John Schettler's Blog, page 9
January 13, 2015
Available Now! Paradox Hour
The hour and day that Fedorov and the crew of Kirov have long feared draws nigh, the moment of insoluble conflict, when their greatest enemy is not another hostile ship or plane, but their own selves—Paradox Hour.
Yet before that moment comes, the ship finds itself in one of the greatest naval chases of all time. It is May, 1941, and a powerful German battlefleet has broken out into the Atlantic. Admiral Tovey is fast on the heels of Hindenburg, but must first run the gauntlet of Gibraltar to get into the hunt. With him are three of the most powerful ships in the world, Kazan, Argos Fire, and the battlecruiser Kirov. Yet Admiral Lütjens will not fight alone. The Kriegsmarine sorties with all its might as Raeder throws the dice in a desperate bid to prove his navy’s worth and power. Soon the Royal Navy is reaching for every warship it can find to beat to quarters. One ship called to the action, HMS Rodney, harbors a secret—the long missing key revealed by Elena Fairchild. It is now at grave risk, and should it be lost, the secret it might unlock will die with it, and the doom Fairchild so darkly describes may then be unavoidable.
It is a race against time itself, and the shadow of doom that hangs over the world. Meanwhile, consumed by the fire of his own thirst for vengeance, one other man figures prominently in that fate—Vladimir Karpov—for he holds yet another key to the outcome of all these events, as he sets himself on chase of his own, desperate to find and cow his arch rival and enemy, Ivan Volkov.
The stunning conclusion of the eight book Altered States saga of the Kirov Series, Paradox Hour also stands as a “bridge novel” leading to the third saga of the long running series. The alternate history of WWII careens into 1942 and 1943 with the premier of Doppelganger, coming in March 2015.
BUY NOW FOR KINDLE: ($4.99)
1ST EDITION TRADE PAPERBACK: ($19.99)
Also Available: Newly edited and re-compiled as one continuous file
KIROV TRILOGY #1 - All three novels. Over 1000 Pages of exciting naval fiction in the best selling Kirov Series by John Schettler. A great way to introduce new readers to the series at a special low price of only $9.99 !
BUY TRILOGY HERE
January 1, 2015
Kirov Trilogy Sets Sail!
ANNOUNCING: Special Kirov Series introductory offer!The opening trilogy of the longest running alternate history epic of WWII ever told. Get the first three full length novels at a special introductory price!
Sail with Admiral Leonid Volsky, Captain Karpov and the intrepid navigator Anton Fedorov on the most powerful surface combatant in the world, the battlecruiser Kirov, updated and recommissioned in the year 2021. On a routine live fire exercise in the Norwegian Sea, a strange incident displaces the ship in time to July 28, 1941. As the crew struggles to discover what has happened to them, they are soon presumed to be a fierce new German raider, and engaged in a running battle with the Royal Navy. The ship’s position in time is unstable, and the opening trilogy sees them battling all comers in the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and finally the Pacific as they struggle to reach a friendly base at Vladivostok, and hope to find a way back to their own time.
AVAILABLE NOW ON AMAZON All newly edited files, yet complete and unabridged.Over 1000 pages of exciting naval fiction in one continuous Kindle file.
Now you can get the first three full length novels in the series for a special promotional price of only $9.99. It's a great way to sample the entire series, or to gift a friend if you are already a hard core Kirov Series reader. Novels include:Book 1: KirovBook 2: Cauldron of FireBook 3: Pacific Storm
But beware! Danger ahead! Once you begin this saga, you will not be able to put it down. Thankfully there is plenty more action ahead once this exciting opening trilogy welcomes you aboard as a new member of a cadre of dedicated and intrepid series readers the author calls "the crew."
The Kirov Series is a group of linked novels that will eventually see the author recounting the entire history of WWII, and in a world that has been radically altered by the many interventions and changes in history that Kirov has introduced. The series is structured in trilogies that are linked together by what the author calls a “bridge novel.” At the conclusion of this trilogy, readers interested in continuing the saga can move to the bridge novel Men Of War, which acts as both a sequel to this opening trilogy, and a prequel to the second trilogy in the series that begins with Book 5: 9 Days Falling.
The series continues through 16 volumes as of this writing, and is now about to enter its "Third Season" through the bridge novel Paradox Hour, coming soon.
December 27, 2014
Sneak Preview: Paradox Hour
About Paradox Hour
Paradox Hour is aptly named, a novel that moves the Kirov Series back out to sea, with a proverbial rendezvous with destiny waiting somewhere ahead on the turbulent waters of WWII.
Throughout the many series installments, the ship’s former Navigator, and now Captain Fedorov, has hinted darkly that he expects they will soon be facing the problem and threat of a time paradox—the imminent first arrival of the ship on July 28, 1941. He reasons that this arrival musthappen, for it began the long series of time jumps we have all been reading through, taking the story to some amazing places throughout WWII, and even as far back as 1908.
If the ship does not go through this time displacement, how could he even be where he is at that moment, the result of that very journey through time? Yet how can there be two ships in the same moment, one at the beginning of this journey, and one at what may be the end? How could there be duplicates of every member of the cast and crew? That is the paradox, at least as Fedorov sees it, and he fears that time can only solve it by eliminating one ship or another, and this is where a few of those small story seeds the author planted in the narrative long ago now begin to sprout.
Faithful series readers will remember the strange anomalies that were introduced as the story entered its second “season” with the coming of Altered States. Those file boxes discovered in the archive of Bletchley Park were a mind-bending twist, and dovetailed with haunting memories that began to emerge in the mind of Admiral Tovey when he again encounters this mysterious Russian ship in the North Atlantic. Yet there was something else mentioned in that segment—Alan Turing’s missing watch, which he mysteriously re-discovered deep inside one of those file boxes. There was a clue the author dropped long ago, and one that now comes forward again in this novel, when strange and macabre “incidents” begin to occur aboard Kirov. Are they forerunners to that moment of insoluble paradox Fedorov fears? This book now leads us down that darkening path.
As mentioned at the outset, it is largely a naval saga this time out, returning the story to the fertile waters that first spawned the tale. Admiral Lütjens has sailed west into the Atlantic, and Force H does not have the heavy metal to challenge the German battleships, let alone stop them. In hot pursuit comes Admiral Tovey and his allies from 2021, though they are more than 18 hours behind the action as the Hindenburg breaks out into the Atlantic. Since Kirov shifted to June of 1940, the author has been taking us through a lovingly detailed accounting of those war years, right up to the eve of Operation Barbarossa in May of 1941. Now, with the action heading out to sea, the principle WWII action there was, of course, the hunt for the Bismarck. Yet in this altered world where Kirov now sails, the power of the Kriegsmarine is many times greater.
After Hitler summarily cancels the Plan Z naval building program, Admiral Raeder is determined to do something dramatic with the ships he still has. Thus the Hindenburg , and the rest of the German ships that fought in the Med, now move to the Atlantic, and there they plan to rendezvous with the remainder of the German surface fleet, led by Kapitan Karl Topp aboard Tirpitz. Graf Zeppelin, and both Scharnhorst and Gneisenau are also assigned to that battlegroup, so you can see that we have another massive naval battle shaping up, and one that makes the actual Bismarck campaign in May of 1941 look like a small training exercise.
Yet that operation still underlies something that happens at the heart of this story, a mystery that has been slowly developed ever since Fedorov first discovered the back stairway at that railway inn during his hunt for Gennadi Orlov. Now the real hard core fans of Schettler’s many time travel books will be in for a treat. Before he first penned the breakthrough novel Kirov, Schettler wrote a quintet of time travel novels he calls the “Meridian Series,” named after the series opener by that name, which won the Silver Medal for Science Fiction “Book of the Year” in Forward Magazine’s prestigious annual competition. That book grew into a trilogy with Nexus Point and Touchstone, then finally extended to two more novels, the last of which was Golem 7, a time travel naval fiction that featured an alternate history recounting of the hunt for the Bismarck.
The Meridian Series was all about a team of researchers and scientists operating out of the Lawrence Berkeley Labs, and involved in the design and testing of a machine they called “the Arch” that plays with the universe on the quantum level, and enables travel in time. That series saw the author taking us to the deserts of Syria and Jordan with Lawrence of Arabia, to the Crusades, then to Egypt at the time of Napoleon’s invasion there, and finally to the famous battle of Tours where Charles Martel faced down the Moors to save Europe and Christendom from being overrun. The last volume was Golem 7, the naval tale that formed the warp and weave in Schettler’s imagination that eventually led him to write Kirov, simply because he still had “the naval bug” after finishing the Meridian Series.
Thank god for that!
Now, 16 volumes later in a series of books that has kept the hard core fans and “crew” of Kirov waiting for each new release, Mister Schettler begins the grand unification of both his time travel universes. Yes Meridian fans, that tantalizing mystery hook that was left at the end of Golem 7 will be revealed here in the Kirov Series through a plot line the author calls the mystery of the “Keyholders.” In fact, in Chapter 17 of Paradox Hour, the author presents a slightly revised version of a scene from Golem 7 to introduce a new historical character, then in chapter 18, he reprises segments of the final epilogue in the Meridian Series, where the mystery of that key found in the base of the Selene Horse aboard the Battleship Rodney was first introduced. That battleship, and the strange, though completely historical mission Rodney was on in carrying a store of gold bullion and the Elgin Marbles to safety in Boston, becomes the focus of the action here in Paradox Hour, as it was in the novel Golem 7, though its fate is completely different in each novel. Elena Fairchild is set on retrieving that key, and only readers of the Meridian Seriesreally know just how it went missing, and where it may end up…
Special Announcements: And More to come!
Author John Schettler has informed us that he is also working on a "secret project," something new he is writing "between Kirov novels." At the moment, it now appears that his two existing time travel universes are about to merge, and move forward into “Season Three” of the Kirov Series. Yes, dear readers, have no fear. There are desperate hours here, but season three is coming. It is coming like the tick of a clock, persistent, inevitable, fated to make its appointed round. There is simply soooooo much more story to be told. The eight books starting with Altered States only covered a year long period beginning June of 1940, and yes, now the real war begins. There is all the great action through 1943 and 1944 yet to come, the heart of the war. (More on this as we continue our author interview in the web site dedicated to Paradox Hour, to be published soon) Tick tock… It’s coming, the alternate history of the war that would not be complete without the crucial years from 1942 to 1944, and it’s going to be an amazing ride. While we cannot yet reveal anything that happens at the end of Paradox Hour, or even whether Kirov survives, you can bet there will be a twist in this next novel that you may not see coming. But while you wait for the early 2015 release of that book, those who have not yet read the Meridian Series would be wise to take a peek, because events first seeded in the final Meridian Series book now begin to bloom in Paradox Hour.
SPECIAL YEAR END KINDLE COUNTDOWN DEAL!Dec 29, 8:00am thru Dec 31 11:00pmThe prelude to events that occur in Paradox Hour will be offered at three promotional prices, starting at just $1.99 on Dec 29th.CLICK HERE
The novel that started it all now comes full circle, in Paradox Hour!
The key book you’ll want to read is that great naval campaign that started it all, Golem 7, and because each novel is a standalone story, it is easy to read as a prelude to Paradox Hour without needing to read the other four volumes that preceded it. This book is where the character of Admiral Tovey, so central to the Kirov Series, was first drawn and introduced. And the leader of the German fleet here in Paradox Hour, Admiral Lütjens, is also a prominent character in Golem 7. There are many parallels at play between the two novels, one the beginning seed that eventually led the author to write Kirov, the other the ripened fruit ready to fall on that same fertile ground of his imagination that gave us these sixteen wonderful books.
In Golem 7, you will meet the Meridian Project research team, discover how they operate in time, and what they learned was happening when two rival groups in the future begin waging “Time War” on one another in an effort to re-write the history in a way that favors their side. Through an ingenious series of widely distributed computer Aps called “Golems,” the researchers can determine where and when an intervention is being made in time. Since their facility in Berkeley was the first operational “time machine,” they remain in a unique position on the continuum to counter-operate against these adversaries in the future.
In both novels, Admirals Lütjens and Tovey ponder their strategy, and the evolution of naval tactics, and it is interesting to see how Lütjens’ views of aircraft carriers, for example, are affected by the thunder Kirov has brought into the world, not to mention the exploits of the Stuka pilots aboard Graf Zeppelin and Goeben. Another character from Golem 7 also makes an appearance in Paradox Hour, the intrepid Kapitan Herbert Wohlfarth of U-556. Wohlfarth plays a pivotal role in the alternate history Bismarck campaign, and it is interesting to see how his part has changed here in the world altered by Kirov’s earlier interventions.
The mystery that ended the Meridian Series all had to do with the discovery that the original Meridian, or time line native to the main characters, was found to be an altered state. In fact, Part VIII of Golem 7 is where the now familiar title “Altered States” first appeared. There the main characters uncover some strange events involving Wohlfarth’s attack on a British convoy, and a mysterious undersea explosion. Strangely enough, this is something the author plucked right from the historical record of that attack, an event that actually occurred. It baffled the Admiralty when reported in 1941, and stands as a perplexing and dangerous anomaly to the Meridian Project team in Golem 7, as they sort through the haystack of events surrounding the sinking of the Bismarck. The conclusion the Meridian team comes to, that their own native world may have been an altered timeline, is the same disturbing realization that Fedorov and Director Kamenski will discuss as they tackle the problem of the impending paradox Fedorov has been worried about.
All of this has to do with the haunting revelation made by Elena Fairchild at the end of Crescendo of Doom, that the signals from the future received by the Watch—the voices that had been guiding and warning them—have suddenly gone quiet. Fairchild’s admonition concerning some terrible calamity in the future is the somber note that book ended on, and though Karpov’s hunt for Ivan Volkov steals the leadoff spot in the opening of Paradox Hour, that topic is taken up again in Part III. Was this calamity actually witnessed by the crew of Kirov after they shifted to that bleak future and discovered the blackened ruins of Halifax? Or was it something more…?
As Golem 7 concludes, the project team makes this same discovery in an engaging segment where they literally call the future adversaries in the Time War on the carpet, and demand they end hostilities. But something happens at the very end of Golem 7 that has stood unanswered for many years now, while the author was busy entertaining us with the Kirov Series. It is this story thread that he now takes up again, using it to weave both time travel epics together to explore that perplexing mystery.
Like two ends of a circle in time, Golem 7 and Paradox Hour now define one another, arising mutually, like Yin and Yang. You will even note the same story telling method, and the author’s unique “voice” and prose style—all developed in the novel Golem 7, and carried through to the Kirov Series. You can clearly see how Kirovemerged and took shape in Schettler’s mind at the end of the Meridian Series, as the seed begets the stem, stalk, leaf, and flower.
Think of Golem 7 as a prelude to events that will now begin to unfold in Paradox Hour, and continue on in “Season 3” of the Kirov Series. You can “grok” this next book in the Kirov Serieseasily enough, even if you haven’t read any of the Meridian books, but when Chapter 17 of Paradox Hour introduces what appears to be just another historical figure aboard the battleship Rodney, readers of Golem 7 will smile inwardly and know what is going on. In fact, you will also know much more about those mysterious voices from the future Elena Fairchild has talked about. And for Meridian Series fans, in Paradox Hour, you will soon learn much more about the ending of that series, and that final system alert that went off in the very last paragraph of Golem 7. That long unanswered “hook” will finally begin to spin out in the engaging prose that has kept us all spellbound these last two years, as the Kirov Series made and rewrote history, the longest running Alternate History Time travel adventure ever penned. For those who have not yet read Golem 7, the Writing Shop is now releasing a special revised and edited version of that novel available now on Amazon. So start your new year with this great naval chase, and then get ready for more of the same when Paradox Hour leads us into the stormy waters of the Atlantic, and another massive naval duel where the future and past collide in a battle that may decide far more than the fate of operations at sea in WWII.
GET YOUR COPY OF GOLEM 7 HERE!
And don't miss the Kindle Countdown Deal starting Dec 29 at 8:00 am thru 11:00pm on Dec 31st, where you can get this book for as little as $1.99
On behalf of the author, and from everyone affiliated with the Writing Shop Press, we wish you a Happy New Year, with many thanks for your loyalty and support of the amazing Kirov Series, by John Schettler.
Paradox Hour is aptly named, a novel that moves the Kirov Series back out to sea, with a proverbial rendezvous with destiny waiting somewhere ahead on the turbulent waters of WWII.Throughout the many series installments, the ship’s former Navigator, and now Captain Fedorov, has hinted darkly that he expects they will soon be facing the problem and threat of a time paradox—the imminent first arrival of the ship on July 28, 1941. He reasons that this arrival musthappen, for it began the long series of time jumps we have all been reading through, taking the story to some amazing places throughout WWII, and even as far back as 1908.
If the ship does not go through this time displacement, how could he even be where he is at that moment, the result of that very journey through time? Yet how can there be two ships in the same moment, one at the beginning of this journey, and one at what may be the end? How could there be duplicates of every member of the cast and crew? That is the paradox, at least as Fedorov sees it, and he fears that time can only solve it by eliminating one ship or another, and this is where a few of those small story seeds the author planted in the narrative long ago now begin to sprout.
Faithful series readers will remember the strange anomalies that were introduced as the story entered its second “season” with the coming of Altered States. Those file boxes discovered in the archive of Bletchley Park were a mind-bending twist, and dovetailed with haunting memories that began to emerge in the mind of Admiral Tovey when he again encounters this mysterious Russian ship in the North Atlantic. Yet there was something else mentioned in that segment—Alan Turing’s missing watch, which he mysteriously re-discovered deep inside one of those file boxes. There was a clue the author dropped long ago, and one that now comes forward again in this novel, when strange and macabre “incidents” begin to occur aboard Kirov. Are they forerunners to that moment of insoluble paradox Fedorov fears? This book now leads us down that darkening path.
As mentioned at the outset, it is largely a naval saga this time out, returning the story to the fertile waters that first spawned the tale. Admiral Lütjens has sailed west into the Atlantic, and Force H does not have the heavy metal to challenge the German battleships, let alone stop them. In hot pursuit comes Admiral Tovey and his allies from 2021, though they are more than 18 hours behind the action as the Hindenburg breaks out into the Atlantic. Since Kirov shifted to June of 1940, the author has been taking us through a lovingly detailed accounting of those war years, right up to the eve of Operation Barbarossa in May of 1941. Now, with the action heading out to sea, the principle WWII action there was, of course, the hunt for the Bismarck. Yet in this altered world where Kirov now sails, the power of the Kriegsmarine is many times greater.
After Hitler summarily cancels the Plan Z naval building program, Admiral Raeder is determined to do something dramatic with the ships he still has. Thus the Hindenburg , and the rest of the German ships that fought in the Med, now move to the Atlantic, and there they plan to rendezvous with the remainder of the German surface fleet, led by Kapitan Karl Topp aboard Tirpitz. Graf Zeppelin, and both Scharnhorst and Gneisenau are also assigned to that battlegroup, so you can see that we have another massive naval battle shaping up, and one that makes the actual Bismarck campaign in May of 1941 look like a small training exercise.
