Philip Dick's Man in the High Castle coming to Syfy

[Owain Taggart]

Mistral wrote:

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Its considered a classic. That said, and as an alt-hist reader, I found it "meh" at best. There are better stories out there. The Coming of the Quantum Cats springs to mind, as does Alternities and the work of Paul McAuley.

As for Skiffy doing a mini-series from MITHC, well, its Skiffy

Thanks for the advice. I love reading historical fiction, and figured this could be my gateway to alternate history fiction. I'll still read it, but I'll keep that in mind. There was a really cool movie based on a book that looked at Germany having won and the world that it ended up being. It was Fatherland.

[Bisz]

I'll watch this... But I think The Man In The High Castle was the biggest literary let down for me. I was really looking forward to the book... And ended up not liking it at all.

[Mistral]

Owain Taggart wrote:

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Thanks for the advice. I love reading historical fiction, and figured this could be my gateway to alternate history fiction. I'll still read it, but I'll keep that in mind. There was a really cool movie based on a book that looked at Germany having won and the world that it ended up being. It was Fatherland.

Fatherland was good. However, too often in alt hist the author takes a trite Common History point to work from. Hitler wins WW2, the Confederates won the Civil War, etc.
I've found that using a less expected jump off point makes for good reading.

Ruled Britannia - Harry Turtledove, in which Shakespeare foments rebellion against the Spanish conquerors of England

1901- Robert Conroy, in which the Kaiser invades New England

Down In the Bottom Lands-Turtledove again, in a world where the Med drained of all water (novella) centuries ago

The "Alternative" collections -(ed.) Mike Resnick, Alternative Warriors, Alternative Kennedys, Alternative Presidents, Alternative Outlaws, which are great and some times even goofy short stories about (mostly) famous people in other roles in life

The Peshawar Lancers- S. M. Stirling, in which a giant asteroid plunges Victorian England into nuclear winter

Then again, some of the most fun in alternate Universe writing doesn't focus so much on history as the possibilities of the multiverse and traveling therein.

Cowboy Angels-Paul McAuley, where the CIA works to remake the altAmericas they find into mirror copies of our own

The Coming of the Quantum Cats- Frederick Pohl, where a number of alternate Earths end up at war with each other

Alternities- Michael P. Kube-Mcdowell , in which one Earth secretly preys upon others for resources and wealth

All These Earths- F. M. Busby, in which an interstellar pioneer returns home to find his star drive skips him to alternate universes-and he just wants to go home

Replay- Ken Grimwood, in which a dying 43 yr old finds himself back in his own body in 1962-with all of his memories intact. So he decides to change things...

The Guns of the South-Turtledove again. In which General Lee is given AK-47s to win the Civil War. Considered a classic by Turtledove, btw.

Enjoy!

Anyway, those are just a few suggestions.

[stj]

Other alternate history titles:
Ward Moore's Bring the Jubilee...it may be the South Wins, but Winston Churchill and Mackinlay Kantor look sick compared to this...but put it up against Terry Bisson's Fire on the Mountain, where we all win the right kind of Civil War, thanks to John Brown!

Mona Clee's Branch Point, about an alternate ending to the Cuban Missile Crisis vs. Brendan DuBois's Remembrance Day.

L. Sprague de Camp, Lest Darkness Fall, much like Turtledove's Guns of the South, except the help from the future goes to the Goths fighting Justinian.

Melissa Scott, A Choice of Destinies, Alexander the Great vs. Rome, then Carthage.

Turtledove is a truly godawful writer who cranks'em out like sausages. But I think his genuine best is Agent of Byzantium, because his field really was Byzantine history, and I think it shows.

[milo bloom]

Bisz wrote:

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I'll watch this... But I think The Man In The High Castle was the biggest literary let down for me. I was really looking forward to the book... And ended up not liking it at all.

Took the words right out of my mouth. So many different bits and bobs that just meandered here and there.

[Mistral]

stj wrote:

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Other alternate history titles:
Ward Moore's Bring the Jubilee...it may be the South Wins, but Winston Churchill and Mackinlay Kantor look sick compared to this...but put it up against Terry Bisson's Fire on the Mountain, where we all win the right kind of Civil War, thanks to John Brown!

Mona Clee's Branch Point, about an alternate ending to the Cuban Missile Crisis vs. Brendan DuBois's Remembrance Day.

L. Sprague de Camp, Lest Darkness Fall, much like Turtledove's Guns of the South, except the help from the future goes to the Goths fighting Justinian.

Melissa Scott, A Choice of Destinies, Alexander the Great vs. Rome, then Carthage.

Turtledove is a truly godawful writer who cranks'em out like sausages. But I think his genuine best is Agent of Byzantium, because his field really was Byzantine history, and I think it shows.

"it may be the South Wins, but Winston Churchill and Mackinlay Kantor look sick compared to this...but put it up against Terry Bisson's Fire on the Mountain, where we all win the right kind of Civil War, thanks to John Brown!"

I'm sorry-what?

[Owain Taggart]

Mistral wrote:

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- snip -
Anyway, those are just a few suggestions.

Thanks for the list I'll definitely have a look at those. I've heard a lot of good stuff about Turtledove, so that looks like a good starting point. I think in a way, Alt-Hist is a good way to excersize the mind, forcing your mind to look at things differently.

There was Poul Anderson Sci-Fi that I read a couple of years back that I don't think really qualifies as alt-history, but it had aliens visiting Earth during the crusades. That was great fun.

[stj]

Mistral wrote:

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"it may be the South Wins, but Winston Churchill and Mackinlay Kantor look sick compared to this...but put it up against Terry Bisson's Fire on the Mountain, where we all win the right kind of Civil War, thanks to John Brown!"

I'm sorry-what?

Winston Churchill and MacKinlay Kantor wrote two of the most well-known the South Won stories. But although Ward Moore's Bring the Jubilee was also a South Won story, it is vastly superior to those (and by implication pretty much any other the South Won story.) Bring the Jubilee is widely regarded as an SF classic, for good reason.

Not widely known apparently, but also a wonderful story is Terry Bisson's Fire on the Mountain. In this, the South Won, in the sense that it achieves it's independence. But, since the insurrection that achieves independence is the one initiated by John Brown it is an entirely different kind of story. His insurrection in the story is the one whose victory would have benefited us all.

The "vs." is not literal, just a short hand way of saying that contrasting two different alt-hist stories sharing the same departure provides much of the same interest and fun that comparing alt-hist to reg-hist does.

Hope that clears it up?

[Mistral]

Yes, thank you.