Monday, December 24, 2012

Poetic Justice

Occasionally on this blog, I allow for a few diversions from the topic of  SF and alt-history. One of these, as I have posted before, is of my love of writing poety and then reading it at open mics.

So it's only fitting that I thought I'd say how honoured I am to be included in the forthcoming poetry anthology, Poems from Planet Earth, which is a collection of the poems that have been read at the fabled Planet Earth Poetry series in Victoria, BC that I had attended in better days. The trade paperback sized anthology will soon be available in the new year from the kind folks at Leaf Press, and will feature a whole range of poets, from the famous to the unknown (like me).

Here's my contribution... I invite speculation as to what it's about:



But that shouldn't stop you from reading the rest of the fine poets in the book. Go and buy it. I can tell you truthfully, that you will be reading the collected work of the most formidable group of poets in Canada. It has been my distinct pleasure to have been associated with them.

In the meantime, you can help out a poor unemployed writer by purchasing both Elvis Saves JFK! for just 99 cents and War Plan Crimson, A Novel of Alternate History, for $2.99 (both are free to preview). Both books are also available through such fine on-line retailers such as Chapters Indigo, Barnes & Noble and Apple's iTunes Store.  And if you’re looking for an experienced marketing communications guy, do me a favor and have a look here. Thanks and have a happy holidays.

("Lament"  © 2012, Michael Cnudde)

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Reviewing Osama: A Novel


Osama:A Novel by Lavie Tidhar was on the surface an unlikely book for my reading list. But, when I saw it on the bookshelf of my local store, looked at the back cover blurb and then read the first few pages – the ultimate test – I knew the author had me.

As I mentioned earlier on this blog, Osama takes place in an alternate universe where global terrorism never seemed to take hold. Joe (we don’t know his last name) is a private detective living in Vientiane, Laos.  That there is still a French colonial feeling to the environment already tells a bit – not a lot - about the time and place. It’s there Joe receives a job from a mysterious woman who track down the author of a series of paperback men’s adventure novels, all with the unlikely hero: Osama Bin Laden.

Joe’s search across the world is a shrewd and observant commentary on the real-life hunt for Bin Laden.  There is a conceit of a novel-within-a-novel at work here, with long quotes from the Bin Laden series of novels, with titles such as Osama Bin Laden – Vigilante: Assignment Africa, which reminds me of the Grasshopper Lies Heavy novel-within-a-novel in Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle. I don’t make that reference in a mean way: as a writer, Tindar is very effective and his work his work shares the vibrations of Dick’s best work. Clearly, this author is one to watch for.

Tindar deftly sketches out the universe that Joe the detective lives in. It’s a little slower-paced, a little less technologically advanced, there are clues that the Second World War didn’t fare so well for the Allies and perhaps most tellingly, the people who read the Osama Bin Laden books can’t understand the concept of killing for killing’s sake and are relieved it is only confined to the pages of a pulp novel.

Of course, there’s much, much more at play here, but I’m not one for spoilers, so I’ll end it here with a strong “buy” recommendation for the Holidays.

I’m still reading Stephen King’s 11/22/63 and hope to have a review for you soonish.

In the meantime, you can help out a poor unemployed writer by purchasing both Elvis Saves JFK! for just 99 cents and War Plan Crimson, A Novel of Alternate History, for $2.99 (both are free to preview). Both books are also available through such fine on-line retailers such as Chapters Indigo, Barnes & Noble and Apple's iTunes Store.  And if you’re looking for an experienced marketing communications guy, do me a favor and have a look here. Thanks.

Monday, November 19, 2012

An Update to My Rant!

Well, we have good news... apparently ChaptersIndigo (or Heather) did listen. Elvis Saves JFK! is now back up on ChaptersIndigo!


Smiley face Attitude is Way Overrated


I want to congatulate and thank them for coming to the rescue of this independent author. They certainly responded quickly to my tweet on my Twitter feed and my post on this blog, so it shows that they do listen and care.  I feel a lot better about the future of publishing now. So feel free to shop at ChaptersIndigo without guilt; I know I will. Nice people, they are.


Saturday, November 17, 2012

A Rant: Now You See it, Now You Don't?

I'm in the habit of checking on the statuses of my ebooks online.  I suppose this can be considered vain, but it's also good business sense. I don't derive much of an income from my work, but I do like to think it's being I'm being fairly treated.

In due course, checked the website of Chapters Indigo, the largest single Canadian book retailer.  As an independent Canadian author, I was proud to have both War Plan Crimson and Elvis Saves JFK! listed for sale, and a few posts back, I even commemorated the fact with fireworks.  But now, suddenly, as if it were yanked away by an invisible hand, Elvis Saves JFK! is no longer available for sale on that site. What gives? Do they honestly think it's as if I sell way too many books as it is, so I obviously don't need these sales? In truth, I'm just getting by, so I was floored when the Powers that Be decided to pull my book without a word to me. The arbitrary and rude nature of this move simply blows me away. It's bad news for indie authors such as me who don't have a huge publishing and promotion machine behind them (You're looking at the machine right here, folks.) Of course, I'm always willing conceede there's been some kind of accident... but talk to me, please folks!



Each time, a book is withdrawn from sale, it represents one less divergent voice that is out there. In the wake of the recent merger between publishing giants Penguin and Random House,  I believe we will see less and less divergent voices being published, as publishers and their corporate owners pursue the safe, mushy (and profitable) middle ground. Over the long term, this means that there will be less and less room for new authors and challenging ideas.

Enough of my rant. For now, thankfully, you can find the distinctly unchallenging Elvis Saves JFK! (and War Plan Crimson, A Novel of Alternate History, for that matter) on a whole bunch of other, more polite retail sites, including:
If you want to help strike a blow with me and other indie authors who this may be happening to (and honestly, I don't know), you may wish for now, to keep your business away from Chapters Indigo until we work this out.

Are you listening Heather Reisman?

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Review: The Company of the Dead and more Updates


A few months ago you’ll recall that in an earlier post, that I had begun reading The Company of the Dead, by David J. Kowalski.  Well, the reviews are in and they’re largely good.

Can one man save the Titanic?  That’s the tantalizing question that leads off the superior time-travel/alternate history thriller by first-time author Kowalski. Or, without giving too much away, should one man save the Titanic?

The bulk of the story takes place in 2012, but not our 2012. It’s a curiously truncated era where the Great War ended prematurely with a German victory, America split again between the Union and the Confederacy and the victorious Japanese Empire occupies the west coast of the United States and New York City. The Kaiser still reigns in Berlin, Hitler never amounted to anything beyond a second-rate artist, and a humbled British Empire is allied with the Germans. Confederate spy Joseph Kennedy knows something’s gone off the rails in history, but can he fix it before the clock runs down and the world is engulfed in nuclear fire?

That’s as much as I’ll say here. This is a good book and you should buy it. But be prepared, at over 700 pages, it‘s a brick and will require an investment of your reading time. However, there are rewards aplenty, with something for every fan of the genre. Kowalski does an excellent job of characterization, but is perhaps a little less successful in fully sketching the world he has built. What is clear is that their technology is behind ours in many ways without both World Wars and the Cold War to provide impetus, but the author seems a little inconsistent in describing this technological level. Biplanes, zeppelins, jet fighters and computers (as well as atom bombs) all seem to co-exist here so it really seems kind of a mash-up and it never seems quite to jell for me. But that’s my only nit-pick and it’s a relatively minor one, at that.


I’ve just latched onto a new book, Osama: A Novel, by Lavie Tidhar, and the premise is an interesting one. I’ve started to read it and I’ll have a review for you soon. It takes place in a world much like our own, but where international terrorism has never taken hold. A private detective gets a job to track down the author of a series of paperback advernture novels with a most unlikely hero: Osama Bin Laden.  It sounds fun.


I’m still reading Stephen King’s 11/22/63, by the way, and hope to have a review on this book soon. I’m enjoying the read, so far.

In the meantime, you can help out a poor unemployed writer by purchasing both Elvis Saves JFK! for just 99 cents and War Plan Crimson, A Novel of Alternate History, for $2.99 (both are free to preview). Both books are also available through such fine on-line retailers such as Chapters Indigo, Barnes & Noble and Apple's iTunes Store.  And if you’re looking for an experienced marketing communications guy, do me a favor and have a look here. Thanks.


Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Progress Report: 11/22/63 and Destroyermen: Firestorm


My life has been in upheaval as of late.  I moved halfway across the continent from Victoria BC, where I have lived and worked for the past three years, back to Ottawa, Ontario, where I am now sharing a house with an old friend.  The move – which sort of feels like being expelled from paradise – was not my idea, but due to the economic situation – read: lack of job – I found myself in. (If you’re looking for an experienced marketing communications guy, do me a favor and have a look here. Thanks.)

So life sometimes sucks.

However, in many ways, the recent sucky events in my life have been compensated by the excellent books that have fallen into my hands: Stephen King’s masterful 11/22/63 and the latest entry in Taylor Anderson's long-running Destroyermen series: Firestorm. I’m reading both books at the same time and am very pleased by what I am finding.  I won’t spoil either novel but clearly in 11/22/63, King as at the top of his game. Characterization, plot, as well as background details are all expertly handled and I wouldn’t expect it any other way.



As for Firestorm, Anderson picks up where he left off from the previous novel in the series. (If you’ve read last month’s entry, you’ll know how much I like both the author and the series.) Action and details continue to be fast and furious, with Anderson keeping up the pace in a highly satisfying way that neither sacrifices character or plot points.

I recommend both books heartily as they have proven excellent and welcome diversions into my favorite genre.

In the meantime, you can help out a poor unemployed writer by purchasing both Elvis Saves JFK! for just 99 cents and War Plan Crimson, A Novel of Alternate History, for $2.99 (both are free to preview). Both books are also available through such fine on-line retailers such as Chapters Indigo, Barnes & Noble and Apple's iTunes Store.

Friday, September 28, 2012

The "Destroyermen" Series: A Review

I’m back this month with a review of Taylor Anderson’s admirable Destroyermen series.  The seven book (so far) series tells the saga of the elderly "four stacker" destroyer USS Walker thrust into a parallel world though a bizarre storm. It’s clearly an out-of-the-frying-pan and into-the-fire experience for the Walker and its crew as they are catapulted from being on the losing end of the Battle of the Java Sea in the early days of the Pacific War, into a strange world where a life-and-death battle is being waged between the reptilian Grik hordes and the mammalian Lemurians. 


Of course, the Walker, skippered by the chief protagonist, Lieutenant Commander Matthew Reddy, isn’t the only ship to make the transit. The Japanese battlecruiser Amagi has followed the Walker through and it crazed commander has allied the ship with the Grik.

This sets the stage for a truly epic tale. I won’t spoil it here. The only thing I will say is that I have immensely enjoyed the series so far. I will observe that it seems to take place in a parallel universe of an alternate universe for several reasons. First, as Anderson himself readily points out, the Walker was disposed of in 1941, after being reduced to hulk status for some time. Meanwhile, the original Amagi, which was slated to be converted to an aircraft carrier was destroyed on the stocks during the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, so the incomplete battleship Kaga took her place. As our history relates, the aircraft carrier Kaga was part of the task force that struck Pearl Harbor in 1941, only to be later sunk at Midway in 1942.  

It's obvious Anderson has some sympathy for what could've been here. Launched as a Wickes-class destroyer, in 1918 USS Walker, DD-163 had a rather uneventful career. One the highlights of her service was that Walker acted as a picket ship for US Navy NC class flying-boats on their long-range Atlantic flights; something that Anderson drew upon for material in his books. After a short time in service, Walker was placed in reserve only to be reactivated for use as a damage control hulk. She was scuttled by naval gunfire on December 28th, 1941. In Anderson's novels, Walker has a far better time of  it.

USS Walker, DD-163
But the real joy is in how Anderson puts things together. The writing is first rate, as is the action and characterization.  With so many individual characters in play, Anderson manages to give us real people (both human and not) with real relationships that we actually care for and want to get to know. It’s this combination that makes each new novel in the series a treat to read. Adding to the fact is that the author seems to have a genuine feel for history and his subject.  As a world-builder, Anderson pays great attention to his setting.

I have one concern. As Anderson builds out his series, adding new plot elements as he goes (and there are many) my hope is that can successfully resolve all his plot points without losing the interest of his reader.   I also have bone to pick with the publisher – that’s you Penguin Books – of withholding release of the paperback version of the sixth book, Firestorm, for so long.

