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Alternate History

Nyarlathotep

Philosopher
Nyarlathotep
Joined
Mar 26, 2003
Messages
7,503
I am a big fan of Harry Turtledove's alternate history novels, especially his series which chronicles an alternate history where the south successfully broke away during the civil war and now North and South are on opposite sides of WWI. I think it shows a very different world than the one we have now emerging but it is still very believable.

I also know a lot of people don't like alternate history because it is pure speculation. That doesn't bother me because science fiction is pure speculation too.

Anyone else have an opinion on Alternate History?
 
I like alternative history also. I'll be darned if I can remember the novel I liked. It was about Germany winning the western front and Joe Kennedy was president. It was later made into a movie with Rutger Hauer as the policeman. I thought it was a good speculation of what might have happened.
 
SteveW said:
I like alternative history also. I'll be darned if I can remember the novel I liked. It was about Germany winning the western front and Joe Kennedy was president. It was later made into a movie with Rutger Hauer as the policeman. I thought it was a good speculation of what might have happened.
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Fatherland
 
I love AH. Check out http://www.uchronia.net/

Edited to add: I am moderating a book talk this Fall for our library's Outreach Services department. The book we will be discussing is Ruled Britannia by Harry Turtledove, which just might win this year's Sidewise Award.
 
Man in The High castle by Philip K. Dick
Orson Scott Card has a great series to the Alvin Maker series.

Alternate history is good because it get you to think of the contingency as a bush and not the straight time line.

But as someone I know once said"It's stupid to talk about wether if the south had dinosaurs they could have wonn the Civil War..."
 
Dancing David said:
But as someone I know once said"It's stupid to talk about wether if the south had dinosaurs they could have wonn the Civil War..."
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Hmmm...sounds a little like The Year the Cloud Fell by Kurt R. A. Giambastiani (except it was the Cheyenne with the dinosaurs).
 
S.M. Stirling has done a series with an intersestng twist involving an island that goes back in time and is changing history by choosing to interact in it's new time line. Very interesting stuff as they try to preserve major events.



Boo
 
Originally posted by Boo
S.M. Stirling has done a series with an intersestng twist involving an island that goes back in time and is changing history by choosing to interact in it's new time line. Very interesting stuff as they try to preserve major events.
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It is called "Island in the Sea of Time" or something like that, IIRC.

I recommend "1632" by Eric Flint, and "1633" by Flint and David Weber. The full text of "1632" may be read legally at the Baen Free Library.
 
Several short stories by Howard Waldrop:

Custer's Last Jump (What if the airplane had been invented a few years earlier). Sounds like Waldrop may have been ripped off a bit with "The Year the Cloud Fell by Kurt R. A. Giambastiani", although imitation is supposed to be the sincerest form of flattery.

Night of the Cooters (well not really, but worth a read - what if Orson Wells Martians had landed in Texas)

The Ugly Chickens (What if a few of the Dodos had lasted a bit longer)
 
If you like alternative histories, the BBC has a great radio series called "What if...?" you can listen to online. Lots of different topics, including what would have happened if Washington had been defeated. It comes to some interesting conclusions...

WHAT IF.....

The archive page with all the programmes is here
 
Shaun from Scotland said:
If you like alternative histories, the BBC has a great radio series called "What if...?" you can listen to online. Lots of different topics, including what would have happened if Washington had been defeated. It comes to some interesting conclusions...

WHAT IF.....
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That's really cool, thanks.
 
Nyarlathotep said:


I also know a lot of people don't like alternate history because it is pure speculation. That doesn't bother me because science fiction is pure speculation too.
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I enjoy good fiction set in alternate histories. However, I can't stand reading serious analyses of how the history would have evolved if some event had happened otherwise. In particular I hate all the "Germany would have won WWII if..." articles.
 
I love those Turtledove novels. That series of books covers a pretty long time span, and goes farther than the Great War, though. I actually find I like all of Harry Turtledove's books. That series goes from a simple change in history that seems plausible, and unfolds into an entire history that seems plausible. It's very well done.

Even his alternate history stuff that starts from an implausible standpoint, like the Worldwar series (In The Balance, Striking The Balance, etc.) were written in a realistic manner. A person starts thinking, this couldn't have happened, but if it did, this is how it would have happened.
 
The TV show, Sliders, portrayed a group of people traveling through parallel worlds of the Earth. It was interesting how a different history had changed many of the things we take for granted today.

Some of the different worlds were:

1) Dinosaurs still ruled the Earth.

2) The Soviet Union defeated us.

3) A world ruled by superstition.

4) An ice age.

5) Women were the dominant sex and men were second class citizens.
 
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