V-S Day

by Allen M. Steele

With a gift for visionary fiction that “would make Robert A. Heinlein proud” ( Entertainment Weekly ) three-time Hugo Award-winning author Allen Steele now imagines an alternate history rooted in an actual historical what if the race to space had occurred in the early days of WWII?
 
It's 1941, and Wernher von Braun is ordered by his Fuehrer to abandon the V2 rocket and turn German resources in a daring new  construction of a manned orbital spacecraft capable of attacking the U.S. Work on the rocket—called Silbervogel —begins at Peenemunde. Though it is top secret, British intelligence discovers the plan, and brings word to Franklin Roosevelt. The American President determines that there is only one logical response the U.S. must build a spacecraft capable of intercepting Silbervogel and destroying it. Robert Goddard, inventor of the liquid-fuel rocket, agrees to head the classified project.

So begins a race against time—between two secret military programs and two brilliant scientists whose high-stakes competition will spiral into a deadly game of political intrigue and unforeseen catastrophes played to the death in the brutal skies above America.

Genres: Alternate History, Science Fiction, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Audiobook, World War II, War

320 pages, Hardcover

First published February 4, 2014

About the author

Before becoming a science fiction writer, Allen Steele was a journalist for newspapers and magazines in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Missouri, and his home state of Tennessee. But science fiction was his first love, so he eventually ditched journalism and began producing that which had made him decide to become a writer in the first place.

Since then, Steele has published eighteen novels and nearly one hundred short stories. His work has received numerous accolades, including three Hugo Awards, and has been translated worldwide, mainly into languages he can’t read. He serves on the board of advisors for the Space Frontier Foundation and is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. He also belongs to Sigma, a group of science fiction writers who frequently serve as unpaid consultants on matters regarding technology and security.

Allen Steele is a lifelong space buff, and this interest has not only influenced his writing, it has taken him to some interesting places. He has witnessed numerous space shuttle launches from Kennedy Space Center and has flown NASA’s shuttle cockpit simulator at the Johnson Space Center. In 2001, he testified before the US House of Representatives in hearings regarding the future of space exploration. He would like very much to go into orbit, and hopes that one day he’ll be able to afford to do so.

Steele lives in western Massachusetts with his wife, Linda, and a continual procession of adopted dogs. He collects vintage science fiction books and magazines, spacecraft model kits, and dreams.

Reviews

[Paul Weiss · Rating 3 out of 5]

A plausible alternate history for the early development of the space race

Allen Steele’s V-S DAY posits a World War II Germany in which Adolf Hitler orders a loyal Wernher von Braun to abandon the devastating buzz bomb and V-2 rocketry program. His new goal is to be the development of a sub-orbital piloted spacecraft (code-named Silbervogel) capable of launching from Germany, skipping across earth’s atmosphere and bombing New York City. When two French spies, embedded in the research facility in Germany, discover the plans, the race is on and a skeptical but cautious Franklin Delano Roosevelt orders American scientist Robert Goddard to launch the no-holds-barred development of a defense weapon capable of knocking Silbervogel out of the sky.

My reaction in a nutshell – the science and the plot as a possible alternative history to World War II was informative and entirely plausible given the available technology of the day; the telling of that alternate history was workmanlike, never simply pedestrian but never achieving the level of compelling; and, last but not least, the overall story was lacking in that Steele failed to explore how his specific piece of alternate history may have affected the overall outcome of the war.

Good but not great! Recommended in particular to round out the reading of those who have enjoyed Allen Steele’s sci-fi novels.

Paul Weiss

[Mogsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum http://bibliosanctum.blogspot.com/201...

V-S Day is a bit of a departure from my usual reads, but I've made made a resolution this year to tackle more books that are outside my comfort zone. And while I may not be a World War II buff, I do love novels of alternate history and have seen authors come up with some terrific ideas when it comes to this era and genre.

To tell the truth, I almost balked and ran after the first chapter. It wasn't WWII history that made me hesitate, but in fact it was the rocket science that intimidated me. To be fair, it doesnt take much to make me feel out of my depth; a few mentions of things like insulated hoses, radar arrays, and liquid oxygen and nitrogen tank pressurization and you'll find me starting to sweat. I can't help it, I just start to feel my attention waning whenever descriptions get the least bit technical.

But then, things turned around completely. The book may have opened on the scene of a hectic space-plane launch in 1943, but suddenly with the next chapter we are looking in on a gathering of family and friends in the present day. As it turns out, this is a reunion party for a group of pretty important people, made up of the brilliant scientists who thwarted a Nazi plot to attack New York City in the war during the 1940s. Of course, due to its highly classified nature, no one had any idea about it.

