Book Log 2010 #47: The Kingdom of Ohio by Matthew Flaming

A man moves to New York after being raised out West, and as he tries to adjust to his new life digging the tunnels for the New York subway he meets a woman who claims that she is the daughter of the King of Ohio, a country formed by a French nobleman who saw that the coming revolution in his own country would cost him his position.

What comes of this is an intriguing mix of history and science fiction, as the duo try to put together what's actually happened while meeting with (and trying to avoid, at times) figures like Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison and J. P. Morgan.

The book is actually partially set in the present day, as an older man with a vested interest in the story tells about his life and work to gather information on the kingdom. It doesn't take long to sort out how the parts are connected, though the modern sections are fairly coy about it for a while.

It's not quite an alternative history, and it doesn't quite lie squarely in the historical fiction or sci-fi camps, either, but it's a good read if you don't mind a little genre-bending.