Random House New Releases - Fiction - Alternative History - Between May 23, 2012 and June 22, 2013.

The Nazi Occult by Darren Tan

2013-06-18T00:30:00-05:00

The Nazi Occult
Written by Kenneth Hite
Illustrated by Darren Tan

In the dark dungeons beneath Nazi Germany, teams of occult experts delved into ancient and forbidden lore, searching for lost secrets of power. Ordered by Hitler to discover new weapons that he could unleash on his enemies, the occultists experimented with dark magics, mystical artifacts, and creatures thought only to exist in nightmare. This book tells the complete history of the Nazi occult programs, from their foundations in Hitler's early esoteric studies and the Nazi quests for the Ark of the Covenant, the Spear of Destiny, and the Holy Grail, through their experiments with lycanthrope and zero-point energy. It also includes sections on the shadow war fought in the dying days of the Reich as the Nazis sought to stave off defeat through pacts with diabolic entities, attempts to save the Fuhrer's brain, and the deployment of the strange flying saucers that battled to save the final Nazi stronghold in the Antarctic.
For years, the Allied governments worked to keep this information from reaching the public, and sought to discredit those few who dared to seek the truth. Now, using a combination of photography and artwork reconstructions, the true story of the most secret battles of World War II can finally be told.

The Center of the World by Thomas Van Essen

2013-06-04T00:30:00-05:00

The Center of the World
Written by Thomas Van Essen

Alternating between nineteenth-century England and present-day New York, this is the story of renowned British painter J. M. W. Turner and his circle of patrons and lovers. It is also the story of Henry Leiden, a middle-aged family man with a troubled marriage and a dead-end job, who finds his life transformed by his discovery of Turner’s The Center of the World, a mesmerizing and unsettling painting of Helen of Troy that was thought to have been lost forever.

This painting has such devastating erotic power that it was kept hidden for almost two centuries, and was even said to have been destroyed...until Henry stumbles upon it in a secret compartment at his summer home in the Adirondacks. Though he knows it is an object of immense value, the thought of parting with it is unbearable: Henry is transfixed by its revelation of a whole other world, one of transcendent light, joy, and possibility.

Back in the nineteenth century, Turner struggles to create The Center of the World, his greatest painting, but a painting unlike anything he (or anyone else) has ever attempted. We meet his patron, Lord Egremont, an aristocrat in whose palatial home Turner talks freely about his art and his beliefs. We also meet Elizabeth Spencer, Egremont’s mistress and Turner’s muse, the model for his Helen. Meanwhile, in the present, Henry is relentlessly trailed by an unscrupulous art dealer determined to get his hands on the painting at any cost. Filled with sex, beauty, and love (of all kinds), this richly textured novel explores the intersection between art and eroticism.

The Center of the World by Thomas Van Essen

2013-06-04T00:30:00-05:00

The Center of the World
Written by Thomas Van Essen

The Alteration by William Gibson

2013-05-07T00:30:00-05:00

The Alteration
Written by Kingsley Amis
Introduction by William Gibson

Trade Paperback, 256 pages | NYRB Classics | Fiction - Science Fiction; Fiction - Alternative History; Fiction - Satire | $14.95 | May 7, 2013 | 978-1-59017-617-7 (1-59017-617-0)

In Kingsley Amis’s virtuoso foray into virtual history it is 1976 but the modern world is a medieval relic, frozen in intellectual and spiritual time ever since Martin Luther was promoted to pope back in the sixteenth century. Stephen the Third, the king of England, has just died, and Mass (Mozart’s second requiem) is about to be sung to lay him to rest. In the choir is our hero, Hubert Anvil, an extremely ordinary ten-year-old boy with a faultless voice. In the audience is a select group of experts whose job is to determine whether that faultless voice should be preserved by performing a certain operation. Art, after all, is worth any sacrifice.

How Hubert realizes what lies in store for him and how he deals with the whirlpool of piety, menace, terror, and passion that he soon finds himself in are the subject of a classic piece of counterfactual fiction equal to Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle.

The Alteration won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best science-fiction novel in 1976.

The Alteration by William Gibson

2013-05-07T00:30:00-05:00

The Alteration
Written by Kingsley Amis
Introduction by William Gibson

eBook, 256 pages | NYRB Classics | Fiction - Science Fiction; Fiction - Alternative History; Fiction - Satire | $14.95 | May 7, 2013 | 978-1-59017-637-5 (1-59017-637-5)

Videssos Cycle: Volume Two by Harry Turtledove

2013-04-16T00:30:00-05:00

Videssos Cycle: Volume Two Legion of Videssos and Swords of the Legion
Written by Harry Turtledove

The classic fantasy series from “one of alternative-history’s stalwarts” (The New Yorker) continues in the adventure of a lifetime.

Harry Turtledove’s brilliant re-imaginings of major world events have thrilled fans for decades, but he first captured readers’ attention with the Videssos Cycle, a unique blend of fantasy and speculative history. In this two-book volume, a Roman legion, thrown into another world, fights its way through sorcery, intrigue, and epic conflict.

THE LEGION OF VIDESSOS

Since the legion was mysteriously transported to this magical realm, Roman military tribune Marcus Aemilius Scaurus has valiantly served the rulers of the war-torn city of Videssos. However, Fortune is a fickle goddess. Returning in triumph after defeating a well-entrenched army of rebel mercenaries, Marcus is betrayed by a friend, seized as a traitor, and dragged before the Emperor. Only one person may be able to save him: the Emperor’s niece. But consorting with her could lead to exile . . . or worse.

SWORDS OF THE LEGION

As prisoner of the Emperor, Marcus Scaurus is in a desperate situation. He stands condemned for treason, unless he can reclaim a rebel province from a fanatic usurper—without the aid of his Romans. Now, with just one centurion by his side, Marcus sets out to once again do the impossible. Soon the fates conspire against the men, driving them toward the torture chambers of an evil, deathless wizard-prince. But an audacious last hope rallies behind them—the soldiers of the legion are on the march.

Videssos Cycle: Volume Two by Harry Turtledove

2013-04-16T00:30:00-05:00

Videssos Cycle: Volume Two Legion of Videssos and Swords of the Legion
Written by Harry Turtledove

The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln by Stephen L. Carter

2013-04-09T00:30:00-05:00

The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln
Written by Stephen L. Carter

From the author of the bestsellers The Emperor of Ocean Park and New England White, an electrifying and provocative historical novel set in an alternate history in which Abraham Lincoln survives assassination at Ford’s Theatre on April 14, 1865. In this gripping legal and political thriller, Stephen L. Carter imagines what might have happened if Lincoln had lived to face the tumultuous post-war politics of 1865 Washington, D.C., including an impeachment trial for overstepping his Constitutional authority during the Civil War. At the novel’s center is Abigail Canner, a young black woman recently graduated from Oberlin, who is hired by the D.C. law firm that is working on Lincoln’s defense. When one of Lincoln’s lead lawyers is found brutally murdered, Abigail is plunged into a web of intrigue, politics, and conspiracy.

Videssos Cycle: Volume One by Harry Turtledove

2013-04-02T00:30:00-05:00

Videssos Cycle: Volume One Misplaced Legion and Emperor for the Legion
Written by Harry Turtledove

Experience one of the most beloved series in fantasy—as could only be imagined by “the standard-bearer for alternate history” (USA Today).

Harry Turtledove’s many New York Times bestsellers provide an intriguing take on history’s most crucial moments, but he honed his speculative talents in a different genre: fantasy. The Videssos Cycle is the perfect fusion of the two. Collected here are the first two novels of Turtledove’s one-of-a-kind saga, in which a Roman legion is transported to a strange realm where magic rules.

