Book Review: Agent of Byzantium by Harry Turtledove

2019 is really turning out to be a great year for alternate history audio fiction.  I've gotten my chance to listen to A Different Flesh at long last.  It seems like we're getting a new Harry Turtledove audiobook practically every month, and I hope that it doesn't stop any time soon.  Now I've got another classic Turtledove novel to review.  At long last we are taking a look at Agent of Byzantium by Harry Turtledove.  

Agent of Byzantium is a collection of short stories that all take place in the same world.  In the world of Agent of Byzantium, the Prophet Mohammad converted to Christianity and was eventually canonized as a saint.  He becomes known as St. Mouamet, the patron saint of changes.  As a result, Islam is never founded, and the Byzantine Empire remains strong and able to expand its territory.  By the 14th Century, the Byzantines have managed to mostly reunite the Roman Empire, save for a few provinces such as Britannia and most of Gaul.  It's a somewhat conservative world, in the sense that it is more similar to the Late Antiquity than Europe and the Mediterranean were in our 14th Century.  However, all of that is about to change.  The stories follow Basil Argyros.  He is a magistrianos, which is like a cross between a secret agent and a civil servant.  Basil travels across the Byzantine Empire and beyond to both foil plots against the empire and discover many new inventions to put in service of the empire. 

So, I'm going to give some overall thoughts before we go over the individual stories.  This is another Turtledove book I've wanted in audio, and now the wait is over.  Harry Turtledove has a PH.D. in Byzantine History, and it definitely shows in this novel.  Turtledove was famously inspired by L. Sprague de Camp's novel Lest Darkness Fall to study Byzantine History.  He say in the introduction to Agent of Byzantium that he hopes it does the same for someone else.  I can say with certainty that he achieved this goal, at least for me.  I liked the way Argyros' discoveries are presented.  He managed to bring about some pretty significant changes, or what will be in the long-run, but without being a one-man industrial revolution.  A lot of his discoveries happen by chance, and are things that someone else has invented.  That isn't to say that he is lacking in the brains department.  He certainly had to be smart in order to be a magistrianos.  Also, I love the stories as great adventure stories set in an alternate world. 

A few things to note before we go forwards.  The Byzantines did not refer to themselves as such.  That's a term assigned to them by later scholars, based on how Constantinople used to be called Byzantium.  The Byzantines initially referred to themselves as the Eastern Roman Empire.  They viewed themselves as a continuation of Rome, not something separate from it.  Turtledove correctly has the character refer to themselves, and their empire, as Roman.  In fact, by the time of the book, they've dropped the Eastern part of the name and just call themselves the Roman Empire.  Hey, they've reconquered Italy and Rome, along with North Africa, the Iberian Peninsula, and the southern coast of France.  

Also, the Byzantines used their own unique calendar call Etos Kosmou, meaning Era of the World in English.  They determined the year based not on the birth of Christ, but on the creation of the universe, or what they thought was the creation of the universe.  So, for example, 1315 AD would be 6824 in the Byzantine Calendar.  The stories were not individually published in chronological order, but thankfully the book arranges them chronologically.

Our first story is called "Eyes of Argos" and takes places in the year 1305 AD. Basil Argyros is an officer in the Byzantine Army station along the Danube boarder on the frontier of the empire.  The Jurchen Horde has been driven far to the west, and now they threaten the Byzantine Empire.  The Jurchens seem to have some sort of device that allows them to see over long distances.  Basil is going to have to go undercover to infiltrate the Jurchen Horde and uncover the secret of the strange device.  

Agent of Byzantium starts off strong with a great opening story.  This was very much Basil's origin story, and serves to set-up the future stories.  It is also an excellent story in its own right.  Interestingly, there was an actual historical figure named Basil Argyros in our history, but he was born in the 10th Century. The Basil Argyros of Agent of Byzantium was born in the 13th Century.  Also, the historical Argyros was a nobleman, while the fictional Argyros was a commoner born in the Balkans.  I'm almost certain that Turtledove named his character on purpose.  

Anyway, I liked how Argyros' wound up gaining some respect for the Jurchen and their culture.  He learns that, though the Jurchen venerate many spirits, they also believe in a god who is above the spirits.  There's a really great scene where he and a Jurchen shaman discuss the differences in their religious beliefs, and Argyros realizes that maybe the Jurchen aren't so different from the Byzantines after all.  All the same, he has a duty to his emperor and his empire to fulfill first and foremost.  The strange devise, as I'm sure you've figured out, is a telescope.  The way it is depicted is, I would say, realistic for the time period.  The title comes from how Argyros likens the telescope to the all-seeing eyes of Argos Panoptes from Greek Mythology. 

