“Harry Turtledove: Judy Tarr was complaining in a letter in 1988 that the cover art for a historical fantasy novel she had coming out was as anachronistic as Robert E. Lee with an Uzi. I looked at that and admired it. When I wrote back, I printed out the letter and added a handscrawl PS under my signature: ‘Who would want to give Robert El Lee an Uzi? Time-traveling South Africans, maybe? If I write it, I’ll give you an acknowledgement.’…And that’s how Guns of the South happened, and how I got to quit my day job. Thanks, Judy…” (p.104)
Jack Dann’s book could have been titled The Fiction Reader’s Guide to Alternate History. Alternate History is a genre where Japan and Germany win World War II as in Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle. I quoted Harry Turtledove above because he’s written over a dozen Alternate History novels and his first big hit, Guns of the South, has the South winning the Civil War with the help of modern automatic weapons. Decades earlier, Ward Moore wrote Bring the Jubilee which also had the South triumphant.
I’ve read a fair number of Alternate History books over the years and have enjoyed many of them. In THE FICTION WRITER’S GUIDE TO ALTERNATE HISTORY, practitioners of Alternate History writing discuss their approach, methods, and craft (check the list of authors included in Chapter Six below). Fascinating stuff!
As a result of reading THE FICTION WRITER’S GUIDE TO ALTERNATE HISTORY I came away with a long list of Alternative History books I want to read. If you read THE FICTION WRITER’S GUIDE TO ALTERNATE HISTORY, I’m sure you will, too. Are you a fan of Alternate History? GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1. A Few Introductory Notes and Thoughts About Alternate History and the Slippery Slope of Fiction — 1
2. Let’s Examine What We’re Talking About — 3
– Definitions and Divergence Points
– ‘Alternate History’ and Science Fiction: a Potted History
– Model making…
3. Are we really Theorizing about History and Morality and Choice? — 19
– How To Bring Your Readers Up To Speed
– Thinking About History…and Your Readers
4. Taking a Break From Me: “White City” by Lewis Shiner — 29
5. Craft Problems and Solutions — 35
– Deconstructing Tesla and Assembling the Counterfactual Fiction Writer’s Toolbox
– A Quick Inventory
6. The Tactics of Creating Counterfactual Texts: a Roundtable Q & A — 55
With Kim Stanley Robinson, William Gibson, Pamela Sargent, Harry Turtledove, John Crowley, Michael Bishop, , Lisa Goldstein, John Kessel, John Birmingham, Barry N. Malzberg, Janeen Webb, Bruce Sterling, Mark Shirrefs, Christopher Priest, Terry Bisson, Mary Rosenblum, Michael Swanwick, Paul Di Filippo, Richard Harland, Howard Waldrop, Lewis Shiner, and George Zebrowski
7. A Very Personal Meditation On Writing: Or How I Do It…and Think About It — 125
8. A Very Few Last Words About…You — 141
Bibliography — 143
About the Author — 152
About the Contributors — 154
Index — 162
So are we stuck with “Alternate” — admittedly now in common usage — when the correct word is “Alternative?” I notice you use both, while I still have trouble with “more importantly.”
Dan, some say “Alternate” some say “Alternative.” Some say “tomato” some “tomatoe.”
Most importantlyer, some say “tomato” and some say “tmahto” and some say “that little round red fruit with lotsa seeds that isn’t a pomegranite.”
Jerry, well said!
Yes George. And some people say “imply” when they mean “infer” and they’re using it wrong also too besides as well.
Dan, you are so right! Malaprops can drive me crazy, too!
I would love a real alternative history where Trump remained nothing but a huckster with a tv show and a penchant for not paying his bills. I’d happily live in that “alternate reality”!
Deb, hopefully a version of that Realty will happen after Biden beats Trump in November!
Only remove the tv show and have him imprisoned after his first set of crimes.
Yes, a big fan. Jackie reads Harry Turtledove, though not the book mentioned. I did read BRING THE JUBILEE and started early – in my teens – with books like (can’t remember the exact title) IF THE SOUTH HAD WON THE CIVIL WAR. I’ve read some “Germany wins WWII” books. Of course, MAN IN THE NIGH CASTLE. Stephen King has done some stuff in the field, like 11/22/63. Kate Atkinson. Philip Roth, THE PLOT AGAINST AMERICA. Michael Chabon, THE YIDDISH POLICEMEN’S UNION. Robert Harris, FATHERLAND. Len Deighton, SS-GB. Jo Walton’sd “Small Change” series. Connie Willis. Jodi Taylor’s Chronicles of St. Mary’s.
Jeff, many of the books you mention show up in THE FICTION WRITER’S GUIDE TO ALTERNATIVE HISTORY…plus a lot more.
Yes, just checked. It was indeed IF THE SOUTH HAD WON THE CIVIL WAR, a 1961 (short) book by MacKinlay Kantor, who wrote ANDERSONVILLE.
Jeff, MARVEL has a whole series of WHAT IF? comics, graphic novels, and TV animated series that explore Alternative Histories. Clearly, there’s an audience for this type of story.
Alternate history is a very old portion of sf, though, of course, there are those these days who want to slice off “counterfactual” fiction from sf and insist it must stand alone…mostly anti-sf snobs, of course. Though, at the moment, the scientific underpinning for any sort of time travel is still pretty shaky…at least pastward.
Thurber, “If Grant Had Been Drinking at Appomattox”…”Twain”, A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR’S COURT…among the less-well-known brilliant ones is William Kotzwinkle’s THE EXILE. Joanna Russ’s THE FEMALE MAN is one, in part (I gave it to one of our friends who didn’t enjoy it much, while generally liking the genre/collection of linked genres). “The Sound of Thunder” might be close to Bradbury’s most famous short stories these years, if not already.
Todd, there’s a long history of Alternate Histories as you enumerated. The list is long, but in the past couple of decades, Alternate History has drawn more and more readers who bought more and more of those books.
Alternate Histories can be fun but I only read a few, the P K Dick of course and as a teenager YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR’S COURT which I also enjoyed.
Rather OT:
Tomatos are called Tomaten in Germany – but Paradeiser in Austria.
And I was really astonished when I read about an Ananas plantation near Vienna – Ananas is their word for strawberrys wher in Germany it means pineapple.