The Tranquility Alternative

I have a soft spot for "alternate history" stories. Philip K. Dick's "The Man in the High Castle," which posits that the Axis powers win World War II and occupy the United States, and Len Deighton's "SS-GB," which looks at England under Nazi German occupation, are two of the best of the genre (Harry Turtledove's many such tales notwithstanding). Now I must add Allen Steele's "The Tranquillity Alternative" to the short-list of alternate history novels that I have most enjoyed. The "space geek" will immediately feel right at home in Mr. Steele's alternate universe. This is a universe in which the first manned spaceflight, in Nazi Germany's "Amerika Bomber," takes place in 1944. It is a universe (in this way like our real one) in which NASA is in serious decline due to slashed funding, personnel cutbacks and the lack of a meaningful mission. And, most intriguing of all, it is a universe in which Dr. Wernher von Braun's early-1950's vision of a major space exploration program comes to pass. You'll find in "The Tranquillity Alternative" all of the hardware that Dr. von Braun conceived and presented to the American public via a series of stunningly illustrated articles in "Collier's Magazine" starting in 1952. The "Space Wheel" is here in all of its full rotating glory, along with the enormous three-stage reusable "ferry rocket," the "lunar reconnaissance vehicle" and the classic "moonship" that fans of Chesley Bonestell will instantly recognize. There is a U.S. lunar base under the Sea of Tranquillity. Ominously, it houses six "interplanetary" ballistic missiles, relics of the time when U.S. military planners thought that basing nuclear weapons on the moon would deter Soviet aggression on Earth (they really did believe this at one time). And there is even a nuclear-powered rocket straight out of George Pal's 1950 film "Destination Moon." "The Tranquillity Alternative" features interesting, well-defined characters, realistic dialogue and a strong story line involving the pending transfer of the abandoned Tranquillity Base from the U.S. government to a private German space corporation. Mr. Steele keeps the action going at fever pitch as the scene shifts from Earth to the Space Wheel and on to the Moon. He throws in fascinating glimpses of everyday life that add depth and texture to his alternate universe. For example, the Kennedy Space Center is named after President Robert F. Kennedy. Elvis Presley is on tour with U2. Chuck Yeager pilots the maiden flight of NASA's giant new passenger rocket in 1956. And Irwin Allen's "Star Trek" is a top-rated television show for eight seasons between 1958 and 1966. These little throw-away hints of a very different universe from our own are jarringly unfamiliar but logically and internally consistent. They show well the amount of research, thought and hard work that Mr. Steele put into "The Tranquillity Alternative." This is fun stuff. I highly recommend it to all sci-fi readers and to anyone interested in exploring

... It is one Steele's more gripping novels. It started slow for me - only in that I had to guide myself into Steele's alternative history and get used to Presidents McGovern and Dole. I had to convince myself that Neil Armstrong was NOT the first man on the moon. These were just minor distractions. However once I figured it all out, I became totally entrenched in this book. He breaks up each chapter with a newspaper article or television report that provides a chronological alternative history to the space program. I liked that idea. It gave it more believability. There were a few unexpected twists and turns toward the end, which I won't give away...

TA is anything but tame! The plot moves at breakneck speed. The characters, though somewhat cardboard, are there long enough to deliver the desired effect. Parnell, the main character, at least is a thoroughly likeable fellow. He's not a philanderer, drug abuser, or wife beater; nor is he a magnanimous prick, as several other well-known scifi authors seem to favor for their main characters. This Parnell guy is an honorable, relatively reasonable and likeable character to follow through a great Heinlein-ish plot. Indeed the likeable character is also much like RAH's own main characters in his earlier work. Therefore, the story works for me, and I believe it'll work for the mainstream audience as well because of these notoriously wonderful ingredients that make for a great read. Grab it and enjoy the ride!

Allen M. Steele writes with a combination of poetry and high energy that are rarely seen by writer's of hard science fiction. Well drawn characters draw you into a fast moving Heinleinian plot set against a backdrop of an alternate space program. The politics and the underlying message may leave you chilled, but the storyline and it's telling is handled superbly