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Southern Republic
In a world where the South has won the Civil War…
It’s 1982. A hundred years have passed since the South emerged victorious in the War of Northern Aggression. From the ashes of the aftermath, the industrial North has evolved into the technical center of the modern world, while the agrarian South, now broken up into Protectorate territories overseen by Protectors, props up its culture with vicious oppression. But now the South is in dire economic straits. Their refusal to allow slaves to use technology in their work has made their system obsolete and unable to compete with the global economy. Something must be done.
Patrick Edgerton is the leader of the Railway Association, an underground network devoted to freeing slaves. When Patrick learns of the horrifying “final solution” to the South’s economic predicament, he teams up with Olivia Askew, a Southern Protector’s daughter. Now, it’s up to them to prevent the mass genocide the South is proposing.
Southern Republic brings to life vivid details about the dual nations created when the South succeeded in defending its way of life, and asks the question, ‘What would our world look like if the South had won the Civil War?’
It’s 1982. A hundred years have passed since the South emerged victorious in the War of Northern Aggression. From the ashes of the aftermath, the industrial North has evolved into the technical center of the modern world, while the agrarian South, now broken up into Protectorate territories overseen by Protectors, props up its culture with vicious oppression. But now the South is in dire economic straits. Their refusal to allow slaves to use technology in their work has made their system obsolete and unable to compete with the global economy. Something must be done.
Patrick Edgerton is the leader of the Railway Association, an underground network devoted to freeing slaves. When Patrick learns of the horrifying “final solution” to the South’s economic predicament, he teams up with Olivia Askew, a Southern Protector’s daughter. Now, it’s up to them to prevent the mass genocide the South is proposing.
Southern Republic brings to life vivid details about the dual nations created when the South succeeded in defending its way of life, and asks the question, ‘What would our world look like if the South had won the Civil War?’
220 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 29, 2017
168 people are currently reading
234 people want to read
About the author
Lex Ramsay
6 books10 followersLex Ramsay is a recovering lawyer, an avid but not terribly talented pianist, a student of Portuguese, and escapee from Corporate America where she cleaned up after other peoples' messes and generally sold her soul. She's buying it back, one word at a time, while making plans to move to Brazil with her 1 husband, 2 dogs, 2 horses and 2 cats (last count), once the Portuguese lessons kick in. To learn more about Lex and her books, visit https://www.lexramsayauthor.com/.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
July 28, 2017
eerder 2.5
June 5, 2018
9/1982, Mason (70+) looked after the young’uns who weren’t ready to work in the fields.
He would tell them Civil War stories.
Of course, the great Southern Republic was long gone.
The Protectorate had race-graded (breeds) for all the colored PPL.
Chloe Sutcliffe (younger daughter/sister, 1st Families of the Confederacy; FFC) was the instructor at Enoch Detlow School.
Ms. Sutcliffe had instilled the rules of the organization in the group.
All her students were FFC certified & were enrolled in the elite Southern Republic School System.
Olivia Askew (32, daughter, MS, Enrico County Virginia Protectorate), was in charge of the stables, horses, breeding & workers. She was a born rider at an early age.
Her parents are: Protector Askew (55+, father), & Eugenia Askew (mother, nee Newsome).
Bryce (Askew’s son-in-law, asst.) is her husband. Winston Askew is their son/grand.
Sulla (upstairs maid, Protector Askew’s mistress) takes care of the household.
2 other kids are Gabriel (3) & Sarah (18). Octavius was Sulla’s lover.
Senator Alfonse Woolridge (GA) topic of discussion was 25 million worthless slaves that don’t contribute to society.
Washington, DC. West Potomac Park boathouse. Relic (contact), was letting Patrick Edgerton (42, son/brother, Railway Association underground network leader, Cornell, MIT, software designer) know 6 R.A. members have disappeared in the last 2 weeks.
Ithaca, NY. Regina Duquesne Edgerton (68, wife/mother, lawyer) ask Mrs. Dougherty (household staff head) to serve dinner to Jerome Edgerton (husband/father), Patrick, & Clarissa Edgerton (44, daughter/sister, U of Chicago; MBA).
