Historical Fiction Science History

Enslaved in Kipchak Khanate, Jinghua has lost everything: her home, her family, her freedom...until the kingdom is conquered by enemy forces and she finds herself an unlikely conspirator in the escape of Prince Khalaf and his irascible father across the vast Mongol Empire. On the run, with adversaries on all sides and an endless journey ahead, Jinghua hatches a scheme to use the Kipchaks’ exile to return home, a plan that becomes increasingly fraught as her feelings for Khalaf evolve into an impossible love.

Maria Isabella Boyd's success as a Confederate spy has made her too famous for further espionage work, and now her employment options are slim. Exiled, widowed, and on the brink of poverty, she reluctantly goes to work for the Pinkerton National Detective Agency in Chicago. Adding insult to injury, her first big assignment is commissioned by the Union Army. In short, a federally sponsored transport dirigible is being violently pursued across the Rockies, and Uncle Sam isn't pleased.

“Short stories have to accomplish a nearly impossible magic trick: to introduce a world often much stranger than our own and make you care about it in a matter of pages,” writes R. F. Kuang in her introduction. “The most important part of this magic trick is just a willingness to get weird.” The stories in The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2023 are brimming with bizarre and otherworldly premises.

Three-time Hugo Award-winning author Allen Steele now imagines an alternate history rooted in an actual historical possibility: what if the race to space had occurred in the early days of WWII? It's 1941, and Wernher von Braun is ordered by his Fuehrer to abandon the V2 rocket and turn German resources in a daring new direction: construction of a manned orbital spacecraft capable of attacking the U.S. Work on the rocket - called Silbervogel - begins at Peenemunde. Though it is top secret, British intelligence discovers the plan, and brings word to Franklin Roosevelt.

April and Toad were hoping to go home to New York with their father. But History had other ideas. This time, the magical book sends April, Henry, and Toad to Colorado where they'll face their most dangerous threats yet: grizzly bears, lightning-fast trains, and snow. Lots and lots of snow! Can the three kids find the missing pieces to the puzzle... or will they be stuck in history forever?

One of the best-known Arthurian stories—adapted many times into verse, prose, games, and film. It recounts an adventure undertaken by King Arthur’s famous nephew, Sir Gawain, who is brave and the model of knightly grace. When a mysterious knight in green armor issues a challenge to the Round Table, the gallant Gawain volunteers to do battle for his king, beginning an adventure that explores chivalric tradition, loyalty, and the virtue of forgiveness, as well as alchemical symbolism and the psychological process of individuation.

Este libro revela la parte oculta de la historia del segundo emperador del México independiente: su pasado borrado, las traiciones y manipulaciones de las que fue objeto, y el verdadero propósito detrás de su brevísimo mandato. Además, explora una posibilidad escalofriante: ¿qué ocurriría si su único y distante heredero fuera hoy llamado por un grupo de monarquistas para restablecer el imperio que se vio truncado por la Reforma? Un complot de esa magnitud desestabilizaría al país y supondría una amenaza patente a la soberanía mexicana.

King Charles III, having barely escaped London with his life, finds refuge at Fletcher Manor, where he encounters Danielle Walker and Claire Evans. Danielle is a brilliant engineer with a talent for crafting incredible, steam-powered machines, including the "Dart," a small, steam-powered airship, and the formidable "Gallopers," steam-powered walkers that instill fear in the hearts of enemies. Claire, a skilled spy and strategist, brings her expertise to the fight. With their combined talents and the loyalty of the people of Derby, King Charles must reclaim his throne from the clutches of ...

In 1941 the European war ended in the Farthing Peace, a rapprochement between Britain and Nazi Germany. The balls and banquets of Britain's upper class never faltered, while British ships ferried undesirables across the Channel to board the cattle cars headed east. Peter Carmichael is commander of the Watch, Britain's distinctly British secret police. Its his job to warn the Prime Minister of treason, to arrest plotters, and to discover Jews.