Nevertheless, I do give the Destroyermen series an unqualified recommendation. For alternate universe high adventure at its best, you couldn’t go much further. Here's to more adventures of the good ship Walker and her crew.

In the meantime, you can purchase both Elvis Saves JFK! for just 99 cents and War Plan Crimson, A Novel of Alternate History, for $2.99 (both are free to preview). Both books are also available through such fine on-line retailers such as Chapters Indigo, Barnes & Noble and Apple's iTunes Store.


Monday, August 20, 2012

Search for Amelia Earhart Continues

The search for Amelia Earhart is getting interesting.



As readers of this blog will know, we've been keeping track of the efforts of the search by a group of aviation historians and enthusiasts, The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR). According to a UPI report today, searchers may have found what what appears to a debris field off of Nikumaroro Island in the Pacific, where it is believed by many that she and her navigator Fred Noonan crashed in their twin-engined Lockheed Electra on the last leg of their round the world flight in 1937.

Searchers believe that Earhart and Noonan likely were able to make it ashore.

Hopefully, the searchers will find more evidence. In the meantime, you can follow Amelia's (fictional) adventures in War Plan Crimson, A Novel of Alternate History, for $2.99 and in Elvis Saves JFK! for just 99 cents (both are free to preview). Both books are also available through such fine online retailers such as Barnes & Noble, Apple's iTunes Store, and ChaptersIndigo.



Sunday, August 19, 2012

The Granddaddy of Alternate History

A few years ago, this book fell into my hands for the princely sum of $6.50 at a used bookstore. Needless to say being a devotee of the genre, I recognized it immediately: If it Happened Otherwise: Lapses into Imaginary History, a British anthology edited by poet, writer and historian, J.C. Squire, first published in 1931. With essays by Winston Churchill and G.K. Chesterton among others, it is often considered by many to be among the first alternate history books.





Essays include:
  • "If Drouet's Cart Had Stuck" 
  • "If Don John of Austria Had Married Mary Queen of Scots" 
  • "If Lee Had Not Won the Battle of Gettysburg"
  •  "If Napoleon Had Escaped to America" 
  • "If the Moors in Spain Had Won" 
  • "If the General Strike Had Succeeded
  • "If the Emperor Frederick Had Not Had Cancer" 
  • "If Louis XVI Had an Atom of Firmness" 
  • "If It Had Been Discovered in 1930 that Bacon Really Did Write Shakespeare" 
  • "If Booth Had Missed Lincoln" 

A subsequent U.S. edition, published later in 1931, eliminated the essay on the General Strike and replaced it with three new essays:
  • “If the Dutch Had Kept Neu Amsterdam”
  • “A Jacobite Fantasy”
  • “If Napoleon Had Won the Battle of Waterloo”

Of all the essays, I found the “If the Moors in Spain Had Won,” by Phillip Guedalla, particularly appealing.  In this history, the Moors hang on to defeat Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492, eventually establishing a liberal humanist form of Islam along with a constitutional monarchy. Still later, the Moors fight in World War I on the side of the Allies.  

I found myself wondering what would’ve happened after Guedalla ended his story in 1930. Would Franco have risen if Spain were under Moorish influence?  Would the Moors have participated on the Allied side in the Second World War? I like to think so – I imagine the Moors accepting great numbers of Jewish refugees from Europe as the clouds darkened – perhaps even a certain Professor Einstein. And what influence would the Moors’ humanist form of Islam have on today’s world where we are faced with the extremes of Al-Qaeda? 

It’s a fascinating story that still needs to be told. 

In the meantime, you can read War Plan Crimson, A Novel of Alternate History, for $2.99 and in Elvis Saves JFK! for just 99 cents (both are free to preview). Both books are also available through such fine online retailers such as Barnes & Noble, Apple's iTunes Store, and ChaptersIndigo.


Thursday, July 26, 2012

Search for Amelia Earhart Fails to Find Wreckage

A couple of months ago on this blog, I reported to you how a group of searchers was heading out to the Pacific Ocean atoll of Nikumaroro, hoping to find some clue to fate of the disappearance of Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan.  As history relates, Earhart and Noonan vanished on the return leg of their around-the-world flight in July, 1937.





Unfortunately, the searchers The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, have reported they have found no clues of Earhart, Noonan or thier twin-engined Lockheed Electra aircraft.

So with no hard evidence, the mystery remains: what happened to Amelia Earhart?  Did she and Noonan simply get lost/disoriented, missed their refueling point on Howland Island and crash into the sea? (This is far easier than it would seem, especially given the primitive instruments that Earhart and Noonan were working with.) Or as many believe, was she shot down by the Japanese? Some believe she was on a secret spy mission over Japanese installations for FDR.  Others believe - with some reason - that she and Noonan were indeed forced down by the Japanese off Saipan and then executed. Or did they turn back in a vain effort to reach their take off point, the island of New Britain?

Of course, there's the wackier stuff such as being sucked up by an errant wormhole in spacetime or zapped by aliens...

Whatever really happened, Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan belong to the ages. I like to think they're somehow still up there just above the clouds, looking for a place to land, the needle on the fuel indicator hovering just above the "empty" mark.

Meanwhile, you can follow Amelia's (fictional) adventures in War Plan Crimson, A Novel of Alternate History, for $2.99 and in Elvis Saves JFK! for just 99 cents (both are free to preview). Both books are also available through such fine online retailers such as Barnes & Noble, Apple's iTunes Store, and ChaptersIndigo.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Good News for Canadian Readers!

A little late for the Canada Day fireworks (but here are some below as viewed from my balcony), is the news that both War Plan Crimson, A Novel of Alternate History and Elvis Saves JFK! are now carried on Canada's premiere online retail book site, ChaptersIndigo.ca. The books are available in the Kobo reader format (another Canadian success story).




This is especially meaningful for me as a Canadian author, as my books are now at long last available from the leading Canadian bookseller.


You can purchase  War Plan Crimson, A Novel of Alternate History, for $2.99 and  Elvis Saves JFK! for just 99 cents (both are free to preview). Both books are also available through such fine online retailers such as Barnes & Noble and Apple's iTunes Store... and now online here at ChaptersIndigo.

Thursday, June 7, 2012

A Look At S.M. Stirling

The first time I came across SF author S.M. Stirling was his first effort, Marching Through Georgia (1988) the first book in his four-book Domination of the Draka series. This alternate World War Two novel took place in an alternate world where the United States successfully invades Canada during the Revolutionary War and the Loyalists and their Hessian allies go instead to South Africa to establish the Crown Colony of Drakia, later the Dominion of Draka, and still later, the Domination of the Draka. Things go pretty much badly for the world after that.

What emerges through Stirling’s Draka seriesUnder the Yoke (1989), The Stone Dogs (1990), and Drakon (1996);  there's one more if you count the anthology Drakas! (2000) – is a well thought-out and highly plausible modern slave state emphasizing technological divergences such as a more widespread use of airships and steam engines for ground transportation. Written largely from the point of view of Stirling’s Drakan protagonists, the series is also one of the few works of SF to actually scare the willies out of me. Yes kiddies, it could’ve been much worse, as Stirling lovingly points out.




But the author is no one-trick pony and has provided the reader with a succession of satisfying genre fare, including the stand-alone The Peshawar Lancers (2002) where a comet strike devastates much of the earth in the 1870s, plunging the Northern Hemisphere into a nuclear winter. In order to survive, the seat of the British Empire flees from snow-bound London to New Delhi, along with waves of English refugees.  But this is simply a back-story to the main action in the novel that takes place a century later, which is as rousing as anything Kipling would’ve written, with a generous helping of steampunk for the enthusiasts.

Stirling’s Conquistador (2003) takes place in an alternate universe of an alternate universe – where John Rolfe, a Second World War vet and last descendant of a bloodline that long since died out in our world, stumbles across a parallel world were Alexander the Great lived to an old age and consolidated his empire and free from European colonial influence, North America is up for grabs.  It’s a really stirring adventure story that makes for highly recommend reading.

I also really like the author’s The Sky People (2006) and its sequel, In The Courts of the Crimson Kings (2008), which take place in an alternate universe that seems designed in part by Robert A. Heinlein, the late Ray Bradbury, and Edgar Rice Burroughs among others, where Venus is covered in lush jungles and Mars has canals and both have humans on them.  Both books take me back to the authors and books I loved as a kid, along with those fine illustrations I remember by Virgil Finlay.

