Amerikan Eagle

For a while there, Huey Long was my political idol. I'm not sure why. Perhaps it was his-take no-prisoners approach or his bullet-riddled, unfulfilled promise, or maybe something else. But outside of a few short stories or cameo appearances, I have not seen a long-form, alternate history devoted to a Long presidency. It is about time, although some of what transpires rings as false.

AMERIKAN EAGLE seems like a rehash of IT COULDN'T HAPPEN HERE. The president has issued all kinds of draconian policies that lead to a form of fascism. Secret police, snitches, blacklists, ghettos, etc, are the norm for this world. Long's policies do nothing to alleviate the now decade-long Depression and has managed to keep us out of the war. However, he is not above striking deals with Nazi Germany and putting dissidents in labor camps.

Our hero is a cop of course - noble, mostly honest, and trying to stay out of the dirty politics that surround him. He is investigating the suspicious murder of an unidentified man and trying to get to the truth behind the recent happenings.

The author, Alan Glenn, is apparently a pseudonym for Brendan DuBois who wrote the acclaimed RESURRECTION DAY, an alternate history of the Cuban Missile Crisis. I'm not sure why he went with the nom-de-plume, but the style and tone of this book is very similar to the RESURRECTION DAY. That is not a problem, because it is well written and enjoyable.

I'm not sure I buy Huey Long's world as portrayed here, but Glenn-DuBois does a credible job building his world.

Carpathia

Just in time for the 100th anniversary of the Titanic's maiden and final voyage comes CARPATHIA. Matt Forbeck takes the over used vampire trope and builds it into a nice little alt-history/horror novel.

Most of the Titanic's story stays the same, but now the survivors must face the vampires returning to Europe on the Carpathia. Forbeck makes a nice allusion to Bram Stoker and Dracula without bringing the old fellow into the story.

The advertising says it is 30 DAYS OF NIGHT meets TITANIC, but it is really neither. Yes, the big boat sinks. And yes, the survivors, passengers and crew are trapped with no where to go, but the similarities end there (with one small exception, but I'm not one for spoilers)

CARPATHIA is a fun, quick read but it's journey is nothing new.

A Rising Thunder

It's time for another Honor Harrington book. I didn't even know this was out until I saw a mention on SF Signal. But my library delivered it in record time.

Unlike the last couple books, there were no competing side novels to fill in details and while there was a little backtracking in this book, it was in service to the story.

The story continues with Mesa making plans, Sol acting cavalierly, and Manticore preparing. The space combat is kept to a minimum as politics takes the center role, but we do see missiles fired. I'm trying to figure out a solution to the mess the characters are in, but do not see any easy or short-term solution. Just as the Haven war took 12 novels to solve, it will probably take another 12 to get to the end of this series. I expect I will be an old man before I see the conclusion.

I do look forward to the next book and hope it is worth the wait.

11/22/63

Once upon a time, I read everything that Stephen King wrote and eagerly anticipated each new book. But that changed over time. I greatly admire Mr. King and laud his accomplishments, but not every book is gold. Still when I heard about the plot of this book, I had to read it. I put it in my library hold queue and waited. When it finally arrived, I was in the middle of another book and I did not get to it before the due date. So I returned it and placed it back in the queue. After another wait, I picked it up and again failed to start it before the due date. But third time is the charm and I was determined to read it. And I did.

The science fiction element is not the main draw of the book. Our hero can travel through time via an Aluminaire diner closet. But the story is more about his life and how he lives it in the past, particularly as he prepares to save President Kennedy from Lee Harvey Oswald. The best part of the conceit is how the past conspires to prevent you from changing it. The bigger the change, the more difficult it is to get there.

Mr. King is always an entertaining writer and you can see the amount of research it took to create this doorstop of a book. However once I started, it flowed very smoothly. I thought it would take forever to read and this assumption was wrong. I think it took me longer to reread THE STAND, a book I was familiar with.

11/22/63 is a good read and not at all involved in the horror genre that Mr. King normally writes. I hope that those who are usually scared off by his work (pun intended) can pick this up and enjoy life in time before ours, but not necessarily simpler.