AH Written by non-AH Authors

[Strategos' Risk]

Which typically non-AH authors/not-authors have written AH, and what do you think of their works?

Kim Stanley Robinson- The Years of Rice and Salt
Orson Scott Card- The Redemption of Christopher Columbus
Richard Dreyfuss (with Turtledove)- The Two Georges
Newt Gingrich
Philip K. Dick- The Man in the High Castle

S.M. Stirling's written enough for this genre to count.

[Othniel]

Eric Flint? He's only written the 163x series right? Should he not be on there?

[SionEwig]

Which typically non-AH authors/not-authors have written AH, and what do you think of their works?

Kim Stanley Robinson- The Years of Rice and Salt
Orson Scott Card- The Redemption of Christopher Columbus
Richard Dreyfuss (with Turtledove)- The Two Georges
Newt Gingrich
Philip K. Dick- The Man in the High Castle

S.M. Stirling's written enough for this genre to count.

If you are talking about authors that have written only 1 or 3 AH books, then you have left a fairly large number out. And should Gingrich be on this list? He has written 3 or 4 AH books currently.

As to your list, I haven't read the first two.

Dreyfuss/Turtledove - The Two Georges, I enjoyed it and thought it was well written. I would read it again, if I could find my copy.

Gingrich (with Forstchen) - His first (1945), I do know is almost universally revilled here, but it did entertain me which is the primary thing I want out of a fiction book. I've only read the first two of the Civil War series and they are entertaining enough.

Philip K. Dick - The Man in the High Castle - considered one of the classics of AH by many, PKD is a very good author. I have read the book (and numerous of his others) multiple times. Interesting view on the nature of reality.

[Adam]

You can't forget John Birmingham. His only AH titles are Weapons of Choice and Designated Targets, plus the upcoming Final Impact.

[Diamond]

Philip Roth - The Plot Against America
Michael Moorcock - A Nomad of the Time Streams
Winston Churchill - If Lee Had Not Won the Battle of Gettysburg
Vladimir Nabakov - Ada


(Just started reading Ada - very... different.)

[Chingo360]

Winston Churchill? Is that a coincidence?

[chunkeymonkey13q]

Nope, that's him I think.

[Chingo360]

Whoa, i might read that then

[chunkeymonkey13q]

Check the library, It sounds really familiar...

[Chingo360]

Yeah I have heard it too, thats why i asked, but i didnt know it was by Churchill

county or school library?

[chunkeymonkey13q]

The county one.

[Chingo360]

maybe ill go sometime, actually im going to the mall tomorrow, ill drop by Waldenbooks and see if they have it

[chunkeymonkey13q]

Why buy it when you can rent it?

[Chingo360]

cause i dont want to pay the fine and this way i can read it whenever:D;)

[Akiyama]

If Lee Had Won the Battle of Gettysburg is not a novel. It's an essay, which was included in a very early (1932) book of alternate history essays called If It Had Happened Otherwise. The book was reprinted in the 1970s.

Good luck finding a copy. The nearest library to me that has one is Marylebone library in London. I was thinking of joining Westminster Libraries, checking the book out and putting some of the better essays on a web page. They are still in copyright so doing this would be illegal but I don't anticipate that anyone would object because I think the publishers have forgotten the book exists (I emailed them twice about it, once asking if they had any plans to reprint it, and once asking for permission to put it on the internet, and they never replied to either). What do people think, is this a good idea or a stupid idea?

[NapoleonXIV]

I suppose you're leaving out Harry Harrison as a courtesy to a generally good author who should have known better? (hey, its just us, not like anyone's going to read this:rolleyes: )

Though the ones he wrote about Vikings aren't all that terrible.

[NapoleonXIV]

If Lee Had Won the Battle of Gettysburg is not a novel. It's an essay, which was included in a very early (1932) book of alternate history essays called If It Had Happened Otherwise. The book was reprinted in the 1970s.

Good luck finding a copy. The nearest library to me that has one is Marylebone library in London. I was thinking of joining Westminster Libraries, checking the book out and putting some of the better essays on a web page. They are still in copyright so doing this would be illegal but I don't anticipate that anyone would object because I think the publishers have forgotten the book exists (I emailed them twice about it, once asking if they had any plans to reprint it, and once asking for permission to put it on the internet, and they never replied to either). What do people think, is this a good idea or a stupid idea?

Unless you like getting nasty letters from attorneys I'd be very reluctant to do this. If you write to the author, however, you might get much better results.

