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Axis of Time book cover 1
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Axis of Time
Series · 6 books · 2004-2016

Books in series

Weapons of Choice book cover
#1

Weapons of Choice

2004

On the eve of America’s greatest victory in the Pacific, a catastrophic event disrupts the course of World War II, forever changing the rules of combat... The impossible has spawned the unthinkable. A military experiment in the year 2021 has thrust an American-led 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 U.S. triumph of the entire war. Thousands died in the chaos, but the ripples had only begun. For these veterans of Pearl Harbor—led by Admirals Nimitz, Halsey, and Spruance—have never seen a helicopter, or a satellite link, or a nuclear weapon. And they’ve never encountered an African American colonel or a British naval commander who was a woman and half-Pakistani. While they embrace the armada’s awesome firepower, they may find the twenty-first century sailors themselves far from acceptable. Initial jubilation at news the Allies would win the war is quickly doused by the chilling realization that the time travelers themselves—by their very presence—have rendered history null and void. Celebration turns to dread when the possibility arises that other elements of the twenty-first century task force may have also made the trip—and might now be aiding Yamamoto and the Japanese. What happens next is anybody’s guess—and everybody’s nightmare...
Designated Targets book cover
#2

Designated Targets

2005

It's World War II and the A-bomb is here to stay. The only question: Who's going to drop it first?The Battle of Midway takes on a whole new dimension with the sudden appearance of a U.S.-led naval task force from the twenty-first century, the result of a botched military experiment. State-of-the-art warships are scattered across the Pacific, armed to the teeth with the latest instruments of mass destruction. Nuclear warheads, rocket-propelled grenades, AK-47s, computer-guided missiles - all bets are off as the major powers of 1942 scramble to be the first to wield the weapons of tomorrow against their enemies. The whole world now knows of the Allied victory in 1945, and the collapse of communism decades later. But that was the first time around. With the benefit of their newly acquired knowledge, Stalin and Hitler rapidly change strategies. A Russian-German ceasefire leaves the Führer free to bring the full weight of his vaunted Nazi war machine down on England, while in the Pacific, Japan launches an invasion of Australia, and Admiral Yamamoto schemes to seize an even greater prize . . . Hawaii. Even in the United States the newcomers from the future are greeted with a combination of enthusiasm and fear. Suspicion leads to hatred and erupts into violence. Suddenly it's a whole new war, with high-tech, high-stakes international manipulations from Tokyo to D.C. to the Kremlin. As the world trembles on the brink of annihilation, Churchill, Stalin, Roosevelt, Hitler, and Tojo confront extreme choices and a future rife with possibilities - all of them apocalyptic.
Final Impact book cover
#3

Final Impact

2006

“The action is nonstop, the characters very real—and very different from each other—and, to coin a phrase, it makes you think.”—S. M. Stirling, author of Island in the Sea of Time In the year 2021, a multinational fleet—experimenting with untested weapons technology—pitched through time, crash-landing in 1942. The world is thrown into chaos as Roosevelt, Hitler, Churchill, Tojo, and Stalin scramble to adapt to new, high-tech killing tools, and twenty-first-century ways of war. For “uptimers” like Britain’s Prince Harry and the men and women who serve aboard the supercarrier USS Hillary Clinton, war is a constant struggle with their own downtime allies, who are mired in ignorance and bigotry. As the Allies counter the Nazi assault and set off for the coast of France, Japan begins to buckle, soon every battle will be played out in a lethal dance of might and intelligence, unholy alliances and desperate gambles, and each clash will be fought with the ultimate weapon; knowledge from the future. Thanks to the historical records, all sides know that two superpowers will emerge while the losers will be pounded into submission. But time has shifted on its axis, so none know who will survive or how peace will take hold in a world turned upside down. These are the questions that John Birmingham brilliantly answers in his critically acclaimed adventure of war and imagination.
Stalin's Hammer book cover
#4

Stalin's Hammer

Rome

2012

Ten years have passed since Admiral Kolhammer’s 21st century battlefleet was dragged into a wormhole and thrown across oceans of time, emerging with disastrous consequences and shattering the history of the Second World War. Hitler and the Nazis have fallen, Kolhammer sits in the White House, but Stalin rules half of Europe and Asia. The great Soviet engines of state power turn and burn to ‘set history right’. Not just of the war, but of all future time. In Rome with his lover Julia Duffy, an older, mellower Prince Harry is drawn into Stalin’s plans when a simple game of spies goes horribly wrong, while underneath the eternal city, former Spetsnaz officer Pavel Ivanov fights a running battle with the NKVDs executioner in chief as Stalin’s minions fight to preserve the secret of a weapon which could destroy the West with one, fearsome blow. In Stalin's Hammer: Rome, the first of a series of ebooks, John Birmingham returns to the world he destroyed along with the US Fleet at Midway in Weapons of Choice.
Stalin's Hammer book cover
#5

Stalin's Hammer

Cairo

2016

The future vs the past. F22 Raptors vs Zeros. Prince Harry (yes, that Prince Harry) vs Hitler and Stalin. Ten years ago a powerful Allied battle fleet was sucked into a wormhole and thrown back into World War Two. History was blown apart. The Soviet Union now controls half of Europe and supreme dictator Joseph Stalin reaches for a weapon to enslave or destroy the rest of the world. Only Harry can stop him.
Stalin's Hammer book cover
#6

Stalin's Hammer

Paris

2016

The future vs the past. History is at war with itself in this popular alternate history. The Soviet Union controls half of Europe and supreme dictator Joseph Stalin wants the rest. Only Prince Harry can stop him and the super weapon he has developed.

Author

John Birmingham
John Birmingham
Author · 38 books

John Birmingham grew up in Ipswich, Queensland and was educated at St Edmunds Christian Brother's College in Ipswich and the University of Queensland in Brisbane. His only stint of full time employment was as a researcher at the Defence Department. After this he returned to Queensland to study law but he did not complete his legal studies, choosing instead to pursue a career as a writer. He currently lives in Brisbane. While a law student he was one of the last people arrested under the state's Anti Street March legislation. Birmingham was convicted of displaying a sheet of paper with the words 'Free Speech' written on it in very small type. The local newspaper carried a photograph of him being frogmarched off to a waiting police paddy wagon. Birmingham has a degree in international relations.

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