A near-future military experiment thrusts a multinational armada back to 1942, right into the middle of the U.S. naval task force speeding toward Midway Atoll - and what was to be the most spectacular Allied triumph of World War II.
The 21st-century sailors are a shocking spectre for these veterans of Pearl Harbor - men who have never seen a helicopter or a nuclear weapon, and who have never encountered an African-American colonel or a female Australian submarine commander. But they respect the armada’s awesome firepower, and what it may mean to the war.
Initial jubilation is quickly doused by a shocking realisation - other ships may have made the trip - and may be in the hands of the Japanese. What happens next is anybody’s guess … and everybody’s nightmare.
John Birmingham
Designated Targets: World War 2.2
The nightmare of the Transition has pitched a whole world into chaos, as the great powers of 1942 scramble to build the weapons of tomorrow.
But the military crisis is only one part of a ruptured history.
Awareness of the future is sweeping the globe, and many of the people of 1942 are split between desire for the freedoms their descendants enjoy, and fear of the society which awaits them. Then Japan invades Australia, foreign agents begin a campaign of terror in the USA, and Germany prepares for an all-out attack on Britain.
The 21st-century forces must resort to the most extreme measures yet and face a future rife with possibilities - all of them apocalyptic.
John Birmingham
Final Impact: World War 2.3
As history reaches a tipping point, the forces unleashed by the Transition threaten to destroy the world. Hitler and Tojo race towards an atom bomb. Stalin plots to tear down the future and rebuild it in his image. And the Allies begin their Great Crusade with weapons and knowledge from the next century. What price will Kolhammer and his people pay for disrupting their past?
