Monday Book Pick: President Patton: An Alternate More than the Korean War by Rick Kester
Filed under: Alternate History, Monday Book Pick, Science Fiction
A fast paced alternate history inspired by Robert Heinlein mentioning a timeline where General George S. Patton served as President of the United States of America after WWII. First off, this is an self published book. There are some typos, and some odd formatting in the way of extra spaces between lines in the dead tree format. It is also long. 571 pages in trade paperback size. Given that, I really enjoyed it. The author got into some juicy nerd details on things like small arms design, rocket fuel mixtures, and atomic bomb design. The characters are a mix of historical and fictional characters, and the point of view character changes frequently so you can see how the alternate history is progressing in different parts of the world. Keep in mind that Patton didn’t like the Soviets, and the Soviets didn’t like him. So there will be more combat than just the limited proxy war in Korea. The conflict reminded me of how Neal Stephenson described WWII in one of books. One side were worshipers of Ares, and the other side Athena. Spoiler alert, the worshipers of Athena win in both cases.
Yes, I know it’s not Monday, but I wrote this post about a month ago, and I’m just getting around to putting up on the Interwebs.
Monday Book Pick: Knight Watch
Filed under: Baen Books, Monday Book Pick, RPG, Science Fiction
Knight Watch by Tim Akers
This book had me laughing out loud. Uber-nerd goes the Ren Faire, and his opponent in the sword and board competition turns into a dragon, which he slays by driving his mom’s Volvo into its head. This gets him involved with Knight Watch, an organization that protects reality from it’s mythic past. If you have any experience with fantasy gaming, especially Dungeons and Dragons, you will get a lot of the ‘in jokes.’ The protagonist John is a classic sword and board Tank, and his ex-girlfriend is an Elven Princess with her magical longbow. I really enjoyed this book, and the sequel.
Monday Book Pick: Theater of Spies
Filed under: Alternate History, Monday Book Pick, Science Fiction
Theater of Spies by S.M. Stirling
This is the second book in his new alterate history series were Theodore Roosevelt wins the 1912 election.
Black Chamber operative Luz O’Malley Arostequi and her partner Ciara Whelan are sent back to Germany to get information into a new German invention that can turn the war in a really bad way for anyone who opposes the Kaiser. Lot of good basic spy craft material in this book. Some really good action sequences, but they come late in the book, when things go really wrong from a spy’s point of view. Stirling includes a nice James Bond reference in which will be more obvious to those who have actually read the books. There are references to actual historical figures, including Ernst Rolm, and nasty Austrian Corporal.
Monday Book Pick: An Oblique Approach
Filed under: Baen Books, Monday Book Pick, Science Fiction
An Oblique Approach by David Drake and Eric Flint
The first in the Belisarious series. Alternate History by by two masters of the genre. Forces of vast power in the distant future locked battle, and decide to “fix the fight” by sending agents back in time to change history. The first wants to lock humanity into their vision of perfection. They send an AI back to days of the Eastern Roman Empire to create a powerful empire in Northern India, using their caste system to their advantage. Here is a hint for those who haven’t read a lot of work by Drake, it involves introducing gunpowder long before it was used for weapons systems in our timeline. The second group sends a crystalline intelligence to contact a Roman General by the name of Belisarius. Conflict on a grand scale follows. A series of good adventure stories.
Monday Book Pick: A Night in the Lonesome October
A Night in the Lonesome October by SciFi Grandmaster Roger Zelazny
Once again going to the classic by the late Grandmaster Roger Zelazny. It is set in the month of October, which each day being a chapter. The story is told by Snuff, a watchdog, who like his companion Jack, is the owner of several Curses. One of Jack’s involves a large knife. Whenever there is a full moon on October 31, a group of people and their animal companions gather together and work toward a ritual on the night of the 31st. They are trying to either open or keep closed, a gateway for the Elder Gods (think Lovecraft). So far, the Closers have always won. Up until the end, it’s hard to tell who is an Opener and who is a closer, or even who is in the game. Others who are in the area with Snuff and Jack include: a vampire called “The Count” and his bat; a mad Russian monk and his snake, a broom flying witch named Crazy Jill and her black cat, the Great Detective and his sidekick; Larry Talbot and his furry alter ego. Zelazny had a lot of fun with this book. If you can pick up a copy with the Gahan Wilson illustrations, you are in for a bonus treat.
