New Releases 11/11/14

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

Paperbacks

The Mammoth Book of Gaslit Romance edited by Ekaterina Sedia

A fantastic collection of stories of love and intrigue that focus on the trappings of the popular Victorian era, enlivened with fantastical elements and incorporating some noir and detective pieces, by O. M. Grey, Leanna Renee Hieber, N. K. Jemisin, Eliza Knight, Sarah Prineas, Delia Sherman, Genevieve Valentine and many more.

Full list of contributors: Vivian Caethe; Leanna Renee Hieber; Seth Cadin; Tiffany Trent; Eliza Knight; Sara Harvey; Rick Bowes; Genevieve Valentine; Nisi Shawl; Maurice Broaddus; Ella D’Arcy; E. Catherine Tobler; Sarah Prineas; Barbara Roden; Mary Braddon; Mae Empson; Caroline Stevermer; Delia Sherman; Tansy Roberts; N. K. Jemisin; O.M. Grey.

The Traders' War: A Merchant Princes Omnibus by Charles Stross

The Traders' War -- an omnibus edition of the third and fourth novels in Charles Stross's Merchant Princes series.

Miriam was an ambitious business journalist in Boston. Until she was fired—then discovered, to her shock, that her lost family comes from an alternate reality. And although some of them are trying to kill her, she won’t stop digging up secrets. Now that she knows she’s inherited the family ability to walk between worlds, there’s a new culture to explore.

Her alternate home seems located around the Middle Ages, making her world-hopping relatives top dogs when it comes to “importing” guns and other gadgets from modern-day America. Payment flows from their services to U.S. drug rings—after all, world-skipping drug runners make great traffickers. In a land where women are property, she struggles to remain independent. Yet her outsider ways won’t be tolerated, and a highly political arranged marriage is being brokered behind her back. If she can stay alive for long enough to protest.

The Wayward Eight: A Contract to Die For by Robert E. Waters

Ex-Confederate officer Captain Marcus Wayward and his infamous “Eight” are on a deadly mission. The Union has contracted them to find and kill the most notorious scientist in the world; Doctor Burson Carpathian, who resides somewhere in the forested interior of Arizona. Carpathian is protected by an undead horde of his own construction, and powered by the miracle fuel RJ-1027, they will defend him to the death. 

The chance for Wayward and his mercenaries to acquire fame, fortune, and immortality on such a mission is too great to refuse. The journey is fraught with perils and pitfalls – outlaws, Union troopers, thrill-seekers, Shifters of the Warrior Nation, and even other mercenaries hell-bent on finding and killing Carpathian first. When a shadowy force known as the Dark Council gets involved, the way becomes even deadlier. But the biggest challenge for Captain Wayward could very well be his own people, who begin to question the nature of the mission as it unravels.

E-books

1636: The Barbie Consortium by Gorg Huff and Paula Goodlett

Prequel to 1636: The Viennese Waltz. The Barbies are rising. After their West Virginia town is transported to 1630s continental Europe, a group of teenage girls discover that bringing future technology and future business practices to a backward Europe just emerging from the Middle Ages can be very lucrative indeed—and might even change the course of empire.

The Mind's Eye by Christopher Nuttall

For centuries, men have been dreaming of telepathy, the power to read and influence the minds of others. Now, all around the world, telepaths are finally starting to appear. Men and women are developing awesome powers with the potential to dramatically change society. Governments are soon starting to become aware of them, even recruiting them, while striving to keep knowledge of their abilities hidden from the general public. Academic researchers too are discovering telepaths and it isn’t long before awareness of their existence starts to spread. But non-telepaths, ordinary people, don’t want to have their minds read or controlled; the telepaths soon find themselves widely regarded with fear and hatred. Inevitably, some of them want to fight back. 

In this alternative history, albeit set in the near-future, Christopher Nuttall explores the likely impact of the appearance of telepathic abilities in some members of the human race. While telepathy and related psionic abilities have long been a mainstay of science-fiction, the impact of their emergence has not been as well imagined as, say, that of fantastic mutations. Almost everyone has something to hide, thoughts they wouldn’t want made public. Governments have secrets they wish to keep, whether for national security or just to hold on to power. How would the general populace react to mind-readers in their midst? How would telepaths respond when threatened by a frightened mob, or constrained by politicians fearful of the disclosure of scandals and long-buried secrets. Intelligence agencies would be both alarmed at the threats and intrigued by the possibilities. Would all nations respond in the same way? 

