Time to share the Alternate History works you have read. You know, to share some interesting stories and warn against others. Plus a good palce for Noobs to find potential stories to read.
How Few Remain by Harry Turtledove
POD: Orders 191 are not lost.
Result: South Wins USCW.
TL: The CSA becomes an independent nation. Tensions between the USA and the CSA are horrible. The US declares war after the CS annexes/purchases some Mexican states. The US loses the war in disgrace. Meanwhile, a Mormon rebellion is crushed. The Republican Party branches into the GOP (Lead by OTL Republicans) and the Socialist Party (Lead by Lincoln).
Story: Various stories from prominent historical figures.
Rating: I liked it, but not enough to continue the series.
Must and Shall by Harry Turtledove
POD: Lincoln killed at Fort Stevens in 1864.
Result: US occupies the Southern States instead of reintegrating them.
TL: After Lincolns death, the radical Republicans call for an all out vendetta. The south is defeated, but instead of being allowed to rejoin the Union, they are occupied as enemy territory. In the 1940s, there is a Nazi backed Resistance.
Story: A member of the Federal Bureau of Suppression investigates a rumored shipment of German weapons into New Orleans, in the hopes of sparking a Rebellion.
Rating: I liked it, but the fact that Hitler wasn't butterflied away threw me off.
The Lucky Strike by Kim Stanley Robinson
POD: The Enola Gay crashes during a training exercise.
Result: The bomber of the replacement plane misses on purpose.
TL: The Enola Gay goes down. The Lucky Strike is instead given the Bomb. The bomber beleives that using it on a city is wrong, so he purposfully drops the bomb to soon, instead striking the mountain side near Hiroshima. His pacifist actions inspire future generations, resulting in the disarment of all nuclear weapons by the 1970s.
Story: We follow the story of January (the bomber), from the weeks before the mission, to his sabatoge, to his eventual execution for treason.
Rating: I enjoyed it. However, I find it ironic that January's actions will lead to more suffering, since the people of Hiroshima will suffer Radiation Posioning rather than being obliterated.
The Winterberry by Nicholas A. DiChario
POD: John F. Kennedy survives his assassination attempt.
Result: Kennedy is severly brain damaged.
TL: Kennedy survived, but the damage to his brain was so severe that it left him with the mind of a child. He spends the rest of his life in a mansion hidden from the world, and is raised by his "Uncles" Bob and Ted. Kennedy passes away in 2008.
Story: The story of "Jack" over the years. He spends his days having fun in the mansion, but wodners what is on the outswide. He sees a woman outside the window one day and he is stunned by her beauty (the audience knows that this is Jacqueline). One day Uncle Ted comes home and tells him, while crying, that Uncle Bobby has "Gone away for a while". "Jack" eventually grows old, reminicing about the beautiful woman he had seen so many years before.
Rating: A really deep work. I loved how it only reveals the truth near the end, with only subtle hints in the beginning. However, it seems more like a Secret History than an Alternate History.
Islands in the Sea by Harry Turtledove
POD: Constantinople is is conquered by Muslims in the 7th Century.
Result: Islam dominates Europe.
TL: Half a century after the fall of Constantinople, Muslim and Christian missionaries are sent to the Khan of Bulagaria (whose nation acts a buffer). The Khan converts to Islam. It is hevily hinted that after this Islamd spreads to most of Europe, leaving Christian states as "Islands" in a "Sea" of Islam.
Story: We follow the story of Jadal ad-Din, the missionary sent by the Caliphate. He tries to convert the Khan to Islam while a Roman Cardinal tries to convert him to Christianity.
Rating: Good.
Suppose They Gave a Peace by Susan Shwartz
POD: George McGovern wins the 1972 Election.
Result: South Vietnam falls earlier than OTL.
TL: McGovern orders a full withdrawl from Vietnam. This action causes a chain reaction. The Communists in Vietnam see this as weakness, and thus go for a "No mercy" campaign. The death toll (American and Vietnamese) is implied to be much larger than OTL. McGovern becomes a one term president, and America is a laughing stock internationally. The Free Love / Peace movement is implied to weaken ((As one character put it "We gave peace a chance, and it fucked us over")).
