Books, Movies and Games that EVERY AH fan must know

Juanpi

It is not what I read/saw/played, it is what everyone seems to have read/saw/played or at least know

1) Books:
Drakaverse, ISOT - Embeverse, 16xx (I did not read the last, but I know the plot), TL 191, The Man in the High Castle.
2) Movies/TV series:
Star Trek/Star Wars/Terminator/Back to the Future/The Final Countdown. Maybe Babylon 5 and Dr Who
3) Games:
Paradox titles (EU, Vicky, HOI). Fallout series.

It is a short list, but again, iis is kinda lowest common denominator of an SF with mention in AH fan :)
 

SquireJames

I would say that Enigma Rising Tides, perhaps Arcanum: Steamworks and Magick Obscura and of course Crimson Skies are worthy of recognition by AH Gamers.

Enigma is a bit of a weird half-ASB half-plausible setting, where Britain and Japan are allied against the USA, who is also at war with Germany in a sort of three way World War in 1937. Arcanum is not strictly AH, but, think of it as a sort of Middle-Earth/Midkemia/Narnia (pushing it) has an Industrial Revolution. It's like an AH of a Fantasy World.

Crimson Skies, well, it's just awesome.
 

Juanpi

Beedok said:
No Stargate? :mad:
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Maybe... it is a minimum. Dr Who, by example, was never aired in a lot of countries (like Argentine) and I must admit I never like Star Trek... but again. I know about the shows, can pick a reference about Kirk and bet 95 % of the people here can also. But Keith Roberts Pavane (IMHO, one of the best written AH books) it is much less know.
 

B_Munro

I'd put Silverberg's "The Gate of Worlds" and the Greenberg/Benford "what have might been" collections in their as basic reading for the AH crowd. And Emberverse is not AH at all, but Post Magical Apocalypse, which is a quite different genre.

GURPS Alternate Earths one and two give some ideas on world-building, along with some interesting scenarios.

A bit off-topic, I recommend "The Arrival": http://www.arthuralevinebooks.com/book.asp?bookid=123 - it's of course an allegory about immigration, but it gives the feeling of having travelled to a new, alternate world where history and all things are new and different.

Bruce
 

Constantinople

Banned
Not AH really, but I think Snow Crash and the Diamond Age can kind of count now that it's been established that the USA and the world didn't become an anarcho-capitalist dys/utopia in the early 90s...
 

B_Munro

Constantinople said:
Not AH really, but I think Snow Crash and the Diamond Age can kind of count now that it's been established that the USA and the world didn't become an anarcho-capitalist dys/utopia in the early 90s...
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But by that logic, you could recommend _any_ cool sci-fi future past its to sell date...

Bruce
 
Hylleddin

Hylleddin

Civilization series, definitely.

Stargate dealt with alternate timelines more thoroughly then most TV shows except Sliders, Fringe, and maybe Star Trek.

Star Wars doesn't have anything AH-y except for some obscure comic books, unless you want to count the various video games' multiple endings (In which case I want to include Mass Effect.)
 

Juanpi

Hylleddin said:
Civilization series, definitely.

Stargate dealt with alternate timelines more thoroughly then most TV shows except Sliders, Fringe, and maybe Star Trek.

Star Wars doesn't have anything AH-y except for some obscure comic books, unless you want to count the various video games' multiple endings (In which case I want to include Mass Effect.)
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You are right about Civilization & SW; I forget Worldwar/Colonization (Turtledove 101 :)) and some Aldenata stuff. And Ward Moore´s Bring the Jubilee, I guess is the grammy of all ACW AH.

And about "serious" works... Jared, of course.
 
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Spengler

Banned
For books I would suggest For Want of A Nail. Written like your typical textbook and exploring a world of two superpowers on the North American Continent.
 

B_Munro

Juanpi said:
You are right about Civilization & SW; I forget Worldwar/Colonization (Turtledove 101 :)) and some Aldenata stuff. And Ward Moore´s Bring the Jubilee, I guess is the grammy of all ACW AH.

And about "serious" works... Jared, of course.
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When he gets published. :)

Must-read TLs and scenarios are a whole other thread.

Bruce
 
Alex Richards

Alex Richards

Donor
How about Fatherland by Robert Harris. In terms of written AH it's somewhat cliché, but no more than Turtledove, and it does actually think about things such as 'eternal Soviet guerillas'.
 

SquireJames

If we can include "stories that were originally set in the future but are now in the past" then, Escape from New York is a very entertaining glimpse into a pretty interesting AH "Cold War never ended" dystopia.
 
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