And then there’s the endless possibilities for criminals and terrorists…

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 11/4/14

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

Hardcovers

1636: The Viennese Waltz by by Eric Flint, Gorg Huff and Paula Goodlett

Book #18 in the multiple New York Times best-selling Ring of Fire series, and the team behind national bestseller 1635: The Kremlin Games. After carving a free state for itself in war-torn 17th century Europe, citizens of the modern town of Grantville, West Virginia contend with aristocratic forces determined to keep their grip on power whatever it takes.

When Grantville, West Virginia was transported back to the year 1631 -- in the middle of the Thirty Years' War, no less -- many things happened. Many opportunities arose. It's said that a rising tide lifts all boats. Perhaps not quite as high as the Barbie Consortium rose, however.

A cabal of ten- to twelve-year-old girls?

They aren't twelve anymore. And they gave up playing with dolls some years ago, when they sold them all and started an investment consortium. A consortium that did quite well.

The Barbie Consortium hits Vienna. In several different ways. The princes and princesses, dukes and duchesses, the common men and women on the street have no idea what's about to happen.Neither do the girls, but they're determined it'll happen their way.

Harry Harrison! Harry Harrison! by Harry Harrison

Recollections of one of the grand masters of science fiction, on his storied career as a celebrated author and on his relationships with other luminaries in the field. This memoir is filled with all the humor and irreverence Harry Harrison's readers have come to expect from the New York Times bestselling author of the uproarious Stainless Steel Rat series. This also includes black and white photos spanning his sixty-year career.

Lowball: A Wild Cards Mosaic Novel edited by George R. R. Martin and Melinda Snodgrass

Decades after an alien virus changed the course of history, the surviving population of Manhattan still struggles to understand the new world left in its wake. Natural humans share the rough city with those given extraordinary—and sometimes terrifying—traits. While most manage to coexist in an uneasy peace, not everyone is willing to adapt. Down in the seedy underbelly of Jokertown, residents are going missing. The authorities are unwilling to investigate, except for a fresh lieutenant looking to prove himself and a collection of unlikely jokers forced to take matters into their own hands—or tentacles. The deeper into the kidnapping case these misfits and miscreants get, the higher the stakes are raised.

Edited by #1 New York Times bestselling author George R. R. Martin and acclaimed author Melinda M. Snodgrass, Lowball is the latest mosaic novel in the acclaimed Wild Cards universe, featuring original fiction by Carrie Vaughn, Ian Tregillis, David Anthony Durham, Melinda M. Snodgrass, Mary Anne Mohanraj, David D. Levine, Michael Cassutt, and Walter John Williams.

Perfect for old fans and new readers alike, Lowball delves deeper into the world of aces, jokers, and the hard-boiled men and women of the Fort Freak police precinct in a pulpy, page-turning novel of superheroics and mystery.

Over the Top: Alternate Histories of the First World War edited by Peter Tsouras and Spencer Jones

Although separated from the modern reader by a full century, the First World War continues to generate controversy and interest as the great event upon which modern history pivoted. Not only did the war cull the European peoples of some of their best and brightest, it also led to the destruction of the Austro-Hungarian, German, Ottoman and Russian empires, and paved the way for the Second World War. This thought-provoking book explores ten alternate scenarios in which the course of the war is changed forever. How would the war have changed had the Germans not attacked France but turned their main thrust against Russia; had the Greeks joined the allies at Gallipoli; or had the British severed the communications of the Ottoman Empire at Alexandretta? What if there was a more decisive outcome at Jutland; if the alternative plans for the Battle of the Somme in 1916 had been put into effect; or if the Americans intervened in 1915, rather 1917? Expertly written by leading military historians, this is a compelling and credible look at what might have been.

E-Books

The Baskerville Affair Complete Series 3-Book Bundle (plus three short stories) by Emma Jane Holloway

Evelina Cooper, the niece of the great Sherlock Holmes, is the unforgettable heroine of the Baskerville Affair series, a rollicking trilogy blending paranormal fantasy, romance, and mystery. Reimagining Victorian London as the battleground between magic and machine, Emma Jane Holloway captures the city in stunning detail, from 221B Baker Street to the hunting grounds of Jack the Ripper. Now this eBook bundle brings together all three captivating novels:

A STUDY IN SILKS
A STUDY IN DARKNESS
A STUDY IN ASHES
Also includes prequel short stories for all three novels: “The Adventure of the Wollaston Ritual,” “The Strange and Alarming Courtship of Miss Imogen Roth,” and “The Steamspinner Mutiny”!