Story: The story of a American WWII veteran whose son is fighting, and killed, in Vietnam. His daughter was a supporter of McGovern but lost faith in the pacifist movement after the war.
Rating: It was a little confusing, but still a good read.
All the Myriad Ways by Larry Niven.
POD: Interdemensional travel is discovered in the 20th century.
Result: Begining of the end of civiliazation.
TL: Various.
Stories: A detective who is investigating the suicide of the man who invented/discovered IDT. He had also discovered that every single action (no matter how mundane) causes an infinite number of universes to branch off. The decective realizes that this has caused people to just stop caring on a subconcious level (IE: Why shouldn't I kill my boss. Another me in another will do it anyways no matter what I do. I might as well be the one to do it). It is implied that this train of thought will lead to the end of humanity.
Rating: Mind was Blown.
The Road No Whither by Greg Bear.
POD: Axis wins World War II.
Result: Nazi dominated Europe:
TL: Nazis conquer Europe. Jews exterminated outside of the Americas and Japan.
Story: Two SS officers pull over to ask directions, stopping at an old cottage. They find that the person inside is Gypsy. The Gypsy reads their fortune and tells them of an alternate world where the Reich was defeated, and Germany was split in two. The officers leave in a hurry, one frightened the other angry. It is then implied that the Gypsy uses her abilities to change history into OTL.
Rating: The endign was very vague and confusing.
Manassas, Again by Gregory Benford.
POD: Steam-power is discovered in the 200s BC by a Roman scientist.
Result: A steampunk Utopian world, until the Robot Rebellion.
TL: Most of history was butterflied away. With the invention of steam power in the 200s BC, Rome goes on to conquer the known world. Over the next thousand years, the world becomes a peaceful place, void of war or violence. As time goes on, steampunk robots are invented. However, in OTL 1800s, the robots rebel, starting the first war since the days of the Romans.
Story: The story of a young teenage boy. He attempts to see a battle via Steam Powered Parasailing thing, but is shot down. His peaceful naive world is turned upside down when he helps a batallion of ragtag soldiers hold back the machines.
Rating: I am not that big of a fan of stories with PODs in BC, but it was still a good story.
Dance Band on the Titanic by Jack L. Chalker.
POD: Various.
Result: Various.
TL: A secret corporation, that discovered that there are other worlds. And if the corresponding people of each world do the same thing at the same time, then they can see into the other worlds. They capitalize on this (somehow. There is much secrecry), by doing the same thing with ferries and thus trade between worlds. The employees on the ferries can see everyone on the ferry from different worlds, but the passengers are unaware (IE: One worker could be talking to Axis Wins TL person and OTL person will only see them talking to themselves). It is implied that the creation of modern technology (Computers, cars, velcro, the atom bomb) were made through interdemensional trading.
Story: A man out of a job is hired to work on the ferry (as is his other TLs counterparts via The Company). He enjoys his work, and every weekend ends up in a new world. Everything is fine until he realizes that every sop often, there is a woman who commits suicide. By mear coincidence, it is the same woman but in different worlds each time. The story ends as the character manages to save her this time, thus ending the string of suicides.
Rating: Really deep. Confusing, but deep. I liked it.
Bring the Jubilee by Ward Moore
POD: South wins the Battle of Gettysburg.
Result: Confederacy wins the USCW.
TL: A dystopian world where the CSA is a super power. Europe is a powder keg between the Spanish, French, British and German Empires. The USA is a weak poor country, where crime runs rampant.
Story: The Narrator tells the story of his life. He runs away from home as a teen and moves to Manhattan. He spends many years working at a bookstore. Here he is exposed to TTL's KKK (the Grand National Army), a white supremacist, pro Union gang. Eventually he is offered to come and live in a Commune made up of scientists and artists. He has a happy life there, and falls in love more than once. After many years, his ex-lover creates time travel. He goes back in time to witness the Battle of Gettysburg, but accidentally kills a a Confederate Collonel. This action leads to the US winning the war, butterflying away the time travel machine. He is now stuck in the world he created...ours.
Rating: One of my favorite AH works.
Eutopia by Poul Anderson
POD: Various.
Result: Various.
TL: A Utopian world sends out explorers and scientist to alternate worlds to discover the meaning of life, and man's purpose in the universe.
Story: Iason is in a world where North America east of the Mississippi was conquered by Viking, while east it is various Indian States. Iason is on the run after offending a Viking noble. He must make his way back to his own world in order to be with his lover.
Rating: A very interesting story, with a nice tiwst ending.
The Undicovered by William Sanders.
POD: Puritans take control of the British Crown.
Result: Shakespeare leaves England and ends up in Virginia.
TL: After puritans either gained influence of the monarchy or the monarchy itself, they banned plays. Shakespeare, desperate for money, becomes a ship hand. His party is killed in Virginia, but he is saved by a kind Cherokee. Shakespeare lives his life as an adopted member of the Cherokee people. While there, he continues to write plays, and even puts together a Cherokee version of Hamlet.
Rating: I loved this story.
Mozart in Mirrorshades by Bruce Sterling & Lewis Shiner
POD: Twenty First century scientist dicsover time travel.
Result: Corporations mine for resopurces from the new worlds.
TL: It is disocvered that whenever someone goes back in time, they create a new timeline, independent of OTL. So, with no consequence/butterfly/parodox to worry about, corporations begin to take resources from other worlds. Mongols are hired as private guns, nuclear wastes and garbage are dumped into random timelines, etc. The company does this by trading the resources for modernt tech. They do this until the world runs dry or the people get fed up.
Story: A man working for the company as a represenative starts a relationship with Marie Antoinette, and becomes friends with Mozart (both of who are corrupted by modern technology/culture). Everything is fine, until a Free Mason backed rebellion occurs. The Masons (run by Washington) abhore modern interfearance in the timeline. Another company worker betrays the company, after feeling pity for those they take advantage of, and give the Masons the blue prints to plants and factories. The story ends as the main character evacuates to OTL.
Rating: I rather enjoyed it.
The Death of Captain Future by Allen Steele
POD: Inter-planetary Space Travel is perfected by the 1970s.
Result: A future in which there is inter-demensional trade between alien races and humans.
TL: Space opera.
Story: A space merchant is stuck working on a ship with an insane captain, who believes he is Captain Future (a comic from the 1950s). However he puts up with it because he needs the money and he has feelings for the alien first mate. One day they recieve a distress signal, and investigate. They discover an bandoned ship. It turns out that the crew had been exposed to the Titan Virus. TV was a virus unleashed after miners on the moon Titan broke into a cave. The virus drives people mad and turns them into homicidal maniacts. Thought to be irradicated, if the virus spreads from this ship then it could lead to a galaxy wide epidemic. They must prevent this from happening.
Rating: I didn't like it. It didn't even seem AH. The only reason I consider it so is because I read it in an AH Anthology.
Moon of Ice by Brad Linaweaver
POD: Nazis develope the Atomic Bomb.
Result: Axis victory.
TL: After the axis victory in World War II, things cooled down in Germany. As Hitler grew older, those around him created reforms. Those deemed "unworthy" were deported instead of killed. This causes hard line SS officers to secceed from the Reich.
Story: Many years later, an elderly Goebbels learns from his daughter that his life is in danger. After some investigating he discovers that the SS hard liners are developing a virus that will kill anyone who does not carry the gene that causes blond hair and blue eyes. Just before the virus is released, a group of Anti-Nazis (a group made up of groups who decided they hated Nazis over each other (IE: Islamic Extremist, Zionists, Anarchsists, Socialists, etc.).
Rating: I enjoyed it.
Lion Time in Timbuctoo by Robert Silverberg
POD: Black Plague has a higher mortality rate.
Result: No collonialism.
TL: Without collonialism, the nations of Africa and the Americas remain independent and grow into Global Powers. The world's superpower is the Ottoman Empire, which conquered most of Europe.
Story: The Prince of Songhay Empire awaits the death of his elderly ill father. He plans for reforms in his country, but discovers that there is a plot to kill him, put together by the ambassadors of the Kingdom of England, the Aztec Empire and the Russian Empire.
