What do you think?
The Phases of Mars #1
Those in Peril
" Those in Peril " presents some intriguing concepts by reshuffling naval history's deck of cards…Full credit to all the authors for originality!" -- Barrett Tillman, author of On Wave and The 100-Year Quest to Perfect the Aircraft Carrier Fourteen outstanding authors. Fourteen worlds that never were. Throughout the human experience, historians have wondered, “What if?” What if Japan had been on the side of the U.S. in World War II? What if things had been just a little different in the Falklands? What if Russia had started World War Three? Wonder no more, for these questions, along with many others, are answered within the pages of this book. Told by a variety of award-winning authors, like Sarah Hoyt, the 2018 Dragon Award Winner for Alternate History, and Kacey Ezell, the winner of the 2018 Baen Reader’s Choice Award, “Those in Peril,” deals with naval warfare that never happened in our world…but easily could have. The first book in the exciting new “Phases of Mars” anthology series, there is something for everyone inside! From sailing ships, to steam, to today’s modern aircraft carriers, “Those in Peril” traces several centuries of naval warfare…that wasn’t. From adding a psychic…to making a different choice of friend or foe…to something insignificant toppling a kingdom, this book has it, so come aboard and find out “what if” all of these things had changed history…just a little. You’ll be glad you did! Inside you'll Naked by Kacey Ezell Captain Bellamy’s War by Stephen J. Simmons A Safe Wartime Posting by Joelle Presby Beatty’s Folly by Philip Wohlrab Martha Coston and the Farragut Curse by Day Al-Mohamed The Blue and the Palmerston’s Ironclads by William Stroock Far Better to Dare by Rob Howell Off Long 1928 by Doug Dandridge For Want of a Pin by Sarah A. Hoyt Nothing Can Be Said Sufficient to Describe It by Meriah Crawford Corsairs and Tenzans by Philip S. Bolger For a Few Camels More by Justin Watson Per Mare Per Terram by Jan Niemczyk Fate of the Falklands by James Young
486 pages, Paperback
First published February 11, 2019
About the author
Chris Kennedy
138 books167 followersA Webster Award winner and three-time Dragon Award finalist, Chris Kennedy is a Science Fiction/Fantasy author, speaker, and small-press publisher who has written over 50 books and published more than 400 others. Get his free book, “Shattered Crucible,” at his website, https://chriskennedypublishing.com.
Called “fantastic” and “a great speaker,” he has coached hundreds of beginning authors and budding novelists on how to self-publish their stories at a variety of conferences, conventions, and writing guild presentations. He is the author of the award-winning #1 bestseller, “Self-Publishing for Profit: How to Get Your Book Out of Your Head and Into the Stores.”
Chris lives in Coinjock, North Carolina, with his wife. Follow Chris on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ckpublishing/.
Called “fantastic” and “a great speaker,” he has coached hundreds of beginning authors and budding novelists on how to self-publish their stories at a variety of conferences, conventions, and writing guild presentations. He is the author of the award-winning #1 bestseller, “Self-Publishing for Profit: How to Get Your Book Out of Your Head and Into the Stores.”
Chris lives in Coinjock, North Carolina, with his wife. Follow Chris on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ckpublishing/.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
January 27, 2024
Review to follow
February 13, 2019
Fascinating alternate history short stories! Steampunk, future tech, psyche.., based on true facts of the American Civil War, WWI, WWII. Entertaining and captivating. A true thrilling page turner. A superb narrative with a realistic description of events. It has a profound insight and characters’ in depth, so much so that I really didn’t care if it was the wrong side of the front. Both sides have always and will suffer the devastation, sorrow and death toll in all the unwanted and unholy creation of wars by humans. I enjoyed all the short reads! A great anthology! I received an early version of this book from the publisher and my review is entirely voluntary.
November 26, 2019
Few genres are more fun to read than Alternate History, and few anthologies have ever succeeded with every story being superb like Those in Peril. By its very nature the book is fast paced and the scenarios are not only well thought out, but well written by some of today's best writers. Start reading now, you won't regret it.
November 2, 2019
Short stories, about alternative military events. Most were well written, some not so much. Unless you're an expert in history most people won't know much about what did happen. What would have been very helpful is an intro before each story, similar to Jerry Pournelle in "There will be war."
May 26, 2020
This is a very good collection of alt-history short stories focused on naval warfare. I'll try (I did say "try") and give brief thoughts on the various stories:
Naked by Kacey Ezell - 8/10 stars - a bit of an odd addition to this collection, this is the lone fantasy-tinged story, as it focuses on a young woman who has psychic abilities who accompanies her photographer uncle to the South Pacific during World War 2 and ends up accompanying a PBY crew on a rescue mission, making a connection with one of the crew. I will say I found the heroine to be an amusing character and the story was both interesting and evocative, but compared to most of the rest of the stories, the alternate quality of the story was purely that one character had a magic ability, otherwise it was actually based on a real-life incident behind a famed picture.
Captain Bellamy's War by Stephen J. Simmons - 7/10 stars - this story focuses on the latter days of the Pirate Republic in the Bahamas in the early 18th century. In our history, the pirates were disbursed after King George I offered a general pardon and those who refused were hunted down (like Blackbeard). In this story the pirates choose to fight to protect their republic. My problems with this story are two-fold, I'm not a big fan of glamorizing pirates, and I'm actually playing Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag right now and it's set in exactly this setting with the same characters and I couldn't help feeling that this story was inspired by playing the game and wanting things to turn out different. This probably wouldn't have been a problem for me if I hadn't just happened to be playing it RIGHT NOW, but my interest in the Pirates of the Caribbean had already reached saturation point when I started reading this, just bad timing.
A Safe Wartime Posting by Joelle Presby - 9/10 stars - this was easily the funniest story in the collection as a rather long-suffering NCO is assigned to accompany a young Naval lieutenant who happens to be the 2nd cousin of Vice President Marshall to the German Kameroons in 1915. In the world of the story, President Wilson is in a coma following a stroke and thus the boy is sent off on a safe posting as a liaison in a backwater area where the recent European war will probably not reach. Unfortunately, the Kameroons are soon besieged by the British and the irrepressible Lt. Marshall decides to actively assist in the defense, much to his NCO's horror. This one gave me a serious Jeeves & Wooster or Lord Peter Wimsey & Bunter vibe as Lt. Marshall means well and is a clever enough chap but definitely needs looking after. Just a fun little story.
Beatty's Folly by Philip Wohlrab - 8/10 stars - set in a world where the French intervened in the American Civil War and drug out fighting in the U.S. until 1867 and in Mexico until 1872, the U.S. is much more pro-German and outright hates the French and when a convoy guarded by obsolete American battleships seeks to break the British blockade, they are sunk by Admiral Beatty, sparking off war and giving bellicose President Roosevelt the support he needs to get the U.S. Navy to complete a new class of battleships. The majority of the story follows the U.S. battle squadron as it brings the war to Britain in concert with the German naval offensive at Jutland. I liked the effort Wohlrab put into his world-building and the battles were fun, though the British are a bit cartoonish.
