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Harry Turtledove
I suppose that there must be people around who have not heard of the author Harry Turtledove, but I wonder how many. Turtledove is often described as the master of “What if”, as besides science fiction and fantasy he is renowned for his alternative histories.
His latest UK release is “Blood and Iron” the first volume in a series entitled American Empire. This new series is the continuation of a sequence of novels that began with “How Few Remain” which is itself based on the second American Civil War! Hopefully that will have gained your interest.
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Imagine what might have happened if the Confederate States had won the Civil War and become a recognised nation supported by Britain and France. Then place this new America in a World where history follows its recorded course, what then might happen? The result can be fascinating, and always interesting.
I don’t want to reveal too much of the storyline as it may spoil things for you, but this latest volume considers the situation in America at the end of the Great War, a war in which the United States fought as an ally of Germany, engaging the Royal Navy and Imperial Japan in the Pacific, and Mexico, the Confederacy and Canada on land. Consequently there is little in this story that has a direct wargaming interest, but don’t let that put you off! This edition ties up a lot of loose ends, and sets the scene for the next, inevitable, bloody conflict
I recommend that you get hold of the first in the series and give it a go. Or maybe even better “Guns of the South”, the novel that introduced me to Turtledove. I believe you will either be hooked, and naturally progress to the rest in the series, or hate them. If you stick with them you will find plenty of wargaming situations. Imagine using your WWI rules for armies fighting over the open plains of Western Canada, or in the swamps of Louisiana.
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If I have any criticisms of Turtledove they are first and foremost that his series can go on for too long, for example his excellent “World War” sequence of novels in which an alien invader attacks Earth during World War II, was initially thrilling, but has now dragged on into the “Colonisation” sequence, that I, and others, have found pretty tedious.
The other must be a question of historical focus……he is so damn pro American! His descriptions or perhaps lack of them of pacific naval actions and the results are difficult for me to accept. If he thinks that the actions of Dewey's squadron in Manila Bay in 1898 would indicate an implied American naval superiority in 1914, I think he is kidding himself. Similarly I think he consistently underestimates non-American military abilities. Having said that, he is in the business of selling books and the US is his biggest market.
Blood and Iron is published in the UK by Hodder and Stoughton, price £18.99
JOS 31.1.02
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