It’s the first Friday of the month, and the hosts of Sci Fi Month have come up with some fun Friday prompts. Today is When will then be now? and we’re taking a look at our favorite alternate history SF stories. I thought this would be a tough subject, but I did come up with five books I’ve read that fit the prompt, take a look:
A History of What Comes Next by Sylvain Neuvel. This is an interesting take on the “race for space” with a twist. An alien species called the Kibsu have secretly been influencing the development of rockets and technology for generations. This particular story is set during World War II, and I found it fascinating, if very slow and fractured. I haven’t read the other books in the series yet, but I’m assuming a lot of the holes in this plot are explained later on.
One of Us by Craig DiLouie. I’m cheating a bit here, as this isn’t really science fiction. But it is a sort of dystopian story, so I’m including it. One of Us is set in an alternate 1984 in Huntsville, Georgia, where segregation is still alive and well. The story deals with some heavy topics, like racism, and isn’t a happy read. But like most of DiLouie’s books, I became completely engrossed in the story and couldn’t put it down.
Our Lady of the Ice by Cassandra Rose Clarke. I chose this book because of it’s odd mix of old and new. It’s a futuristic setting with drones, androids and other technology, yet the characters still use things like rotary phones, record players and typewriters. It was completely unique, and I wish Clarke would write something else!
Mercury Rising by R.W.W. Greene. And speaking of combining the old and the new, Rob Greene is brilliant at it, and Mercury Rising is just one great example of his ability to convince his readers of a different history. The story is set in the 1970s, a decade after an alien invasion in 1961 nearly destroyed Earth. Mars has been colonized, but people still listen to music on 8-track tapes. It’s a lot of fun!
Do You Dream of Terra-Two? by Temi Oh. This brilliant story imagines a history where the UK was one of the front runners of the space race (I’m sensing a theme here…), and their government is working on a program to colonize a distant planet that is almost identical to Earth. I absolutely loved this book!
Do You Dream of Terra-Two? sounds good. I haven’t read any sci-fi for ages but that one might tempt me. I’d like to read the Lady Astronaut books by Mary Robinette Kowal too I think 😀
I need to read the Lady Astronaut books too:-)
Yes, Do You Dream of Terra Two was so good! Great picks!
Thanks Lauren!
Such an interesting prompt! Out of these I think that Our Lady of the Ice stands out to most to me because of the futuristic setting but even so they also still use like you said rotary phones and stuff. Pretty unique indeed!
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It was a lot of fun, I love when authors do unexpected things like that.
I know that Harry Turtledove wrote a couple of alternate history series but I never managed to read any of his books… Anyway that’s the first name that came to mind when you mentioned alternate history 🙂
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I’ve read one Harry Turtledove a few years ago and loved it. Now that you mentioned him I may need to try another:-)
Well I don’t read a lot of this sort of thing but the Lady Astronaut series is alternate history.
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That’s a series I haven’t read yet, and I’m not sure why!
I need to try Do You Dream of Terra-Two. I’ve seen it mentioned before but there was always something else.
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I loved it:-)
Great prompt, but not sure I’ve read enough scifi to be able to fill it out, haha.
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It was sort of a hard topic!
You know, I’m sure I must have loads of examples of alternate history novels but my mind is a total blank! No doubt as soon as I post this comment I;ll think of a couple.
Lynn 😀
I had to do some digging to come up with these, lol.
I haven’t read any of these and I’m not sure I have any good examples of alternate history. Seems it’s a genre I haven’t read much in, though I have a few old ones from Eric Flint I’ve always wanted to get to (not sure if they’re SF).
I’m not sure I identified them all correctly, I think alt history is one of those “broad” genres.
My weeks are crazy busy (sounds like everyone wants to learn French, lol), so alas, I can’t do much in term of blogposts.
You did a great job on this prompt!!
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You do sound busy, thanks Emmma!
Of course all I can think of from your title is Spaceballs, lol. Hmm, I like alternate history, at least the few I’ve read. I can’t for the life of me think of the title or author, but it was a series that kind of had a Marie Antoinette type of lifestyle. Fun post!
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Ha ha Spaceballs!
Good list, and a couple of these were blasts from the past. Some of these wouldn’t even have occurred to me as alternate history!
We have do You Dream of Terra Two in the library I work in so I may have to borrow it and see how it is 🙂