There's also the question of just what drove the Jurchen to Europe.  The Byzantines don't particularly care, but I'm curious.  They're presented as no different from any of the other invaders the Byzantines had to deal with such as the Huns, Magyars, Avars and Cumans.  There's also no mention of any Mongol invasion.  Did Genghis Khan fail to unite the Mongols?  Did the Chinese crush the Mongols?  Did the Mongols focus solely on Asia and ignore the West?  Or is it something else entirely?  We don't know, but it is fun to speculate.

True, Argyros does get kicked out of the army for his loose cannon behavior.  However, he gets promoted to a magistrianos, so it all works out in the end.  All in all, this story is a great start to Agent of Byzantium.

Our second story is entitled "Strange Eruptions" and takes place in 1307 AD.  Basil Argyros has been enjoying his new life as a magistrianos in Constantinople.  He has a beautiful wife named Helen and a baby boy named Sergios.  Things take a turn for the worse when the city finds itself in the midst of a smallpox epidemic.  Though he doesn't know it, the epedimic will change Argyros' life forever. 

I should have mentioned before, but each of the stories will almost always begin with Argyros thinking about St. Mouamet in some capacity.  In this story he does so when he notices a procession of presets chanting St. Mouamet's canticle.  The canticles are pretty obviously Koranic verses with the wording changed to reflect Christianity.  For example, one goes "Truly there is no god, but the Lord, and Christ is his son."  This is obviously a modification of "Truly there is no god but Allah, and Mohammad is his messenger.  Peace be onto him."  Also, apparently St. Mouamet's feast day is July 16th.    

From what we heard, St. Mouamet was the most zealous convert to Christianity since Paul.  Argyros loses Helen and Sergios to the epidemic, and he still mourns them even into the later stories.  Overall, their deaths are written well, but maybe could have been a bit better.  This is the only story where they are alive, so we don't get to know them very well.  Then again, Argyros has to travel as part of his work, so we might not necessarily have gotten more time with them.  However, because he has to run to the dairy farm to get milk for Sergios, Argyros inadvertently inoculates himself against smallpox.  This leads to the inadvertent discover of vaccines.  Many of the greats inventions happened totally by accident, so I find it very believable. 

Also, apparently Constantinople has dairy farms located within the city walls.  Was that something that happened in our history too?  Anyway, it is another solid addition to the collection.

The third story is entitled "Pillar of Cloud, Pillar of Fire" and takes place in 1309 AD.  Basil Argyros has been dispatched to Alexandria, Egypt.  The Pharos, also known as the Lighthouse of Alexandria, is being rebuilt.  However, construction has stalled because the works feel they are being overworked and underpaid, especially given how dangerous the work is.  Argyros will have to find some way to reconcile the two factions. 

Agent of Byzantium first came out in 1987, but did not include this story.  Thankfully, the second edition, which came out in 1994, corrected this.  Its kind of amusing that this story involves a strike and the invention of labor unions.  The first recorded strike in history occurred in Ancient Egypt in the year 1152 BC.  From this story we learn that certain heretical strains of Christianity have survived for long than they did in our world.  For example, many of the strikers are Monophysites, and it's mentioned that Nestorians are still running around in the eastern parts of the empire.  Personally, I don't blame the strikers for what they did.  I got vertigo just listening to the descriptions of the construction site.  

I know it's been two years since he lost them, but Argyros seems to have moved on from the death of his wife and child surprisingly well.  Well, he does briefly consider becoming a monk, but he decides the desires of the flesh are too strong for him to ignore.  That, and the rest of the stories wouldn't be nearly as interesting if he was a monk.  Though granted, he does seem to still somewhat being mourning them.  Perhaps he's done his best to bury himself in his work.  

Once again, a more than worthy addition to the collection.

The fourth story is entitled "Unholy Trinity" and takes place in 1315 AD.  The Franko-Saxon Kingdom has been getting into border skirmishes with the Byzantine Empire in the Pyrenees.  The Franko-Saxon have invented a highly combustible substance they call hellpowder, and use it to great effect.  Basil Argyros is going to have to go undercover to the Abbey of St. Gall, where it is rumored the Franko-Saxons produce the hellpowder.  He's also teaming up with some agents from the Kingdom of Angleland.  

