Alternative history

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mr.Blacky

Guest
After reading a couple of books by Harry Turtledove I started to like the genre (is it a genre yet?). The only trouble I had with it was that the USA where always topdog or the goodboys.
After some looking I found S.M. Stirling, the only book I read however is the Peshawar Lancers linkage
My question however is are there more non-good-american alternative history books out there?
 
R

Rulke-RM

Guest
Lion of Macedon was one of David Gemmell's best books imo, although its not really alternate history, more his take on Alexander the great.

If your looking for something more alternate, try The years of Rice and Salt, by Kim Stanley robinson. The premise is that all of Europe was wiped out around 700AD by a plague, and the story follows 1400 years of the rise of China and Asia. Its not as good as his mars books but its not bad either.

Bernard Cromwell did some great King Arthur books and Colleen McCullough's rome series is great too, but not for the faint hearted - it weighs in at 5 hefty tomes.

Only other thing i can think of is Mary Gentle - Ash: A secret history, which is about the re-emergence of Carthage in the middle ages
 
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xane

Guest
I happened to be in a bookshop yesterday when I saw What If ? which is a series of essays by military historians debating alternate histories, there is a sequal as well.

If you are interested in the alternate, have you ever wondered why we actually ended up as we are ? A recommended book is Guns, Germs and Steel that explores why european culture ended up dominating the world.
 
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DaGaffer

Guest
Originally posted by mr.Blacky
After reading a couple of books by Harry Turtledove I started to like the genre (is it a genre yet?). The only trouble I had with it was that the USA where always topdog or the goodboys.
After some looking I found S.M. Stirling, the only book I read however is the Peshawar Lancers linkage
My question however is are there more non-good-american alternative history books out there?


Mr. Turtledove himself has written The Two Georges (a detective story set in a modern colonial America), there's Harry Harrison's A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah!, similarly themed (although for God's sake don't read his Stars & Stripes Forever, if you're not American it'll make your blood boil), and a more 'Historical' take on a British America is For Want of A Nail which is written like a text book (but still a good read), describing an America where the revolution was a failure and footnote, Britain & America are tied in a political union and the failed revolutionaries carve out their own country in the southwest.

There are loads of Alternative History titles that aren't about how great America is (although a lot are). Best site to find periods/histories that interest you is www.uchronia.net
 
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xane

Guest
I almost forgot one of my favourite books, The Difference Engine co-authored by William "Neuromancer" Gibson, it imagines a world during the Victorian era fuelled by mechanical computers a la Charles Babbage, their capacity measured in "gear yardage" rather than "bytes", basically started the "Steampunk" genre.

Of course in this time America is but a fledgling country, in fact Texas is a separate nation, it is Britain that rules the world !
 
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throdgrain

Guest
The Warlord of the Air by Micheal Moorcock.
 
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DaGaffer

Guest
Originally posted by xane
I almost forgot one of my favourite books, The Difference Engine co-authored by William "Neuromancer" Gibson, it imagines a world during the Victorian era fuelled by mechanical computers a la Charles Babbage, their capacity measured in "gear yardage" rather than "bytes", basically started the "Steampunk" genre.

Of course in this time America is but a fledgling country, in fact Texas is a separate nation, it is Britain that rules the world !


What did you think of the ending?
 
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xane

Guest
Originally posted by DaGaffer
What did you think of the ending?

You mean when it gets a bit gung-ho and there's a shootout admidst the "smog" ? That's all I can remember, but I do recall thinking the book went a bit waylaid towards the end.

Loved the "idea" tho'.
 
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Tenko

Guest
The Belisarius series, by Eric Flint and David Drake:

"An Oblique Approach" (which is the first in a series, the 2nd is "In the Heart of Darkness") is an alternative history (A definite Sci-fi sub genre btw ;) )

They are about the Holy Roman General Belisarius and the invasion of Byzantium by a vast Indian army using steampowered tanks and artillery.

Rather good and as a plus the 1st two books are available FREE to read online.




An Oblique Approach

In the Heart of Darkness
 

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