Found “Lloyd Shepherd’s top 10 weird histories” while browsing The Guardian books section again tonight. It is an article about strange and alternate histories in fiction.
I think it’s quite a fascinating collection. You would think as an idea that the alternate history has been done to death but personally, I rarely fail to be fascinated by the opinions of others on what might have been. Of course, this is speculation only and fascinating because of it.
As the article states, inventing the past is just that – invention – but working with known facts and making it fit an identifiable framework of real history takes skill as a researcher and as a science fiction writer. It must be recognisable to a history buff and plausible to the sci fi fan. For example, I know I felt that The Difference Engine was pretty mediocre but I appreciate the book a lot more than I enjoyed it. The alternate history contained within is pretty comprehensive and plausible. In that respect I understand why it is so important to the steampunk subgenre (strange then, that The Anubis Gates is in that list and The Difference Engine is not). I think also that my lack of enjoyment was partly down to my limited interest in the Victorian period. Sure, I know about the industrial revolution, most of the great inventions and inventors of the period but my knowledge of Marxism, the rise of socialism in Britain and The Labour Party isn’t as thorough as it ought to be.
There’s a real good a mix there and more praise for Stephen King’s latest work 11.22.63 which is already on my Amazon wishlist. I’m cautious that it is seemingly being hailed as his greatest work. If true, then in my mind it has to be something pretty damned special to knock The Stand from its perch. I will not give up my love for that book so easily.
I’m pleased also to see that World War Z is on the list. Again, I have read a lot of good things about it. The only thing stopping me reading it right now is my concern that it is too similar to Zombie Apocalypse! that I read last year. I will read it eventually, I’m sure.
Without further waffle, here is a list of my top favourite alternate or weird histories (in no particular order). I’ve discussed most of these before so to avoid repetition, I will only give brief summaries:
* His Dark Materials: What can I say about this that I haven’t already said? Superb work and well-defined alternate history where human souls are physical manifestations appearing in the form of an animal. Slightly steampunk with a dash of solid science.
* Thursday Next: Jasper Fforde’s alternate history is a 1980s where The Crimean War is still being fought, where it is possible to get inside a book, play a part and inadvertantly change the ending, where dodos have been re-engineered and fictional people can come to life. The title character is a Literary Detective whose job it is to investigate crimes against literature. It is quite clever and you’d have to be a big reader to get all of the jokes
* Fatherland: Robert Harris’ novel of a 1960s where Nazi Germany won World War II is arguably the best known book of this subgenre. Harris is a thriller writer and so was able to attract a wide audience to his story of a Detective in Germany uncovering evidence of the Holocaust (as Nazi Germany won the war, the German population was unaware of the Concentration Camps). It is an interesting hypothesis, using the Holocaust as a mystery to be uncovered and Harris pulls it off well.
* K (is for Killing): On a similar theme, in the 1930s USA and Charles Lindbergh is President. He has the backing of a political wing of the white supremacist movement through his VP David Stephenson (real life Grand Dragon of the KKK) and as a result, blacks have been re-enslaved; lynchings are a daily occurence and Jews and homosexuals are being shipped to concentration camps. The plot concerns a British MI5 agent sent to assassinate Stephenson to stop him killing Lindbergh, becoming President and entering the war as allies of the Nazis.
* Anno Domini: Before Dan Brown created a stir on the alternate life of Jesus, Barnaby Williams wrote this novel of the discovery of a long-destroyed sect of Christianity known as The Children of Jeshua. Destroyed by the Catholic Church because they knew the truth: that Jesus was rescued from the cross and was murdered by St. Paul when he returned to knock some sense into those who twisted his words for their own political agenda. A far more adult affair than anything written by Brown, it is a far more engaging novel and better written.
* ’48: Back to World War II with James Herbert and London is in ruins, destroyed by a biological weapon released by Hitler in revenge for the defeat of his regime. The only man immune to the disease is in hiding from Mosley’s black shirts who want to drain his blood.
* The Years of Rice and Salt: Kim Stanley Robinson’s alternate history from the end of the Black Death through to the modern day shows a world dominated by the eastern religions when Christian Europe is reduced to a mere handful of its pre-Black Death population. Metaphor heavy with Buddhist philosophy, it is heavy going but feels quite educational.
* Vinland: The Dream: Also by Kim Stanley Robinson, it is a collection of short stories that explore alternate histories. The most fascinating are those that deal with what might have happened if the atomic weapons dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima failed. One of the pieces is an interesting thread based on the principles of Kaos theory, treated time like a river with tributaries (for example, one bomb failed to detonate properly and the Emperor went to inspect the damage, saw the potential and surrendered saving millions of lives… but the weapon would be used later in another conflict with far more tragic consequences). The writing is like a piece of art in itself.
* Command and Conquer: Red Alert: One of the most notable computer games to explore an alternate Second World War. In the modern day, a scientist invents a time machine and takes it upon himself to return to the end of WWI to kill Hitler. Unfortunately, it doesn’t create a 20th century devoid of conflict. Instead it leads to an aggressively expansionist Stalin invading Europe against an alliance of Britain, Germany, Spain, Greece and France. Without WWII, technology has advanced farther giving the player many interesting and anachronistic weapons.
Those are the most noteworthy and I’m sure I could think of many more. Now it is over to you, what are some of your favourites?
