Many of which, it has to be said, are pretty thin and ignore contrary evidence. I suspect that part of the thesis is true (I think it's highly likely that a section of the Chinese fleet entered the Southern Atlantic - but I suspect they kept on going, rounded the cape, and crossed the Pacific: Pigafetta's account of Magellan's circumnavigation makes it very very clear that he had a chart marking the Straits of Magellan and was specifically looking for that channel). Their "discovery" of some of the Caribbean islands is a lot more tenuous (there are plenty of other historical hints that Portugese sailors had sighted those islands before Columbus), and anything North of the equator is extremely dodgy (the idea that they managed to do the North West Passage and the north coast of Siberia, yet didn't bump into a single European country, is pretty risible).
It is, however, a very interesting book, and a lot less wild than some "amateur archeologist" theories.
Brian Dolton
Land Of Wind And Ghosts stories:
"The Box Of Beautiful Things" - IGMS#3
"The Man Who Was Never Afraid" - Abyss and Apex #20
"At Blue Crane Falls" - Abyss and Apex #25 "Where No Wind Blows" - Staffs & Starships #2
"What The Sea Refuses" - Black Gate (forthcoming)
"What The Heart Bears" - Black Gate (forthcoming)
"Above The Clouds" - Paper Blossoms, Sharpened Steel (forthcoming)
"The Dragon Path" - Fictitious Force (forthcoming)
"Three Out Of Four" - Sorcerous Signals Feb-Apr 08
"The Last Arrow Of Liang Xi" - Darwin's Evolutions (forthcoming)
Stories in other settings:
"The Unicorn Hunter" - OG's Speculative Fiction #8
"Call Centre" - Necrotic Tissue #1
"When Winter Came" - ASIM #32
"Cold Fire" - Flashing Swords #9
"St. Saviour And The Devil's Dandy" - Flashing Swords (forthcoming) |