The Eastern Network is owned by the wealthy Tradesmen and Landowners, so uneducated witch Vittoria Gutia isn't about to make any waves. She either works as a lavanda maid, or she and her beloved nephew starve to death.

A trolley car pulls into the station. Four minutes before, the inhabitants were seen boarding at the previous station. All are dead. And all of them are union. The year is 1919. The McNaughton Corporation is the pinnacle of American industry. They built airships that cross the seas. Guns that won the Great War. And above all, the city of Evesden. But something is rotten at the heart of Evesden. Caught between the union and the company, between the police and the victims, Hayes must find the truth behind the city before it kills him.

Following the scandalous revelations about his love life, disgraced media mogul Harry Rose is searching for redemption. His daughters - bright, winsome Eliza and dark, difficult Maria - have taken over the helm at Rose Corp. But while Eliza's on study leave at Oxford, Maria embarks on a drive to rid the British media giant of sleaze. His legacy under threat, Harry wants Maria out and Eliza in. But hanging between Harry and Eliza is the unresolved death of Eliza's mother, Ana.

What if an ancient god escaped his fate and history was thrown to the wolves? Churchwarden Michaels thought it was just a run-of-the-mill crazy old man who stood in the graveyard, hellbent on studying the 1,000-year-old Viking memorial there. But when things start changing and outright disappearing, Michaels realizes there is more to this old man than meets the eye. Now, Michaels finds himself swept up in an ancient god’s quest to escape his destiny by reworking reality, putting history - and to Michaels’s dismay, Christianity itself - to the Viking sword.

256 BC: When a patrol boat of butchered Legionaries washes up on a beach, Lance Corporal Alerio Sisera volunteers to be the scout for the Legion's response. But, he runs into complications and is forced to exceed his assignment. Suddenly, he finds himself in a blood feud with a powerful enemy, posted at a besieged harbor garrison, and fighting for his life against overwhelming odds. Reinforcements are not coming. Surrounded by enemies, it's up to Alerio to battle with his gladius while standing in bloody water.

Where did Professor Abner Jefferson go? Can the kids put history back together, find the pieces of the puzzle, and save Professor Abner or will they be stuck in history forever?

Wien in den Jahren 1910/11 und 1923-25. Im Mittelpunkt von Doderers Großstadtroman steht der Amtsrat und Major a. D. Melzer. Doch nicht nur sein Leben wird hier erzählt. Es sind die kleinen und großen Geschichten, die Dialoge und Reflexionen zahlreicher Akteure aus der Wiener Gesellschaft, die das Besondere dieses Romans ausmachen.

Tea anyone? After decades of erosion of the U.S. Constitution, the United States is faced with a major constitutional crisis not seen since the Civil War. A president and his administration filled with scandals and plagued by economic woes surprisingly wins re-election to a second term largely based on an "October Surprise" and the promise of redistribution of the nation's wealth. The night he is re-elected, an assassination attempt throws America into chaos, resulting in riots, food shortages and violence across the country.

Convicted of treason and stripped of rank and standing, Temeraire and Lawrence are transported to the prison colony at New South Wales. With them travel three dragon eggs destined to be handed over to second-rate officers willing to accept so remote an assignment - including one former acquaintance, Captain Rankin, whose cruelty once cost a dragon its life. They arrive at a young Australian colony in turmoil after the overthrow of the military governor, William Bligh - formerly Captain Bligh, late of HMS Bounty.

In 336 B.C., Egypt lies under the yoke of Persia. But a spirit of fire has risen to blaze across the world. His name is Alexander, and he is the destined conqueror of the Persian Empire - and the king foretold of Egypt. Meriamon, daughter of the last Pharaoh, journeys out of the Two Lands to find him and bring him home. From the battlefield of Issus to the siege of Tyre, from the founding of Alexandria to the divine revelations of Siwah, Meriamon both leads and follows her divine charge, who becomes her friend and her chosen king.

Watch out - the Earth just fell into a dark sun's orbit! Or maybe you'd rather visit a theme park called Hell? These are just two of the strange and unnerving tales you'll find in this collection of great science fiction and fantasy stories.