THE MISPLACED LEGION

In a duel for survival, the Roman military tribune Marcus Aemilius Scaurus raises his sword, blessed by a Druid priest, against a Celtic chieftain, who brandishes a blade of his own. At the moment the weapons touch, Marcus and his legion find themselves under a strange night sky, full of unfamiliar stars, where Rome and Gaul are unknown. They are in an outpost of the embattled Empire of Videssos—a world that will test their skill and courage as no soldiers have ever been tested before.

AN EMPEROR FOR THE LEGION

In the capital of Videssos, a coward and betrayer has seized the throne. There, behind great walls that have always made the city impregnable to storm or siege, he rules with the aid of dark sorcery. Overthrowing him seems impossible and the imperial army has already fled in panic from the savage victors. But there is no panic in the legion. Now Marcus Scaurus leads his men through the chaos and enemy hordes in search of winter quarters, to regroup and do the unthinkable: take the untakeable city.

Videssos Cycle: Volume One by Harry Turtledove

2013-04-02T00:30:00-05:00

Videssos Cycle: Volume One Misplaced Legion and Emperor for the Legion
Written by Harry Turtledove

One Hundred Times to China by Lloyd Kropp

2013-03-13T00:30:00-05:00

One Hundred Times to China
Written by Lloyd Kropp

Black-robed priests roam the countryside with shotguns. The Green Legionnaires break into houses. Acid rains ruin the forest of America, as hordes of refugees from the desolate northern cities travel south for the most terrible of winters.

For Arthur Ferrier and his family, the pleasant town of South Haven has long been home. But what was once so familiar and comfortable has now been dissolved into a frightening strangeness. The local newspaper stops delivering, the power fails, and then come the food riots and the closing of the hospitals. For reasons no one really seems to understand, the centers of civilized life are breaking apart all around them. But Arthur remembers his father’s dream, and he fingers the key around his neck—a key that opens a lock to a door far away in the northern mountains, a place where he and Marilyn, his wife, hope to live and raise their children in peace.

Thus begins the odyssey of the Ferrier family as they pursue their last hope: the safe haven prepared by a wise grandfather. It is a journey filled with adventure, peril, and desperate faith. And One Hundred Times to China is a novel of terror, courage, and one family’s fight for survival with life’s greatest gift as its only weapon—their love for one another.

The Burning Time by Robin Morgan

2013-01-08T00:30:00-05:00

The Burning Time
Written by Robin Morgan

"A fantastic page-turner." —Historical Novels Review

Based on a true story of the first witchcraft trial in Ireland, The Burning Time is the riveting tale of one extraordinary noblewoman, Lady Alyce Kyteler and her fight for a country’s soul. When the Catholic Church brings the Inquisition to Ireland, Lady Alyce Kyteler refuses to grant them power over her lands or her people, and refuses to stop the practice of The Old Religion. Declared a dangerous heretic by the Pope’s emissary, Lady Alyce determines to fight back. Against the penalty of being burned at the stake, she risks all to protect her people, her faith, and her beloved Ireland.

The Burning Time is a vivid account of an astonishing but little-known historic figure and a gripping tale of bravery, treachery, guile, and redemption.

An award-winning poet, novelist, journalist and editor, Robin Morgan has published over 20 books, including the now-classic anthology Sisterhood is Powerful. One of the founders of contemporary U.S. feminism, she has been a leader in the international Women’s Movement for over 30 years.

A 2006 Book Sense Paperback Pick by the American Booksellers Association

The Fat Years by David Tse

2013-01-08T00:30:00-05:00

The Fat Years
Written by Koonchung Chan
Translated by David Tse

An entire month has gone missing from Chinese records. No one has any memory of it, and no one seems to care except for a small circle of friends who will stop at nothing to get to the bottom of the sinister cheerfulness and amnesia that have possessed the nation. When they kidnap a high-ranking official and force him to reveal all, what they learn—not only about their leaders, but also about their own people—stuns them to the core.

The Fat Years is a complex novel of ideas that reveals all too chillingly the machinations of the postmodern totalitarian state and sets in sharp relief the importance of remembering the past in order to protect the future.

11/22/63 (En Espanol) by Stephen King

2012-11-13T00:30:00-05:00

11/22/63 (En Espanol)
Written by Stephen King

El 22 de noviembre de 1963, tres disparos resonaron en Dallas. Murió el presidente Kennedy, y el mundo cambió. ¿Qué harías tú si pudieras impedirlo?

En esta brillante novela, Stephen King acompaña al lector en un viaje maravilloso al pasado y en un intento de cambiar lo que pasó, ofreciéndonos un impecable retrato social, político y cultural del final de los años cincuenta y principios de los sesenta: un mundo marcado por enormes coches, Elvis Presley y el constante humo de cigarrillo.

Todo empieza con Jake Epping, un profesor de inglés que se gana un sueldo extra con clases nocturnas para adultos. Un día pide a sus estudiantes que escriban sobre un acontecimiento que les haya cambiado la vida, y una de esas redacciones le impacta profundamente: la historia de una noche de hace cincuenta años cuando el padre de su alumno Harry Dunning volvió a casa para matar a su familia. Poco después su amigo Al, propietario de un restaurante en su barrio, le descubre un increíble secreto: en el almacén del restaurante hay una puerta que conduce al pasado. Y Al pide a Jake que le ayude con una misión que le obsesiona: impedir el asesinato del Presidente John F. Kennedy. Y así comienza la nueva vida de Jake en un mundo muy diferente. En él, Jake se enamorará mientras sigue el rastro de Lee Harvey Oswald hacia ese crucial momento histórico. Un viaje al pasado nunca ha sido tan creíble, ni tan terrorífico.

Pym: A Novel by Mat Johnson

2012-09-04T00:30:00-05:00

Pym: A Novel
Written by Mat Johnson

“THE SHARPEST AND MOST UNUSUAL STORY I READ LAST YEAR . . . [Mat] Johnson’s satirical vision roves as freely as Kurt Vonnegut’s and is colored with the same sort of passionate humanitarianism.”—Maud Newton, New York Times Magazine

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post • Vanity Fair • Houston Chronicle • The Seattle Times • Salon • National Post • The A.V. Club

Recently canned professor of American literature Chris Jaynes has just made a startling discovery: the manuscript of a crude slave narrative that confirms the reality of Edgar Allan Poe’s strange and only novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. Determined to seek out Tsalal, the remote island of pure and utter blackness that Poe describes, Jaynes convenes an all-black crew of six to follow Pym’s trail to the South Pole, armed with little but the firsthand account from which Poe derived his seafaring tale, a bag of bones, and a stash of Little Debbie snack cakes. Thus begins an epic journey by an unlikely band of adventurers under the permafrost of Antarctica, beneath the surface of American history, and behind one of literature’s great mysteries.

“Outrageously entertaining, [Pym] brilliantly re-imagines and extends Edgar Allan Poe’s enigmatic and unsettling Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. . . . Part social satire, part meditation on race in America, part metafiction and, just as important, a rollicking fantasy adventure . . . reminiscent of Philip Roth in its seemingly effortless blend of the serious, comic and fantastic.”—Michael Dirda, The Washington Post

“Blisteringly funny.”—Laura Miller, Salon

“Relentlessly entertaining.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Imagine Kurt Vonnegut having a beer with Ralph Ellison and Jules Verne.”—Vanity Fair

“Screamingly funny . . . Reading Pym is like opening a big can of whoop-ass and then marveling—gleefully—at all the mayhem that ensues.”—Houston Chronicle

Coup d'Etat (The War That Came Early, Book Four) by Harry Turtledove

2012-07-31T00:30:00-05:00

Coup d'Etat (The War That Came Early, Book Four)
Written by Harry Turtledove

In 1941, a treaty between England and Germany unravels—and so does a different World War II.

In Harry Turtledove’s mesmerizing alternate history of World War II, the choices of men and fate have changed history. Now it is the winter of 1941. As the Germans, with England and France on their side, slam deep into Russia, Stalin’s terrible machine fights for its life. But the agreements of world leaders do not touch the hearts of soldiers. The war between Germany and Russia is rocked by men with the courage to aim their guns in a new direction.

England is the first to be shaken. Following the suspicious death of Winston Churchill, with his staunch anti-Nazi views, a small cabal begins to imagine the unthinkable in a nation long famous for respecting the rule of law. With civil liberties hanging by a thread, a conspiracy forms against the powers that be. What will this daring plan mean for the European war as a whole?

Meanwhile, in America, a woman who has met Hitler face-to-face urges her countrymen to wake up to his evil. For the time being, the United States is fighting only Japan—and the war is not going as well as Washington would like. Can Roosevelt keep his grip on the country’s imagination?

Coup d’Etat captures how war makes for the strangest of bedfellows. A freethinking Frenchman fights side by side with racist Nazis. A Czech finds himself on the dusty front lines of the Spanish Civil War, gunning for Germany’s Nationalist allies. A German bomber pilot courts a half-Polish, half-Jewish beauty in Bialystock. And the Jews in Germany, though trapped under Hitler’s fist, are as yet protected by his fear of looking bad before the world—and by an outspoken Catholic bishop.

With his spectacular command of character, coincidence, and military and political strategies, Harry Turtledove continues a passionate, unmatched saga of a World War II composed of different enemies, different allies—and hurtling toward a horrific moment. For a diabolical new weapon is about to be unleashed, not by the United States, but by Japan, in a tactic that will shock the world.

Praise for Coup d’Etat

“Turtledove’s masterful presentation of an alternate WWII reaches its fourth volume with its quality undiminished. . . . A tribute to [his] commanding skills.”—Booklist (starred review)

“For lovers of alternative history, and particularly the very popular Turtledove with his appealing weaponry, battle tactics, and setting details, this story will satisfy. It sets out to entertain . . . and that it does.”—Historical Novels Review

“The book’s grand scope and Turtledove’s impressive historical knowledge are admirable.”—Kirkus Reviews

Coup d'Etat (The War That Came Early, Book Four) by Harry Turtledove

2012-07-31T00:30:00-05:00

Coup d'Etat (The War That Came Early, Book Four)
Written by Harry Turtledove

The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln by Paul Boehmer

2012-07-10T00:30:00-05:00

The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln
Written by Stephen L. Carter
Read by Paul Boehmer

From the best-selling author of The Emperor of Ocean Park and New England White, a daring reimagining of one of the most tumultuous moments in our nation’s past

Stephen L. Carter’s thrilling new novel takes as its starting point an alternate history: President Abraham Lincoln survives the assassination attempt at Ford’s Theatre on April 14, 1865. Two years later he is charged with overstepping his constitutional authority, both during and after the Civil War, and faces an impeachment trial . . .

Twenty-one-year-old Abigail Canner is a young black woman with a degree from Oberlin, a letter of employment from the law firm that has undertaken Lincoln’s defense, and the iron-strong conviction, learned from her late mother, that “whatever limitations society might place on ordinary negroes, they would never apply to her.” And so Abigail embarks on a life that defies the norms of every stratum of Washington society: working side by side with a white clerk, meeting the great and powerful of the nation, including the president himself. But when Lincoln’s lead counsel is found brutally murdered on the eve of the trial, Abigail is plunged into a treacherous web of intrigue and conspiracy reaching the highest levels of the divided government.

Here is a vividly imagined work of historical fiction that captures the emotional tenor of post–Civil War America, a brilliantly realized courtroom drama that explores the always contentious question of the nature of presidential authority, and a galvanizing story of political suspense.

The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln by Paul Boehmer

2012-07-10T00:30:00-05:00

The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln
Written by Stephen L. Carter
Read by Paul Boehmer

The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln by Stephen L. Carter

2012-07-10T00:30:00-05:00

The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln
Written by Stephen L. Carter

Random House New Releases - Fiction - Alternative History - Between May 23, 2012 and June 22, 2013.