Monday Book Pick: Red Inferno: 1925
Filed under: Alternate History, Monday Book Pick, Science Fiction
Red Inferno: 1945 by Robert Conroy
Another of the late Robert Conroy’s alternate history novels. This one is set in 1945. WWII in Europe is winding down, Berlin is about to fall. Harry Truman is now the US President. The change is scarily probable viewed from a modern perspective. Stalin decides that he want’s a bigger buffer zone than he was promised by Roosevelt and Churchill, so after taking Berlin, he turns the massive Red Army westward to attack American and British troops. Remember that the Russian army was really, really big at the time. Partially because of the US supplying them with food, clothing, weapons, planes, and oil for years. There are few factors that work in the Allies favor, including Stalin’s management style, and the Manhattan project. An enjoyable and engaging read. Check it out.
Monday Book Pick: Son of the Black Sword
Filed under: Baen Books, Monday Book Pick, Science Fiction
Son of the Black Sword by Larry Correia
I’ve always been much more of a hard SciFi fan than fantasy, but I like Larry Correia’s fast paced pulp style. I started listening to little bits of this book at the end the weekly Baen Books podcast. When I got a dead tree version, I chewed through it pretty quite. Good adventure with a reluctant hero who has, like some of the characters in his Monster Hunter International books, been given the ‘short straw’ by the gods. Larry Correia is a pen and paper RPG geek from way back, and this book show some serious world building. If you want some fast paced fantasy adventure, where the author was clearly chuckling when writing parts of it, give this book a read.
Monday Book Pick: Grey Lensman
Grey Lensman by E.E. Smith, PhD.
Part of the classic Lensman series, from which all Space Opera springs. It’s the story of Kim Kinnison, the result of thousands of years of selective breeding by an ancient race, to save civilization from the forces of tyranny. It has massive space battles, planet destroying weapons, intrigue, aliens, battles of the mind, and true love.
Let’s not forget the space axe. Space Armor is proof against bullets and death rays, so the heroes use a specialized 30 pound axe to kill their foes.
A ripping good yarn from the Golden Age of Pulp. SciFi Grandmaster Robert Heinlein considered Smith a mentor, and echos of the Lensman series can be found in Heinlein’s work as well as Ringo, Weber, Halderman, and many others.
Monday Book Pick: A Night in the Lonesome October
A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny
Once again going to the classic by the late Grandmaster Roger Zelazny. It is set in the month of October, which each day being a chapter. The story is told by Snuff, a watchdog, who like his companion Jack, is the owner of several Curses. One of Jack’s involves a large knife. Whenever there is a full moon on October 31, a group of people and their animal companions gather together and work toward a ritual on the night of the 31st. They are trying to either open or keep closed, a gateway for the Elder Gods (think Lovecraft). So far, the Closers have always won. Up until the end, it’s hard to tell who is an Opener and who is a closer, or even who is in the game. Others who are in the area with Snuff and Jack include: a vampire called “The Count” and his bat; a mad Russian monk and his snake, a broom flying witch named Crazy Jill and her black cat, the Great Detective and his sidekick; Larry Talbot and his furry alter ego. Zelazny had a lot of fun with this book. If you can pick up a copy with the Gahan Wilson illustrations, you are in for a bonus treat.
Sunday SciFi: Stargate Atlantis – Vegas
I’ve got one episode to go in order to finish all five seasons of Stargate Atlantis.
I have already watched all ten seasons of Stargate SG1. Just two seasons of Stargate Universe and I’ll have caught up on all the movies and TV series for this franchise. Except for Stargate Origins, which is worth it’s own post.
The last episode I watched (second to last in season 5), entitled Vegas, is one of my favorites from the Stargate Atlantis series. It’s one of their alternate universe stories (SG1 had some good ones). In this universe, John Sheppard made a really bad decision while on a combat tour, which ended his military career. He ends up as a police detective in Las Vegas. He’s working a serial killer case, where the victims are shriveled up corpses with a handprint in the chest. It’s a Wraith, crash landed on Earth after Rodney Mckay’s team from Atlantis destroyed the Hive ship attacking Earth. The show is shot in CSI style, I think. I’ve only seen one CSI episode, and that was the one written by the writers of Two and Half Men. (Which is owrth checking out. It’s funny and clearly some wish fulfillment by the series creator from another series he worked on.) In this episode, Rodney tells John Sheppard was is really going on. Aliens, space travel, and the time he met another John Sheppard in another universe. One where Sheppard was a planet saving hero. Rodney is betting that fundamentally, the two John Sheppards are the same.
Throw in some cool Johnny Cash songs and you have one fine episode. If you have been paying attention, John Sheppard is a Johnny Cash fan. The same poster hangs in the dective’s office as another John Sheppard has in his quarters in Atlantis.