I just bought (and finished) two books from Amazon: "Crusade" by Stuart Slade, and "Britannia's Fist", by Peter Tsouras. I only just noticed that the latter is a trilogy (the final two books not being written yet) - the former is part of an ongoing alternate history series.

"Crusade" is set in a world where Britain yielded in 1941 (under Halifax instead of Churchill). It's the 60's now, and the entire world is very different - Europe is a backwater, India is a world power, China and Japan are a merged empire, and Russia is an American ally. WWII ended with the nuclear annihilation of Germany in 1947; the middle east is a growing Caliphate (thus the book's name). Like Slade's earlier books, it's an interesting idea, but needs polish (and spell checking). It was clear from the way it ended that Slade intends to write more about this world.

The Tsouras book makes one major shift - an 1863 diplomatic crisis between the US and UK goes hot instead of being ended quietly, and the UK goes to war. Most of this book is setup; the action begins as the book is ending, leaving me waiting for the next book.

While I'm not sure I'll look for Slade's next book with that much enthusiasm, I will be keeping my eyes peeled for Tsouras' followup.

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