It's January, and we've all made it this far into 2018. Let's congratulate ourselves.
I'm settling into my new home, but things have still been too chaotic for me to put together a blog posting. Sure, on TV, after a sub-par start, Star Trek: Discovery has finally roped me into watching it by voyaging into the Mirror Universe and the heart of the Terran Empire. But that's not what I'd call true alternative history - it's an interesting genre sideline, that's all.
I've purchased a new book, The Massacre of Mankind, by Stephen Baxter. The dust jacket notes that it's the sequel to The War of the Worlds, "authorized" by author's estate. I'm not sure about that; there have been a number of sequels to Wells' book since it was first published well over a century ago. The book takes place in a parallel 1920s after the Martians tried to unsuccessfully invade England in 1907. A number of other books have also tried to shoehorn the original Wells novel into alternate history. But to be fair, I like Baxter's work and I have reviewed his stuff on this blog, alone and in conjunction with Terry Pratchett (The Long Universe series). The War of the Worlds is also one of my all-time favourite books, so with that combination, I am looking forward reading Baxter's book - which is a rather hefty 482 pages in hardcover - and reviewing it for you later in this space.
It's also occurred to me, with some apologies, that besides what I've already written, I don't have anything else to offer this month. Except, that is, maybe for some pictures of some of the pretty space-age concept cars from the '60s, that harken to some alternate, more optimistic future. I've done this before in this space, and I found it fun to share them with you. So here we go:
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| 1969 Chevy Astro III |
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| AMC Amitron, Electric car prototype, 1967 |
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| 1964 GM Bison Truck Concept |
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| 1961 Chrysler Turboflyte |
Up Next:
I'll try to get my act together, I promise. Thanks.
Meanwhile, you can help out a poor unemployed writer by purchasing Elvis Saves JFK! for just 99 cents and War Plan Crimson, A Novel of Alternate History, for $2.99 and now The Key to My Heart, also $2.99 (all are free to preview). All books -- which are already on Smashword's premium distribution list -- are also available through such fine on-line retailers such as Sony, Chapters Indigo, Barnes & Noble and Apple's iTunes Store. Thanks.