The Nazi Occult by Darren Tan

The Nazi Occult Written by Kenneth Hite Illustrated by Darren Tan

The Center of the World by Thomas Van Essen

The Center of the World Written by Thomas Van Essen

The Center of the World by Thomas Van Essen

The Center of the World Written by Thomas Van Essen

The Alteration by William Gibson

The Alteration Written by Kingsley Amis Introduction by William Gibson

The Alteration by William Gibson

The Alteration Written by Kingsley Amis Introduction by William Gibson

Videssos Cycle: Volume Two by Harry Turtledove

Videssos Cycle: Volume Two Legion of Videssos and Swords of the LegionWritten by Harry Turtledove

Videssos Cycle: Volume Two by Harry Turtledove

Videssos Cycle: Volume Two Legion of Videssos and Swords of the LegionWritten by Harry Turtledove

The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln by Stephen L. Carter

The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln Written by Stephen L. Carter

Videssos Cycle: Volume One by Harry Turtledove

Videssos Cycle: Volume One Misplaced Legion and Emperor for the LegionWritten by Harry Turtledove

Videssos Cycle: Volume One by Harry Turtledove

Videssos Cycle: Volume One Misplaced Legion and Emperor for the LegionWritten by Harry Turtledove

One Hundred Times to China by Lloyd Kropp

One Hundred Times to China Written by Lloyd Kropp

The Burning Time by Robin Morgan

The Burning Time Written by Robin Morgan

The Fat Years by David Tse

The Fat Years Written by Koonchung Chan Translated by David Tse

11/22/63 (En Espanol) by Stephen King

11/22/63 (En Espanol) Written by Stephen King

Pym: A Novel by Mat Johnson

Pym: A Novel Written by Mat Johnson

Coup d'Etat (The War That Came Early, Book Four) by Harry Turtledove

Coup d'Etat (The War That Came Early, Book Four) Written by Harry Turtledove

Coup d'Etat (The War That Came Early, Book Four) by Harry Turtledove

Coup d'Etat (The War That Came Early, Book Four) Written by Harry Turtledove

The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln by Paul Boehmer

The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln Written by Stephen L. Carter Read by Paul Boehmer

The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln by Paul Boehmer

The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln Written by Stephen L. Carter Read by Paul Boehmer

The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln by Stephen L. Carter

The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln Written by Stephen L. Carter

The Nazi Occult
Written by Kenneth Hite
Illustrated by Darren Tan

The Center of the World
Written by Thomas Van Essen

The Center of the World
Written by Thomas Van Essen

The Alteration
Written by Kingsley Amis
Introduction by William Gibson

The Alteration
Written by Kingsley Amis
Introduction by William Gibson

Videssos Cycle: Volume Two Legion of Videssos and Swords of the Legion
Written by Harry Turtledove

Videssos Cycle: Volume Two Legion of Videssos and Swords of the Legion
Written by Harry Turtledove

The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln
Written by Stephen L. Carter

Videssos Cycle: Volume One Misplaced Legion and Emperor for the Legion
Written by Harry Turtledove

Videssos Cycle: Volume One Misplaced Legion and Emperor for the Legion
Written by Harry Turtledove

One Hundred Times to China
Written by Lloyd Kropp

The Burning Time
Written by Robin Morgan

The Fat Years
Written by Koonchung Chan
Translated by David Tse

11/22/63 (En Espanol)
Written by Stephen King

Pym: A Novel
Written by Mat Johnson

Coup d'Etat (The War That Came Early, Book Four)
Written by Harry Turtledove

Coup d'Etat (The War That Came Early, Book Four)
Written by Harry Turtledove

The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln
Written by Stephen L. Carter
Read by Paul Boehmer

The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln
Written by Stephen L. Carter
Read by Paul Boehmer

The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln
Written by Stephen L. Carter