Location: United States
Member Since:
Jan. 27, 2017
Andrew Heller
Biography
About the author: I am a retired criminal attorney with an MA in European History (Purdue, 1982). I read my first book about World War I when I was in 2nd grade, and I have been fascinated by the subject ever since. "Gray Tide in the East" was inspired by Barbara Tuchman's "Guns of August", which contains the story about the Kaiser's attempt to stop the invasion of Belgium, and forms the basis for the novel. I have been pondering this incident ever since I discovered it: what would have been the historical consequences if the Kaiser had not backed down?
My goals in writing alternate history are to both entertain and educate, using historical research as the basis for the events in my books (as opposed to just making stuff up, like some of my AH colleagues, no names need be mentioned), and by using real historical personages wherever and whenever I can. I like to think of my books as "thought experiments" in history, written with as much rigor as possible by using the tools of the historian, while casting the action in a form accessible to the intelligent layman, who may have only a passing knowledge of the particular subject. This is why I also include explanatory Afterwords in my books, while, for the more serious AH geeks and students of history, I provide a bibliographical essay setting forth the historical sources for the incidents described in my novels.
I am the father of two children and a chinchilla, and the author of a YA novel entitled "The Giant Chinchilla of Oz", in honor of the latter. I am at present mulling over a possible third book in the Gray Tide series.
My goals in writing alternate history are to both entertain and educate, using historical research as the basis for the events in my books (as opposed to just making stuff up, like some of my AH colleagues, no names need be mentioned), and by using real historical personages wherever and whenever I can. I like to think of my books as "thought experiments" in history, written with as much rigor as possible by using the tools of the historian, while casting the action in a form accessible to the intelligent layman, who may have only a passing knowledge of the particular subject. This is why I also include explanatory Afterwords in my books, while, for the more serious AH geeks and students of history, I provide a bibliographical essay setting forth the historical sources for the incidents described in my novels.
I am the father of two children and a chinchilla, and the author of a YA novel entitled "The Giant Chinchilla of Oz", in honor of the latter. I am at present mulling over a possible third book in the Gray Tide series.