I couldn't resist adding this illustration by Virgil Finlay:
Martian Canal from The Complete Book of Space Travel by Albro Gaul, 1956,
You can see the hot Martian babe just waiting for the first intrepid astronaut to
come along.


In each of these books, Stirling’s expertise as a world-builder par excellence pays off. Not only does he give us alternate history, but he gives us plausible worlds that we can smell, taste and feel.

That's it for this month. You can purchase my alternate-history epics,  War Plan Crimson, A Novel of Alternate History, for $2.99 and  Elvis Saves JFK! for just 99 cents (both are free to preview). Both books are also available through such fine on-line retailers such as Barnes & Noble and Apple's iTunes Store. Bargains both.


Tuesday, May 29, 2012

"Secrets Revealed" Takes a Look at War Plan Red


It seems War Plan Red is getting more ink. Britain’s BBC Channel 5 recently broadcast an hour-long documentary on the subject as part of its Secrets Revealed series, “America’s Planned War on Britain.”  It’s an intriguing look at what might have happened involving experts from the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. and they attempt to wargame a most likely scenario. 


Although their conclusions are somewhat different from my own War Plan Crimson, A Novel of Alternate History, it is definitely well-researched and presented which makes it well worth a watch. 

Setting the Stage for War Plan Crimson



I thought I would share with you some of the history elements that  underpin War Plan Crimson A Novel of Alternate History.

The first fact that War Plan Crimson rests upon was the so-called "Business Plot" of 1933. A largely forgotten piece of American history, it has only been left neglected because the idea seems so outlandish. Yet the facts are basically as I have presented them.

In the summer of 1933, Gerald MacGuire, a Wall Street bond trader, approached General Smedley Darlington Butler. Eventually, after some preliminary discussions, MacGuire told Butler the real reason for their talks: for Butler to lead a veterans' army of 500,000 men to Washington, ostensibly to head off another coup attempt. Butler would become the "Secretary of General Welfare" to take the worries off an ailing Roosevelt's shoulders. Roosevelt would become a virtual prisoner, kept on as a figurehead until he was forced to retire. The conspiracy was connected the conservative American Liberty League, which included such individuals as former presidential candidate Al Smith and industrialist Irénée du Pont, whom Butler claimed was backing the plot.
U.S. M-2 tank on parade, Washington, 1939.


However, Butler did not go along for the ride. Half-disbelieving what he told, he asked a reporter friend, Paul Comly French, of the Philadelphia Inquirer, to confirm the story. Incredibly, French was able to confirm with MacGuire the existence with of the coup plot. In 1934, the House of Representative's Special Committee to Investigate Nazi Propaganda Activities in the United States investigated Butler's and French's claims and found them warranted. But no charges were ever pressed.


Martin B-10s on exercise, late '30s. A radical advance in aircraft design, they could easily out-run any enemy fighters they might meet.

Once the story broke, many concluded this was some kind of elaborate joke. But both Butler and the Senate committee insisted otherwise. So why was this very real threat to democracy so downplayed? One major factor was that the people who allegedly backed the coup were the high and the mighty and may well have included figures in Roosevelt's own administration. So sleeping dogs lie.

The second fact that this novel rests upon is the existence of War Plan Red, which I've previously mentioned on this blog. War Plan Red was one of the colour-coded series of war plans the United States had in readiness to meet contingencies it might face. It was originally conceived in the late 1920s over a potential conflict between the British Empire and United States over trade. Canada, otherwise known as "Crimson," was seen as a probable battleground. In 1934 War Pan Red was amended to include the use of poison gas against the presumptive Canadian enemy. It also was revised to include strategic bombing against Halifax should that strategic port refuse to yield. As late as 1939, with war in Europe looming on the horizon, these plans were still being updated.


U.S. Nevada-class battleships at sea, during the 1930s.


How close did this plan come to fruition? Closer than you might think. In August 1935, the U.S. Army held a series of war games, the largest in its history, involving over 36,000 men manoeuvring just south of the Canadian border, near Ottawa. Another 15,000 men were held in reserve in Pennsylvania. The war game's scenario was of a motorized invasion of Canada by U.S. forces. The first attack would be repulsed by the defenders, only to be overwhelmed and defeated when American reinforcements arrived. Earlier, in February of that year, the U.S. War Department had gained approval for the construction of three military airbases budgeted at $57 million in the Great Lakes region. They could be handily disguised as civilian airports but could also be used to dominate the industrial heart of Canada.