There's a lot of great worldbuilding in this one as we glimpse the world outside the Byzantine Empire.  Apparently, the Norman Conquest never happened, since the Kingdom of Normandy was never founded.  As a result, Anglo-Saxons remain the dominate cultural force in England, but they've still managed to unite into a single political entity.  The world of Agent of Byzantium also had something akin to the Great Schism, but under much different circumstances.  After the Byzantines reconquered Italy, they deposed of the Pope, and replace him with a pope loyal to them.  The deposed pope fled to the Franko-Saxon Kingdom and set-up shop there.  The Byzantines consider the Franko-Saxon popes to be heretics.  The Byzantine Pope controls all the bishops of the western half of the empire, but he is subservient to the Patriarch of Constantinople.  

Also, it appears that the empire of Charlemagne managed stick together and avoid Balkanizing.  Well, it did that and eventually took to calling itself the Franko-Saxon Kingdom.  Though the absence of Normandy does make me wonder about how the Viking Age went in this world.  For that matter, did the Danelaw still happen in England?  In any event, I liked that the Byzantines and the Anglelanders teamed up for pragmatic reasons.  The Byzantines hope to one day bring the Angleland back into the empire, but Angleland would prefer to stay independent.  All the same, they have a common enemy in the Franko-Saxons.  The title refers to the trio of ingredients needed to make hellpowder.  

Once again, a more than worthy addition to the collection.

The fifth story is titled "Archetypes" and takes place in 1316 AD.  The Persian Empire has been spreading propaganda in the eastern provinces of the Byzantine Empire at an alarming rate.  They are encouraging Nestorians and Monophysites to breakaway and join Persia.  Basil Argyros is dispatched to the city of Daras in the province of Mesopotamia to investigate. 

This story is significant in that it is the first appearance of Mirrane.  She's an agent from Persia, and provides both challenge and intrigue for Argyros.  This wasn't a bad story, but it didn't quite hold my interest like the ones before it did.  I did like the concept of the printing press getting invented earlier.  The archetypes of the title are the clay letters used in the printing press.  I also found the scene where Argyros convinces his boss how useful the printing press to be amusing.  His boss, George Lakhanodrakon, is apparently writing an epic poem about Emperor Constans II's reconquest of Italy called the Italiad.  Well, not much more to say here, let's move on.

The sixth story is titled "Images" and takes place in 1317 AD.  There's trouble brew in Constantinople, and in the Byzantine Empire at large.  A group of Egyptian monks from Alexandria are preaching that icons are blasphemous and must be destroyed.  The population is sharply divided over the issue, and there's fighting in the streets.  Basil Argyros suspects that the Persians are plotting to show discord in Byzantium again.  It's going to take all of his wits and cunning to defeat the Iconoclasts. 

Iconoclasm was indeed something that happened in our world as well.  However, in our world the Byzantines decided in favor of iconoclasm, at least until they reversed the decision.  This was because Islam was slowly starting to influence the empire, though the Byzantines would never admit it.  So I found it believable that, in a world without Islam, there would be less support for iconoclasm.  And yes, the whole thing is caused by Mirrane trying to stir things up for the Persians.  Since much of the story involves ecumenical councils, we get more insight into this alternate Eastern Orthodox Church.  For example, apparently the Byzantines regard Pope Gregory the Great, also known as Gregory I, as more Gregory the So-So.  In particularly, they take umbrage to the fact that he spent so much time in Constantinople, and yet never learned how to speak Greek.  

This story was actually surprisingly enjoyable.  Who knew debates about church doctrine could be this much fun?  I liked Argyros' explanation for why the iconoclasts were wrong.  He argues that, if mortal materials aren't proper to portray the divine, then you might as well be saying that the incarnation never happened.  Argyros is certainly no slouch when it comes to debating theology.  After all, as he notes, theological debates are Constantinople's favorite pastime, after the Hippodrome races.  

A pleasant surprise of a story, and another worthy addition of the collection.

The final story is title "Superwine" and takes place in 1320 AD.  Basil Argyros is on assignment to the Kingdom of Alania.  He's posing as a merchant of a new drinking called superwine.  While there he bumps into the Persian agent Mirrane.  The two agents are going to have to put aside their differences and work together.  The king of Alania is planning on letting the Kyrgyz Horde through his lands so that they can reek havoc on Byzantium and Persia, and he can swoop in and pick up the scraps.  