Rating: I really enjoyed this one as well.
How Few Remain by Harry Turtledove
POD: Orders 191 are not lost.
Result: South Wins USCW.
TL: The CSA becomes an independent nation. Tensions between the USA and the CSA are horrible. The US declares war after the CS annexes/purchases some Mexican states. The US loses the war in disgrace. Meanwhile, a Mormon rebellion is crushed. The Republican Party branches into the GOP (Lead by OTL Republicans) and the Socialist Party (Lead by Lincoln).
Story: Various stories from prominent historical figures.
Rating: I liked it, but not enough to continue the series.
Must and Shall by Harry Turtledove
POD: Lincoln killed at Fort Stevens in 1864.
Result: US occupies the Southern States instead of reintegrating them.
TL: After Lincolns death, the radical Republicans call for an all out vendetta. The south is defeated, but instead of being allowed to rejoin the Union, they are occupied as enemy territory. In the 1940s, there is a Nazi backed Resistance.
Story: A member of the Federal Bureau of Suppression investigates a rumored shipment of German weapons into New Orleans, in the hopes of sparking a Rebellion.
Rating: I liked it, but the fact that Hitler wasn't butterflied away threw me off.
The Lucky Strike by Kim Stanley Robinson
POD: The Enola Gay crashes during a training exercise.
Result: The bomber of the replacement plane misses on purpose.
TL: The Enola Gay goes down. The Lucky Strike is instead given the Bomb. The bomber beleives that using it on a city is wrong, so he purposfully drops the bomb to soon, instead striking the mountain side near Hiroshima. His pacifist actions inspire future generations, resulting in the disarment of all nuclear weapons by the 1970s.
Story: We follow the story of January (the bomber), from the weeks before the mission, to his sabatoge, to his eventual execution for treason.
Rating: I enjoyed it. However, I find it ironic that January's actions will lead to more suffering, since the people of Hiroshima will suffer Radiation Posioning rather than being obliterated.
The Winterberry by Nicholas A. DiChario
POD: John F. Kennedy survives his assassination attempt.
Result: Kennedy is severly brain damaged.
TL: Kennedy survived, but the damage to his brain was so severe that it left him with the mind of a child. He spends the rest of his life in a mansion hidden from the world, and is raised by his "Uncles" Bob and Ted. Kennedy passes away in 2008.
Story: The story of "Jack" over the years. He spends his days having fun in the mansion, but wodners what is on the outswide. He sees a woman outside the window one day and he is stunned by her beauty (the audience knows that this is Jacqueline). One day Uncle Ted comes home and tells him, while crying, that Uncle Bobby has "Gone away for a while". "Jack" eventually grows old, reminicing about the beautiful woman he had seen so many years before.
Rating: A really deep work. I loved how it only reveals the truth near the end, with only subtle hints in the beginning. However, it seems more like a Secret History than an Alternate History.
Islands in the Sea by Harry Turtledove
POD: Constantinople is is conquered by Muslims in the 7th Century.
Result: Islam dominates Europe.
TL: Half a century after the fall of Constantinople, Muslim and Christian missionaries are sent to the Khan of Bulagaria (whose nation acts a buffer). The Khan converts to Islam. It is hevily hinted that after this Islamd spreads to most of Europe, leaving Christian states as "Islands" in a "Sea" of Islam.
Story: We follow the story of Jadal ad-Din, the missionary sent by the Caliphate. He tries to convert the Khan to Islam while a Roman Cardinal tries to convert him to Christianity.
Rating: Good.
Suppose They Gave a Peace by Susan Shwartz
POD: George McGovern wins the 1972 Election.
Result: South Vietnam falls earlier than OTL.
TL: McGovern orders a full withdrawl from Vietnam. This action causes a chain reaction. The Communists in Vietnam see this as weakness, and thus go for a "No mercy" campaign. The death toll (American and Vietnamese) is implied to be much larger than OTL. McGovern becomes a one term president, and America is a laughing stock internationally. The Free Love / Peace movement is implied to weaken ((As one character put it "We gave peace a chance, and it fucked us over")).
Story: The story of a American WWII veteran whose son is fighting, and killed, in Vietnam. His daughter was a supporter of McGovern but lost faith in the pacifist movement after the war.
Rating: It was a little confusing, but still a good read.
All the Myriad Ways by Larry Niven.
POD: Interdemensional travel is discovered in the 20th century.
Result: Begining of the end of civiliazation.
TL: Various.
Stories: A detective who is investigating the suicide of the man who invented/discovered IDT. He had also discovered that every single action (no matter how mundane) causes an infinite number of universes to branch off. The decective realizes that this has caused people to just stop caring on a subconcious level (IE: Why shouldn't I kill my boss. Another me in another will do it anyways no matter what I do. I might as well be the one to do it). It is implied that this train of thought will lead to the end of humanity.
Rating: Mind was Blown.
The Road No Whither by Greg Bear.
POD: Axis wins World War II.
Result: Nazi dominated Europe:
TL: Nazis conquer Europe. Jews exterminated outside of the Americas and Japan.
Story: Two SS officers pull over to ask directions, stopping at an old cottage. They find that the person inside is Gypsy. The Gypsy reads their fortune and tells them of an alternate world where the Reich was defeated, and Germany was split in two. The officers leave in a hurry, one frightened the other angry. It is then implied that the Gypsy uses her abilities to change history into OTL.
Rating: The endign was very vague and confusing.
Manassas, Again by Gregory Benford.
POD: Steam-power is discovered in the 200s BC by a Roman scientist.
Result: A steampunk Utopian world, until the Robot Rebellion.
TL: Most of history was butterflied away. With the invention of steam power in the 200s BC, Rome goes on to conquer the known world. Over the next thousand years, the world becomes a peaceful place, void of war or violence. As time goes on, steampunk robots are invented. However, in OTL 1800s, the robots rebel, starting the first war since the days of the Romans.
Story: The story of a young teenage boy. He attempts to see a battle via Steam Powered Parasailing thing, but is shot down. His peaceful naive world is turned upside down when he helps a batallion of ragtag soldiers hold back the machines.
Rating: I am not that big of a fan of stories with PODs in BC, but it was still a good story.
Dance Band on the Titanic by Jack L. Chalker.
POD: Various.
Result: Various.
TL: A secret corporation, that discovered that there are other worlds. And if the corresponding people of each world do the same thing at the same time, then they can see into the other worlds. They capitalize on this (somehow. There is much secrecry), by doing the same thing with ferries and thus trade between worlds. The employees on the ferries can see everyone on the ferry from different worlds, but the passengers are unaware (IE: One worker could be talking to Axis Wins TL person and OTL person will only see them talking to themselves). It is implied that the creation of modern technology (Computers, cars, velcro, the atom bomb) were made through interdemensional trading.
Story: A man out of a job is hired to work on the ferry (as is his other TLs counterparts via The Company). He enjoys his work, and every weekend ends up in a new world. Everything is fine until he realizes that every sop often, there is a woman who commits suicide. By mear coincidence, it is the same woman but in different worlds each time. The story ends as the character manages to save her this time, thus ending the string of suicides.
Rating: Really deep. Confusing, but deep. I liked it.
Bring the Jubilee by Ward Moore
POD: South wins the Battle of Gettysburg.
Result: Confederacy wins the USCW.
TL: A dystopian world where the CSA is a super power. Europe is a powder keg between the Spanish, French, British and German Empires. The USA is a weak poor country, where crime runs rampant.
Story: The Narrator tells the story of his life. He runs away from home as a teen and moves to Manhattan. He spends many years working at a bookstore. Here he is exposed to TTL's KKK (the Grand National Army), a white supremacist, pro Union gang. Eventually he is offered to come and live in a Commune made up of scientists and artists. He has a happy life there, and falls in love more than once. After many years, his ex-lover creates time travel. He goes back in time to witness the Battle of Gettysburg, but accidentally kills a a Confederate Collonel. This action leads to the US winning the war, butterflying away the time travel machine. He is now stuck in the world he created...ours.
Rating: One of my favorite AH works.
Eutopia by Poul Anderson
POD: Various.
