Category: reviews

SF Canada member D.G. Valdron recently released a two-part alternate history chronicle of a second world war in South America.

Axis of Andes is a stunning alternate history, exploring the baroque and tragic journey of Latin America from independence to the depression, and chronicling a dark history that might have been. A tiny change ends up altering the outcome of an election. Rippling outwards, Fascist movements gain more momentum, local politics unravel in new directions. Dominos cascade as the war spreads steadily, involving country after country in a death struggle.

Deep examinations of the history, societies and economies of each combatant reveal the underlying tensions and stresses, the fault lines and tectonic divides that drive the internal politics and international agendas of each combatant. We see scenes of the war and the combatants from their own perspective as the world falls apart around them. Written as both a history and as a series of compelling narratives,

The Axis of Andes is the first part of a two-part Alternate History series which ultimately rewrites the map of South America. Volume One begins the war with the Invasion of Ecuador, the March on Lima, expanding to trench warfare between Peru and Chile, sea battles between Chile and Peru, and a jungle war slowly spreading through the interior.

Reviews for Axis of Andes:

“Valdron’s alternate history is packed with credible variations of actual events which add quirky interest to the fictional trends he extrapolates from the historical infrastructure. … At no time does his fiction seem improbable or unlikely. It all seems to make sense. Internal consistency is one of the great strengths of this book.” – R. Graeme Cameron, Amazing Stories
“It is about the Ecuador-Peru war of 1941, in our timeline a minor conflict in which less than 2,000 people died which went almost unnoticed among the drama of the Second World War. In Valdron’s books however it ignites into a far more bloody affair and South America sees some of the hell that Europe and Asia experienced. … This is a book with an imaginative premise, genuine historical knowledge about areas of the world which we don’t think about as much in the west.” – Gary Oswald, Sea Lion Press
“In a well outlined 1940 South America, Peru, Ecuador and Chile stumble / drift into a war over mostly worthless border territories with a heavy dose of avenging offended national honour layered in. … This first volume ends with things still up in the air: the opposing camps do not have the means to deliver a knockout punch. The follow up should be worth reading.” – Amazon reviewer

D.G. Valdron is a wayward Maritimer, born on the north shore of New Brunswick. His father was a mechanic, his grandfather a carpenter, which provided Valdron with an arsenal of skills, a work ethic, and a practical approach to life. D.G. is currently a lawyer working in the field of aboriginal rights, but has also worked as a mechanic, carpenter, projectionist, cook, waiter, woodcutter ditch-digger, journalist and school teacher.

The Axis of Andes books are available through Amazon.