Martha Coston and the Farragut Curse by Day Al-Mohamed - 7/10 stars - set during the American Civil War, Martha Coston is a widow with a mind as big as a planet who has a design for a new naval signaling flare that could revolutionize nighttime naval operations, but the naval brass won't take her seriously. However, Flag Officer David Farragut is in desperate need of success as he's had a string of embarrassing failures (whereas in our history Farragut was the most successful naval officer in the Civil War, and it was no coincidence that he became the Navy's first admiral). Thanks to her flares, Farragut manages to turn things around for a while, but then his old bad luck seems to strike as the flares begin to fail. Martha is determined to discover the source of the problem and accompanies Farragut's squadron to investigate what's really going on. Martha is a likeable protagonist, and as a middle aged, widowed mother is a very different sort of genius detective. There's certainly potential there for a series of stories. On the other hand, the story never really makes sense. Farragut's successes were the result of his keen ability to plan well and to lead well in the thick of the action, but somehow we're supposed to believe a lone saboteur has somehow single-handedly undone all his efforts. No. I just don't accept that, and it was the chief reason that this didn't end up more highly rated. Also annoyed that she kept calling him "Mr. Farragut" instead of Captain Farragut.
The Blue and the Red: Palmerston's Ironclads by William Stroock - 6/10 stars - so this story is set in a world where Lord Palmerston pressed for and gained a declaration of war against the Union after the Trent Affair, and the story follows a British reporter accompanying the British expeditionary force, which includes several of Britain's new powerful ocean-going ironclads. The writing is good, but there are REAL problems with the world-building as Stroock just lavishes advantages on the British (such as giving them more ironclads than they'd actually have available at that time, making their ironclad rams actually work all the time (in reality, rams proved to be a bad idea, as seen when the C.S.S. Virginia rammed the U.S.S. Cumberland and suffered severe damage, more than the U.S.S. Monitor did to it the following day), and making them willing to send them all against the Union even though the whole point of building them was British fear of a French invasion) and makes the Union act in an utterly stupid way. Sure the British fleet was powerful, but the Union HAD 10 inch Rodman coastal guns in 1862, the Union HAD the technology and knowledge to create naval mines, the Union HAD the ability to build the Monitor in just 3 months. If the British had declared war don't you think they would've rushed to build a few more? If the British blasted Portland and Boston to pieces, don't you think the Union would've at least have tried to mine New York Harbor (the Narrows make it pretty much perfect for mining). It's just not very good alt-history. Too one-sided.
Far Better to Dare by Rob Howell - 7/10 stars - basically, this is the Battle of Santiago Bay but set a decade later as apparently the Maine Incident didn't occur, but Spanish-American tensions over Cuba built anyway and sowed the seeds for a slightly later conflict. As a result, the U.S. Navy involves more dreadnaught type battleships, but so does the Spanish Navy, which is significantly more advanced than its real-world Spanish-American War counterpart. The majority of the battle is told from the perspective of the commander of the U.S.S. Maine, which is now the oldest ship in the squadron and fairly outdated. It's interesting mostly as a depiction of the transition phase between the pre-dreadnaughts and the dreadnaught battleships.
Off Long Island: 1928 by Doug Dandridge - 8/10 stars - of the 3 stories that depict wars between the U.S. and Britain, this was the strongest as the characters seem the most realistic and unlike the other depictions, there is less of the pervading hatred for the other nation. In this story, the U.S. comes out of World War 1 less interested in playing by the rules of the new world order and balks at the idea of accepting the fleet limits that the European powers wish to impose. As a result of this, war breaks out with Britain, whose government is afraid that if it doesn't defeat the U.S. Navy now and force the United States to accept arms limitations, that the United States will soon surpass Britain as the preeminent naval power. Like "Far Better to Dare" this story is also set in a transitionary period as both fleets, though battleship-centric, are accompanied by aircraft carriers and the fleet commanders are uncertain how to effectively employ them. The complexities of this battle, the author's grasp of the technical details, and the well-balanced characters made this an excellent battle story.
For Want of A Pin by Sarah Hoyt - 8/10 stars - man, I keep running into Sarah Hoyt recently, but I also keep enjoying her stuff. This story is a bit different as it follows a young Portuguese girl who is accompanying the royal court as it flees to Brazil to escape French domination and prevent the Portuguese fleet from falling into French hands. It's largely a human interest story of being driven from your home in hopes of saving your national identity, and the alternate history doesn't come in until the end (which I won't spoil).
Nothing Can be Said Sufficient to Describe It by Meriah Crawford - 6/10 stars - this isn't a badly written story, in fact, if I rated it purely on the quality of the writing, I'd bump it up to 8/10 stars, but it REALLY doesn't belong in this anthology. The problem is that it's the story of how an English polymath in the early 18th century built a series of 3 lighthouses on Eddystone Rock. Yup, that's the entire story. It's being told in the form of a series of emails from a grandfather to his granddaughter, who's studying the polymath at William and Mary College. The alternate history here is VERY subtle, it's literally only given away by the address at the beginning and a throw-away line near the end . This only tangentially has ANYTHING to do with naval warfare, and whereas Stroock's story ticked me off but also made me think about why it ticked me off (and thus, while I was pissed at it, I also kind of enjoyed it, in a twisted way as it got me thinking of and researching alt-history scenarios, which I love to do), this one just felt like it didn't belong in the collection.
Corsairs and Tenzans by Philip S. Bolger (a Hobbit?) - 8/10 stars - this is one of the more dramatically alternate histories in the set. In this story the U.S. and Japan are fighting side-by-side to counter the fascist powers, who have conquered Europe and Africa and are now pushing towards the Pacific. That's right Japan is not an Axis power. WHAT!?! Well, although it's vaguely mentioned here, Japan's path towards war with the United States was paved by a series of military coup attempts in the 1920's and 1930's which ultimately led to the reduction of the civilian government to a mere puppet of the Army General Staff, the Army, once in control, dramatically expanded Japan's imperial ambitions, setting off the Sino-Japanese War of 1937 and cultivating ties with the fascist powers in Europe. In this story, loyalists appear to have stopped the army from seizing as much power and while the Japanese still have puppet states in Manchukuo and the Philippines (no idea how that happened), Japanese-American tensions never quite reached the same levels as our universe and with the fascists running rampant and Britain defeated, the two have no choice but to work together against their common enemies. So it is that a mixed Japanese-American force under the overall command of Admiral Yamato is sent to defeat an axis fleet entering the Indian Ocean. Apart from the fact that the Axis actually has a small carrier contingent (something neither Germany nor Italy managed during World War 2, thankfully), the ships in this story are wholly historic, just grouped in a very unusual combination. Not the best writing in the collection, but a very interesting and well-developed concept.
