Works by
William R. Forstchren
(Writer)

Fiction (Alone)

• Into the Sea of Stars  (1986)

• We Look Like Men of War (2001)
  "I was born a slave, as was my father before me, but I shall die a free man......"Thus begins the poignant story of Samuel Washburn, born a slave in 1850. A young master's cruelty leads to an unforeseen confrontation, which forces Sam and his cousin to flee the plantation. They run north to freedom, only to return south to fight for the greater cause. Though still a boy, Sam becomes a regimental drummer with a "colored regiment" and sees action in the Wilderness campaign at Fredericksburg and Petersburg, as well as at the bloody Battle of the Crater in July of 1864. Sam's voice offers a unique and insightful perspective on the carnage of the War Between the States and the toll it took on both young and old, black and white.AUTHORBIO: William R.Forstchen is a professor of history at Montreat College in North Carolina. He did his doctoral thesis on the 28th U.S. Colored Troops who fought during the Civil War. He is also the author of the bestselling SF Civil War series The Lost Regiment. Forstchen was Newt Gingrich's coauthor on the bestselling alternate history novel 1945 and was coeditor of the nonfiction anthology It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time.

Fiction with Newt Gingrich

• 1945 (1995) by Newt Gingrich and William Forstchen

• Gettysburg: A Novel by Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen
  The year is 1863, and General Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia are poised to attack the North and claim the victory that would end the brutal conflict. But Lee's Gettysburg campaign ended in failure, ultimately deciding the outcome of the war. But what if Lee had won? The Battle of Gettysburg has been a source of endless debate for Civil War scholars, posing one of the greatest 'what if' questions in American history. Gingrich and Forstchen held roundtable meetings with top military minds to go over every page of the book, ensuring accurate, dramatic battle scenes, military strategy, and captivating period details. An action-packed and painstakingly researched masterwork, Gettysburg tells the story of how history could have unfolded, how a victory for Lee would have changed the destiny of the nation forever. In the great tradition of The Killer Angels and Jeff Shaara's bestselling Civil War trilogy, this is a novel of true heroism and glory in America's most trying hour.

• Grant Comes East (2004) by Newt Gingrich and  William Forstchen
  Following the South's decisive victory at Gettysburg, Baltimore is now in the hands of the Army of Northern Virginia under the command of Robert E. Lee. Shattered remnants of the Army of the Potomac have fallen back into Washington, digging in, preparing to make a desperate stand. Six days earlier General Ulysses S. Grant and his army of 60,000 had taken Vicksburg. The last telegram out of Washington before the rebels cut the line called for drastic measures. Grant and his men were to come East and save the Union. Now two of America's greatest generals will face off in a battle that could decide the fate of a nation. Once again, Newt Gingrich and William Forstchen have created a brilliant story of how the Civil War could have unfolded. In Grant Comes East, they use their years of research and expertise to take their legions of fans on another incredible journey.

• Never Call Retreat: Lee and Grant -- The Final Victory (2005) by Newt Gingrich and William Forstchen
  The remarkable finale of Gingrich and Forstchen's New York Times bestselling Civil War series A ugust 1863. Having pursued the remnants of the defeated Army of the Potomac up to the banks of the Susquehanna, General Robert E. Lee is caught off balance when news arrives that General Ulysses S. Grant, in command of over seventy thousand men, has crossed that same river. The two brilliant generals will now meet in a massive battle that will decide the outcome of the war. As with Gettysburg, Never Call Retreat will focus on an operational battle, a slugging match between two armies, this time with both armies led by brilliant commanders. In Never Call Retreat Newt Gingrich and William Forstchen bring all of their now criticallyacclaimed talents to bear in what is destined to be an immediate classic.

