Third Millennium Pub., 2003, $15 ($6 .pdf), ISBN: 1-929381-96-4, 250/89 pages, trade paperback

Rhodes continues to offer up ideas about alternative history, and Invasion England 1917/The Swiss Pikemen is no different. And generally, I enjoy his ideas, even as I find his punctuation needs a considerable amount of work, and I'd like to see his characters and some events developed a little better. Invasion England 1917/The Swiss Pikemen continues in that vein, although I note that the punctuation, while not perfect, has gotten better.

Rhodes harkens back to the 1950s/60s with two novels packaged into one physical book. Back then, and I have a few, the novels were printed back-to-back, with the twist that the second novel was printed upside down. In other words, the front cover led into the first novel, and when you were finished, you found the end of the second novel printed upside down. This meant you had to close the book, go to the "back" cover, rotate the book 180 degrees, and then start reading the second novel. Rhodes has the two back to back (Invasion at 250 pages and Swiss at 89 pages), but no rotating necessary.

Invasion England 1917

Invasion England 1917 covers an alternative WWI where the Germans obliterate most of the Royal Navy, the French mutiny of 1917 works better than historically, and the Germans overrun France. They then set up an invasion of England. The great German victory is in part due to the super weapon: The Zeppelins. What happens in the invasion? Well, thus the book examines such a situation.

As usual, action drives plot. The main characters are sketched instead of painted on the pages, but you get the idea. I'd like to see more detail concerning a number of events--and some really beg to be developed further--and I'm still not entirely sure how the Zeppelin super weapon operates, but that's less a sequence of the plot than a premise behind the sequence.

Still, there's some good sequences in here -- the race to the canal comes to mind, even if it went a little over the top -- and the use of a traitor, and who that traitor is, surprised me. Give the author a plus there. I somewhat had a guilty pleasure reading about the Kaiser. It's an interesting sketch of the fellow, and factors heavily into the invasion scheme. Like I said, I liked the ideas, even if I would have enjoyed examining the Kaiser and his inner circle a bit more.

Yes, it still needs help on the punctuation front, but if you read any of Rhodes' other works, you'll notice the improvement. It's not perfectly polished, but it's an improvement.

The Swiss Pikemen

The nasty Duke of Austria decides to invade Switzerland, and the sturdy Swiss (not all pikemen, but a lot of them) defend their hearth and homes. This allegory about the perils and trials of freedom hammer home a lesson in responsibility. Like Rhodes' other works, it's fast on plot and ideas.

In the mid- to late-1400s, the Duke of Burgundy invaded Switzerland and met with disaster, so there is a solid historical basis for the story. I did contact Rhodes about one point in one of the battles. It turns out that in the middle of a stalemate, one battle-frenzied Swiss fellow leaped over a clashing wall of halbards and cleared a gap that broke the enemy line. Rhodes noted that in his research, half the sources mentioned that specific act and half did not. Since he is a novelist and not a historian, he went with the good story. I betcha Hollywood would do the same.

Conclusion

I enjoy Rhodes' novels for his ideas as he uses history as a stepping stone to examine alternative endings. I've noted the improving punctuation, although he has a ways to catch Clancy and Turtledove. I would have liked to see two separate books, but I understand the concept behind the 1950s/60s style double-books, which is also being used by other authors today. I'm sure his sales will tell him whether it works or not. And give him credit for releasing low-cost .pdf files, too. If you want fast plot and great ideas, Rhodes is your novelist.

For more info, go to his website: www.3mpub.com/rhodes

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