Any new Alternate history authors just over the Horizon?

[BenG]

You might like Pavane written by Keith Roberts in 1968. It's set in the 20th century but in a world where the Spanish Armada succeeded in conquering England.

http://www.amazon.com/Pavane-Sf-Mast...=AG56TWVU5XWC2

[Apache]

Have you tried The Two Georges by Harry Turtledove and Richard Dreyfuss?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Two_Georges
This is a what if The United States did not revolt and is 200 years after.
Apache

[BenG]

Also, there's Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policemen's Union where Israel was destryed early on and the US has set aside part of Alaska for Jewish settlement.

And Philip Roth's Plot Against America where FDRF was defeated and Charles Lindbergh becomes president leading to an increasingly fascist America.

And Poul Anderson's A Midsummer Tempest where William Shakespeare is remembered as the Great Historian, with the novel taking place in the era of Oliver Cromwell and Charles I, with an alternate outcome for the English Civil War and an earlier Industrial Revolution.

And Mary Gentle's Ash books, starting with A Secret History which features a much more powerful medieval Burgundy among other things.

[Apache]

How about a not so great one from 1999? The Texas-Israeli War.

On August 12, 1992, England's tiny nuclear arsenal fell on Ireland, on South Africa, and finally on China. Instantly the planet went up in flames. In the first half year of what was to be called the War of '92, half the Earth's population perished. The United States was reduced to a vast underpeopled land -- and, to make matters worse, Texas had seceded and taken her precious oil reserves. But Israel, virtually untouched in a world ravaged by war, was painfully overpopulated.

Apache

[bill_mchale]

Originally Posted by GlenBarrington

OOOH! that sounds good! why don't you give it a go?

I have been tempted. You could have a lot of fun changing famous historical figures.

In 1776: Imagine the American colonies, contained by the French to the West in the Ohio Valley and the Great Lakes.

George Washington. A Virginia Planter and surveyor. His military career essentially ended by a mistake in the campaign to take Fort Duquesne. He might be bitter he never received a commission in the British Army.

Benedict Arnold remains a Merchant in Connecticut. Perhaps part of the Colonial Militia.

John Adams, a prominent Boston Lawyer and local Politician.

Thomas Jefferson remains a fairly obscure local politician.

Benjamin Franklin probably is the most famous, kind of the 18th Century equivalent of a Richard Branson (i.e., inventor, owner of media, womanizer, etc... but not a diplomat).

Basic problem is there are tons of European characters whose lives would also be changed.

I figure with Prussia basically broken as a power, Austria and France are lining up to fight for power over Germany. England sides with Austria hoping to regain ascendency from France in the Colonial race... and also to reduce the risk of France being able to directly attack England. Have to figure out which way Russia brakes on this. Maybe Paul III survives longer?

--
Bill

[carpetmojo]

Is there perhaps a book based on "Inglorius Bastards" - or was it the other way round ?

That involved a slight (!) tweak of history......

[bfisher]

Originally Posted by BenG

You might like Pavane written by Keith Roberts in 1968. It's set in the 20th century but in a world where the Spanish Armada succeeded in conquering England.

http://www.amazon.com/Pavane-Sf-Mast...=AG56TWVU5XWC2

Harry Turtledove's "Ruled Britannia" is set in a timeline where Spain rules England and William Shakespeare becomes a propagandist for a resistance movement.

[DaleCoz]

I forgot one good one: Phillip Jose Farmer did an Alternate History called "Two Hawks From Earth." He also did a couple of series that aren't AH, but might appeal to alternate history buffs: the RiverWorld series, of which the first two were outstanding, the third okay but bloated, and the rest in the don't bother category in my opinion, and the World of the Tiers series, which has always been one of my favorites. Farmer's books were getting hard to find last time I checked, and his writing was uneven, but at his best he was excellent.

[Apache]

Another Alternate History book by S.M. Stirling is The Peshwar Lancers.

The Peshawar Lancers is an alternate history, steampunk, post-apocalyptic fiction adventure novel by S. M. Stirling, with its point of divergence occurring in 1878 when the Earth is struck by a devastating meteor shower. The novel's plot takes place in the year 2025, at a time when the British Empire has become the powerful Angrezi Raj and is gradually recolonizing the world alongside other nations and empires that were able to survive. The novel was published in 2002, and was a Sidewise Award nominee for best long-form alternate history.

I do agree completely with the analysis of Phillip Jose Farmer.
Apache

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by Apache

Another Alternate History book by S.M. Stirling is The Peshwar Lancers.

I do agree completely with the analysis of Phillip Jose Farmer.
Apache

Pity he hasn't written any more in that universe (except the 'Shikari in Galveston' short story)

[Apache]

Originally Posted by mbovenka

Pity he hasn't written any more in that universe (except the 'Shikari in Galveston' short story)

I agree. I have been hoping he would.
Apache

[scrapking]

Originally Posted by xg4bx

my favorite alternate history novel (if you can find it) is The Iron Dream by Norman Spinrad. its the science fiction novel Hitler would have written had he come to the states to be a sci fi author after WW1.

This sounds amazing. I haven't found it in my e-bookstore of choice, do you happen know if it's available anywhere (if not, I'll keep searching)?

[scrapking]

Originally Posted by GlenBarrington

I love Alternate History, but I can see the genre dying out from a lack of willingness to consider ALL of history! All cultures!

Harry Turtledove, though deserving of criticism that he's done a lot of alternate U.S. Civil War, WWI, and WWII timelines (even long series of such), does have something up his sleeve that is more along the lines of what you're asking. His World War/Colonization set is about Earth being invaded by aliens during WWII. One of the books strengths is that it's a true global story, spending time as you would expect in the U.S., the Soviet Union, Germany, and the UK, but it also spends a great deal of time in Poland and China, as well as stops in the Middle East, Canada, outer space, the open sea, and beyond. His use of language changes impressively from locale to locale, and faction to faction, as well. I highly recommend it.

[owly]

There is Eric Flints books that start with "1632" http://www.baenebooks.com/p-379-1632.aspx where a small American town gets swapped with a small German town and ends up right in the middle of the 30 Years War. Then there are the three books by S.M. Stirling starting with "Island in the sea of time" that are kind of the same theme. Nantucket island get's flung back to the Bronze Age http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_in_the_Sea_of_Time None are new but I thought they might be of interest.

[morriss003]

Originally Posted by owly

There is Eric Flints books that start with "1632" [url]Then there are the three books by S.M. Stirling starting with "Island in the sea of time" that are kind of the same theme. Nantucket island get's flung back to the Bronze Age http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_in_the_Sea_of_Time None are new but I thought they might be of interest.

Thanks for this, I just picked it up from Amazon for a cent.

What I would like to see are AH's based on a difference in culture. For example, instead of a different victor in a war, imagine what the US and the world would be like if the South had accepted the abolition of slavery in the US Constitution in 1789.