RIP: Robert Conroy (1938–2014)

Alternate history lost one of its most prolific writers with the passing of Robert Conroy, who died on December 30 due to thymus cancer. Conroy, who has won and been nominated for several Sidewise Awards, is best known for his novel-length military alternate history works. His bibliography includes Rising Sun, Himmler's War and Red Inferno: 1945. Before his death Conroy finished two more novels that will be published in 2015, 1882: Custer in Chains and Germanica.

Although I never read any books by Conroy, I had every intention of doing so soon not only because his multiple award nominations, but also the number of fans I talked to who stated that it was Conroy who got them interested in alternate history. He will be missed by many.

New Releases 10/30/12

New paperback

Himmler's War by Robert Conroy

Description from Amazon.

Only days after Normandy, Hitler is taken out of the equation and Heinrich Himmler, brutal head of the SS, assumes control of the Reich.  On the Allied side, there is confusion.  Should attempts be made to negotiate with the new government or should unconditional surrender still be the only option?  With the specter of a German super-weapon moving closer to completion and the German generals finally allowed to fight the kind of war at which they are masters, the Allies are pushed toward a course of accommodation or even defeat.  Will the soldiers of the Grand Alliance find the courage and conviction to fight on in the face of such daunting odds?  And can the Allied leaders put into place a new plan in time to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat by the German war machine?  A new and terrible battle for the free world is on.

[Check out Chris Nuttall's review of the novel.]

New e-books

American Indian Victories by Dale Cozort

Description from Amazon.

Have you ever wondered what would have ever happened if events in the past had gone differently? Have you ever wished that the American Indians hadn’t gotten the short end of the stick? American Indian Victories delivers over twenty realistic, well researched alternative history scenarios where the American Indians do significantly better than they did historically, along with a fiction excerpt set in world where Europeans never reached the New World and a novelette set in New England’s most bitter Indian war. Scenarios include:

 What if the advanced Indian civilizations of Mexico and Peru had exchanged technology and ideas before Columbus?
 What if a civilization equivalent to the Aztecs and Incas developed in eastern North America?
 How could one shipwrecked sailor change the fate of a continent?
 What if Carthage had colonized Mexico before the Punic Wars?
 What if the Spanish conquistadors had set up independent kingdoms?
 What if the ice age animals of the New World had survived to be domesticated?

Fair warning: The scenarios make up around 80% of the book and they do assume a fair amount of interest in and knowledge of history. The fiction should work for most science fiction readers.

[Check out my interview with Dale where he discusses the novel.]

The Big Boer Bonanza by A.D. Rose

Description from Amazon.

The Big Boer Bonanza is a comic reimagining of history set in the early 21st Century but asking the question, what would life be like if the Boer War had never ended? Esther Hawkes, librarian at Tunbridge Wells public library, is plunged into a world of the fantastic. She has to contend with saving the world from the machinations of Gregory Mourningstar, a vindictive warlock let out from prison early on good behaviour and now hell-bent on regaining his powers. She also has to prevent a deadly virus from falling into the wrong hands, evade the Tunbridge Wells Mafia, help Arthur Conan-Doyle with his writer’s block, attend her Mother’s awful garden parties where she’s forced to meet “eligible bachelors” and oh, try to stop a little thing called the Boer War. Tunbridge Wells will never be the same again.

The Lion in Chains by Mark Teppo and Angus Trim

Description from Amazon.

Many were displeased with the “peace” King Richard of England brokered in the Holy Land, and his return from the Crusades wasn’t greeted with cheers, but rather shackles. Now a “guest” of the Holy Roman Emperor, the Lion-Hearted is being held for an exorbitant ransom…so much money that it seems unlikely that the silver will make its way from Britain to Germany.

For converging on the caravan are a number of groups with very different motives: French troops who want the silver to continue their war with the English, mercenaries intent on causing chaos, English longbowmen looking to protect their country’s future, and Shield-Brethren hoping to ensure King Richard’s freedom.

With a surprising cast of characters, The Lion in Chains is a Foreworld SideQuest that illuminates a decisive moment in European history in an unexpected way, revealing another secret in the long-reaching narrative of the Shield-Brethren.

The Sauder Diaries - A Bloodier Rose by Michel Vaillancourt

Description from Amazon.

Set in the summer of 1888, "A Bloodier Rose" is the second book in The Sauder Diaries series. Picking up where "By Any Other Name" left off, Hans, Annika and the rest of the crew of the pirate airship "Bloody Rose" are once again called upon by the Allied Empires. An ancient weather weapon is at risk of falling into the hands of the Russian Empire, and the pirates are in a race against time, traveling from Europe to America then North Africa, to uncover it's location and unlock it's secrets. Along the way, the unthinkable happens and Hans Sauder is forced to rethink his very place within the crew, and the life he has chosen as an airship pirate. The choices he makes, as the Bloody Rose finds herself trapped between two empires inching towards war, will affect the lives of his friends and crewmates forever.

