Kirov Saga: Darkest Hour: Altered States - Volume II (Kirov Series) (42 page)

Kirov Saga:
Nine Days Falling, Book V

As
Fedorov launches his daring mission to the past to rescue Orlov,
Volsky does not know where or how to find the team, or even if they have safely
made the dangerous transition to the 1940s….But other men know, from the dark
corners of Whitehall to the KGB. And other men also continue to stalk Orlov in
that distant era, led by Captain John Haselden and the men of 30 Commando. The
long journey west is fraught with danger for Fedorov’s team when they encounter
something bewildering and truly astounding, an incident that leads them deeper
into the mystery of Rod-25.

Meanwhile,
Kirov
has put to sea and now forms the heart of
a powerful battlegroup commanded by Captain Vladimir Karpov. He is soon
confronted by the swift deployment of the American Carrier Strike Group Five
out of Yokosuka Japan in a tense standoff at sea that threatens to explode into
violence at any moment. The fuse of conflict is lit across the globe, for the
dread war has finally begun when the Chinese make good on their threat to
secure their long wayward son—Taiwan. From the pulsing bitstream of the
Internet, the deep void of outer space, the oil soaked waters of the Persian
Gulf and Black Sea, to the riveting naval combat in the Pacific, the world
descends in nine grueling days, swept up in the maelstrom and chaos of war.

This is the story of that deadly war to end all wars, and the
desperate missions from the future and past to find the one man who can prevent
it from ever happening, Gennadi Orlov. Can the mystery of Rod-25 and Orlov be
solved before the ICBMs are finally launched?

Kirov Saga:
Fallen Angels ~ Book VI

The war continues on both land and sea as China invades Taiwan and
North Korea joins to launch a devastating attack. Yet
Kirov
and the
heart of the Red Banner Pacific Fleet has vanished, blown into the past by the
massive wrath of the Demon Volcano. There Captain Karpov finds himself at the
dying edge of the last great war, yet his own inner demons now wage war with
his conscience as he contemplates another decisive intervention.

After secretly assisting the Soviet invasion of the Kuriles and
engaging a small US scouting force in the region, Karpov has drawn the
attention of Admiral Halsey’s powerful 3rd Fleet. Now Halsey sends one of the
toughest fighting Admirals of the war north to investigate, the hero of the
Battle off Samar, Ziggy Sprague, and fast and furious sea battles are the order
of the day.

Meanwhile tensions rise in the Black Sea as the Russian mission to
rescue Fedorov and Orlov has now been expanded to include a way to try and
deliver new control rods to
Kirov
from the same batch and lot as the
mysterious Rod-25. Will they work? Yet Admiral Volsky learns that the Russian
Black Sea Fleet has engaged well escorted units of a British oil conveyor,
Fairchild Inc., and the fires of war soon endanger his mission.

All efforts are now focused on a narrow stretch of coastline on
the Caspian Sea, where men of war from the future and past are locked in a
desperate struggle to decide the outcome of history itself. Naval combat, both
future and past, combine with action and intrigue as Volsky’s mission is
launched and the mystery of Rod-25 and Fedorov’s strange experience on the
Trans-Siberian Rail is finally revealed. Can they stop the nuclear holocaust of
the Third World War in 2021 or will it begin off the coast of Japan in 1945?

Kirov Saga:
Devil’s Garden
~
Book VII

The stunning continuation to the
Kirov
saga extends the
action, both past and present, as the prelude to the Great War moves into its
final days. The last remnant of the Red Banner Pacific Fleet has fought its
duel with Halsey in the Pacific, resorting to nuclear weapons in the last
extreme—but what has happened to
Kirov
and
Orlan?

Now the many story threads involving Fairchild Inc. and the
desperate missions to find Orlov launched by both Haselden and Fedorov all
converge in the vortex of time and fate on the shores of the Caspian Sea.
Fedorov and Troyak lead an amphibious assault at Makhachkala, right into the teeth
of the German advance. Meanwhile, Admiral Volsky and Kamenski read the
chronology of events to peek at the outcome and discover the verdict of
history. Can it still be changed?

Turn the page with Admiral Volsky and learn the fate of Orlov,
Fedorov, Karpov and the world itself. Follow the strange and enigmatic figure
of Sir Roger Ames, Duke of Elvington as he reveals a plot, and a plan, older
than history itself on the windswept shores of Lindisfarne Castle.

Kirov Saga: Armageddon ~
Book VIII

The lines of fate have brought the most powerful ship in the world
to a decisive place in history. Driven by his own inner demons, Captain Karpov
now believes that with
Kirov
in 1908 he is truly invincible, and his aim
is to impose his will on that unsuspecting world and reverse the cold fate of
Russian history from 1908 to the 21st century. But it is not just the fate of a
single nation at stake now, but that of all the world.

Shocked by Karpov’s betrayal, Anton Fedorov plans a mission to
stop the Captain before he can do irreversible damage to the cracked mirror of
time. Now Admiral Volsky must do everything possible to launch this final
mission aboard the nuclear attack submarine
Kazan
. The journey to the
Sea of Japan becomes a perilous one when the Americans and Japanese begin to
hunt
Kazan
in the dangerous waters of 2021.

Join Anton Fedorov, Admiral Volsky, Chief Dobrynin, and Gennadi
Orlov aboard
Kazan
as they launch this last desperate mission to
confront the man, and the ship, that now threatens to change all history and
unravel the fabric of fate and time itself.

Kirov Saga:
Altered States

Kirov
and
Kazan
move forward yet find themselves stuck in the
midst of WWII once again, only the world is not the same! The consequences of
all their interventions in history have now calcified to a new reality. The
political borders of nations have been re-drawn, Colonial powers vie for
control of the undeveloped world, and Russia itself is a divided nation.
Discovering they still possess a decisive edge in weapons technology they must
now decide which side to take to end a long and terrible war that threatens
millions more lives.

Altered States ~
Volume II: Darkest Hour

The first rounds have fallen, heavy shells smashing against the
armored conning tower of HMS
Hood
, stunning the ship and its stolid
Admiral Holland. Yet
Hood
fights on, her guns raging in reprisal as the
pride of two navies meet in the largest naval engagement since Jutland. Even as
Admiral Tovey reaches the action, the shadow of Hoffmann’s battlegroup looms
over his shoulder and the odds stack ever higher against the embattled ships of
Home Fleet. Off to the north the
Stukas
rush to re-arm aboard carrier
Graf
Zeppelin
, while far to the south another ship hastens north to the scene,
from a time and place incomprehensible to the men now locked in a desperate struggle
raging on a blood red sea that may decide the fate of England in 1940. Can they
engage without shattering the fragile mirror of history yet again?

Learn the outcome and follow
Kirov
north as it heads to
home waters, determined to meet the man that may have changed the course of all
history, Sergei Kirov. Meanwhile the action moves to the Med where the young
Christopher Wells is dispatched to Force H. The British must first prevent the
powerful French fleet from falling into enemy hands. The fighting has only just
begun as
Altered States
continues the retelling of the naval war in an
exciting second volume.

The
Altered States
segment of the
Kirov Series
continues in the book you now hold:
Darkest Hour,
to be followed by
Volume III:
Hinge of Fate.
Further titles
are planned as the days
slowly tick off toward “Paradox Day” the fateful day and hour when
Kirov
was to have first arrived in the Norwegian Sea on July 28, 1941.

Like
Alternate History / Time Travel by John Schettler?
Don’t miss his five volume
Meridian Series!

The Meridian Series
(Time Travel / Alternate History)

Book I:
Meridian
–
A Novel In Time

ForeWord Magazine’s “Book of the Year”

2002 Silver Medal Winner for Science Fiction

The adventure begins on the eve of the greatest experiment ever
attempted—time travel. As the project team meets for their final mission
briefing, the last member, arriving late, brings startling news. Catastrophe
threatens and the fate of the Western World hangs in the balance. But a visitor
from another time arrives bearing clues that will carry the hope of countless
generations yet to be born, and a desperate plea for help. The team is led to
the Jordanian desert during WWI and the exploits of the fabled Lawrence of
Arabia. There they struggle to find the needle in the haystack of causality
that can prevent the disaster from ever happening.

Book II:
Nexus Point

The project team members slowly come to the realization that a
“Time War” is being waged by unseen adversaries in the future. The quest for an
ancient fossil leads to an amazing discovery hidden in the Jordanian desert. A
mysterious group of assassins plot to decide the future course of history, just
one battle in a devious campaign that will span the Meridians of time, both
future and past. Exciting Time travel adventure in the realm of the Crusades!

Book III:
Touchstone

When Nordhausen follows a hunch and launches a secret time jump
mission on his own, he uncovers an operation being run by unknown adversaries
from the future. The incident has dramatic repercussions for Kelly Ramer, his
place in the time line again threatened by paradox. Kelly’s fate is somehow
linked to an ancient Egyptian artifact, once famous the world over, and now a
forgotten slab of stone. The result is a harrowing mission to Egypt during the
time frame of Napoleon’s 1799 invasion.

Book IV:
Anvil of Fate

The cryptic ending of Touchstone dovetails perfectly into
this
next volume as Paul insists that Kelly has survived, and is determined to
bring him safely home. Only now is the true meaning of the stela unearthed at
Rosetta made apparent—a grand scheme to work a catastrophic transformation of
the Meridians, so dramatic and profound in its effect that the disaster at
Palma was only a precursor. The history leads them to the famous Battle of
Tours where Charles Martel strove to stem the tide of the Moorish invaders and
save the west from annihilation. Yet more was at stake on the Anvil of Fate
than the project team first realized, and they now pursue the mystery of two
strange murders that will decide the fate of Western Civilization itself!

Book V:
Golem 7

Nordhausen is back with new research and his hand on the neck of
the new terrorist behind the much feared “Palma Event.” Now the project team
struggles to discover how and where the Assassins have intervened to restore
the chaos of Palma, and their search leads them on one of the greatest naval
sagas of modern history—the hunt for the battleship
Bismarck
. For some
unaccountable reason the fearsome German battleship was not sunk on its maiden
voyage, and now the project team struggles to put the ship back in its watery
grave. Meet Admiral John Tovey and Chief of Staff “Daddy” Brind as the Royal
Navy begins to receive mysterious intelligence from an agent known only as
“Lonesome Dove.” Exciting naval action and top notch research characterize this
fast paced alternate history of the sinking of the
Bismarck
.

Golem 7 Introduces Admiral John Tovey as a primary historical
character, and he figures prominently in the long Kirov Saga novels that
followed this book.

Historical Fiction

Taklamakan ~
The Land Of No Return

It was one of those moments on the cusp of time, when Tando Ghazi
Khan, a simple trader of tea and spice, leads a caravan to the edge of the
great desert, and becomes embroiled in the struggle that will decide the fate
of an empire and shake all under heaven and earth. A novel of the Silk Road,
the empire of Tibet clashes with T’ang China on the desolate roads that fringe
the Taklamakan desert, and one man holds the key to victory in a curious map
that guards an ancient secret hidden for centuries.