For A Few Camels More by Justin Watson - 9/10 stars - if I thought Corsairs and Tenzans was an interesting idea, this one goes a step further. This story is set a few years after the end of the Pacific War, the U.S. is still occupying Japan, but with the French Vichy regime trying to reestablish control of Indochina, the U.S. is looking for deniable means to counter them and help their allies, the Viet Minh consolidate power after their recent victories over the colonial government, without getting into a war with the fascist powers of Europe (the European War and the Pacific War having remained separate, with the U.S. winning against Japan in much the same way as in our history while the Nazis and their allies were victorious in Europe). As such, the CIA offers to hire a veteran Japanese sub captain and a crew of volunteers to operate one of the surviving late war Japanese subs and target a Vichy reinforcement convoy. This one was a treat, the setting is intriguing as it's got the Cold War tension but with the U.S. facing off against the fascists, and largely facing them alone apart from handfuls of exiles and mercenaries. The professional and war-hardened Japanese submariners are great, the action is tense and well-written. Just really great stuff. If this was expanded into a book, I'd buy it.
Per Mare Per Terram by Jan Niemczyk - 7/10 stars - an interesting story about a NATO counter-offensive against Soviet forces in northern Norway in a WW3 scenario set in 2005 if the USSR never fell, but a strange addition to the collection as it's mostly ground warfare by British Marines. Still well-told, just not really naval warfare apart from some amphib ops. Apparently this is a selection from a longer novel.
Fate of the Falklands by James Young - 8/10 stars - in our history the Brits were INCREDIBLY lucky how many things worked out in the Falklands War. Sure their forces were more advanced, but they pulled off a bunch of sketchy operations that somehow worked and the Argentineans pretty much gave up halfway in, holding back their land-based air and withdrawing their carrier because they were stunned by British successes and didn't want to give the British reason to expand the scope of the conflict (or worse, give Chile an opportunity to invade). In this story, nothing goes the way the British wanted, and the result is a clash between the British naval expedition and the Argentine Navy and Air Force. This is a well-researched and very interesting story and probably the most plausible one in the whole set.
Wow, there you go, sorry about going off a bit on Stroock's story (I had to edit my ranting down considerably because I ran out of space), it wasn't actually bad it just was too one-sided in its concept, though I bet Brits would probably feel much the same about Beatty's Folly. Overall, a really good alt-history collection and I'm looking forward to the reading the other two volumes (which I already have, they're very reasonably priced on Amazon).
Naked by Kacey Ezell - 8/10 stars - a bit of an odd addition to this collection, this is the lone fantasy-tinged story, as it focuses on a young woman who has psychic abilities who accompanies her photographer uncle to the South Pacific during World War 2 and ends up accompanying a PBY crew on a rescue mission, making a connection with one of the crew. I will say I found the heroine to be an amusing character and the story was both interesting and evocative, but compared to most of the rest of the stories, the alternate quality of the story was purely that one character had a magic ability, otherwise it was actually based on a real-life incident behind a famed picture.
Captain Bellamy's War by Stephen J. Simmons - 7/10 stars - this story focuses on the latter days of the Pirate Republic in the Bahamas in the early 18th century. In our history, the pirates were disbursed after King George I offered a general pardon and those who refused were hunted down (like Blackbeard). In this story the pirates choose to fight to protect their republic. My problems with this story are two-fold, I'm not a big fan of glamorizing pirates, and I'm actually playing Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag right now and it's set in exactly this setting with the same characters and I couldn't help feeling that this story was inspired by playing the game and wanting things to turn out different. This probably wouldn't have been a problem for me if I hadn't just happened to be playing it RIGHT NOW, but my interest in the Pirates of the Caribbean had already reached saturation point when I started reading this, just bad timing.
A Safe Wartime Posting by Joelle Presby - 9/10 stars - this was easily the funniest story in the collection as a rather long-suffering NCO is assigned to accompany a young Naval lieutenant who happens to be the 2nd cousin of Vice President Marshall to the German Kameroons in 1915. In the world of the story, President Wilson is in a coma following a stroke and thus the boy is sent off on a safe posting as a liaison in a backwater area where the recent European war will probably not reach. Unfortunately, the Kameroons are soon besieged by the British and the irrepressible Lt. Marshall decides to actively assist in the defense, much to his NCO's horror. This one gave me a serious Jeeves & Wooster or Lord Peter Wimsey & Bunter vibe as Lt. Marshall means well and is a clever enough chap but definitely needs looking after. Just a fun little story.
Beatty's Folly by Philip Wohlrab - 8/10 stars - set in a world where the French intervened in the American Civil War and drug out fighting in the U.S. until 1867 and in Mexico until 1872, the U.S. is much more pro-German and outright hates the French and when a convoy guarded by obsolete American battleships seeks to break the British blockade, they are sunk by Admiral Beatty, sparking off war and giving bellicose President Roosevelt the support he needs to get the U.S. Navy to complete a new class of battleships. The majority of the story follows the U.S. battle squadron as it brings the war to Britain in concert with the German naval offensive at Jutland. I liked the effort Wohlrab put into his world-building and the battles were fun, though the British are a bit cartoonish.
Martha Coston and the Farragut Curse by Day Al-Mohamed - 7/10 stars - set during the American Civil War, Martha Coston is a widow with a mind as big as a planet who has a design for a new naval signaling flare that could revolutionize nighttime naval operations, but the naval brass won't take her seriously. However, Flag Officer David Farragut is in desperate need of success as he's had a string of embarrassing failures (whereas in our history Farragut was the most successful naval officer in the Civil War, and it was no coincidence that he became the Navy's first admiral). Thanks to her flares, Farragut manages to turn things around for a while, but then his old bad luck seems to strike as the flares begin to fail. Martha is determined to discover the source of the problem and accompanies Farragut's squadron to investigate what's really going on. Martha is a likeable protagonist, and as a middle aged, widowed mother is a very different sort of genius detective. There's certainly potential there for a series of stories. On the other hand, the story never really makes sense. Farragut's successes were the result of his keen ability to plan well and to lead well in the thick of the action, but somehow we're supposed to believe a lone saboteur has somehow single-handedly undone all his efforts. No. I just don't accept that, and it was the chief reason that this didn't end up more highly rated. Also annoyed that she kept calling him "Mr. Farragut" instead of Captain Farragut.
The Blue and the Red: Palmerston's Ironclads by William Stroock - 6/10 stars - so this story is set in a world where Lord Palmerston pressed for and gained a declaration of war against the Union after the Trent Affair, and the story follows a British reporter accompanying the British expeditionary force, which includes several of Britain's new powerful ocean-going ironclads. The writing is good, but there are REAL problems with the world-building as Stroock just lavishes advantages on the British (such as giving them more ironclads than they'd actually have available at that time, making their ironclad rams actually work all the time (in reality, rams proved to be a bad idea, as seen when the C.S.S. Virginia rammed the U.S.S. Cumberland and suffered severe damage, more than the U.S.S. Monitor did to it the following day), and making them willing to send them all against the Union even though the whole point of building them was British fear of a French invasion) and makes the Union act in an utterly stupid way. Sure the British fleet was powerful, but the Union HAD 10 inch Rodman coastal guns in 1862, the Union HAD the technology and knowledge to create naval mines, the Union HAD the ability to build the Monitor in just 3 months. If the British had declared war don't you think they would've rushed to build a few more? If the British blasted Portland and Boston to pieces, don't you think the Union would've at least have tried to mine New York Harbor (the Narrows make it pretty much perfect for mining). It's just not very good alt-history. Too one-sided.
