Mark Ciccone

Dixie Curtain: A Novel of Alternate History Mark Ciccone

1964. An impenetrable line of concrete walls, guard towers, fortified bunkers and barbed wire divides North America, stretching from Chesapeake Bay to the Colorado River: The Dixie Curtain. For nearly two decades, the United States of America and the Confederacy have eyed each other over this barrier, their armies and missiles arrayed for launch at the slightest provocation. This "Cold War" standoff has long been below freezing point, and a final, apocalyptic war seems certain to break out any day, or any minute. Agent Jeff Leavitt of the FBI knows this fear far better than most. Posted to the Bureau's headquarters in Washington, D. C., with the Curtain in plain sight across the Potomac, he is literally on the front lines. When the body of a U. S. border guard washes up on his side of the river, shot in the head, he knows full well the dangers this poses not only to an upcoming USA-CSA arms summit, but to the peace between both nations. When the CIA steps in, however, ordering him off the case, he realizes the murder is only a small part of a much larger conspiracy-one stretching across both sides of the Curtain. With Assistant Director Dillinger's encouragement, Leavitt and his partner Fred Dobbs dig into the District's criminal and covert underworlds, searching for any leads or allies that will unearth the killer. But more players and agendas are at work in this chase than they realize...and with time running out, they may have to take steps they never imagined, to prevent catastrophe. Mark Ciccone is a Wisconsin-based writer, specializing in alternate history, historical fiction, and soft science fiction. His other AH works include Dillinger in Charleston (the prequel to this novel), For State & Country, Red Delta, Obsidian & Steel, Divided Worlds: An Alternate Space Race, all published through Amazon Kindle; and Kansas Troubles, published by Sea Lion Press.