Washington, DC. City Club (Flatiron Bldg.) Olivia (daughter, Bryce’s wife, nee Askew) & Emmaline “Em” Moultry (Domestic Products Committee asst. director., MS; PS), were enjoying their lunch & playing ketch-me-up.
Senator Lewis & Senator Woolridge discussing?
The Assembly are going to use the railway trains to disburse the S-18 that will kill the slaves on board.
What are Patrick Edgerton (software troubleshooter, Railway Association leader) & Olivia up to?
Warning: This book contains graphic adult content, violence, or expletive language &/or uncensored sexually explicit material which is only suitable for mature readers. It may be offensive or have potential adverse psychological effects on the reader.
I did not receive any type of compensation for reading & reviewing this book. While I receive free books from publishers & authors, I am under no obligation to write a positive review. Only an honest one.
A very awesome book cover, great font & writing style. Wow, a very well written Dystopian book. It was very easy for me to read/follow from start/finish & never a dull moment. There were no grammar/typo errors, nor any repetitive or out of line sequence sentences. Lots of exciting scenarios, with several twists/turns & a great set of unique characters to keep track of. This could also make another great Dystopian movie, an animated cartoon, or better yet a mini TV series. To be continued. A very easy rating of 5 stars.
Thank you for the free author; BookBub; Amazon Digital Services LLC.; book
Tony Parson (Washburn; MSW)
He would tell them Civil War stories.
Of course, the great Southern Republic was long gone.
The Protectorate had race-graded (breeds) for all the colored PPL.
Chloe Sutcliffe (younger daughter/sister, 1st Families of the Confederacy; FFC) was the instructor at Enoch Detlow School.
Ms. Sutcliffe had instilled the rules of the organization in the group.
All her students were FFC certified & were enrolled in the elite Southern Republic School System.
Olivia Askew (32, daughter, MS, Enrico County Virginia Protectorate), was in charge of the stables, horses, breeding & workers. She was a born rider at an early age.
Her parents are: Protector Askew (55+, father), & Eugenia Askew (mother, nee Newsome).
Bryce (Askew’s son-in-law, asst.) is her husband. Winston Askew is their son/grand.
Sulla (upstairs maid, Protector Askew’s mistress) takes care of the household.
2 other kids are Gabriel (3) & Sarah (18). Octavius was Sulla’s lover.
Senator Alfonse Woolridge (GA) topic of discussion was 25 million worthless slaves that don’t contribute to society.
Washington, DC. West Potomac Park boathouse. Relic (contact), was letting Patrick Edgerton (42, son/brother, Railway Association underground network leader, Cornell, MIT, software designer) know 6 R.A. members have disappeared in the last 2 weeks.
Ithaca, NY. Regina Duquesne Edgerton (68, wife/mother, lawyer) ask Mrs. Dougherty (household staff head) to serve dinner to Jerome Edgerton (husband/father), Patrick, & Clarissa Edgerton (44, daughter/sister, U of Chicago; MBA).
Washington, DC. City Club (Flatiron Bldg.) Olivia (daughter, Bryce’s wife, nee Askew) & Emmaline “Em” Moultry (Domestic Products Committee asst. director., MS; PS), were enjoying their lunch & playing ketch-me-up.
Senator Lewis & Senator Woolridge discussing?
The Assembly are going to use the railway trains to disburse the S-18 that will kill the slaves on board.
What are Patrick Edgerton (software troubleshooter, Railway Association leader) & Olivia up to?
Warning: This book contains graphic adult content, violence, or expletive language &/or uncensored sexually explicit material which is only suitable for mature readers. It may be offensive or have potential adverse psychological effects on the reader.
I did not receive any type of compensation for reading & reviewing this book. While I receive free books from publishers & authors, I am under no obligation to write a positive review. Only an honest one.