• Pearl Harbor: A Novel of December 8th (2007) by Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen
  President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s speech on December 8, 1941, lasted a mere six and half minutes. But his words and tone—in a monologue that would later be named the Infamy Speech—sent ripples into a nation and a world that continue even today. The historical implications that emerged from the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor were unprecedented, launching America not only into the depths of a dangerous war, but forever altering the safety and comfort of everyday living. December 8th became a day of speaking out publicly and declaring war; of action, battle, plotting, and victories. This date’s significance is resonant and profound as an indelible moment in American history.
  
  Fresh from their series on the American Civil War, bestselling authors Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen now launch a new epic adventure by applying their imaginations and knowledge to the “Date of Infamy”—the attack on Pearl Harbor.
  
  Pearl Harbor covers the full spectrum of characters and events from that historic moment, from national leaders and admirals to the views of ordinary citizens caught in the chaos of war. From the chambers of the Emperor of Japan to the American White House, from the decks of aircraft carriers to the playing fields of the Japanese Naval Academy, this powerful story stretches from the nightmare slaughter of China in the 1930s to the lonely office of Commander James Watson, an American cryptographer, who suspects the impending catastrophic attack. It is a story of intrigue, double-dealing, the horrific brutality of war, and the desperate efforts of men of reason on both sides to prevent a titanic struggle that becomes inevitable.
  
  Gingrich and Forstchen’s now critically acclaimed approach, which they term “active history,” examines how a change in but one decision might have profoundly altered American history. In Pearl Harbor, they pose the question of how the presence of but one more man within the Japanese attacking force could have transfigured the war. More than a retelling, the book also serves as a potent warning, valid still today as an example of what happens when communications and understanding breaks down, and a nation is ill-prepared for the onslaught that might ensue.
  
  A compelling, meticulously researched saga, Pearl Harbor is also a novel of valor about those who took part in this cataclysmic moment in world history. It inaugurates a dramatic new Pacific War series that begins with the terrifying account of the day that started it all.

Science Fiction

Crystal Warrior Series (with Greg Morrison)

1. The Crystal Warriors  (1988) by Greg Morrison and William R. Forstchen

2. The Crystal Sorcerers  (1991) by Greg Morrison and William R. Forstchen

Gamester Wars Series

1. The Alexandrian Ring  (1987)

2. The Assassin Gambit  (1988)

3. The Napoleon Wager  (1993)

Ice Prophet Series

1. Ice Prophet (1983)

2. The Flame upon the Ice (1984)

3. Darkness upon the Ice  (1985)

• See also Ice Prophet Sequence (1983) by William R. Forstchen with Darrell K. Sweet, Illustrator
  Includes the entire Ice Prophet Series

Legends of the Riftwar

• Honored Enemy (2001) with Raymond E Feist
  As the Riftwar tears Midkemia apart, enemies trapped in the frozen Northlands must trust each other to stay alive. . . .
  
  In the sprawling, embattled land of Midkemia, fate can form strange alliances. Nine years into the bloody and ongoing Riftwar, Dennis Hartraft's Marauders are cold, hungry, and exhausted. Having only just survived a disastrous encounter with their sworn enemy, the Tsurani, the soldiers are headed for a frontier garrison, where they will be able to rest and recover. But Hartraft's company arrives at the same time as a Tsurani patrol, and both sides discover the stronghold overrun by a migrating horde of dark elves called moredhel, a foe so deadly and vicious the bitter enemies must band together and fight as one.
  
  But can their hatred for their mutual enemy overcome their distrust of each other? As the two groups, bound to each other by their common foe, make their way across the unknown Northlands to freedom, they have to struggle with not only the elements and the enemy, but also their consciences. For, with both sides carrying painful scars from past wars, each man must ask himself what is more important: one's life or one's honor?