Yet that operation still underlies something that happens at the heart of this story, a mystery that has been slowly developed ever since Fedorov first discovered the back stairway at that railway inn during his hunt for Gennadi Orlov. Now the real hard core fans of Schettler’s many time travel books will be in for a treat. Before he first penned the breakthrough novel Kirov, Schettler wrote a quintet of time travel novels he calls the “Meridian Series,” named after the series opener by that name, which won the Silver Medal for Science Fiction “Book of the Year” in Forward Magazine’s prestigious annual competition. That book grew into a trilogy with Nexus Point and Touchstone, then finally extended to two more novels, the last of which was Golem 7, a time travel naval fiction that featured an alternate history recounting of the hunt for the Bismarck.
The Meridian Series was all about a team of researchers and scientists operating out of the Lawrence Berkeley Labs, and involved in the design and testing of a machine they called “the Arch” that plays with the universe on the quantum level, and enables travel in time. That series saw the author taking us to the deserts of Syria and Jordan with Lawrence of Arabia, to the Crusades, then to Egypt at the time of Napoleon’s invasion there, and finally to the famous battle of Tours where Charles Martel faced down the Moors to save Europe and Christendom from being overrun. The last volume was Golem 7, the naval tale that formed the warp and weave in Schettler’s imagination that eventually led him to write Kirov, simply because he still had “the naval bug” after finishing the Meridian Series.
Thank god for that!
Now, 16 volumes later in a series of books that has kept the hard core fans and “crew” of Kirov waiting for each new release, Mister Schettler begins the grand unification of both his time travel universes. Yes Meridian fans, that tantalizing mystery hook that was left at the end of Golem 7 will be revealed here in the Kirov Series through a plot line the author calls the mystery of the “Keyholders.” In fact, in Chapter 17 of Paradox Hour, the author presents a slightly revised version of a scene from Golem 7 to introduce a new historical character, then in chapter 18, he reprises segments of the final epilogue in the Meridian Series, where the mystery of that key found in the base of the Selene Horse aboard the Battleship Rodney was first introduced. That battleship, and the strange, though completely historical mission Rodney was on in carrying a store of gold bullion and the Elgin Marbles to safety in Boston, becomes the focus of the action here in Paradox Hour, as it was in the novel Golem 7, though its fate is completely different in each novel. Elena Fairchild is set on retrieving that key, and only readers of the Meridian Seriesreally know just how it went missing, and where it may end up…
Special Announcements: And More to come!
Author John Schettler has informed us that he is also working on a "secret project," something new he is writing "between Kirov novels." At the moment, it now appears that his two existing time travel universes are about to merge, and move forward into “Season Three” of the Kirov Series. Yes, dear readers, have no fear. There are desperate hours here, but season three is coming. It is coming like the tick of a clock, persistent, inevitable, fated to make its appointed round. There is simply soooooo much more story to be told. The eight books starting with Altered States only covered a year long period beginning June of 1940, and yes, now the real war begins. There is all the great action through 1943 and 1944 yet to come, the heart of the war. (More on this as we continue our author interview in the web site dedicated to Paradox Hour, to be published soon) Tick tock… It’s coming, the alternate history of the war that would not be complete without the crucial years from 1942 to 1944, and it’s going to be an amazing ride. While we cannot yet reveal anything that happens at the end of Paradox Hour, or even whether Kirov survives, you can bet there will be a twist in this next novel that you may not see coming. But while you wait for the early 2015 release of that book, those who have not yet read the Meridian Series would be wise to take a peek, because events first seeded in the final Meridian Series book now begin to bloom in Paradox Hour.
SPECIAL YEAR END KINDLE COUNTDOWN DEAL!Dec 29, 8:00am thru Dec 31 11:00pmThe prelude to events that occur in Paradox Hour will be offered at three promotional prices, starting at just $1.99 on Dec 29th.CLICK HERE
The novel that started it all now comes full circle, in Paradox Hour!
The key book you’ll want to read is that great naval campaign that started it all, Golem 7, and because each novel is a standalone story, it is easy to read as a prelude to Paradox Hour without needing to read the other four volumes that preceded it. This book is where the character of Admiral Tovey, so central to the Kirov Series, was first drawn and introduced. And the leader of the German fleet here in Paradox Hour, Admiral Lütjens, is also a prominent character in Golem 7. There are many parallels at play between the two novels, one the beginning seed that eventually led the author to write Kirov, the other the ripened fruit ready to fall on that same fertile ground of his imagination that gave us these sixteen wonderful books. In Golem 7, you will meet the Meridian Project research team, discover how they operate in time, and what they learned was happening when two rival groups in the future begin waging “Time War” on one another in an effort to re-write the history in a way that favors their side. Through an ingenious series of widely distributed computer Aps called “Golems,” the researchers can determine where and when an intervention is being made in time. Since their facility in Berkeley was the first operational “time machine,” they remain in a unique position on the continuum to counter-operate against these adversaries in the future.
In both novels, Admirals Lütjens and Tovey ponder their strategy, and the evolution of naval tactics, and it is interesting to see how Lütjens’ views of aircraft carriers, for example, are affected by the thunder Kirov has brought into the world, not to mention the exploits of the Stuka pilots aboard Graf Zeppelin and Goeben. Another character from Golem 7 also makes an appearance in Paradox Hour, the intrepid Kapitan Herbert Wohlfarth of U-556. Wohlfarth plays a pivotal role in the alternate history Bismarck campaign, and it is interesting to see how his part has changed here in the world altered by Kirov’s earlier interventions.
The mystery that ended the Meridian Series all had to do with the discovery that the original Meridian, or time line native to the main characters, was found to be an altered state. In fact, Part VIII of Golem 7 is where the now familiar title “Altered States” first appeared. There the main characters uncover some strange events involving Wohlfarth’s attack on a British convoy, and a mysterious undersea explosion. Strangely enough, this is something the author plucked right from the historical record of that attack, an event that actually occurred. It baffled the Admiralty when reported in 1941, and stands as a perplexing and dangerous anomaly to the Meridian Project team in Golem 7, as they sort through the haystack of events surrounding the sinking of the Bismarck. The conclusion the Meridian team comes to, that their own native world may have been an altered timeline, is the same disturbing realization that Fedorov and Director Kamenski will discuss as they tackle the problem of the impending paradox Fedorov has been worried about.
