SF + Historical(Period)?

[Temis the Vorta]

I like mixing history with sci fi. It has worked, and it can work some more. On TV would be nice. Any sci fi show that doesn't star a cop/sherrif/FBI agent would be nice. Desperation is setting in...

 

[Myasishchev]

Avatar happens in a relatively distant future. Long-term manned missions to Alpha Cen, consciousness swapping, and superhuman-bodies-made-to-order are not exactly twenty seconds from now.

I didn't think Avatar was all that far off into the future. Some obvious technological innovations, but the culture was essentially the same as the present, right down to dress. Even with the lack of social vision of most sci-fi, this was very close to modernity. With breakthroughs providing the shift in location and materiel, I'd say a century, a century-and-a-half into the future; two hundred years at most.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

Well, that's what I meant by relatively distant--over a century. Not like the year 5000 or anything.

 

[Trent Roman]

OK, then. To me, "distant future" evokes settings like Dune or Foundation.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

[Owain Taggart]

I loved Poul Anderson's The High Crusade, which mixes sci-fi with the time of the crusades when aliens attack. It's a classic to me.

 

[Mistral]

There are many books in this vein. I like Conrad's "The Cross Time Engineer" series. There are no bad settings in my opinion, just bad stories.

Fun series- popcorn fare, but fun.

I'm currently reading through Poul Anderson's Time Patrol series, which uses the premise of a time-travelling organization that travels through history to protect it from alteration by irresponsible or malicious time travellers, but that's basically just an excuse for Anderson to indulge in his love of history and folklore and explore various ancient cultures in detail.

Great books. Own all of his Time Patrol stories.

Enterprise did this once with the episode Carbon Creek. I certainly enjoyed it. If done well, I think it could make for a great story

Favorite Enterprise ep. Check handle.

There's a popular series of alternate history novels by Eric Flint, starting with 1632, which details an entire modern West Virginia town being transported back in time to Germany in 1632, and the ramifications (both social and technological) that occur afterward. There was also another series of books with a similar premise by S.M. Stirling, about the island of Nantucket being transported back to the Bronze Age. So that particular genre isn't exactly dead.

1632 has spawned a Universe. Here's a link:

http://www.crucis.net/ericflint/

And Stirling's Dies the Fire series tells what happens in our world after the island vanishes.

I loved Poul Anderson's The High Crusade, which mixes sci-fi with the time of the crusades when aliens attack. It's a classic to me.

A great little tale. Check out his short The Nest, also.

Turtledove's WWII series is amusing. There's a series about an alternate America of the late 1800s about ghosts-can't remember the title(s)-being scientifically detectable.

Lest Darkness Fall by DeCamp has a 1930s archeologist landing in the 370s Rome. Classic.

Kage Baker set her Company stories all through history.

Napoleon Disentimed is about time travelers messing with the Little General and his regime.

The history+scifi has been explored thousands of times...

 

[The Comedian]

I thought "Guns of the South" was better that "WorldWar", though.

And there's John Birmingham's "Axis of Time" series.

 

[Misfit Toy]

I thought "Guns of the South" was better that "WorldWar", though.

I agree. WorldWar really dragged at times. I haven't read the Great War series yet...

 

[The Comedian]

I thought "Guns of the South" was better that "WorldWar", though.

I agree. WorldWar really dragged at times. I haven't read the Great War series yet...

Okay...if you thought "Worldwar" dragged, then Great War realllllllllllllyyyyyy draggggggggssssss.

There were some neat notions in it, but if I were you, I would read "How Few Remain" and then stop and read the Wiki summary.

 

[Christopher]

[Re: "Carbon Creek"] Favorite Enterprise ep. Check handle.

I hate to break it to you, but the character in "Carbon Creek" was Mestral -- named in honor of George de Mestral, the real-life inventor of Velcro. Mistral means something else altogether.

 

[Mistral]

[Re: "Carbon Creek"] Favorite Enterprise ep. Check handle.

I hate to break it to you, but the character in "Carbon Creek" was Mestral -- named in honor of George de Mestral, the real-life inventor of Velcro. Mistral means something else altogether.

And I hate to break it to you but I can't spell. And never even heard of George.

 

[Mistral]

I thought "Guns of the South" was better that "WorldWar", though.

I agree. WorldWar really dragged at times. I haven't read the Great War series yet...

Okay...if you thought "Worldwar" dragged, then Great War realllllllllllllyyyyyy draggggggggssssss.

There were some neat notions in it, but if I were you, I would read "How Few Remain" and then stop and read the Wiki summary.

And where were you 4 years ago!!!!!????!!!!

Guns of South is great and Birmingham rocks.

 

[Skywalker]

I thought "Guns of the South" was better that "WorldWar", though.

I agree. WorldWar really dragged at times. I haven't read the Great War series yet...

Okay...if you thought "Worldwar" dragged, then Great War realllllllllllllyyyyyy draggggggggssssss.

There were some neat notions in it, but if I were you, I would read "How Few Remain" and then stop and read the Wiki summary.

I liked The Great War, but the follow-up series, American Empire, definitely dragged. I couldn't get through the first book of his alternate World War II because AE had left such a bad taste in my mouth.

Guns of the South and Ruled Britannia are still my favorite Turtledove novels.