New Releases 2/17/15

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Hardcovers

Bayonets, Balloons & Ironclads: Britain and France Take Sides with the South by Peter G. Tsouras

This fascinating third volume in the Britannia's Fist series will have you pondering how easily history could have been swayed differently.

Peter G. Tsouras presents the third installment in his Britannia’s Fist alternate history series. The winter of 1863 had rung down a white curtain on the desperate struggle for North America. The United States and Great Britain had fought each other to a bitter draw. On both sides of the Atlantic the forges of war glowed as they poured out the new technologies of war. British and French aid transformed the ragged Confederate armies and filled them with new confidence. Both sides strained to be ready for the coming campaign season. Both sides seek to anticipate each other.

The British strike suddenly at Hooker’s strung out army in winter quarters in upstate New York in a brutal swirling late battle across frozen fields and streams. Besieged Portland shudders relentless assault. The French attack Fort Hudson on the Mississippi. At Lincoln’s direction, two great raids are launched at the United Kingdom itself as Russia enters the war on the side of the Union to raid the Irish Sea. These are only preliminaries to the great gathering of modernized armies and ironclad fleets and with them are deadly submersibles and balloons. Battle rages from Maine to northern Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay, down to steamy Louisiana. And far away across the sea Dublin stands siege as Russia cast eyes upon Constantinople. For Americans, blue and gray, Britons, Irish, Frenchmen, and Russians, the summer of 1864 is the crescendo battle of destinies and dreams.

E-books

Bookworm III: The Best Laid Plans by Christopher Nuttall

Elaine and Johan are preparing to leave Golden City, with Daria and the travellers, in order to search for the Witch-King. The Grand Sorceress instructs Inquisitor Cass to help them. But before Elaine can leave she is arrested by two Inquisitors on the orders of the Emperor. When she resists she is hit with a powerful spell that forces her to concentrate all her efforts on protecting her mind from its intrusion. Taken to the palace she finds that the Grand Sorceress has been removed and the Throne has accepted an heir to the Empire. Realising this has to be the work of the Witch-King, Elaine must defeat the spell that is eating away at her defences if she is to escape and destroy him. Meanwhile, Johan, Daria and Cass are trying to find a way to get to Elaine and break her out of the cell in which she is being held.

The Golden City is still widely devastated from the disastrous battle for power that followed the death of the previous Grand Sorcerer. The recent escalating breakdown of social order can only be made worse by the return of an Emperor and the imposition of martial law. The Privy Councillors and Heads of the Great Houses succumb to the power of the new Emperor, as he amasses a huge army. It is up to Elaine and her friends, with some unexpected help, to prevent an all-out war.

The third instalment in the Bookworm series, The Best Laid Plans follows on immediately from the events in The Very Ugly Duckling, with Elaine and Johan joined by other favourite characters as they try to track down the Witch-King.

For the Good of the Confederacy by John R. Stuart

For the Good of the Confederacy is the third book in the REBEL EMPIRE series.

The Union lost the American Civil War in 1863 after the climactic battle of Serpents Mounds and the by the year 1900 the Confederate States of America has become a World power. Having defeated the British Army in Canada the Confederacy now rules most of North America. Now allied with France, the United Germanic Empire and the Empire of Japan the Confederacy has been fighting an all out war with the armies of Britain in both Europe and the Orient.

FOR THE GOOD OF THE CONFEDERACY continues the exploits of Confederate agent provocateur - Black Judah Lee as he searches for his nemesis - the deadly Mountie Robert Thornton. In a tale of revenge and war that sweeps from the jungles of the Orient to battlefields of France, Lee continues to leave a wake of death and bloodshed behind him.

Wind Raker - Book IV of The Order of the Air by Melissa Scott and Jo Graham

A Deadly Paradise

It’s the summer of 1935, and Gilchrist Aviation’s owner Alma Gilchrist Segura has brokered a deal that will take herself and fellow pilots Lewis Segura and Mitchell Sorley to Honolulu to test a new seaplane. It pays well enough to take their families along for a working vacation – including the children of the company’s part time handyman, whose father has abandoned them. Better still, archeologist Jerry Ballard is already there supervising a dig investigating whether Hawaii was actually discovered by the Chinese. It’s a crackpot idea, but it’s his only chance to prove that he can still handle field work after losing his leg at the end of the Great War, and he’s determined to restart his career.

However, not all is as it seems. The dig is funded by anonymous sources who seem to have far too much influence on its management, including the hiring of German archaeologist Willi Radke, and who seem to know exactly what they want to find. The seaplane's testing is plagued by mysterious mechanical problems – and rumors of a curse spread through the hangar. Can you murder someone by magic? And who would want to kill a middle aged Army officer who belongs to an allied lodge? Alma, Jerry, Mitch, Lewis and Stasi are determined to defend themselves, but the power arrayed against them is greater than they imagined. It will take everything they have – as flyers, scholars, and magicians – to survive this deadly paradise.

