The Mongoliad: Book One


Neal Stephenson - 2012
    In it, a small band of warriors and mystics raise their swords to save Europe from a bloodthirsty Mongol invasion. Inspired by their leader (an elder of an order of warrior monks), they embark on a perilous journey and uncover the history of hidden knowledge and conflict among powerful secret societies that had been shaping world events for millennia.But the saga reaches the modern world via a circuitous route. In the late 19th century, Sir Richard F. Burton, an expert on exotic languages and historical swordsmanship, is approached by a mysterious group of English martial arts aficionados about translating a collection of long-lost manuscripts. Burton dies before his work is finished, and his efforts were thought lost until recently rediscovered by a team of amateur archaeologists in the ruins of a mansion in Trieste, Italy. From this collection of arcana, the incredible tale of The Mongoliad was recreated.Full of high adventure, unforgettable characters, and unflinching battle scenes, The Mongoliad ignites a dangerous quest where willpower and blades are tested and the scope of world-building is redefined.A note on this edition: The Mongoliad began as a social media experiment, combining serial story-telling with a unique level of interaction between authors and audience during the creative process. Since its original iteration, The Mongoliad has been restructured, edited, and rewritten under the supervision of its authors to create a more cohesive reading experience and will be published as a trilogy of novels. This edition is the definitive edition and is the authors' preferred text.Reviews:“This off-beat alternate history of Eurasia could be your new obsession.” –i09.com“This story is pure adventure, with much swordplay and swashbuckling.” –Kirkus Reviews“A terrifically engaging book that pulled me along at least as quickly as The Hunger Games. Think Lord of the Rings without all that pesky fantasy…Five frighteningly accurate historical sword fights out of five.” –Fanboy Comics

The Daedalus Incident


Michael J. Martinez - 2013
    However, when rocks shake off their ancient dust and begin to roll—seemingly of their own volition—carving canals as they converge to form a towering structure amid the ruddy terrain, Lt. Jain and her JSC team realize that their routine geological survey of a Martian cave system is anything but. The only clues they have stem from the emissions of a mysterious blue radiation, and a 300-year-old journal that is writing itself.Lt. Thomas Weatherby of His Majesty’s Royal Navy is an honest 18th-century man of modest beginnings, doing his part for King and Country aboard the HMS Daedalus, a frigate sailing the high seas between continents…and the immense Void between the Known Worlds.With the aid of his fierce captain, a drug-addled alchemist, and a servant girl with a remarkable past, Weatherby must track a great and powerful mystic, who has embarked upon a sinister quest to upset the balance of the planets—the consequences of which may reach far beyond the Solar System, threatening the very fabric of space itself.

Stalin's War: Volume One: The World in Flames Trilogy


Jack Strain - 2014
    This alternative history tells the story of the great leaders of the day, Churchill, FDR, Stalin, Truman, Eisenhower, Zhukov, and numerous other historical figures, as well as, a cast of characters from courageous Polish Freedom Fighters engaged in a near hopeless bid for survival to former Nazi SS officers desperate and willing to do anything to ignite a conflict between the two emerging superpowers to save the Fatherland. But at the heart of this story lies one man's obsessions, paranoia, and desire to dominate the globe...Josef Stalin...the most powerful man on the planet with the largest army in the history of man sees treachery everywhere, yet he misses the one true threat to all of his plans and in one moment of pure terror everything he had long planned nearly comes to an end...leading him to make a momentous decision to crush the Motherland's enemies without mercy once and for all.This fast paced thriller takes readers from the rubble of Berlin to politics in the White House and Kremlin, and ultimately to fields of battle as two great armies move towards an inevitable clash of arms that will determine not only the fate of Europe, but perhaps freedom itself.