A very awesome book cover, great font & writing style. Wow, a very well written Dystopian book. It was very easy for me to read/follow from start/finish & never a dull moment. There were no grammar/typo errors, nor any repetitive or out of line sequence sentences. Lots of exciting scenarios, with several twists/turns & a great set of unique characters to keep track of. This could also make another great Dystopian movie, an animated cartoon, or better yet a mini TV series. To be continued. A very easy rating of 5 stars.
Thank you for the free author; BookBub; Amazon Digital Services LLC.; book
Tony Parson (Washburn; MSW)
September 20, 2021
Full disclosure, I know and work with the author (one of the awesomest people I've ever met!) though I did not know about these books / this particular dimension of her amazingness until very recently.
I find historical counterfactual fiction fascinating (I also love time travel fiction for similar reasons), and there are a few elements of this story I particularly enjoy. In particular, a few choices about the background reality are present in the story but the reader is not beaten over the head with them, but left simply to ponder--very well done. For example, "Nazis" are mentioned in passing, but we do not know as of Book 1 how the Holocaust played out in this reality. Additionally, the accelerated development of technology as of this version of 1982 is absolutely enthralling to ponder. I absolutely loved that the book did not dumb this down to explain it to me. Perhaps they will be unpacked in the other books within the trilogy, but I very much enjoyed the experience of taking in all aspects of the reality and allowing my mind to think through the implications and possibilities without the text handing this to me. It really enhanced the experience, and also made me excited to read the rest of the trilogy. Similarly, pay attention to the way Ramsay names institutions, concepts, propaganda--and pay attention to what terms that were popular in our history that are absent from this one, too.
Another brilliant component: the remarkable characters Ramsay has developed, and the way in which their stories interweave, highlighting the insidious mechanisms that the top of the power and privilege hierarchy leverages, maintaining its status by pitting lower rungs against one another. Written well before Isabel Wilkerson's Caste or prominence of "Karen" designations, these characters' stories yet illustrate the same points, well present in our current reality. The Olivia character grabs me in particular, and frightens me--her fearlessness, the way her courage and morality stems from deep emotional damage and reflects fraught motives of anger and vengeance toward her father and her husband ... Olivia seems cunningly self-aware of these internal conflicts, even of her tendency to wreak abuse upon and take advantage of those she ostensibly has risked herself to protect. Am I a version of this? Are my battles on behalf of others driven by some personal rejection I have suffered?
Ultimately the Olivia question is one that pervades every corner of our present existence as corporations clamor to sign up for their DEI badges ... to what extent do our motives taint the justice we seek?
I find historical counterfactual fiction fascinating (I also love time travel fiction for similar reasons), and there are a few elements of this story I particularly enjoy. In particular, a few choices about the background reality are present in the story but the reader is not beaten over the head with them, but left simply to ponder--very well done. For example, "Nazis" are mentioned in passing, but we do not know as of Book 1 how the Holocaust played out in this reality. Additionally, the accelerated development of technology as of this version of 1982 is absolutely enthralling to ponder. I absolutely loved that the book did not dumb this down to explain it to me. Perhaps they will be unpacked in the other books within the trilogy, but I very much enjoyed the experience of taking in all aspects of the reality and allowing my mind to think through the implications and possibilities without the text handing this to me. It really enhanced the experience, and also made me excited to read the rest of the trilogy. Similarly, pay attention to the way Ramsay names institutions, concepts, propaganda--and pay attention to what terms that were popular in our history that are absent from this one, too.
Another brilliant component: the remarkable characters Ramsay has developed, and the way in which their stories interweave, highlighting the insidious mechanisms that the top of the power and privilege hierarchy leverages, maintaining its status by pitting lower rungs against one another. Written well before Isabel Wilkerson's Caste or prominence of "Karen" designations, these characters' stories yet illustrate the same points, well present in our current reality. The Olivia character grabs me in particular, and frightens me--her fearlessness, the way her courage and morality stems from deep emotional damage and reflects fraught motives of anger and vengeance toward her father and her husband ... Olivia seems cunningly self-aware of these internal conflicts, even of her tendency to wreak abuse upon and take advantage of those she ostensibly has risked herself to protect. Am I a version of this? Are my battles on behalf of others driven by some personal rejection I have suffered?
