Reich TV [Paperback]

This wasn't only a very imaginative, inventive alternative history book, it was also highly entertaining "science fiction" even though this genre is normally associated with futuristic settings. What if the Nazis had used TV instead of radio transmitters? What if there had been a pirate broadcaster who interefered with their machinations? What if people could've seen, not only heard about the goings - on?

The use of real historical persons in this fictional story transported me right into it. To only mention one, George Orwell is a "rookie" journalist here who together with a group of other historical personalities, among them the Marx Brothers, helps the good to win over the evil. I found this fascinating. All those what-ifs that lead to a more positive outcome than in actual history were inherently consistent, and set in a well researched and well-built world.
Add to this Jeff Pearce's skilled, colorful writing and you have a page-turner.

Alternate history is a crowded and often quite useless genre. How much can we really learn from aliens from the future giving gamma rays to the Viet Cong? It may have entertainment value, but the best in alternate history takes a bigger approach than this. Classics like Philip K. Dick's Hugo award winning novel The Man in the High Castle and Philip Roth's The Plot Against America spring to mind. I don't think Jeff Pearce's Reich TV is quite The Man in the High Castle, but I think I liked it just as much as The Plot Against America, if not more.

Unlike any of the alternate histories I had read prior to Reich TV, Pearce's novel uses real life public figures as his main characters rather than his own creations. In one aspect, it makes the characterization process easier; you don't have to create them yourself. On the other, though, it adds a lot of required research to a genre that by definition requires more in-depth study than any other genre of fiction. In the case of Reich TV, this use of real people is brilliantly executed. This is an outstandingly well-researched piece of speculative fiction.

At its core, I think Reich TV is a story about the way technology changes everything. Just in case it isn't already obvious from the title and cover, Reich TV is set during World War II. The biggest technology advances of the century have come to be earlier than in reality, and this leads to a much larger influence of media on the scheme of things, on the ebb and flow of the conflict. Essayist and novelist George Orwell is a journalist from England, in Germany investigating the circumstances surrounding some mysterious deaths. The Marx Brothers are performing a weekly variety show in London being transmitted in Berlin that causes enough controversy to put their lives in danger. Dylan Thomas is their producer, who tears himself away from booze and women just long enough to focus on a new obsession: stopping the Nazis.

There are times in Reich TV where I wish the pace had been just a bit faster, especially around the middle third. It starts out very strong, and I found myself immersed in the story very quickly. There's a bit of a slowing around the middle, but it was still very enjoyable. Pearce writes wonderfully, so well that I'm actually quite surprised this wasn't published by a more traditional, larger publishing company.

The strongest aspect of Reich TV is the characterization. Pearce's portrayal of all of these seemingly larger than life figures is picture perfect. In reading the novel, I could entirely believe that Dylan Thomas, George Orwell, and Groucho Marx were exactly as Pearce wrote them and participated in the events as written. Pearce did an excellent job of immersing me in the world, and completely squelching any disbelief that I might have had reading another alternate history book.

Of particular interest, aside from the great novel itself, is the section at the end when Pearce explains how much of the novel is based on reality, and how much his own creation. The inclusion of this several pages of explanation really managed to deepen my appreciation for the novel and how it was written. It was certainly no small task, and not something everyone could do. Reich TV is a pretty special book. Pearce is a brilliant and talented writer, as well as being spectacularly diverse: he has a couple other novels out that are in completely different subgenres of speculative fiction, but they intrigue nonetheless. I would definitely recommend Reich TV to anyone with an interest in alternate history.

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