This story didn't quite hold my attention like the previous stories did.  It started off good, but about halfway through I felt like it kind of ran out of steam.  That was a shame, as the second half of the story is where the action really picked up.  I did like the idea of Argyros and Mirrane having to put aside their differences to save their empires.  For those who don't know, Alania was a kingdom in the Caucasus Mountain founded by the Alan people.  Alania is strategically located as one of the few gateways through the Caucuses.  We also find out from this story that Byzantium and Persia have a mutual agreement to not persecute followers of each other's religions.  Zoroastrians can worship in Byzantium as long as Christians can worship in Persia, and vice versa.  

Well, I wasn't really intrigued by the last story, but maybe you'll like it better. 

I'd be remiss if I didn't discuss a story not included in this collection.  Turtledove also wrote a short story titled "Departures" that is a prequel to Agent of Byzantium.  It takes place 700 years before Agent of Byzantium and follows St. Mouamet during his time at a monastery in Syria.  Later in life he apparently traveled to Constantinople and went on to become an archbishop in Spain.  It is not included in the collection, and is the only story not to feature Basil Argyros as the protagonist.  Perhaps that's why it wasn't included, which is a shame in my opinion.  Oh well, maybe someday it will be. 

I'd also be remiss is I didn't talk about the long-awaited audiobook edition of Agent of Byzantium.  It is narrated by Tim Campbell, and he does an excellent job.  This audiobook was well worth the wait.  

There you have it.  Agent of Byzantium is a classic Harry Turtledove novel that was more than worth the wait.  I hope the Harry Turtledove audiobook gravy train doesn't slow down any time soon.  Well, I think that's enough from me for now.  I will see you all next time.   

Book Review: A Different Flesh by Harry Turtledove

I've discussed this before, but a plenty of times I really want to listen to a book, but it just won't be available for various reasons.  Of course, over the years, my patience has been rewarded in some very big ways.  Case in point, the book we're going to be reviewing today.  We're going to be taking a look at A Different Flesh by Harry Turtledove.  

A Different Flesh is a collection of short stories set in the same universe.  In the world of A Different Flesh, the ancestors of the Native Americans never crossed the Bering land bridge during the Ice Age.  However, Homo Erectus did cross into the Americas.  Thus, when the Europeans discover the Americas, they don't find any Native American civilizations, but they do find tribes of Homo Erectus, whom they refer to as sims.  Also, the Ice Age megafauna of the Americas never went extinct, so the Europeans also discover a land full of woolly mammoths, sabertooth cats, giant ground sloths, and giant armadillos among other things.  

The stories follow the history of the Federated Commonwealths of America, this world's equivalent of the United States of America.  Before the start of each story, the mood is set with an excerpt from a book about the history of the FCA.  It also provides great details about the history of this world that don't quite make it into the stories.  The excerpts also chronicle the relationship between humans and sims.  

We're going to take a look at each of the stories individually, but I'm going to give some overall thoughts first.  Well, I can most certainly say that this book was well worth the wait.  Harry Turtledove says that he got the idea for this series when he read an article by the late great paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould.  Gould pondered what might have happened if John Smith and the Jamestown colonists had discovered Australopithecus rather than Native Americans in Virginia.  Gould concluded that it would not have ended well for Australopithecus.  Turtledove certainly seems to have come to the same conclusion.  One thing I think he did well was that, though he wrote the sims as sympathetic, he never made them too anthropomorphized.  You can definitely see similarities between humans and sims, as is to be expected, but at the same time sims clearly act and think differently than humans. 

The first story is called "Vilest Beast" and is set in Jamestown, Virginia in the year 1610.  Without the Native Americans and their corn, the colonists are having an even hard time than they did in our world.  Despite this, Edward Wingfield and his wife Anne are making the best of things.  Things change when their infant daughter Joanna is kidnapped by a tribe of sims.  Edward must lead a search party to get her back. 

Given what inspired these stories, it's fitting that the first should take place in Jamestown.  Speaking which, we learn how things went with John Smith and the Sims.  It ended badly...for John Smith.  Apparently, the sims killed him in 1607, and his death was a considerable blow to the moral of the colony.  Overall, I would say the way Turtledove portrays the sims still holds up based on what we know about Homo Erectus.  There's never called Homo Erectus in any of the stories, but Turtledove has confirmed this is the case in interviews.  Also, the excerpt from the text book mentions that sim fossils have been discovered in East Africa, South China, and the island of Java.  All of which are places Homo Erectus fossils have been found.  

It might come across as a bit silly that they're called sims, but how was Turtledove to know that there would one day be a video game called The Sims?  These stories were written between 1985-1988, with A Different Flesh being published in 1988.  I'm guessing it was intended to be short for simians, or something like that.  

