Weekly Update #184

Editor's Note

As I get closer to Sideways in Time I am going to be blogging less (I can't remember if I have talked about this before and I am too lazy to go back and look), however, I still got a slate of alternate history articles lined up for this week. After that I think I will officially go on a two week break.

You know if I ever do write another scholarly article on alternate history, I would definitely write about all of the alternate history map makers out there on the Internet. Just from the brief conversations I have had with some of them about the amount of work they put into these maps blows my mind. Nevertheless, what do we know about them? Alternate history is such a literary movement that we rarely talk about the visual side of the genre. It would be an interesting subject to write about.

And now the news...

Updates: Tregillis' The Mechanical and O'Flaherty's King of the Cracksmen

The Internet is still talking about Tregillis' The Mechanical and O'Flaherty's King of the Cracksmen. Lets take a look at what the people are saying...

First up, Kristin at My Bookish Ways recommends The Mechanical saying "the worldbuilding is fantastic, and Tregillis manages to build it over time and avoid the exposition that can sometimes accompany something this intricate. He trusts his readers, and that trust is well rewarded. The author combines old-fashioned adventure elements with intelligent, wonderfully plotted SFF, and gives us a hero to root for in Jax. If you only read a couple of books this year, make this one of them." Mogsy at The Bibliosanctum agreed, giving the Mechanical 5 out of 5 stars and said it "is an excellent read, not to be missed by fans of alternate history fiction and steampunk. Even if you’re not into those genres, the mix of so many ideas and other elements from sci-fi and fantasy will surely make this worth checking out. Tregillis never fails to impress, and his writing and stories seem to be getting better with each novel. This book is truly unlike anything I’ve ever read before, and it’s my favorite work of his to date."

I am sure Tregillis was happy to read those reviews and if you would like to learn how you can lease your very own clakker, check out his guest post on SF Signal.

Next up, lets talk about King of the Cracksmen. Arthur Rosenfeld at Huff Post called O'Flaherty's novel "[is] not merely fanciful and clever; it has real substance. Real meat. Any sour notes or gripes? Well, with so much going on, the story has its Byzantine twists. They're part of the fun, though, and worth the effort it sometimes takes to follow them. King of the Cracksmen is a multi-layered treat, and you're going to read it twice." That's not a bad review to receive and if you would like to learn more about the author, go read his interview over at SF Signal.

O, SF Signal. You always have the best alternate history articles despite being a mainstream SF site.

Links to the Multiverse

Books & Short Fiction

Five (Non-Discworld) Works by Terry Pratchett You Should Read at io9.
Harry Turtledove’s Worldwar Series is Among the Best Alternate History at Unapologetic Nerd.
Heff in Dearborn by Michael Fertik – Free Extract at Alt Hist.
Review: The Arrival (The Displaced Detective, Book One) by Stephanie Osborn at The Chrishanger.
Review: The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North at Strange Horizons.
Review: His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik at Rabid Reads.
Review: Joe Steele by Harry Turtledove at SFFWorld.
Review: The Only Thing to Fear by Caroline Tung Richmond at Stacked.
Review: Ultima by Stephen Baxter at It Doesn't Have To Be Right...
TOC: THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF DIESELPUNK Edited by Sean Wallace at SF Signal.

Counterfactuals, History and News

The anthropocene era of man's dominance began in 1610, claim scientists at The Independent.
China Says It Has “Decision-Making Power Over the Reincarnation of the Dalai Lama” at Slate.
Georgia school teaches Civil War in way designed ‘not to offend whites’: parents at Raw Story.
Outpost in Orbit: McDonnell Douglas Phase B Space Station at DSFP's Spaceflight History Blog.
The Selma Confederates: 'I want to protect, defend and preserve my white race' at Boing Boing.
Take the Long Way ‘Round by Michael Cain at Ordinary Times.
US tourists caught carving names into Rome’s Colosseum at The Guardians.
What If Klitschko Special: Back in the USSR, Part 1 at The Boxing Tribune.

Films & Television

12 Monkeys 1.9: Shelley, Keats, and Time Travel at Paul Levinson's Infinite Regress.
GSN Orders New Series ‘Steampunk’d' at Variety.
The Secret History Of Marvel's Movies Before Iron Man: Part 1 at io9.
Watch This Trailer For Back To The Future Documentary Back In Time at Giant Freaking Robot.
Why Agent Carter Is So Much Better Than Agents of SHIELD by Rob Bricken at io9.