In a Victorian era ruled by a council of ruthless steam barons, mechanical power is the real monarch and sorcery the demon enemy of the Empire. Nevertheless, the most coveted weapon is magic that can run machines—something Evelina Cooper has secretly mastered. But rather than making her fortune, her special talents could mean death or an eternity as a guest at Her Majesty’s secret laboratories. What’s a polite young lady—poised to enjoy her first Season in London Society—to do but mind her manners and pray she’s never found out?

But first there’s a murder to deal with—not to mention missing automatons, a sorcerer, and a talking mouse. As Sherlock Holmes’s niece, Evelina should be able to find the answers, but she has a lot to learn. And the first decision she has to make is whether to trust the handsome, clever rake who makes her breath come faster or the dashing trick rider who would dare anything for her if she would only just ask.

The Baskerville Tales: The Adventure of the Wollaston Ritual, The Strange and Alarming Courtship of Miss Imogen Roth, The Steamspinner Mutiny by Emma Jane Holloway

These three short stories return us to the world of Emma Jane Holloway’s delightful novels featuring Evelina Cooper, the niece of the great Sherlock Holmes. Together they expand the bounds of Holloway’s irresistible vision of Victorian London, which has enchanted readers with a seamless mix of paranormal fantasy, romance, and mystery. Now this trilogy of prequels is available in one convenient eBook bundle:

THE ADVENTURE OF THE WOLLASTON RITUAL
Prequel to A Study in Silks

THE STRANGE AND ALARMING COURTSHIP OF MISS IMOGEN ROTH
Prequel to A Study in Darkness

THE STEAMSPINNER MUTINY
Prequel to A Study in Ashes

In a Victorian era ruled by a council of ruthless steam barons, mechanical power is the real monarch and sorcery the demon enemy of the Empire. Nevertheless, the most coveted weapon is magic that can run machines—something Evelina Cooper has secretly mastered. But rather than making her fortune, her special talents could mean death or an eternity as a guest at Her Majesty’s secret laboratories. What’s a polite young lady to do but mind her manners and pray she’s never found out? But first there’s murder and mayhem to deal with.

Swords from the West by Harold Lamb

Beset by enemies on every side and torn by internal divisions, the crusader kingdoms were a hotbed of intrigue, where your greatest ally might be your natural enemy. Because lives and kingdoms often rested on the edge of a sword blade, it was a time when a bold heart and a steady hand would see you far—so long as you watched your back.

Here, for the first time, are all seventeen of Harold Lamb’s uncollected crusader stories in one volume. Read now of the fall of kingdoms and the fate of doomed men, of desperate battles and brave comrades, of shrewd maids and scheming nobles. Join Nial O’Gordon, a young crusader riding deep into Asia to forget his past. Venture forth with Sir Robert of Antioch to cross blades with the Mongol hordes. Join King Richard the Lionhearted for his last battle. Stand firm beside Sir John and his Arab friend Khalil against a band of traitors. And sail out with Michael Bearn on a mission of vengeance, as he risks his life to bring down a sultan and his kingdom.

War of the Worlds: Goliath by Adam J. Whitlatch

In this official novel for the movie, War of the Worlds: Goliath, it’s 1914, fifteen years after the first invasion from Mars. On the eve of World War I, the Martians stage a second attack, stronger and more powerful than before, to finish what they started.

But this time, they meet a very different Earth, rebuilt using technologies left behind to create a wild and unsettling steampunk landscape.

And this time, we fight back.

With new scenes and character backgrounds not found in the action-packed film by Tripod Entertainment, this novel is the perfect companion piece for fans of both the movie and the original sci-fi classic.

Computer Games

Europa Universalis IV: Art of War by Paradox

Paradox Development Studios ups the stakes with the latest and third expansion from Europa Universalis IV – The Art of War. Centered on the 30 Years War and bubbling political instability between church and state, this expansion features improved gameplay mechanics that’s puts warfare at the forefront of your quest for domination and triumph.

Improved naval combat and full army control means the course of victory rests solely on your shoulders. Will you choose to triumph alone or rely on the combat strengths of your allies? Your decision will decide if your empire lasts through the ages.

Main features:

• 30 years War: Unique mechanics and events for the religious conflict that ravaged Europe.  
• Napoleonic Era: Fight for or against the revolution and create entirely new custom client countries on the map from your conquests. 
• Fighting on land or at sea: You can now sortie from sieges, transfer occupation to allies and give objectives to your subjects and allies. Entire Fleets can now be upgraded with one click, you can now mothball fleets to avoid paying maintenance, and your fleets can be set to automatically transport armies.  
• Marches: Turn your vessels into bulwarks against your enemies, getting less tax but strengthening their defenses.  
• Improved Diplomacy: Sell Surplus Ships, Fight for your subjects CB, Declare War in Support of Rebel factions in other countries and new peace options.  
• Gameplay Enhancements: Build entire armies in one click and abandon cores that you no longer wish to support. 
• Free Features for the accompanying patch: Completely new rebel mechanic, local autonomy on province level, new cardinal system for Catholics, new reformation mechanics and a new look map.

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 10/21/14

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

Hardcovers

Loop by Karen Akins

At a school where Quantum Paradox 101 is a required course and history field trips are literal, sixteen year-old time traveler Bree Bennis excels…at screwing up.

After Bree botches a solo midterm to the 21st century by accidentally taking a boy hostage (a teensy snafu), she stands to lose her scholarship. But when Bree sneaks back to talk the kid into keeping his yap shut, she doesn’t go back far enough. The boy, Finn, now three years older and hot as a solar flare, is convinced he’s in love with Bree, or rather, a future version of her that doesn’t think he’s a complete pain in the arse. To make matters worse, she inadvertently transports him back to the 23rd century with her.

Once home, Bree discovers that a recent rash of accidents at her school are anything but accidental. Someone is attacking time travelers. As Bree and her temporal tagalong uncover seemingly unconnected clues—a broken bracelet, a missing data file, the art heist of the millennium—that lead to the person responsible, she alone has the knowledge to piece the puzzle together. Knowledge only one other person has. Her future self.

But when those closest to her become the next victims, Bree realizes the attacker is willing to do anything to stop her. In the past, present, or future.

Paperbacks

Time's Edge by Rysa Walker

To stop her sadistic grandfather, Saul, and his band of time travelers from rewriting history, Kate must race to retrieve the CHRONOS keys before they fall into the Cyrists’ hands. If she jumps back in time and pulls the wrong key—one that might tip off the Cyrists to her strategy—her whole plan could come crashing down, jeopardizing the future of millions of innocent people. Kate’s only ally is Kiernan, who also carries the time-traveling gene. But their growing bond threatens everything Kate is trying to rebuild with Trey, her boyfriend who can’t remember the relationship she can’t forget.

As evidence of Saul’s twisted mind builds, Kate’s missions become more complex, blurring the line between good and evil. Which of the people Saul plans to sacrifice in the past can she and Kiernan save without risking their ultimate goal—or their own lives?

E-Books

1636: The Viennese Waltz by Eric Flint, Paula Goodlett and Gorg Huff

When Grantville, West Virginia was transported back to the year 1631 -- in the middle of the Thirty Years' War, no less -- many things happened. Many opportunities arose. It's said that a rising tide lifts all boats. Perhaps not quite as high as the Barbie Consortium rose, however.

A cabal of ten- to twelve-year-old girls?

They aren't twelve anymore. And they gave up playing with dolls some years ago, when they sold them all and started an investment consortium. A consortium that did quite well.

The Barbie Consortium hits Vienna. In several different ways. The princes and princesses, dukes and duchesses, the common men and women on the street have no idea what's about to happen.Neither do the girls, but they're determined it'll happen their way.

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.

Interview: Paula Goodlett

We have all tried our hand at fan fiction now and again, but few have seen it get published outside of the Internet. Paula Goodlett took her interest in Eric Flint's Assiti Shards universe and become an important part of the collaborative timeline, with numerous short stories and co-authored novels under her belt. We chatted a little where she talked about herself and was able to answer some questions about the 1632 fan community. Check it out:

Who is Paula Goodlett?

Paula Goodlett is a retired air force MSgt who somehow got involved with Eric Flint's 1632 Universe back in 2003

What got you interested in alternate history?

There were a couple of books that got me started. Mostly it was due to the novel 1632 by Eric Flint. There's an ad in any number of Baen books that directs people to Baen's Bar, where they can discuss Baen novels, sometimes with the author.

But I'd had a bit of an interest in it because of reading Judith Tarr and Harry Turtledove's novel, Household Gods.

How would you describe the Grantville Gazettes to someone unfamiliar with the 1632 universe?

The Grantville Gazette first started as an experiment by Eric Flint and publisher Jim Baen. Fans just kept writing fanfic set in the 1632 universe, and posting it to Baen's Bar. Unlike many authors, Eric has no real problem with fanfic. Some of it was so good that he asked Jim Baen if an anthology of fanfic could be published. Jim agreed and the first Ring of Fire anthology was published, with both fanfic and invited author's stories. After that, fans were more inspired and kept writing. Then Grantville Gazette I was published in paperback. Which eventually led to Grantville Gazette II, III, etc. We're currently working on Volume 56, which will be published online in November 2014.

When did you become the editor of the Grantville Gazettes and what are some of your duties?

Eric asked me to take the position of assistant editor in July of 2004. I became the editor in 2006. I read the slush, select the stories, copy edit them, and put them in the online magazine once they're as good as we can get them. The first five Gazettes were published in paper by Baen, exactly as the original ebooks were published. By the time we got to Volume VI, there were too many online Gazettes to continue that, so we started publishing a "Best of" volume in paper with Volume VI.

Note, the online Gazettes are numbered with Arabic numbers. But the paper Gazettes are published with Roman numerals in the title.

What do you believe sets 1632 fans apart from other collaborative efforts in the genre?

Primarily, I think, is support from the owner of the universe, Eric Flint.

Also, however, is that there quite a few people who actually like studying history. Many folks wrote their first Gazette story after reading 1632 and wondering how they would react if suddenly transported back in time.

If you could travel back in time, where and when would you go?

I have no desire to go back in time. :)  I wanna go forward. I want the Enterprise to beam me up. I want rejuve! Not getting any younger here!

As far as I'm concerned, these are the days to be female, because prior eras weren't woman-friendly in general. So I wouldn't want to go back prior to the 1980s, to tell the truth.

What are the "Minicons"?

Miniature conventions attended by 1632 fans, originally. The first five were held in Mannington, WV, the town upon which Grantville is based. We've been all over that town, seen the high school, talked to a coal miner, all sorts of stuff. After a while, though, people would mention that they'd really like to get together with Eric, but they couldn't make it to Mannington. So, eventually, Eric decided that he'd see if he could arrange with other conventions to run a 1632 track along with their usual tracks.  Once a year, we all trek off to wherever the minicon is, and run a program about what's going on in the 1632 universe. We did do one European minicon, back in 2007. Some 15 or so went to Germany, met some German fans, and wandered around Magdeburg, Jena, Erfurt, etc. Saw lots of interesting things there.

1634: The Ram Rebellion is one of my favorite books in the series. Can you tell me more about how that book came about?

Now, there's a story! I'd just become the assistant editor, and we (me, the editorial board, and Eric) were getting Grantville Gazette III ready for publication. That volume was intended to include most of the stories that wound up in 1634: The Ram Rebellion. Eric read the volume and decided -- out of the blue -- that many of those stories would fit into an anthology that covered land ownership laws in 17th century Germany, with a few additions from him and Virginia DeMarce. So we rushed around selecting stories to fill the holes he left in volume III, he wrote his story, and it all wound up being published as 1634: The Ram Rebellion.

As Eric said at the time, "Here's a nice pile of shiny new monkey wrenches, and let's see what we can do with it."

1636: The Kremlin Games was the first novel in the series you co-authored, correct? How was that experience?

Well, mostly it was both a lot of research and a lot of fun. Gorg Huff and I didn't really know beans about 17th century Russia when we started. Lots of books to read.

Part of the idea of the whole 1632 universe is to think about "what if?" So we wondered "what if the first Romanov czar was able to get out from under the constraints he lived with?"

When it comes to writing a 1632 story, what percentage of your time is spent researching vs. writing?

Depends on where it's set and what we're doing in that particular story. Setting a story in Grantville, not so bad. We only have to research what we don't know about whatever tech we're doing. Say 25 percent research. 1636: The Kremlin Games took a caboodle of research, though, as did 1636: The Viennese Waltz. More like 55 to 60 percent.

Speaking of 1636: The Viennese Waltz, that is the next book to be published that you co-authored. What can you tell our readers about this one?

Hapsburg Austria was a very important part of 17th century Europe. It stood as the first defense against the Ottoman Empire for many, many years. Unfortunately, its economy was truly, ah, nonexistent. The United States of Europe certainly doesn't want Austria to go broke, so they allow some help to arrive. The help, however, is a surprise.

There is a lot of speculation on certain forums about the geopolitical situation of the 1632 universe 100 or more years in the future. What do you think is going to happen in 1732?

Oh, there's just no telling. Plans for the series change with every book. Every story, for that matter. There's quite likely to be a long Ottoman war in the near future. There will be a French Revolution, albeit rather earlier than in this time line. In 1636: The Seas of Fortune, Japanese Christians settle California. Truth is, we probably won't know until we get there.

Are there any other projects you are working on?

Gorg Huff and I recently sent Eric the sequel to 1636: The Kremlin Games, which takes us back to Russia. The next book, unless the title gets changed again, will be called 1637: The Volga Rules. It continues the story of Bernie and Natasha, Vladimir and Brandy, as well as Czar Mikhail and his wife Evdokia, and how they carve . . .

Well, don't want to tell too much.

What are you reading now?

John Ringo's Strands of Sorrow, and a book about what happened after Alexander the Great died and how his empire was carved up. It's called Ghost on the Throne: The Death of Alexander the Great the the Bloody Fight for his Empire and was written by James Romm. Yes, there's a reason for that selection, and no, I'm not able to discuss it just yet.

Do you have any advice for aspiring authors?

Keep writing. Write a lot. Study grammar and punctuation. (That's the copy editor in me talking.) Mostly, just write and keep at it. It's not a picnic, true. But if you can keep at it and get better and better, you've got a chance. If you read early stories by authors published in the Gazette, and then later stories, you can see how they've improved. Including me. It's a heck of a training ground.

In fact, if you prefer science fiction or fantasy rather than alternate history, check out the Baen's Universe forums on Baen's Bar. It's a good training ground as well.

New Releases 6/26/12

New Paperbacks

The Austin Job: Lost DMB Files #18 by David Mark Brown

Description from Amazon.

With the world embroiled in the Great War, power-hungry forces threaten to tear apart the state of Texas in a secret plot to rule the resource that will fuel the future. In The Austin Job, James Starr, bronc rider turned politician, stumbles into a high stakes game of power and lies that he must master before it masters him.

Exploding with double-fisted, cheek-puckering action, including the world's first parkour stunt horse, The Austin Job dares you to cinch your saddle to a bolt of Lone Star lightning and hold on for dear life.

Through this continuation of the Lost DMB Files, dime novelist David Mark Brown (disappeared during the 30's) invites the reader into a world illuminated by human torches and moonlight towers, an underground Austin inhabited by machine and monster alike. Lastly, it's a world where what you don't know can get you killed--or just really, really messed up.

The War That Came Early: The Big Switch by Harry Turtledove

Description from Amazon.

In 1941 Winston Churchill was Hitler’s worst enemy. Then a Nazi secret agent changed everything.

What if Neville Chamberlain, instead of appeasing Hitler, had stood up to him in 1938? Enraged, Hitler reacts by lashing out at the West, promising his soldiers that they will reach Paris by the new year. Instead, three years pass, and with his genocidal apparatus not fully in place, Hitler barely survives a coup, while Jews cling to survival, and England and France wonder whether the war is still worthwhile. The stage is set for World War II to unfold far differently from the history we know—courtesy of Harry Turtledove, wizard of “what if?,” in the continuation of his thrilling series: The War That Came Early.

Through the eyes of characters ranging from a brawling American serving with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in Spain to a woman who has seen Hitler’s evil face-to-face, The Big Switch rolls relentlessly forward into 1941. As the Germans and their Polish allies slam into the gut of the Soviet Union in the west, Japan pummels away in the east. Meanwhile, in the trenches of France, French and Czech forces are outmanned but not outfought by their Nazi enemy. Then the stalemate is shattered. In England Winston Churchill dies suddenly, leaving the gray men wondering who their real enemy is. And as the USSR makes peace with Japan, the empire of the Rising Sun looks westward—its war with America about to begin.

Exiled: Clan of the Claw by Harry Turtledove, S.M. Stirling and others

Description from Amazon.

First entry in a new series with four big all new linked novellas from multiple best-sellers Harry Turtledove, John Ringo & Jody Lynn Nye, S.M. Stirling, and Michael Z. Williamson!  After the extinction asteroid DOESN’T strike Earth, the dinosaurs keep evolving – but so do the mammals.  We mammals have achieved human-like shapes, but now it’s cold-blooded, magic-using reptiles against the hot-blooded, hot-tempered descendants of cats.

In a heroic, Bronze Age world similar to 300, the Mrem Clan of the Claw and its sister warbands are expanding their rough-and-tumble territory, but now they face the Lishkash, masters of a cold-blooded empire of slave armies and magic.  It’s mammalian courage and adaptation against reptile cunning in a clash of steel and will that determine who shall inherit the Earth.

New E-books

Grantville Gazette Volume 39 by Eric Flint and Paula Goodlett

Description from Amazon.

This edition of the Grantville Gazette Volume 39 is derived directly from the on-line edition at http://www.grantvillegazette.com.

It is different than the editions provided by Baen and webscriptions, has somewhat different content and different formatting.

As always with anything related to 1632, it is provided entirely without DRM of any kind. We hope you enjoy it.

Grantville Gazette Volume 40 by Eric Flint and Paula Goodlett

Description from Amazon.

This edition of the Grantville Gazette Volume 40 is derived directly from the on-line edition at http://www.grantvillegazette.com.

It is different than the editions provided by Baen and webscriptions, has somewhat different content and different formatting.

As always with anything related to 1632, it is provided entirely without DRM of any kind. We hope you enjoy it.

Jumping Jim and The Jubilee Line (Book Two) : A Science Fiction Parallel World Fantasy by Ian C.P. Irvine

Description from Amazon.

What would happen, if during your normal commute to work, you accidentally stepped from one world into another? If you accidentally ‘Jumped’ into a parallel world where all your day dreams were real, and where your real world was now the daydream?

Where, instead of a Product Manager, you were now a high flying advertising executive, and you were married to the woman that you had fantasised about for ten years?

But what would happen if you realised that dreams are sometimes best left as dreams,...and that the life you had before, was the life you really wanted?

Would you be able to find your way home back to your real wife and your real life?

This is what happens to James Quinn: one day he discovers he has the ability to jump from one reality to another. The only problem is...can he jump back?

This book was written for the commuter, for anyone who sits for hours every day travelling back and forward to work, and wondering...'is this the life I should be living? Have I made the right choices? ' ...and then wished for something else...

The new alternative to The Time Traveler's Wife, this is a must read for everyone, regardless of what city you work in, or in which country you live. People the world over will identify with the story told within these pages. As the story progresses, some will feel guilty, some will cry, some will laugh, ...but all will follow the plight of James Quinn, a man who is not unlike so many of us all.

If you read this book, your commute to work on the train, metro, tube, or underground may never be quite the same again...

Liahona (City of the Saints) by D. J. Butler

Description from Amazon.

1859; war looms over the United States.

Intelligence agents converge on the Kingdom of Deseret in the Rocky Mountains. Sam Clemens, leading the U.S. Army's expedition aboard his amphibious steam-truck the Jim Smiley, has a mission: to ensure that the Kingdom, with its air-ships and rumored phlogiston guns, brain children of the Madman Orson Pratt, enters on the side of the United States and peace.

Can he outrace and outmaneuver his British competitors, anxious to protect their cotton trade? And where are the agents of the treasonous, clandestine Confederate leadership? And why does the Madman seem to be playing his own game?

Liahona is Part the First of City of the Saints, a four-part steampunk gonzo action adventure tale.

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 the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update, a volunteer editor for Alt Hist and a contributor to Just Below the Law. His fiction can be found at Echelon Press, Jake's Monthly and his own writing blog. When not writing he works as an attorney and enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana.

New Releases 6/5/2012

New Hardcover

1636: The Kremlin Games by Eric Flint, Gorg Huff and Paula Goodlett

Description from Amazon.

#14 in the multiply bestselling Ring of Fire Series. After carving a place for itself among the struggling powers of 17th century Western Europe, the out-of-time modern town of Grantville, West Virginia must fight for its life in a war-torn Europe just emerging from medieval skulduggery.

1636. Grantville has bounced back and established its new mission and identity, but it seems some have been left behind—people like Bernie Zeppi, courageous in the battle, but unable to figure out what to do with himself in a world that’s utterly changed. Then Russian emissary Vladimir Gorchacov arrives in Grantville and hires Bernie to journey to Moscow and bring the future to a Russia mired in slavish serfdom and byzantine imperial plots. Bernie jumps at the chance. He figures it to be an easy gig, complete with high pay and hot-and-cold running women.

But one thing Bernie hasn’t counted on is the chance to find his purpose in Mother Russia, from fighting the needless death of children from typhoid to building the first dirigible in Russian history. And then there’s love. Just as Bernie realizes his feeling for a certain Russian noblewoman may have gone way beyond respect, he finds them both enmeshed in the deadly politics of Kremlin power struggles.

War with Poland is afoot and Russia itself is about to get a revolution from within–three centuries early. Bernie Zeppi, former Grantville auto mechanic, is going to have the chance to prove he’s not the loser he believed himself to be. For now Bernie’s task is to save the woman he loves and the country he has come to call his own from collapse into a new Dark Age.

New E-books

Down Other Tracks: Alternate Outcomes of the 19th Century by Alexander Rooksmoor

Description from Amazon.

The world we know today was founded in the 19th century. Many of the countries in existence, our knowledge of the world and the technology we are familiar with came during this century of change. In the latest ‘what if?’ history book from Alexander Rooksmoor, he looks at how things could have turned out differently for the 19th century if history had gone down different turns at the points.

The book starts with the industrial revolution and reaches up to the end of the First World War, the conflict which finally marked the end of 19th century culture and the real beginning of the 20th. He considers a different career path for Napoleon Bonaparte and the vast impact this would have meant for Europe and the rest of the world. Assassinations of Napoleon III, Queen Victoria and King Edward VII are considered and conversely, a longer reign for Kaiser Friedrich III. The derailing of the processes of German and Italian unification and the creation of Belgium are looked at in terms of their local and international impacts. Finally, the book investigates different outcomes for conflicts, whether the Taiping Rebellion could have succeeded; what would have happened in the event of an Anglo-Russian War of 1878 and the implications for the First World War if the Schlieffen Plan had worked, if the British and Americans had stayed out of the conflict or mutinies had spread right through the Allied forces. As with Alexander Rooksmoor’s previous books, this is bound to interest anyone with an interest in how our world has turned out the way it did and all of those who wonder how different it could have been.

The book is written by Alexander Rooksmoor, author of Other Paths: Alternate Outcomes of the Second World War, Other Americas: Alternate Outcomes for the USA in the 18th, 19th and 20th Centuries and Other Exits from the Maze: Alternate Outcomes for Tudor and Stuart Monarchs. It particularly complements Other Americas. His books draw on Alexander’s twenty years’ experience in researching and teaching history and in exploring and discussing a whole range of ‘what if?’s.

New References

The Slavery Attractor by Gorg Huff

Description from Amazon.

When I started writing "The Sewing Circle" my first story for the Grantville Gazette. I had no real notion of what economics was, except it was boring and not all that important and perhaps a bit less scientific than astrology. I didn't know what the Federal Reserve did, or even what effect banks and banking had on the economy. I hadn't read Smith, Keynes, Marks or Friedman and I hadn't even heard of Hayek or Ricardo. Ah, the good old days.

But my characters needed to deal with the economics of their situation, so I had to figure out how it would affect them. I had to know what economics dealt with so I could see how it would affect the story. And, as it turned out, I needed to know the same thing for later stories. So for the last ten years I have been studying economics on my own. Reading what the great minds of the field thought. In that reading I learned that a lot of the assumptions in economics were based on looking at the field through the prism of statistical analysis.

The Slavery Attractor is a look at economics through the lens of chaos theory, and I have worked rather hard to make it as short and as clear as I could manage. The article is only around eight thousand four hundred words and makes very little reference to hallowed experts. This is not a learned discourse on what the experts have said about economics. It's a simple look at economics and how they work.

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.

*       *       *

Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update, a volunteer editor for the Alt Hist magazine and a contributor to Just Below the Law. One of his short stories will be published in the upcoming Echelon Press anthology, Once Upon a Clockwork Tale (2013). When not writing he works as an attorney in the state of Illinois and enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana.