New Releases 9/17/13

Hardcovers

Anno Dracula: Johnny Alucard by Kim Newman

Description from Amazon.

DRACULA COMES TO NEW YORK: Kim Newman returns to one of the great bestselling vampire tales of the modern era. Considered alongside I Am Legend and Interview with theVampire as one of the stand-out vampire stories of the last century - this brand-new novel is the first in over a decade from the remarkable and influential Anno Dracula series.

Newman’s dark and impish tale begins with a single question: What if Dracula had survived his encounters with Bram Stoker’s Dr. John Seward and enslaved Victorian England?

Fallen from grace and driven from the British Empire in previous instalments, Dracula seems long gone. A relic of the past. Yet, when vampire boy Johnny Alucard descends upon America, stalking the streets of New York and Hollywood, haunting the lives of the rich and famous, from Sid and Nancy to Andy Warhol, Orson Welles, and Francis Ford Coppola, sinking his fangs ever deeper into the zeitgeist of 1980s America, it seems the past might not be dead after all.

Delia's Shadow by Jamie Lee Moyer

Description from Amazon.

It is the dawn of a new century in San Francisco and Delia Martin is a wealthy young woman whose life appears ideal. But a dark secret colors her life, for Delia’s most loyal companions are ghosts, as she has been gifted (or some would say cursed) with an ability to peer across to the other side.

Since the great quake rocked her city in 1906, Delia has been haunted by an avalanche of the dead clamoring for her help. Delia flees to the other side of the continent, hoping to gain some peace. After several years in New York, Delia believes she is free…until one determined specter appears and she realizes that she must return to the City by the Bay in order to put this tortured soul to rest.

It will not be easy, as the ghost is only one of the many victims of a serial killer who was never caught. A killer who after thirty years is killing again.

And who is now aware of Delia’s existence.

Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl by David Barnett

Description from Amazon.

Nineteenth century London is the center of a vast British Empire. Airships ply the skies and Queen Victoria presides over three-quarters of the known world—including the East Coast of America, following the failed revolution of 1775.

London might as well be a world away from Sandsend, a tiny village on the Yorkshire coast. Gideon Smith dreams of the adventure promised him by the lurid tales of Captain Lucian Trigger, the Hero of the Empire, told in Gideon’s favorite “penny dreadful.” When Gideon’s father is lost at sea in highly mysterious circumstances Gideon is convinced that supernatural forces are at work.  Deciding only Captain Lucian Trigger himself can aid him, Gideon sets off for London. On the way he rescues the mysterious mechanical girl Maria from a tumbledown house of shadows and iniquities. Together they make for London, where Gideon finally meets Captain Trigger.

But Trigger is little more than an aging fraud, providing cover for the covert activities of his lover, Dr. John Reed, a privateer and sometime agent of the British Crown. Looking for heroes but finding only frauds and crooks, it falls to Gideon to step up to the plate and attempt to save the day...but can a humble fisherman really become the true Hero of the Empire?

David Barnett's Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl is a fantastical steampunk fable set against an alternate historical backdrop: the ultimate Victoriana/steampunk mash-up!

Paperbacks

Age of Godpunk 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.

Clockwork Heart by Dru Pagliassotti

Description from Amazon.

Taya soars over Ondinium on metal wings. She is an icarus — a courier privileged to travel freely across the city’s sectors and mingle indiscriminately among its castes. But even she can’t outfly the web of terrorism, loyalty, murder, and intrigue that snares her after a daring mid-air rescue. Taya finds herself entangled with the Forlore brothers, scions of an upperclass family: handsome, brilliant Alister, who sits on the governing council and writes programs for the Great Engine; and awkward, sharp-tongued Cristof, who has exiled himself from his caste and repairs clocks in Ondinium’s lowest sector. Both hide dangerous secrets, in this city that beats to the ticking of a clockwork heart…

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 short story "Road Trip" can be found in Forbidden Future: A Time Travel Anthology. 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.

Weekly Update #119

Editor's Note

I have been bad about promoting myself lately. These last two weeks I have posted a review of Stirling's The Given Sacrifice and a revised article about the dangers of crosstime travel on Amazing Stories. Also my most recent professional sale, the time-travel saga "Road Trip", is available for purchase. Check them all out, I think you will enjoy it.

So it looks like ABC is producing a show where the colonists lost the America Revolution. I am going to write a more in-depth piece about the show later this week, mostly because I want to wait for more information and it does not meet the theme of today's Weekly Update. See if you can guess the theme.

And now the news...