Games

Fantasy worlds that break history's back by Katherine Cross at Boing Boing.

Graphic Novels & Comics

Alan Moore Heralds Providence: It’s Time To Go For A Reappraisal Of Lovecraft at Bleeding Cool.
My Favourite Reference In The New League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen Comic at Bleeding Cool.

Interviews

Elizabeth Bear at Reddit.
Mary Robinette Kowal at Functional Nerds.
Bec McMaster at The Qwillery.
Alison Morton at JJMarsh.
Genevieve Valentine at Tor.

Podcasts

Ratchet RetroCast Episode 47 – The Disney Retro-Afternoon at Earth Station One.

* * *

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.

Weekly Update #181

Editor's Note

Well Lent has begun and so has my exile from YouTube. So far I haven't seen much benefit to my writing from my self-imposed ban. Real life events continue to intrude on the solitude necessary to get some real writing done, although I did manage to get a lot of work done on my Sideways in Time paper on Sunday. I just have to keep telling myself that no once cares how much time I had to relax or how much sleep I got (I only really need 6 or 7 hours, right?). They only care what I could have been doing during that time.

And now the news...

Check out King of the Cracksmen by Dennis O’Flaherty

Want to read a bizarre steampunk alternate history? Then you should check out King of the Cracksmen by Dennis O'Flaherty. Here is the description from Amazon:

How far will the luck of the Irish stretch?

The year is 1877. Automatons and steam-powered dirigible gunships have transformed the United States in the aftermath of the Civil War. All of the country’s land west of the Mississippi was sold to Russia nearly fifty years earlier, and “Little Russia,” as it’s now called, is ruled by the son of Tsar Alexander II. Lincoln is still president, having never been assassinated, but he’s not been seen for six months, and rumors are flying about his disappearance. The country is being run as a police state by his former secretary of war Edwin Stanton, a power-hungry criminal who rules with an iron fist.

Liam McCool is an outlaw, known among other crooks as “King of the Cracksmen.” But his glory days as a safecracker and the head of a powerful New York gang end when he’s caught red-handed. Threatened with prison unless he informs on his own brethren fighting a guerilla war against Stanton’s tyranny, McCool’s been biding his time, trying to keeping the heat off him long enough to escape to San Francisco with his sweetheart Maggie. But when she turns up murdered, McCool discovers a trail of breadcrumbs that look to lead all the way up to the top of Stanton’s criminal organization. Joining forces with world-famed lady reporter Becky Fox, he plunges deep into the underground war, racing to find Maggie’s killer and stop Stanton once and for all.

King of the Cracksmen is an explosive, action-packed look at a Victorian empire that never was, part To Catch a Thief, part Little Big Man, steampunk as you’ve never seen it before.

Last week Dennis was promoting his new novel at some prominent SF sites. He did an interview over at The Qwillery and the first chapter of the novel was posted at Bibliotropic. If you get a chance to read King of the Cracksmen, let us know. We would love to post a review.

Videos for Alternate Historians

This week I have an older video to showcase. It was originally published in 2010, but it goes along nicely with my recent review of Baxter's Voyage:

Its a computer simulation of Baxter's proposed Mars mission. It is actually pretty cool to watch and the musical accompaniment makes it an intense video. The channel, Rseferino Orbiter Filmmaker, appears to show computer animated simulations of various space-based missions, including several proposed missions, meaning there is a lot of alternate history content to this channel. I highly recommend you go check it out.

If you know of any other alternate history videos or YouTube channels, don't forget to share them with me at ahwupdate at gmail dot com.

Links to the Multiverse

Books & Short Fiction

Five Books About the Perils of Education by Ian Macleod at Tor.
For Steampunk Hands 2015: The Raj Revised: Steampunking History at Steampunk India.
John Mierau Explores What Happened After “War of the Worlds” in ASUNDER at SF Signal.
On My Radar: The Suicide Exhibition, Razorhurst and Bone Gap at SF Signal.
Review: The Case of the Missing Moonstone by Jordan Stratford at Fantasy Literature.
Review: The Janus Affair by Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris at Bibliotropic.
Review: The Mechanical by Ian Tregillis at Pat's Fantasy Hotlist.
Review: Wild Cards: Aces Abroad edited by George R R Martin at The Little Red Reviewer.
Steampunk…. Seriously? by Professor Elemental at Airship Ambassador.
Table of Contents: The Change: Tales of Downfall and Rebirth Edited by S.M. Stirling at SF Signal.

