Never Was Magazine

[Never Was Magazine]

The Two Georges

The Two Georges is rich in action scenes and locations, but lackluster in its plot and worldbuilding.

The two most common alternate-history settings are ones based on World War II and the American Civil War. Bringing up a distant third are those based upon the American War of Independence, one of which is The Two Georges by author Harry Turtledove and Academy Award-winning actor Richard Dreyfuss.

The history presented within the novel is kept deliberately vague in favor of a globetrotting…

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[Never Was Magazine]

Declare

Tom Powers brings together the worlds of mysticism and spycraft in Declare

The world of espionage is one filled with secrets, of things that are deemed by one group or another to be worth killing over. They can be weapons or pieces of information or research facilities or other things of that nature. What unites all of that is their vital importance to somebody’s security.

The world of mysticism is also filled with secrets. There are fraternities and orders and other…

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[Never Was Magazine]

The Sightless City

Our review of Noah Lemelson’s #steampunk novel The Sightless City

Politics, science, intrigue, the supernatural and a murder mystery that seems to be at the heart of it. It sounds like an excellent combo and, yes, at first glance The Sightless City seems to have it all. But while the concept is good, the execution leaves a lot to be desired.

It’s the same old story: warring states, races that don’t get along and an evil mega corporation with an evil mastermind…

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[Never Was Magazine]

In the Presence of Mine Enemies

Harry Turtledove throws doubt on the notion that Nazi Germany was inherently violent in “In the Presence of Mine Enemies”

We alternate historians, and the broader popular culture more generally, rightfully think of Nazi Germany as being an incredibly violent place. You had Jewish shops being smashed on Kristallnacht after the Reichstag was set ablaze. You had bloody street brawls between Nazis and Nationalists and Social Democrats and Communists. You had political dissidents tortured in Dachau. All of this was…

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[Never Was Magazine]

Dominion

Review of C.J. Sansom’s Dominion

The very conceit of a German victory in World War II is in and of itself a cliché in our online alternate-history communities. However, mainstream published authors have an annoying tendency (speaking as someone with approaching ten years in the online community) to not realize that fact. It feels like every few years, some mainstream author comes out with a new take on the subject that non-genre…

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[Never Was Magazine]

Under the Bright Saharan Sky

Lyssa Medana follows up her impressive debut novel with another spectacular #steampunk adventure: Under the Bright Saharan Sky

Under the Bright Saharan Sky is Lyssa Medana’s sequel to her fantastic debut novel, Out of the London Mist. We return to the characters of that novel as they go on a new adventure. I finished my review of Out of the London Mist with a wish that these characters would make the Saharan expedition mentioned in the book. To my great pleasure, they do just that in Under the Bright Saharan Sky.

Think…

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[Never Was Magazine]

Resurrection Day

America in the aftermath of World War 3: Review of Brendan Dubois’ Resurrection Day

In my stead as the administrator of the Alternate History Online group on Facebook, whenever I see a question involving the Cold War going nuclear in any way, I post a black-and-white GIF of flowers blooming with the caption “everybody dies.” I concluded when I was on an episode of the Alternate History Show with Ben Kearns and Colin Salt that it is hard to make a story where the Cold War goes…

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