Guest
blogger Brent Harris gets into double trouble as he stops by to
review two tomes of alternate history. The first, Blackbeard’s
Daughter, is a secret history of the life of Edward Teach which
promises that it’s not ‘a kissing book'. The second, by
alt-historian Mark Gillespie, showcases a fictional world that’s
scarily prescient.
Blackbeard's Daughter, by Diana Strenka
Blackbeard’s Daughter is
a ‘secret history’ of Edward Teach’s fictional daughter,
Margaret. While Teach would later become the fearsome and infamous
pirate, Blackbeard, Diana Strenka’s debut novel focuses on the
emotional trials of Margaret and what she must endure as her father
is mostly absent throughout her childhood, and tragedy befalls her in
every chapter, in a story that would make G.R.R. Martin shed a tragic
tear or two.
Blackbeard’s time as
Edward Teach is mostly a mystery, and Diana dances around factual
events well enough that it is plausible that some of this story could
have really happened. But, there are some incongruences with the
historical record that requires the reader to develop a small
suspension of disbelief. Still, accepting that the narrator is
unreliable and biased towards her father helps the reader accept this
differing account.
But Margaret is a naïve,
entrapped young child, with only the basics of an education. This
makes for very short, stilted sentences with no real descriptions or
deep insights about herself or her world.
What is left can make for a
story that is hard to get into style-wise but for the tragedy which
happens at every turn of the page. And that is where the book shines
best: Margaret finding inner strength through these terrible events
and transforming from victim to anti-hero, and why I can’t help but
give the book 3.5 Dread Pirates, rounded to 4. If anything, we need a
book about Pirate Margaret raining vengeance on the British.
You can download Diana’s
book here:
https://www.amazon.com/Blackbeards-Daughter-Diana-Strenka-ebook/dp/B01BTBC08S/
L-2011, by Mark Gillespie
L-2011 is an alternate
history story of what might have happened had the real-life death of
Mark Duggan led to long-term rioting of downtown London. What
interested me in this book was that the deaths of black youths by
police officers have triggered such rioting here in the States, so it
was a vivid reminder that Mark’s dystopian aftermath of the
incident in London, resulting in a long-term and large-scale loss of
control of a major city, is a very real possibility.
We see the aftermath
through the eyes of Mack Walker, a teenager with a secret in his
past. He befriends several local London kids, whose backgrounds are
not so fortunate as Mack’s white, upper middle-class upbringing.
They all have their own issues to deal with, and there is a nice
interplay between characters that matches what you’d read from a NY
Times Bestseller. However, my one big criticism of the book was that
the characters don’t have traditional arcs. They all have strong
personalities that are reinforced as the story progresses, but they
don’t undergo any transformative process. And maybe that is the
point. These kids are all reflective of a growing generation plugged
into social media—they see the world like no generation has before,
but there’s a powerlessness there as they see the corruption and
media sensationalism, but are unable to affect change except through
violence.
Therefore, it makes sense
that the chaos from the riots also spills over into social media, as
Twitter, Facebook, and Messenger, vlogs and blogs, become a
battleground in which virtual celebrities are created—each with
their own opposing agenda. I thought this was an interesting twist
that would most likely happen, as we see how social media platforms
have given voice to social injustice, and have been used effectively
to organize individuals in the wake of devastation. The transition to
normal narrative to social media posts can be a bit jarring at first,
but I feel it serves the message of the story.
What’s lost during the
events of these riots and the social media sensationalism, is the
reason the riots began in the first place—the unjust death of a
black youth by police actions. And because that’s exactly what
would—excuse me—has
happened in real life, makes Mark’s book a scary, thought-provoking
work of alternate history that might one day happen in our world. 4.5
stars rounded up to 5
You can grab Mark’s book
here: https://amzn.com/B01FVVPY08
Brent Harris is an author
of alternate history, sci-fi and fantasy and occasionally doesn’t
hate every book he reads, although he’s sure there’s a universe
where he is far, far kinder. You can connect with him at
https://twitter.com/brentaharris1
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