Books
A lot of French books, sorry, but there's a really good trend of alternate history (or rather
uchronie) in France right from the XIXth century; and American authors doesn't get often translated (to be honest, I took a look at Stirling and Turtledove, and it was quite bland).
Alexandre le Grand et les aigles de Rome (Alexander the Great and the Eagles of Rome), by Javier Negrete
The answer to the oldest question in Alternate History : what if Alexander went West?
Better for describing overall situations than presences, it's nevertheless one of my favourites.
L'Apopis Républicain(The Republican Apopis) followed by
La Stratégie Alexandre (The Alexander Strategy), by Ugo Bellagamba
Two short novels, based on this premise. Napoléon proclaimed himself Pharaoh and instaured his rule over humanity, presiding over a global empire that last up to spatial age.
Republicans still try to reverse the imperial theocracy, and the revolution is ready.
The Horus, son and heir of the Emperor, lead a scientific expedition that uncover the foreign nature of Egyptian deities that inspired the emperor.
As Republican rise and succeed, would these appears to avange the imperial blood?
Really good and captivating. I wonder if the author could do more of the same vein.
L'Empire du Baphomet
Completly played for the laughs : the Baphomet, an alien whom vessel crashed on Earth in medieval Champagne, presides to the creation of Templars.
Decades after, Templars suddenly reverse the situation in Latin States, using atomic grenades, decimating Mameluks, and eventually going all the way to the legendary Cathay, while Templars became more and more wary of the shadowy figure talking and ordering them trough statues.
Definitely silly (Think Space Crusader silliness), and enjoyable.
Fatherland, by Robert Harris
As Ganesha said, a deep breath into everyday horror. I regularly ask myself if I really want to go past the first chapters, and yet I re-read it regularly.
Iron Dream, by Norman Spinrad
Weird and disturbing are probably the best words to define it but differently so from the High Castle. What if Hitler became the Howard of his generation?
It makes indeed several reflexions about what is an epic story, what is Science-Fiction, and how it's still related to both light and dark sides of the mind.
La Lune Seule le Sait (Only Moon Knows), by Johan Heliot.
In the late XIXth, Napoléon III dominates Europe. His alliance with a hive-mind alien race boosted a new industrial age, mixing bioengineriing and electricity. Jules Verne is sent by what few remains of the republican opposition to investigate on the french base on the Moon to rescue Louise Michel.
Okay, it *does* look silly. It's really well written, and really gives a feeling that the repetitive and boring "let's steampunk" clichés never reaches (mostly because Second Empire and overall french industrialisation was more based on electricity than steam to begin with). It does play several things for the laughs, but manages to make a huge history, with believable (if utterly weird, such as a bio-cyborg Napoleon III) characters.
The Man in the High Castle, by Philipp K.Dick.
Okay, this one is definitely tricky, and the author definitely play again on the relation between what is real, what we percieve of real and the gap in between.
It's probably one of the best books he wrote on this regard, maybe overlooked for the paradoxial absence of focus on History.
Pavane, by Keith Roberts
Rarely an AH book had been so poetic to me. Really, showing the survival of British soul in spite of invasion, industrialisation, changes, trough so many lifes is both well done and inspiring.
Tancrède, by Ugo Bellagamba
One of the most poignant AH books I ever read, and one that is less about great stories, great deals than following the steps of one character : Tancrède de Hauteville, and his change of heart during the Crusades.
Uchronie, by Charles Renouvier
The first modern book that is *really* about alternate history (with the author coining the word "uchronie"). Before, it was more a mix of "it really happened this way" or secrete History.
Here, from the beggining, we're told that it's the story "how it should have happened", and wrote down as a tolerance lesson during the Wars of Religion (a story within the story).
I said it was the first modern AH, but it's as well in the continuation of the philosophical tales of the XVIIIth century, telling something for that it illustrate something : What if Rome maintained its classical values, rejected Christianism as a dominating religion but eventually accepting it as a civil-ized religio?
Movies
CSA (Confederate States of America)
I never get the hate this mockumentary had on AH.com (though nobody talks about it anymore, it was considered as a low point by many people). It's, while absurdly butterfly-net, about making a point, and...it works.
Even if you say "well, I doesn't buy that as realistic", you still get the point and enjoy the show.
Jin-Roh
The AH side is hard to get, and it's arguably more of a device than the point of the movie.
It's...I've an hard time describing it. It's one of these movies that manage to avoid your entiere grasp, and you should rather focus on each part of it.
It really made me interested on reading Kerberos Panzer Cop, but I don't find it anywhere.
Comics
Jour J
It's a french comics collection on alternate history. Basically : here's a PoD and let's make a story of what happened next.
Generally, it's quite good, not too cliché-ed, and with enjoyable stories and with good art (no,
seriously it rocks)
Ministry of Space
It's not too short, not too long and the story is, if not plausible, quite credible. Details are well put, and not only not blockade the story, but supports it.