Subject: THE WILD BLUE AND THE GRAY by William Sanders

From: [email-masked]
Date: 3 Sep 91 21:12:00 GMT

THE WILD BLUE AND THE GRAY
			by William Sanders
		Review Copyright (c) 1991 Evelyn C. Leeper

     "The Wild Blue" in the title is "the wild blue yonder"; "the Gray" are
the airmen of the Confederate States of America.  Yes, it's another "What if
the South won the Civil War?" alternate history.  But this one doesn't take
place on the North American continent, but instead on the European
battlefields of World War I, or rather, above them.  In this universe the
Confederate States is helping the Allies (Britain, France, and presumably
Russia) fight the Central Powers (Germany and Austro-Hungary).  And our main
character, Amos Ninekiller, is on loan to the Confederate air force from the
Cherokee Flying Corps of the Indian Nations.

     The details of how the South won are left somewhat hazy--the British
navy came in on their side, but no other real information is given.  Sanders
instead sticks to telling a good World War I adventure story set in the
universe.  And a good story it is, with action and danger.  Sanders can
describe a dogfight or a battle so that you feel as if you're there.
Perhaps he's no Humphrey Cobb or Erich Maria Remarque, but he does not gloss
over the horrors of war in order to tell his story either.

     By using a Cherokee as his main character, Sanders is able to show us
everything from an "outsider's" point of view.  He even manages to touch
briefly on an issue that the United States armed forces in our universe
didn't come to terms with until after World War II: racial integration.  (Am
I reading too much into it to see a parallel with the current furor over the
military's continued discrimination against gay and lesbian soldiers?
Probably.)

     Now, any alternate history fan knows that half the fun of reading an
alternate history story is picking nits.  And I have some--minor ones to be
sure, but this is part of the game.  For starters, William Falkner didn't
change his name to Faulkner until 1924, eight years after the story takes
place.  The character mentioned on page 130 (no fair peeking!) did not get
involved in politics until later either.  And the inclusion of a madam named
Rhetticia O'Hara whose father always said, "Frankly my dear, I don't give a
--," can only be described as a serious miscalculation brought on by the
author's having read too many Simon Hawke "Time Wars" books.

     Sanders also uses some stock alternate history tricks.  (This is not a
complaint.  Every genre has its conventions.)  One character muses how if
the Union had won then the current war wouldn't be in the mess it was (when
of course the reader knows that it did and it was).  Sanders also takes a
jab at a recent president at the end of chapter 2 by describing a parallel
situation in the alternate world, which led me to fear that every chapter
might have a similar punch line.  Luckily, they didn't.  Consider this a
hint to the beginning alternate history reader: check the chapter and scene
breaks.  Things that happen right before them are frequently meaningful
parallelisms; things that happen right after them are usually not.  For
example, if you have an alternate World War II novel, at the end of a
chapter you might get:

     After checking in, Frank decided to drop by the mess to meet
     his shipmates.  The only man sitting there was a young man in
     his twenties.  Frank approached him.  "Hi, my name's Frank
     Clark."

     The man stuck out his hand.  "Please to meet you," he said in
     a thick Boston accent.  "I'm John Kennedy."

while at the beginning of a chapter the same scene would read:

     After checking in, Frank decided to drop by the mess to meet
     his shipmates.  The only man sitting there was a young man in
     his twenties.  Frank approached him.  "Hi, my name's Frank Clark."

     The man stuck out his hand.  "Please to meet you," he said in
     a thick Boston accent.  "I'm Bill Jones."

     Anyway, to get back to the work at hand, Sanders seems to go with the
"tide of history" theory in that World War I in this universe is remarkably
similar to World War I in ours, but fans of the "great man" theory will find
him sympathetic to their cause as well.  While I greatly enjoyed THE WILD
BLUE AND THE GRAY, Sanders does leave a couple of loose ends lying around
(for possible sequels, no doubt--one is even *created* toward the end of the
book) that I would have preferred to see tied up.  Still, the book stands by
itself and provides a thumping good read, nothing to be sneezed at today.
Highly recommended.

%T      THE WILD BLUE AND THE GRAY
%A      William Sanders
%C      New York
%D      July 1991
%I      Questar
%O      paperback, US$4.50
%G      ISBN
%P      216pp

Evelyn C. Leeper   |   +1 908 957 2070   |   att!mtgzy!ecl or [email-masked]

From archive (archive)
From: [email-masked] (Mark Zenier)
Organization: SSC, Inc., Seattle, WA
Subject: Re: Book Recommendations Wanted
Date: 12 Oct 88 05:52:36 GMT
 
Another recommendation:

"Journey to Fusang" by William Sanders.

An alternate world historical adventure set in the 17th century where the
Mongols had conqured Europe.  Finn the Juggler has to decamp from Ireland
where he has gotten the kings favorite daughter pregnant, and ends up on
a moorish slaver taking englishmen to the New World.   There he has adventures 
from Dar al-Islam (New Orleans) to Haiping (San Francisco).  Would you 
believe Muslim Comanches, and a ninja.  Recommended to fans of Flashman and 
horrible anachronistic puns/jokes.

Mark Zenier	uunet!pilchuck!ssc!markz		
"Somebody has to do it."