Ultimately the Olivia question is one that pervades every corner of our present existence as corporations clamor to sign up for their DEI badges ... to what extent do our motives taint the justice we seek?
February 14, 2020
Set in 1982, well over a hundred years after the Civil War, this interesting work of fiction tells the story of what life in the South was like had the Confederacy won the Civil War. In the Southern Republic, the antebellum way of life was preserved, along with slavery, a white aristocracy in control of all aspects of life, and white-robed enforcers wearing pointed hats who doled out sometimes-fatal punishments to any slave who broke any of the Rules.
Although well-written and a respectable work of the author's imagination, this book was a little too far-fetched for me. I finished it in order to find out how the plot turned out, but I don't plan to read either of the two sequels in the Downriver Trilogy series. Use your own judgment; your mileage may vary.
Although well-written and a respectable work of the author's imagination, this book was a little too far-fetched for me. I finished it in order to find out how the plot turned out, but I don't plan to read either of the two sequels in the Downriver Trilogy series. Use your own judgment; your mileage may vary.
June 25, 2017
Well, the good news is that I picked up the book for free. I really enjoy alternative history but for it to work, it needs to be believable. What we have in this novel is a situation that is historically impossible politically, economically or militarily. A world where the Confederacy exists in the 1980's with current (21st century computer technology) and a 19th century economy. The rest of history is supposedly unchanged (both world wars happened) but the rest of the world is okay trading and maintaining diplomatic ties with an overt slave society. I could go on but I really do not want to spend any more time thinking about this book.
September 16, 2018
I thoroughly enjoyed the concept of alternate history provided by this book. This is the first alt history I’ve read with the South winning the War.
I enjoyed the alternate world the author created - the structure of the society and how the slaves were organized as well the ruling class.
I enjoyed the character development and also how the characters seemed to be connected often in dark and unfortunate ways.
Overall the plot was excellent and the story flowed nicely. My only question was the use of currently technology employed by the RA while being set in the 1980s.
All in all, for fans of alternate history fiction it’s an enjoyable reading. I’m already reading book two!
I enjoyed the alternate world the author created - the structure of the society and how the slaves were organized as well the ruling class.
I enjoyed the character development and also how the characters seemed to be connected often in dark and unfortunate ways.
Overall the plot was excellent and the story flowed nicely. My only question was the use of currently technology employed by the RA while being set in the 1980s.
All in all, for fans of alternate history fiction it’s an enjoyable reading. I’m already reading book two!
October 5, 2018
I enjoyed this first book of the trilogy because I liked the characters. The scenario was interesting, a bit melodramatic at times, but compelling. I'd very much recommend this first book, which can stand alone and ends, more or less, with hope. The following two books have more a social policy feel, exploring the corruption of government, racism and abuse ... hard going but certainly feels plausible given our current social and political realities. The third book, though, was largely narrative, with characters that, for the most part, I didn't like or didn't care about, and it's VERY grim.
October 21, 2017
I really was a Winner for Winning this book
Wow, what an interesting read. I won a free copy of this book and I am sure glad I did. I found the main characters well developed and likable. The plot flowed well for me. I enjoyed the storyline very much. This is the first time I have read a book by this author, and I will definitely try to find some more by her. With this being a trilogy, I can't wait to see how the story progresses. I don't want to give everything away, however, if you enjoy dystopia novels, this will be a winner for you.
Wow, what an interesting read. I won a free copy of this book and I am sure glad I did. I found the main characters well developed and likable. The plot flowed well for me. I enjoyed the storyline very much. This is the first time I have read a book by this author, and I will definitely try to find some more by her. With this being a trilogy, I can't wait to see how the story progresses. I don't want to give everything away, however, if you enjoy dystopia novels, this will be a winner for you.