All of this has to do with the haunting revelation made by Elena Fairchild at the end of Crescendo of Doom, that the signals from the future received by the Watch—the voices that had been guiding and warning them—have suddenly gone quiet. Fairchild’s admonition concerning some terrible calamity in the future is the somber note that book ended on, and though Karpov’s hunt for Ivan Volkov steals the leadoff spot in the opening of Paradox Hour, that topic is taken up again in Part III. Was this calamity actually witnessed by the crew of Kirov after they shifted to that bleak future and discovered the blackened ruins of Halifax? Or was it something more…?
As Golem 7 concludes, the project team makes this same discovery in an engaging segment where they literally call the future adversaries in the Time War on the carpet, and demand they end hostilities. But something happens at the very end of Golem 7 that has stood unanswered for many years now, while the author was busy entertaining us with the Kirov Series. It is this story thread that he now takes up again, using it to weave both time travel epics together to explore that perplexing mystery.
Like two ends of a circle in time, Golem 7 and Paradox Hour now define one another, arising mutually, like Yin and Yang. You will even note the same story telling method, and the author’s unique “voice” and prose style—all developed in the novel Golem 7, and carried through to the Kirov Series. You can clearly see how Kirovemerged and took shape in Schettler’s mind at the end of the Meridian Series, as the seed begets the stem, stalk, leaf, and flower.
Think of Golem 7 as a prelude to events that will now begin to unfold in Paradox Hour, and continue on in “Season 3” of the Kirov Series. You can “grok” this next book in the Kirov Serieseasily enough, even if you haven’t read any of the Meridian books, but when Chapter 17 of Paradox Hour introduces what appears to be just another historical figure aboard the battleship Rodney, readers of Golem 7 will smile inwardly and know what is going on. In fact, you will also know much more about those mysterious voices from the future Elena Fairchild has talked about. And for Meridian Series fans, in Paradox Hour, you will soon learn much more about the ending of that series, and that final system alert that went off in the very last paragraph of Golem 7. That long unanswered “hook” will finally begin to spin out in the engaging prose that has kept us all spellbound these last two years, as the Kirov Series made and rewrote history, the longest running Alternate History Time travel adventure ever penned. For those who have not yet read Golem 7, the Writing Shop is now releasing a special revised and edited version of that novel available now on Amazon. So start your new year with this great naval chase, and then get ready for more of the same when Paradox Hour leads us into the stormy waters of the Atlantic, and another massive naval duel where the future and past collide in a battle that may decide far more than the fate of operations at sea in WWII.
GET YOUR COPY OF GOLEM 7 HERE!
And don't miss the Kindle Countdown Deal starting Dec 29 at 8:00 am thru 11:00pm on Dec 31st, where you can get this book for as little as $1.99
On behalf of the author, and from everyone affiliated with the Writing Shop Press, we wish you a Happy New Year, with many thanks for your loyalty and support of the amazing Kirov Series, by John Schettler.
November 10, 2014
AVAILABLE NOW! Crescendo Of Doom
Book XV in the Kirov Series: by John Schettler
Crescendo of Doom
With the fate of Ivan Volkov seemingly within his grasp, Karpov makes a fateful decision concerning the back stairway at Ilanskiy. It will lead him to a titanic duel with his arch rival, and the fate of this strangely altered world now waits on the outcome.
Meanwhile, reinforced and resupplied, Rommel begins his second big offensive, this time aimed at the vital fortress port of Tobruk. With the Germans threatening to break through, General O’Conner launches a counterattack with his newly rebuilt 7th Armored Division, and the Desert Rats again summon their allies from a distant future to the call to arms.As the battle begins, Admiral Tovey learns that the powerful German battlegroup led by Lutjens on the Hindenburg is again at sea, only this time heading in a most unexpected direction. Now Volsky and Tovey conceive a daring plan that will begin one of the greatest naval chases in history. But Elena Fairchild soon realizes just why her ship has been pulled into the fires of WWII, and is determined to fulfill her charge as Watchstander G1. The revelation she makes casts the shadow of impending doom over the world, and adds an urgent edge to Tovey's quest.
The fires of war rage from the Western Desert to the lonesome wilderness of Siberia, as the action rises to a deafening crescendo of doom on the eve of the greatest military operation ever conceived—Barbarossa.
KINDLE EDITION: $4.99 TRADE PAPERBACK: Coming Soon On Createspace
Crescendo of Doom
With the fate of Ivan Volkov seemingly within his grasp, Karpov makes a fateful decision concerning the back stairway at Ilanskiy. It will lead him to a titanic duel with his arch rival, and the fate of this strangely altered world now waits on the outcome.
Meanwhile, reinforced and resupplied, Rommel begins his second big offensive, this time aimed at the vital fortress port of Tobruk. With the Germans threatening to break through, General O’Conner launches a counterattack with his newly rebuilt 7th Armored Division, and the Desert Rats again summon their allies from a distant future to the call to arms.As the battle begins, Admiral Tovey learns that the powerful German battlegroup led by Lutjens on the Hindenburg is again at sea, only this time heading in a most unexpected direction. Now Volsky and Tovey conceive a daring plan that will begin one of the greatest naval chases in history. But Elena Fairchild soon realizes just why her ship has been pulled into the fires of WWII, and is determined to fulfill her charge as Watchstander G1. The revelation she makes casts the shadow of impending doom over the world, and adds an urgent edge to Tovey's quest.
The fires of war rage from the Western Desert to the lonesome wilderness of Siberia, as the action rises to a deafening crescendo of doom on the eve of the greatest military operation ever conceived—Barbarossa.
KINDLE EDITION: $4.99 TRADE PAPERBACK: Coming Soon On Createspace
September 11, 2014
Just Released: Hammer of GOD
Kirov Saga: Hammer of God
For Die-hard fans of the Kirov Series, your 60 day fast is over! The author has again delivered on schedule and the 14th installment of this remarkable saga is available now on Amazon as an eBook, and Createspace as a Trade Paperback.
Churchill enters the story with a dramatic visit to the desert oasis of Siwa, and there he meets with the “man from tomorrow” Anton Fedorov. With Rommel retreating to the west, Paulus and Manstein convince Hitler not to abandon his Mediterranean strategy, and strong new reinforcements are assigned. At the same time, the British plan a new offensive to secure the vital Middle Eastern states of Iraq and Syria. But the Germans have plans of their own, falling like Hammer of God upon a most unexpected place when Kurt Student’s 7th Flieger Division goes into action again.