Far Better to Dare by Rob Howell - 7/10 stars - basically, this is the Battle of Santiago Bay but set a decade later as apparently the Maine Incident didn't occur, but Spanish-American tensions over Cuba built anyway and sowed the seeds for a slightly later conflict. As a result, the U.S. Navy involves more dreadnaught type battleships, but so does the Spanish Navy, which is significantly more advanced than its real-world Spanish-American War counterpart. The majority of the battle is told from the perspective of the commander of the U.S.S. Maine, which is now the oldest ship in the squadron and fairly outdated. It's interesting mostly as a depiction of the transition phase between the pre-dreadnaughts and the dreadnaught battleships.
Off Long Island: 1928 by Doug Dandridge - 8/10 stars - of the 3 stories that depict wars between the U.S. and Britain, this was the strongest as the characters seem the most realistic and unlike the other depictions, there is less of the pervading hatred for the other nation. In this story, the U.S. comes out of World War 1 less interested in playing by the rules of the new world order and balks at the idea of accepting the fleet limits that the European powers wish to impose. As a result of this, war breaks out with Britain, whose government is afraid that if it doesn't defeat the U.S. Navy now and force the United States to accept arms limitations, that the United States will soon surpass Britain as the preeminent naval power. Like "Far Better to Dare" this story is also set in a transitionary period as both fleets, though battleship-centric, are accompanied by aircraft carriers and the fleet commanders are uncertain how to effectively employ them. The complexities of this battle, the author's grasp of the technical details, and the well-balanced characters made this an excellent battle story.
For Want of A Pin by Sarah Hoyt - 8/10 stars - man, I keep running into Sarah Hoyt recently, but I also keep enjoying her stuff. This story is a bit different as it follows a young Portuguese girl who is accompanying the royal court as it flees to Brazil to escape French domination and prevent the Portuguese fleet from falling into French hands. It's largely a human interest story of being driven from your home in hopes of saving your national identity, and the alternate history doesn't come in until the end (which I won't spoil).
Nothing Can be Said Sufficient to Describe It by Meriah Crawford - 6/10 stars - this isn't a badly written story, in fact, if I rated it purely on the quality of the writing, I'd bump it up to 8/10 stars, but it REALLY doesn't belong in this anthology. The problem is that it's the story of how an English polymath in the early 18th century built a series of 3 lighthouses on Eddystone Rock. Yup, that's the entire story. It's being told in the form of a series of emails from a grandfather to his granddaughter, who's studying the polymath at William and Mary College. The alternate history here is VERY subtle, it's literally only given away by the address at the beginning and a throw-away line near the end . This only tangentially has ANYTHING to do with naval warfare, and whereas Stroock's story ticked me off but also made me think about why it ticked me off (and thus, while I was pissed at it, I also kind of enjoyed it, in a twisted way as it got me thinking of and researching alt-history scenarios, which I love to do), this one just felt like it didn't belong in the collection.
Corsairs and Tenzans by Philip S. Bolger (a Hobbit?) - 8/10 stars - this is one of the more dramatically alternate histories in the set. In this story the U.S. and Japan are fighting side-by-side to counter the fascist powers, who have conquered Europe and Africa and are now pushing towards the Pacific. That's right Japan is not an Axis power. WHAT!?! Well, although it's vaguely mentioned here, Japan's path towards war with the United States was paved by a series of military coup attempts in the 1920's and 1930's which ultimately led to the reduction of the civilian government to a mere puppet of the Army General Staff, the Army, once in control, dramatically expanded Japan's imperial ambitions, setting off the Sino-Japanese War of 1937 and cultivating ties with the fascist powers in Europe. In this story, loyalists appear to have stopped the army from seizing as much power and while the Japanese still have puppet states in Manchukuo and the Philippines (no idea how that happened), Japanese-American tensions never quite reached the same levels as our universe and with the fascists running rampant and Britain defeated, the two have no choice but to work together against their common enemies. So it is that a mixed Japanese-American force under the overall command of Admiral Yamato is sent to defeat an axis fleet entering the Indian Ocean. Apart from the fact that the Axis actually has a small carrier contingent (something neither Germany nor Italy managed during World War 2, thankfully), the ships in this story are wholly historic, just grouped in a very unusual combination. Not the best writing in the collection, but a very interesting and well-developed concept.
For A Few Camels More by Justin Watson - 9/10 stars - if I thought Corsairs and Tenzans was an interesting idea, this one goes a step further. This story is set a few years after the end of the Pacific War, the U.S. is still occupying Japan, but with the French Vichy regime trying to reestablish control of Indochina, the U.S. is looking for deniable means to counter them and help their allies, the Viet Minh consolidate power after their recent victories over the colonial government, without getting into a war with the fascist powers of Europe (the European War and the Pacific War having remained separate, with the U.S. winning against Japan in much the same way as in our history while the Nazis and their allies were victorious in Europe). As such, the CIA offers to hire a veteran Japanese sub captain and a crew of volunteers to operate one of the surviving late war Japanese subs and target a Vichy reinforcement convoy. This one was a treat, the setting is intriguing as it's got the Cold War tension but with the U.S. facing off against the fascists, and largely facing them alone apart from handfuls of exiles and mercenaries. The professional and war-hardened Japanese submariners are great, the action is tense and well-written. Just really great stuff. If this was expanded into a book, I'd buy it.
Per Mare Per Terram by Jan Niemczyk - 7/10 stars - an interesting story about a NATO counter-offensive against Soviet forces in northern Norway in a WW3 scenario set in 2005 if the USSR never fell, but a strange addition to the collection as it's mostly ground warfare by British Marines. Still well-told, just not really naval warfare apart from some amphib ops. Apparently this is a selection from a longer novel.
Fate of the Falklands by James Young - 8/10 stars - in our history the Brits were INCREDIBLY lucky how many things worked out in the Falklands War. Sure their forces were more advanced, but they pulled off a bunch of sketchy operations that somehow worked and the Argentineans pretty much gave up halfway in, holding back their land-based air and withdrawing their carrier because they were stunned by British successes and didn't want to give the British reason to expand the scope of the conflict (or worse, give Chile an opportunity to invade). In this story, nothing goes the way the British wanted, and the result is a clash between the British naval expedition and the Argentine Navy and Air Force. This is a well-researched and very interesting story and probably the most plausible one in the whole set.
Wow, there you go, sorry about going off a bit on Stroock's story (I had to edit my ranting down considerably because I ran out of space), it wasn't actually bad it just was too one-sided in its concept, though I bet Brits would probably feel much the same about Beatty's Folly. Overall, a really good alt-history collection and I'm looking forward to the reading the other two volumes (which I already have, they're very reasonably priced on Amazon).
December 27, 2022
As usual when there's a compilation of shorts, some were amazing and made me want to look up more from the authors, some were fine but not to my taste. I skipped two after enduring about 10 min of each. If you like very longwinded and detailed descriptions of cannons and ships, this may be more to your taste, but in short stories especially I prefer a quick dive into the plot and there were just too many stories that sounded more like the buyer's/user's manual for a battleship. I listened to the Audible edition and the reader was a very unfortunate choice - terrible pronunciations and worse accents. All three stars are for the content only, not the reader.
May 30, 2019
So first, a few thoughts on Those in Peril as a whole: I really enjoyed it. Then again, it's an Alternate History anthology featuring navies and naval combat and I've loved Alt Hist since I was first introduced to the concept. With the exception of the first story, it appears to have been set up in chronological order. I loved that about it. There is no continuity per se as each story has a separate Point of Departure and they don't work as a continuous story. That's okay though, and it's a lot easier to follow a bunch of different stories if they're in a definable order and you can get your brain to follow things in a logical order, if that makes sense.
I'm a big fan of the Dama. She's one of the main authors in the Four Horsemen Universe and I'm a member of the fan club. So when Those in Peril opened with "Naked," a story by Kacey Ezell I got excited, especially since I really liked Minds of Men, the first book in her Pscyche of War series and this is a story set in the same universe. I was not disappointed. Psychic women and warfare go together like peas and carrots or Forrest and Jenny. I read this one twice just because I could.
her Pscyche of War series and this is a story set in the same universe. I was not disappointed. Psychic women and warfare go together like peas and carrots or Forrest and Jenny. I read this one twice just because I could.
Up next is "Captain Bellamy's War,"by Stephen J. Simmons. a story in which the English pirates in the Bahamas declare independence and found their own nation. You can't beat a story that includes the phrase "Admiral Blackbeard." It's just not physically possible. But...
But...
It's a short. It needs to be a novel.
I WANT THIS TO BE A NOVEL.
*POUT*
*SIGH*
I guess Mick Jagger was right.
I can't always get what I want.
*WHINE*
NOT FAIR!!!
Well...
If Stephen J. Simmons gets it written and published, I promise him one guaranteed sale.
After that, we get "A Safe Wartime Posting" by Joelle Presby. It's the story of a guy sent out to keep the president's nephew from getting himself in trouble and features a setting with the US and Germany allied in fighting World War I. I really enjoyed this one. I could totally see Woodrow Wilson pulling a stunt like this, too.
"Beatty's Folly" by Philip Wohlrahb is another story about the US fighting against the British during World War I. It features an angry Theodore Roosevelt and that's a concept that should be more than a little bit frightening. It's predicated on the fact that France assisted the South during the US Civil War and kept the fighting going until 1867. The US supports a rebellion in Ireland. Lots of stuff goes boom. It's a good time.
"Martha Coston and the Farragut Curse" by Day Al-Mohamed is the story of Martha Coston and her invention of signal flares. I like this story because it brings up a good point about naval warfare and history in general: It is often the usung person that saves the day. In this case, it's a woman who knows a lot of chemistry. It also helps that she's no one's fool and pays attention to what is going on around her. Hold on: Could I have enjoyed this story so much because I like sciency females? Nahh...
"The Blue and the Red: Palmerston's Ironclads" is another story about the English and Americans trying to kill each other on the water, only this time with a twist: The main character is a reporter who gets captured. I had fun with this one. Often in military history and/or fiction we read about the bond between all warriors but something that nearly always gets left out is that people outside the military form bonds too. This is a story (at least in some ways) about the bond between reporters. It features plenty of fighting to keep your bloodlust sated too.
"Far Better to Dare" by Rob Howell is the US vs. Spain ala the Spanish and American War only later in history and with better technology. We get a view from the deck of an American battleship. I find it interesting as well that they Americans in the story are able to identify only the class of their enemies and not the exact ships. It's the type of thing I'd seen in Star Trek a million times but I hadn't considered that it would work that way in the real world. That's a good bit of added realism that was really cool.
"Off Long Island: 1928" by Doug Dandridge is the story of a British and American war set in the late 1920s and a particular battle contained therein. I like this story a lot, both for the action and because the author included a conversation at the beginning that really helped place this story in context of a war that never actually happened. I really wish that there was a novel to go with this one.
Ahoy! A new Sarah Hoyt novel has been sighted off the port bow! That has me excited because I'm a fan and it's been awhile. "For Want of a Pin" is the story of a young girl from Portugal (where Hoyt grew up) fleeing an invasion by France and headed to Brazil. It's more character driven than combat driven, but I've always liked that about Hoyt's writing and this story is no exception.
"Nothing Sufficient Can Be Said to Describe It" by Meriah Crawford is the story of a man and his Grandaughter conversing about a battle he has been researching. Maybe it's just the historian in me, or maybe I'm going soft in my old age, but I really enjoyed this one. This story really has an episodic feel to it because of the letters and the breaks between them. I enjoyed it.
"Corsairs and Tenzans" Philip S. Bolger is the story of the US and Japan united in Alliance against Nazi Germany. I find the concept of an "Oahu Pact" to be fascinating. This is another one I'd like to see turned into a novel. I don't really like Germany's chances in a naval war against either country, quite frankly, but it'd be fun to watch them get taken down. Yamamoto Isoroku having a conversation with Chester Nimitz gave me goosebumps. Well done Bolger!
"For a Few Camels More" by Justin Watson is the story of a Japanese submarine and her crew doing mercenary work after the end of the Second World War. This one has plenty of suspense and intrigue to go along with some actual combat. I have a soft spot for mercenary stories to begin with but this is a good story because of more than just that.
NATO Capitalist Running Pig-Dogs versus the Soviet Red Menace! "Per Mare Per Terram" by Jan Niemczyk is a story of the fight I wanted as a kid. It is also the story of the fight I feared would come as a kid. I'm from Detroit and we were a major industrial target. The thought of extreme heat followed by a mushroom cloud was on that freaked me out from way before I was old enough to actually be thinking of any such thing. Niemczyk may have set his story a couple of decades later, but it still scratches that itch for me.
Reading the blurb after the story, I realized that this was part of a novel. I went to Amazon to buy said novel. Then I realized that it wasn't there because it's a web novel, so I clicked the link. I couldn't get access. Does anyone know how I can access this novel? I need to know how it ends.
I'm a James Young fan. Stories like "Fate of the Falklands" are why. The Falklands War is not something that is well known by American audiences but it should be. The fight doesn't turn out the way you'd expect (I mean, it's alt hist right?) but this is a damn good story. I've read it twice. I'll probably read it again.
All in all I really enjoyed this anthology. There may have been a few more stories centered around a war between the US and UK than was technically necessary, but I think that's just me whining because it made the work harder to review. (Seriously, two stories about the US and UK fighting are easy to differentiate if you've read the whole story. They're not so easy to differentiate in a paragraph as part of a review. Hopefully I did a decent job.) That much having been said, it's still a great book that's worth your time and money. I'm really looking forward to To Slip the Surly Bonds, the next anthology in the series.