July 2, 2017
Not what I expected but worthwhile nonetheless
I expected an alternative reality given that the Confederacy had won the Civil War. This book does not go down that road. Instead there are two competing countries - much like the war was a tie. I liked the underlying story but, at the time of reading, thought it a bit slow.. having read the start of the next book, I wonder if they his book is a lengthy lead in to a complex series.. only one way to know,,,
I expected an alternative reality given that the Confederacy had won the Civil War. This book does not go down that road. Instead there are two competing countries - much like the war was a tie. I liked the underlying story but, at the time of reading, thought it a bit slow.. having read the start of the next book, I wonder if they his book is a lengthy lead in to a complex series.. only one way to know,,,
August 9, 2017
Very Thought Provoking
I enjoyed this book and its alternate theory on history. The characters were good, but sometimes the back stories and details were overwhelming and confusing (like the people that lived in Patrick's house). I'm hoping this might be needed for the sequel. Other than that, I enjoyed it.
I enjoyed this book and its alternate theory on history. The characters were good, but sometimes the back stories and details were overwhelming and confusing (like the people that lived in Patrick's house). I'm hoping this might be needed for the sequel. Other than that, I enjoyed it.
November 16, 2017
Good story
Interesting take on what America would be like if the South had won the war. I thought the logistics of how slavery continued to exist was handled in an almost believable way. I have to read the second book now to find out what happens to everyone I met in the first book.
Interesting take on what America would be like if the South had won the war. I thought the logistics of how slavery continued to exist was handled in an almost believable way. I have to read the second book now to find out what happens to everyone I met in the first book.
Currently reading
September 1, 2023Sept. 1st, 2023 - I'm about 1/3rd of the way through (I think). I'm not enjoying it - not because the writing is bad, but because of the subject matter. It's making me very uncomfortable (I don't like racism, slavery and subjugation because it's inhumane), but I'll continue reading strictly *because* it's making me uncomfortable.
July 9, 2017
Interesting
Interesting premiered. The book was quite enjoyable and hope to read the trilogy. Definitely worth reading. I enjoyed the action and that it wasn't predictable. One thing I would have preferred to be different was the ending. It just stopped.
Interesting premiered. The book was quite enjoyable and hope to read the trilogy. Definitely worth reading. I enjoyed the action and that it wasn't predictable. One thing I would have preferred to be different was the ending. It just stopped.
October 25, 2017
An interesting premise but not well executed. It's heavy handed and the plot is spoon fed to the reader. The story is packed to bursting with coincidences and perfect alignment of disparate facts to the point that suspension of disbelief isn't possible after about the halfway point.
April 10, 2018
Hard to read
A struggle to continue from start but hoped it would get better, which it did to some degree, and although I realize its fictional the technology depicted as in use in 1982 was so far fetched it was totally unbelievable.
A struggle to continue from start but hoped it would get better, which it did to some degree, and although I realize its fictional the technology depicted as in use in 1982 was so far fetched it was totally unbelievable.
August 12, 2018
Southern Republic
The idea behind this story is very interesting..haven't we all wondered how things would be, if the South has won the Civil War...? This story is more of a sociological discussion on the subject.
The idea behind this story is very interesting..haven't we all wondered how things would be, if the South has won the Civil War...? This story is more of a sociological discussion on the subject.
January 2, 2018
Didn't like it. Read about 50 pages. Couldn't get into it.
April 26, 2018
One of the best novels i have read in a long time
Very well written. Keeps you in suspense till the end. A good cast of people . A good plot, easy to read
Very well written. Keeps you in suspense till the end. A good cast of people . A good plot, easy to read
June 26, 2018
Great read!
One cold see what might of happened if the South had won the war.
Lex Ramsey paints a powerful picture of Racism in America!
One cold see what might of happened if the South had won the war.
Lex Ramsey paints a powerful picture of Racism in America!
dnf
August 31, 2021Not for me, DNF.
October 21, 2025
AAAAAAAA
Good story line, surprised by some twists in the plot. Close to being on par with Harry Turtledove or others
Good story line, surprised by some twists in the plot. Close to being on par with Harry Turtledove or others
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews