Alternate History Suggestions

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#1

Harry Turtledove does Alternate and Speculative History more than just about anyone else. He also is a prolific writer, and seems to release 2 800 page books a year. Probably his definitive work is “Guns of the South”. An Excellent read, as it is a scifi/history milieu.

Eric Flint’s “1632” series has been pretty good as well, dropping a West Virginia Coal Mining town in the middle of the “Hundred Years War”.

For academic reders, Jared Diamond has done some interesting non-fiction stuff, more along the lines of “why” it happened, rather than “what if”.

And, suprisingly, I found that Newt Gingrich and William Forstchen’s book “1945” quite interesting, even though it ends on a cliffhanger that most likely will never be resolved. They’ve recently started a new series based on the Pacific Theater, that may be a better read. I’ve not yet started that series.

#2

heh - its not just me that walks into the bookstore each time and thinks ‘holy crap he doesn’t half turn them out’ then?

My recommend… at least for a look, is John Birmingham’s World War 2.1 series… not sure what the publishing situation is ‘in the world’ for it generally, and it has some mixed reviews, but its certainly an interesting and somewhat different take on things than some of the other reboots of WW2 - I’ve read the first, and need to have a scout again as I think the second should have finally reached UK shores by now… plus its an Aussie author and therefore its written from a more… international perspective.

Definitely a very different kind of Alternate History to the Harry Turtledove alien invasion based stuff, which has always struck me as an SF version of those big-assed Jackie Collins books you see so much of in the airport bookshops.

Mind a bit scratchy here, but isn’t there also Harry Harrison’s ‘A transatlantic tunnel, hurrah’, which is another altered history book?

#3

So YOU’RE the other person who bought it! I read it and thought it was excellent but was mightily pi$$ed off when there was no sequel. In fact it’s still sitting on my shelf…

gaf

#4

  1. Word War 2.1 , 2.2 and 2.3 series by John Birmingham. A carrier group from our future lands in the middle of the Japan/USA WWII conflict. Sort of like The Final Countdown but over a couple of decades.

  2. Fatherland, Alan Folsom. Assumes Hitler lived though to the sixties. Very good!

  3. Resurrection Day, Brendan DuBois. Assumes Kennedy fired nukes at the USSR during the Cuban Missile Crisis. I can highly recommend this one.

  4. The War In 2020, Ralph Peters. It’s alternate history simply because when it was written in 1991 it’s the way things could have been. I will put my hand on my heart and loudly proclaim that this novel is one of my most treasured possessions. I have read it so often I know it back to front yet like a faithful friend I never tire of it. Highly recommended.

gaf

#5

Has anyone come across the Projekt Saucer series by WA Harbison? It blends historical fact with “known” UFO incidents and a fictional storyline.

I personally believe it falls under the conspiracy category but could also be kind of alternate history as well.

If anyone wants to start this series be prepared for an…odd…ride. Be sure to start with Book 1, Inception which starts in the 1920’s. By book 5, Resurrection, we are in the not too distant future.

gaf

#6

I must recommend Lord Kalvin of Otherwhen by H. Beam Piper. It’s about a state trooper who finds himself in an alternate Earth with mostly medieval technology where one kingdom has discovered gunpowder, but considers it to be a religious secret.

Piper wrote several of what he called “Paratime” stories (Kalvin is actually 3 connected novellas). The other stories are collected in one volume called (appropriately enough) Paratime.

(There is also a sequel to Kalvin, not written by Piper, called Great Kings War but I didn’t think it held up as well.)

A few others…

The Man in the High Castle by Philip K Dick. A classic alternate history novel in which the US lost WW II. A bit strange but, hey, it’s Philip K. Dick.

The Proteus Operation by James Hogan. Kind of a cross between alternate history and time travel. In an alternate world where WW II is still continuing in the 1980’s, a team is sent back in time to 1940 to influence the war.

Alternaties by Michael P. Kube-McDowell. An alternate world (in the 1980s) where the Soviet Union is the dominant economic and political power while the US is on the verge of collapse. The US discovers portals to alternate worlds and is sending agents through to gather resourses and technology. One agent decides that he may prefer to stay in one of the alternate worlds.

The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. One of the first “steampunk” novels. Alternate history in which Babbage’s analytical engine is completed, setting off the computer revolution in the late 19th century.

I’ll also mention…

S.M. Stirling’s Draka novels. A set of not-so-nice alternate histories in which a group flees the Confederacy at the end of the US Civil War and establishes a totalatarian, slave-owning society in southern Africa, which then grows to become a major world power. The novels are told from the point of view of the aristocracy of this society. They aren’t nice people.

#7

Wow thanks for these. I’m always on the lookout for novels of the alternate history genre. I’ll be looking to track them down.

gaf

#8

I can second “1632” by Eric Flint, even though I’m only halfway through it. After the first few (set-up) chapters, it becomes quite gripping.

Best part is that it’s available free online via the Baen Free Library.

#9

OK, the Tor free book promotion is still going on, and this week’s selection (we may be nearing the end of it, actually, so jump on it) is Harry Turtledove’s The Disunited States of America. I have yet to read it (just downloaded it, actually) but it’s H.T. and Alt. Hist. 'nuff said.

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