Counterfactuals, History & News

5 Uprisings Cut from U.S. History for Being Too Successful at Cracked.
10 people who very nearly became President at Yahoo!
Oklahoma lawmaker seeks to do away with AP history courses at News Channel 4.
The UK government wants to get this massive airship back in the air at The Verge.
Why ISIS Isn’t Medieval by John Terry at Slate.

Film & Television

10 Time Travel Books That Need To Be Movies Right Now (If Not Sooner) at io9.
10 YouTube Channels That Actually Make Learning Fun at Learning Lift Off.
12 Monkeys 1.6: Can I Get a Witness? at Paul Levinson's Infinite Regress.
Alternate history? Shanahan says 2 game-changing QBs were in play at CSN Washington.
Frank Spotnitz Takes Us Inside Amazon's The Man In The High Castle at TV Fanatic.
J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions is Developing a Thomas Edison Biopic at Best Movies Ever.
Review: Agent Carter Ep.6 at Geek Syndicate.

Games

Airship Q Coming Soon To PlayStation 4 and Vita at Geek Syndicate.
Civilization Players Are Sending The Entire World To War at Kotaku.
The Great Gatsby Nintendo Game at Dieselpunk.
Review: The Order: 1886 at PlayStation Universe.
YouTube Leak Derails Launch Of Big PS4 Exclusive at Kotaku.

Graphic Novels & Comics

The 19XX Dieselpunk Epic Concludes Its First Trilogy In Shining Skull: 1936 at Bleeding Cool.

Interviews

Elizabeth Bear at My Bookish Ways.
VE Schwab at Fran Wilde.

Theater

Musical on alternate EDSA history to feature Eraserheads composition at Phil Star.

* * *

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 1/27/15

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

Hardcovers

Pacific Fire by Greg van Eekhout

I’m Sam. I’m just this guy.

Okay, yeah, I’m a golem created from the substance of his own magic by the late Hierarch of Southern California. With a lot of work, I might be able to wield magic myself. I kind of doubt it, though. Not like Daniel Blackland can.

Daniel’s the reason the Hierarch’s gone and I’m still alive. He’s also the reason I’ve lived my entire life on the run. Ten years of never, ever going back to Los Angeles. Daniel’s determined to protect me. To teach me.

But it gets old. I’ve got nobody but Daniel. I’ll never do anything normal. Like attend school. Or date a girl.

Now it’s worse. Because things are happening back in LA. Very bad people are building a Pacific firedrake, a kind of ultimate weapon of mass magical destruction.  Daniel seemed to think only he could stop them. Now Daniel’s been hurt. I managed to get us to the place run by the Emmas. (Many of them. All named Emma. It’s a long story.) They seem to be healing him, but he isn’t going anyplace soon.

Do I even have a reason for existing, if it isn’t to prevent this firedrake from happening? I’m good at escaping from things. Now I’ve escaped from Daniel and the Emmas, and I’m on my way to LA.

This may be the worst idea I ever had.

Paperback

King of the Cracksmen: A Steampunk Entertainment by Dennis O'Flaherty

How far will the luck of the Irish stretch?

The year is 1877. Automatons and steam-powered dirigible gunships have transformed the United States in the aftermath of the Civil War. All of the country’s land west of the Mississippi was sold to Russia nearly fifty years earlier, and “Little Russia,” as it’s now called, is ruled by the son of Tsar Alexander II. Lincoln is still president, having never been assassinated, but he’s not been seen for six months, and rumors are flying about his disappearance. The country is being run as a police state by his former secretary of war Edwin Stanton, a power-hungry criminal who rules with an iron fist.

Liam McCool is an outlaw, known among other crooks as “King of the Cracksmen.” But his glory days as a safecracker and the head of a powerful New York gang end when he’s caught red-handed. Threatened with prison unless he informs on his own brethren fighting a guerilla war against Stanton’s tyranny, McCool’s been biding his time, trying to keeping the heat off him long enough to escape to San Francisco with his sweetheart Maggie. But when she turns up murdered, McCool discovers a trail of breadcrumbs that look to lead all the way up to the top of Stanton’s criminal organization. Joining forces with world-famed lady reporter Becky Fox, he plunges deep into the underground war, racing to find Maggie’s killer and stop Stanton once and for all.

King of the Cracksmen is an explosive, action-packed look at a Victorian empire that never was, part To Catch a Thief, part Little Big Man, steampunk as you’ve never seen it before.