Also, fun fact, Edward Wingfield was a real person who existed in our world.  I've got to admit, this story hooked me from the start.  I've always been fascinated by the colonization of the Americas, especially the different ways it often plays out in alternate history.  I'm also a big paleontology fan, so this story was kind of a match made in heaven.  Really, the whole book was kind of like that.  I found it realistic that the colonist struggled more without corn to supplement their diets.  It can't be stressed enough what a difference corn made to the early colonization of the Americas.  Curiously, later stories make mention of a colony in Massachusetts, which is called Plymouth in this world because Massachusetts got its name from the Native Americans.  Obviously, this means the Pilgrims still happened, but without any corn they would have been completely screwed. 

Anyway, I loved how the story resolves.  Turns out the sims took Joanna because they wanted to learn more about the colonists by studying one of their young.  By all accounts, the sims treated Joanna no differently than one of their own young.  Edward spends most of the story viewing the sims as nothing more than wild animals, but after this, he starts to realize they aren't so different.  He even briefly worries about what's going to happen to the sims as the European continue to colonize the New World.  All in all, "Vilest Beast" is a great start to the collection. 

The next story is called "And So To Bed".  It is set in 1661 and is told in the form of the diary of Samuel Pepys.  He's a figure from our world, a great English statesman, and the Pepys of our world is indeed famous for his diary.  In the world of A Different Flesh, however, Pepys' diary holds a different significance.  He notes that there is a clear link between chimps, Sims and humans.  He wonders if there's some process that slowly changes life over time. 

This was one of the weaker stories, but it has some interesting ideas.  It makes sense that the Theory of Evolution was developed earlier.  Sims are an obvious link between humans and animals.  It was also fun to learn about a historical figure I'd never heard of before.  Well, anyway, moving right along. 

The third story is titled "Around the Salt Lick".  It takes place in the year 1691 and follows a scout named Thomas Kenton and his loyal sim companion Charles.  Thomas is hunting spearfang cats for their valuable fangs.  Spearfang cats have gotten a bit rare in Virginia, so Thomas and Charles have had to push into the frontier to find the bounty.  However, things get a bit complicated when they come into conflict with a tribe of wild sims.  

This one was maybe not my favorite, but not too bad either.  I did find it funny at the end where Charles turns out to be snobby towards wild sims.  He views them much the same as humans do.  We learn that sims can communicate via sign language, but not vocal speech.  The excerpt from the history book provides more worldbuilding hints.  Apparently, England adopted the Divine Right of Kings model of government.  People who objected to this moved to America in droves.  This would suggest that the English Civil War never happened in this world.  Well, that or maybe the Royalist won.  Also, apparently Spain had a much harder time colonizing the New World without the Aztec and Inca to conquer.  By the time of "Around the Salt Lick" they've only got two successful colonies: Argentina and New Grenada. 

Argentina makes sense, because it has a fairly European climate, but New Grenada?  That was in Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador in our world.  Unless it was somewhere else, that makes a bit less sense, especially since it is said Spain struggled to colonize the tropics without any corn.  Also, without Aztec and Incan gold and silver, Spain would have a harder time financing their wars in Europe.  That would potentially mean the European History took some very different turns.  Of course, that might explain what happened in England.  Turtledove is mostly focused on stories about the sims, but he's certainly lead tantalizing hints at a wider world.

The fourth story is titled "The Iron Elephant" and is set in 1782.  Hairy elephants play a major role in the Federated Commonwealths of America.  They haul passenger carriages and freight cars all across the nation.  However, this time-honored institution is facing competition from the new invention of steam-powered locomotives.  A race has been organized between a team of mammoth drivers and a train engineer.  Can flesh and blood triumph over iron and steam?  

Yeah, this one is sort of an alternate history retelling of the legend of John Henry.  John Henry is my favorite American Folk Hero, so I'm not complaining.   We get even more worldbuilding here.  Apparently, in order to tame the wooly mammoths, America started importing elephant trainers from India.  The protagonist of the story, Premier Chand, is descended from these.  Also, the Federated Commonwealths got their independence in 1732, so the American Revolution happened earlier.  This story appear to be set in Illinois based on mention of Cairo (pronounced Kay-Roe) and the New Nile is obviously the Mississippi River.  Again, no Native Americans, so it isn't called Illinois.  I guess that means Chicago, if it exists, is named something else as well.  It's kind of amazing how many places in America get their names from the Native Americans.  