Now both sides rush reinforcements to to the growing battle in the Middle East, even as Operation Barbarossa looms like a dark storm on the horizon. The action leads Fedorov to launch a daring new plan to seize a vital hilltop fortress overlooking the ancient Roman ruins of Palmyra. Surrounded by the troops of the crack 22nd Luftland Air Landing Division, they struggle to hold on while the British drive across the Syrian desert in a race against time and fate.
Meanwhile, Karpov has plans of his own in 1909, but first he has some personal family business to sort out. He soon realizes that he now has an opportunity to re-write all the history leading up to the outbreak of WWII with a single bullet!
The war moves to the deserts of Syria in this continuation of the Grand Alliance trilogy, book 14 in the amazing Kirov Series.
EBook: $4.99 Amazon Kindle Store Trade Paperback: $4.99 Createspace Store
Kirov Saga: Hammer of God5.5" x 8.5"36 Chapters ~ 325 Pages
For Die-hard fans of the Kirov Series, your 60 day fast is over! The author has again delivered on schedule and the 14th installment of this remarkable saga is available now on Amazon as an eBook, and Createspace as a Trade Paperback.
Churchill enters the story with a dramatic visit to the desert oasis of Siwa, and there he meets with the “man from tomorrow” Anton Fedorov. With Rommel retreating to the west, Paulus and Manstein convince Hitler not to abandon his Mediterranean strategy, and strong new reinforcements are assigned. At the same time, the British plan a new offensive to secure the vital Middle Eastern states of Iraq and Syria. But the Germans have plans of their own, falling like Hammer of God upon a most unexpected place when Kurt Student’s 7th Flieger Division goes into action again.
Now both sides rush reinforcements to to the growing battle in the Middle East, even as Operation Barbarossa looms like a dark storm on the horizon. The action leads Fedorov to launch a daring new plan to seize a vital hilltop fortress overlooking the ancient Roman ruins of Palmyra. Surrounded by the troops of the crack 22nd Luftland Air Landing Division, they struggle to hold on while the British drive across the Syrian desert in a race against time and fate.
Meanwhile, Karpov has plans of his own in 1909, but first he has some personal family business to sort out. He soon realizes that he now has an opportunity to re-write all the history leading up to the outbreak of WWII with a single bullet!
The war moves to the deserts of Syria in this continuation of the Grand Alliance trilogy, book 14 in the amazing Kirov Series.
EBook: $4.99 Amazon Kindle Store Trade Paperback: $4.99 Createspace Store
Kirov Saga: Hammer of God5.5" x 8.5"36 Chapters ~ 325 Pages
July 10, 2014
JUST RELEASED: Grand Alliance
Book 13 in the Kirov Series:
GRAND ALLIANCE
Kirov Saga: Grand Alliance
As Fedorov struggles to forge an alliance of understanding between Brigadier Kinlan and General O’Connor, Rommel prepares to launch an offensive to break the last line of resistance south of Sidi Barani. While the Afrika Korps is overstretched and dangerously low on fuel, it now threatens to break through and open the road to Alexandria--and Wavell has nothing left to throw at them until...
German oasis patrols soon encounter an unexpected mechanized force massing on Rommel’s flank, and the fate of Egypt will now be decided at an insignificant desert outpost called Bir el Khamsa when the great grandsons of the Desert Rats join their ancestors on the field of honor.
Meanwhile, Volsky, Tovey and Fairchild forge a grand alliance at sea to oppose a powerful Axis fleet. The hubris of Italian General Iachino brings his force into contact with these powerful new foes as the Franco/German fleet rushes to the scene of battle. And Sergei Kirov receives a visit from Vladimir Karpov as the wily ex-Captain of Kirov seeks to further enmesh himself in the decisive campaigns about to open on the eastern front. But Karpov’s grand vision of alliances he hopes to form will soon lead him to a most unexpected place, where he will again hold the fate of nations in the palm of his hand.
Battle rages on land and sea in this opening volume of the Grand Alliance trilogy, book 13 in the amazing Kirov Series.
GET KINDLE VERSION - $4.99
QUALITY TRADE PAPERBACK - $19.99
FOR MORE INFO ON GRAND ALLIANCE
GRAND ALLIANCE
Kirov Saga: Grand Alliance
As Fedorov struggles to forge an alliance of understanding between Brigadier Kinlan and General O’Connor, Rommel prepares to launch an offensive to break the last line of resistance south of Sidi Barani. While the Afrika Korps is overstretched and dangerously low on fuel, it now threatens to break through and open the road to Alexandria--and Wavell has nothing left to throw at them until...
German oasis patrols soon encounter an unexpected mechanized force massing on Rommel’s flank, and the fate of Egypt will now be decided at an insignificant desert outpost called Bir el Khamsa when the great grandsons of the Desert Rats join their ancestors on the field of honor.
Meanwhile, Volsky, Tovey and Fairchild forge a grand alliance at sea to oppose a powerful Axis fleet. The hubris of Italian General Iachino brings his force into contact with these powerful new foes as the Franco/German fleet rushes to the scene of battle. And Sergei Kirov receives a visit from Vladimir Karpov as the wily ex-Captain of Kirov seeks to further enmesh himself in the decisive campaigns about to open on the eastern front. But Karpov’s grand vision of alliances he hopes to form will soon lead him to a most unexpected place, where he will again hold the fate of nations in the palm of his hand.
Battle rages on land and sea in this opening volume of the Grand Alliance trilogy, book 13 in the amazing Kirov Series.
GET KINDLE VERSION - $4.99
QUALITY TRADE PAPERBACK - $19.99
FOR MORE INFO ON GRAND ALLIANCE
May 10, 2014
JUST RELEASED! Kirov Saga: Three Kings
Gibraltar has fallen, the first of Three Kings that Hitler must slay if he is to defeat Great Britain, and now the war moves to the Western Desert where the British plan their first counteroffensive of the war in Operation Compass. General Richard O'Connor rises as a champion in this hour of need, but the Germans react by sending a man determined to write his legend in the sands of Libya and Egypt--Erwin Rommel.
Three Kings is the 12th installment in the popular Kirov Series, and the 4th book in the segment of the story which began with Altered States. The battlecruiser Kirov is now trapped in an alternate history of their own making, and the action now moves to the fateful year of 1941 when powerful new forces rally to oppose the looming shadow of the Third Reich.
AVAILABLE NOW!
KINDLE EDITION - $4.99
1st EDITION TRADE PAPERBACK - $19.99
Three Kings is the 12th installment in the popular Kirov Series, and the 4th book in the segment of the story which began with Altered States. The battlecruiser Kirov is now trapped in an alternate history of their own making, and the action now moves to the fateful year of 1941 when powerful new forces rally to oppose the looming shadow of the Third Reich.