I'm a big fan of the Dama. She's one of the main authors in the Four Horsemen Universe and I'm a member of the fan club. So when Those in Peril opened with "Naked," a story by Kacey Ezell I got excited, especially since I really liked Minds of Men, the first book in her Pscyche of War series and this is a story set in the same universe. I was not disappointed. Psychic women and warfare go together like peas and carrots or Forrest and Jenny. I read this one twice just because I could.
her Pscyche of War series and this is a story set in the same universe. I was not disappointed. Psychic women and warfare go together like peas and carrots or Forrest and Jenny. I read this one twice just because I could.
Up next is "Captain Bellamy's War,"by Stephen J. Simmons. a story in which the English pirates in the Bahamas declare independence and found their own nation. You can't beat a story that includes the phrase "Admiral Blackbeard." It's just not physically possible. But...
But...
It's a short. It needs to be a novel.
I WANT THIS TO BE A NOVEL.
*POUT*
*SIGH*
I guess Mick Jagger was right.
I can't always get what I want.
*WHINE*
NOT FAIR!!!
Well...
If Stephen J. Simmons gets it written and published, I promise him one guaranteed sale.
After that, we get "A Safe Wartime Posting" by Joelle Presby. It's the story of a guy sent out to keep the president's nephew from getting himself in trouble and features a setting with the US and Germany allied in fighting World War I. I really enjoyed this one. I could totally see Woodrow Wilson pulling a stunt like this, too.
"Beatty's Folly" by Philip Wohlrahb is another story about the US fighting against the British during World War I. It features an angry Theodore Roosevelt and that's a concept that should be more than a little bit frightening. It's predicated on the fact that France assisted the South during the US Civil War and kept the fighting going until 1867. The US supports a rebellion in Ireland. Lots of stuff goes boom. It's a good time.
"Martha Coston and the Farragut Curse" by Day Al-Mohamed is the story of Martha Coston and her invention of signal flares. I like this story because it brings up a good point about naval warfare and history in general: It is often the usung person that saves the day. In this case, it's a woman who knows a lot of chemistry. It also helps that she's no one's fool and pays attention to what is going on around her. Hold on: Could I have enjoyed this story so much because I like sciency females? Nahh...
"The Blue and the Red: Palmerston's Ironclads" is another story about the English and Americans trying to kill each other on the water, only this time with a twist: The main character is a reporter who gets captured. I had fun with this one. Often in military history and/or fiction we read about the bond between all warriors but something that nearly always gets left out is that people outside the military form bonds too. This is a story (at least in some ways) about the bond between reporters. It features plenty of fighting to keep your bloodlust sated too.
"Far Better to Dare" by Rob Howell is the US vs. Spain ala the Spanish and American War only later in history and with better technology. We get a view from the deck of an American battleship. I find it interesting as well that they Americans in the story are able to identify only the class of their enemies and not the exact ships. It's the type of thing I'd seen in Star Trek a million times but I hadn't considered that it would work that way in the real world. That's a good bit of added realism that was really cool.
"Off Long Island: 1928" by Doug Dandridge is the story of a British and American war set in the late 1920s and a particular battle contained therein. I like this story a lot, both for the action and because the author included a conversation at the beginning that really helped place this story in context of a war that never actually happened. I really wish that there was a novel to go with this one.
Ahoy! A new Sarah Hoyt novel has been sighted off the port bow! That has me excited because I'm a fan and it's been awhile. "For Want of a Pin" is the story of a young girl from Portugal (where Hoyt grew up) fleeing an invasion by France and headed to Brazil. It's more character driven than combat driven, but I've always liked that about Hoyt's writing and this story is no exception.
"Nothing Sufficient Can Be Said to Describe It" by Meriah Crawford is the story of a man and his Grandaughter conversing about a battle he has been researching. Maybe it's just the historian in me, or maybe I'm going soft in my old age, but I really enjoyed this one. This story really has an episodic feel to it because of the letters and the breaks between them. I enjoyed it.
"Corsairs and Tenzans" Philip S. Bolger is the story of the US and Japan united in Alliance against Nazi Germany. I find the concept of an "Oahu Pact" to be fascinating. This is another one I'd like to see turned into a novel. I don't really like Germany's chances in a naval war against either country, quite frankly, but it'd be fun to watch them get taken down. Yamamoto Isoroku having a conversation with Chester Nimitz gave me goosebumps. Well done Bolger!
"For a Few Camels More" by Justin Watson is the story of a Japanese submarine and her crew doing mercenary work after the end of the Second World War. This one has plenty of suspense and intrigue to go along with some actual combat. I have a soft spot for mercenary stories to begin with but this is a good story because of more than just that.
NATO Capitalist Running Pig-Dogs versus the Soviet Red Menace! "Per Mare Per Terram" by Jan Niemczyk is a story of the fight I wanted as a kid. It is also the story of the fight I feared would come as a kid. I'm from Detroit and we were a major industrial target. The thought of extreme heat followed by a mushroom cloud was on that freaked me out from way before I was old enough to actually be thinking of any such thing. Niemczyk may have set his story a couple of decades later, but it still scratches that itch for me.
Reading the blurb after the story, I realized that this was part of a novel. I went to Amazon to buy said novel. Then I realized that it wasn't there because it's a web novel, so I clicked the link. I couldn't get access. Does anyone know how I can access this novel? I need to know how it ends.
I'm a James Young fan. Stories like "Fate of the Falklands" are why. The Falklands War is not something that is well known by American audiences but it should be. The fight doesn't turn out the way you'd expect (I mean, it's alt hist right?) but this is a damn good story. I've read it twice. I'll probably read it again.
All in all I really enjoyed this anthology. There may have been a few more stories centered around a war between the US and UK than was technically necessary, but I think that's just me whining because it made the work harder to review. (Seriously, two stories about the US and UK fighting are easy to differentiate if you've read the whole story. They're not so easy to differentiate in a paragraph as part of a review. Hopefully I did a decent job.) That much having been said, it's still a great book that's worth your time and money. I'm really looking forward to To Slip the Surly Bonds, the next anthology in the series.
April 18, 2019
Those in Peril: Book One of The Phases of Mars
I obtained this book through the Kindle Unlimited program. Sadly, I have allowed six weeks to go by between downloading the book, and getting this review written. I offer my apologies to the authora, editors, and publishers, and beg your pardon.
Now, I have something else to make known to you: I know NOTHING about naval warfare. I DO have an uncle (Cecil) who was a career sailor, but if I ever met him, I don't recall it. And my own experience with Things On The Water includes one cruise ship, some time on a house boat, and trying to learn how to ski at age 14. Other than that, it's all bathing-suit experience. Well, I DID play Battleship at one time.
But I don't know what a cruiser is, nor what makes something a battleship. I know submarines go UNDER the water, and I'm pretty sure aircraft carriers are the key to modern naval power. I know PT boats are small, and that there are such things as destroyers and frigates. Could not provide you with any other detail.
