Alternate History Fiction

One of the great works of the 20th century, Kafka's The Trial has been read as a study of political power, a pessimistic religious parable, or a crime novel where the accused man is himself the problem. In it, a man wakes up one morning to find himself under arrest for an offence which is never explained. Faced with this ambiguous but threatening situation, Josef K. gradually succumbs to its psychological pressure.

The year is 1895. London is scared. A killer haunts the city's streets. The poor are hungry. Crime bosses are taking control. The police force is stretched to the breaking point. The rich turn to Sherlock Holmes, but the celebrated private detective rarely visits the densely populated streets of South London, where the crimes are sleazier and the people are poorer. In the dark corner of Southwark, victims turn to a man who despises Holmes, his wealthy clientele, and his showy forensic approach to crime: Arrowood.

1923 in Midland, Texas, and Miss Dara falls in love with her best friend - who also happens to be a girl. Terrified, Miss Dara takes a job at Sugar Land Prison for men, hoping to keep her secret attractions under lock and key. Once there, she befriends inmate and soon-to-be legendary blues singer Leadbelly, who sings his way out (true story) - but only after he makes her promise to free herself from her own prison. Sugar Land is a triumphant, beautiful debut novel about the heart’s refusal to be denied what the heart wants.

When monster-hunter Malcolm MacFarlane comes across the gruesome aftermath of a ritual murder in a London church, he enlists the help of magician-scribe Simon Archer and alchemist extraordinaire Kate Anstruther. Studying the macabre scene, they struggle to understand obscure clues in the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics carved into the victim’s heart—as well as bizarre mystical allusions to the romantic poetry of William Blake. One thing is clear: Some very potent black magic is at work.

When Grace gets invited to an ‘experience’ south of the Mason-Dixon line, she’s more than a bit skeptical. She’s never visited the Confederate States of America in her life. But when her best friend talks her into going, she gets cautiously excited. It’s supposed to be a fun, enlightening experience, the likes of which she’s never contemplated.

Apollo 32, commanded by career astronaut Vivian Carter, docks at NASA's Columbia Station in lunar orbit en route to its main mission: exploring the volcanic Marius Hills region of the Moon. Vivian is caught in the crossfire as four Soviet Soyuz craft appear without warning to assault the orbiting station. In an unplanned and desperate move, Vivian spacewalks through hard vacuum back to her Lunar Module and crew, and escapes right before the station falls into Soviet hands.

En 1895, un matériau miraculeux a été identifié : la cavorite, un métal capable d'annuler la gravité. On en a découvert d'énormes gisements. Par conséquent le XXe siècle s'est ouvert sur la conquête des airs et de l'espace. Des paquebots plaqués de cavorite survolent les océans mais aussi les terres, reliant les grandes capitales et appontant aux quatre tours Eiffel parisiennes ; d'autres voguent jusqu'à une Mars colonisée. Vingt-cinq ans après, le couperet est tombé : la cavorite a une durée de vie limitée.

From New York Times best-seller and science fiction and fantasy mistress of adventure Mercedes Lackey, together with a team of topnotch collaborators, comes Book Two in The Secret World Chronicle, a pulse-pounding saga of superpowers - and the very human men and women who must learn to wield them without losing themselves in the process.

As opulent and passionate as the 18th century it celebrates, Through a Glass Darkly will sweep you away to the splendors of a lost era. From aristocrats to scoundrels, its rich, vivid characters create their own immortality. Here is the story of a great family ruled by a dowager of extraordinary power; of a young woman seeking love in a world of English luxury and French intrigue; and of a man haunted by a secret that could turn all dreams to ashes.

Angels eagerly watch over Ann Fletcher's every move. She just doesn't know it yet. When Ann Fletcher returns to Charleston to see her younger sister, Sarah, receive her master’s degree, she finds herself riding in the back of an ambulance, watching helplessly as Sarah fights for life. During the ride, Sarah appears to talk to someone who is not there, humming a melody Ann has never heard before. Neighbor Ethan McKinney lends a shoulder when Sarah unexpectedly dies. And as a carpenter, Ethan volunteers to help Ann get the Fletcher family home into shape for selling.

It is 1889 and The Scottish Play is coming home. But before the darling couple of London theatre, Henry Irving and Ellen Terry, take their acclaimed Macbeth to the Edinburgh stage terror treads the boards. A grisly message found smeared across the cobbles in blood, foretelling someone's demise. As the bloody prophecies continue to appear Edinburgh's own beloved pair - Detective 'Nine-Nails' McGray and Inspector Ian Frey - enter the scene.

Sultana, a Muslim woman living in colonial India, falls asleep and wakes up in a transformed future world: a utopia in which men rather than women are relegated to the domestic sphere. Women, now free to explore the outside world at will and pursue an education, run a peaceful and just society, using scientific principles to harvest energy from the sun and live in harmony with nature. Sultana’s Dream was published in 1905 in the Indian Ladies Magazine, the first English language periodical edited by, and targeted at, Indian women. Like the periodical, the story broke new ground.

From "a major new talent" (George R. R. Martin) comes an epic speculative novel of revolution, adventure, and the struggle for free will set in a world that might have been, of mechanical men and alchemical dreams. My name is Jax. That is the name granted to me by my human masters. I am a slave. But I shall be free.

In the thrilling conclusion to Generation Z, Peter Meredith has created a work of unsurpassed vision, power, and imagination. The Queen Unchained transports us to a world filled with zombies that are unlike any we have ever experienced before. But there are worse things than the undead. The Black Captain emerges victorious at every turn.

Victoria-Margaret is the crown princess of the empire, a direct descendent of Victoria I, the queen who changed the course of history. The imperial tradition of genetically arranged matchmaking will soon guide Margaret into a politically advantageous marriage. But before she does her duty, she'll have one summer of freedom and privacy in a far corner of empire.

Hugo and Nebula Award winner Joe Haldeman ranks among the greatest science fiction authors to ever live. This thrilling entry from his Marsbound saga finds the mysterious alien Others prohibiting humans from space travel by destroying Earth’s fleet of starships in a display of unimaginable power. But Carmen Dula, the first human to encounter the Others, is determined to find a way to reclaim the future that has been stolen from humankind.

Aegis’s battle against Damocles ended with the Shield of Justice presumed dead and the President of the United States in a coma. As Aegis's friends and allies cope with this devastating loss, a new authoritarian regime rises to brand all superheroes as public enemies. In truth, Hugo Malalou (Aegis) is now a stranger in a strange and dangerous land, living someone else’s life. He has to find his way home in time to stop this sinister regime’s plan to wipe out all superhumans. With the fate of the country and his peers on his shoulders, Hugo cannot afford to fail.

In the 21st century, Germany's Third Reich continues to thrive after its victory in World War II - keeping most of Europe and North America under its heel. But within the heart of the Nazi regime, a secret lives. Under a perfect Aryan facade, Jews survive - living their lives, raising their families, and fearing discovery....

The Ark was built to save the lives of the many but rapidly became a refuge for the elite, the entrance closed without warning. Years after the Ark was cut off from the world - a world much like our own, but in which slavery has never existed - a chance of survival within the Ark's confines is granted to a select few who can prove their worth. Among their number is Markriss Denny, whose path to future excellence is marred only by a closely guarded secret: Without warning, his spirit leaves his body, allowing him to see and experience a world far beyond his physical limitations.

Teenager Staci's father has just remarried, and now she finds herself being shunted aside by her new stepmother. Shunted all the way to the run-down and dying Maine town of Silence, in fact, and the custody of her alcoholic mother. It gets worse. Silence seems to be stuck in the proverbial stone age. There's no cell phone service except at the very top of a bluff outside of town, no internet except dial-up, and not one familiar franchise or business.