1st rate alternative history story telling
922255
Mr. Turtledove is at the top of his game and it shows in this first rate novel. Most of these novels are very predictable but not this one. So if you love the history of the War between the States and like a new look at it, then here is something worth looking at.
3590119
Creatures of the Pool was written by one of horror's grandmasters, the multiple award winning Ramsey Campbell. And it shows. It was written about Liverpool, the place where Ramsey Campbell grew up and his written about many times. And it shows.

An alternate history is presented through the eyes of our narrator, who is a tour guide. Who better to provide an alternate history rooted in fact and fantasy in equal measures? The superficial storyline (the narrator's missing father etc.) is somewhat irrelevant and has almost become a plot device to provide us with a very slow burning, almost tantric approach to the creeping terrors. We may not get the big bang climax of a short story, but we're repeatedly taken to the brink and shown a glimpse of horror. Reveals and illusions are interplayed, horrors are hinted at and humour is used repeatedly until we almost accept the situation and the alternate history as factual. I can't wait to listen to it (I have it on audio) again, preferably the next time I visit my home town of Liver-pol...<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Creatures-of-the-Pool/dp/1848634986/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Creatures of the Pool</a>
4197440
MacLeod has shown a fine sense of how to blend political philosophy with storytelling in his prior works. No less so here, with this tale of an alternate history where WWIII began in 1949, where Joe Stalin is the peoples revolutionary hero, atomic weapons have been used in many more places than Hiroshima, and the Americans are flying some very strange bombers with even stranger pilots.
The book follows John Matheson from a young boy through early manhood, tracing his awakening to the political facts of life. And like many young people, the inequalities and suffering that much of world must live with are open sores that he feels he can and should do something about. This is the entry point for MacLeod's exposition of political/revolutionary solutions, along with some rather sharp satire of figures that are almost deified in our world ("Hey, hey, JFK, how many kids did you kill today?"). These answers will disturb your sense of the correctness of the status quo, perhaps make you realize that there is merit in other political philosophies than your own. Very little of this is presented directly, but is rather shown as an normal outgrowth of Matheson's development and learning, from his days in school and college and later as a member of the revolutionary group The Human Front. MacLeod's envisioned world is believable, and its contrasts with our own highlight just how much the world's and your personal condition depends upon chance happenstances and events beyond any one individual's control.
All of this, about the first fifty pages, is excellent writing, but at the end of the book MacLeod turns away from what should be the logical conclusion to the story and instead chooses what felt to me like a dues-ex-machina resolution, (even though MacLeod has carefully planted clues to this early in the book), and a far too happy one at that. For me, this ending greatly lessened the strength of his earlier points. Those familiar with the various science-fictional treatments of alternate time-line scenarios will recognize in this ending an attempt to rationalize the paradoxes inherent in disturbing the past and will see parallels with books like Asimov's The End of Eternity and Dick's The Man in the High Castle, but what is missing from this ending is a proper resolution to the political questions raised in the earlier portion of the book.
Perhaps this novella should have been given a longer treatment, expanded to full novel length, and with this extra room there would have been space to fill in what I feel was missing to this ending.  As it is, I feel that MacLeod has presented a sharply realized different world that can illuminate many of the problems of our world, but hasn't really finished his story within that world.
--- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)
4247036
Alternate history is a subgenre of speculative fiction that can fail for a variety of reasons. This series does not. The setting is exotic enough to be interesting, the history is obscure enough to be interesting-fascinating, and the modern viewpoints and attitudes transplanted into truly likeable, engaging characters make for wonderful reading. Well - maybe not all the characters are likeable - there are some loathsome bad-guys here, that you'll feel fully justified in hating. Throw in a look at basic human politics in a different world, and you can even explain your pleasures as an educational experience. Definitely time well-spent.
3730048
An excellent alternate-history book. What else would one expect from Mr. Harrison? The master of the genre proves himself yet again. The book tells a tale of the war between the states as it would have been if England had intervened  on the Confiderate side. The story is very historically correct, and even the fiction part stays amazingly close to facts. The book does get a little too-romanticized towards the end - the Union army performs wonders even though they are in a very bad position. One thing I do not like is that the English are shown to be rather clumsy and stupid. Still, it is an excellent book - I swallowed it in a weekend.
1939188
This is a much-needed corrective to mainstream American history.  It is an alternative view of our national story - which also includes the perspectives of America's primary historical minorities - Native Americans, Blacks, Women, and Hispanics.

This version of American history seeks to straighten out some of the more obvious distortions caused by the mythical exaggerations and omissions in the story told in mainstream American history of white men only heroics.  And on this point, I must say the book is wildly successful.  (A milder example of the standard rationalization for the shortcomings of our forefathers for instance is to be found in the recent, Wilkinson's Jefferson's pillow, where the Virginia quartet of Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Mason's moral inconsistencies are ironed out as "the ways" of their times, etc.)

