Doyle and Macdonald, Land of Mist and Snow [Library of Babel]

That's Debra Doyle and James D. Macdonald, authors of the Mageworlds series of space opera novels, and a host of other books-- they're shorted on their first names, because I don't really want to test the character limit for titles in Movable Type.

Land of Mist and Snow has been in progress for some time-- I've heard them read from it at least twice at conventions-- but has finally hit the stores, just in time for the Christmas shopping season. Run out and buy copies for those hard-to-buy-for relatives...

The book is a secret history of naval actions in the American Civil War, taking off from the notion that William Walker avoided his historical demise by the use of occult powers. Early in 1863, Walker has turned these powers to the service of the Confederate Navy, creating a sinister ship propelled by some magical force. The Union needs to counter this, of course, and so we get the story of the U.S.S. Nicodemus, the mystic ship built by the Union navy.

The story is told (with a few exceptions) through alternating excerpts from the narrative of Navy Lieutenant John Nevis, an officer assigned to the Nicodemus, and Miss Columbia Abrams, a virtuous young woman recruited to tend to the, um, special needs of the Nicodemus's propulsion system. Both of them come to the ship unsure of what they're getting into, and only gradually piece together the exact details of how their ship works, and the nature of the enemy they face.

In readings at cons, Jim Macdonald has always been happy to explain a number of aspects of the magic involved with the Nicodemus (and some details are spoiled in the back cover copy), so I really shouldn't feel obliged to avoid spoilers here. Still, I think it would be more fun to try to figure things out for yourself, so I won't go into much detail about the plot.

The book moves along very briskly-- it's a fast read at just under 300 pages-- and there's plenty of nice period detail. As you might expect from a book written by writing instructors, it's very well put together, with information delivered to the reader by a variety of clever tactics, but always just when it's needed. It's a fun read. If you like secret histories, or have any interest in the American Civil War, you should definitely enjoy this book.

I'd probably recommend this book even if I didn't know and like the authors-- who, by the way, have been guest-blogging about the book at the Eos site (start with that post, and click forward to more recent posts-- the site doesn't appear to do categories). I do know them, though, so everybody buy two copies...