August 1956. The Soviet Union is at the height of its power, as the dominant state within the Communist International, or Comintern, stretching from northern Ireland to Korea and Southeast Asia, and Norway to Central Africa. Yet long-standing disputes over territory, resources and the proper course of "Permanent Revolution" have led to rising tensions among many of this bloc's members--most of all in the Far East, on the border between the USSR and the People's Republic of China. Along the Ussuri and Amur Rivers, General Secretary Leon Trotsky and Chairman Mao Zedong have deployed armies in expectation of a major clash...and internal factions within both regimes are making preparations of their own.
Posted to a Siberian base as an instructor for Chinese and Korean flyers, Soviet Air Force pilot Pyotr Ivanov is practically on the front lines of this growing crisis. Like any sane man and good soldier, he has kept his head down, carrying out his duties and working hard to one day soon realize his dream of joining the newly-created cosmonaut program. Then, out of the blue, he is asked by his former commander and mentor to serve as pilot for a "discreet" mission. One with the potential to radically alter three of the most powerful Comintern governments, and see his dream fulfilled--or bring them and the entire Communist alliance crashing down...
This story is set within the timeline of the author's previous Alternate History work Divided Worlds: An Alternate Space Race, also available on Amazon Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BW8DPGK
Genre: Science Fiction
Posted to a Siberian base as an instructor for Chinese and Korean flyers, Soviet Air Force pilot Pyotr Ivanov is practically on the front lines of this growing crisis. Like any sane man and good soldier, he has kept his head down, carrying out his duties and working hard to one day soon realize his dream of joining the newly-created cosmonaut program. Then, out of the blue, he is asked by his former commander and mentor to serve as pilot for a "discreet" mission. One with the potential to radically alter three of the most powerful Comintern governments, and see his dream fulfilled--or bring them and the entire Communist alliance crashing down...
This story is set within the timeline of the author's previous Alternate History work Divided Worlds: An Alternate Space Race, also available on Amazon Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BW8DPGK
Genre: Science Fiction
Used availability for Mark Ciccone's The Ussuri Incident