The Best Alternate History Stories of the 20th Century


Harry TurtledoveKim Stanley Robinson - 2001
    . . Science fiction’s most illustrious and visionary authors hold forth the ultimate alternate history collection. Here you’ll experience mind-bending tales that challenge your views of the past, present, and future, including:• "The Lucky Strike": When The Lucky Strike is chosen over The Enola Gay to drop the first atomic bomb, fate takes an unexpected turn in Kim Stanley Robinson’s gripping tale.• "Bring the Jubilee": Ward Moore’s novella masterpiece offers a rebel victory at Gettysburg which changes the course of the Civil War . . . and all of American history.• "Through Road No Wither": After Hitler’s victory in World War II, two Nazi officers confront their destiny in Greg Bear’s apocalyptic vision of the future.• "All the Myriad Ways": Murder or suicide, Ambrose Harmon’s death leads the police down an infinite number of pathways in Larry Niven’s brilliant and defining tale of alternatives and consequences.• "Mozart in Mirrorshades": Bruce Sterling and Lewis Shiner explore a terrifying era as the future crashes into the past–with disastrous results.. . . as well as works by Poul Anderson • Gregory Benford • Jack L. Chalker • Nicholas A. DiChario • Brad Linaweaver • William Sanders • Susan Shwartz • Allen Steele • and Harry Turtledove himself!The definitive collection: fourteen seminal alternate history tales drawing readers into a universe of dramatic possibility and endless wonder.

Ack-Ack Macaque: The Complete Trilogy


Gareth L. Powell - 2017
    Every day the cynical, cigar-chomping, hard-drinking monkey climbs into his Spitfire to do battle with the waves of German ninjas parachuting over the gentle fields of Kent. But life is not all the joyous rattle of machine guns and the roar of the engine, as Ack-Ack is about to find out… Because it is not 1944. It is the 21st century, in a world where France and Germany merged in the late 1950s, where nuclear-powered Zeppelins circle the globe, where technology is rapidly changing humanity, and Ack-Ack has lived his whole life in a videogame. Ex-journalist Victoria Valois finds herself drawn into a deadly game of cat and mouse with the man who butchered her husband and stole his electronic soul. The heir to the British throne is on the run after an illegal break-in at a research laboratory, and Ack-Ack has been rudely awakened from his game world to find the doomsday clock ticking towards Armageddon… Two unlikely heroes and one mightily pissed-off monkey come together in a sci-fi trilogy full of action, adventure, bananas and bottles of rum. Includes the original Ack-Ack Macaque short story and a brand new epilogue, The Last Macaque.

Heroic Tales of Medieval Romance: 4 Full-Length Medieval Romance Novels


Laurel O'Donnell - 2015
     Heroic Tales of Medieval Romance contains these four medieval romance novels: My Noble Knight Layne Fletcher, the only girl in a family of three boys, has grown up learning to use a sword and joust, but she is not a knight. She and her brothers have been traveling from tourney to tourney to make enough coin to buy their own farm to shelter their ailing father. When her brother is found unconscious before an important tournament, Layne takes his place on the jousting field against... Griffin Wolfe, the undefeated jousting champion. When he is unhorsed by a slip of a woman who is not a knight, he demands retribution. His honor will not allow him to let a woman be thrown in the dungeon and he has no choice but to pay her fine, ordering her to travel with him until her brothers can repay him. Griffin attempts to educate Layne in the art of being a woman, but finds he is attracted to her exciting personality and uncommon beauty despite her less than lady like ways. But someone is trying to sabotage Griffin as he competes in the tournaments. Can Layne and Griffin discover who the culprit is while keeping their families safe and their growing attraction secret? Midnight Shadow Lady Bria Delaney Raised on the adventurous stories of the Midnight Shadow, Bria Delaney longs to wield a sword and fight against tyranny. When the unjust rules of a neighboring lord terrorize her friends, she dons the mask and cloak of her childhood hero to right the wrongs and save them from oppression. After encountering Lord Knowles, she is stunned to find her fierce attraction to the very enemy she has secretly promised to destroy. Lord Terran Knowles Accustomed to victory at tournament, Terran Knowles lives a life of luxury and ease. When he returns home and finds his coin has dwindled, he must turn to an old betrothal and its dowry to keep his coffers full. Adding to his financial woes, a thief known as the Midnight Shadow strikes his land at night, stealing his coin. His intended betrothed is a headstrong, beautiful woman who immediately intrigues him. Torn between the woman he longs to trust and the outlaw he has vowed to hang, Terran vows to find the truth. The Lady and the Falconer Lady Solace Farindale With her father at war and her stepmother ruling the castle with disinterest, Solace protects her people the best she can. When a neighboring lord lays siege to the castle, a threat on the lady’s life is discovered. She turns to a man she can’t resist, and puts her trust in a stranger who has captured her heart. Will she discover the secret this man holds before it is too late? Logan Grey Tormented by guilt and a tragic past, Logan Grey has gained access to the castle disguised as a falconer. With only revenge on his mind, he has no time for the feisty beauty who has caught his eye. In a twist of fate, and a deadly betrayal, Logan must risk his life for the lady who ignited a passion more perilous than war. A Knight of Honor Taylor Sullivan is a raven-haired hellion fleeing the tragic flames that destroyed her family. She arms herself with a quick sword and a sharp tongue, hiring herself out as a mercenary, willing to do whatever it takes to survive.

