“This book…draws heavily on my academic background. In this book of separate stories, he tackles what might be some key issues for that Empire and the challenges fall to his warrior/investigator, Argyros. Harry Turtledove imagines that Islam never arose and that this Byzantine Empire continues to exist and thrive. The rise of the Ottoman Empire was its doom. That capitol and that part of the Empire lasted for a thousand years though some of those centuries were very tough times. The Roman Emperor, Constantine, accomplished many things, among them were the reorganizing of the Empire, moving its capitol from Rome to a city straddling the Black Sea and the Mediterranean that he called Constantinople. A light read, and interesting if you like thinking about history from the "what if" perspective. Basil does have his "Mary Sue" moments, when he is instrumental in discovering: the telescope, a cure for small pox, the printing press, and gun powder.Īs I said, it's fun. Oh, since Islam was never founded, the other main power besides Byzantium was Zoroastrian Persia.
While they were vaguely connected, each one could stand alone just fine. It was a nice read, since you could put it down between stories. James Bond in an alternative Eastern Roman Empire. To publish an alternative history where Muhammad becomes Christian and Islam is never founded would be edgy today. Back then, he was well known author yes, but well known in a particular genre, without media being so connected, and without the high sensitivity that is present now for anything that remotely touches anything near Islam. I seriously doubt he could get them published now, due to 1).
One thing that I was acutely aware of was that Turtledove wrote these stories in the mid 80's. There's a Bishop of Rome, but he's just one among equals. And Constantinople remains the center of *all* Christianity. It's a collection of short stories about Basil Argyros, essentially a secret agent in 14th century Byzantine empire.Įxcept this Byzantine empire is a bit different than the one in our past due to a few minor changes:ġ) An Arab named Moaumet, in the 6th century, takes a trading expedition to Syria, converts to Christianity and becomes a great saint.Ģ) There is never a great Schism. This particular book isn't really a novel.
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