Excerpt The Goddess of Fortune by Andrew Blencowe

Title - The Goddess of Fortune
Author - Andrew Blencowe
Series - N/A
Genre/s - Historical Fiction/Historical Romance
Publisher - Hamilton Bay Publishing
Release Date - March 12, 2014
Edition/Formats - Kindle and Paperback
Blurb/Synopsis -

Short Synopsis

What if, by the passing of just two events, Japan and Germany had won World War 2? The Goddess of Fortune explores the possibilities as a steamy work of speculative fiction revealing the private foibles, quirks, and lusts of the famous (and often rich) of the period.

Long Synopsis

What if, by the passing of just two events, Japan and Germany had won World War 2? 

The Goddess of Fortune is a work of speculative fiction in which alternate history is explored, and consequences examined. 

- Beautiful Louise, while only 24 years old, uses her intelligence, wiles, and body to dominate the so-called "stronger sex." 

- Kaito Sasaki of the Bank of Tokyo, inspired by Lenin (“The best way to destroy the capitalist system is to debauch the currency”), proves just that with his printing of U.S. 100 dollar bills. 

- The treachery of Hermann "Fatso" Goering is uncovered and his punishment is swift. 

- The duplicity of Roosevelt and his so-called Brains Trust is exposed and the doubts of the urbane gentleman, Henry Morgenthau, are made clear. 

As a work of historical fiction, Goddess reveals the private foibles, quirks, and lusts of the famous (and often rich) of the period. How could the end goals of the Axis come to fruition given these events? Goddess explores just how, and in doing so brings to light in imaginative prose the lives of historical figures we have only known from our history books. Prepare to reimagine history. 

Remember what the Russian revolutionist chap V. I. Lenin liked to say, ‘The best way to destroy the capitalist system is to debauch the currency.’ Well, Sasaki has created an amazing weapon that we can use to destroy the enemy with paper, ink, and a printing press. Gentlemen, I will also remind you that in most parts of the world the American 100-dollar bill is the de facto currency, and that 80% of all U.S. currency is denominated in 100-dollar bills. Moreover, all the paper, ink, plates and printing machinery are Japanese. And with the development in 1939 and 1940 of the New Trunk Line—the Shinkansen—modern steam locomotives now being developed that travel at 200 kph. So the time to carry the paper from northern Japan to Tokyo has been compressed to under 10hours. And with our presses in the basements of this building we can create silly slips of paper with the nominal value of one hundred million U.S. dollars per day.”
Sasaki’s boss paused, and then said:
“Our respectful suggestion at the Bank is that we supply our Army and our Navy each with 100 million dollars’ worth of currency each week. You gentlemen can use it for whatever purpose you see fit.”
A doubting voice asked, “This is all well and good, and this is a wonderful plan—or perhaps I should say ‘scheme.’ But we in this room are not experts—will these bank notes be accepted? Are they good enough?”
Sasaki’s boss smiled,
“A very, very wise question. Since January of last year, we at the Bank have been supplying Sasaki’s new weapon to our agents in the American possessions of the Hawaiian Islands and the Philippines, as well as to the American cities of San Francisco and New York. In total, close to seventy million dollars of Sasaki’s currency has been spent, and not one bill has been rejected.”
This raised eyebrows.
The doubter congratulated Sasaki who quietly rose and bowed deeply.
Another voice asked about the old papers,
“If these bills were made recently, how is it that some of the bills look so old?”

Originally from Melbourne, Australia, Andrew Blencowe discovered at an early age what it was like to live on the edge of life. During his high school years he dropped out to become a motorcycle racer. Smitten by computers in his early twenties, he went on to become founder and CEO of an international software company with offices on five continents. It is his international perspective and a drive to challenge assumptions that influence his writing interests.
   As a weekend student of history, one point he noticed over and over was how a seemingly trivial action had such immense consequences. Regarding this point of minute actions, it is akin to a 1,000-ton boulder balanced precariously on a steel knife edge; at present still, but with the smallest nudge, an army of men cannot stop the monolith from rolling down the hill.
   Another reoccurring point was how people's time frames are always myopically short; Zhou Enlai, when asked in the early 1970s about the significance of the French Revolution, was reputed to have answered, "Too early to say".
   This myopia is daily becoming worse and worse as the destruction of the intellect by mobile "telephones" accelerates. Combined with iPads and other electronic reading devices, the ability of the human mind to think and ponder disturbance-free is being destroyed one interruption at a time.
   These are some of the main threads in Blencowe's novels - the arrogance and massive overconfidence in the new (blithely and wrongly considered better); the panoply of quick fixes rather than a thoughtful analysis of the unexpected consequences of these often dangerous modern expedients.

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