New Releases 12/3/13

Hardcovers

1920: America's Great War by Robert Conroy

Description from Amazon.

By the author of breakout WW II era alternate history Himmler’s War and Rising Sun, a compelling alternate history thriller.  After winning WW I, Germany invades America in 1920, marching through California and Texas as a desperate nation resists.

Consider another 1920: Imperial Germany has become the most powerful nation in the world.  In 1914, she had crushed England, France, and Russia in a war that was short but entirely devastating.

By 1920, Kaiser Wilhelm II is looking for new lands to devour.  The United States is fast becoming an economic super-power and the only nation that can conceivably threaten Germany.  The U.S. is militarily inept, however, and is led by a sick and delusional president who wanted to avoid war at any price.  Thus, Germany is able to ship a huge army to Mexico to support a puppet government.

Her real goal: the invasion and permanent conquest of California and Texas.

America desperately resists as the mightiest and most brutal army in the world in a battle fought on land, at sea, and in the air as enemy armies savagely marched up on California, and move north towards a second Battle of the Alamo.  Only the indomitable spirit of freedom can answer the Kaiser's challenge.

Balfour and Meriwether in The Incident of the Harrowmoor Dogs by Daniel Abraham

Description from Amazon.

When a private envoy of the queen and member of Lord Carmichael's discreet service goes missing, Balfour and Meriwether are asked to look into the affair. They will find a labyrinth of dreams, horrors risen from hell, prophecy, sexual perversion, and an abandoned farmhouse on the moors outside Harrowmoor Sanitarium. The earth itself will bare its secrets and the Empire itself will tremble in the face of the hidden dangers they discover, but the greatest peril is the one they have brought with them.

Balfour and Meriwether in the Incident of the Harrowmoor Dogs is the first novella length work in the Balfour and Meriwether stories by Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award nominated author Daniel Abraham.

The Chickens of Atlantis and Other Fowl and Filthy Fiends by Robert Rankin

Description from Amazon.

Darwin, the Educated Ape, sets off on another madcap adventure through time, space, and
chickens

Robert Rankin, the master of far-fetched fiction, presents, for the first time, a book written in "the first monkey." Sure to be taken up as the newest of literary fads, Darwin, the Educated Ape here tells his life story to his legions of fans. Featuring: Chickens! Martians! Doodlebugs! The Far Future! The Distant Past! Sherlock Holmes! Winston Churchill! Dynamite! More Monkeys than you can shake a stick at! Barmen! Pubs! The End of the World and more! The fourth in Robert Rankin's series of steampunk-tinged Victoriana novels featuring the master detective Cameron Bell (who has an unfortunate fondness for blowing up major landmarks) and his companion Darwin, the Educated Ape, this is another masterpiece of comic fiction and SF.

Paperbacks

Assassin's Creed: Black Flag by Oliver Bowden

Description of Amazon.

It’s the Golden Age of Piracy—a time when greed, ambition and corruption overcome all loyalties—and a brash young captain, Edward Kenway, is making his name known for being one of the greatest pirates of his time.

In the brilliant new novel, Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag, discover the story of how Edward, a young privateer, became one of the world's most deadly pirates and was drawn into the centuries-old battle between the Templars and the Assassins.

Clockwork Chaos edited by Danielle Ackley-McPhail  and Neal Levin

Description from Amazon.

FINDING ORDER IN CHAOS

History, invention, the power of deduction...Clockwork Chaos is more than goggles and gears. It is about order and structure and timing striving for mechanical perfection. But in an era where mass production does not yet exist, the unique machinery brought forth into the world is at times bound to fall short of the goal. This chaos turns the science into mayhem and when the gears spring forth this mechanical viscera is indicative of a world turned inside out. Join us in our journey through the shine of society to the dark steamy underbelly of grit and crime.

Thirteen stories of steam-driven genius plumb the depths of human intrigue even as they raise our vision to the skies. Patrick Thomas's Spellpunk tale Deadly Imitation turns the Ripper into a tourist attraction. Gail Gray's The Foxglove Broadsides uses the power of the press to bring down the political machine. And Jeff Young's Ambergris in Ice gets to the grist of the matter on the issue of smuggling. Necessity may be the mother of invention, but read on to discover how mods make the man.

