The Spear of Destiny by Trey Garrison

Published digitally by Harper Voyager in December 2012 and January 2013 

The Spear of Destiny is a novel published as a three-part serial, each with its own title.  Part one is Black Sun Reich, part two is Death's Head Legion, and part three is Shadows Will Fall.

Given the influence of The Thule Society on the development of the Nazi Party, the pairing of demons and Nazis is natural but predictable. It's been done before. As an alternate history, however, The Spear of Destiny adds inventive elements to the story: Hitler came to power in Germany in 1922 as the result of a revolution; the Confederate States (CSA) still prohibit black citizens from voting while the Union States (USA) are mired in an economic depression; the USA fought alongside Germany in the Great War while the CSA sided with France and England (the Texas Freehold was studiously neutral). The alternate version of 1928 has some steampunk elements, including a flying city and "the largest Difference Engine ever built." Apart from its reference to a long-standing image of darkness, the Black Sun in the title refers both to the Black Sun rune in Wewelsburg Castle and to the dozen senior leaders of the Third Reich (one of whom was rebuilt as a "clockwork cyborg"), known collectively as The Black Sun.

Dr. Kurt von Dietel is on a secret mission. He and the people he represents have discovered that the powers behind the Reich are creating a group of "indestructible, unwavering soldiers" inspired by the mutated creatures that are arising in the Damned Lands, a transgenic abomination that, fancy terminology aside, can best be described as a cross between a demon and a zombie.  The formula for manufacturing zombies is glossed over with some mutterings about alchemy and radiation and mystical chants and the war opening a portal to another dimension, but in a novel that relies upon the supernatural -- not to mention zombies -- you don't really expect hard science.  Of course, the zombies  threaten the survival of the human race and must be stopped. The improbable key to victory (for both the Nazis and the good guys) is the Spear of Destiny, last known to be in the possession of the Jesuits. Reluctantly joining Dietel in search of the Spear is a Texan aviator named Fox Rucker. He's reluctant because another member of the team is his ex-wife. Technological help is supplied by Howard Hughes and Nikola Tesla.

Once the Nazis have the Spear of Destiny, they will be able to make the zombies follow orders instead of eating everyone in sight.  Zombies can be made from both the living and the dead and, of course, anyone who is bitten by a zombie becomes infected and turns into a zombie. Rucker and his helpers try to find the Spear before the Nazis can get it, a quest that leads them to Romania, homeland of vampires. You just knew that vampires would sneak into this story, didn't you? Heck, there's even a golem.

Otto Skorzeny (the legendary SS officer who rescued Mussolini from captivity) plays a critical role in the novel. So does Hitler's favorite interrogator, the Skull, who somehow has developed psychic powers. The descriptions of the Skull's depravity seem gratuitous, although an extended encounter with the Skull does develop Rucker's psychological profile.

In the best tradition of heroic adventure novels, Trey Garrison establishes Rucker as a courageous man who refuses to accept defeat, the sort of leader who inspires others to give their best. That, of course, is what happens in a series of high energy action sequences that propel the story to its predictable conclusion.  Rucker being chased across rooftops in Rome seems like a scene cribbed from action movies but rappelling from one dirigible to another is more original. Given the setting, it's logical that the Romani would enter the story, leading to an interesting discussion of Romani legends. I appreciated that Garrison uses the story to remind readers that the Romani are the largely forgotten victims of Nazi genocide.

The most interesting aspect of The Spear of Destiny is not the plot so much as the background. The splintering of North America into several nations could have happened, and Garrison's construction of his alternate history reflects careful research and nuanced thought. There is a decided bias in favor of libertarian philosophy -- the Texas Freehold does so well because people are left alone, while the USA has gone to rot because of big government -- that would have made Robert Heinlein proud. The characters' discussions of political philosophy are simplistic and, in my view, not particularly accurate, but disagreement with a political point of view is no reason not to enjoy a novel.

I don't know that the steampunk elements add anything (they seem to have been inserted to make the novel appeal to steampunk fans) and I'm certain that a better novel could be fashioned out this background without resorting to demonic zombies. I'm not suggesting that every alternate history addressing Nazis needs to be as brilliant as The Man in the High Castle, but does the world really need another zombie novel?  The zombies themselves are rather dull, and an early phase of the final battle -- pitting werewolves and other monsters against the zombies -- doesn't have much spark. The zombies are ridiculously incompetent -- they can't penetrate a barrier of piled junk that the good guys are able to assemble and disassemble in seconds -- but I suppose death takes its toll on a zombie's brainpower. Still, the ability of thirty people to hold off several hundred zombies long enough to engage in hours of chit-chat weakens the story. I never had the sense that the zombies posed much of a threat at all.

Despite its weak ending, the non-zombie characters and the story's tongue-in-cheek attitude make the novel as a whole worth reading, at least for fans of the ever-growing category of zombie literature.

RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS