The Gladiator

HT's newest angle on his Crosstime Traffic theme is a refreshing change of pace from the previous (good but overused) story lines.

The Gladiator (2007) is the fifth Alternate History novel of the Crosstime Traffic series, following The Disunited States of America. This story involves an another timeline where the Soviet Union won the Cold War. Crosstime Traffic is trying to restore a spirit of capitalism into a socialist world. They are operating through shops such as The Gladiator. In this novel, Annarita Crosetti is a junior at Enver Hoxha Polytechnic Academy in Milan. This morning, she dresses in her Young Socialists' League uniform for the afterschool meeting. Since the Crosettis share a bath and kitchen with the Mazzillis, she sits across the table from Gianfranco Mazzili. Gianfranco also attends the academy, although he is a year behind her. Since he is just not interested in school subjects, his grades are not very good. His parents are not pleased with his performance, but he doesn't care that much. Annarita and Gianfranco walk together to school. Since the elevator has been inoperable for years, they first walk down the stairs to the street. Other students join them on the stairs and in the street, coming from the row of Stalin Gothic buildings along the roadway. The street itself is crowded with Fiats, Russian Volgas, smelly German Trabants and American Workermobiles. A Volga stops in the middle of the roadway to pick up an old lady, blocking a trolley and other cars. Naturally, the trolley motorman clangs his bell and the car drivers blow their horns, but the Volga driver ignores them. In this story, Gianfranco attends a games group at the Gladiator shop. During the Young Socialists' League meeting, one of the participants declares that the store is spreading subversive literature. Annarita volunteers for the investigating committee because of the connection with Gianfranco. The Gladiator sponsors gaming tournaments as well as selling games and related books. Gianfranco is heavily into Rails Across Europe, a game about owning and developing a railroad system. Gianfranco knows more about nineteenth century railroads than about modern history. When a similar shop is raided in Rome, The Gladiator employees close their store and disappear. That afternoon, Gianfranco finds the shop locked and empty. Later, the Security Police search the store for evidence of subversive activities. One of The Gladiator employees -- Eduardo -- was left behind when the others fled. Now Gianfranco is helping him to evade the Security Police and find a way back to his own timeline. He asks Annarita to help Eduardo and the Crosetti family invites an unemployed cousin into their home. Gianfranco has an epiphany when Eduardo explains the differences in his own timeline. He starts seeing all kinds of ways that capitalism could improve his environment. If only the Security Police would disappear. Eduardo admits that his timeline is not perfect and Annarita points out that the other timeline would have different problems. Gianfranco only thinks about the way things

Over a century ago the Iron Curtain came down as the Soviet Union won the Cold War. As a result of the communist triumph over western capitalism, society is extremely controlled with surveillance everywhere. Though security is tight, as long as one avoids counterrevolutionary activity, a person was safe and secure as most violent crimes have been eliminated. That is except those perpetrated by the state against individuals and since it is government doing the act, it is not a crime. Whereas the elderly embrace the secure environs just secretly praying to live one more day, the young students are bored having a passion for life. In Milan, Stalinist Italian People's Republic seventeen years old Annarita Crosetti and sixteen years old Gianfranco Mazzilli attend Enver Hoxha Polytechnic. Gianfranco is a terrible student going nowhere while Annarita is a superb pupil with a future as the daughter of a party hack and a member of the Young Socialists' League. They find the Gladiator game shop where they play a complex game Rails Across Europe with enthusiasm. However, shops like the Gladiator are always betrayed from within leading to the security police shutting it down for the capital punishment crime of teaching capitalism although the owner Eduardo escapes. Having been exposed, he has no place to go, but tells his two teen customers that he is a marooned Trader from a crosstime line in which capitalism defeated communism. The fifth Crosstime Traffic saga (see IN HIGH PLACES) may be the best in a strong futuristic alternate history series. The vivid landscape comes alive through the escapades and capers of the lead teenagers. The story line is fast-paced as Harry Turtledove paints a deep tale of living in the middle to late twenty-first century in a Soviet Republic beyond the Cole War's Iron Curtain. Targeting young adults, older sub-genre fans will want to read this intelligent superb thriller. Harriet Klausner

I liked this book a lot! When I first started reading it, I for some reason thought that it might not be all that good, but that thought was short-lived. The _Crosstime Traffic_ series is a juvenile (or "young adult," if you prefer)series involving a corporation of that name, which has a means of travelling between alternate timelines. They basically do clandestine import/export between their timeline ("home timeline") and the others ("alternates"). In this novel, you see mission creep setting in; Crosstime Traffic is engaged in subverting the political system in a timeline in which the communists won the Cold War. The story is set in a communist Italy of the late 21st century; I must say that it has a very realistic feel, in that it feels like it's been the 1940s for 150 years (I remember reading an editorial which stated that it was the 1940s in eastern Europe from the 40s until the fall of the Berlin Wall -- it makes sense to me). One of the Crosstime Traffic employees gets trapped there when the secret police close down their business (it sells subversive board games), and has to hide out with some acquaintances of his. The story is told from the point of view of the local characters, not the Crosstime Traffic point of view; it feels almost like Turtledove himself has spent time in a communist police state prior to 1990 or so. In a previous review, I wondered what it is about Turtledove's writing that I like so much. I've thought about it, and a couple of things occurred to me. One is that his "local color" is always very good. His stories have little details in them that give them that sense of authenticity. Another is that his characters tend to be sympathetic, and seem real as well. His pacing is pretty good, too, so that it's easy to keep turning the pages in one of his stories. I'd highly recommend this book (as well as the rest of the series) to anyone of any age, even though these books are written as juveniles.

This Harry Turtledove series is loosely based on the Crosstime concept developed by H.Beam Piper, in which myriads of worlds with alternate histories exist parallel to our own timeline. In the 21st century of our timeline, technology has been developed that allows people to visit these alternate Earths and return, usually safely, but sometimes not. A massive corporation called Crosstime Traffic controls most of the access to these alternate worlds, and the plots of Turtledove's five Crosstime Traffic novels all revolve around Crosstime Traffic workers, their families (teenagers included) and the people they come in contact with in the alternates. I found The Gladiator to be the most exciting of the Crosstime series so far. Its set in a world where the Soviets won the Cold War and set up a worldwide Marxist-Leninist-Stalinist command economy and political dictatorship. Gianfranco and Annarita are schoolmates and neighbors in Milan in the Italian People's Republic. They lead average teenager type lives until one day Gianfranco discovers an exciting new shop called The Gladiator, where games are played and books are sold that give basic instructions on how to be a capitalist. The State Security Police catch on to this subversive counter-revolutionary stuff, and close the shop down. Its mysterious proprietors all vanish except one, Eduardo, who turns to Gianfranco and Annarita for help getting back to his own timeline. This is a fast-paced adventure story with plenty of attractive characters and a satisfying ending. The contrast between capitalism and communism is well developed, and there's plenty of interesting discussion about the nature of liberty, security, and progress. Like every other Crosstime Traffic novel, this one makes me wish I could get a job at Crosstime Traffic myself. Interestingly enough, there seems to be a bit of confusion about the number of Crosstime Traffic stories. This book is labeled the fourth Crosstime Traffic novel and the second page lists the first three in the series: Gunpowder Empire, Curious Notions, and In High Places, but leaves out The Disunited States of America, which was published as Book 4 in September, 2006. Maybe Crosstime Traffic does indeed exist, and some glitch in the system got some alternate worlds confused!