Agent of Byzantium (Isaac Asimov Presents Series) - Hardcover

Turtledove, Harry

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0865531838 ISBN 13: 9780865531833

Publisher: Congdon & Weed, 1987

Synopsis

Basil Argyros, an elite agent for the Byzantine Empire, realizes that the new invention of gunpowder may force the collapse of Byzantium

About this title

About the Author:

Harry Turtledove is an American novelist of science fiction, historical fiction, and fantasy. Publishers Weekly has called him the “master of alternate history,” and he is best known for his work in that genre. Some of his most popular titles include The Guns of the South, the novels of the Worldwar series, and the books in the Great War trilogy. In addition to many other honors and nominations, Turtledove has received the Hugo Award, the Sidewise Award for Alternate History, and the Prometheus Award. He attended the University of California, Los Angeles, earning a PhD in Byzantine history. Turtledove is married to mystery writer Laura Frankos, and together they have three daughters. The family lives in Southern California.

From Publishers Weekly:

In the alternate medieval history Turtledove proposes, in this third novel in the Isaac Asimov Presents series, Muhammed's conversion to Christianityin lieu of founding Islamallows the Roman Empire to flourish and expand. This makes for a more peaceful, but also more static, age. Basil Agyros is an imperial commander of scouts in the latest barbarian skirmish when he proves his worth by retrieving the magical instrument with which the enemy divined Roman strategy at a distancea newly invented telescope. Promoted to bureaucrat in Constantinople, he acts as troubleshooter and 14th century scientific detective. The episodes betray their origin as separate stories and beg plausibility with Basil's stumbling on inventions from gunpowder to printing, but these intelligent, colorful tales honorably recall L. Sprague de Camp, the master of historical SF whom Turtledove invokes in his preface.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Congdon & Weed
• Publication date: 1987
• ISBN 10: 0865531838
• ISBN 13: 9780865531833
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 210