Island in the Sea of Time by S.M. Stirling
After a strange electrical storm, the residents of Nantucket discover that their entire island and its surrounding waters have been sent back to 1300 B.C. Now this society, which is mostly based on a tourist economy, must figure out how to establish a new identity in prehistory. This includes clearing and farming land, building ships, finding new sources of fuel, salt, and other necessities, and most difficult of all, developing a constitution and befriending native trading partners.
Fortunately, Nantucket has some citizens with valuable knowledge and skills who find themselves naturally rising to leadership positions: a brave and competent Baptist police chief, a widely-read and level-headed librarian, a black lesbian ship captain, a history professor, an astronomy student, the manager of the local grocery store, and a Catholic priest.
But of course there are also some cit... Read More
Against the Tide of Years by S.M. Stirling
It’s been several years since “the event” which pulled the island of Nantucket back in time to 1300 B.C. (We read all about this in Island in the Sea of Time, the first book in S.M. Stirling’s NANTUCKET trilogy.) The islanders have been busy learning how to live without all the modern conveniences of the 20th century. They are successfully learning how to farm and fish, breed animals, acquire fuels, build ships and dirigibles, harvest morphine from poppies, make textiles, and develop vaccines and other medical techniques. They’ve instituted a republican form of government and have begun minting coins and regulating industries such as forestry.
The islanders are sprea... Read More
On the Oceans of Eternity by S.M. Stirling
On the Oceans of Eternity is the final novel in S.M. Stirling’s NANTUCKET series. In the first novel, Island in the Sea of Time, which I really enjoyed, a strange electrical storm caused the entire island of Nantucket to be transported back in time to 1300 B.C. It was entertaining to watch the island’s citizens make this discovery and deal with the resulting personal, cultural, economic and political changes. Then, one of the citizens, William Walker, decided to use his modern knowledge and technology to attempt to establish himself as emperor in this “new” world. He left the island to search for people he could rule.
The second book, Against the Tide of Years, felt very much like a middle book. We watched the islanders trying to usher in an industrial revolution, but most of the plot fo... Read More
Honored Enemy & Murder in LaMut by Raymond E. Feist, William R. Forstchen & Joel Rosenberg
Raymond E. Feist has always been notable for his willingness to share the world of Midkemia. In all his acknowledgments and dedications, Feist notes that from its very inception the world has been a collaborative effort. His Empire trilogy was a collaboration with Janny Wurts, and the computer game Betrayal at Krondor had to be shared, by its very nature. He has returned to the tradition of collaborative effort in his Legends of the Riftwar series.
Tak... Read More
More novels by S.M. Stirling
Fifth Milennium — (1985-1992) With Shirley Meier and Karen Wehrstein. Publisher: As all in her tribe, Shkai’ra was trained from childhood with one goal in mind — efficiency in the arts of war. At the age of 19, Shkai’ra is given a mission by the elders of her tribe — cross the steppes and enslave a Mintzan city or die in disgrace.
Draka — (1988-2000) Publisher: The first novel of the rise and fall of the Drakan Empire, an alternative history saga. In ‘Marching Through Georgia’ the Draka begin their conquest of the globe as they fight and best that more obvious horror, the Nazis.
Flight Engineer — (1996-2000) With James Doohan. Publisher: Peter Raeder became the Commonwealth’s first ace pilot in the war against the secessionist Mollies. That battle cost him his hand — and his right to fly the nimble Speeds that had been his first love. Now he’s Flight Engineer on the fast carrier Invincible, a crack new ship with a picked crew, ready to fight the Mollies who control the universe’s richest anti-hydrogen mines, and the loathsome spider-like alien Fibians who have come to their aid. There are only a few problems. The pirate raiders who attack the convoy taking him to his new posting, for one. And closer to home, the traitor onboard the Invincible who engineered the grisly death of Peter’s predecessor, and who’ll kill the entire crew unless Peter can stop him….
Lords of Creation — (2006-2008) Publisher: Marc Vitrac was born in Louisiana in the early 1960’s, about the time the first interplanetary probes delivered the news that Mars and Venus were teeming with life — even human life. At that point, the “Space Race” became the central preoccupation of the great powers of the world. Now, in 1988, Marc has been assigned to Jamestown, the US-Commonwealth base on Venus, near the great Venusian city of Kartahown. Set in a countryside swarming with sabertooths and dinosaurs, Jamestown is home to a small band of American and allied scientist-adventurers. But there are flies in this ointment — and not only the Venusian dragonflies, with their yard-wide wings. The biologists studying Venus’s life are puzzled by the way it not only resembles that on Earth, but is virtually identical to it. The EastBloc has its own base at Cosmograd, in the highlands to the south, and relations are frosty. And attractive young geologist Cynthia Whitlock seems impervious to Marc’s Cajun charm. Meanwhile, at the western end of the continent, Teesa of the Cloud Mountain People leads her tribe in a conflict with the Neanderthal-like beastmen who have seized her folk’s sacred caves. Then an EastBloc shuttle crashes nearby, and the beastmen acquire new knowledge… and AK47’s. Jamestown sends its long-range blimp to rescue the downed EastBloc cosmonauts, little suspecting that the answer to the jungle planet’s mysteries may lie there, among tribal conflicts and traces of a power that made Earth’s vaunted science seem as primitive as the tribesfolk’s blowguns. As if that weren’t enough, there’s an enemy agent on board the airship… Extravagant and effervescent, The Sky People is alternate-history SF adventure at its best.
The Change (Emberverse) — (2004- ) This series is related to the Nantucket series. Publisher: An electrical storm over Nantucket causes all electronic devices to cease to function — computers, radio, even firearms-and plunges the world into a darkness humanity is unprepared to face. But as some people band together to help, others are building armies for conquest…
FIND MORE EMBERVERSE NOVELS HERE.
The Shadowspawn — (2010-2013) Publisher: First in the new Shadowspan series from the New York Times bestselling “master of speculative fiction” (Library Journal). Eons ago, Homo Lupens ruled the earth. Possessing extraordinary powers, they were the source of all of the myths and legends of the uncanny. And though their numbers have been greatly reduced, they exist still — though not as purebreds. Adrian Breze is one such being. Wealthy and reclusive, he is more Shadowspawn than human. But he rebelled against his own kind, choosing to live as an ordinary man. Now, to save humanity, he must battle the dark forces of the world-including those in his own blood…
The Peshawar Lancers — (2001) Publisher: S.M. Stirling’s acclaimed hardcover debut — and a top ten Locus bestseller for two months — The Peshawar Lancers takes readers to an alternate 21st century earth, where boats still run on steam, messages are exchanged by telegraph, and the British Empire controls much of the world from India. But the Czar of all Russias is preparing for global conquest…
Conquistador — (2003) Publisher: A new alternate history of America from the author of The Peshawar Lancers, the bestselling novel the Chicago Sun-Times called “a pleasure to read” and Harry Turtledove hailed as “first-rate adventure all the way.” 1945: An ex-marine has discovered a portal that permits him to travel between the America he knows — and a virgin America untouched by European influence. 21st century: The two realities collide…
Ice, Iron and Gold — (2007) Publisher: New York Times best-selling Author S. M. Stirling’s first collection gathers his most interesting and evocative short stories, drawn from the length of his professional career. More than 100,000 words of fiction, including an original story, make this book a must for fans of Stirling’s work. Whether Stirling is exploring alternate histories, chronicling military sf exploits, or off-kilter contemporary settings, his insightful characterizations and compelling plots are distinct and memorable.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE NOVELS BY S.M. STIRLING.
More science fiction from Jerry Pournelle and S.M. Stirling
Falkenberg’s Legion — (1989-1993) By Jerry Pournelle and S.M. Stirling. Publisher: Forced out of the CoDominium Navy, John Christian Falkenberg turns mercenary to protect the scattered Earth colonies so that civilization may survive the inevitable collapse of the home planet.
The Children’s Hour — (1989-1993) By Jerry Pournelle and S.M. Stirling. Publisher: The fastest way to get ahead in Kzin society is to cut through the endless challenges and duels to the death–and take on your father. But Chuut-Riit, Planetary Governor of occupied planet Wunderland, is teaching his kits a new way–the way of the humans. And the humans don’t like it, at all. Expanded from parts of Man-Kzin Wars II and Man-Kzin Wars III.
By S.M. Stirling & Holly Lisle
The Rose Sea — (1994) Publisher: A new quest fantasy in the spirit of Weis and Hickman by two of the most brilliant new stars of Fantasy and Science Fiction. In a world created and abandoned by the Great Ones, an obscure officer and a rancher’s daughter are brought together by war and thrown into battle against the insane demon-god of Tarin Tseld.
(1953- )