AVAILABLE NOW!
KINDLE EDITION - $4.99
1st EDITION TRADE PAPERBACK - $19.99
May 7, 2014
Kirov Saga: Three Kings
Fans of the long Kirov Saga will be pleased to know that the story continues right on schedule come May 15 with the release of Volume 12, entitled Three Kings. The title has several references in this volume, one from a dark warning given by Ivan Volkov in a meeting with Adolf Hitler when the man who has been called ‘the Prophet’ tells the Führer that, to win the war, he must slay three kings. The first to fall was seen at the climax of book 11, Hinge of Fate when the Germans launched Operation Felix to storm the vital British fortress at Gibraltar. The second and third kings are Malta and Suez, the three places Fedorov insisted Britain must hold way back in Book 2, when Kirov last visited the Mediterranean, albeit in a different time line from the one now playing out in Altered States. There are other references to the meaning of the title in the story, but they can’t be disclosed here. You’ll soon see for yourself!
The Altered States trilogy that just concluded with the dramatic events presented in Hinge of Fate has covered the last six months of 1940, at a time when Britain’s fate is far from certain, eventually leading us to a major point of divergence in the war with the attack on Gibraltar. Being the fourth book after the resurrection of the saga in the Altered States trilogy, Three Kings is actually what the author calls a “bridge novel” to the next segment of the tale, a trilogy that will take us through the next six months of 1941 beginning with Volume 13, Grand Alliance. These bridge novels tend to be very character centered, as new story lines develop when the main characters react to these events and the ongoing crisis they precipitate.
Three Kings opens right where Hinge of Fate concluded, in the St. Michael’s Cave beneath the Rock of Gibraltar, and presents the final outcome of the German attack, and the sortie by Hindenburg and Bismarck as they break out towards safe ports on the French coast. Karpov also makes an appearance with a devious new plan to take his revenge on Ivan Volkov for his back stabbing betrayal after the Omsk Accords. From there, the author lays out the various plans now blooming in the minds of the War Cabinet and Admiralty, and the Devil’s Adjutant, Ivan Volkov, travels by zeppelin to meet with Hitler in Ploesti. There he warns Hitler of a dangerous man named O’Connor and tells him what he must now do to win the war.
This is a perfect setup, as the book then brings us to the Western Desert, with two prominent historical figures that will now take their moments on the stage of this vast war. Generals Wavell and O’Connor plan a desperate offensive to stave off the Italian advance into Egypt. If you are a fan of the desert war, you’ll love this one, as it is now clear that the Mediterranean and North Africa are to become the principle theater of the war as Germany pursues Admiral Raeder’s long advocated indirect strategy in an effort to defeat Great Britain before confronting Sergei Kirov’s Soviet Russia.
So break out your pith helmets, don your black berets, find those knee length khaki shorts and dust off that jeep you’ve been keeping out back. The drama, action, and color of the great seesaw battles in the Western Desert are dead ahead! This volume will cover all of Operation Compass, the offensive that began as “O’Connor’s Raid” and became much more, and the Führer doesn’t like what happens at all. Volkov warned him that O’Connor was a ‘dangerous man,’ and now he sets his own champion down on those unforgiving desert sands, none other than the legendary Erwin Rommel, out to begin writing that legend as he leads the newly formed German Afrika Korps into the desert. But this will not be your Great Grandfather’s Afrika Korps. The German control of the Western Med opens new strategic possibilities for supplying Rommel, and OKW soon sets crosshairs on the second king at Malta, a job for Kurt Student’s 7th Flieger Division. This will lead to a much stronger German presence in North Africa, posing a grave danger to Britain’s holdings in the Middle East.
With these dramatic war events underway, I will now say that there are going to be some MAJOR surprises in this volume, one that I anticipated, but others I never saw coming, and they will figure prominently in how this tale, and the war, plays out. Fasten your seat belts, because this novel continues with what will probably be the most definitive and authentic alternate history of these events ever presented, and Three Kings closes with a fantastic segment where something happens I simply cannot even begin to hint at.
As alternate histories go, this has to be one of the very best ever done. In the last six months of 1940 covered by the Altered States trilogy, we saw naval duels in the north, and action spawned from British operations aimed at the Vichy French fleet at Mers-el-Kebir and Dakar. When France joined the Axis in outrage against these attacks, it opened up all the strategic possibilities now playing out as the story proceeds. The history itself presents endless possibilities when in the hands of someone who obviously knows and loves it so well.
Schettler’s spin, in moving the modern battlecruiser Kirov to the past, not only sets up all the great naval battles we’ve been treated to in the series, but also presents him with an opportunity to really discuss that history and the ramifications of the changes he now presents. This is done largely through the continued development of Anton Fedorov, the young navigator aboard Kirov who jumped from his post and out the bridge citadel hatch to catch a glimpse of that first Fairy Fulmar that overflew the ship way back in the opening volume of the series. The Author uses Fedorov to be his voice on the history, analyzing the events and the consequences of the distorted changes now reflected in that cracked mirror, as Fedorov might put it himself. And Fedorov has also set a watch on the history he so loves, trying to find ways of getting it all back on track, which has spawned any number of exciting spec-ops raids.
We’ve followed him into Siberia, down the stairway at Ilanskiy to meet the young Sergie Kirov, into the Caspian on his hunt for Gennadi Orlov, where we got treated to a full blooded amphibious assault with modern era hovercraft led by the gritty Sergeant Troyak. The German panzer troops got a real surprise in one of my favorite volumes in the series, Fallen Angels, and there’s more actions like that battle coming due to a major event that happens in this volume. As usual, both Fedorov and Orlov have something to do with it, as the author ties all these forays into Siberia by Fedorov and Orlov together into a string of causality that leads us to a truly decisive happening here in Three Kings.
That is what is so great about the story’s intricate plot line--everything matters! What looks to be an errant weed in the devil’s garden when you first encounter it, is actually a clever story seed that returns later to find full bloom in the tale, and several seeds planted earlier begin to sprout here with dramatic new developments.