In the vein of Charles Beard's An Economic Interpretation of the U.S. Constitution, and WEB Du Bois' Reconstruction in America, Zinn makes no apologies for viewing the economic interests of our founding fathers through a slightly socialistic or Marxist prism.  In many ways it is well that he has done so, because as is the case with Beard and Dubois, while Marxist economic analysis may not always be a perfect fit to American history, it is heads-and shoulders above what is offered as the standard historical fare -- which to any thinking person is mostly indigestible and often insulting pabulum  -- always carefully obscuring the economic connections which often are the only important subtexts.

Even though I am not as allergic to Marxist analysis as some of the other reviewers, I was a bit surprised to see both the Bacon's and Shay's rebellions being given such prides of place in Zinn's version of American history.  While one cannot disagree that these were indeed important events -- that have been underplayed in standard history books (as is also true of John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry) -- nevertheless, overemphasis raises one's antennae in the same way that the syrupy pseudo-patriotic versions of standard history do (for example the mythical exaggerations of the fight at the Alamo, the battle of Bunker Hill, the Boston Tea Party, etc.).

However, even in these instances, it is to Zinn's credit that he leaves a roadmap to his sources so that the reader can do his own further investigation.  This, I did on several occasions, and Zinn's analysis, in my view, has proven to be as close to a  "gold plated" standard of scholarship as one is likely to ever get.

The most important point of the book is that Zinn's explanations unerringly connect the dots and threads that run through American history.  There are no "blank periods" no unanswered questions as is the case in the standard versions of American history.  When you finish reading this manuscript you will have the feeling that you have enough to understand the complete picture. From the founding of the nation to the present, you will have an honest framework upon which to build.

Even though one may not always agree, and may even be suspect of the Marxist twist to economic analysis, one cannot deny that when compared with the more standard versions of American history, where economics is finessed or left out altogether, this one provides us with the "true skinny."

In standard American history books, the patchwork of discontinuities, omissions, embellishments, ideological and patriotic rationalizations, excuses for violence and brutality, puffed up white boy heroics, etc., makes it impossible to connect the dots and see the threads connecting what is going on today with what has happened in the past.

And While the People's History is not the final word, it sets us on a new path towards the whole truth.  I am grateful to Dr. Zinn for writing this book.  Five stars
1189132
I'm a fan of alt-history, and this one seems to be a good start to a planned series. As with all good alt-history stories, an important fact is "changed" and results in a vastly different outcome. In this case, it's the destruction of a British-built ship ordered by the CSA which leads the Brits to side with the South against the North in our Civil War.

The characters (mostly "real" people) are well established and devloped. The writing is clear and compelling. If I had a little bone to pick, it would be that the plot developments are a bit obvious.

Tsouras is an excellent craftsman (far better than some of the hacks who are better know in this genre) and I look forward to the next in the series
146670
I enjoyed this book.  I am a lover of history and this is an unique approach to telling a story of historical characters.  While the writing is somewhat different than your typical historical fiction, I found it refreshing and very readable, very no nonsense.  I loved the incorporation of mystical aspects into unknown details and events.  I thought it was a very clever approach and it encouraged me throughout the novel to understand what was fact and what was fiction.  As any historian knows, history is written through the eyes of the pen holder.  In this respect, Gregory takes all aspects of fact and fiction and incorporates them into her "version" of this period.  It is believable (as long as you do not have an extensive affinity for this time period.  As with all books which incorporate fact, if you are a lover of the "truth" and knowledgeable and defensive of the subject matter, this is probably not a book you would enjoy).  For me it was an adventure which led to curiosity.  While clearly not all true, it provided me with a better understanding of the cast of characters and an intrigue to learn more.
1322356
An alternate history book that is extremely well done, in my opinion. The author has used real people to populate the book and made their personalities to match their real world personalities. Of course the story begins in volume one so you must read that first. I am really looking forward to volume three. If you happen to not be a student of WW2 as I am I would still recommend the book and advise that the author has really not taken many liberties with the characters. So far as I can tell he very knowledgeable with respect to tactics and equipment as well.
144168
If British General "Gentleman Johnny" Burgoyne had triumphed over American General Horatio Gates at Saratoga, New York, in 1777, the American Revolution would have collapsed, the winners would have kept close  ties to Britain, and the losters would have gone off to the West to found a  new nation.
  If you find that scenario plausible, then chances are  you will enjoy, as I did, this alternate history of North America.  After  all, there was nothing inevitable about Britain's defeat, and the book  makes a convincing case for how things might have played out had the rebels  lost.  I was especially intrigued by the argumentative footnotes, which  added credibility to the book by making it seem like real history.  Unusual  for a work of fiction, "For Want of a Nail" also includes a  bibliography (of fictional history) and an index.
  Unfortunately, I  can't rate it higher than three stars mainly because it seems to me that if  you're going to write fiction that takes history as its point of departure,  then you should propose a believable pivot on which your version of events  turns.  Killing Benedict Arnold early in the Battle of Saratoga is just one  of several possibilities for a believable pivot.  However, instead of  taking that route, the book unnecessarily recasts much of the historical  background and most of the battle to reach the desired outcome.  My second  major complaint is that by continuing the story through 1972, the book left  behind its intrinsically fascinating historical characters and replaced  them with relatively colorless and wholly fictional successors.  Finally,  the writing style, while competent, was ponderous at times.
361083
Fun and interesting, this book creates a fascinating alternative history for Wales. Historical fiction is so often set in England or Scotland- this series is a brilliant segue into their lesser known neighbor.
391448
Declaration of bias -- I know the author, and I know that this affected how willing I was to keep reading. I greatly enjoyed the book, but it uses a very terse, elliptical style that took some time to get used to, and I think this will cause many readers to bounce off the prose. I would strongly suggest finding excerpts (I think there are some on the Baen website somewhere) and reading to see if you like the style.

