I have some very exciting news to share with you this week. But first, a little alternative history.

Do you ever wonder what would happen if history had unfolded differently? What if major players in history had died instead of lived, or lived instead of died, for example? What would the world look like?

Kristine Kathryn Rusch is no stranger to such speculation. She’s also no stranger to being recognized for her achievements in the genre. And I’m pleased to announce that her most recent alternative history novel is no exception.

Because The Enemy Within just received a nomination for the Sidewise Award for best alternative history (long form).

If you haven’t read it, here’s the synopsis:

One of Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s most acclaimed short stories becomes one of her most original novels.

February, 1964: Two men die in a squalid alley in a bad neighborhood. New York Homicide Detective Seamus O’Reilly receives the shock of his life when he looks at the men’s identification: J. Edgar Hoover, the famous, tyrannical director of the FBI, and his number one assistant, Clyde Tolson.

O’Reilly teams up with FBI agent Frank Bryce to solve the second high-level assassination in only three months. Because in November of the previous year, someone assassinated President John F. Kennedy. The cop and the FBI agent must determine if the same shadowy organization committed all three murders. To do so, they must act quickly before some of the nation’s most powerful men—from Kennedy’s brother, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, to the President of the United States, Lyndon Baines Johnson—do something rash to keep Hoover’s secrets from ever becoming public.

In our world, Hoover kept his secrets until long after his death. In Seamus O’Reilly’s world, Hoover’s secrets get him killed. The Enemy Within offers alternate history so plausible that only Kristine Kathryn Rusch could have written it.

Interestingly, the novella that inspired The Enemy Within, G-Men, won the 2008 Sidewise Award for best short form alternative history.

The 2014 Sidewise Award winners will be announced August 21 at Sasquan, the 2015 Worldcon in Spokane WA.

In the meantime, please join me in wishing Kris congratulations on another Sidewise nomination.

Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer.