Historical Fiction Science History

They're an iconic part of history's most celebrated birth. But what do we really know about the Three Kings of the Nativity, besides the fact that they followed a star to Bethlehem bearing strange gifts? The Bible has little to say about this enigmatic trio. But leave it to Seth Grahame-Smith, the brilliant and twisted mind behind Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies to take a little mystery, bend a little history, and weave an epic tale.

The people of the principality of Liechtenstein have long wished for independence, but the Empire has always had its own plans for the country. The neighboring states, meanwhile, have kept a constant eye on the principality, as if it were their own property. What's more, the internal conflicts between the country's aristocrats have shown no sign of abating. Was it really a good idea to stir up this hornets' nest? Well . . . they only have themselves to blame!

Sharpe's Escape takes place in the summer of 1810, once again in the Peninsular War. The French are mounting their third and most dangerous invasion of Portugal. Captain Richard Sharpe with his company of redcoats and riflemen meets the invaders on the gaunt ridge of Bussaco. But there, despite a stunning British victory, the French are not stopped and the army have to fall back.

Ninth century Iceland. Three explorers from the far future have a daunting mission: To save humanity, they must build a craft capable of reaching the stars. The Voyage of The Iron Dragon is the concluding book in The Iron Dragon trilogy. The Iron Dragon trilogy is being produced as part of the phenomenally successful saga of The Iron Dragon Kickstarter, which raised over $10,000. Meticulously researched and packed with action, The Dream of The Iron Dragon is a must for sci-fi and alternate history fans.

All her life, 19-year-old Liesl has heard tales of the beautiful, mysterious Goblin King. He is the Lord of Mischief, the Ruler Underground, and the muse around which her music is composed. Yet, as Liesl helps shoulder the burden of running her family's inn, her dreams of composition and childish fancies about the Goblin King must be set aside in favor of more practical concerns. But when her sister Kathe is taken by the goblins, Liesl journeys to their realm to rescue her sister and return her to the world above.

"Work Sets You Free" by David Barnett is an original short story featuring the protagonist of the forthcoming novel Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl. Gideon is a young fisherman in Yorkshire, England, in an alternate 1890, who embarks on a journey to find Captain Lucian Trigger, the famed Hero of the Empire, to deal with a mystery plaguing his home village.

Tragedy has struck His Majesty's Aerial Corps, whose magnificent fleet of fighting dragons and their human captains valiantly defends England’s shores against the encroaching armies of Napoleon Bonaparte. An epidemic of unknown origin and no known cure is decimating the noble dragons’ ranks—forcing the hopelessly stricken into quarantine. Now only Temeraire and a pack of newly recruited dragons remain uninfected—and stand as the only means of an airborne defense against France's ever bolder sorties.

In the first months of 1936, Adolf Hitler risked everything by ordering his untrained military to reoccupy the Rhineland. It was a bluff. The Germans would have been forced to retreat if the French or British had offered the slightest opposition. But the bluff succeeded. History changed decisively. Hitler quieted the opposition at home, and marched the world relentlessly on, to the edge of destruction and beyond.

Blending history and fantasy, The Amarna Age series is set in 18th Dynasty Egypt where the old gods have been worshipped for thousands of years and magic is a matter of belief. For listeners of historical fantasy who enjoy magical realism and an ancient world setting.

Like the tentacles of an octopus, the railroad in California reached out across the state, grasping everything of value in the state. Based on the bloody Mussel Slough Tragedy - a conflict between wheat farmers and the Southern Pacific Railroad - The Octopus is a stunning novel chronicling the twilight of the frontier West. A depiction of the tensions between the railroad, the ranchers, and the ranchers’ League. The book emphasizes the control of “forces” - such as the power of railroad monopolies - over individuals.

Wien in den Jahren 1910/11 und 1923-25. Im Mittelpunkt von Doderers Großstadtroman steht der Amtsrat und Major a. D. Melzer. Doch nicht nur sein Leben wird hier erzählt. Es sind die kleinen und großen Geschichten, die Dialoge und Reflexionen zahlreicher Akteure aus der Wiener Gesellschaft, die das Besondere dieses Romans ausmachen.

Tink and his sister Bee-Lung are traveling the world via air-canoe, spreading the spores of a mysterious empathy-generating fungus. Through these spores, they seek to build bonds between people and help spread revolutionary sentiments of socialism and equality—the very ideals that led to Everfair's founding.

Saint Petersburg, 1812. Russian forces have defeated Napoleon at great cost, and the tsar's empire is once again at peace. Sasha, a captain in the imperial army, returns home to Grand Duke Felix, the disgraced second son of the tsar and his irrepressibly charming lover, but their reunion is quickly interrupted by the arrival of Sofia, a mysteriously persuasive figure whose disruptive presence Sasha suspects to be something more than human. Felix, insisting that Sasha's old-fashioned superstitions are misplaced, takes Sofia into his confidence.

The Aaruans may have magic, but they have seen nothing like the Earthlings' guns. Hunted by the Remulan Empire for their knowledge, Ben, Louisa, Abu, and the soldiers of the 13th Bengal Lancers must find a way home or become pawns in the struggle for ultimate power. All they need to do is survive being guests of a race of immortal pseudo-humans known as the welves, outwit a Remulan Emperor who descends from Julius Caesar, and decipher the cryptic language of a long-vanished alien race, all before the threat of the world-ending Lamentations becomes a reality.

New York Times bestselling authors Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen conclude their inventive trilogy with Never Call Retreat, a remarkable answer to the great "what if" of the American Civil War: Could the South have indeed won?

In an island nation divided against itself, governed by a larger island to the east whose monarch is Elizabeth the Great, there have been decades of war. As ancient Irish clans fought to preserve their lands and their way of life, the Queen and her generals fought to tame the wild land and make it English.

Kip Penfold's apprenticeship as the first nonhuman sorcerer begins with exploring the ruins left by the vicious attack on Prince George's College of Sorcery some months before. This gruesome task results in a clue that takes him to London, but the closer he gets to the identity of the attacker, the closer the mysterious attacker gets to him.

The American Revolution of 1817 has begun, and Kip Penfold’s talents as a fire sorcerer make him a valuable weapon. He and his friends are swept into the conflict, taking the side of the rebels because they hope to win a better life in the new country.

An untested group of Shield-Brethren initiates stand before the sprawling Mongol army in a bloody circus of sadistic violence, while a hardened company of their finest roam the desolate wasteland of the Mongol empire, wrapping their dead in blood-soaked soil and struggling to find the strength to fight even as they mourn. The warrior-monks, both in the East and the West, sharpen their swords for a final battle. The Khan of Khans must be slain if Christendom is to survive.

A shocking discovery in a Native American burial ground in present-day North Carolina reveals a history-changing link to ancient Rome. In 55 B.C. the Roman Senate orders their most honored general, Demetrius Varinica, to cease mourning his wife and return to Rome to lead a fleet on an ill-fated invasion. The general and a handful of survivors from the devastated Fifteenth Legion wash up on an unknown shore and find themselves in a terrifying new world where every moment is a battle to stay alive.