Alternate History

[Danny McG]

Pavane

 

[Danny McG]

The mirage by Matt Ruff

The Mirage (Ruff novel) - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[chrispenycate]

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned the 'Ring of Fire' books (Original '1632' by Eric Flint, now about forty books by half that many authors, and having its own publishing house) where a small West Virginia town is
transported through time and space to Germany in 1631, the middle of the thirty year war. Hence the first volume '1632'. And no, I'm not suggesting this series because I submitted (and was paid for) a short composition.

Sticking to Baen, perhaps S.M. Stirling's 'Island in the sea of Time' trilogy, where Nantucket is relocated in time to 1250 BC, Bronze Age.
He's also done a load of alternative world books where a change in the past modifies our present civilisation, like his Draka series.

Actually, a group of Chronnites (well, yes, including me) collaborated on a set of parallel universe stories which probably could be dredged up from the archives oh, about ten years ago, but they're not quite in the same direction, as you can go home from them.

 

[tobl]

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned the 'Ring of Fire' books (Original '1632' by Eric Flint, now about forty books by half that many authors, and having its own publishing house) where a small West Virginia town is
transported through time and space to Germany in 1631, the middle of the thirty year war. Hence the first volume '1632'. And no, I'm not suggesting this series because I submitted (and was paid for) a short composition.

Sticking to Baen, perhaps S.M. Stirling's 'Island in the sea of Time' trilogy, where Nantucket is relocated in time to 1250 BC, Bronze Age.
He's also done a load of alternative world books where a change in the past modifies our present civilisation, like his Draka series.

Actually, a group of Chronnites (well, yes, including me) collaborated on a set of parallel universe stories which probably could be dredged up from the archives oh, about ten years ago, but they're not quite in the same direction, as you can go home from them.

no one did? it most have slipped my mind. i like it , which for me it's not usual. well i like a few of them at least

 

[psikeyhackr]

This is related to the 1632 series. Time travel to right after the death of Alexander the Great.

Alexander Inheritance Series by Eric Flint

The Alexander Inheritance (1) (Ring of Fire), The Macedonian Hazard, and The Sicilian Coil

www.goodreads.com

 

[psikeyhackr]

Belisarius Series - An Oblique Approach

Search results for "Belisarius" (showing 1-20 of 120 books)

Search results for Belisarius: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and

www.goodreads.com

 

[Lew Rockwell Fan]

How about giving me some books where travel between AH timelines is public knowledge?

I think there are several where it is public knowledge in at least one of the timelines. In L. Neil Smith's series beginning with The Probability Broach it is definitely public knowledge in one, and known-to-many in several. It's a really nice series. It is particularly clever in using many parallel versions of one particular real public figure who get together and work with and against one another. I think it reflects the author's ambivalence about that person, an attitude I share. Vague because I try not to write spoilers.

I believe H. Beam Piper's Paratime stories are similar in this respect.

 

[Lew Rockwell Fan]

Are there any alternate history novels that don't have a shred of sci-fi or fantasy?

Lots. I think nowadays, most. Turtledove's 2 novels turning on the Confederacy winning are interesting in that regard. He did the SF version first. I get the impression the SF aspect of it bothered him artistically. It is after all a heavy duty deus ex machina to bring in modern weaponry via time machine. The later book has no SF at all. Strictly "natural causes" illustrating why Gould spoke of history as being "massively contingent."

 

[Lew Rockwell Fan]

The Whenabouts of Burr by Michael Kurland is very good. So is the classic that inspired Turtledove, de Camp's Lest Darkness Fall.

 

[svalbard]

I enjoyed The Plot Against America. Fatherland doesn't contain any SF elements, either.

On the other end of the scale is West of Eden by Harry Harrison, where the meteor that struck the Earth was only half the size as in reality, and dinosaur-like people end up fighting cavemen. A pretty wild idea executed very well, IIRC.

I am half way through The Plot Against America. It is excellent. The picture Roth draws of his father is exceptional.

 

[Ray Zdybrow]

Colson Whitehead's "Underground Railroad" seems to be set in a world where the American Civil War didn't happen

 

[psikeyhackr]

Alternate Everything:

 

[Zach777]

Harry Turtledove's books come to mind immediately. I've only read a couple of his books in the Southern Victory series.

I don't know if I'd count it as alternate history, but there's also Naomi Novik's Temeraire series.

 

[psikeyhackr]

I don't know if I'd count it as alternate history, but there's also Naomi Novik's Temeraire series.

Never heard of it. Damn, more research!

 

[Zach777]

It takes place during the Napoleon Wars. The biggest change is dragons exist, though there are some differences such as a surviving Inca Empire.

 

[CrimsonTideFan]

Alternate Election What If map from 1976.

 

[CrimsonTideFan]

Alternate timeline from the 1980s:

 

[M. Robert Gibson]

I've just finished Murder and Magic by Randall Garrett which would seem to fit the criteria here

From the back cover blurb...

Welcome to a World
where Richard the Lion-Hearted did not die in the year 1199, but went on to found the mightiest and most stable empire in history.
where the laws of extra-sensory perception have been codified but those of physics remain unsuspected.
where Magic is a science, and science is an art.
Now imagine that you are Lord Darcy, the greatest detective of all time, in a world where crime and the occult walk hand-in-hand, a world of
Murder and Magic

Murder and Magic - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Murder and Magic (Lord Darcy, #1)

This is the first Ace printing. Cover Artist: Robert Adragna Contents: 1 • The Eyes Have It • [Lord Darcy] • (1964) • novelette by Randa...

www.goodreads.com

 

[psikeyhackr]

If Randall Garrett is mentioned then

Unwise Child by RANDALL GARRETT

The Project Gutenberg eBook of Unwise Child, by Randall Garrett.

Can come in as alternate history with Radio Row.
The protagonist of the story goes to an electronics shop in Radio Row and foils a robbery. In our reality Radio Row was destroyed in the mid 60s to construct the World Trade Center.

Radio Row - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Danny McG]

I'm thinking of The Big Time by Fritz Leiber
The characters come from a variety of AH
One is from a time when WW2 Nazis conquered America,
another from a time where the South won in the American civil war and has a massive riverboat culture,
Another from a time when intelligent giant spiders roamed the moon
Yet another is from a time where Troy won the Trojan War and changed Greek history