Weekly Update #103

Editor's Note

For those following us on Facebook and Twitter, you probably noticed some increased postings on my part. I have changed up my social media game to make both locations more enjoyable for fans. Here is my posting schedule (subject to change):

9 am: Today in #althist
11 am: New Post
2 pm: What if?
3 pm: From the archive
5: Good night

I also will occasionally post between those set times with any interesting stories or ideas I have. If you have any suggestions I would love to hear it. You can contact me at ahwupdate at gmail dot com.

It has been a while, but I finally have some new countries to add to my map. Welcome to our first readers from Chad and French Polynesia. I hope you guys enjoy your stay here and if you are reading this, tell us about alternate history from your countries.

And now the news...

Update: The Boleyn King by Laura Anderson

Last week saw the release of an intriguing new debut novel called The Boleyn King by Laura Anderson. Here is the description from Amazon:

Perfect for fans of Philippa Gregory and Alison Weir, and Showtime’s The Tudors, The Boleyn King is the first book in an enthralling trilogy that dares to imagine: What if Anne Boleyn had actually given Henry VIII a son who grew up to be king?

Just seventeen years old, Henry IX, known as William, is a king bound by the restraints of the regency yet anxious to prove himself. With the French threatening battle and the Catholics sowing the seeds of rebellion at home, William trusts only three people: his older sister Elizabeth; his best friend and loyal counselor, Dominic; and Minuette, a young orphan raised as a royal ward by William’s mother, Anne Boleyn.

Against a tide of secrets, betrayal, and murder, William finds himself fighting for the very soul of his kingdom. Then, when he and Dominic both fall in love with Minuette, romantic obsession looms over a new generation of Tudors. One among them will pay the price for a king’s desire, as a shocking twist of fate changes England’s fortunes forever.

If you are interested in learning more about Anderson, check out her interviews over at Suvudu, where she talks about writing alternate history, and over at Dawning of a Brighter Day, where she discusses among other things her LDS faith.

Update: Milkweed Triptych by Ian Tregillis

The Milkweed Triptych by Ian Tregillis is completed, but should you read it? For those who don't know, the series is set in a universe where children manipulated by a German physician manifest paranormal powers. The Nazis make use of these meta-humans to conquer the world, forcing Britain to call on warlocks to stop them (plus there is time travel).

Yes, ASB, I know but the books have received a lot of praise. James Long at Orbit said when he first read the original submission and the rest of the trilogy that "[j]ust when you think you might have figured them out, they’ll change direction and completely shatter your expectations (my jaw dropped so many times when reading this trilogy that I attracted more than one strange look from my fellow commuters)."

Elfy at Travels Through Iest also said "Milkweed as a whole is superlative story telling and Necessary Evil is the perfect end for it." If you have read any of theses books I would love to hear from you and maybe even post a review.

More on The Confederation

A lot of people have been viewing my write up on The Confederation web series, but donations haven't been forth coming. As I write this they have only raised $50 and that is chump change compared to their $50,000 goal. Still the news is starting to spread. Friend of the blog Matt Quinn and Sherman from Other Times both wrote posts about the planned series. If you are interested in learning more about this alternate history web series, check out their website and Facebook page.

Awards Watch

Good news for some alternate history writers. The Joan Hessayon Award was presented to Liesel Schwartz for A Conspiracy of Alchemists. The finalists for the 2013 Campbell and Sturgeon Awards were also announced with Any Day Now by Terry Bisson being nominated for the Campbell award. Let us all congratulate them on their success and hope this inspires more alternate historians in the future.

Calender

May 27: Last day to see Victorian Extreme: American Fancywork and Steampunk, 1850-Now at The Bennington Museum in Bennington, VT.

June 3: Last day to fund the All Quiet on the Martian Front, Miniature Tanks vs Tripods Kickstarter, although they have already reached their goal.

June 15: Last day to see the Steampunk: Nature & Machine exhibit at the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum in Norwalk, CT.

June 30: Last day (I am sensing a pattern here) to fund the Iron Sky The Coming Race Indiegogo campaign.

Links to the Multiverse

Articles

Counterfactual: Boston Marathon Bombings by Josephine Huetlin at Varsity.
Iraq Goes Into Saudi Arabia? With Allies? by Matt Quinn at The World According to Quinn.
Sci Friday: The History That Never Was by Tommy at BookPeople's Blog.
What are the rules of time travel in the J.J. Abrams Universe? by Charlie Jane Anders at io9.
The Yellow Prose of Texas? Secession Movement Blooms in Fiction by Miguel Bustillo at WSJ.

Book Reviews

The Iron Sea's by Meljean Brook at Falcata Times.
The Iron Wyrm Affair by Lilith Saintcrow at books!
Steampunk Magic by Gypsey Elaine Teague at Patheos.
Without a Summer by Mary Robinette Kowal at Tap Milwaukee.

Comics

Lord Of Mars – The Tarzan/John Carter Crossover, Only Dynamite Can’t Call It That by Rich Johnston at Bleeding Cool.

Films

Django Unchained: A Brief Word by Alex Kane at Amazing Stories.
DVD(s) of the Week: Seeking a Friend for the End of the World and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Matt Farr at Ramblings of the Easily Distracted.

Games

Infinite Crisis video introduces the beefy steampunk butcher Gaslight Joker by John Funk at Polygon.
Just Cause Dev Talks Steampunk, 'Holy F**king S**t' Moments in Future Games by Stephen Daly at Gameranx.
Wolfenstein: New Order Announcement - Bethesda at Falcata Times.

Podcasts

Michael Panush Gets PULPED! at PULPED! The New Pulp Podcast.

Television/Web series

Elementary: Season 1, Episode 22. Risk Management at Thinking about books.
Revolution 1.17: Even Better Nanites at Paul Levinson's Infinite Regress.
When Sliders went to paradise, it was pure hell for viewers by Rob Bricken at io9.

* * *

Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update, a blogger on Amazing Stories and a volunteer editor for Alt Hist magazine. His fiction can be found at Echelon Press, Jake's Monthly and The Were-Traveler. 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 #97

Editor's Note

To quote what a wise woman once said: "Oops!... I Did It Again."

Yes, I failed to post an article on both Thursday and Friday. Sorry guys but I just did not want to post anything unless it was something worthwhile.  Hopefully today's Weekly Update will make up for it. The good news is despite my two bad weeks last month, The Update reached 13,797 hits. That is our third best month in our almost two years of existence. So good to know we are getting back on track.

Holy crap, is it really number 97?!?! I am just a few weeks away from breaking 100! I wonder if I should do anything special to mark the occasion...

And now the news...

Update: The Age Atomic by Adam Christopher

Adam Christopher's sequel to Empire State came out last week. Titled The Age Atomic, here is a brief description from Amazon:

The Empire State is dying. The Fissure connecting the pocket universe to New York has vanished, plunging the city into a deep freeze and the populace are demanding a return to Prohibition and rationing as energy supplies dwindle. 

Meanwhile, in 1954 New York, the political dynamic has changed and Nimrod finds his department subsumed by a new group, Atoms For Peace, led by the mysterious Evelyn McHale. 

As Rad uncovers a new threat to his city, Atoms For Peace prepare their army for a transdimensional invasion. Their goal: total conquest – or destruction – of the Empire State.

You can check out an extract from the novel at the Angry Robot website. Meanwhile, if you would like to learn more about the author and his works, you can read the interviews he did with Chuck Wendig,  Lawrence Schoen, Mary Robinette Kowal and a little known cable television channel called CNN.

Hope you had a happy release day Adam!

Update: The Good, The Bad and the Infernal by Guy Adams

Last week also saw the release of The Good, The Bad and the Infernal by Guy Adams. Here is the description from the interview Guy Adams did at My Bookish Ways:

“You wish to meet your God?” the gunslinger asked, cocking his revolver, “well now… that’s easy to arrange.” 

Every one hundred years a town appears. From a small village in the peaks of Tibet to a gathering of mud huts in the jungles of South American, it can take many forms. It exists for twenty-four hours then vanishes once more, but for that single day it contains the greatest miracle a man could imagine: a doorway to Heaven. 

It is due to appear on the 21st September 1889 as a ghost town in the American Midwest. When it does there are many who hope to be there: traveling preacher Obeisance Hicks and his simple messiah, a brain-damaged Civil War veteran; Henry and Harmonium Jones and their freak show pack of outlaws; the Brothers of Ruth and their sponsor Lord Forset (inventor of the Forset Thunderpack and other incendiary modes of personal transport); finally, an aging gunslinger who lost his wings at the very beginning of creation and wants nothing more than to settle old scores. 

A weird western, a gun-toting, cigarrillo-chewing fantasy built from hangman’s rope and spent bullets. The West has never been wilder.

But should you read it? Falcata Times was less than impressed saying "it’s a Guy Adams novel...clipped prose, some cracking turns of phrase and of course some dialogue that hangs around in your mind, but all round, it just wasn’t a book that took me on the journey into the unknown that I was wanting."

