Experience one of the most beloved series in fantasy--as could only be imagined by "the standard-bearer for alternate history" ("USA Today"). Harry Turtledove's many "New York Times "bestsellers provide an intriguing take on history's most crucial moments, but he honed his speculative talents in a different genre: fantasy. The Videssos Cycle is the perfect fusion of the two. Collected here are the first two novels of Turtledove's one-of-a-kind saga, in which a Roman legion is transported to a strange realm where magic rules. THE MISPLACED LEGION In a duel for survival, the Roman military tribune Marcus Aemilius Scaurus raises his sword, blessed by a Druid priest, against a Celtic chieftain, who brandishes a blade of his own. At the moment the weapons touch, Marcus and his legion find themselves under a strange night sky, full of unfamiliar stars, where Rome and Gaul are unknown. They are in an outpost of the embattled Empire of Videssos--a world that will test their skill and courage as no soldiers have ever been tested before. AN EMPEROR FOR THE LEGION In the capital of Videssos, a coward and betrayer has seized the throne. There, behind great walls that have always made the city impregnable to storm or siege, he rules with the aid of dark sorcery. Overthrowing him seems impossible and the imperial army has already fled in panic from the savage victors. But there is no panic in the legion. Now Marcus Scaurus leads his men through the chaos and enemy hordes in search of winter quarters, to regroup and do the unthinkable: take the untakeable city.
It is 1924: a time of rebuilding both in America and in the devastated cities of Europe and Canada. In the United States, the Socialist Party battles Calvin Coolidge to hold on to power. In a world of occupiers and the occupied, of simmering hatreds, shattered lives and pent-up violence, the centre can no longer hold. And for a powerful nation, the ultimate shock will come when a fleet of foreign aircraft rains death and destruction on one of the great cities of the United States.
As The Great War came to its end, the United States of America, in alliance with Germany, had defeated Great Britain, France and the Confederate States of America in a bloody conflict known as the first World War. As the 1920s begin, though, the seeds of a new conflict have alredy been sown. The United States, led by Theodore Roosevelt, swings wildly towards socialism. But it is in the Confederacy, trapped in a ruinous economic depression, where fascism begins to spread, and the fires are fanned by a charismatic leader who may again plunge the world into war.
In this alternative history, Harry Turtledove creates an unparalleled vision of social upheaval, war and cut throat politics in an America much like the current one but with several dramatic differen
In his acclaimed novels of alternate history, Harry Turtledove has scrutinized the twisted soul of the twentieth century, from the forces that set World War I in motion to the rise of fascism in the decades that followed. Now, this masterly storyteller turns his eyes to the aftermath of World War II and asks: In an era of nuclear posturing, what if the Cold War had suddenly turned hot?Bombs Away begins with President Harry Truman in desperate consultation with General Douglas MacArthur, whose control of the ground war in Korea has slipped disastrously away. MacArthur recognizes a stark reality: The U.S. military has been cut to the bone after victory over the Naziswhile China and the USSR have built up their forces. The only way to stop the Communist surge into the Korean Peninsula and save thousands of American lives is through a nuclear attack. MacArthur advocates a strike on Chinese targets in Manchuria. In actual history, Truman rejected his generals advice; here, he does not. The miscalculation turns into a disaster when Truman fails to foresee Russias reaction.Almost instantly, Stalin strikes U.S. allies in Europe and Great Britain. As the shock waves settle, the two superpowers are caught in a horrifying face-off. Will they attack each other directly with nuclear weapons? What countries will be caught in between?The fateful global drama plays out through the experiences of ordinary peoplefrom a British barmaid to a Ukrainian war veteran to a desperate American soldier alone behind enemy lines in Korea. For them, as well as Truman, Mao, and Stalin, the whole world has become a battleground. Strategic strikes lead to massive movements of ground troops. Cities are destroyed, economies ravaged. And on a planet under siege, the sounds and sights of nuclear bombs become a grim harbinger of a new reality: the struggle to survive mans greatest madness.
