Category Archives: Alternate HIstory

Action, Adventure, Alternate HIstory, Reviews, Sci-Fi, Socio-Sexual Studies, Speculative, Sports, Time Travel

Paradox 1: Escaping Fate by Henry Brown

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Paradox 1: Escaping Fate by Henry Brown

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I don’t like time travel tropes. The whole concept of time traveling usually ends up giving me a headache. But I’d be a liar if I said there were NO works of fiction out there (based on time-traveling) that I didn’t end up loving over the years. The biggest example of this is Wild Stars by legendary Michael Tierney!

 

A new series can now be added to my collection of rare favorite time travel-based pulp novels: PARADOX, written by none other than your Virtual Pulp editor-in-chief Henry Brown!

Escaping Fate covers the entire first volume of Paradox, and this is where we are introduced to our main characters–Peter and Uncle Si–in their present circumstances. But before we discuss those in more detail, it’s important to see that this story is comprised of THREE fundamental layers which work together to produce what I believe is a new cultural dimension of Americana:

  • Socio-cultural
  • Developmental
  • Fictional

Socio-cultural: the story is not just a fun and exciting adventure, but it is a mirror of the social and cultural aspects of humans–specifically in the US. The time traveling tech here offers an eye-opening lesson on how and why humans behave the way they do, and from one generation to the next. Why were people in the 1950s, for example, so much different in behavior, likes, dislikes, interests, and ambitions from our contemporaries? Or why was a family able to sustain itself on a single income? These and other complex socio-cultural questions are intelligently tackled in the pages of EF.

 

Developmental: Daniel and Mr. Miyagi, Rocky and Mickey, Neo and Morpheus. What all these iconic duos have in common is that they all show a very special teacher/student relationship, with the student going through a developmental journey which otherwise would have never taken place. Similarly, young Peter literally goes through his own transformation/maturing via the teaching of Uncle Si. The image of the mentor not only supervising the student but caring for him and nurturing him is here on display and THAT is where for me the story really sets itself apart!

 

Fictional: the time travel technology, the rigged vehicles and airplanes, the ‘invisibility’ raincoats, are all showcased here in all their glory. This is the sci-fi element of the story. If you like to read about cool toys, there’s plenty to spare here!

PLOT:

Without giving too much away, Peter is a kid of age 12-13(?) raised by a single mom in 1988(?) St. Louis. Living in a shabby trailer with mom, barely making ends meet is a constant toll on Peter’s psyche. The health of a child is strictly connected to the health and cohesiveness of his family. Eating stale buns is the norm for Peter. Not having friends other than his dog is just one of the many results of his present situation.

But circumstances suddenly turn around with the arrival of enigmatic Uncle Si into Peter’s life. Uncle Si takes Peter under his wing to teach him how to basically stand for himself and become a man. When a group of futuristic hitmen attack his trailer–taking the lives of both his mom and step-brother–Uncle Si rescues Peter and enlightens him on his true identity as a time travel bandit.

Peter and Uncle Si will visit several time periods together, and each trip will prove a teaching lesson for the youngster.

CONCLUSIONS:

I think that this book should be read less as a sci-fi novel and more as a source of reflection upon the history of the US and the West, and understand what elements have played a role and continue to play a role in the quality of life that is considered the norm. If you lean left you’d probably be skeptical of some of its content, and that’s OK too. But in my humble opinion this is a pillar of US fiction literature and families should read this together and have a conversation about it.

The refreshing thing about ESCAPING FATE is that the author understands that portraying people from a different era is not just about putting them in period clothes. Their cognitive processes were developed during entirely different circumstances than ours. Their attitudes and tendencies are going to be different from ours. This is something that a big majority of modern writers fail to grasp or refuse to acknowledge.

My only issue was that the ending of Book 1 felt very incomplete. Readers won’t feel a sense of fulfillment UNLESS they read Book 2 next. That’s fine, but like I always say: if you expect readers to PAY for your book, you have to offer some sense of fulfillment by the time they get to the last page. Can you read Book 1 by itself and get some degree of fulfillment? Or does it leave you hanging like you just bought ⅙ of the entire book?

My advice? By all 6 volumes together! 

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Editor’s note: A “box set” of all six E-Books in the series is forthcoming.

UPDATE 1: The Box Set for Apple, Kobo, B&N, and other non-Amazon sites, is available for pre-order.

UPDATE 2: The Box Set is now available on Amazon.

Alternate HIstory, Reviews

Nach Schema F by Shaun Stafford

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“What’s the difference between communism and National Socialism?”

“Communism is the exploitation of one man by another man, whereas National Socialism is the other way round.”

 

Nach Schema F is the title of Book 2 of the alternate history series The Greater German Reich. This was written several years after Book 1 so it was interesting to see how the author’s style changed, if at all. Book 1 was an excellent dystopian drama and I was excited to see whether Stafford was able to even maintain that same level of compelling storytelling. If so, I’d be a happy reader!

 

PLOT:

We pick up exactly where book 1 left us. Combat UK is down but not out, in fact there are still members of the English insurrection group working unceasingly on the next move to sabotage the Reich’s control over Großbritannien (German-invaded Great Britain).

Nazi agent Ellen, whom we already encountered in Book 1 is now going through a personal journey of regrets and second thoughts regarding her loyalty to the current regime. Nevertheless, she reluctantly fulfills her duties along with her new partner agent Himmler, nicknamed ‘Willy’.

Things heat up as Marcus Dauny (who works on the launch control system for Missile Command) teams up with American undercover agent  Barry Rhodes. Rhodes is ultimately detained, tortured, and interrogated by the German secret service. He gives the name of an SS officer working at a missile bunker in Grenoble. And this is how the Nazis find out that Combat UK’s master plan is to nuke Germania, killing the Fuhrer along with over 20 million people!

Will the plan succeed?

ALTERNATE REALITY:

What I really admire about Stafford is how he is able to infuse a certain level of realism to an alternate world. German-ruled Great Britain feels quite believable thanks to the depth of the characters and the description of locations. Not once we are prone to say “That could never happen!”. On the contrary, everything feels even too real at times.

 

TORTURE/INTERROGATION:

As you recall, I mentioned the vivid brutality in book 1, when it came to Nazi’s interrogation techniques. Nothing is off the menu when it comes to the means by which the German SS will inflict fear and pain to make a prisoner talk. However, in Book 2 the physical violence and abuse is toned down a notch, and instead we get to learn about other, more subtle interrogation techniques which involve administering psychedelic drugs to the prisoners in order to relax them and thus be able to get more information out of them.

 

CLOSING REMARKS:

Nach Schema F is another tremendous success by my standards. Never a dull moment, great pace, straightforward prosaic style, compelling characters and unpredictable plot lines! 

We will definitely cover Book 3 soon! 

Alternate HIstory, Fantasy, Reviews

The Dweller in Drury Lane by Paul Leone

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THE DWELLER IN DRURY LANE AND OTHER CURIOUS CHRONICLES

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“Above all, she remembered the first time she saw Him, the first time she heard His words. These were good memories, holy ones. Ya’el tried to bury the other memories this place carried with it beneath them. As ever, she failed.”

 

If you follow me on social media and/or are subscribed to the INFAMOUS🦀 YouTube channel, you would have noticed the ample use of terms such as ‘NEW LEGENDS’ or ‘LEGENDARY’. And that is simply due to the essence of what I (and Virtual Pulp) do on a daily basis: exhorting authors to write good stories that resonate through time and that have, for lack of better terms, no expiration date. 

There is a point when a good story is no longer just a good story but becomes a LEGEND. Paul Leone’s The Dweller In Drury Lane is all that, and then some! If there is a work of fiction literature today that encompasses everything I always ramble about, this book right here embodies all those elements to their fullest! 

Before we dive in, I want to officially welcome Paul to our elite group of Virtual Pulp LEGENDARY authors, and look forward to a very needed Q&A interview later on!

What it’s About:

But what is this book with such a long title really about? And what makes it so special? To answer that question we need to mention what author/youtuber Bonsart Bokel stated some time ago: fiction writers should focus more on history while applying new and exciting concepts to it. 

Regurgitating good content that has already been written only creates predictable and boring books. 

We covered a good few authors recently who have adopted the alternate history approach with excellent results. The Dweller in Drury Lane can be categorized as alternate history based on the fact that everything we read is historically accurate, and it’s within this historically accurate environment that Leone works his magic (pun intended!).

The book is a collection of short stories divided in two groups: the first group of stories follows the adventures of Immortal Champion Ya’el, circa 65 AD Jerusalem. The second group follows the adventures of Lady Renee De Launcey and her Puritan maid-servant Innocence circa XVII England.

Characters:

Make no mistake, even though both main characters are female, they are far removed from the modern image of ‘strong independent WAMEN’ portrayed in our modern western pop culture. In fact, Ya’el is constantly torn by two seemingly polar opposite commandments, whereas Renee and Innocence are aware that they need the aid of men when dealing with powerful and dangerous foes.

As soon as we flip to page 1 we are immediately transported to another world thanks to Leone’s prose. There are virtually no traces of modern euphemisms and in fact at times I had to wonder if the author was someone who lived centuries ago. Every chapter  in the first half of the book feels like reading an ancient manuscript translated from Hebrew, Roman, and Greek into old English: think of Homer, Virgil, and of course the Holy Bible itself.

Secondary characters are as rich and complex as the main characters. I particularly loved the character of Coem, a young girl from Hibernia (Ireland) in search of vengeance for the murder of her family by the hands of another Immortal Champion of Sheol. THIS is how you write characters that resonate with us hours and even days after we close the book. Young Coem wasn’t able to kill her family’s murderer because mortal weapons cannot kill a Champion of Sheol. Ya’el decides to aid Coem and tells her of a weapon that can harm a Champion called Aurichalcum-the alloy of Atlantis. To which Coem replies:  “Then will that slice her skin?” How can you not LOVE that delivery!

Prose:

When we move to Part 2 of the book, we are now in XVII England and I’m not kidding when I say that I haven’t been this enthralled ever since reading Jane Austen’s prose! The choice of verbs, adjectives, nouns, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, modifiers, syntax, the subtle expressions typical of the period, are all top notch here!

The attention to the historical aspect also deserves great praise. Whether we are walking through Jerusalem in 65 AD or we find ourselves in the countryside of Great Britain in 1665 AD, we keep getting fed captivating historical data as the narrative unfolds. 

In closing, I encourage you all to grab a copy of The Dweller. If this interview doesn’t motivate you to do so, maybe the fact that you can download the entire book for FREE will.

 

Note from INFAMOUS:

This review will be followed up by a Q&A with author where we will uncover even more about all this, and I will also mention how a few years ago I read another book by Leone and wasn’t at all impressed by it!

🦀