Worldwar: Upsetting the Balance (Worldwar #3) » (~)

Harry Turtledove was born in Los Angeles in 1949. After flunking out of Caltech, he earned a Ph.D. in Byzantine history from UCLA. He has taught ancient and medieval history at UCLA, Cal State Fullerton, and Cal State L.A., and has published a translation of a ninth-century Byzantine chronicle, as well as several scholarly articles.

He is also a full-time science fiction and fantasy writer; much of his creative effort has been devoted to alternate history or history-based fantasy. His alternate history works include A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE (a first-contact story), THE GUNS OF THE SOUTH (a speculative novel of the Civil War), and the Worldwar tetralogy that began in 1994 with WORLDWAR: IN THE BALANCE. His novella "Down in the Bottomlands" won a Hugo award in 1994, and he is the coauthor, with actor Richard Dreyfuss, of THE TWO GEORGES.

Two of his fantasy series, The Videssos Cycle and The Tale of Krispos, are set in a world modeled on the Byzantine Empire, and he returns to that universe with his current Time of Troubles tetralogy.

He is married to fellow novelist Laura Frankos. They have three daughters: Alison, Rachel, and Rebecca.

Russia, Communist China, Japan, Nazi Germany, the United States: they began World War II as mortal enemies. But suddenly their only hope for survival--never mind victory--was to unite to stop a mighty foe--one whose frightening technology appeared invincible.
Far worse beings than the Nazis were loose.

Publishers Weekly

The Axis and Allied powers continue to stand as one to defeat alien invaders in this third volume of Turtledove's alternate-history saga of WW II (Tilting the Balance; In the Balance). There are some unexpected twists here-the Lizards bomb Pearl Harbor, the Americans sacrifice Chicago-but none more surprising than the fact that, unlike in previous volumes, the narrative is dominated not by weaponry and tactics of war but by births and friendship. Liu Han's baby arrives in a Lizard internment camp; and the birth of Barbara Yeager's baby with her current husband, Sam, comes even as Jens Larssen, her physicist former husband, goes walkabout. Meanwhile, the theme of camaraderie in trying times comes to the fore, as does an emphasis on noble action. Even those who have been rooting for the Lizards from the start will notice that this volume highlights the finest, both alien and human, while disparaging the corrupt. After enjoying this morally aware addition to the series, and its many cameos by real-life figures (including Einstein, Stalin and Ribbentrop), most readers will be looking forward eagerly to the next.