To Turn the Tide
2032 CE, Vienna, Austria: An American history professor and four graduate students arrive, amid worsening rumors of war, to participate in a project to use new methods to date Roman artifacts.
But they have been deceived, and find out that the new equipment is in fact a time machine…
165 CE, near Vindobona, Pannonia Superior province, Roman Empire: Five strangers suddenly appear in a meadow, with about a ton of luggage, including coins, precious stones, books, and many kinds of seeds and equipment.
To survive and prosper they must somehow integrate into the local society, and use their knowledge to improve conditions.
But this is only a year before the start of the devastating Marcomannic Wars…
NOTICE: Chapters 1 – 4 have been updated 2023-09-17.
Acknowledgements
Judy Tarr and Harry Turtledove, for the loan of Nicole Gunther-Perrin, Attorney-at-Law of Los Angeles, aka Mistress Umma, tavernkeeper of Carnuntum. She’s the protagonist in their HOUSEHOLD GODS, which I heartily recommend, and makes a brief appearance in Chapter Twenty, below. 2nd century Pannonia can get crowded with American tourists.
To Esther Friesner, good friend and talented author, for checking something out for me.
To Kier Salmon, longtime close friend and valued advisor, to whom I have always listened carefully. And for things like managing the betareader stuff. I owe her greatly for everything I’ve written since 1998.
To Markus Baur, for help with the German language and as a first reader, and for being my native guide to Pannonia Superior, which provided valuable help with TO TURN THE TIDE.
To Dr. Donald Ringe, author of many insightful volumes on linguistic history, for a single piece of advice on Proto-Germanic chronology. All mistakes are mine!
To my first readers: Pete Sartucci, Markus Baur, Steve Brady, Ara Sedaka, Mike Ralls, Terri Pray, Diane Porter, Margaret Carter, Mike Ralls, Kier Salmon, Romaine Spence, Jade Cheung, Sandy Michaud, and Emily Sedaka.
To Patricia Finney (aka P.F. Chisholm), for friendship and her own wonderful books, starting with A Shadow of Gulls (which she wrote when she was in her teens, at which point I was still doing Edgar Rice Burroughs pastiche fanfic) and going on from there. One of the best historical novelists of our generation!
And to Joe’s Diner (http://joesdining.com/), and its splendid proprietor, Roland Richter, for his help with German stuff, and the servers for running relays with my Diet Coke.
Also Ecco Gelato & Expresso (www.eccogelato.com)
And Tribe’s Coffee House, (www.tribescoffeehouse.net) here in Santa Fe.
To all three institutions and their staff for putting up with my interminable presence and my habit of making faces and muttering dialogue as I write.
Also, they don’t have attention-demanding cats walking on the keyboard. A cat sleeps more than fourteen hours a day, yet somehow manages to interrupt you continuously—feline magic.
Dedication
To Janet Cathryn Stirling, 1950-2021, dearest of all.
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