Three Kings (Kirov Series) (44 page)

Dear Readers,

Thank you for reading Three
Kings, and especially if you have been with me from as far away as Book I in
this series. This is perhaps the most elaborate alternate history/time travel
series ever written, and I have been struggling with trying to figure out how
to get it integrated into Wikipedia like other authors have with their stories.
However Wiki says the author should not make these entries on their own, but
have someone else do it. Is there anyone out there who is a master of Wikipedia
and interested in taking on the task to become the official historian of the
Kirov
Series?
If so, please drop me a line and let me know.

Best regards,

John

Reading the Kirov Series

The
Kirov Series
is a long
chain of linked novels by John Schettler in the Military Alternate History / Time
Travel Genre. Like the popular movie “The Final Countdown” which saw the US
Carrier
Nimitz
sent back in time to the eve of Pearl Harbor in 1941, in
these books the powerful Russian battlecruiser
Kirov
is sent back to the
1940s in the Norwegian Sea where it subsequently becomes embroiled in the war.

Like episodes in the never ending
Star Trek series, the saga continues through one episode after another as the
ship’s position in time remains unstable. It culminates in Book 8
Armageddon
,
then is resurrected again in a 9th volume entitled
Altered States
, which
begins the third trilogy in the series.

How To read the Kirov Series?

The best entry point is obviously
Book I,
Kirov
, where you will meet all the main characters in the series
and learn their inner motivations. The series itself, however, is structured as
sets of trilogies linked by what the author calls a “bridge novel.” The first
three volumes form an exciting trilogy featuring much fast paced naval action
as Kirov battles the Royal Navy, Regia Marina (Italians) and finally the
Japanese after sailing to the Pacific in Book III. The bridge novel
Men Of
War
is a second entry point which covers what happened to the ship and crew
after it returned home to Vladivostok. As such it serves as both a sequel to
the opening trilogy and a prequel to the next trilogy, the three novels
beginning with Book V,
9 Days Falling.

The
9 Days Falling
trilogy
focuses on the struggle to prevent a great war in 2021 from reaching a terrible
nuclear climax that destroys the world. It spans book 5, 6, and 7, featuring
the outbreak of the war as Japan and China battle over disputed islands, and
the action of the Red Banner Pacific Fleet against the modern US Fleet. It then
takes a dramatic turn when the ship is again shifted in time to 1945. There
they confront the powerful US Pacific Fleet under Admiral Halsey, and so this
trilogy focuses much of the action as
Kirov
faces down the US in two
eras. This second trilogy also launches several subplots that serve to relate
other events in the great war of 2021 and also deepen the mystery of time
travel as discovered in the series. The trilogy ends at another crucial point
in history where the ship’s Captain, Vladimir Karpov, believes he is in a
position to decisively change events.

The next bridge novel is
Armageddon
,
Book 8 in the series, which continues the action as a sequel to Book 7 while
also standing as a kind of prologue to the
Altered States
trilogy. In
this third trilogy,
Kirov
becomes trapped in the world made by its many
interventions in the history, an altered reality beginning in June of 1940. The
opening volume will see the ship pitted against the one navy of WWII it has not
yet fought, the Kriegsmarine of Germany, which now has new powerful ships from
the German Plan Z naval building program as one consequence of
Kirov’s
earlier actions.

Altered States
also covers
the German attack on Carrier
Glorious
, the British Raids on the Vichy
French Fleets at Mers-el Kebir and Dakar, and the German Operation Felix
against Gibraltar. Other events in Siberia involve the rise of Karpov to power
and his duel with Ivan Volkov of the Orenburg Federation, one of the three
fragmented Russian states. (And these involve airship duels!)

The sequel to the
Altered
States
Trilogy and the bridge novel leading to the next set is this volume,
Three Kings.
Subsequent books will continue the war in the desert as
Rommel is suddenly confronted with a powerful new adversary, and Hitler reacts
by strongly reinforcing the Afrika Korps. It will also present the struggle for
naval supremacy in the Mediterranean as the British face down a combined Axis
fleet from three enemy nations.

You can enter any of these three
trilogies that may interest you, though your understanding of the characters
and plot will be fullest by simply beginning with book one and reading through
them all!

The Kirov Series:
(Military
Fiction/Alternate History)

First Trilogy:

Kirov
-
Kirov Series - Volume I
Cauldron Of Fire -
Kirov Series - Volume II

Pacific Storm -
Kirov Series - Volume III

Bridge Novel:

Men Of War -
Kirov Series - Volume IV

Second Trilogy:
Nine Days Falling -
Kirov Series - Volume V

Fallen Angels -
Kirov Series - Volume VI

Devil’s Garden -
Kirov Series - Volume VII

Bridge Novel:

Armageddon
– Kirov Series – Volume VIII

Third Trilogy:

Altered States
– Kirov Series – Volume IX
Darkest Hour
– Kirov Series – Volume X
Hinge Of Fate
– Kirov Series – Volume XI

Bridge Novel:

Three Kings
– Kirov Series – Volume XII

Fourth Trilogy:

Grand Alliance
– Kirov Series

Volumes XIII, XIV and XV

Discover other titles by John Schettler:

Award Winning Science Fiction:

Meridian
-
Meridian Series - Volume I
Nexus Point
- Meridian Series - Volume II
Touchstone
- Meridian Series - Volume III

Anvil of Fate
- Meridian Series - Volume IV
Golem 7
- Meridian Series - Volume V
Classic Science Fiction:
Wild Zone
- Dharman Series - Volume I
Mother Heart
- Dharman Series - Volume II
Historical Fiction:
Taklamakan
- Silk Road Series - Volume I
Khan Tengri
- Silk Road Series - Volume II

Dream Reaper
– Mythic Horror Mystery

You can view information on all these books at:

www.writingshop.ws

or

www.dharma6.com

Mailto: [email protected]