Fire on the Mountain (Spectacular Fiction) [Paperback]

Terry Bisson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2009 | Series: Spectacular Fiction

Presenting an alternative version of African American history, this novel explores what might have happened if John Brown’s 1859 raid on Harper’s Ferry had been successful. Chronicling life in a thriving black nation founded by Brown in the former southeastern United States, this dramatic story opens 100 years later, just as Nova Africa is poised to celebrate its first landing of a spacecraft on Mars. The prosperous black state will soon be tested when the granddaughter of John Brown returns from Africa to reunite with her daughter and share with her a secret that will alter their lives forever.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Hugo Award-winning Bisson's novel looks at an alternative North America in which John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry is a success and the South becomes a separate nation with an African majority. Told through the journals of the former slave Dr. Abraham, who witnessed Brown's raid, letters of the abolitionist Thomas Hunter, and the life of Abraham's great grand-daughter Yasmin Odinga, whose story is set in the 1950s, Bisson offers a complex view of a world which inexplicably leads to technological achievement far beyond that which occurred in our own history. All of Bisson's characters come to life and present their understanding of the world around them-although not always accurately. In addition to the focus on the aftermath of Brown's raid, Odinga's story revolves around her personal issues, including her fractured relationship with her daughter, and the very public loss of her husband. The 19th and 20th century storylines don't completely mesh, with little to indicate how the changes introduced by Brown's success would result in Odinga's world of the 1950s. Civil War buffs and alternate history fans will both enjoy the proposals Bisson advances, even if he doesn't provide the necessary extrapolation.
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Review

“You don’t forget Bisson’s characters, even well after you’ve finished his books . . . [this book] does for the Civil War what Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle did for World War II.”  —George Alec Effinger, author, When Gravity Falls

“Few works have moved me as deeply, as thoroughly  . . . With this single poignant story, Bisson molds a world as sweet as banana cream pies, and is briny as hot tears." —Mumia Abu amal, death row prisoner and author, Live from Death Row

"A slender novel, but it does the science fiction trick of making you step back from your own world and see it more clearly, and it does so while wrenching your heart and setting your pulse pounding. All in all, one of the best alternate histories I've read."  —Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing

"A book that continues to provoke questions about how and why our world is the way it is—and how it might be different."   —Indypendent (NYC)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: PM Press; Second edition edition (October 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1604860871
• ISBN-13: 978-1604860870
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 4.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #551,412 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Formerly ('75-'02) a Kentuckian living in New York,
currently a New Yorker living in California.

Known mostly for SF short stories (Hugo, Nebula awards),
also writes novels, screenplays, comics and non-fiction.
Biographer of Mumia Abu Jamal. Former automechanic,
wrote CAR TALK with 'Click and Clack'. Produced and
edited NO FRILLS Books back in '80s. Completed ST
LEIBOWITZ AND THE WILD HORSE WOMAN for Walter M Miller
estate. Lives in Oakland. Rides a KLR650.

Hosts monthly author reading series in San Francisco (SFinSF).
Edits 'Outspoken Author' series for PM Books.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Who are the real winners and losers in war?, January 13, 2010

By 

Jack - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fire on the Mountain (Spectacular Fiction) (Paperback)

John Brown is one of the most intresting and lesser known characters of American History. He led an unsuccessful raid on an armory in an attempt to start a revolution amongst slaves. This book tells the story of his success and the dramatic difference in American history and advances in modern technology as a result. It's got great characters and is intresting to anyone intrested in Sci-Fi, American and civil war history, black history, or current race relations.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A bit disappointed, February 4, 2012

By 

Joanne Winchenbach (Gardiner, ME United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Fire on the Mountain (Spectacular Fiction) (Paperback)

I found the book to be disappointing. My expectation was that the author would go into more detail about how the country and society had developed since John Brown's forces won the rebellion. The description of the historical event was adequate enough, but I felt that I never got a good sense of how the subsequent version of America differed from the current one. There were references to several wars that were fought but no explanation of what had precipitated them or who was on which side. There were references to places like Nova Africa, but again I was never clear what that was - was it the entire country or only one part of it. There were hints that the European and African countries had developed very differently, but again it was only hinted at. Those things would have been the most interesting for me - how would America, and the world, look different if the slave rebellions had been successful. I felt I never got a clear picture of that.

2.0 out of 5 stars Just didn't get it!, February 11, 2012

By 

Janice K Hurst (Texas, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Fire on the Mountain (Spectacular Fiction) (Kindle Edition)

I am really not sure why I just couldn't get into this book. I love history and thought that this would be an interesting read. I couldn't get past the first chapter. Too many names that I could't pronounce, places I couldn't identify and language I just wasn't getting. I was familiar with the area it takes place. I know it was supposed to be sci-fi, but it was unbelievable with the time frame only 100 years out from the beginning of the civil war. Maybe, I will try again...I don't know...for now it is in my archives.