2018 alternate history novel by S. M. Stirling
Black Chamber is an alternative history novel by Canadian-American author S. M. Stirling, published in 2018. The novel is the start of a series wherein Theodore Roosevelt's bid for the U.S. presidency in 1912 was successful. The story begins on September 1, 1916 and features a "Black Chamber" that is much more than the historical U.S. government code-breaking agency.[1][2]
Plot summary
Preliminaries
When William Howard Taft, Theodore Roosevelt's opponent in the 1912 presidential election dies of a heart attack, Roosevelt's election is assured.[3] After Roosevelt takes office, the United States conquers Mexico "for its own good" and begins a rigorous progress agenda.[3][4]
Main plot
In September 1916, the United States has not yet declared itself a participant in World War I. President Roosevelt wants to stay out of World War I. However, the war is going very well for Germany and Roosevelt learns that the Germans have a new weapon whose characteristics are unknown.[3]
Luz O'Malley Aróstegui is a senior field operative for the Black Chamber, a U.S. spy and security agency. Luz, who is ethnically Cuban-Irish, impersonates a Mexican-Irish revolutionary in order to contact a German agent who she learns is Baron Horst von Dückler. They become lovers and Luz learns that the weapon, called "The Breath of Loki", is a poisonous gas that kills on contact. Luz convinces Ciara Whelan, an Irish-American with a grudge against the U.S. to help her.[3][5]
Eventually, Luz has to deal with a German plan to keep the United States out of the war by bringing the poisonous gas to the East Coast.[6]