Update: Anno Dracula: Johnny Alucard by Kim Newman

Johnny Alucard by Kim Newman comes out this week. This is the fourth volume in Anno Dracula series (you can read my reviews on The Bloody Red Baron, "Vampire Romance" and Dracula Cha Cha Cha)  and it has been a llllooonnnggg time since we have seen a new novel-length entry in this series. Here is the description from Amazon:

DRACULA COMES TO NEW YORK: Kim Newman returns to one of the great bestselling vampire tales of the modern era. Considered alongside I Am Legend and Interview with theVampire as one of the stand-out vampire stories of the last century - this brand-new novel is the first in over a decade from the remarkable and influential Anno Dracula series. 

Newman’s dark and impish tale begins with a single question: What if Dracula had survived his encounters with Bram Stoker’s Dr. John Seward and enslaved Victorian England? 

Fallen from grace and driven from the British Empire in previous instalments, Dracula seems long gone. A relic of the past. Yet, when vampire boy Johnny Alucard descends upon America, stalking the streets of New York and Hollywood, haunting the lives of the rich and famous, from Sid and Nancy to Andy Warhol, Orson Welles, and Francis Ford Coppola, sinking his fangs ever deeper into the zeitgeist of 1980s America, it seems the past might not be dead after all.

You can read excerpt from the novel at Tor and io9, where you can also learn about Dracula from Kim himself. He also did a piece on Lit Reactor about using other people's characters in his novels. Already pre-ordered my copy, have you?

The Battle for the North Pole: Santa Vs Dracula

Speaking of Dracula...

A new mashup comic is coming from Ed Power and artist Melissa Dejesus called Santa vs Dracula. Here is the description from the press release:

VAMPIRE VS ELF! WEREWOLF VS REINDEER! FRANKENSTEIN VS SNOWMAN! When Count Dracula, Igor, Mr. Hyde, and their forces of darkness invade the North Pole to obtain Ol’ Saint Nick’s ability to gain entrance into any home, Santa, Mrs. Claus, Jack Frost and all the forces of Christmas are forced to defend their home and their holiday! This is it, naughty vs. nice in an all-out, epic battle of the ageless for the ages! SANTA VS DRACULA! This time… It’s Seasonal!

Funded with a Kickstarter, this 168 page full-color graphic novel is being distributed by SLG Publishing and will be out in October. You can see the interior art here.

Start Publishing’s Halloween horror short-short story contest

Want to write a really, really short horror story? Start Publishing is having a short story contest. Writers must submit a 250 word short horror story to contest [at] start-media [dot] com. Upon email submission, they ask that writers tweet @startpublishing confirming the submission. Start Publishing will randomly select five stories to be judged by friend of The Update Michael J. Martinez (author of Daedalus Incident) to choose one winner. Martinez is going to critique the winner’s horror story and give special writing tips.

The winner’s horror story will be featured on the Start Publishing blog and the November issue newsletter. Winner will also be able to select one free eBook from the Start Publishing/Night Shade Books catalog. The winner will be announced on Start Publishing’s Twitter and Facebook pages on October 31st. Deadline for all submissions: October 21, 2013.

Is 250 words long enough to fit in some alternate history? Anyone up to the challenge?

Let's Play - Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs

Even more horror?!?! This is just a video I enjoyed last week and as a Victorian, horror-survival game, steampunk fans might enjoy it:

Who said it was hard to combine horror with alternate history? Right that was me...

Calendar

September 20-28: Steampunk version of The Pirates of Penzance in Tasmania, Australia. (I realize that is a big place, but I am too lazy to track down the exact town.)

September 26: Essex Museum (Salem, MA) will host a steampunk party.

October 1: Loncon 3 attending membership rates will increase.

October 10 and 12: Matthew Buchholz will be promoting his new book Alternate Histories of the World at two separate events in Pittsburgh, PA.

The monsters on the cover keep the theme going. Huh? HUH?

Links to the Multiverse

Articles

Apollo Quartet 3 Cover Reveal by Ian Sales at Whippleshield Books.
Black People Don’t Like Steampunk, Fantasy and Science Fiction! by Balogun at Chronicles of Harriet.
Buy Steamboat Rampage, Help Fight Cancer by Heather Massey at The Galaxy Express.
Gentler than Steampunk: Clockpunk Author Releases New Book by 1888PressRelease.
How to Change the World by Paul Kincaid at Through the dark labyrinth.
Playing Fast and Loose with History by David Barnett at Tor/Forge's Blog.
Time tourism by Charlie Stross at Charlie's Diary.
Total War Rome: Destroy Carthage by David Gibbins at Geek Syndicate.

Comics

Comic Book Preview: THE STEAMWORLD CHRONICLES at Nuke the Fridge.

