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    Alt Hist Issue 3: The Magazine of Historical Fiction and Alternate History
    Alt Hist Issue 3: The Magazine of Historical Fiction and Alternate History
    Alt Hist Issue 3: The Magazine of Historical Fiction and Alternate History
    Ebook93 pages1 hour

    Alt Hist Issue 3: The Magazine of Historical Fiction and Alternate History

    By Mark Lord

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    About this ebook

    ‘The second issue of Alt Hist magazine builds on the solid basis of the first issue, bringing a collection of historical fiction and alternate histories from a broad cross-section of history. There are some wonderful stories among them.’
    SFCrowsnest, www.sfcrowsnest.com
    ‘engaging and well-written short stories with a historical setting that portray actual events or events that could have happened’
    Fantasy Book Review, www.fantasybookreview.co.uk
    Alt Hist is the leading biannual magazine dedicated to publishing the very best short stories from the historical fiction and alternate history genres.
    The third issue of Alt Hist includes two stories about the American Civil War, one about the great Tesla, a tale of post-war revenge set in Dublin, and a compelling story about the early years of the space race.
    Full list of stories and authors:
    ‘A Light in the Darkness’ by Ian Sales
    ‘Dublin Can Be Heaven’ by Séamus Sweeney
    ‘Riders on the Storm’ by Arlan Andrews
    ‘Bummers’ by Matthew Warner
    ‘To The Stars’ by Brooks Rexroat

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAlt Hist Press
    Release dateNov 5, 2011
    ISBN9781465753168
    Alt Hist Issue 3: The Magazine of Historical Fiction and Alternate History
    Author

    Mark Lord

    Mark Lord studied Medieval Studies at the University of Birmingham and wrote his M. Phil. Thesis on Medieval Alliterative Poetry. Since then he has worked in publishing and writes historical fiction, fantasy and science fiction in his spare time.Mark is the author of the novels Hell has its Demons, The Return of the Free and numerous short stories. He is also editor of the popular Alt Hist magazine - one of the few literary magazines to focus exclusively on historical fiction and alternate history.He lives in Hertfordshire with his family.

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      Book preview

      Alt Hist Issue 3 - Mark Lord

      Alt Hist Issue 3

      Edited by Mark Lord

      Published by Tipping Point Publishing at Smashwords

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Copyright 2011.

      All fiction works are copyright the respective authors. All other material is copyright Mark Lord.

      Contents

      About Alt Hist

      Editorial

      A Light in the Darkness by Ian Sales

      Dublin Can Be Heaven by Séamus Sweeney

      Riders on the Storm by Arlan Andrews

      Bummers by Matthew Warner

      To the Stars by Brooks Rexroat

      About Alt Hist

      Submissions

      Fiction

      We have three simple criteria:

      1. Must be a short piece of fiction — under 10,000 words

      2. It must be either historical fiction, historical fantasy or alternate history

      3. It must be good

      Non-Fiction

      Reviews and articles about historical fiction, alternate history books, genres and writers are welcome.

      Artwork

      We would love to have your artwork to illustrate the magazine and website.

      How To Submit

      Visit http://althistfiction.com/submissions for details. You should expect a response to your submission within three months.

      How to Get Alt Hist

      Alt Hist is available in a printed format from www.amazon.com and www.lulu.com, and also as an e-book from the following retailers: Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Diesel, Sony, Kobo and Smashwords.

      Copyright

      All fiction works are copyright the respective authors. All other material is copyright Mark Lord.

      Editorial

      by Mark Lord

      With the third issue, Alt Hist is beginning to settle into a more regular pattern of publication. Publishing an issue twice a year seems to be the best way to go at the moment, given the amount of submissions coming in. We do get quite a few submissions every week, but I want to ensure that we are publishing only the very best in the genre, so I think for now two issues of five or more stories per year is about right.