As fascinating as the world of A Different Flesh is, not sure I'd wanted to live there.  True, I'd get to see all sorts of Ice Age animals, but it would be a poorer world without the richness of Native American culture.  Also, I have a small amount of Native American ancestry, so I would not exist in the world of A Different Flesh.  

It's interesting that this story features sims the least of all the stories in the collection.  Oh, but they're not absent from this story.  The sims appear towards the end of the story, and they're are the ones who get the last laugh in the big race.  Without giving too much away, I can say it shows that sims are smarter than they are given credit for.  "The Iron Elephant" is another great story in the collection. 

The fifth story is titled "Though Heavens Fall" and takes places in 1804.  From the textbook excerpt we learn that Americans used sims as laborers on plantations and farms.  This blunted the Transatlantic Slave Trade to a large extent, but didn't completely prevent it.  Africans were brought to America as slaves, but most of them wound up as house slaves.  Sims make terrible housekeepers, apparently.  The story follows a slave named Jeremiah.  He's got a pretty good life on the Gillen plantation in Virginia.  Still, he dreams of the day he saves up enough money to buy his freedom.  Unfortunately, the sims have recently come down with an illness, and Jeremiah gets sends to the fields to supplement the work force.  After a day of hard labor he decides to make a run for it try his luck in Portsmouth, Virginia.  He takes up residence with lawyer Alfred Douglas, and together they set out to put the institution of slavery on trial.  The outcome of the trail will impact not just Jeremiah, but Black Americans as a whole.

I think this was possibly my favorite story of the bunch.  Well, "Vilest Beast" was pretty good too, but it is tied with "Though Heavens Fall".  I think the way slavery was depicted made sense.  Slavery has existed as far back as Ancient Mesopotamia, and I don't think sims would completely element it.  The Greeks and Romans believed in human-like creatures such satyrs, cyclopes, and centaurs, yet they still had slavery.  Still, as is noted in the story, people would have to recognize that a white person has far more in common with a black person than with a sim.  

Even before the trails you can kind of see that the characters have kind of figured this out.  Mr. Gillen treats Jeremiah almost like an employee rather than a slave, and seems almost apologetic when he has to send Jeremiah to the fields.  Still, the overseer makes it clear that he has nothing but contempt for Jeremiah, and black people as a whole.  Moreover, Jeremiah is under no delusions that he is anything other than a slave.  On the flip side, I enjoyed how Jeremiah and Alfred's relationship developed.  They start off as employee and employer, but soon develop a genuine friendship with one another. 

We also get a glimpse into the legal and political system of the Federated Commonwealths.  Apparently, courts use three judges, one senior judge and two junior judges, for trials.  Two of the three judges must agree for a verdict to pass.  Also, the government of the Federated Commonwealths is bi-cameral legislature divided into the Popular Assembly and the Senate.  Popular Assembly is directly elected by the people, while the Senate is made of former governors and censors who serve lifetime terms.  At the top of the government are the two censors.  They are elected by the people and serve a single five-year term.  The thinking is that they'll keep each other in check, especially if they're from opposing parities.  As you can see, the Conscript Fathers of the Federated Commonwealths modeled the nation very closely on the Roman Republic.  

I also noticed some similarities to British Parliament, but that makes sense.  We know that America got a lot of political refugees after England adopted the Divine Right of Kings.  That means that ideas of parliamentary government were floating around in America.  Some of those ideas probably got incorporated into the fabric of the Federated Commonwealths.  It also turns out that sims can speak, but it takes a considerable amount of effort, and they can only say like one or two simple words at a time.  This is why they use sign language.  

There's a really great scene at the end where Jeremiah is mean to sim that bumps into him on the street.  He knows he's being kind of a dick, but he also knows that blacks would be at the bottom of society if the sims didn't exist.  All in all, a really great addition to A Different Flesh.

The penultimate story is titled "Trapping Run".  It is set in the Rocky Mountains in 1814 and follows a trapper named Henry Quick.  During a trapping run he gets attacked by a bear, but fortunately, a tribe of sims find him and nurse him back to health.  Quick has always though to the sims as nothing more than animals, but spending so much time with them allows Quick to see them as something almost human. 

This one took me a but to get into, but I did enjoy it once it took off.  I guess you could say that Quick was really having some Dances with Sims after his leg healed.  Also, from this story we learn that sims and humans can indeed have hybrid children.  I really did enjoy how Quick came to view the sims as more human as the story went on.  He apparently goes on to become the founder of the Sims Justice Movement.  As we learn in the next story, Henry Quick became quite famous among the sims because of this.  Well, I think that's enough for this one, let's move on.

