Ok, so I discovered this site a good while back, enjoyed it, but I see there are a lot of lad's on here with a far deeper knowlage of books on the subject, so I'm hoping people can give me some pointers on what ones to get/read, good, bad, indifferent, what to avoid ect, I'm going to make a virtual trip to Amazon this week so you guy's will be helping me out, thanks
New to thisAH/FH stuff, any recommendation s?
- Thread starter mutt
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Well, that really depends on where your interests lie. As you can probably guess, a number of us on the board spend a lot of time on the pulpier, more military-based stuff. I, being the pretentious dweeb that I am, prefer stories that are more literary, though I too enjoy a good shoot-em-up.
Uchronia is a great place to start browsing, as it's the biggest (and only) AH listing online.
Uchronia is a great place to start browsing, as it's the biggest (and only) AH listing online.
Study history. If you're interested in military history AH--read about military history, logistics, leadership, etc. If you're interested in the "South Winning the Civil War" read some of the historical literature about the period.
I think Harry Turtledove (who while no great writer, is engaging) was one reason I ended up majoring in history. You might consider reading S.M Stirling; for all its flaws as AH (indeed it's almost a model of how to do it badly) the Draka series is interesting.
And check out Uchronia; Bring the Jubillee and Pavane, and the Man In the High Castle are some classics. For Want of a Nail, if you can find it (I have not) is a classic too, if dense. H Beam Piper's crosstime work is dated and pulpy, but it's dated and pulpy in a good way; he also wrote some SF in a similar style you might enjoy.
Some of the best AH ever written is free online stuff; "For All Time" "Thaxted" "The Drowned Baby Timeline" "Bronze Age New World" "Empty America" "If Gordon Banks Had Played" are good examples. Doug Hoff once wrote some interesting AH work that may still be floating around, and there are others.
I think Harry Turtledove (who while no great writer, is engaging) was one reason I ended up majoring in history. You might consider reading S.M Stirling; for all its flaws as AH (indeed it's almost a model of how to do it badly) the Draka series is interesting.
And check out Uchronia; Bring the Jubillee and Pavane, and the Man In the High Castle are some classics. For Want of a Nail, if you can find it (I have not) is a classic too, if dense. H Beam Piper's crosstime work is dated and pulpy, but it's dated and pulpy in a good way; he also wrote some SF in a similar style you might enjoy.
Some of the best AH ever written is free online stuff; "For All Time" "Thaxted" "The Drowned Baby Timeline" "Bronze Age New World" "Empty America" "If Gordon Banks Had Played" are good examples. Doug Hoff once wrote some interesting AH work that may still be floating around, and there are others.
It's back in print, as far as I know. Ordered a copy through my local Borders store about four months back. Now just need to find the time to read it.
As a starting point, I'd recommend What If, What If 2, and Guns of the South. After reading those three books, you should have an idea of what aspects and eras of Alternate History interest you the most, and you'll be able to narrow your search. All three can be found in any most used bookstores for a cheap price.
I got into AH by reading Turtledove's Worldwar series.
But my real bent with AH, as a pretentious historian, is the decisions that key people make which create history, and what if they made different decisions.
That's probably not much help, but ask what you are interested in and you'll get all the direction you need.
But my real bent with AH, as a pretentious historian, is the decisions that key people make which create history, and what if they made different decisions.
That's probably not much help, but ask what you are interested in and you'll get all the direction you need.