Robledo Mountain


P.C. Allen - 2018
     Driving down the road in the Mesilla Valley of southern New Mexico, sandwiched in the few hundred yards between the Robledo Mountains to the West and the Rio Grande to the East, Paul loses consciousness while returning home from a gun show. An hour later, he regains consciousness finding himself swept away on the tides of time. Is he really in the past? Is he dreaming? Is he in the midst of a psychotic episode? So begins his journey of discovery. Along the way, he battles Apache, Comanche, and Navajo warriors, fights bushwackers, discovers his roots, mines gold, finds love and friendship, and makes powerful enemies, all while establishing a home in the Mesilla Valley on the banks of the Rio Grande.

Disturbance in the Wake


S.A. Ison - 2020
    Ten-year-old Hiroki Tanaka grew up in a fishing village on an island just off the coast of Honshu, Japan. While he helps his father fishing, a large earthquake hits his island. Hiroki falls from the boat as the waters become choppy and he is pulled under water. He is desperate to get back to his father. When he surfaces, his father and the boat are gone. When Hiroki swims to shore, he realizes that he has been swept back in time to an era of violence and the samurai. Amy Ohara is celebrating her twenty-first birthday by going on a cruise, off the coast of Honshu, Japan. She had grown up in Tokyo and is well acquainted with Japan's rich traditions and ancient history. Betrayed by the man she had been dating, Amy is now awaiting transport as human cargo. As her life swings in the balance, Amy has a choice, dive into the black waters and perhaps drown or be taken by the human traffickers. When the yacht blows up, Amy feel lucky to be alive and swims for shore. Yet she has arrived at the shore of distant past. Amy has been washed back in time nearly 700 years, 300 years before Europeans stepped foot in Asia. With her red hair and green eyes, she stands out.

The Three Disgraces Series


Elena Greene - 2014
     The Incorrigible Lady Catherine ~ Lady Catherine Harcourt, daughter of a duke, tries to escape her cold, repressive family by eloping with a rake. She is exiled to her aunts’ cottage in the Lake District, where she meets Philip Woodmere, a gentleman farmer as kind as he is ruggedly attractive. She is drawn to Philip’s strength and warms to his lively family, but a secret from her past threatens their chance for happiness. The Redwyck Charm ~ Marcus Redwyck, Earl of Amberley, reluctantly agrees to wed an heiress in order to save his estate. But his equally reluctant bride, Juliana Hutton, runs away and masquerades as an opera dancer. When they meet, passion leads them to the edge of scandal. Even when all is revealed, it will take all of Marcus’s resolution and the fabled Redwyck charm to win the spirited Juliana’s heart. Saving Lord Verwood ~ Penelope Talcott distrusts Lord Verwood, a notorious rake who’s meddled in the lives of her friends. But she accidentally saves his life and becomes entangled in his affairs. Someone is trying to kill Verwood. Despite herself, Pen is impelled to help. Scandal forces them to marry and return to his estate in Cornwall, where Pen must solve the mystery of the tortured man she has come to love. Reviews: The Incorrigible Lady Catherine “The story gives fresh new twists to traditional Regency plotlines and introduces a well-drawn cast of characters, three of whom cry out for their own tales to be told—the notorious Lord Verwood and Catherine’s two school friends . . . Elena Greene is a talented writer to watch for when looking for a pleasurable, meaty Regency romance.” – Jane Bowers, in Romance Reviews Today The Redwyck Charm “I consider The Redwyck Charm one of the best Regencies I’ve read in the past few months. Elena Greene is a reliable author who delivers the kind of story Regency readers love.” – Barbara Hume, for Rakehell Saving Lord Verwood “Elena Greene writes an intriguing tale of hope, love and joy. In this clever story of just who rescues whom, the political intrigue and developing passion between the main characters neatly blend together to make a highly pleasurable read.” – Romantic Times (4 and 1/2 stars)

Wild Cards


George R.R. MartinBrian Bolland - 1986
    Most victims die, others experience physical or psychic changes: aces have useful powers, deuces minor maybe entertaining abilities, jokers uglified, disabled, relegated to ghettos.