[Max Sinister]

Livius and Toynbee (OK, they were historians, but not Alternate historians)
Cees Nooteboom - almost, at least. He wrote a book about the book he never wrote - this book was about the nazis winning WW2 (Hitler killed on July 20th 1944, new rulers defeat Russia with help of the Western Allies, including nukes, Himmler and Heydrich were imprisoned and waited for their trial, but nazis manage to topple the new government, Himmler becomes new Führer, but is soon replaced by Heydrich, the nazis overrun war-tired Western Europe, including Great Britain, American nazis topple their government, and thus the nazis rule all the world now. Crazy enough? Wait for that: When Heydrich visits the Netherlands, someone tries to shoot him, but Heydrich only loses his right arm; all the Dutch are condemned, are declared untermenschen, and after the Poles are killed, the Dutch are resettled in the generalgouvernement. That's where the story takes place.)

[Diamond]

If Lee Had Won the Battle of Gettysburg is not a novel. It's an essay, which was included in a very early (1932) book of alternate history essays called If It Had Happened Otherwise. The book was reprinted in the 1970s.

Good luck finding a copy. The nearest library to me that has one is Marylebone library in London. I was thinking of joining Westminster Libraries, checking the book out and putting some of the better essays on a web page. They are still in copyright so doing this would be illegal but I don't anticipate that anyone would object because I think the publishers have forgotten the book exists (I emailed them twice about it, once asking if they had any plans to reprint it, and once asking for permission to put it on the internet, and they never replied to either). What do people think, is this a good idea or a stupid idea?
You can also find it in this book (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743497864/qid=1140891342/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-3076281-2910224?s=books&v=glance&n=283155), which was recently reprinted.

[sunsurf]

If Lee Had Won the Battle of Gettysburg is not a novel. It's an essay, which was included in a very early (1932) book of alternate history essays called If It Had Happened Otherwise. The book was reprinted in the 1970s.

Good luck finding a copy. The nearest library to me that has one is Marylebone library in London. I was thinking of joining Westminster Libraries, checking the book out and putting some of the better essays on a web page. They are still in copyright so doing this would be illegal but I don't anticipate that anyone would object because I think the publishers have forgotten the book exists (I emailed them twice about it, once asking if they had any plans to reprint it, and once asking for permission to put it on the internet, and they never replied to either). What do people think, is this a good idea or a stupid idea?

They probably won't notice *until* you post the stuff online. You could just write critical reviews and summaries and develop your own versions of each timeline.

Also for obscure books, use interlibrary loan. One library orders a book from another library. You can also get individual chapters, or magazine articles, by interlibrary loan. They'll even photocopy SF stories from magazines for you! :)

[Strategos' Risk]

People who usually don't write about count. So Roth and Dick would count. Also, there's a very fine line between sci-fi authors who write eclectically (I don't think Stirling, Flint, and Harrison should count) and those that should count (like Dick).

In the end, choose whoever you want to be listed. Just make sure they're not obscure. Originally I had in mind celebrities who wrote AH for some reason (Dreyfus, Gingrich, Roth, Churchhill, kinda sorta Dick, etc.)

Also, historians usually shouldn't count. I just saw a copy of the anthology What if?, which had famous guys like David McCullough, who wrote serious scholarly "counterfactuals", rather than AH, which tends to be fiction formatted.

[Flocculencio]

Also, historians usually shouldn't count. I just saw a copy of the anthology What if?, which had famous guys like David McCullough, who wrote serious scholarly "counterfactuals", rather than AH, which tends to be fiction formatted.

What if? really sucks balls, if you'll pardon my French. Those self indulgent historians generally begin each chapter with a short "what if?" and then go through OTL's situation in loving detail. Thus, in most chapters you get hardly any AH.

Wankers, they are.

I'm sorry- I was really pissed off after spending S$40 on "What if?"

[Max Sinister]

Cees Nooteboom

Sorry, that would be Harry Mulisch. Same country, other author.

@Floc: You're basically right. What If? hasn't really that much AH.

[Thande]

What if? really sucks balls, if you'll pardon my French. Those self indulgent historians generally begin each chapter with a short "what if?" and then go through OTL's situation in loving detail. Thus, in most chapters you get hardly any AH.

Wankers, they are.

I'm sorry- I was really pissed off after spending S$40 on "What if?"
I know what you mean. There's hardly any consideration as to the ATL. In fact there's as much AH in the little vignettes between the chapters as there is in the chapters themselves.

With a few exceptions, I don't think most historians really understand the point of AH.

Oh, and not enough maps, either.