The final story is called "Freedom" and is set in 1988.  Over the years, sims have been used in all sorts of scientific research, including AIDS research.  The story follows a sim named Matt.  He's a teat subject at the AIDS research center in Terminus, Georgia.  Overall, he's got a pretty cushy life with plenty of food, females, and regular injections of HIV inhibitor than suppress his symptoms and make him feel like he doesn't have HIV at all.  Maybe he's not technically free, but he's not complaining.  However, a group of sims rights activists disagrees and decide to kidnap him to set him free.  Of course, as they soon discover, this is easier said than done. 

The collection began on a strong note, and it certainly ends on a strong note as well.  A recusing theme throughout A Different Flesh is about what it means to be humans.  Sims are far more intelligent than most animals, but aren't quite at human levels of intelligence.  This certainly creates a moral conundrum about their place in society.  Even the sims rights activists acknowledge that sims will never, for example, be elected to public office.  Before we get to anything else, let's address the city name.  Terminus is the A Different Flesh version of Atlanta, Georgia.  It might seem odd that this is the case, given that Atlanta is from Classic Mythology, and wouldn’t be impacted by the lack of Native Americans.  However, Terminus was indeed the original name of the city.  It was changed in 1732, when the colonial governor of Georgia renamed the city after his daughter.  We know that the alternate American Revolution happened in 1732, or else that’s when America officially became independent.  So, that means the rename never happened.  That, or the Americans refused to acknowledge the name change. 

Anyway, the Sims Rights activists kind of reminded me of certain more extreme animal rights groups.  I'm talking PETA and their ilk.  Given that this was written in 1988, I can't help but wonder if Turtledove had that in mind.  The activist are certainly well intentioned, but they clearly didn't think things through, and you know what they say about the road to hell.  They have a hard time convincing Matt not to have sex with other sims, lest he give them HIV, and they don't bring nearly enough HIV inhibitor.  So, in the end, they have to return him to the AIDS research center. 

From the excerpt we learn that sims were used as slave labor in factories, and that many displaced factory workers lead sims rights movements.  However, they did this less because they cared about sims, and more because they didn't like that the sims were taking their jobs.  It's interesting that they helped the sims, but not necessarily for altruistic reasons.  Also, apparently the FCA equivalent of NASA used sims to test their spacecrafts.  

Another theme in this story is about how a freedom is relative and subjective.  The activist think they're freeing Matt, but they're way more restrictive and stifling than the institute ever was.  In the end, Matt's happy to return to the institute.  I especially liked the end where the other sims ask him what it was like outside.  He says that it isn't like on TV, and that the activist are like all the other humans; they only care about sims when it serves their personal goals. The story ends on a bittersweet note.  Matt is happy and back home, but the future of sims remains uncertain.  True, it is mentioned that there are three major reserves the size of moderate sized states, but the sims are also losing their habitats to development and the continued encroachment of humans.  And, as mentioned, there's the question of just how do that fit into society.  Both issues have been pretty consistent across all the stories, and I guess it just goes to show that, the more things change, the more they stay the same. 

Ending on a bittersweet note seems pretty realistic to me.  A lot of times, bittersweet is the best you can hope for in real life.  But hey, that's history for you.  

Before we wrap things up I've got to talk about the audiobook edition that is here at long last.  It is narrated by Paul Woodson.  He's equally adept at pulling off both British and American accents.  I also closed how he gave the sims a distinct accent of their own.  What can I say?  The audiobook was worth the wait.  

Well, I think that does it for this review.  I absolutely loved A Different Flesh, and I hope that more classic Harry Turtledove novels get their audiobooks.  Hey, we've already got Agent of Byzantium and The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump, things are really looking up for alternate history audiobook lovers.  And yes, my review of Agent of Byzantium will be here before you know it.  

For now, however, I will see you all next time.  

Book Review: Gunpowder Empire by Harry Turtledove

Believe it or not there was a time I read physical books rather than audiobooks, and on occasion I still do, and so I have decided to review one such book in this blog post.  That book is Gunpowder Empire, book 1 of the Crosstime Traffic series, by Harry Turtledove.  This was not only the first Harry Turtledove book I ever read, but it was also the first alternate history book I ever read.