The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack


Mark Hodder - 2010
    The two men are sucked into the perilous depths of this moral and ethical vacuum when Lord Palmerston commissions Burton to investigate assaults on young women committed by a weird apparition known as Spring Heeled Jack, and to find out why werewolves are terrorizing London's East End.Their investigations lead them to one of the defining events of the age, and the terrifying possibility that the world they inhabit shouldn't exist at all!

Tales From Alternate Earths


Jessica HolmesRob Edwards - 2016
    What if the nukes had flown that day over Cuba? What if Caesar had survived? Imagine the Tunguska meteor with a different outcome. What if there was a true story behind HG Wells' most famous tale? See the world as it might have been if China discovered the New World first. And what if all of this was never meant to be and dinosaurs ruled the Earth?Authors Jessica Holmes, Daniel M. Bensen, Terri Pray, Rob Edwards, Maria Haskins, Cathbad Maponus, Leo McBride, and collaborators Brent A. Harris and Ricardo Victoria show us the world that might have been - if the butterfly's wings had fluttered a different way, if the world changed between heartbeats, if a moment of decision saw another choice.This is the fourth anthology from Inklings Press, aiming to provide a platform for new and upcoming authors and to open the door onto different worlds.

MacArthur's Luck: The race for Berlin is on! (The Fortunes of War)


Steven H. Newton - 2017
    His successor as US Army Chief of Staff, General Douglas MacArthur, flies halfway around the world to butt heads with Josef Stalin and change history.When MacArthur relieves General Dwight D. Eisenhower from command in Europe, the Anglo-Allied advance devolves into a free-for-all as competing armies race for Berlin, and the changes echo across the globe. Here are just a few of the highlights from MacArthur’s Luck:Captain Jackie Robinson leads an armored task force across the Rhine. ...Major Barry Goldwater fire-bombs Tokyo. ...Commander Robert Heinlein struggles to save his wounded ship from kamikazes off Okinawa. ...Field Marshals Georgi Zhukov and Ivan Konev clash on the road to Berlin. ...SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Karl Wolff dares everything to negotiate a separate surrender to the Americans. ...Populated by a cast of realistic characters who will take you inside the American, German, Soviet, and Japanese military machines, and meticulously researched by a well-known military historian, MacArthur’s Luck opens The Fortunes of War series, exploring a world both tantalizingly like our own, but also dramatically different.Half the fun is figuring out what’s real, and what’s not.

The Oppenheimer Alternative


Robert J. Sawyer - 2020
    Sawyer takes us back in time to revisit history…with a twist.While J. Robert Oppenheimer and his Manhattan Project team struggle to develop the A-bomb, Edward Teller wants something even more devastating: a bomb based on nuclear fusion—the mechanism that powers the sun.Teller’s research leads to a terrifying discovery: by the year 2030, the sun will eject its outermost layer, destroying the entire inner solar system—including Earth.As the war ends with the use of fission bombs against Japan, Oppenheimer's team, plus Albert Einstein and Wernher von Braun, stay together—the greatest scientific geniuses from the last century racing against time to save our future.Meticulously researched and replete with real-life characters and events, The Oppenheimer Alternative is a breathtaking adventure through both real and alternate history.

A Red Son Rises in the West


John Deakins - 2019
    His newfound Christianity is shaken by the loss of his master and a life-threatening injury. Following after his Mennonite friends, he goes to the time-displaced American town of Grantville and is overwhelmed by culture shock. He decides to return to the New World as a missionary. Only half a dozen warring powers and thousands of miles of ocean can block him, until he’s almost stopped by an unexpected event; love. A storm, a baby, a near-shipwreck, and a timely rescue finally see him back in his homeland. Now, all he has to do is to reach for his dreams.