Lost Regiment Series

1. Rally Cry (1992)
   When Union Colonel Andrew Keane led his blue-coated soldiers aboard the transport ship, he could not have foreseen that their next port of call would be neither in the North nor the South, but on an alternate world where no human was free. Storm-swept through a space-time warp, Keanes regiment was shipwrecked in an alien land, a land where all that stood between them and destruction was the power of rifles over swords, spears, and crossbows.
   Into this serfdom ruled by nobles and the Church, Keane and his men brought the radical ideas of freedom, equality, and democracy and a technology centuries ahead of the world they must now call home. Yet all their knowledge and training might not save them from the true rulers there creatures to whom all humans were mere cattle, bred for sacrifice!

2. The Union Forever (1991)

3. Terrible Swift Sword (1992)

4. Fateful Lightning (1993)

5. Battle Hymn (1997)

6. Never Sound Retreat  (1998)

7. A Band of Brothers (1999)

8. Men of War (1999)
   This final novel in The Lost Regiment series finds Colonel Andrew Keane and the soldiers of his 35th Maine preparing to wage war against the alien hordes for the last time...

• Down to the Sea: A Novel of Lost Regiment (2000)
  In the aftermath of Gettysburg, the 35th Regiment of the Union Army were pulled through a time warp, leaving them stranded in a strange alien word. Now it's time for exploration-and to discover a way to survive...

Shattered Light

• Catseye (1999) with Jaki Demarest
  Delos: a world not unlike our own...until a reckless attempt to capture the primal power of the universe shattered the very laws of nature, transforming it into a realm of magic. Now men vie with monsters, sword with sorcery, good with evil. And behind it all is the dread entity that was freed when the light shattered: the Laria.
  
  In the kingdom of Tycor, the Furies will leave no stone unturned in their search for a thief and the royal Seal he purloined from within the castle walls. Young Jain Riordan, an unwitting witness to the thief's identity, soon finds himself recruited by the Furies for what at first seems to be a simple mission. But the Furies soon learn that Jain has secrets of his own, and that all of Tycor teeters on the brink of war!

Star Voyager

1. Star Voyager Academy (1994)

2. Article 23 (1998)
   As a plebe at the Acadamy Justin Bell was on the to making his dreams come true: traveling in space. But, even in the 22nd century, cold hard reality has a way of frustrating dreams. There was tension between Earth and the far-flung colonies in the solar system. The colonists had demanded more freedom than Earth was willing to grant and so Mars declared its independence. No other colonies had broken away, and war had not broken out yet but the situation was dangerous. To make things worse, contact had just been made with extraterrestrials very unfriendly contact....
   
   The times were the sort that made for exciting reading when they were safely embalmed in the history books, but were less than comfortable for those living through them. But Justin had the stuff of heroes which was fortunate for him, and for Earth....

3. Prometheus (1999)

Series Contributions

• The Forgotten War (1999)

  The legendary Starfleet Captain Lucien Murat, a contemporary of Christopher Pike, disappeared during a battle with the alien Tarn. Now, generations later, Captain Picard is conducting delicate diplomatic negotiations with the Tarn when the Starship Enterprise™ discovers the descendants of Murat and his crew stranded on a desolate planet, still fighting a war that ended decades ago.

  The human castaways face destruction, but more than these precious lives are at stake. Unless Picard can find a solution, a lost hero's legacy may ignite a new era of interstellar war!

Wing Commander

1. End Run (1993) with Christopher Stasheff

2. Fleet Action (1994)

3. Heart Of The Tiger (1995) with Andrew Keith

4. The Price of Freedom (1996) with Ben Ohlander

5. Action Stations (1998)

6. False Colors (1999) with William H Keith

Non fiction

• It Seemed Like a Good Idea: A Compendium Of Great Historical Fiascoes (1988), Bill Fawcett and William R. Forstchen, eds.
  Throughout the annals of history, the best of intentions--and sometimes the worst--have set in motion events with a vastly different outcome than originally intended. In this entertaining, fact-filled chronicle, William Forstchen and Bill Fawcett explore the watersheds of history that began as the best of ideas and ended as the worst of fiascoes.

