Uncharted Territory

Look to the West #2

by Tom Anderson

THE WORLD KING FRED MADE

The year is 1800. The French Revolutionary Wars rage across Europe but as you have never seen them before. In Paris, Jean de Lisieux, L’Administrateur of the French Latin Republic, plots to reshape the world in his own image by the dark light of perverted science. Legions of conscripts man steam-driven warships and cannons, experimental balloons, rocket batteries. Enemies of the state choke to death in phlogiston chambers. A network of semaphore towers ties the armies of the Republican Empire to the dictator at its heart. As Jacobin soldiers subdue Spain, the German and Italian states and Lisieux’s hand stretches as far afield as Haiti, Australia and India, can any country escape his grasp? The last hope for peace in Europe lies with the French Royalist government of Louis XVII and his Prime Minister, Napoleon Bonaparte.

Meanwhile, the Americas too are engulfed in flames as the exilic princes of Spain attempt to hold onto their ancestral empire in Mexico, only to be confronted by the two titans of the New World, the Empire of North America and the United Provinces of South America. China, also, is consumed by civil war and Japan falls ever deeper under the domination of the Russo-Lithuanian Pacific Company and its maverick leader, Moritz Benyovsky.

The eyes of the world are held by these grand clashes of gunpowder and steam, but in one obscure Spanish village, a little boy is growing up whose ideas will one day divide the planet in a way which no one could have predicted.

The story of 'Look to the West' is far from over.

Genres: Alternate History

742 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 7, 2016

About the author

My day job is science, but I have always had an interest in writing fiction and in history, and it's probably not surprising that those all end up crossing over. Alternate history is a genre devoted to exploring the 'what ifs' of history, a recent high-profile example being the Amazon adaptation of Philip K. Dick's seminal "The Man in the High Castle". However, much of the interest to me comes in areas rather more obscure and subtle than the now-overdone 'the Nazis win WW2' type scenarios, and in exploring how different the world can become from a tiny change, as in the 'For Want Of A Nail' poem. My longest AH scenario, "Look to the West", is about a king tripping on his coronation carpet, which ultimately leads to America staying British, industrialised Maori New Zealand and a steam-driven French Revolution, for instance. Straightforward science fiction and fantasy also remains a major love of mine and an area I am increasingly writing more in. Most of my works have been published by Sea Lion Press (please like their page as well!). In 2018 my co-writer Bruno Lombardi and myself were nominated for the prestigious Sidewise Award for Alternate History for our short story "N'Oublions Jamais", about a very different First World War, which was published in the Martinus anthology "Altered Europa".

Reviews

[Derek Alberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story started in "Diverge and Conquer" continues in this book. Jean de Lisieux is undisputed master of the French Latin Republic and plans to dominate all Europe. But which country will be first in his sights, and what will happen when he bites off more than he can chew? Meanwhile, the Empire of North America--still a loyal partner of Britain--clashes with the United Provinces of South America, starting a rivalry which will define the nineteenth century. A number of less-known areas (to a western audience) are also explored, including a civil war in China, modernising Maori and troubles in the Ottoman Empire and Persia. The Jacobin Wars end in the Watchful Peace, but what will come of it? Find out in book 3, "Equal and Opposite Reactions"!

Bear in mind "Look to the West" is told in a scrapbook style, mostly through excerpts from fictional history books (often penned by deliberately parodic pompous historians!) rather than a story narrative.

[Andy Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Andy's Review

A fantastic read, as good as the first in the series - can't wait to read the next volume in the series!!!

[Arvind Mahadevan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A worthy successor to the great first book of the Look to the West series. There is quite a bit of world building about the new world that develops from the divergence in book 1. In a series like this, it is a huge challenge to cover all parts of the world well in all books. This book focuses on Europe, the Americas, and eastern Asia. I would like to see more written about Africa and the Indian subcontinent from the perspective of the locals. Hopefully, that will come in future books. An enjoyable read and I look forward to reading book 3.

[K Quilor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Apart from the fact that just about everything involving Jean de Liseaux screams 'contrived to achieve the author's desired outcome' (which, I mean, this is fiction, but it really strains my creduility), this is an excellent book in an excellent series.

If you like Alternate History and you like actual History, this does still remain a must-read. A true classic of the genre.