Twice Upon A Time by Allen Appel

Description from Amazon.

Alex Balfour returns to the past in Allen Appel's 2nd book in the Pastmaster series. Here, Balfour travels back to 1876, visits the Centennial Exposition, takes a raft trip with Mark Twain (inadvertently inspiring some of Twain's books) and joins Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn. In the present, Alex's girlfriend Molly Glenn is captured by a crazed renegade American Indian who believes he is the reincarnation of Crazy Horse.

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.

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Matt Mitrovich is a long-time fan of alternate history, 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 Masquerade Crew. 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.

Review: "Himmler's War" by Robert Conroy

Guest Post by Chris Nuttall

Writing alternate history (and period fiction) is a tricky task. There is always the temptation to bend details for the sake of a good story – and then there will be some humourless reader who will then write long posts on why it couldn't happen the way you suggested. I tend to judge the book on both its merits as a piece of alternate history and the writer’s skill in telling a story. A world where Hitler successfully invaded Britain might be implausible, but that doesn't mean that someone can't write a good story set in such a world.

Himmler’s War takes a look at what the world might have looked like if someone more rational than Hitler had been in control of Germany during the crucial years of 1944. A bombing run by an American bomber kills Hitler just after D-Day begins. Calling Himmler more rational than Hitler is rather tricky – but at least Himmler has the sense to actually listen to his generals. A few pages into the book and the story hangs together rather well. Conroy does a reasonable job with a vast cast of characters, showing their reactions to the war – and how they might react when confronted with different possibilities. One weakness shows itself clearly, here – many of his characters are very similar to his other characters from earlier books.

One character who does stand out is Harry Truman, who asserts himself in a manner that is quite historical. The situation in the US that makes it necessary, however, is a little harder to follow. FDR was certainly weaker than the American public knew at the time, but he wasn't senile.

Unfortunately, I find it difficult to follow the logic behind the course the war follows. Himmler would probably allow the German generals to run the war the way they wanted to run it – and yes, this would certainly cause huge problems for the Allies. It is quite likely that an increase in German production earlier than historically would make it more likely that the Germans would bleed the allies badly. However, there is little logic in the Soviets accepting a truce with Germany – let alone shipping hundreds of tanks to the Nazis. Stalin might well have accepted a truce with the Germans – a period of six months for the Red Army to catch its breath would have been very helpful – but I can't see him helping the Germans. The Red Army needed the supplies it was getting from the West and deliberately betraying the Allies would have been disastrous.

The problems get worse as the story continues. Historically, the German nuclear program was unable to produce a bomb. The idea that they can jump to building a working device – and then slipping it to Moscow to blow up Stalin – is implausible, to say the least. Conroy hand-waves desperately here, assuming that we won’t notice. At the end of the story, it seems that the West has managed to take all of Germany – with the Poles still under Russian domination. Quite why the Russians fell apart so quickly is beyond me. A case could be made that Moscow falling in 1942 would have crippled the USSR, but the situation was different in 1944.

There’s also the issue of international politics. It is true that both Britain and France had reservations about fighting to the bitter end. However, it is unlikely that either of them would have resorted to considering deals with Himmler. The French Communists might have risen against the Free French on Moscow’s command, but frankly I’m not convinced that that would have won them any friends.

Assuming that the POD works, what is likely to happen? The chances are that the Germans would certainly manage to stall the Allies for much longer, but their ability to take the offensive would be very limited. Why? The Allies (mainly the USAAF, but the RAF as well) had overwhelming air superiority. They could (and did) hammer the Germans from the air, despite German jet fighters that were (in theory) superior to anything the Allies had. (The Germans might have done better if they’d diverted resources to more propeller aircraft than jet fighters.) However, the war would have ended only a few months after OTL.

Why? Unlike the German program, the American nuclear program produced a working nuclear bomb. If Germany had held out a few months longer, the US would have started dropping atomic bombs on Germany. I assume that the German generals would have been smart enough to overthrow Himmler’s regime and surrender to the West. That would have opened up a whole new can of worms – a fitting place for a story.

The plotline of this story is familiar. It is very like Fox on the Line and Fox at the Front, which – IMHO – explored the possibilities far better. Overall, Himmler’s War is worth one read, if you can put your doubts aside. But it doesn't deserve more than that. The author’s 1901 was a much better read.

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Chris Nuttall blogs at The Chrishanger. His books can be found on Amazon Kindle.