I've read several books from the 1632 series, a mixture of alternative history and time travel. An entire town in West Virginia is mysteriously transported to the year 1631 and plopped down in what is today central Germany. So, you get a mixture of old world with 21st century American ego ... an explosive combination.
This is probably true with a lot of alternative history stories - I'm not sure since I've only read Turtledove and Flint - but Flint's stories have sections that are dripping with detailed history. I referred to this in an eariler post. The upside to this, of course, is if you wanted to know about 17th century politics (among other things), the 1632 series by Eric Flint is a good place to start.
From pretty much the outset the Americans have the sole goal of directing the course of this new reality. In particular they want to avoid a Germany we all are familiar with, the seeds which can be traced back to the 17th century. I wasn't aware of that part of Germany's history until I read the book. See, you can still have fun while learning.
In fact, I know a lot more about the 17th century now than I did before. I don't know about your World History class, but my 10th grade Honors World History course didn't go into a lot of detail about the 17th century. There was too much history to cover in one year. However, reading about it for entertainment has been a nice way to soak it in. You become familiar with historical characters in a way no history book could deliver.
Of course, reading alternative history or even a true history narative means reading through a lot of guess work, conjecture if you will. But, since most of the alternative history authors I've heard about have degrees in some form of history, I would venture to guess that their guesses are better than mine would be. Maybe.
More on the 1632 series later.
Look at me!
Alternative History Novels - Eric Flint
Alternative History Novels - Harry Turtledove
In part one of this series, I introduced the genre of alternative history, and I gave the names of two authors I have read recently. Let me tell you a little about Harry Turtledove. (I'll consider the other author, Eric Flint, in another entry.) A simple Google search will provide you with a good deal of information on Harry Turtledove and his novels, 60 or so to his name and pen names.
What information that is harder to find is about his style. Yes, you may see reference to Alternative History, Sci-Fi, etc ... but that isn't style - that's genre (and subgenre). Here's my impression of his novels. First of all, let me say I've read two types of his novels. One type I would call his true alternative history, meaning he deals with events that have either already occurred or would have occurred by our time in the alternate reality. The other type is a future alternative style, dealing with a story line that wouldn't take place until the end of the 21st century (a set of novels I will discuss in further detail in future entries).
As of today, I have read 8 of his true alternative history novels, and they all have followed the same pattern. There are scores of characters - 25, 30 or more of them. You follow most characters through the length of the book, and if it is a series, you get to know some characters through the entire series. Many of his books deal with war time, so some characters become casualties of war. Before he kills them off, though, the author ties you in emotionally, their death meaning all the more so to the story.
I didn't get lost among the long list of characters. Harry Turtledove does a good job of keeping track for you. Each chapter is seperated into several sections of usually equal length, each section from the point of view of one of the characters. The character's name is usually found at the beginning of the section. This may sound like a no brainer, but it's important that it's there because I have read some books that quickly lose me because I don't know who is talking, so to speak.
Another nice feature that comes with Harry's long list of characters is the pace of the story. Since there are so many individual story lines that must be addressed, there is little boring time, meaning that almost every page has something to say that is worthwhile to the major story line. You learn just what you need for each character, not much more.
Stay tuned for more on Harry Turtledove.
Alternative History Novels
I enjoyed History class in school, but I never thought I would read it for fun. Once again, though, I find adult perceptions are really different from the teenage variety. Don't get me wrong - real history books aren't any more fun now than they were then. In the past year or so, however, I have read three alternative history series. This is a different take on your standard history lesson: an author tackles the age-old-question "What If?" by retelling history ... differently.
Nevertheless, I must say that these novels are not for the faint of heart. With Eric Flint, for example, I skipped or scanned major sections of one of his books because it reminded me too much of a real history book, and besides, it turned out not to be super important for the rest of the story.
- What if Germany would have won World War I (or WW2)?
- What if the Roman Empire never fell (or implode)?
- What if an alien race attacked humans during World War Two?
- What if modern Americans were mysteriously transported to 17th Europe?
Every one of these questions have been discussed in story mode at one time or another, but the last three questions were subject matters of the three series I read recently. Harry Turtledove and Eric Flint were the authors (Turtledove considered two of the three questions).
Stay tuned for more in upcoming blog entries.
