Blogs are the New Diaries

Yeah it's true, blogging has replaced the keeping of diaries, unless of course you want to keep something a secret. And just like diaries they are often forgotten and months go by before the next "Dentist 10:30" message.

Oh well, I'm more guilty than most. Not only do I forget to make an entry, I often forget I've even got a blog. I've probably started more blogs than actually made entries in any particular one.

Well I've been busy recently but still managed to keep up with my reading. High on my list of must reads Harry Turtledove's American Empire series. This details an Alternative History where the American Civil War was lost by the North and American remained split between North and South. The Book I'm currently reading, The Victorious Opposition, is the 6th book in the series and details the rise to power of the Far Right leader, Featherstone, in the Southern States. It parallels Hitler's rise to power in our own history.

Alternate History Novels are a sub-genre of Science Fiction which if written by a purist takes one point in history and changes. Everything that comes afterwards stems from this one change.

In the American Empire series that point of change is the American Civil War and the support received by the Southern States from England and France. In our world although the southern states received support from those two nations they didn't commit to actual military aid, in Turtledove's world they threaten intervention to bring the war to an end and this forces Lincoln to negotiate a peace. This sets the stage for the rest of the series. As 1914 approaches we see the unrest in Europe about to drag the world into terrible war. The two blocks are North America, Germany & Austria-Hungary against England, France, Russia and the Confederate States of America.

All in All a fascinating Series

Prequel
How Few Remain (1997)
The Great War Trilogy
American Front (1998)
Walk in Hell (1999)
Breakthroughs (2000)
The American Empire Trilogy
Blood and Iron (2001)
The Center Cannot Hold (2002)
The Victorious Opposition (2003)
The Settling Accounts Tetralogy
Return Engagement (2004)
Drive to the East (2005)
The Grapple (2006)
In at the Death (2007)