Conquistador: A Novel of Alternate History |
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Conquistador: A Novel of Alternate History
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by S.M. Stirling
Sales Rank: 186231
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List Price: $7.99
$7.99
At Amazon
on 9-15-2008.
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Features
Cover Type: Paperback with 608 pages
Published by: Roc March 2, 2004
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 0451459334
ISBN 13 Number: 978-0451459336
Book Dimensions:
6.7 x 4.2 x 1.4 inches
Weighs: 8.8 ounces
From Publishers Weekly
One adjustment to his radio sends John Rolfe VI, a descendant of the Virginia colonist, from 1946 into a California New World never touched by white men in Stirling's (The Peshawar Lancers) mesmerizing new novel. Having discovered the Oakland Gate that allows one to switch secretly between worlds, Rolfe and a passel of army buddies found New Virginia, a Southern Agrarian "pirate kingdom," and proceed to build wealth and power on both sides. Stirling cleverly switches between vignettes of New Virginian history since 1946 and the "present" of 2009, when a neo-Mafioso is plotting to take over Rolfe's "theme park of perverted romanticism run amok." In this luscious alternative universe, sidekicks quote the Lone Ranger and Right inevitably triumphs with panache. What more could adventure-loving readers ask for?
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
Stirling's endlessly and sometimes perversely fertile imagination now realizes a world in which Alexander the Great lived to old age. Moreover, the East doesn't discover the West until 1946, when John Rolfe finds a gate from his time line to another and sets about discreetly, profitably colonizing the alternate Earth he discovers on the gate's other side. In 2009, Rolfe's granddaughter, investigating a threat to her family's benign feudal despotism, encounters a California fish and game officer tracking down the source of certain mysterious birds and beasts. He becomes her lover, ally, confidant, and spouse, and with odd, assorted allies from both time lines, they defeat a plot to overthrow the Rolfes and viciously conquer the new New World. This is even more of a romp than Stirling's Peshawar Lancers (2002), but while its action scenes are state-of-the-art and its femmes wonderfully formidables, it is the sort of romp that has four appendixes of historical backgrounding, not to mention a blatant opening for a sequel. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Reader Reviews
This is good stuff. I haven't read any of Steve Stirling's other novels (yet), but I know who he is and I've had him on my to-read list for quite a while. I'm glad I started with this one. Murray Leinster launched this whole alternate-history thing a half-century and more ago with his short story 'Sidewise in Time'. Since then there have been lots of attempts -- some successful, some not so much -- to render convincing alternate and/or parallel histories; Ward Moore's _Bring the Jubilee_ is probably one of the best known, and Harry Turtledove is generally regarded as the reigning king of the genre. Stirling holds a place of honor as well, and this book illustrates why. It's a well-researched, well-paced, well-told adventure tale that involves a good deal of plausible alternate history but doesn't depend on it at the expense of characterization and plot. The setup is nice. In 1946, John Rolfe VI, a WWII veteran living in California, does something in his basement with a shortwave set -- and suddenly one end of his basement is covered with what looks like a wall of liquid mercury. On the other side is . . . well, you'll just have to read it and find out, won't you? Suffice it to say that what happens next has some long-term consequences. We check in on them in 2009, when fish and game warden Tom Christiansen is investigating some illegal activities involving a whole lot of ivory and a live California condor. Among the evidence he and his team collect, there's an odd photograph (clearly a fake, right? Riiiiiight) of some Aztec priests wearing Grateful Dead T-shirts . . . And the rest is (alternate) history. No spoilers; all the stuff I've mentioned here is in the first twenty pages of the book. I like Stirling's style, too. He makes me think of Jerry Pournelle (who is credited in the acknowledgements, and who has previously done some cowriting with Stirling). In fact the narrative tone reminds me a bit of Pournelle and Niven in _Lucifer's Hammer_, although I'm not sure I could say exactly why. Anyway, a nice read and one of the finer entries in recent SF. If you like well-written alternate history novels, this will probably be your cup of tea.
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Conquistador: A Novel of Alternate History
Available from Amazon
Price: $7.99
Updated on 9-15-2008.
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