The book takes place in the 29th century; in the past Earth was ravaged by overpopulation, environmental degradation and fossil fuels got used up.  Fortunately, all of those problems got solved when travel between universes got discovered.  Earth trades with parallel Earths to get food and raw materials, but they do so in secret and undercover; best not to panic the locals or give the more advanced timelines any ideas.  The story follows Jeramy Solters and his family go on missions to an alternate (as the universes are called) known as Agrippan Rome.  In this alternate Marcus Agrippa managed to live longer than in our world and conquered Germania, which help ensure the Roman Empire never fell.  In time Rome discovered gunpowder and developed firearms; unfortunately technological progress stagnated after that and Rome became a gunpowder empire (hence the title).  

The Solters trade in goods that are slightly better than what the Romans have in hopes to starting the wheels of progress once again.  Specifically they trade things like mirrors, razors, mechanical clocks and pocket watches, and so on.  Everything is going well on a routine trip when Mrs. Solters starts having abdominal pain and has to go back to the home timeline with Mr. Solters.  Jeramy and his sister Amanda are going to be on their own for hopefully not too long.  However, it's not long before the computer loses contact with the home timeline all together.  What's happened?  Will Jeramy and Amanda ever see their parents and their home timeline ever again?  Will they survive the coming invasion of the Lietuvians?  

Like I said, this was both my first Turtledove novel and my first alternate history novel; even after all this time I still say it was the perfect starting point for me.  One of the great things about the Crosstime Traffic series is that all of the novels are standalones and can be read in any order.  I just read them in order of publication because I'm that way.  Now, I've noticed a lot of older readers complaining about the fact that the protagonists are teenagers and that the novels seems geared towards young adults.  To those people I have this to say: you know that's the point right?  Turtledove wrote this series specifically to introduce teenagers and young adults to alternate history, so older readers weren't the target demographic.  I suppose this confusion comes from the books being shelved with Turtledove's adult books rather than in the young adult section.  

Turtledove has a Phd in Byzantine History, and I could definitely tell that he was in his element when he wrote this novel.  The descriptions of daily life in an alternate Roman Empire were lovingly and knowledgeably crafted.  I also liked the descriptions of how religion turned out.  For example there are only three gospels and the Bible has different end because John the Apostle was never born and Paul wrote letters to church that don't exist in our world.  Meanwhile, Christianity is split between those willing to making offerings to the emperor, known as Imperial Christians, and those who refuse to do so.  Also, Jesus is simply considered one god among many.  Maybe it was because I was always hungry when I got to them, but the descriptions of the food was great.  At one point I ate some bread and honey along with the characters and even made a toast to the emperor's health.  

It was also fun to see the little knowing winks to Turtledove's other works.  There's a scene where Jeramy plays a video game about aliens invading in the middle of World War II.  For those who don't get it, Turtledove's WorldWar series was going to get a video game adaptation, but for various reasons it fell through.  There's also mention of a world were the American Revolution never happened and America remain with Britain, and in a bit of foreshadowing to the following Crosstime Traffic novel, a world where Germany won World War I.  The exact boarders of this Roman Empire weren't established, but there's been fan speculation and so I've included this handy map to give you an idea.  Dark blue is firmly Roman, lighter blue is probably Roman, lightest blue is disputed and brown is Lietuvian.    

They say alternate history can also be a learning experience about actual history, and that was certainly true here.  I really got a few for what it would be like living in Ancient Rome.  It wasn't all gladiators and circuses, and even then those tended to be fairly violent and gory by modern standards.  There was slavery, head lice, the threat of invasion, poverty and other such things.  Yet there was also a fair amount of grandeur and awe, and I was still filled with a sense of wonder at this brave new world I explored with the turn of a page.  I also got to learn about the Lithuanians, some of their history and how they were pretty cool too.   

Where Jeramy and Amanda the most memorable of characters?  Maybe they weren't, but they served a purpose.  That could be applied to most of the characters.  They all helped brings the world of Agrippan Rome to life and show what made it tick.  Also, don't be afraid to get attached to anyone, because for once in a Turtledove novel, everyone lives!  Suffice it to say that this means there's a happy ending and Al, works out for the best.  Hey, I like happy endings, and so it was all good to me.  It find it humor in hindsight that Crosstime Traffic was a more business like version of the company from Twilight Histories, for whom I often make maps.  Perhaps it's only fitting that Crossitme Traffic was where I got my alternate history start.    

This was my first alternate history novel and my first Turtledove novel.  Even to this day it remains one of my favorites and most memorable alternate histories.  Pick up a copy today, and take a journey across time.