H. N. Turteltaub is a pseudonym of Harry Norman Turtledove (who also writes as Harry Turtledove) an award winning prolific author best known for his alternate history novels. He was born in Los Angeles, CA in 1949 and after failing out of his freshman year at Caltech, he attended UCLA, where he received a Ph.D. in Byzantine history in 1977. In 1979 he published his first two novels under another pseudonym "Eric G. Iverson". Turtledove later explained that his editor at Belmont Towers did not think people would believe the author's real name was "Turtledove" and suggested that he come up with something more Nordic. He continued to use the "Iverson" name until 1985 when he published his "Herbig-Haro" and "And So to Bed" under his real name.
In the 1980's he worked as a technical writer for the Los Angeles County Office of Education, but left in 1991 to write full time. He wrote the tales of Menedemos and Sostratos which follow the adventures of two cousins who are merchantmen in the fourth century BCE.
AOS Other Nautical Fiction |
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| Series: Menedemos & Sostratos | ||
| Year | Book | Comment |
| 310BC | Over the Wine-dark Sea | The cousins plan their largest, most audacious trading voyage yet, to an obscure town called "Rome." |
| The Gryphon's Skull | Between the Aphrodite and Athens lie two war fleets and innumerable pirates | |
| The Sacred Land | The cousins have set sail again--this time to Phoenicia | |
| Owls to Athens | In Athens, the cousins watch political history being made | |