Counterfactual and Real History

5 Embarrassing Failures History Class Turned Into Victories by John Champion at Cracked.
The 5 Most Terrifying Civilizations In The History of the World by Neal Nicholson at Cracked.
Alternate Histories & Their Impact On 2013-14 by Zdeno's Cigar at SB Nation.
Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers & The Cold War by Andrew Liptak at Kirkus.
What Might Have Been, and the Fall of Lehman by Andrew Ross Sorkin at DealB%K.

Games

‘Dishonored: Game Of The Year Edition’ Announced by Samuel James Riley at Game Rant.
Sengoku Basara 4 Will Have An Alternate “What If” History Mode by Eugene at Siliconera.
The Swindle, an indie steampunk stealth game, put on indefinite hold by Tim Colwill at Games.on.net.

Reviews

The Age of Godpunk by James Lovegrove at Falcata Times.
Alternate Histories of the World by Matthew Buchholz at Hyperallergic.
The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon at The Sydney Morning Herald.
A Case of Doubtful Death by Linda Stratmann at Alt Hist.
Inceptio by Alison Morton at Alt Hist.
Wild Cards (Series) by George R.R. Martin at Em and Emm Expound on Exposition.
William Shakespeare’s Star Wars by Ian Doescher at Functional Nerds.

Television

10 Biggest Dodged Bullets in the History of Doctor Who by Charlie Janes Anders at io9.

* * *

Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update and a blogger on Amazing Stories. His new short story "Road Trip" can be found in Forbidden Future: A Time Travel Anthology. 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 9/10/13

Hardcovers

Anno Dracula: Johnny Alucard by Kim Newman

Description from Amazon.

DRACULA COMES TO NEW YORK: Kim Newman returns to one of the great bestselling vampire tales of the modern era. Considered alongside I Am Legend and Interview with theVampire as one of the stand-out vampire stories of the last century - this brand-new novel is the first in over a decade from the remarkable and influential Anno Dracula series.

Newman’s dark and impish tale begins with a single question: What if Dracula had survived his encounters with Bram Stoker’s Dr. John Seward and enslaved Victorian England?

Fallen from grace and driven from the British Empire in previous instalments, Dracula seems long gone. A relic of the past. Yet, when vampire boy Johnny Alucard descends upon America, stalking the streets of New York and Hollywood, haunting the lives of the rich and famous, from Sid and Nancy to Andy Warhol, Orson Welles, and Francis Ford Coppola, sinking his fangs ever deeper into the zeitgeist of 1980s America, it seems the past might not be dead after all.

Paperbacks

Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl by David Barnett

Description from Amazon.

Nineteenth century London is the center of a vast British Empire. Airships ply the skies and Queen Victoria presides over three-quarters of the known world—including the East Coast of America, following the failed revolution of 1775.

London might as well be a world away from Sandsend, a tiny village on the Yorkshire coast. Gideon Smith dreams of the adventure promised him by the lurid tales of Captain Lucian Trigger, the Hero of the Empire, told in Gideon’s favorite “penny dreadful.” When Gideon’s father is lost at sea in highly mysterious circumstances Gideon is convinced that supernatural forces are at work.  Deciding only Captain Lucian Trigger himself can aid him, Gideon sets off for London. On the way he rescues the mysterious mechanical girl Maria from a tumbledown house of shadows and iniquities. Together they make for London, where Gideon finally meets Captain Trigger.

But Trigger is little more than an aging fraud, providing cover for the covert activities of his lover, Dr. John Reed, a privateer and sometime agent of the British Crown. Looking for heroes but finding only frauds and crooks, it falls to Gideon to step up to the plate and attempt to save the day...but can a humble fisherman really become the true Hero of the Empire?

David Barnett's Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl is a fantastical steampunk fable set against an alternate historical backdrop: the ultimate Victoriana/steampunk mash-up!

Shades of Blue and Gray: Ghosts of the Civil War by Steve Berman

Description from Amazon.

More Americans were killed during the years 1861-1865 than any other date in history. Men shattered, women lost, families broken. In Shades of Blue and Gray, editor Steve Berman offers readers tales of the supernatural - ghost stories that range from the haunts of the battlefield to revenants on the long march home. Yank. Rebel. Both finding themselves at odds in flesh and spirit.

Khan of Mars by Stephen Blackmoore

Description from Amazon.

When erudite ape Professor Khan and rough-and-tumble cowboy Bulls-Eye Gutierrez are zapped away on a one-way trip to Mars, they are thrown into a world in chaos. Under the malevolent gaze of the Weather Witch, Princess Cyclone, our heroes face the intrigue and war raging across an alien world. Will they survive long enough for the other Centurions to build a way back home, or will they perish upon the shifting sands of the Red Planet, never to be seen again?

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.