-- a university of arizona
course on methods and approaches for studying the future
| Alternative History Novel |
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-- a university of arizona
course on methods and approaches for studying the future
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Downloaded from active newsgroup "alt.history.what-if" on 1/14/96. This is one question followed by several responses. You can go directly to the newsgroup for additional questions.
From ???@??? Wed Jan 10 22:13:55 1996
Newsgroups: alt.history.what-if
Subject: Favorite Alternate History Novel?
From: Francis J. Rogers <73742.1613@CompuServe.COM>
Date: 11 Jan 1996 05:13:55 GMT
I was wondering if anyone out here has a favorite alternate history novel and/or
short story that they particularly like. I'm curious as to what their
favorite
might be.
Frank Rogers
--
Francis J. Rogers
From holland@geop.ubc.ca Thu Jan 11 11:32:36 1996
Newsgroups: alt.history.what-if
Subject: Re: Favorite Alternate History Novel?
From: holland@geop.ubc.ca (Stephen Holland)
Date: 11 Jan 1996 18:32:36 GMT
In article <4d26aj$239$3@mhafn.production.compuserve.com>, Francis J. Rogers
<73742.1613@CompuServe.COM> writes:
-> I was wondering if anyone out here has a favorite alternate history
-> novel and/or short story that they particularly like. I'm curious
as
-> to what their favorite might be.
Some of my favorites are (in no particular order):
1) The Iron Dream - Norman Spinrad
2) The Man in the High Castle - Philip K. Dick
3) Brazil - Terry Gilliam
Okay, Brazil isn't really alternate history (or a book for that matter)
but it does give an idea of how the twentieth century might have been
if bureaucracies had become a little more entrenched.
There are many short stories whose names elude me that also should
be on this list. Some of the best alternate history seems to be
in anthologies and not full length novels.
============================================================================
e-mail: holland@astro.ubc.ca http://www.astro.ubc.ca/~holland/holland.html
UseNet(noun): A network that allows small points to become global conflicts.
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From slocum@io.com Fri Jan 12 10:21:35 1996
Newsgroups: alt.history.what-if
Subject: Re: Favorite Alternate History Novel?
From: Brett Slocum
Date: Fri, 12 Jan 1996 11:21:35 -0600
Francis J. Rogers wrote:
>
> I was wondering if anyone out here has a favorite alternate history novel
and/or
> short story that they particularly like. I'm curious as to what their
favorite
> might be.
The one that comes to mind is The Man in the High Castle by Phillip K. Dick.
A very imaginative treatment of the too-often predictable "Axis wins WW
II"
alternative. It won the Hugo award in about 1965 or so.
It isn't my favorite by it is fun: The Coming of the Quantum Cats by
Fredrick Pohl. Having multiple versions of the same people interacting
is fun.
--
Brett Slocum slocum@io.com
Home Page:
http://www.io.com/~slocum/
Tekumel Page: http://www.io.com/~slocum/tekumel.html
Official Tekumel Page: http://wings.network.com/gopher/tekumel/tekumel.html
From nmorin@weber.ucsd.edu Sat Jan 13 16:48:46 1996
Newsgroups: alt.history.what-if
Subject: Re: Favorite Alternate History Novel?
From: nmorin@weber.ucsd.edu (Norman Morin)
Date: Sat, 13 Jan 1996 15:48:46 -0800
In article <30F6989F.73B8@io.com>, Brett Slocum
>The one that comes to mind is The Man in the High Castle by Phillip K. Dick.
>A very imaginative treatment of the too-often predictable "Axis wins
WW II"
>alternative. It won the Hugo award in about 1965 or so.
I wholeheartedly agree; this was his novel that made me a huge
fan (a Dickhead). His subtle treatment of how Americans
deal with being ruled by the Japanese and how American culture
affected the Japanese on the west coast was very wonderfully done,
and made the book more than a chronology of events after the "what
if" unlike too many alternate histories.
--Norm
--
*------------------------------*------------------------------*
| Norman J. Morin
|
|
| Department of Economics | Email: nmorin@weber.ucsd.edu
|
| University of California, | Voice: (619) 453-2998
|
| San Diego
| Fax: (619) 534-7004
|
| La Jolla, CA 92023-0508 |
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*------------------------------*------------------------------*
From nmorin@weber.ucsd.edu Sat Jan 13 16:50:42 1996
Newsgroups: alt.history.what-if
Subject: Re: Favorite Alternate History Novel?
From: nmorin@weber.ucsd.edu (Norman Morin)
Date: Sat, 13 Jan 1996 15:50:42 -0800
In article <30F6989F.73B8@io.com>, Brett Slocum
>The one that comes to mind is The Man in the High Castle by Phillip K. Dick.
Interestingly, when the New York Times Book Review reviewed Newt's
alternate history, the reviewer noted that he thought _The Man in the
High Castle_ was the best alternate history novel he'd read.