Result: Various.
TL: A Utopian world sends out explorers and scientist to alternate worlds to discover the meaning of life, and man's purpose in the universe.
Story: Iason is in a world where North America east of the Mississippi was conquered by Viking, while east it is various Indian States. Iason is on the run after offending a Viking noble. He must make his way back to his own world in order to be with his lover.
Rating: A very interesting story, with a nice tiwst ending.
The Undicovered by William Sanders.
POD: Puritans take control of the British Crown.
Result: Shakespeare leaves England and ends up in Virginia.
TL: After puritans either gained influence of the monarchy or the monarchy itself, they banned plays. Shakespeare, desperate for money, becomes a ship hand. His party is killed in Virginia, but he is saved by a kind Cherokee. Shakespeare lives his life as an adopted member of the Cherokee people. While there, he continues to write plays, and even puts together a Cherokee version of Hamlet.
Rating: I loved this story.
Mozart in Mirrorshades by Bruce Sterling & Lewis Shiner
POD: Twenty First century scientist dicsover time travel.
Result: Corporations mine for resopurces from the new worlds.
TL: It is disocvered that whenever someone goes back in time, they create a new timeline, independent of OTL. So, with no consequence/butterfly/parodox to worry about, corporations begin to take resources from other worlds. Mongols are hired as private guns, nuclear wastes and garbage are dumped into random timelines, etc. The company does this by trading the resources for modernt tech. They do this until the world runs dry or the people get fed up.
Story: A man working for the company as a represenative starts a relationship with Marie Antoinette, and becomes friends with Mozart (both of who are corrupted by modern technology/culture). Everything is fine, until a Free Mason backed rebellion occurs. The Masons (run by Washington) abhore modern interfearance in the timeline. Another company worker betrays the company, after feeling pity for those they take advantage of, and give the Masons the blue prints to plants and factories. The story ends as the main character evacuates to OTL.
Rating: I rather enjoyed it.
The Death of Captain Future by Allen Steele
POD: Inter-planetary Space Travel is perfected by the 1970s.
Result: A future in which there is inter-demensional trade between alien races and humans.
TL: Space opera.
Story: A space merchant is stuck working on a ship with an insane captain, who believes he is Captain Future (a comic from the 1950s). However he puts up with it because he needs the money and he has feelings for the alien first mate. One day they recieve a distress signal, and investigate. They discover an bandoned ship. It turns out that the crew had been exposed to the Titan Virus. TV was a virus unleashed after miners on the moon Titan broke into a cave. The virus drives people mad and turns them into homicidal maniacts. Thought to be irradicated, if the virus spreads from this ship then it could lead to a galaxy wide epidemic. They must prevent this from happening.
Rating: I didn't like it. It didn't even seem AH. The only reason I consider it so is because I read it in an AH Anthology.
Moon of Ice by Brad Linaweaver
POD: Nazis develope the Atomic Bomb.
Result: Axis victory.
TL: After the axis victory in World War II, things cooled down in Germany. As Hitler grew older, those around him created reforms. Those deemed "unworthy" were deported instead of killed. This causes hard line SS officers to secceed from the Reich.
Story: Many years later, an elderly Goebbels learns from his daughter that his life is in danger. After some investigating he discovers that the SS hard liners are developing a virus that will kill anyone who does not carry the gene that causes blond hair and blue eyes. Just before the virus is released, a group of Anti-Nazis (a group made up of groups who decided they hated Nazis over each other (IE: Islamic Extremist, Zionists, Anarchsists, Socialists, etc.).
Rating: I enjoyed it.
Lion Time in Timbuctoo by Robert Silverberg
POD: Black Plague has a higher mortality rate.
Result: No collonialism.
TL: Without collonialism, the nations of Africa and the Americas remain independent and grow into Global Powers. The world's superpower is the Ottoman Empire, which conquered most of Europe.
Story: The Prince of Songhay Empire awaits the death of his elderly ill father. He plans for reforms in his country, but discovers that there is a plot to kill him, put together by the ambassadors of the Kingdom of England, the Aztec Empire and the Russian Empire.
Rating: I really enjoyed this one as well.