V-S Day: A Novel of Alternate History
An accomplished author of space-advocacy fiction now combines his favorite material with alternate history. It is 1941, and, thanks to one of Hitler’s whims, the German rocket program changes its goals. Instead of the unmanned ballistic V-2, it is now tasked to produce Eugene Sanger’s hypersonic glider, launched by rockets but able to bomb New York by skipping off the atmosphere. British intelligence uncovers the secret, and a young Ian Fleming brings it to the U.S. A space race is on, with the U.S. striving to produce a rocket interceptor before the Germans produce Sanger’s Silver Bird. The book is filled with fascinating minutiae of the early days of modern rocketry and exceptional characterization, particularly the portrait of the complex, troubled, and ailing Robert Goddard, father of the liquid-fueled rocket and a key figure in the American program. A well-told tale. --Roland Green