The Revolution Trade: A Merchant Princes Omnibus by Charles Stross

The Revolution Trade: an omnibus edition of the fifth and sixth novels--The Revolution Business and Trade of Queens--in Charles Stross's Merchant Princes series.

Miriam Beckstein has said good-bye to her comfort zone. The transition from journalist to captive in an alternative timeline was challenging to say the least, she discovered that her long-lost family, the Clan, were world-skipping assassins. Now, while civil war rages in her adopted home, she's pregnant with the heir to their throne and a splinter group want her on their side of a desperate power struggle. But as a leader or figurehead?

Meanwhile, unknown to the Clan, the US government is on to them and preparing to exploit this knowledge. But it hadn't foreseen a dissident Clan faction carrying nuclear devices between worlds—with the US president in their sights. The War on Terror is about to go transdimensional. But Mike Fleming, CIA agent, knows the most terrifying secret of all: His government's true intentions.

The Strange Journeys of Colonel Polders: A Novel by Lord Dunsany

An inspiration to many for his style and prose, Lord Dunsany was a pioneer for fantasy fiction, inspiring such famous writers as H. P. Lovecraft, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Neil Gaiman, to name a few. More than sixty years since its first publication, The Strange Journeys of Colonel Polders is now once again available to readers.

In this classic fantasy story, a no-nonsense British officer, having offended an Indian swami in his club, finds his spirit lodged into a succession of animal bodies. Some of the animals the officer’s spirit enters are a cat, a goat, an eel, a fox, and many others. In his fantastic style, Dunsany captures the exact sentiments of each animal, making it believable that the office has, in fact, taken them as his own.

Out of print for more than sixty years, The Strange Journeys of Colonel Polders is a fantastic tale that takes you to the core of fantasy writing and shows the skill of Lord Dunsany, which many writers hold in the absolute highest regard. A lost classic, The Strange Journeys of Colonel Polders is finally available for readers of the beloved fantasy genre.

E-books

Resistance: A Novel by Owen Sheers

Resistance is a beautifully written and powerful story set during an imagined occupation of Britain by Nazi Germany in World War II.

In a remote and rugged Welsh valley in 1944, in the wake of a German invasion, all the men have disappeared overnight, apparently to join the underground resistance. Their abandoned wives, a tiny group of farm women, are soon trapped in the valley by an unusually harsh winter—along with a handful of war-weary German soldiers on a secret mission. The need to survive drives the soldiers and the women into uneasy relationships that test both their personal and national loyalties. But when the snow finally melts, bringing them back into contact with the war that has been raging beyond their mountains, they must face the dramatic consequences of their choices.

Audio

Stars & Stripes Forever: A Novel of Alternate History by Harry Harrison

In a war room in Washington, William Tecumseh Sherman and General Robert E. Lee huddle together and plan their next, joint military operation. In the jungles of Mexico, Ulysses S. Grant is locked in brutal combat with the best of the British Army. And in the heart of the new American South a fragile peace is threatened...

In the dazzling alternate history of Harry Harrison, this is the world as it stands in 1863. Just three years before, a titanic Civil War loomed in America. But an incident involving a British ship and two Confederate spies changed everything. As Abraham Lincoln defied Britain's Lord Palmerston, tensions between the two nations boiled over and Her Majesty's Navy unleashed an attack on American soil aimed at bolstering the Confederate cause. The results were catastrophic.

A stunned North and South put aside their differences and a new kind of war erupted, with Americans fighting side by side against the British on two fronts: in the South and on the Canadian border. Now, Britain has been defeated and America is struggling to keep its union together until another blow is struck. It comes from Mexico, where elite units of Her Majesty's Army including the famed Gurkha fighters are massing for a possible attack through Texas.

Into the gauntlet, Lincoln sends his chosen angel of death, General Grant. But the weary president knows that two centuries of British power will not be ended with a single battle. So his top soldiers, including Lee and Sherman, plan the most daring naval invasion ever launched: an assault on British soil itself. And in a secret that must be protected by an underground army of spies and secret agents, the U.S. will invade the Emerald Isle to set the Irish free at last. Filled with real characters on both sides of the conflict, Stars and Stripes in Peril is the new masterwork from one of our most provocative authors.

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.