--Norm
--
*------------------------------*------------------------------*
| Norman J. Morin
|
|
| Department of Economics | Email: nmorin@weber.ucsd.edu
|
| University of California, | Voice: (619) 453-2998
|
| San Diego
| Fax: (619) 534-7004
|
| La Jolla, CA 92023-0508 |
|
*------------------------------*------------------------------*
From an430992@anon.penet.fi Fri Jan 12 14:25:15 1996
Newsgroups: alt.history.what-if
Subject: Re: Favorite Alternate History Novel?
From: an430992@anon.penet.fi (...)
Date: Fri, 12 Jan 1996 21:25:15 GMT
Francis J. Rogers <73742.1613@CompuServe.COM> wrote:
>I was wondering if anyone out here has a favorite alternate history novel
and/or
>short story that they particularly like. I'm curious as to what their
favorite
>might be.
> Frank Rogers
>--
>Francis J. Rogers
There's a very disappointing novel called "Fatherland" based on the
premise that Germany won WWII. Sounds interesting, but it turns out to
just be a mystery having little to do with the "What-if?" factor.
From fess4enk@aol.com Sat Jan 13 11:28:04 1996
Newsgroups: alt.history.what-if
Subject: Re: Favorite Alternate History Novel?
From: fess4enk@aol.com (Fess 4enk)
Date: 13 Jan 1996 13:28:04 -0500
I can't remember the title, but there was a novel where someone went back
in time and supplied the Confederacy with AK-47's . I'm told it was
interesting. Haven't read it yet, but been meaning to.
From frydaddy@u.washington.edu Sat Jan 13 14:44:40 1996
Newsgroups: alt.history.what-if
Subject: Re: Favorite Alternate History Novel?
From: S Oneill
Date: Sat, 13 Jan 1996 13:44:40 -0800
On 13 Jan 1996, Fess 4enk wrote:
> I can't remember the title, but there was a novel where someone went back
> in time and supplied the Confederacy with AK-47's . I'm told it was
> interesting. Haven't read it yet, but been meaning to.
>
>
Guns of the South by Harry Turtledove I think. It was.
From mimyandy@interlog.com Sat Jan 13 11:03:18 1996
Newsgroups: alt.history.what-if
Subject: Re: Favorite Alternate History Novel?
From: mimyandy@interlog.com (A. Taylor)
Date: Sat, 13 Jan 1996 18:03:18 GMT
Francis J. Rogers <73742.1613@CompuServe.COM> wrote:
>I was wondering if anyone out here has a favorite alternate history novel
and/or
>short story that they particularly like. I'm curious as to what their
favorite
>might be.
> Frank Rogers
>--
>Francis J. Rogers
Do short stories count? It was part of the WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN Vol 4. Alternate
Americas Anthology. It's called RED ALERT by Jerry Oltion and involves a
scenario where the Americans own nothing more than Manhattan Island in the 20th
century and that Indians (Surely you can't call them Native Americans in this
context!) have thrived in the rest of America. The Americans have developed
ICBMs an a la the Cuban Crisis of the 60s the Indians respond to this threat.
The book as a whole is very good and offers up some very plausible alternate
scenarios for a very different United States.
Andy
From atomicrom@aol.com Sat Jan 13 12:39:50 1996
Newsgroups: alt.history.what-if
Subject: Re: Favorite Alternate History Novel?
From: atomicrom@aol.com (Atomic Rom)
Date: 13 Jan 1996 14:39:50 -0500
I'd have to go with "The Difference Engine" by William Gibson and
Bruce
Sterling. It's a look at what would have happened had the British begun
using Charles Babbage's computer inventions in the 1850's.
From plsbartonn@aol.com Sat Jan 13 21:01:10 1996
Newsgroups: alt.history.what-if
Subject: Re: Favorite Alternate History Novel?
From: plsbartonn@aol.com (PLSBARTONN)
Date: 13 Jan 1996 23:01:10 -0500
My own favorites are two old ones:
LEST DARKNESS FALL, by L Sprague de Camp, is the story of an American
college professor who gets pulled from Mussolini's Rome to Rome of the 4th
Century, just at the beginning of Justinian's reconquest of Italy. He
changes history to the point of actually capturing and enlisting
Belisaurius on his side, and introducing a large number of innovations:
definitely science fiction.
THE INDIANS WON, by an author I forget (can't find my copy), is a story in
which a Mandan named "John Walker" keeps Sitting Bull from running
to
Canada after Greasy Grass (Little Big Horn) and forges an alliance of a
dozen tribes in the Great Plains, deserts and mountains, backed by covert
European support, which leads to a defeat of the US military by 1880 and
creation of the Indian Nation, splitting the US into an East US and West
US: still connected politically and economically but developing
differently culturally. The story is a mix of western, what-if, and
thriller, when in 1976, the US and the Indian Nation are almost at the
point of a nuclear missile exchange.