Triumph

by Ben Bova

In a gripping alternative history, Winston Churchill hatches a daring plot to assassinate Josef Stalin as World War II comes to a close and the Allies battle over the future of the globe.


At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Genres: Science Fiction, Alternate History, Historical Fiction

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Ben Bova was born on November 8, 1932 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1953, while attending Temple University, he married Rosa Cucinotta, they had a son and a daughter. He would later divorce Rosa in 1974. In that same year he married Barbara Berson Rose.

Bova was an avid fencer and organized Avco Everett's fencing club. He was an environmentalist, but rejected Luddism.

Bova was a technical writer for Project Vanguard and later for Avco Everett in the 1960s when they did research in lasers and fluid dynamics. It was there that he met Arthur R. Kantrowitz later of the Foresight Institute.

In 1971 he became editor of Analog Science Fiction after John W. Campbell's death. After leaving Analog, he went on to edit Omni during 1978-1982.

In 1974 he wrote the screenplay for an episode of the children's science fiction television series Land of the Lost entitled "The Search".

Bova was the science advisor for the failed television series The Starlost, leaving in disgust after the airing of the first episode. His novel The Starcrossed was loosely based on his experiences and featured a thinly veiled characterization of his friend and colleague Harlan Ellison. He dedicated the novel to "Cordwainer Bird", the pen name Harlan Ellison uses when he does not want to be associated with a television or film project.

Bova was the President Emeritus of the National Space Society and a past President of Science-fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA).

Bova went back to school in the 1980s, earning an M.A. in communications in 1987 and a Ph.D. in 1996.

Bova has drawn on these meetings and experiences to create fact and fiction writings rich with references to spaceflight, lasers, artificial hearts, nanotechnology, environmentalism, fencing and martial arts, photography and artists.

Bova was the author of over a hundred and fifteen books, non-fiction as well as science fiction. In 2000, he was the Author Guest of Honor at the 58th World Science Fiction Convention (Chicon 2000).

Hollywood has started to take an interest in Bova's works once again, in addition to his wealth of knowledge about science and what the future may look like. In 2007, he was hired as a consultant by both Stuber/Parent Productions to provide insight into what the world is to look like in the near future for their upcoming film "Repossession Mambo" (released as "Repo Men") starring Jude Law and Forest Whitaker and by Silver Pictures in which he provided consulting services on the feature adaptation of Richard Morgan's "Altered Carbon".

http://us.macmillan.com/author/benbova

Reviews

[David Nichols · Rating 2 out of 5]

If we had an annual award for alternate-history novels in which, at the end of the Second World War in Europe, a Polish commando attempted to assassinate Joseph Stalin by putting a lump of plutonium in his desk, then this book would at least deserve an Honorable Mention.

[Sean O'Brien · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think I picked this book up because it was in the sci-fi section and was part of fill a box of books deal my library had? Whatever the case may be ok how I found it, I know where I am going to put it. This book is a what if history book that honestly would have been better if it was a total work of fiction. It would make the author invest more in the characters and plot. Especially the assassination attempt. The disgruntled secretary did the thing, and that was it. No build up, no anticipation or suspense of the plan working once enacted, a plan which required someone who knew nothing of the plan to resentful enough to decode a message and want to kill his boss, Stalin. This book can be a fun little distraction if alt history is in your wheelhouse but the lack of depth probably will not shake your soul. As for this book end up for me, it’s going straight back to the donation pile.

[Jota Houses · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sugerida por leer SS-GB la tramas parecía intrigante y el resultado muy agradable de leer. Es una ucronía contada en estilo muy similar al de Turteldove en la que se describe un final alternativo a la segunda guerra mundial en el que Churchill manda asesinar a Stalin durante el avance sobre Berlín. Por desgracia no se ve una intención clara y lo que para Turtledove sería el inicio de un impresionante fresco de un final alternativo para el siglo XX se queda en un par de cambios históricos casi anecdóticos.

[Gottfried Wilhelm · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book years ago as a wee lad and I can only recall being absolutely incapable of putting it down. Having seen the end of the cold war I LOVED Bova's sense of intrigue with this tale of what "might have been."

[Dmack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting look at alternate possibilities following the end of WWII; loved how he weaved real life people and events into the story with plausible realities. if you like alterante historical fictions then this is a must read

[Mark Smiley · Rating 3 out of 5]

With the author being who he is, I was expecting a sci-FI novel vthis is a world war 2 novel. Interesting but I kept expecting aliens or ray guns or something to show. Instead, it was pretty much like a history novel. Not bad.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick short novel conjecturing the assassination of Stalin using plutonium and the ensuing chaos. You always know what you're getting with Bova - no nonsense, light characterisation and good ideas.

[Peregrine 12 · Rating 4 out of 5]

A smart look, through sci-fi lenses, at an alternate 20th Century world history. Very fun!

[Boyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting plot, could the Western Powers have taken Berlin, if a key player had died prematurely? One part was very moving, and brought me to tears.