Black Chamber (novel)

Last updated
Black Chamber
Black Chamber cover.jpg
Author S. M. Stirling
Audio read byTodd McLaren
Cover artistShutterstock
Series Tales from the Black Chamber
Genre Alternate history
Set inAlternate World War I
Publisher Ace
Publication date
July 3, 2018
Media type
Pages400
ISBN 9780399586231
OCLC 1088679484
813/.54
LC Class PS3569.T543 B58 2018
Followed by Theater of Spies  
Website smstirling.com/books/black-chamber/

Black Chamber is an alternative history novel by Canadian-American author S. M. Stirling, published in 2018. The novel is the start of a series wherein Theodore Roosevelt's bid for the U.S. presidency in 1912 was successful. The story begins on September 1, 1916 and features a "Black Chamber" that is much more than the historical U.S. government code-breaking agency. [1] [2]

Contents

Plot summary

Preliminaries

When William Howard Taft, Theodore Roosevelt's opponent in the 1912 presidential election dies of a heart attack, Roosevelt's election is assured. [3] After Roosevelt takes office, the United States conquers Mexico "for its own good" and begins a rigorous progress agenda. [3] [4]

Main plot

In September 1916, the United States has not yet declared itself a participant in World War I. President Roosevelt wants to stay out of World War I. However, the war is going very well for Germany and Roosevelt learns that the Germans have a new weapon whose characteristics are unknown. [3]

Luz O'Malley Aróstegui is a senior field operative for the Black Chamber, a U.S. spy and security agency. Luz, who is ethnically Cuban-Irish, impersonates a Mexican-Irish revolutionary in order to contact a German agent who she learns is Baron Horst von Dückler. They become lovers and Luz learns that the weapon, called "The Breath of Loki", is a poisonous gas that kills on contact. Luz convinces Ciara Whelan, an Irish-American with a grudge against the U.S. to help her. [3] [5]

Eventually, Luz has to deal with a German plan to keep the United States out of the war by bringing the poisonous gas to the East Coast. [6]

Characters

Factual

Fictional

Critical reception

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References

  1. "Uchronia: Tales of the Black Chamber Series". www.uchronia.net.
  2. "Fantastic Fiction.com: Black Chamber by S. M. Stirling". www.fantasticfiction.com.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "A Book Spy Review: 'Black Chamber' by S. M. Stirling". The Real Book Spy. TheRealBookSpy.com. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
  4. 1 2 Bourke, Liz. "Liz Bourke reviews Black Chamber by S.M. Stirling". Locus . Locus Publishing. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
  5. Di Filippo, Paul. "Paul Di Filippo Reviews Black Chamber by S. M. Stirling". Locus . Retrieved 21 May 2020. Luz is an agent of the Black Chamber, a kind of prototype combo of the OSS, NSA, MI6 and a dozen other...services.
  6. "Black Chamber by S. M. Stirling". Penguin Random House. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
  7. 1 2 "Fiction Book Review: Black Chamber". Publishers Weekly . 2018-04-30. Retrieved 2020-05-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)