      As ever I am interested to hear your feedback. You can either contact me directly be email, or leave a message on the website or Facebook page, or make contact via Twitter. If you enjoy reading this issue or previous issues I encourage you to leave a review on Amazon, Smashwords, or wherever else you purchased your copy. It’s always good to spread the word!

      In this issue we have two stories about the American Civil War, one about the great Tesla, a tale about of post-war revenge set in Dublin, and a compelling story the early years of the space race.

      ‘A Light in the Darkness’ is Ian Sales’s second story for Alt Hist. Fans of his ‘Travelling by Air’ which featured in Alt Hist Issue 1, will recognize another triptych structure, and appreciate a story that plays with what-if situations in only the way that alternate history can. I can’t think of anyone else who could combine a story about Nikola Tesla and the war poet Wilfred Owen so well.

      Séamus Sweeney is new to Alt Hist, but not new to writing, with a distinguished publication history, including the Lancet and a number of British newspapers. ‘Dublin Can Be Heaven’ is an intriguing tale of secret armies and revenge set in Dublin after World War II.

      Arlan Andrews is another author from Alt Hist Issue 1 joining us once more. ‘Riders on the Storm’ along with ‘Bummers’ by Matthew Warner are the first stories we have published about the American Civil War (we get a lot of submissions on this topic!) ‘Riders on the Storm’ is an entertaining account of what might happen if someone from the near future went back and took over the body of a Yankee soldier.

      In Matthew Warner’s ‘Bummers’ the Union soldier at the heart of the story is again quite unusual – I had to check up a number of historical sources when I first read this story because I simply couldn’t believe it, but Mr. Warner has got his facts spot on. One of the pleasures of historical fiction is finding out something completely new that blows your expectations out of the water, and ‘Bummers’ certainly did that for me.

      ‘To The Stars’ by Brooks Rexroat is a cold war tale about the family of a Russian cosmonaut. This is a story about people being trapped by historical events, but getting the opportunity to escape them as well and perhaps make a better life for themselves. ‘To The Stars’ is both poignant and thrilling.

      Mark Lord

      Editor of Alt Hist

      Email: althist.editor@gmail.com

      Website: http://althistfiction.com/

      Twitter: http://twitter.com/althist

      Facebook:

      http://www.facebook.com/pages/Alt-Hist/125227137521391

      A Light in the Darkness

      by Ian Sales

      The trench is six feet deep but already two feet of water fill the bottom. A cold clinging mud oozes from the shored sides, quickly soaking the uniform of any soldier exhausted enough to lean against it. It is late afternoon and the sky above is a deep clear blue. The sun is shining, yet there is a coldness which strikes at the bones with the sharpness of shrapnel. In the background, Boche machine-guns hammer efficiently and the occasional rifle lets off a feeble snap. Those soldiers keeping an eye on the Hun stare listlessly across No Man's Land.

      The men of B Company of the 2nd Manchesters, in clay-streaked greatcoats and helmets scored by near-misses, huddle in groups and pass around carefully hoarded cigarettes. There is little conversation—they are too busy coughing like hags, great hacking coughs that shoot bullets of phlegm from the depths of their lungs to the backs of their teeth.

      It is March 1917, but Spring has yet to arrive on the Somme.

      Second Lieutenant Wilfred Owen wades along the entrenchment to the Command Post. He swipes aside the hanging canvas and ducks his head as he enters. Doffing his steel helmet, he moves to stand before the lit stove. He stretches out his hands, clad in scuffed leather gauntlets, towards its warmth. Owen's nostrils sting from the frosty air and are filled with the overpowering reeks of hot metal and damp decaying worsted.

      ‘They want to call No Man's Land England, you know,’ he remarks to the officer busy scribbling at a makeshift desk on the other side of the Command Post.

      Lieutenant (acting Captain) Sorrel carefully lays down his pen and looks up. ‘And why is that?’ he asks. A stern expression begins to form on his face. Sorrel will not bear filthiness or swearing.

      ‘Because

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