Most were taken prisoner by Cuban armed forces. Fearing another U.S. invasion of its new ally, the Soviet Union sneaked into Cuba strategic missiles tipped with nuclear warheads and Soviet troops armed with tactical nuclear weapons. However, a U-2 spy plane flight would soon find the Soviet missile sites, thus sparking the famous missile crisis. For thirteen terrifying days, the world watched nervously as the two superpowers moved toward escalation, holding the world 's fate in their hands. Finally, Nikita Khrushchev blinked. He agreed to withdraw the weapons from Cuba in return for John F. Kennedy 's pledge not to invade the island.But what if it had not turned out this way? What if the U-2 flight had been delayed? If the confrontation had set off a nuclear war, what would have happened to the United States and Soviet Union in 1962? What kind of account would a historian have written in a world scarred by nuclear war?Eric G. Swedin draws on research made available after the Soviet Union 's collapse to examine what could have happened. Top U.S. military officers all urged stronger action against Cuba than the naval blockade, including a bombing campaign and even a full-scale invasion. Unknown to the Americans, meanwhile, the Soviet Union had tactical nuclear weapons in Cuba and were prepared to use them.The 1962 crisis had many possible outcomes. Positing an alternate history helps us better appreciate the dangers of that tense time. Such counterfactual speculation shows what the Cuban missile crisis could have wrought and how it was truly one of the most important moments of the twentieth century.

    Thrown out of mainland Europe by the unstoppable Nazi war machine, the British stand alone against the might of Hitler's Third Reich. Poised for imminent invasion, cut off by U-Boats and bombarded daily from the air, the British strive to re-equip their shattered army. They don't know when, and they don't know where, but one thing is certain... The Germans are coming!

    Gretel likes to pick wildflowers. Gretel is one of the subjects on the farm, and she is Doctor Gottlieb's responsibility, but she knows something she isn't telling -- and if Doctor Gottlieb doesn't figure it out, it may be his body in a ditch next. This story is set in the world of Ian Tregillis's Milkweed series, which began with Bitter Seeds.

    Hyde; The Domino Lady worked with The Black Bat, The Avenger, and Airboy; Batman variously teamed up with The Shadow, Captain America, The Spirit, and Sherlock Holmes; Philip Marlowe had a brush with the Deep Ones and later worked with Sam Spade; the Nyctalope teamed up with Professor Quatermass; Bulldog Drummond combined forces with Richard Hannay for one last adventure; Nero Wolfe, Ellery Queen, Lord Peter, Perry Mason, and Mike Hammer solved a murder; and Vampirella teamed up with or fought just about everyone... ...To the Twenty-first Century, when Frankenstein's Creature battled Dracula and Mr. Hyde, and traveled to the Lost World; Witchblade and the Darkness joined forces with Vampirella; the worlds of Boston P.I. Spenser, Sheriff Jesse Stone, and detective Sunny Randall came together; and a modern-day Van Helsing went up against the current incarnation of the Black Coats... ...To the far-flung future, when Spock claimed Holmes as an ancestor and Ishmael flew with the wind whales... Crossovers is a massive timeline of crossover stories in which characters, situations, or universes are linked together in order to build the Crossover Universe. Lovingly compiled by crossover and Wold Newton expert Win Scott Eckert, Crossovers lists upwards of 2000 crossover stories, with innumerable additional timeline entries which outline the secret history of the land of fiction. With an introduction by Jess Nevins, this volume is illustrated with over 300 book and magazine covers, and contains an appendix covering Kim Newman's Anno Dracula series.

    After returning from a campaign in the Third Afghan War, Major Thomas Waller and the Royal Newfoundland Regiment are assigned to escort two mysterious ladies into the unknown lands of the new world. With the help of an American drifter named Smith, Waller and his men must face daunting hordes of 'savages' that roam the steppes of the alien planet, and help to uncover the ladies' secrets - and the secrets of the new world itself. A dangerous mission awaits on the Grasslands...

    Now opposing ski-troops battle to hold the ground occupied by their armies. Meanwhile, the German Navy sets sail in an effort to destroy the convoys that keep the allied troops on Kola alive. In the midst of the fighting, a U.S. Navy railway gun crew mount a desperate battle to save their guns from the advancing German troops. Meanwhile, in Washington another political battle is being fought, one that is no less deadly than that being fought on the Kola Peninsula

    Originally published in the anthology Songs of Love and Death: Tales of Star-Cross Love (edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois). Description from introduction: "... a compelling and intricate tale that follows the consequences of a promise between star-crossed lovers down through the generations--one with quite a high price in blood."

    The Queen anthology series focuses on the female characters from Code Geass, and presents side stories by an eclectic group of manga artists.

    It includes a treatment of Victorian society in its every particular, especially the incredible and sometimes awful changes that "the Strangeness" comes to wreak upon Queen and Country alike.New FATE rules by Mike Olson expand character skills into the realms of the superhuman and the godlike, making them endlessly customizable to suit anything you can imagine.The Kerberos Club (FATE Edition) gives players every tool they need to create new heroes and villains in a world beset by Strange mysteries and diabolical threats.There is, after all, every good reason for the club's motto: "MALUM NECESSARIUM."

    Despite her best efforts, they still dislike her. But that which does not kill you makes you strong, and when two mages arrive to take her on a quest for the Blade of Unmaking, she will need all the strength she possesses.This story was originally published in SWORD & SORCERESS 14, March 1997.

    They are the Great Pagan Army—the largest array of Vikings ever assembled into one host. No army or city can resist them; no one dares… until a crippled young count finds an old Roman book on tactics. With a handful of desperate knights, Count Odo fortifies the river fortress of Paris and awaits the savage host. Neither he nor the Vikings realize that this will be young Paris’s most brutal siege and of incredibly fateful importance. THE GREAT PAGAN ARMY is the recreation of a historical campaign of brutal savagery. It is a full novel, 113,000 words in length by bestselling author Vaughn Heppner.

    But Lady Beatrice is no ordinary lady of the night, and when she is recruited by the exclusive establishment known as Nell Gwynne's her vocation takes an unexpected turn.