The House of Daniel

February 29, 2016
In a loving callback to the early days of a quintessential American sport, Turtledove (We Install and Other Stories) takes readers on a scenic tour of the highways and byways of an alternate United States in 1934. The magic-infused country is recovering from the Great Depression; vampires haunt the night, zombies perform unpaid labor, and flying carpets exist alongside automobiles. When semipro baseball player Jack Spivey lands in trouble after refusing to do a bad thing for a bad man, he leaves his small Oklahoma hometown and never looks back. He wins a spot on the House of Daniel, a ball team that spends all of its time on the road (based on the real-world Israelite House of David traveling team). This lifestyle challenges his racist upbringing and criteria for happiness. Turtledove’s feel for historical accuracy brings Jack’s era to life and keeps an otherwise episodic travelogue from growing stale. However, one could strip out the fantasy elements without overtly affecting the story, making this ideal for baseball lovers but less so for genre fanatics. Agent: Russell Galen, Scovil Galen Ghosh Literary.

April 15, 2016

During the Great Depression, Jack Spivey flees his hometown of Enid, OK, and the wrath of a low-level criminal by joining a traveling semipro baseball team, known as The House of Daniel. For Jack, wearing a fake beard and a long-haired wig is a small price to pay for playing one of the best teams in the country. VERDICT While alternate-history king Turtledove (Bombs Away; In the Balance) unsurprisingly has a firm grasp of the tale's time period (especially the baseball of the era), his incorporation of vampires, werewolves, and zombies fails to be integral to the story. In addition, the plot moves at such a leisurely pace that even those readers with a high tolerance for detailed descriptions of baseball games might lose patience.--MM

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