The Company of the Dead [Paperback]

David Kowalski (Author)

Book Description

Release date: March 13, 2012

Can one man save the Titanic?

March 1912. A mysterious man appears aboard the Titanic on its doomed voyage. His mission? To save the ship.

The result? A world where the United States never entered World War I, thus launching the secret history of the 20th Century.

April 2012. Joseph Kennedy - grand-nephew of John F. Kennedy - lives in an America occupied in the East by Greater Germany and on the West Coast by Imperial Japan. He is one of six people who can restore history to its rightful order -- even though it may mean his own death.

"A magnificent alternate history, set against the backdrop of one of the the greatest maritime disasters." Library Journal

“Imaginative, monolithic, action-packed… The reader will not be disappointed.” — Bookseller and Publisher

"Time travel, airships, the Titanic, Roswell ... Kowalski builds a decidedly original creature that blends military science fiction, conspiracy theory, alternate history, and even a dash of romance." Publishers Weekly

"Kowalski effortlessly smashes together high art and grand adventure in this alt-history juggernaut." John Birmingham, acclaimed author of Weapons of Choice

"Exciting action, twisty and ingenious characterisation, and complicated time-travel plotting, deftly handled." S.M. Stirling, NYT bestselling author of The Tears of the Sun

"A non-stop chase that takes place across two thousand miles ... and one hundred years of perdurant time." Walter Jon Williams, NYT bestselling author of Deep State

 

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A magnificent alternate history, set against the backdrop of one of the greatest maritime disasters.”  — Library Journal

“Time travel, airships, the Titanic, Roswell: from these well-worn bones, Kowalski builds a decidedly original creature that blends military science fiction, conspiracy theory, alternate history, and even a dash of romance.”  — Publishers Weekly

"An excessively exciting reading experience." - Tor.com

“***** A clever mix of sci-fi thriller, epic alternate history tale and intelligent spy adventure.” - Sci-Fi Now

"David Kowalski’s alternative Earth is lovingly crafted, inhabited by plausible characters all its own." - SFX

"A book that fans of science fiction/alternate history almost owe themselves to read." - Fandom Post

"Up there in the top echelon of time travel fiction." - The Daily Rotation

"If you are a history buff, if you’re interested in the story and fact behind the Titanic, enjoy alternate realities or just a darn good sci-fi novel, then The Company of the Dead will absolutely blow you out of the water. You’ll wish that you could go back in time and read it again and again." - 8 Days A Geek

"[The Company of the Dead] combines conspiracies, time travel, science fiction, and historical drama into an exciting, action-packed adventure that you'll have a hard time pulling yourself away from." - Forces of Geek

"The writing is tense, confident and pacy while the story itself is involving and very much action packed with descriptive verse and a real depth...complete with a powerful ending, recommended." - SF Book Reviews

"A virtuoso performance, a near-perfect blend of speculative fiction and adventure story>" - Open Letters Monthly

"Exciting action, twisty and ingenious characterization, and complicated time-travel plotting deftly handled" — S.M. Stirling, New York Times bestselling author of The Tears of the Sun

"This vivid sci-fi-military-thriller packs a lot of punch." - Geeks of Doom

"An excellent piece of alternate history/Sci-Fi literature. As a lifelong history buff I was totally engaged and often found myself marveling at how wonderfully Kowalski had woven together his historical tapestry." - Famous Monsters 

"Think an alternate history Indiana Jones-style adventure wedded
to a complicated time story." - Sci Fi Movie Page 

About the Author

David Kowalski is an obstetrician and gynecologist living in Sydney, Australia. Although he has written for many professional journals, The Company of the Dead is his first work of fiction and the winner of the Aurealis Award for Best Novel and Best Science Fiction Novel.

Product Details

• Paperback: 752 pages
• Publisher: Titan Books; First Edition edition (March 13, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0857686666
• ISBN-13: 978-0857686664
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 2 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #390,272 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the best book I've read in a long, long time... March 14, 2012

By Rachael Rodgers

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

The premise behind this book lies in the theory of chaos. This theory describes how a seemingly inconsequential event can change the way subsequent events evolve. In regards to the weather, it describes how the flapping of a single butterfly's wing produces a tiny change to the state the atmosphere, causing the atmosphere to diverge from what it would have done otherwise. The net effect being that markedly different weather conditions can eventually evolve.

The "flutter of butterfly wings" in this book is the presence of a pair of binoculars aboard the Titanic. Meticulously researched to ensure each detail is historically correct, the ocean liner steams its way towards the iceberg. However one character seeks to avert the disaster we know as the sinking of the Titanic with all of its catastrophic loss of life. By handing these binoculars to the lookout aboard the Titanic, this character causes the world to diverge from its previous path, evolving into a world that we would not recognize today.

I loved this book. True, it's a big read with a complex plot, but as you work your way through its 744 pages, you come to understand the characters and you appreciate why Kowalski has won numerous awards for his work, including the prestigious Golden Aurelus award. He seduces you with the sheer beauty of his writing, then ruthlessly ties you to the pages with the adventures he relays.

I highly recommend this book.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars WOW March 28, 2012

By Alchemist

Format:Kindle Edition

When sci-fi lovers think of alternate history, the authors that spring to mind are William R. Forstchen, Stephan Fry, Philip K. Dick, H. Beam Piper, and many others. The king of alternate history sci-fi, though, has to be Harry Turtledove, who has built an impressive career and body of work in that genre alone.
I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Turtledove about a thousand years ago in Iowa, when his Lost Legion series was making its big debut and that soft spoken professor of Byzantine History impressed me to no end. I knew he would be a big banana in the sci-fi, fantasy genres.
Let me tell you, ladies and gentleman, Harry Turtledove has some serious competition heading toward him at warp speed and his name is David J. Kowalski.
We all have heard about the butterfly effect: a butterfly flaps its wings in China and a week later there's a hurricane in Florida. Chaos Theory, the sensitive dependence on initial condition. A minute change in a nonlinear system that can result in large changes to a later state. It's what drives the argument concerning time travel and provides the fuel for a good portion of sci-fi novels and movies and it is this theory that propels In the Company of the Dead.
Imagine the scene: it's April 15, 1912 and the RMS Titanic is on it's maiden voyage in the north Atlantic, moving far too fast, on its way to New York City. The air is freezing and the deck watch is keeping a weather eye out for obstacles as the great ship plows through growlers (a small iceberg broken off from a larger iceberg or glacier). A mysterious passenger approaches the watchman and offers him a set of binoculars, an artifact from one-hundred years in the future. That is the premise of the book; the first domino to fall and it changes everything.
Kowalski takes that premise and creates a non-stop alt history rollercoaster that hammers through the pages, a twisty tale that is intelligent and fun to read. This is because Kowalski shows a deft hand with pacing and action while supplying a well-reasoned alternate history of the world. Many authors bog themselves down in the minutiae of their alternate realities, but Kowalski barrels through with a wink and a nod to the world's odd turnings. It is clear he is interested more in the story, the aggressive pacing and interesting characters, than the coolness of the world he has created.
Sprinkled throughout are familiar and half-familiar names, references that had me scrambling to my computer to look them up on Wikipedia. By the time I was halfway through, I had developed a healthy respect for the author's imagination and attention to detail without detracting from the nonstop action.
This is a big book. And when I mean big, think Guttenberg Bible big with small font...the type of big that would daunt most readers. When I received my copy I wasn't sure if I should read it or use it for self-defense. The damn thing can stop most rounds under 20mm, but once I started, once I took the trip to a world where one small gesture changed so much, the breathtaking scope and great prose, that I couldn't give a damn if the book weighed as much as a Buick, I was hook and hooked hard. In fact, when I finally finished this incredible epic, it was a letdown because it was over.
I guess that is my greatest tribute to a book, to be disappointed when the last page is turned and the story is done. To be left wanting more is a rare experience for me these days, I guess I've become a bit jaded, and I am sure damn glad to have read this book

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars (Beautifully) Treading Water May 10, 2012

By Mark Eremite VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

THE COMPANY OF THE DEAD is an alternate-history novel that centers around the sinking of the Titanic. At the start, a time traveler named Wells attempts to stop the well-known disaster from occurring. He doesn't succeed, but he does delay the event by three hours. This small change creates massive ramifications that drastically alter the future. America is no longer United, Hitler is a famous artist, and most of the globe is under the rule of either the Japanese or German empires. A young man named Joseph Kennedy (ancestor of our famous, assassinated president), having glimpsed the even greater horrors that await this refurbished timeline, goes on a quest back in time to fix the rift in history and bring the world back to normal.

According to the acknowledgments, it took first-time author Kowalski nearly fifteen years to write this novel, and it shows. The alternate history he constructed is so intricate that it was astonishing. I started the novel with giddy amazement, ever more impressed as I turned the pages. I couldn't begin to imagine the detail, the thought, the mind-bending effort it must have taken not just to plot the book, but also to establish it firmly in a completely new and believable world. I tip my hat to Mr. Kowalski.

So why the two stars?

I read this book on my Kindle, and I didn't bother reading any reviews before I bought it. The product description alone was enough for me. Because Kindles don't list page numbers exactly, I didn't know that this book was -- in its printed form -- 751 pages long. That doesn't really matter to me; if a book is good enough, I'll read a thousand pages and gladly. Unfortunately, the middle five hundred pages or so are a convoluted mess that serve only to delay the entire story. Almost nothing important or meaningful occurs in this section. Instead, Kowalski sets up pointless obstacle after pointless obstacle, dragging the plot out until I was tearing my hair out in frustration. The cast list also grew more and more bloated for no good reason. One character -- a gruff-n-grumpy man named Hardas (I assume the name, with its missing 's,' is meant to be cheekily symbolic) actually questioned his own involvement in the adventure. When Hardas argued that he brought nothing helpful to the group's quest (he was right), Kennedy instead assured him that "every group needs its malcontent."

What? No, it doesn't. Pacing and plotting are critical in a book where characters say things like, "I need to know what you did with the time machine!" Plotting this book has in spades, but the pacing is perhaps some of the worst I've ever read. Every time I thought the story was finally going to go somewhere, whoops! here's another complication to slow the plot wa-a-a-a-a-a-ay down. "Great!" I thought at one point with relief. "They're finally at the time machine. NOW it gets good!" Nope. Let's have another hundred pages where they try to fix the darn thing, or fight off sinister outside forces, or simply bicker about the rightness of what they're doing.

I wanted SO MUCH to love this book as it had wowed me so incredibly right out of the gate. Kowalski obviously spent an amazing amount of time, energy, and thought into the research and writing of this story, and I respect that deeply. But by the time the characters managed to actually do what they'd spent five hundred pages talking about doing, I was sick of it all. My guess is that Kowalski, having spent fifteen years on the book, was loathe to chop out even one scene to shorten it down to a semi-reasonable length. To that, I quote Faulker: kill your darlings. If it's not important, if it doesn't move the story along, then get rid of it. No matter how beautiful your writing is -- and Kowalski's prose is pretty good, if not a little overwritten (ahem) -- if you use that writing to meticulously describe a falling row of dominoes that's a hundred miles long, you're going to lose a whole lot of readers.

You lost me this time, Kowalski, but based on the talent I saw glimmering underneath that massively constructed iceberg of words, I'll still give your next book a try.