Book cover of Lion's Blood: A Novel of Slavery and Freedom in an Alterative America

Book description

The year is 1279...or, to those who worship the son of Mary, 1863. Bordered by fierce Azteca to the south, the red men's nations of the far west, and the Viking empire in the north, Bilalistan is a vast, rich land adorned with inspiring mosques, Zulu kraals, and glorious Moorish…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Lion's Blood as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

When I picked up this book a couple of decades ago, I was blown away when I started reading. I’d never seen a story that presupposed a completely different background to America’s colonization—many alternate history books take place after Europeans colonized the Americas, so this was a fresh take on the “what if” genre.

This helped me see how the boundaries of history could be changed and shaped to fit other timelines and scenarios, and I loved seeing how various non-European cultures could be central in a reimagining of the world’s history.

If you love Lion's Blood...

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December on 5C4 by Adam Strassberg,

Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

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In late April 1865, almost 2,000 newly freed Union prisoners of war are packed onto the steamer Sultana, in poor repair and with a listed capacity of 376 passengers. Among them are four Indiana soldiers…

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