alternatehistory.com

This is something that's maybe hard to quantify. I'm wondering if anybody's thought about what effect technical or historical changes may have on literature.

Frex: say a space telescope is possible, & flown, in the 1930s. (How is irrelevant.) What books are likely not to happen as a consequence? IMO (to name a few), the John Carter novels are non-starters. So is Red Planet.:eek::eek: (Maybe Stranger in a Strange Land, too, tho maybe Mike can come from further away.) So is Martian Chronicles. And Ark of Venus, along with all the other "Venus as a jungle world" books. (Aside: Welles' "War of the Worlds", & the movies, are probably put paid, too.)

In a TL where Napoleon never happens, that would seem to butterfly away all the Sharpe novels.

No Korean War means no M*A*S*H, which might mean none of the sequels, either.

No Vietnam War means no Executioner novels,:eek: & no First Blood.

Any other possibilities? Like, frex, earlier cars wiping out W. E. Butterworth's career.:eek: (Maybe not...) Or maybe Louis L'Amour's.

Thoughts? Brickbats?:eek:
Top