The Armstrong-Whitworth Siskin was the main RCAF fighter of the 1920s and 1930s.


The Candian counterpoint was Defense Scheme One - also discussed elsewhere at length on this blog- which called for a plan for a series of pre-emptive raids into the United States by Canadian forces upon an state of apprehened war. The early 1920s saw a brief period of worsening tensions between the United States and the British Empire that culminated in the Washington Naval Conference of 1922, which resulted in, among other things, a friendlier relationship between the two nations. However, at the time, Defence Scheme One was an understandable response, given the context.  James Sutherland "Buster" Brown, who drew up the plan, was very cognisant of the apparent threat posed by Canada's southern neighbour. A staunch soldier of Empire, he took a hard look at Canada's strategic situation. Militarily and population-wise, the country was out-numbered 10:1 by the United States, with most of Canada's population and industry strung out along its southern border, all within easy striking distance. Help, from the Mother Country and the rest of the Empire, was a long ways off.

British Vickers Mk VII Tank, 1937. Also used by Canadian Army.


Brown saw the need to buy time until help could arrive. But an in-depth defence was impossible in Canada, so Brown looked south and found his answer. Defence Scheme One consisted of a series of preemptive strikes by "flying columns" – fast, mobile forces –on several different axes of attack. Relying on surprise, they would strike quickly into the United States, destroying bridges, power-plants, telephone exchanges and factories as they withdrew. They would be using American territory to buy time and slow down the American advance until Imperial reinforcements could arrive.

Of course, I am grateful that history worked out the way it did. The United States and Canada have had a long history of peacefully - with the occasional friendly bump - sharing the continent.  To think it could have gone otherwise is chilling.

In the meantime, you can purchase both War Plan Crimson, A Novel of Alternate History, for $2.99 and  Elvis Saves JFK! for just 99 cents (both are free to preview). Both books are also available through such fine on-line retailers such as Barnes & Noble and Apple's iTunes Store.

Friday, May 25, 2012

Alternate World War Twos


As I mentioned on an earlier blog post, one of the most popular topic for readers and writers of alternate history alike, is alternate outcomes of the Second World War. Most times, this means a Nazi victory in Europe, or sometimes the world, but not always. This is typified by a collection of sort allohistorical works edited by Peter Tsouras, Third Reich Victorious (2002), which is not to be confused with Hitler Victorious (1986), a collection of similarly-themed short fiction edited by Gregory Benford. As with Tsouras’ companion work, Rising Sun Victorious (2007), we are given a dizzying tour of a series of plausible, if chilling outcomes where the Axis comes out on top.

Two more books, which take a decidedly alternate twist on the later part of the war, are the hugely enjoyable Fox on the Rhine (2000) and its equally enjoyable sequel, Fox at the Front (2003), by Douglas Niles and Michael Dobson. Without giving away too much, the books hinge on the tale of a Battle of the Bulge that goes in a decidedly different direction. If you’re a fan of Second World War figures such as Erwin Rommel and George Patton, you won’t be disappointed.  Definitely worth picking up.



I wish I could say better about the authors’ next joint effort, MacArthur’s War: A Novel of the Invasion of Japan (2007). This one earned the dubious distinction of being thrown across my living room in frustration; an award only given once before to the odious 1945 (1995), by Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen – another alternate history novel of World War Two. To be fair, MacArthur’s War does have some good points, but it’s marred by sloppy editing (in one case, in the paperback edition, a whole chapter is repeated) and an ending that looks like it was shoehorned in to fit a page limit.

If you’re in the market for a well-done novel of the invasion of Japan, you could do no better than Alfred Coppel’s The Burning Mountain: A Novel of the Invasion of Japan (1983). This novel is both a well-researched and a plausible look of how an invasion of the Japanese Home Islands may have gone, with a strong set of characters. If you spot this one in your local used bookshop, do yourself a favour and scoop it up.

In the meantime, you can purchase both Elvis Saves JFK! for just 99 cents and War Plan Crimson, A Novel of Alternate History, for $2.99 (both are free to preview). Both books are also available through such fine on-line retailers such as Barnes & Noble and Apple's iTunes Store.