Great new review by Ian Shone. Simon Scarrow’s book Sword and Scimitar takes on the little known, but historically important, Siege of Malta in 1565. Take a look at Ian’s review to see if he does a good job of it.
Not a lot of activity recently on the blog for Alt Hist, but we will rectify that soon with some more book reviews and other news. Behind the scenes we have been working hard on the next issue of Alt Hist – more news to follow soon I hope.
As you may know Ian Shone writes quite a few of the book reviews for the Alt Hist site, and while he is still going strong (should have another review from him soon), we have also had some other volunteers step forward to write reviews as well. The latest of these is Christopher Yates. His review of The Sins of the Father by C. B. Hanley is now live on the Alt Hist website.
If you like tales of medieval intrigue and crime then it sounds like C. B. Hanley’s book might well be of interest to you. Please go and read Chris’s review to find out more!
The latest book review from Ian Shone has now been posted in our reviews section. If you like a fair bit of hokum and pirates then Wake of the Bloody Angel by Alex Bledsoe might well be your cup of tea!
If you guiltily enjoy the likes of Ian Fleming or Robert E. Howard, then there is a good chance you’ll enjoy Wake of the Bloody Angel, and it’s the ideal book to give yourself a break if you have just finished reading something dry and heavy. Enjoyable nonsense, and nicely done.
A new book review from Ian Shone:
Coming off the last book reviewed for Alt Hist (Rebecca Cantrell’s A Game of Lies) there seems to be a certain accidental continuity with this book, which deals with a Jewish doctor’s flight from Vienna to Shanghai in the wake of the Anschluss. It’s another tense but sober story of life under the shadow of Nazism, tastefully and sincerely written, and it benefits from a similar consistency of pacing.
If you read the Alt Hist blog regularly you will have noticed that we are publishing regular book reviews now from Ian Shone. However, so as not to overburden Ian too much, and to be able to review some more books (we’re getting quite a few sent through to us at the moment!) I would like to have a few more book reviewers for the site.
If you would be interested in volunteering to do this then please send me an email at althist.editor@gmail.com with some examples of previous book reviews, or a sample of a new book review that hasn’t been published anywhere. Also let me know what sort of books you would be interested in reviewing and how often.
We can’t offer actual payment, but you will get a free copy of the next issue of Alt Hist and also a credit in the issue.
Ian Shone has reviewed another new alternate history book for Alt Hist.
Ian’s latest review is of a new novel by Ian Sales called Adrift on the Sea of Rains. This novel is about the Cold War and astronauts – a combination of alternate history and hard science fiction.
Ian Shone’s review of Adrift on the Sea of Rains is in the Book Reviews section of our site.
Ian Sales has also written two stories for Alt Hist: ‘A Light in the Darkness’ and ‘Travelling by Air’, and we also have a free story on the site by him: ‘Disambiguation’.
Ian Shone has kindly volunteered his time to Alt Hist to help out with book reviews and proof-reading, and I’m glad to say that his review of By the Blood of Heroes by Joseph Nassise is is now available on the Alt Hist site under our Book Reviews section. By the Blood of Heroes is a combination of alternate history and zombie-fueled horror, and I think you will find Ian’s review interesting.
Please go along and take a look at the review.
The three book reviews that will appear in Issue 2 of Alt Hist are now available for free online.
Books reviewed are:
Historical Fiction Writing: a practical guide and tool-kit by Myfanwy Cook
Rome Burning by Sophia McDougall
Ruso and the River of Darkness by R. S. Downie
Just a reminder that Alt Hist also accepts non-fiction related to historical fiction and alternate history. In particular this could include book reviews. I am quite keen that we start publishing some of these so if you fancy reviewing some new releases then please get in touch. I would recommend that you take a look at what is coming out in the next few months and then let me know what you would be interested in reviewing. You should then be able to contact the appropriate publisher and ask them to send you a review copy – just let them know that you plan to be reviewing the book for Alt Hist and I’m sure they will be happy to send you a copy – publishers are very interested in getting new books as much publicity as possible.