* * *

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 1/20/15

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

Paperbacks

Alt Hist Issue 7: The Magazine of Historical Fiction and Alternate History edited by Mark Lord

Alt Hist returns with the seventh issue of the popular magazine of historical fiction and alternate history. This is the biggest issue of Alt Hist so far and this time we have seven wonderful short stories for you—including two parts of the popular Battalion 202 series and stories from Alt Hist favourites Priya Sharma and Andrew Knighton. If you like historical fiction, then you are sure to love this issue of Alt Hist. Alt Hist Issue 7 features the following stories: “The Vivisectionist's Daughter” by Jason Kahn “Cold Flesh” by Andrew Knighton “The Independence Day” by Pavel Nikiforovitch “Heff in Dearborn” by Michael Fertik “Battalion 202: The Sheep and the Goats” by Jonathan Doering “Set Britain Ablaze” by Jonathan Doering “The Red Vortex” by Priya Sharma

Apparitions: Kenya (Volume 1) by LEO and Rodolphe

A young British agent is sent to Kenya to investigate strange events—UFO sightings, living dinosaurs...

Kenya, 1947. A hunting expedition led by American writer John Remington makes a startling encounter, and then vanishes without a trace. Shortly afterwards, Katherine Austin, agent of the British Secret Intelligence Service, arrives in Mombasa. Her mission: investigate a series of mysterious sightings and incidents, of which the disappearance of the Remington party could be the latest. Undercover as a teacher, courted by colleagues who may be working for competing secret services, she’s about to enter a whole new reality…

Legenderry: A Steampunk Adventure by Bill Willingham, Joe Benitez and Sergio Davilla

A mysterious woman named Magna Spadarossa searches the many kingdoms of her Steampunk world to find her missing sister, Sonja... but she's pursued by strange and dastardly villains. Thankfully, each glamorous airship, clockwork city, and primordial jungle hosts a brave hero to aid in her quest! Bill Willingham, the bestselling author of DC/Vertigo's Fables, reimagines the most iconic characters in the Dynamite stable in a self-contained Steampunk universe! Featuring Red Sonja, Vampirella, Green Hornet, Kato, Flash Gordon, The Phantom, Silver Star, Captain Victory, The Six Million Dollar Man, and Zorro... as you've never seen them before!

Three Princes by Ramona Wheeler

Lord Scott Oken, a prince of Albion, and Professor-Prince Mikel Mabruke live in a world where the sun never set on the Egyptian Empire. In the year 1877 of Our Lord Julius Caesar, Pharaoh Djoser-George governs a sprawling realm that spans Europe, Africa, and much of Asia. When the European terrorist Otto von Bismarck touches off an international conspiracy, Scott and Mik are charged with exposing the plot against the Empire.

Their adventure takes them from the sands of Memphis to a lush New World, home of the Incan Tawantinsuyu, a rival empire across the glittering Atlantic Ocean. Encompassing Quetzal airships, operas, blood sacrifice and high diplomacy, Ramona Wheeler's Three Princes is a richly imagined, cinematic vision of a modern Egyptian Empire.

The Untime by Hugh Ashton

The Untime; a mysterious and dangerous state, beyond our powers of conception. In the Paris of the 1890s, Jules Gauthier, a young journalist, enters the Untime with its discoverer, Professor Lamartine. What they find there could be the end of our Universe as we know it. When Lamartine disappears mysteriously, Gauthier, together with Agathe, Lamartine's daughter, and Lamartine's rival, Professor Schneider, must brave the terrors of the Untime, journeying through time and space.

E-books

King of the Cracksmen by Dennis O'Flaherty

The year is 1877. Automatons and steam-powered dirigible gunships have transformed the nation in the aftermath of the Civil War. Everything on the other side of the Mississippi has been claimed for Russia. Lincoln is still president, having never been assassinated, but the former secretary of war Edwin Stanton is now the head of the Department of Public Safety, ruling with an iron fist as head of the country’s military.

Liam McCool is a bad man, one of the best Irish cracksmen there is when it comes to robbery, cracking safes, and other sundry actives—until he was caught red-handed by Stanton. Those in the South who don’t fit into Stanton’s plans for the Reconstruction, and Stanton realizes Liam McCool is more useful doing his dirty work than sitting in a jail cell. But when his sweetheart, Maggie, turns up murdered, Liam McCool realizes he’ll do anything, even if it means getting way over his head with bloodthirsty Russians, to solve the crime.

The King of the Cracksmen is an explosive, action-packed look at a Victorian empire that never was, part To Catch a Thief, part Little Big Man. It’s steampunk like you’ve never seen it before, a murder mystery in a foreign world where no one is who they seem to be and danger lurks around every corner.

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.

* * *

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.