War seethed across the planet. Machines soared through the air, churned through the seas, crawled across the surface, pushing ever forward, carrying death. Earth was engaged in titanic struggle. Germany, Russia, France, China, Japan: the maps were changing day by day. The hostilities spread in ever-widening ripples of destruction: Britain, Italy, Africa...the fate of the world hung in the balance. Then the real enemy came.

On December 7, 1941, the Japanese launched an attack against U.S. naval forces stationed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. But what if the Japanese followed up their air assault with an invasion and occupation of Hawaii? This is the question explored by Harry Turtledove in Days of Infamy, with frightening implications.

Boarding a transport ship after the Battle of Gettysburg, Colonel Andrew Keane and his 35th Maine regiment are swept into an alternate world. The first human civilization they encounter on this planet resembles medieval Russia, with boyars and priests ruling over the peasants and townspeople. Soon Keane and his regiment learn this world's terrible secret: that cannibalistic hordes of large, fierce Tugars circle the planet and demand tribute - including humans to be devoured.

For Lt. Commander Colin Maclntyre, it began as a routine training flight over the moon. For Dahak, a self-aware Imperial battleship, it began millennia ago when that powerful artificial intelligence underwent a mutiny in the face of the enemy. The mutiny was never resolved - Dahak was forced to maroon not just the mutineers but the entire crew on prehistoric Earth.  

A year ago, the war against the Theocracy ended. But it didn't bring peace. Admiral Kat Falcone was lucky - her side won the war. But without an external threat, Kat’s homeworld government, the Commonwealth, begins to burst. The galactic war may be over, but there is a civil war on the horizon. The king and parliament disagree over the Commonwealth's future. The Commonwealth's first recession is plaguing corporations.