• Hot Shots An Oral History of the Air Force Combat Pilots of the Korean War (2000), Jennie E. Chancey and William R. Forstchen, eds.
  Known as the "Forgotten War," the Korean War heralded a new era of warfare--one where countries from around the world struggled over the fate of a relatively small peninsula jutting into the Sea of Japan. Between 1950 and 1953, more than fifty thousand Americans gave their lives in pursuit of democracy for the Korean people.
  
  The Korean War was also the proving ground for post-World War II aviation, when the first generation of jet aircraft took to the skies to tangle in deadly combat. It was the battlefield of Sabres and MiGs, American Hot Shots and Communist Honchos. And more than ever before, control of the skies meant victory or failure in the groun
  
  Now, fifty years after the war's outbreak, Hot Shots captures the voices of the original top guns, the pilots who flew Mustangs, Sabres, and Shooting Stars and confronted a superior number of enemy aircraft. Among the men who tell their stories are Lieutenant Colonel Duane E. "Bud" Biteman, one of the first fliers in the war; Lieutenant General Frederick "Boots" Blesse, double ace who led efforts to refine tactical training for the new jet pilots; Colonel Cecil Foster, who fought in one of the longest-running air-to-air jet encounters; and Colonel Harold Fischer, a double-ace flier who was captured behind enemy lines and held as a POW until 1955, two years after the official end of the war.
  
  Editors Chancey and Forstchen combine these compelling firsthand accounts with dozens of never-before-published photographs of air force pilots at work, as well as a history of the major events of the war. Hot Shots brings to vivid life the risk, dedication, and bravery of these forgotten heroes. May their sacrifice not be in vain.

• Hot Shots: America's First Jet Aces (2002), Jennie E. Chancey and William R. Forstchen, eds.
  Between 1950 and 1953, America was locked in a fearsome struggle to decide the fate of a relatively small pennisula jutting into the Sea of Japan. More than fifty thousand brave U.S. fighting ment gave their lives in this bloody conflict that has all but faded from public memory, a "forgotten was" that ushered in a modern age of jet-to-jet combat.
  
  Editors Chaney and Forstchen have gathered together the spellbinding account of America's Korean War aerial aces -- the "Hot Shots" who took to the Asian in their Mustangs, Sabres, and Shooting Stars to confront an overwhelmingly superior number of enemy aircraft. Through the vivid voices of real-life "top gun" heroes -- with their remarkable first-hand stories of courage, duty, and awesome ability -- an all important chapter in our nation's military history is retrieved from the shadows, a return to a time of exhilaration, terror, and glory when, more than before, control of the skies helped determined victory or defeat on the ground.

• Honor Untarnished: A West Point Graduate's Memoir of World War II (2003) by Donald V. Bennett (Retired) and William R. Forstchen
  What was the life expectancy of a lieutenant colonel in the first wave ashore at Omaha Beach? What about a captain leading a battery into action against the Afrika Corps? Or perhaps a colonel facing elite SS and Wehrmacht divisions and calling down the fire of forty-five batteries to stop their charge at the Battle of the Bulge? Don Bennett faced all those things, and sixty years later he is one of the chosen few, a survivor who is ready at long last to tell his story. From the landing of our journeyman army in North Africa straight through to the final days as we pierced into the dark heart of the Reich, Don Bennett was there. His war was not just a few minutes or even days of fighting on a beach in France or some atoll in the Pacific. It was over two and half years of combat from Casablanca to Tunisia, from Sicily to Normandy, and on to the Hurtgen Forest, the Bulge, the Rhine, and to the final mad dash to liberate the concentration camps before the last survivors were murdered in the last gasps of the Final Solution. Honor Untarnished tells the story of that war as only a veteran combat officer like General Donald Bennett can. This is Bennett's story, a man who would later go on to the rank of four star general and command all of the NATO forces in Europe, retiring as the third highest ranking officer in the US Army. This is his WWII.