Thus, I missed some of the significance of some of the stories. I WISH THEY HAD INCLUDED AN APPENIX WITH PICTURES, TONNAGE, WATTAGE, SHIPPAGE, OR WHATEVER THEY USE TO DESCRIBE THEM!
Sorry. But, except for Uncle Cecil, the aforementioned sailor, and Uncle Andrew Lee who was a Marine, we have all been Army.
And that's why I really could not award the fifth star. There is NOTHING wrong with the stories; they just aren't a match for me.
Preface by Chris Kennedy. I don't normally review a Preface, but in this case, I'll point out that Kennedy uses the opportunity to let us know that there are additional volumes, dealing with war in the air and war on the ground. I look forward to those, because I actually might have a clue.
Naked by Kacey Ezell. Ok, first of all, I NEVER AGAIN wish to write 'Naked' and 'Kacey Ezell' in the same sentence. I already adore the young lady's writing, and helicopter pilots have an extra-special place in my heart, due to experiences recounted elsewhere. So, let's NOT edge the kindly grandfather into the dirty old man category, shall we? Having gotten that one out of the way, this story in the Minds of Men universe pays tribute to the character of those who risk all for others, and to one young man in particular, via hyperlink.
Captain Bellamy’s War by Stephen J. Simmons. Here's one of those stories I simply don't have the background to appreciate. As an adventure story, it works, if you like pirate stories. Regretfully, I do not have the knowledge of the history of the Caribbean to even know if this is a real event, or a nicely done alternate history.
A Safe Wartime Posting by Joelle Presby. WWI was SUCH a screwed up mess; it likely wouldn't have taken much for this story to have reflected the alliances which appeared. There WAS a significant pro-German faction in the US. This particular story speculates on an alternative alliance and confrontation in Africa.
Beatty’s Folly by Philip Wohlrab. Even though I DON'T know a dreadnought from a donut, I still enjoyed this story. It appears that this history diverged from our timeline with an intervention by France in the Civil War. US vs Britain.
Martha Coston and the Farragut Curse by Day Al-Mohamed . A bit of a combination of chemical/technical whiz-bang, along with an exposition of why women shouldn't be fettered.
The Blue and the Red: Palmerston’s Ironclads by William Stroock. A British journalist becomes a war correspondent during another US vs Britain story.
Far Better to Dare by Rob Howell. Howell is SUCH a good story-teller, and he blends the real with the fictional in this story of a sea battle off the coast of Cuba.
Off Long Island: 1928 by Doug Dandridge. US v Britain; air power is a factor in this one; as in, discover a lovely new way to die, with millions credits worth of the wrong hardware.
For Want of a Pin by Sarah Hoyt. Quite a bit of a heart-breaker, here. Little children are ALWAYS the most innocent victims of war-time devastation. Usually, that comes in another form, but it's true in this case as well.
Nothing Can Be Said Sufficient to Describe It by Meriah Crawford. I'm not quite sure what to make of this one. As it happens, I just watched a documentary of the Eddystone Lighthouses, and I can't make out what the 'alternative' part of this story is. It's a great story, though, but it will never work as fiction, because it is too unbelievable.
Corsairs and Tenzans by Philip S. Bolger. The Japanese and the Americans ally against the Germans. Empire building always results in a clash.
For a Few Camels More by Justin Watson. The 'camels' referenced here are not the four-legged variety, but a cigarette, much appreciated by a Japanese sub commander. I can't reveal ANY of the twists that make this a great story, So, just read it.
Per Mare Per Terram by Jan Niemczyk. WWII didn't work out so great, and the Soviets are being nasty.
Fate of the Falklands by James Young. Yup, it's about the Falklands. And it's a good story. However, once again my ignorance of history and military hardware prevent me from seeing the divergence. I THINK this is a story about the perils of not keeping current with military hardware.
Verdict: some I liked more than others, but good reading throughout. Too many times, I just didn't have the depth of knowledge to appreciate what I was reading. I think you should get it, though, even if you DON'T know a boat from a broom. If you have to, you can always look up the terms, right? I do wish they had added that appendix, though...
I obtained this book through the Kindle Unlimited program. Sadly, I have allowed six weeks to go by between downloading the book, and getting this review written. I offer my apologies to the authora, editors, and publishers, and beg your pardon.
Now, I have something else to make known to you: I know NOTHING about naval warfare. I DO have an uncle (Cecil) who was a career sailor, but if I ever met him, I don't recall it. And my own experience with Things On The Water includes one cruise ship, some time on a house boat, and trying to learn how to ski at age 14. Other than that, it's all bathing-suit experience. Well, I DID play Battleship at one time.
But I don't know what a cruiser is, nor what makes something a battleship. I know submarines go UNDER the water, and I'm pretty sure aircraft carriers are the key to modern naval power. I know PT boats are small, and that there are such things as destroyers and frigates. Could not provide you with any other detail.
Thus, I missed some of the significance of some of the stories. I WISH THEY HAD INCLUDED AN APPENIX WITH PICTURES, TONNAGE, WATTAGE, SHIPPAGE, OR WHATEVER THEY USE TO DESCRIBE THEM!
Sorry. But, except for Uncle Cecil, the aforementioned sailor, and Uncle Andrew Lee who was a Marine, we have all been Army.
And that's why I really could not award the fifth star. There is NOTHING wrong with the stories; they just aren't a match for me.
Preface by Chris Kennedy. I don't normally review a Preface, but in this case, I'll point out that Kennedy uses the opportunity to let us know that there are additional volumes, dealing with war in the air and war on the ground. I look forward to those, because I actually might have a clue.
Naked by Kacey Ezell. Ok, first of all, I NEVER AGAIN wish to write 'Naked' and 'Kacey Ezell' in the same sentence. I already adore the young lady's writing, and helicopter pilots have an extra-special place in my heart, due to experiences recounted elsewhere. So, let's NOT edge the kindly grandfather into the dirty old man category, shall we? Having gotten that one out of the way, this story in the Minds of Men universe pays tribute to the character of those who risk all for others, and to one young man in particular, via hyperlink.
Captain Bellamy’s War by Stephen J. Simmons. Here's one of those stories I simply don't have the background to appreciate. As an adventure story, it works, if you like pirate stories. Regretfully, I do not have the knowledge of the history of the Caribbean to even know if this is a real event, or a nicely done alternate history.
A Safe Wartime Posting by Joelle Presby. WWI was SUCH a screwed up mess; it likely wouldn't have taken much for this story to have reflected the alliances which appeared. There WAS a significant pro-German faction in the US. This particular story speculates on an alternative alliance and confrontation in Africa.
Beatty’s Folly by Philip Wohlrab. Even though I DON'T know a dreadnought from a donut, I still enjoyed this story. It appears that this history diverged from our timeline with an intervention by France in the Civil War. US vs Britain.
Martha Coston and the Farragut Curse by Day Al-Mohamed . A bit of a combination of chemical/technical whiz-bang, along with an exposition of why women shouldn't be fettered.
The Blue and the Red: Palmerston’s Ironclads by William Stroock. A British journalist becomes a war correspondent during another US vs Britain story.
