Stealing Alabama, by Allen Steele

Stealing Alabama was a Hugo nominee for best novella in 2002.  It's an alternate history, and the exact background is somewhat hard to figure.  One discerns that the South basically won the civil war, pushing the North back to New England and claiming much of what is known now as America, including the informal name.  The protagonist of the story is a descendent of Robert E. Lee, named after him.  And the center of the action is the first starship, named the Alabama.

The story is solid and the alternate history is fun to puzzle out, it's a real change from many versions of the South surviving the Civil War that I have read.  The characters are a little stiff but the SF is pretty basic space opera, which appeals to me.  It's not going to rock your world, but it will fill a couple of hours and leave you entertained.  I give it 3 stars.

The Emperor of Mars, by Allen Steele

Some still have optimism that we will get to the planets someday.  I think they are right, but someday may be further off than they think.  Allen Steele's The Emperor of Mars is set in "'48", but I think that might be 2148 rather than 2048 as implied here.  This is basically a sweet and sentimental tale, about a man coping with loss from very far away where he can do nothing about it.  Kind of reminds me of the King of Hearts somehow, not sure why really.  But it reads nicely and leaves one in a good frame of mind, which is not a bad thing.  A good read for a time when you don't really want a challenge, just something to mentally ingest like a good pudding, as oppposed to a thick steak.  3 stars.

I really like reading these web articles on the Kindle.  It strips off all the adware and formatting, giving you a nice consistent print-like page to look at.  Did some browsing on the Nook, but it doesn't look good at all there.  Am looking forward to rooting the Nook to see if I can get a better-behaved browser on there.  As well as a Kindle reader!