alternatehistory.com

A pop culture interlude of sorts
Warning:slight spoilers

The 1970s and 1980s were impressive times for popular culture. Movies,music,and books were being produced on a scale never seen before. Many artistic careers were impacted by the new culture. Let's look at three examples (a small selection):

George RR Martin:
In 1982,the New Jersey native burst upon the literary scene with Armageddon Nights. The novel,set in the year 2301,is a tale of life in the Star Trek universe,forty years after the adventures of Kirk's Enterprise. In 1994,Martin published A Game Of Thrones,the first A Song of Ice and Fire book. Sequels followed in 1997 (A Clash of Kings),1999 (A Storm of Swords),2003 (A Feast for Crows),2008 (A Dance of Dragons),2013 (The Winds of Winter),and 2017 (A Time for Wolves). In 2008,NBC optioned the TV rights. The resulting TV show first aired on May 14,2010 under the overarching title Game of Thrones. Other books have also been written in that universe. Fantasy prospered with Ralph Bakshi's adaptations of The Hobbit (1976),The Lord of the Rings (1978(,and The Return of the King (1983), and Martin worked on the last.

Ann M.Martin:The genre of "middle-school fiction" owes itself to Martin's The Baby-sitter's Club series, which numbered 412 books in total (if one counts the various spinoff series) published between March 1984 and November 2012. Like ASOIAF,there would be TV versions (1989-1990,2004-2008) and two movies (the "regular" movie,in 1993,and Babysitter's Club:Friends Forever in 2005).

Francine Pascal:Another pioneer of young-adult fiction, with the various (697 in all!) Sweet Valley series books, published between October 1982 and May 2006. The Sweet Valley High TV show, which aired between 1993 and 1998,had a "Super Special" episode arc in October and November 1995 (inspired by the 1975 TV movie Stowaway to the Moon) in which the character of Cara Walker (Larisa Oleynik) stows away on a Shuttle launch to Mir. While in space,Cara falls for cosmonaut Maksim Stepanov (real-life cosmonaut Leonid Kadenyuk),and hilarity ensues.

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