A perfect example of this was that first journey by Fedorov along the Trans Siberian Rail to look for Orlov in Men Of War… Or did it begin when Orlov decided to jump from that helicopter in Cauldron of Fire? You decide. In any case, what looked to be nothing more than a cameo appearance by the man the ship and series was named after, Sergei Kirov, has since become the entire foundation of these recent volumes that comprise the Altered States trilogy. Things happen, characters are introduced to play their roles and then they exit stage right. But they also get unexpected encores later that become essential to the outcome of the tale. This shows how carefully thought out this long, intricate plot line is, and I’ve loved every moment. I honestly cannot say there is any other series I have read with such tremendous depth, fidelity to the solid marble of the history itself, and such convincing alternate history as this master craftsman sculpts the new face of this war.
The “believability” factor of these novels is top notch, largely due to the fine tuned detail in the story. Most every historical character is a real person, and I’m not just speaking of the Admirals and Generals here. Sometimes the action will be shown through the eyes of a seemingly minor figure, like Lieutenant Dawes in the action at Gibraltar. Three Kings introduces a new minor character in the colorful figure of Vladimir Peniakoff, otherwise known as "Popski" to the British, who later went on to organize and lead the PPA, a long range raiding and demolition group known as “Popski’s Private Army.” You’ll be pleased to learn that he has a few new recruits off the battlecruiser Kirov, and Troyak and his Marines will have to brush up on their desert chops.
That’s just one thing that makes these novels ring so true. The author also goes to great lengths to cover every aspect of how the historical characters deal with the eventual knowledge that men from their own future history have returned to take up arms in this war. Admiral Tovey and Alan Turing, sleuthing the enigmatic presence of this strange ship they called Geronimo, do not finally learn the real truth of its origins and identity until the volume we have just concluded, Hinge of Fate. It isn’t just a simple treatment of “hi, we’re from the future, have a look at our iPads.” No. The author takes us inside the heads of all the historical figures as they are confronted with the terrible reality of the ship’s presence, and as they slowly weigh and sift the impossible evidence before them, we are slowly convinced with them that this is all real. It is all so skillfully done that there is no need whatsoever for the author to ask me to have a “willing suspension of disbelief.” Brother, I’m a believer, and I can’t wait now for the next volume as the story forges ahead into 1941.
Thankfully, the wait is short, and we will continue to get a new episode of the story every 60 days. Considering that these are full length novels, 36 chapters and all over 300 pages in length, that is no small achievement. And taken as a whole, the Kirov Series stands as a truly outstanding alternate retelling of WWII, with a little science fiction, a dash of time travel, mystery and intrigue, and a full cup of the history itself in loving detail. It simply hasn’t been done any better.
Kirov Series: Three Kings will be available in the kindle story by May 15, and as a quality trade Paperback from CreateSpace.
MORE ON THREE KINGS HERE
March 14, 2014
JUST RELEASED! - Kirov saga: Hinge Of Fate
The Writing Shop released the third volume in the Altered States segment of the popular Kirov Saga by John Schettler today, and it is now available in the Amazon Kindle Store here.
About: Altered States: Volume III ~ Hinge of Fate
As Alan Turing pursues the baffling discovery of the strange cache of information code named Geronimo, Admiral Volsky sails to meet with the British on the Faeroes, bearing an offer of formal alliance between Soviet Russia and Great Britain. There Tovey learns the startling truth behind the mysterious ship that has haunted him all his life.
Sergeant Troyak’s mission aboard airship Narva faces danger and mystery on the Stony Tunguska, even while elements of two other airship fleets converge on the inn at Ilanskiy—the hinge of fate.
Meanwhile, Hitler hopes to secure another vital ally so that he can breathe life into Admiral Raeder’s long advocated Mediterranean strategy. It will begin with Operation Felix the assault on Gibraltar. As Britain steels itself for possible invasion, the Royal Navy must now rally to the defense of the embattled garrison at Gibraltar, England’s Rock in the Med, another hinge of fate that could turn the entire course of the war should it fall. Opposing them are the three elite regiments of the German Army, and a resurgent Kriegsmarine led by a fearsome new gladiator, the Hindenburg.
Action, mystery and intrigue pulse through this compelling continuation of the amazing Kirov Saga!
For more information, Maps, gallery and Author Interview visit the web site for this book.
March 7, 2014
Kirov Saga: Hinge of Fate - Coming Soon!
Coming 3/15/2014
Kirov Saga: Hinge of Fate
Altered States: Volume III ~ Hinge of Fate
As Alan Turing pursues the baffling discovery of the strange cache of information code named Geronimo, Admiral Volsky sails to meet with the British on the Faeroes, bearing an offer of formal alliance between Soviet Russia and Great Britain. There Tovey finally learns the startling truth behind the mysterious ship that has haunted him all his life.
Sergeant Troyak’s mission aboard airship Narva faces danger and mystery on the Stony Tunguska, even while elements of two other airship fleets converge on the inn at Ilanskiy—the hinge of fate.
Meanwhile, Hitler hopes to secure another vital ally so that he can breathe life into Admiral Raeder’s long advocated Mediterranean strategy. It will begin with Operation Felix the assault on Gibraltar. As Britain steels itself for possible invasion, the Royal Navy must now rally to the defense of the embattled garrison at Gibraltar, England’s Rock in the Med, another hinge of fate that could turn the entire course of the war should it fall. Opposing them are the three elite regiments of the German Army, and a resurgent Kriegsmarine led by a fearsome new gladiator, the Hindenburg.
Action, mystery and intrigue pulse through this compelling continuation of the amazing Kirov Saga! Coming soon to Amazon!
Altered States: Volume III ~ Hinge of Fate
As Alan Turing pursues the baffling discovery of the strange cache of information code named Geronimo, Admiral Volsky sails to meet with the British on the Faeroes, bearing an offer of formal alliance between Soviet Russia and Great Britain. There Tovey finally learns the startling truth behind the mysterious ship that has haunted him all his life.
Sergeant Troyak’s mission aboard airship Narva faces danger and mystery on the Stony Tunguska, even while elements of two other airship fleets converge on the inn at Ilanskiy—the hinge of fate.
Meanwhile, Hitler hopes to secure another vital ally so that he can breathe life into Admiral Raeder’s long advocated Mediterranean strategy. It will begin with Operation Felix the assault on Gibraltar. As Britain steels itself for possible invasion, the Royal Navy must now rally to the defense of the embattled garrison at Gibraltar, England’s Rock in the Med, another hinge of fate that could turn the entire course of the war should it fall. Opposing them are the three elite regiments of the German Army, and a resurgent Kriegsmarine led by a fearsome new gladiator, the Hindenburg.
Action, mystery and intrigue pulse through this compelling continuation of the amazing Kirov Saga! Coming soon to Amazon!