Far Better to Dare by Rob Howell. Howell is SUCH a good story-teller, and he blends the real with the fictional in this story of a sea battle off the coast of Cuba.
Off Long Island: 1928 by Doug Dandridge. US v Britain; air power is a factor in this one; as in, discover a lovely new way to die, with millions credits worth of the wrong hardware.
For Want of a Pin by Sarah Hoyt. Quite a bit of a heart-breaker, here. Little children are ALWAYS the most innocent victims of war-time devastation. Usually, that comes in another form, but it's true in this case as well.
Nothing Can Be Said Sufficient to Describe It by Meriah Crawford. I'm not quite sure what to make of this one. As it happens, I just watched a documentary of the Eddystone Lighthouses, and I can't make out what the 'alternative' part of this story is. It's a great story, though, but it will never work as fiction, because it is too unbelievable.
Corsairs and Tenzans by Philip S. Bolger. The Japanese and the Americans ally against the Germans. Empire building always results in a clash.
For a Few Camels More by Justin Watson. The 'camels' referenced here are not the four-legged variety, but a cigarette, much appreciated by a Japanese sub commander. I can't reveal ANY of the twists that make this a great story, So, just read it.
Per Mare Per Terram by Jan Niemczyk. WWII didn't work out so great, and the Soviets are being nasty.
Fate of the Falklands by James Young. Yup, it's about the Falklands. And it's a good story. However, once again my ignorance of history and military hardware prevent me from seeing the divergence. I THINK this is a story about the perils of not keeping current with military hardware.
Verdict: some I liked more than others, but good reading throughout. Too many times, I just didn't have the depth of knowledge to appreciate what I was reading. I think you should get it, though, even if you DON'T know a boat from a broom. If you have to, you can always look up the terms, right? I do wish they had added that appendix, though...
June 9, 2021
An interesting collection of alternative history tales dealing with naval encounters. the quality of writing is pretty good throughout and in general, the stories don't disappoint.
On the positive side, I particularly enjoyed some of the scenarios put forward. As a bit of a battleship geek, it was fascinating to see the Bismark go up against the Yamamoto in an alternative WW2 where the Japanese sided with the Americans. As well as seeing the Pirates of the Caribbean setting up their own state rather than falling to the British Crown. Also, the two setups where the American and British navies ended up facing each other were interesting if disappointing that we Brits lost both times, maybe as they were written by Americans influenced that.
Negatives are minor, the majority of the book deals with 20th-century wars. I would have prefered more historical tales to balance them. In a couple of cases, the level of detail concerning the techniques of war did bog down a few of the stories. Detail can be informing but sometimes it was too much and I found I was wanting to skip pages.
Overall a good read if you're into alternative histories and military combat. I have already bought the two follow up volumes dealing with air and land wars.
On the positive side, I particularly enjoyed some of the scenarios put forward. As a bit of a battleship geek, it was fascinating to see the Bismark go up against the Yamamoto in an alternative WW2 where the Japanese sided with the Americans. As well as seeing the Pirates of the Caribbean setting up their own state rather than falling to the British Crown. Also, the two setups where the American and British navies ended up facing each other were interesting if disappointing that we Brits lost both times, maybe as they were written by Americans influenced that.
Negatives are minor, the majority of the book deals with 20th-century wars. I would have prefered more historical tales to balance them. In a couple of cases, the level of detail concerning the techniques of war did bog down a few of the stories. Detail can be informing but sometimes it was too much and I found I was wanting to skip pages.
Overall a good read if you're into alternative histories and military combat. I have already bought the two follow up volumes dealing with air and land wars.
Read
February 15, 2019A Massive That’s What! To Quell the What If?
These Nautical Tales will satisfyingly spark your imagination (and in at least one case left my jaw on the floor)! Each story will provoke your perceptions with thoughtful, thrilling, engrossing and entertaining reinventions of what was and what could have been. I often found myself researching to refresh what I knew, and confirm what I didn’t! There’s plenty of imagination and research on display here. This volume gets my full 5 stars and I'm eagerly awaiting the other "Phases of Mars".
These Nautical Tales will satisfyingly spark your imagination (and in at least one case left my jaw on the floor)! Each story will provoke your perceptions with thoughtful, thrilling, engrossing and entertaining reinventions of what was and what could have been. I often found myself researching to refresh what I knew, and confirm what I didn’t! There’s plenty of imagination and research on display here. This volume gets my full 5 stars and I'm eagerly awaiting the other "Phases of Mars".
February 15, 2019
A superb anthology of alternate history
With an excellent stable of authors, and good editing, this collection of short stories will take you on a hell of a ride. From pirates to world war 2, these authors dont just ask what if, they take you there and show you what could have been.
With an excellent stable of authors, and good editing, this collection of short stories will take you on a hell of a ride. From pirates to world war 2, these authors dont just ask what if, they take you there and show you what could have been.
February 24, 2019
A+ Alternate History
Great stories, based on a lot of realistic what if this changed. It was refreshing to read alt history stories that were very plausible, realistic, lots of action, and well written.
Great stories, based on a lot of realistic what if this changed. It was refreshing to read alt history stories that were very plausible, realistic, lots of action, and well written.
February 20, 2019
Nice Collection
Some really great stories here! I'm a sucker for alt history and naval warfare; I'm looking forward to more in this series.
Some really great stories here! I'm a sucker for alt history and naval warfare; I'm looking forward to more in this series.
March 27, 2019
Fun stories!
These were all a lot of fun to read. Some were a little too much 'what If' but they were all good.
These were all a lot of fun to read. Some were a little too much 'what If' but they were all good.
April 29, 2019
A nice assortment of histories. I particularly appreciated Kacey Ezell's Naked which focused on a PBY crew; My uncle flew a PBY during ww2.
October 1, 2019
Some good, others, not so much.
Like above, some good others hard to get thru and finish. What do you expect from a collection? "Salvage title" is a good story, go read it.
Like above, some good others hard to get thru and finish. What do you expect from a collection? "Salvage title" is a good story, go read it.
September 3, 2020
What an amazing collection of short stories. A must read for any naval history buff.
January 13, 2021
There were some interesting twists on how history may have differed if certain alliances / combatants had not occurred.
July 5, 2024
A quite good collection of variations on the themes of historic sea and amphibious landings.
February 11, 2023
Battles, like history, can turn on luck or circumstances going in a particular way. The stories found in Those in Peril, a collection of naval-themed alternate-history war stories, are cases in point. From a united pirate front against a British fleet in the 18th century to very different Second World Wars and Cold Wars, the authors across these fourteen tales present fleets that never were, battles never fought, and developments that could have turned the tide of these imagined conflicts. Highlights include For a Few Camels More (imagining an alternate Cold War with post-WWII Japanese submarines) and Fate of the Falklands (which, in telling an alternate history tale, reveals how unlikely the real-life 1982 conflict is with hindsight and a knowledge of the opposing forces). While, as with many anthologies, one or two stories aren't as successful or out of place, Those in Peril remains a fine collection of nautical encounters that might have been.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews