Alt Hist SF

Took the girls tonight to B&N to spend their Halloween money. As usual, I bored them to near-histrionics browsing the used SF paperbacks. Realizing that a meltdown of ennui was imminent, I picked something (almost) randomly off the shelves. (These books cost less than a pack of cigarettes or a cup of coffee, neither of which vice I partake in.)

It was a collection of moderately short stories about alternate history, a genre which I’m quite the novice in. They’re all grouped around a common theme: Generals. The book is titled Alternate Generals. I thought it’d mesh nicely with my martial readings of late.

What if Douglas MacArthur was captured by the Japanese before he could evacuate Manila? What if Joan of Arc was not burned at the stake for heresy – where would she have led France? What if Genghis Khan converted to Judaism? And ten more highly skewed tales.

The book’s edited by Harry Turtledove, the undisputed master of the alternate history novel. I remember ’bout a decade ago meeting a besuited man in his sixties who, finding out I liked to read science fiction, literally drooled all over me begging me to read Turtledove. After some research, I came across his Agent of Byzantium (the Byzantine Empire of a thousand years ago never fell to the Muslims) and picked it up, but it’s sat unread on my shelves for three or four years. But I will get to it, someday.

I won’t commit on reading this cover-to-cover, but will pick the best story that suits me (there’s one about the Civil War I’d like to read). Then I’ll blog about it and continue. Or not.

However – there are a few series of Turtledove’s I definitely want to read. There’s one set during World War II where an alien force invades Earth midway through, turning the global war into a galactic one. Another where the South won the American Civil War. And another set in a place like medieval Europe where magic exists and there is a all-encompassing war (an alternate history take on Tolkien, perhaps?). All in all, he’s an author I’d definitely like to check out, if I could but fit him into my schedule.

All well. The pressing and incessant demands of a bibliophile …