O well, not every AH book will be a hit.

Update: Milkweed series by Ian Tregillis

Those interested in the Milkweed series by Ian Tregillis will be happy to know the first book in the series, Bitter Seeds, is now only $2.99. Here is the description from Pat's Fantasy Hotlist:

It’s 1939. The Nazis have supermen, the British have demons, and one perfectly normal man gets caught in between. 

Raybould Marsh is a British secret agent in the early days of the Second World War, haunted by something strange he saw on a mission during the Spanish Civil War: a German woman with wires going into her head who looked at him as if she knew him. 

When the Nazis start running missions with people who have unnatural abilities—a woman who can turn invisible, a man who can walk through walls, and the woman Marsh saw in Spain who can use her knowledge of the future to twist the present—Marsh is the man who has to face them. He rallies the secret warlocks of Britain to hold the impending invasion at bay. But magic always exacts a price. Eventually, the sacrifice necessary to defeat the enemy will be as terrible as outright loss would be. 

Alan Furst meets Alan Moore in the opening of an epic of supernatural alternate history, the tale of a twentieth century like ours and also profoundly different. 

At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

After you are done reading Bitter Seeds, you should check out the sequel The Coldest War, which Elfy from Travels Through Iest called "very very good and probably the book of the year so far for me." How can you say no to praise like that?

Paradox Interactive Expands Publishing Business with Paradox Books

Paradox Interactive made an interesting announcement that aspiring authors (especially fans of video games and history) should take note of. The global PC strategy games publisher will be branching out to book publishing with a new e-book initiative called “Paradox Books”.

“We’ve spent more than a decade creating and telling compelling stories through our computer games, stories that have engaged and captivated people from all parts of the globe, and books are just another medium to get those stories out there and engage with our audience,” said Fredrik Wester, CEO of Paradox Interactive. “Add to that the fact that our company was founded on pen and paper role-playing games and books, and that we have several published authors amongst our ranks here at Paradox, so this felt like a very natural progression for us.”

Three books will be available under Paradox Books initially, and several more have been signed and will be distributed later in the year. The books will broach everything from biographical behind the scenes books to game strategy guides to fiction and novels. The inaugural round of books to be made available will include: A Year with Mojang: Behind the Scenes of Minecraft by Tomas Arnroth, The Communist Campaign in Karelia - A Hearts of Iron III Strategy Guide by Jason Pitruzzello and Coriolis by Mattias Lilja.

If you got an idea that you think Paradox might like, it doesn't hurt to try...

Calender

April 4: Launching Adam Christopher's The Age Atomic at Forbidden Planet, London, UK.

April 10: "How to Change the Future" address by Brian David Johnson, author of Vintage Tomorrows: A Historian And A Futurist Journey Through Steampunk Into The Future of Technology at the San Francisco 2013 conference.

April 24: The last day to fund Time Soldiers, the WWII Board Game by Ray Shingler, on Kickstarter.

And for steampunk fans, check out Tor's list of steampunk events for April.

Links to the Multiverse

Articles

The Abuse of Counterfactual History (10 Years After, Cont’d) by CK MacLeod.

Counterfactual Dublin: Ernest Lee’s Science and Art Museum at Sibling of Daedalus.

Cover & Synopsis: “The Doctor and the Dinosaurs” by Mike Resnick (+ A Weird Western Cover Gallery) at SF Signal.

Did You Know?: 13 Moments In Alternate History by Trevor Abes at Buzz Feed.

Steampunk FAQ by Cindy Spencer Pape at Steamed!

Book Reviews

King of Trees by Carmen Webster Buxton at An Eclectic Bookshelf.

Lord Kelvin's Machine by James P. Baylock at Falcata Times.

Vintage Tomorrows by James H. Carrott and Brian David Johnson at BC Books.

Comics

The Land of Oz to get a Steampunk makeover for Free Comic Book Day at Flickering Myth.

Films

'ID4' Sequels To Have Alternate History Where Will Smith's Son Pushed to Prominency, Which Doesn't Really Sound That Different at I Watch Stuff.

Games

Couldn't Score a Copy of BioShock Infinite? Try Out These Other Alternate History Franchises! by Christopher Groux at Quick Jump.

Interviews

Mary Robinette Kowal at Lit Stack.

* * *

Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update, a blogger on Amazing Stories and a volunteer editor for Alt Hist magazine. His fiction can be found at Echelon Press, Jake's Monthly and The Were-Traveler. 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.