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.

Pivotal Points in North American History - An Alternative View

Guest post by John R. Stuart.

When one examines the history of North America and examines the pivotal points and critical moments on that timeline there are numerous moments when history of the continent could have veered off the current course and taken the world in entirely different directions.

I believe critical moments can be placed more within the British history of North America than in U.S history. One can hypothesize forever on what the world would have looked like if the British had successfully quashed the American Revolution. Would this have caused a tighter British grasp on the Canadian colonies to the north?

Another key event in the history of North America which is often forgotten is the all important British victory in Quebec in 1759 when English General Wolf and his Highland warriors climbed the challenging cliffs and defeated the French forces before the gates of Quebec City. Often overlooked, this important battle was the death knell of French military power in North America. Had the French defeated this expeditionary force and maintained control of Canada, would the British have been more inclined to provide the men and military force to keep their control of the American Colonies. Historians could speculate that if England had not won the battle for Quebec so easily, they might have seen the Americans as more worthy opponents and increased their armed forces accordingly.

Historians can also postulate that the winning of the American Civil War by the Federal forces set the U.S.A on its current course In a horrific war which lasted for 4 years the Civil war was the crucible that forged the American military spirit and is in my opinion the key element in all future American military thought and politics.

But as a fan of alternate history, perhaps we should look closer at that war. Numerous novels have discussed and speculated on how different the course of the Civil war would have been if Stonewall Jackson had not only died prematurely, or had been in command of the Confederate forces instead of Robert E. Lee.

Can anyone believe that Jackson would have botched the command of the Rebels at Gettysburg? Can anyone believe that Jackson would have send Pickett’s nine brigades across a mile of open fields at Gettysburg into the concentrated guns of Meades’s men on Cemetery Ridge?

Up until this point in the war the Confederates had delivered numerous defeats against their enemy. An enemy that was better supplied and had a significant advantage in numbers. The primary difference - the Confederate forces had vastly superior command structure. So again, why did Lee allow Pickett’s charge to occur and lead to the ultimate defeat of the Confederate army? I would speculate that Lee simply believed his men were superior soldiers. Many believe and would suggest that if James Longstreet had been in command as opposed to Lee the outcome at Gettysburg would have been much different. Longstreet had vehemently disagreed with Lee over the tactics employed at Gettysburg and had warned of the consequences of such an attack against Cemetery Ridge.

In the first novel of my series Rebel Empire - Gettysburg Redux, I changed the course of history and shifted the command of the Rebel forces to the other key Confederate General- James Longstreet.

As important as Gettysburg, but greatly over looked is the significance of the Métis Red River Rebellion in western Canada in the late 1860’s. This rebellion leads to the formation of the province of Manitoba and the creation of the North West Mounted Police. Had Louis Riel survived the subsequent North-West Rebellion of 1885 the history of Canada would likely have been far different. If the 2nd Métis rebellion had been fruitful I believe the English would have been able to foresee the future inevitable fragmentation of their mighty empire.

Combine the concepts of a Confederate victory in the Civil War and a hostile Métis force still active in Canada you have the premise for my 2nd novel - Rebels & Desperados.

Here is the prologue:

In 1888 a delicate peace exists between the Confederate States of America and the United States of America. To the north Britain has retained by force of arms their control of Canada and the forces of the Métis and the rebels of western Canada continue their battle for independence. Great Britain remains mired in a long drawn out conflict with France which has seen the two counties at war for five years.

Since the C.S.A won their independence in 1863 they have continued to flex their military might and have expanded the Confederacy by their conquest of the northern half of Mexico, now known as the State of South Texas. After the second Slave revolt of 1885 President James Longstreet has issued the Confederate Emancipation Proclamation making slavery illegal in the Confederacy. With the annexation of California in 1870 the Confederate Empire has expanded to both the south and north-west.

The United States of America has assumed a strict stance of Isolationism and its power has shrunken dramatically since the end of the Civil War in 1863. To the north, the Montana and Dakota territories, as well as the war torn Canadian Districts of Alberta and Assiniboia are havens for outlaws, desperados, rebels and renegade Indians. The British Empire has lost the first two rebellions fought against the Métis in Canada and now west of Manitoba they hold only a narrow strip of land thirty miles wide on either side of the Canadian Pacific Railroad. In the north central section of North America the region consisting of Montana, Dakota, Alberta, and Assiniboia are considered to be ‘The Disputed Zone’, often referred to as the Cauldron.

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John R. Stuart is the author of the series REBEL EMPIRE, book 1 - GETTYSBURG REDUX (eBook 2012), and book 2 - REBELS & DESPERADOS (eBook 2013).