But now, journalist Douglas Walker is here to find the truth, interviewing the men about their time with Robert Goddard, inventor of the liquid-fuel rocket, and their project that changed the world. To counter the Nazi's development of a manned orbital spacecraft capable of traversing long distances to drop a bomb on the United States, Goddard and his team had to figure out a way to build their own spacecraft to take down the enemy's rocket. Thus, a race between two secret military projects was born.

But before I go further into what I thought about this book, I have to say it was the espionage angle that finally got me on board. When rocket science fails to hook me, I can always count on the plot elements that have to do with spies and intelligence gathering to get me excited. And once that got me into the story, I just ate it right up and blew through the pages.

In the end, I actually came to follow the progress of the American program with much enjoyment, and in a way the rocket ship project itself became a central character, and -- believe it or not -- my fascination with it eventually overshadowed my interest in the human players. This was a rather new experience for me, where the scientists became almost the supporting cast, while the research and development of the spacecraft Lucky Linda actually took center stage. For someone who typically places a lot of emphasis on characters in a novel, I was surprisingly okay with this.

It also wasn't until later when I read the author's afterword that I found out, at one point, the story of V-S Day existed in the form of a screenplay. That actually made a lot of sense. Reading this book did make me feel uncannily like I was watching it in a movie or a series on TV, thanks in part to the flashback style and the way the events were told through the eyes of multiple major and minor characters. If anything though, I thought the chapters that gave us a glimpse into von Braun's program in Germany were the weakest, though I saw the need for them, since the reader has to know the progress of each side to get a sense of the urgency and what's at risk.

At its heart, V-S Day is a book about a very different space race in a time where rockets only existed in science fiction magazines or in the minds of those who dared to dream. I ended up enjoying this book quite a bit, and was glad I didn't let myself put this one down. The final revelation at the end was a nice touch. However, it was the climax that made it all worth it, with the tension culminating into a conclusion that made me understand the reason for all the build up.

[Lianne Burwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love a good alternate history, and while this one wasn't a home run, it was definitely a solid double. (don't ask me why the baseball metaphor: I don't have a clue).

The basic concept is, drawing on real scientists on Nazi Germany who were interested in rocketry with the goal of getting a man to the moon, are recruited to create a space plane capable of bombing New York to keep the US out of the war in Europe, cancelling the actual Nazi missile program. When MI-6 finds out, they warn the Americans, who pull resources from the Manhatten Project, and set them, under Robert H Goddard, to develope their own spaceship to stop the Nazis.

As a whole, the novel is somewhat lightweight (expanded from a short story that was his first published story, later revised), but I sill really enjoyed it. It even managed to treat the German scientists (Sanger and Von Braun) rather sympathetically. And written with the framing element of the surviving members of Goddard's theme being interviewed for a book seventy years later, we get a few hints of what the future was like after that (Steele's novel The Tranquility Alternative is loosely set in this universe).

I would have preferred a longer, more intense, treatment of the story idea, but it was still a fun read, especially after seeing the far less serious movie, Iron Sky (Nazis on the dark side of the moon!)

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

"V-S Day" is a fun romp down an alternate history rabbit hole. What's different you ask? What if the space race happened during WWII and not the 60's? The U.S. vs the Nazi's not the Russians. What follows is an entirely believable story told from both sides but mostly the American. The ending is a perfect "you thought you understood the present but you really didn't" surprise that goes down smooth as sarsaparilla. Allen Steele clearly did his research on this one as both sides use the technology of the day to great effect. The reader gets a feeling that this is how it would have actually gone down.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good novel of alternate history, concerning a Nazi-U.S. space race during World War II. It fits in with his novel THE TRANQUILITY ALTERNATIVE and some earlier short pieces, and while I didn't enjoy it as much as I do the Coyote Universe or Near-Space works, I still liked it very much. It's told as a series of flashbacks from a contemporary setting that subtly illustrates the changes caused by the alternate historical events. Many (if not most) of the characters are real historical figures, and they're portrayed quite convincingly, particularly Goddard and von Braun. It's also definitely one of those books that you can't judge by an awful cover; a blurry, muddy-mustard cityscape with neon-orange letters and a cartoonish Nazi spaceship that doesn't have any connection to the story at all.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Allen Steele imagines an alternate history of WWII which has the space race beginning during the war. Hitler decides he wants Wernher von Braun to develop a manned rocket which could bomb New York. When America receives the intel about the Nazi rocket ship, FDR orders a US manned space program be developed under Robert Goddard. It's a duel of the two titans of rocketry. A well-executed story showing how it could have happened---

[Brett T · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Alternate history," or better grammatically, "alternative history," takes some event of the past, changes it in some way and then spins a story of the new world the author thinks would have developed in the new timeline. The American Civil War and World War II are two of the favorite playgrounds of allohistorical writings, and this novel tweaks the latter for its tale.