That said, this is a solid first novel with an interesting story and some likeable characters. It's an alternative history book that's firmly grounded in reality -- with one minor exception, not obvious to the reader, everything is  physically plausible. And I am impressed with the way Friedman has worked some of his libertarian philosophy into the book without hitting the reader over the head with it. Too much political speculative fiction involves blatant sermons--this book uses a much more subtle showing-rather-than-telling approach and is so much better for it. It adds depth to the story rather than turning it into a political tract.

It's not going to be to everyone's taste, but if you can handle the elliptical prose style it's an enjoyable read.
2416950
A great alternative history, set around the Gettysburg campaign and key figures. Campbell is a SF master, but this was fun and thought provoking. And I'd like to read more like this from him.
3812524
I've read almost every alternate history novel Harry Turtledove has written. As a history buff I love these stories, and since I'm trying to write alternate history myself, I think Turtledove is one of the best. Opening Atlantis was an interesting take on what-if the Eastern US was an island and the English/French fishermen found it at least 100 years before Columbus sailed. He describes weird looking animals, are honkers really flamingos or are they something entirely different? What kind of "eagle" would be that big? The novel takes us through the English Civil War to the Pirates of the Caribbean(or of the Hesperian Gulf in this case) to the 7 Years War between the French and English.  I look forward to the next book in the series.

Cliff Ball
author of Out of Time, a time travel/alternate history novella
4966576
I bought this novel because it received a Dragon Award Nomination in the Alternate History category, and I love alternate history. I'm going to be honest, this wasn't exactly my idea of what alternate history should be, at first. Then, it struck me. Imagine if all the ghost stories, the stories told around the campfires, or the stories told to little kids were actually true. What if just one of them is true? History would be changed.

Perry takes this novel in an original direction by retelling the story as if one of those old fables was real. She highlights the thirst for revenge as the main character searches out and becomes a monster to gain revenge on the mobster that killed his family. Perry includes enough twists and turns in this novel to keep you wanting to keep reading late into the night, and there's even a bit of horror in there that makes you want to avoid going to bed anyway. Still, Perry personalizes the monsters and you become sympathetic to their plight as you read. After a slow start, I loved this book.
2089813
The Alamo has been the inspiration for a large number of movies (most recently, Touchstone's "The Alamo") and novels.  When writing about an event so culturally charged, authors of historical fiction face the expectations of pop culture, where myth often trumps the truth, the demands of historians, who require authenticity, and the interpretations of the politically motivated, all within the framework of a viable story.

Enter Ned Anthony Huthmacher, author of "One Domingo Morning," whose entry point into the Alamo tale is the fact-based story of Joe, the slave owned by the Alamo's commander, William Barret Travis.  Joe's fictional story has not been told before.  The fresh point-of-view yields an interesting narrative that avoids some of the cliches that overwhelm Alamo literature.

The "history" of this historical novel is done well.  Huthmacher is a member of the Alamo Society, a contributing writer to the Alamo Lore and Myth Organization, and appeared both the 1987 IMAX film, "Alamo: Th Price of Freedom" and in Touchstone's 2004 "The Alamo."  His attention to detail made for enjoyable reading for this history buff.

The political overtones of the story are difficult.  Huthmacher is writing about a slave who participated in an event trumpeted loudly by freedom lovers.  The irony is obvious.  My only quibble with the narrative comes when Travis offers "freedom papers" to Joe and two other slaves.  I sympathize with the author's dilemma.  Joe can't be portrayed as weak, nor can he be realistically cast as a proto-civil-rights advocate.  Huthmacher skirts the problem with a quick nod to the issues and non-stop story action, certainly not the worst solution for his readers.

The story also involves an older black woman named "Maizy."  Alamo enthusiasts will be pleased to see the legend of a black woman defender who died on the walls brought to life in a realistic fashion.[p]
The plot covers the Texas campaign from the beginning of the Alamo siege to the Battle of San Jacinto.  The last of the narrative takes Joe south to Mexico (the best-documented historical information agrees) where the protagonist's past meets his future.  Huthmacher's prose is straight-forward, with a common touch that seems comfortable and appropriate.  Huthmacher's "One Domingo Morning" is an enjoyable and invaluable addition to Alamo literature, and I highly recommend it.
59898
There are some really fun alternate history short stories in the collection. Also a definate must if you enjoyed Peter F. Hamilton's Commonwealth Saga.