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Originally Posted by Guns4Hire
Eric Flint - Ring of Fire series (1633, 1634 etc...there is like 8 books or something).
John Birmingham - Axis of Time series (Weapons of Choice, Designated Targets, Final Impact).
Robert Conroy - He seems to do just stand-alones (1862, 1901, 1945, Red Inferno: 1945)
I enjoy the above authors very much.
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I enjoy them very much as well. But this brings up the question of how do we define alternate history? I've read all three authors, but I consider Flint and Birmingham to be mostly Science fiction writers. Where everything I've read from Conroy does seem to be true Alternate History by my definition
The series you mention for them (Flint and Birmingham) are really what I call Time displacement stories. Someone from our era goes back in time. But a true Alternate history, in my eyes at least, wouldn't have time travelers. Instead, the author plays "what if". What if this one thing occurred differently? How would that alter the events that did occur? The events leading up to the change must be historically accurate, and the event after the change need to be believable and logically consistent.
An excellent example of true AH is Flint's "1812, The Rivers of War". In the War of 1812, Sam Houston received a groin wound that nearly killed him and caused him to spend a year or so in recovery.
Because of that, Houston, who was able to walk on both sides of White and American Indian cultures, wasn't available to help represent his adopted people when key decisions were being made regarding how they would be treated by the US Government. Which ultimately led to the Trail of Tears. (and which probably was part of the reason he ultimately left for Texas later on)
But in the novel, he slips a fraction of a second before he is slated to be injured and avoids that debilitating wound. He is free to represent his people and thereby help chart a new course of interaction between Washington (Andrew Jackson) and the native Americans.
I'm quite excited by this sort of novel which combines elements of speculative fiction, history, and good story telling. Other authors, like Harry Turtledove, don't normally concentrate such small 'what if' differences, but I don't care, as long as the change and the flow of events is logically consistent. I want more!