Science fiction writer Allen Steele submitted the story that would become 2014's V-S Day to a science-fiction magazine in the late 1980s and later expanded it from a proposed movie treatment into the current novel. He supposes that Nazi Germany researched and built a suborbital rocket bomber called Silbervogel and that the United States recruited Robert Goddard to lead a team that developed a counter-attack. V-S Day (the title refers to a "Victory-Space" day like the Victory-Europe [V-E] or Victory-Japan [V-J] days) describes the parallel research programs, largely through the eyes of Werner Von Braun and Goddard. Neither man wanted space as a theater of war, but Nazi battle plans made it one and they each find themselves sacrificing parts of their dreams on the altar of necessity.

Day is mostly a kind of techno-thriller race against the clock sort of story. Von Braun must convince the Nazi leaders that a rocket ship is a practical program and survive Allied attempts to destroy it. Goddard and his team must battle government myopia and the untested nature of their research to complete their own ship. There's some characterization, but not much, given the rather large cast. Given Steele's pretty thorough research, the novel doesn't feel all that "alternative" historically. After all, Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in a rocket-powered aircraft barely four years after Steele sets his flights, so what he describes is not particularly outlandish.

That said, V-S Day is still a good-quality yarn that doesn't waste your time and gives some neat insight into how researchers went about developing real rocket-planes a few years later.

Original available here.

[Carl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another smashing good read from Allen Steele. This time an alt-history novel where the space race is not between Russia and the U.S. during the cold war,but between Nazi Germany and the United States during the World War II. A race ensues with possibly deadly consequences between Wernher Von Braun and Robert Goddard and Co.

Steele fills the book with his characteristic crisp dialogue, excellent extrapolation and slightly quirky characters. A joy to read.

[Patrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Never managed to get out of neutral. It’s about as straightforward a read as you are likely to ever come across.

[Edwin Dyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this alternate history, the author goes with the premise that Wernher von Braun was ordered to cease work on the A4 ballistic missile (better known as the V2) and instead, commence work on Eugen Sänger's sub-orbital bomber, the Silbervogel ("Silverbird"), as a means to strike at the U.S. The Allies get wind of the project and assemble a development team headed by Robert H. Goddard to create a countermeasure to the Silbervogel. The premise makes for good alternative history fiction since it makes several historical changes to arrive at the plot rather than taking one or two single historical events and altering them. Historically, the Silbervogel proposal was sent to the Ministry of Aviation in December 1941 and was swiftly rejected as being too complex. At this time, the A4 had yet to garner favor due to the development difficulties and it would not be until 1944 that the A4 (as the V2) deployed. Also, the Luftwaffe had already been involved in conventional, long-range bomber development as early as 1938 with the majority of aircraft designs being tendered in 1942. In the novel, Goddard worked for the U.S. Army but historically, he worked with the U.S. Navy and only on a Jet-Assisted Take-Off engine as that was all Goddard could be assigned to. The author jumps from WW2 to much, much later where the surviving characters are being interviewed. At first, this was a bit distracting but as the novel went, it became a tool for the author to get through some of the needed details in a way that did not bog the book down in minutia. The novel flows pretty quickly and is a swift read. There is also a two page section which illustrates the Silbervogel as well as the U.S. counter to it.

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

V-S Day by Allen Steele has been on my wish list since it came out in February. When I found it on the new books shelf at my library I checked it out and started reading. Set in the present and the past it tells a great story of what might have been.

History and how it is changed is the main thrust of the story. The change started in December of 1941. Germany started a new space program and the U.S followed. V-S Day tells what happened in both the U.S. and Germany as they work to develop a space plane. The story line is very well developed, the characters interesting and the plot is full of tension.

When all is said and done I think many of us will wish that this were our history instead of an alternate history.

I loved the book, the writing and the story. I enjoyed reading a story where we got to space and stayed instead of how we have shut down and stayed on earth.

[Rod Hensel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Steele is one of my favorite sci-fi writers -- largely because of the Coyote series of books -- and I was eagerly awaiting this foray into alternate history. It's set in World War II and the what if is the Germans and Allies pursue sub-orbital flight for bombing rather than the atomic bomb. Steele tells a story well and fleshes out his characters (most based on real life people)but unlike the Coyote series, there are no "wow I didn't expect that" moments. I think part of the problem is that this is an early short story by the author he decided to expand to a novel. Still it was worth the read and I am looking forward to Steele's next book.

[Dave Creek · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great addition to the literature of alternate history. Steele tells of an alternate World War II in which the U.S. and Germany rush to achieve space flight rather than pursuing A-bomb technology. The characters are vividly drawn, and it's a real page-turner.

The tale is told through a frame story that takes place in an alternate present day, which gives the story added depth.

Highly recommended. Now, Allen, when are you going to take us back to Coyote?

[Clay Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good World War II space-arms race story. The book cover has a rocket ship with a swastika flying between two skyscrapers which is misleading. The silbervogel is silver in the book and not gold and red.

[Michael Hatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

An engrossing read. Really good story of rocket science developing during WWII, looking at it from both American and German sides. Liked the character development. Always something enticing about old timers looking back at their youth.

[David Marshall · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a very interesting idea but it's delivered with such little energy, there's little to get excited about.

http://opionator.wordpress.com/2014/0...

[Luke Van Santen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Less than what I expected from Mr. Steele. Seemed very thin...

[Dale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Published by Ace in 2014

Alternate histories always deal with a what if...? moment in history and how things might have been. In the case of V-S Day , the moment is what if Nazi Germany decided to throw the resources that it was throwing into a its buzz bomb program into an actual space program led by Wernher von Braun? The Germans are building a a primitive space shuttle like device that can take off from the Reich, circle the globe and drop bombs on New York City from a low earth orbit, far above the reach of America's anti-aircraft guns. And, it can do it again and again with no hope of a defense.

Fans of NASA know that in the real world, Wernher von Braun was brought back to America after World War II and helped develop America's space program. In this world, rocket pioneer Robert Goddard leads a team to develop an American space fighter "plane" to go up and take out the German space bomber.

Most of the book details the space race between the two powers, which was okay, but not nearly as good as the spy story of how the Allies received a set of the German plans. Sometimes the book sails along and sometimes it drags. Sadly, the climax of the book is undercut by the fact that the entire book is told as a flashback from 2013 and the final result is pretty obvious.

I rate this book 3 stars out of 5.

[Michelle Mallette · Rating 3 out of 5]

See my full review here.
This alternative (not alternate) history is an intriguing one based on the real-life explorations into space travel research by Nazi Germany. What if the space race had taken place two decades earlier, during World War II, pitting the Americans against the Germans? Drawing on a short story he'd published earlier, Steele has expanded it into a full-length novel, developing characters on both sides of the Atlantic as the two countries race to develop the technology to attack and defend from a rocket. Though the focus is on the Americans, Steele includes interesting and sympathetic plotlines featuring Werner Von Braun's work in Germany. The story alternates between the fictional 1943 launch of the Silbervogel and its 70th anniversary in 2013, giving an interesting perspective on history. Three stars for this one. I liked Kowal's The Calculating Stars a lot more, but it's entertaining enough. My thanks to the Grand Forks & District Public Library for including this title in its science fiction collection.

[Barry Haworth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another alternative history space story which is mentioned in a recent article at The Space Review, this one tells the story about what might have happened if the Space Race had come early. It is imagined that instead of building the V2 rocket the Germans instead built a suborbital rocket powered bomber, and that the Americans when they get wind of this build their own countermeasure.
As others have said in their reviews, this story felt very simplistic. We have the German and American efforts to building their different vehicles, leading up to the climax where they go up against each other. The story is told as a flashback, with a journalist interviewing some of the men who worked on one of the vehicles to get the classified story of the first time. While interesting enough to keep me reading there isn't a whole lot of depth to the story, and I can't imagine that it would reward a reread.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Steele, Allen M. V-S Day. Ace, 2014.
Like many works by Allen Steele, V-S Day has had a long gestation, with many revisions and republications, not always under the same title. When Steele first moved to Wooster, Mass., he discovered that it was the home of rocket pioneer Robert H. Goddard. He inspired to write an alternate history of World War II in which Goddard and his team create a suborbital interceptor to defeat Werner Von Braun’s suborbital bomber. No surprise. No one has written more alternate histories of the space program than Steele. This one, like Mary Robinette’s Calculating Stars and Margot Lee Shetterly’s Hidden Figures, makes me wonder whether we could do real-time trajectories well enough to get space flight done without computers. As I recall, Robert Heinlein had it done with slide rules. Steele doesn’t give the problem much attention.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Allen Steele provided me a bit of light reading and adventure among all of the serious non-fiction on my plate. Steele imagines an alternate WWII in which the Germans shift focus early in the war from rockets to space planes that could drop mega-bombs on New York City and other distant targets. British intelligence learns of the plans and the U.S. puts Robert Goddard, America's rocket expert, to work on a crash program to develop our own space plane to counter the Germans. Plausible? Probably not. Fun and interesting? Certainly. And the novel weapon the American space plane deploys late in the book is a bit of a surprise in its simplicity - and also the unaddressed issue of how repeated deployment of such a weapon would affect future satellites orbiting the Earth.

[Matthew Kresal · Rating 4 out of 5]

With V-S Day, Allen Steele creates a plausible alternative beginning for the Space Race. Imagine that instead of happening during the Cold War between the United States and Soviet Union it had started during World War II with the Nazi's racing to build the Silbervogel and the Americans racing to come up with a space borne interceptor. With appearances by Robert Goddard, Wernher Von Braun, and Ian Fleming among other historical figures, V-S Day is more of an alternate history techno-thriller than a science fiction novel which isn't to degrade it at all. What it is instead is one of the more plausible alternate history novels out there and a joy to read.

[Joe Slavinsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

It'd been a while since I'd read any of Mr. Steele's work. I've read a large portion of his oeuvre, and particularly like all three of the different "Coyote" series. I found this book while browsing the library shelves, awaiting a reserve that had yet to arrive. I was very pleasantly surprised to stumble upon this book. I love alternative history books, especially when they fall within the science fiction genre. Steele is a great writer, who style is about as close to Heinlein's, as it makes little difference. His books are well-plotted, easy to understand, and hard to put down. This one is just another example of that writing excellence.

[Darnoc Leadburger · Rating 3 out of 5]

What if the space race had happened during World War II instead of the Cold War? That's what Allen Steele is asking you in this book, and he does a pretty decent job of answering this question through third person flashbacks delivered by the veterans of the program while talking to a young reporter. These characters are all pretty solid; I can't complain about them very much. They're all just distinct enough to work. Some of them - maybe all of them for all I know - are based off historical figures, and that always takes me out of it a little. Was von Braun really such a sympathetic figure? Depends on who you ask, I guess. The story also has hints of espionage, romance, science fiction, you name it. It's a good book - not a great book - and worth your time if it piques your interest.

[Marc Diepstraten · Rating 4 out of 5]

An alternate history novel. Steele is one of my favourite SF writers, a clear style whereby the tale is central with SF thrown in. Lots of SF writers do it the other way around, thereby forgetting that it must foremost be readable. Alternate history to a point since although some characters did exist the route taken here by Steele has never been an option. Still a believable story set in WW II about a different rocket race bouncing from present day to story day. One of his early works but it works for me. Highly entertaining.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somehow missed reading any of Allen Steele's work until I stumbled across this alternate history (and it's real alternate history not an historical fantasy). It's also good hard science fiction and indeed does recall the classic works I read growing up. The author draws upon the history of science fiction, of World War II, and carries it into a new future to boot. Already piling up some of his other works and looking foward to them.

[Steve Joyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a theory about biographical movies and a few other things. If done competently, they never soar very high (if the story behind them is at all worthwhile) nor do the sink very low.

I suppose - now that I think about it - that's how I feel about alternate histories. That includes this one which hits the target. However, due to the nature of the beast that's a pretty narrow range smack down the middle.

An o.k. potboiler and an o.k. way to while away a few hours. It met expectations.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was sort of interesting as a sci-fi story, but the framing of it being some of the scientists explaining the events from 70 years ago has some real flaws. The main one sticking in my mind is the segment about the British undercover "war widow". None of these guys would know about that, I'm sure, so how does it factor into the set-up? There were a few other little things like this along the way. Besides, the set up is unnecessary and takes away from the main story a bit.

[Ernest Spoon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thoroughly enjoyable alternate history novel based on thoroughly probable technology and science. The German Silbervogel was real. Of course it never got as far off the drawing board as in this novel. The Lucky Linda never was. But it's interesting to speculate, had the events of World War II gone the way as depicted in this book perhaps travel to the moon and beyond might be commonplace?