Featuring the work of Jeff Young, Richard Marsden, Matt Dinniman, Bernie Mojzes, R. Rozakis, Patrick Thomas, Angel Leigh McCoy, Gail Gray, Patricia Puckett, James Chambers, N.R. Brown, C.J. Henderson, and James Daniel Ross.

Audiobooks

Dominion by CJ Sansom

Description from Amazon.

1952. Twelve years have passed since Churchill lost to the appeasers and Britain surrendered to Nazi Germany after Dunkirk. As the long German war against Russia rages on in the east, the British people find themselves under dark authoritarian rule: the press, radio and television are controlled; the streets patrolled by violent auxiliary police and British Jews face ever greater constraints. There are terrible rumours too about what is happening in the basement of the German Embassy at Senate House. Defiance, though, is growing. In Britain, Winston Churchill's Resistance organization is increasingly a thorn in the government's side. And in a Birmingham mental hospital an incarcerated scientist, Frank Muncaster, may hold a secret that could change the balance of the world struggle for ever. Civil Servant David Fitzgerald, secretly acting as a spy for the Resistance, is given the mission by them to rescue his old friend Frank and get him out of the country. Before long he, together with a disparate group of Resistance activists, will find themselves fugitives in the midst of London's Great Smog; as David's wife Sarah finds herself drawn into a world more terrifying than she ever could have imagined. And hard on their heels is Gestapo Sturmbannfuhrer Gunther Hoth, brilliant, implacable hunter of men ...At once a vivid, haunting reimagining of 1950s Britain, a gripping, humane spy thriller and a poignant love story, with DOMINION C. J. Sansom once again asserts himself as the master of the historical novel.

Tyr's Hammer by Michael "Tinker" Pearce and Linda Pearce

Description from Amazon.

SideQuests are stand-alone stories or novellas that chronicle the heroes, villains, and adventures in The Foreworld Saga across numerous eras and ages. They can be read in any order with or without prior knowledge of The Foreworld Saga. In this quick-witted and action-packed addition to The Foreworld Saga series, the leader of the Shield-Brethren has dispatched two of his men northward to secure land for a new citadel. When Tyr and his companion come upon the perfect spot, they discover that it is owned by Voldrun, a northern king with a questionable sense of justice. Although he welcomes the travelers, the king’s true motives eventually become clear. Determined to be compensated for his hospitality, Voldrun subjects the duo to several challenges, culminating in a game more dangerous than either warrior could ever have imagined. Steadfast and brave to the end, Tyr must draw upon all of his considerable skill and cunning as he endeavors to outwit the sly Voldrun and strives to secure a bright future for the order.

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. 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 10/1/13

Hardcover

1636: The Devil's Opera by Eric Flint and David Carrico

Description from Amazon.

It is the year 1636. The United States of Europe, the new nation formed by an alliance between the Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus and the West Virginians hurled back in time by a cosmic accident, is on the verge of civil war.  His brain injured in the war with Poland, the USE's emperor Gustavus Adolphus is no longer in command. Enter Swedish chancellor Oxenstierna, a leader of aristocratic reaction against democracy.  His goal:  to assemble the forces of the hidebound ruling class in Berlin and drown the revolution in a bloodbath.

In Magdeburg, the capital of the USE, Mike Stearns' wife Rebecca Abrabanel is organizing popular resistance to Oxenstierna's plot. As part of the resistance, the American musician Marla Linder and her company of down-time musical partners are staging an opera that will celebrate the struggle against oppression. Princess Kristina, the heir to the USE's throne, is now residing in Magdeburg and is giving them her support and encouragement.

But another plot is underway--this one right in the heart of the capital itself, and with murder as its method. The only people standing in the way are a crippled boy and the boxing champion who befriended him, and an unlikely pair of policemen. Can the American detective Byron Chieske and his down-timer partner Gotthilf Hoch thwart the killers before they succeed in their goal?

Alternate Histories of the World by Matthew Buchholz

Description from Amazon.

This remarkable collection of maps, photographs, engravings and paintings from the early ages to modern day provides a stunning new look at the world as defined by our struggles and alliances with the monsters and supernatural creatures that have defined our existence. Learn how a mechanical man helped write America’s Declaration of Independence. Track the course of the Living Dead virus from Africa to Europe and on to the New World. View artifacts from our uneasy alliance with the Martian race, or simply delight in the vibrant colors and illustrations from a bygone age. More than 100 full-color images and insightful essays make this book an essential addition to the libraries of dedicated historians as well as casual fans of monsters and mayhem.

Paperback

Bronze Summer: The Northland Trilogy by Stephen Baxter

Description from Amazon.

Stephen Baxter’s “imaginative [and] bold” (Daily Mail, UK) Stone Spring drew readers into an alternate prehistoric scenario. Now, thousands of years have passed, and a wall that was built to hold back the sea must now hold back the advancing armies of a reviving Troy....

Created by the building of the Wall, Northland has become a society of prosperous, literate, and self-sufficient people. Inhabited from end to end, the Wall is a linear city stretching for hundreds of miles, and a wonder of the world.

For millennia, the Wall has also kept the growing empires of the Bronze Age at bay. But a new and turbulent age is dawning. For any wall, no matter how strong, can be breached—particularly from within.…

The Educated Ape and Other Wonders of the Worlds by Robert Rankin

Description from Amazon.

The year is 1899 and the world is coming to an end. An epic in four movements, this is the third book in Robert Rankin's highly acclaimed meta-Victorian series, after Japanese Devil Fish Girl and The Mechanical Messiah

Comparable to Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams, the father of far-fetched fiction has pulled out all of the stops with this riotous tale of wicked women, a dangerous detective, and Darwin, the educated ape. Lord Brentford has a dream: to create a Grand Exposition that will showcase the wonders of the worlds and encourage peace between the inhabited planets of Venus, Jupiter, and Earth. Ernest Rutherford has a dream: to construct a time ship, powered by the large hadron collider he has built beneath the streets of London. Cameron Bell is England's greatest detective and he, too, has a dream: to solve the crime of the century before it takes place, without blowing up any more of London's landmarks. Darwin is a monkey butler and even he has a dream: to end man's inhumanity to monkey and bring a little joy into the world. Lavinia Dharkstorrm has a dream of her own, although hers is more of a nightmare: to erase man and monkey alike from the face of the Earth and to hasten in the End of Days. Then there is the crime-fighting superlady, all those chickens from the past, and the unwelcome arrival of the Antichrist. Things are looking rather grim on planet Earth.

Fatland: The Early Days by Frannie Zellman

Description from Amazon.

The hidden history of FatLand -- a territory established by people seeking freedom from the oppressive Pro-Health Laws of the United States of America -- is revealed in Volume II of The FatLand Trilogy. They only wanted to build a land where they would be accepted. But when three archivists set out to discover how FatLand began, they quickly become aware that someone doesn't want them to know. They may be opening a Pandora's Box of secrets they aren't meant to uncover. Seven thousand miles away a woman summons the courage to write about FatLand's beginnings, knowing her life will be in danger the moment the FatLand Board receives her memoir. As the four of them race to record their findings and insights, the early history of FatLand reveals itself in violence and heroism, and in the bravery, determination and treachery of its founders.

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.

New Releases 10/2/12

New hardcover

1635: Papal Stakes by Eric Flint and Charles E. Gannon

Description from Amazon.

#15 in the multiple bestselling Ring of Fire Series.

It’s springtime in the Eternal City, 1635. But it’s no Roman holiday for uptimer Frank Stone and his pregnant downtime wife, Giovanna. They’re in the clutches of would-be Pope Cardinal Borgia, with the real Pope–Urban VII –on the run with the renegade embassy of uptime Ambassador Sharon Nichols and her swashbuckling downtime husband, Ruy Sanchez de Casador y Ortiz. Up to their necks in papal assassins, power politics, murder, and mayhem, the uptimers and their spouses need help and they need it quickly.

Special rescue teams–including Harry Lefferts and his infamous Wrecking Crew–converge on Rome to extract Frank and Gia. And an uptime airplane is on its way to spirit the Pope to safety before Borja’s assassins can find him. It seems that everything is going to work out just fine in sunny Italy.

Until, that is, everything goes wrong. Now, whether they are prisoners in Rome or renegades protecting a pope on the run, it’s up to the rough and ready can-do attitude of Grantville natives to once again escape the clutches of aristocratic skullduggery and ring in freedom for a war-torn land.

New paperback

Firestorm by Taylor Anderson

Description from Amazon.

Designated Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, Matt Reddy must now contend with a new threat; the Dominion—humans whose lust for power matches the Grik. But even though the Grand Alliance recognizes the danger of the Dominion, it must deal with the land-based Grik first, leaving the Imperial navy—and USS Walker—with little assistance.

As war rages, more Japanese ships come through the time-space maelstrom that the Americans call The Squall. One is a “Hell Ship,” carrying prisoners of an Imperial Japan that is growing ever more ruthless in the face of looming defeat. Escorting it is a new, state-of-the-art destroyer, whose officers recognize no rules of war.

Fighting on two fronts, Reddy is plunged into a firestorm of loyalty, betrayal, and sacrifice. But nothing can prepare him for a devastating new Grik weapon—a weapon that could wipe out all who oppose them…

The Mechanical Messiah and Other Marvels of the Modern Age by Robert Rankin

Description from Amazon.

Colonel Katterfelto has returned to London, having departed America under something of a cloud—of smoke, issuing from his Spiritual Laboratory, which the townsfolk of Wormcast, Arizona, marched upon with their flaming torches. This catastrophic conflagration caused considerable concern to the pious colonel, who had been engaged in the creation of "Heaven's last and best gift to Mankind," The Mechanical Messiah—he was, after all, being guided in this Great Work by holy angels, communicating to him through his monkey butler, Darwin. It is 1897, the British Empire encompasses Mars, and an uneasy peace exists between the peoples of Venus, Jupiter, and Earth. In London the marvels of the modern age to be experienced include the Electric Alhambra Music Hall, where crowds thrill to the Earl Grey Whistle Test—a musical extravaganza featuring such top turns as Hayward's Acrobatic Kiwis, the Travelling Formbys, and the newly arrived Colonel Katterfelto's Clockwork Minstrels. But all is far from well in old Whitechapel, where a monster is once more abroad in the night-time streets, committing hideous acts of murder. Can this be the return of Jack the Ripper, or has something altogether unearthly and hellishly evil materialized? Famed consulting detective Cameron Bell is already on the case, but it may take nothing less than the new Messiah himself to save London, the Empire, and all of the solar system from the impending apocalypse!

New e-books

The British Alien by John Lewis

Description from Amazon.

An alternative history of the British Empire in the dark days of the Second World War. Be astonished by this first hand account of how the British Secret Service attempted to make deals with otherworldly demonic entities in order to counter a similar deal made by the Nazis.

A mysterious package is dropped from an RAF bomber over the Atlantic. Nazi secret societies conspire against the British Empire and a small team is created to investigate the situation. Dark secrets are revealed that lie at the heart of the British establishment.

The Hundred Years Farce by Scott Skipper

Description from Amazon.

Most people don't recall—if they ever knew—that the United States Army invaded México in 1846. A year later they entered México City and received an unconditional surrender. Then they walked away with Texas, New México and California. What would have happened if they hadn't walked away?

History is full of crossroads. Alexander conquered Egypt, Persia and Afghanistan then he went to India and died of fever at twenty-three. How would he have redrawn the world map if he had lived to a ripe old age?

Arab enemies very nearly killed Mohamed before he wrote the Koran. How would the world look today if there were no such thing as Islam?

Washington was pressured to crown himself king. What would have come of the United States if he hadn't been quite so altruistic?

The sum of all events that led us to where we are could have turned quite differently had small things been tweaked. This quirky and irreverent 'what if' story starts with the truth then looks at plausible, bizarre and absurd alternatives to what came later. Do we have here a simple alternative history or could it be an allegorical reflection of modern times? Will the end always look the same no matter how many parallel universes we examine? Is our fate hard wired or are we at the mercy of some cosmic coin toss?

The Lady Astronomer by Katy O'Dowd

Description from Amazon.

Lucretia's quiet life as an astronomer and hat-maker is quickly turned on its head by her brother. He is commanded by the king to build the grandest telescope in the land. Unfortunately for Lucretia, she is introduced to his majesty as her brother's assistant. Her nights spent on rooftops gazing at the stars are replaced by adventure and danger. In a race to build the Forty-foot telescope on time for the king, her misfortunes take their toll. When Lucretia finds herself held hostage at the Clockwork Court, the innocent country girl doesn't know who to trust. The lady astronomer finds court life to be more dangerous than she could have ever imagined. Even if her brothers manage to build the telescope on time, she might not live to earn her freedom.

With the help of her brothers, Freddie and Al, and her constant companions Leibniz the Lemur and Orion the Eagle Owl, Lucretia embarks on a journey that could change her life forever. Can she find the strength inside to balance her new life and overcome the obstacles threatening her destiny? Only the stars will tell.

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 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.