came out for the week. Afterwards I will return to my usual blogging schedule.

And now the news...

Coming Soon: The Dinosaur Lords: A Novel by Victor Milán

One book that is catching a lot of people's attention is The Dinosaur Lords by Victor Milán. Here is the description from Amazon:

A world made by the Eight Creators on which to play out their games of passion and power, Paradise is a sprawling, diverse, often brutal place. Men and women live on Paradise as do dogs, cats, ferrets, goats, and horses. But dinosaurs predominate: wildlife, monsters, beasts of burden-and of war. Colossal plant-eaters like Brachiosaurus; terrifying meat-eaters like Allosaurus, and the most feared of all, Tyrannosaurus rex. Giant lizards swim warm seas. Birds (some with teeth) share the sky with flying reptiles that range in size from bat-sized insectivores to majestic and deadly Dragons.

Thus we are plunged into Victor Milán's splendidly weird world of The Dinosaur Lords, a place that for all purposes mirrors 14th century Europe with its dynastic rivalries, religious wars, and byzantine politics…except the weapons of choice are dinosaurs. Where vast armies of dinosaur-mounted knights engage in battle. During the course of one of these epic battles, the enigmatic mercenary Dinosaur Lord Karyl Bogomirsky is defeated through betrayal and left for dead. He wakes, naked, wounded, partially amnesiac-and hunted. And embarks upon a journey that will shake his world.

There is also a more detailed description on SF Signal where they are holding a book giveaway. Victor also reported that more sites will be showcasing the interior art with descriptions by him. Gathering all of this information, it seems pretty clear The Dinosaur Lords is not a strict alternate history, but the idea of combining Medieval European culture and politics with dinosaurs is enough to stimulate my geeky brain. I look forward to reading The Dinosaur Lords when it comes out.

Coming Soon: The Floating City by Craig Cormick

Another alternate history book that caught my attention was The Floating City, sequel to The Shadow Master, by Craig Cormick. Here is the description from Amazon:

In a land riven with plague, inside the infamous Walled City, two families vie for control: the Medicis with their genius inventor Leonardo; the Lorraines with Galileo, the most brilliant alchemist of his generation. 

And when two star-crossed lovers, one from either house, threaten the status quo, a third, shadowy power – one that forever seems a step ahead of all of the familial warring – plots and schemes, and bides its time, ready for the moment to attack...

Assassination; ancient, impossible machines; torture and infamy – just another typical day in paradise.

From what I can tell, the series is more historical fantasy than straight alternate history as the big change is that magic is practiced instead of science, but it does make use of an Italian Renaissance setting. Craig also wrote a whole piece on alternate history for SFF World where he talks about his books and the genre. While he doesn't always get the terminology right (he likes to us "tipping points" instead of points of divergence) he still understands the basics, including the importance of good research. Go check it out.

Video of the Week

The video of the week this week is actually from a video that came out two weeks ago. It is DarrenTotalWar's preview of the "Roman Britain" mod for Total War: Attila:

In it you play as Roman Britain, which has declared independence from the Western Roman Empire. You get to deal with Saxon invasions and have the option of converting to Celtic paganism, among other things. This video got a lot of love on my Twitter feed, but I didn't notice until recently. Featuring it now is my way of apologizing for my oversight.

Press/Business inquiries

Are you making history in the field of alternate history? Then we want to hear from you. Contact us at ahwupdate at gmail dot com and we may talk about you on the blog, Facebook or Twitter.

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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.