Forestalling an Ancient Cold War

In To Turn the Tide, Arthur Vandenberg and four graduate students took a one-way trip from the near-future to second-century Rome, on the Danube frontier a few years before the Marcomanni War began. They left their present as a nuclear warhead exploded, limiting complaints about being shanghaied.

The Winds of Fate, a science fiction novel by S. M. Stirling, picks up where To Turn the Tide left off. Artorius (as he is now styled) and his clients (as his graduate students are treated by Romans) have a string of accomplishments.

They helped Rome defeat the Marcomanni decisively in two years. The frontier is now well past the Danube. Rome is absorbing Germania as a Roman province. They stopped the Plague of Galen. They introduced revolutions in medicine, agriculture, and technology, making life easier for the average Roman citizen.

They have the ear and the confidence of Rome’s Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, with the wealth and influence that implies. Artorius hopes he can now return to his estate, continue improving the world, and enjoy raising his family.

“Happily ever after” yields a dull sequel. Artorius and the team discover a new crisis. They are not the only time-travelers sent back from the 21st Century. Communist China, which instigated the nuclear war destroying Arthur Vandenberg’s world, also sent a team. Their intention mirrors Artorius’s goal of making Rome the dominant power in Eurasia and Africa. It is to put China in that role, one emulating the policies of modern Communist China.

Their machine is a duplicate of the one used by Artorius and team. China apparently stole the technology from the inventor. They brought the same number of people and the same mass of goods to the same time. They also nuked Vienna to prevent any challenging rivals.

They failed (by a second or less) to destroy the Rome-bound team. Once one team learns of the other, the result is a cage match between the two sets of time-travelers. Two teams walk in, only one walks out. The continent has to be united under one empire. With two empires, both sides will develop nuclear weapons and destroy the world again.

Artorius, his team, and Marcus Aurelius realize this. So does Colonel Lui, commanding the Chinese team. The result is a race to control the center of the continent. The Winds of Fate offers a fast-paced adventure in the expected traditions of alternate history and military science fiction.

“The Winds of Fate,” by S. M. Stirling, Baen Books, 2025, 368 pages, $30.00 (Hardcover), $9.99 (e-book)

This review was written by Mark Lardas, who writes at Ricochet as Seawriter. Mark Lardas, an engineer, freelance writer, historian, and model-maker, lives in League City, TX. His website is marklardas.com.