Alternative History (15.2)

[Jennifer]

Lisa wrote: "Jennifer L. wrote: "In the "Native American Books" HELP thread, someone mentioned that 1,000 White Women, The Journals of Mae Dodd by Jim Fergus could be considered alternative histo..."

Thanks so much! I think I might read this one for the task.

[Kay]

I'm reading Lion's Blood A Novel of Slavery and Freedom in an Alternate America. By the description, the author's premise is that Africa is the dominant continent and has settled the southern portion of America, while Vikings are selling various Europeans as slaves. Hard to describe, but it seems like it'll be good!

Also, I hadn't heard of this author before, so I'd have never discovered him without this task. Looks like he's got a bunch of interesting books, if you're into the sci-fi/fantasy genre (which I am)!

[Melissa]

BJ Rose wrote: "Lulu wrote: "Newt Gingrich has written a trilogy about the Civil War and two about Pearl Harbor and WWII."

I'll second this suggestion. I read the Civil War trilogy last year and they were rivetin..."

A friend of mine just told me that Gettysburg was by far the best one Newt has written thus far. He also suggested
Never Call Retreat

[BJ Rose]

Melissa wrote: "A friend of mine just told me that Gettysburg was by far the best one Newt has written thus far. He also suggested Never Call Retreat ."

Those two are the 1st & 3rd of the trilogy - the middle one is Grant Comes East.
Guess I'll find out if the WWII ones are as good.

[Adrienne]

Okay, I've got The Patriot Witch for the Alternate History task. Does this work? I understand it's like The Revolutionary War with magic and stuff.

[Lindalee]

I love alternate history. Harry Turtledove's Guns of the South was mentioned. Harry Turtledove has written several other books that are alternate history. My favorite alternate history quote is from a panel on it at a science fiction convention-Bradley Denton whose book Buddy Holly is alive and well on Gandymede is now being made into a movie, was one of the panelists. the other panelists were mentioning serious turning points like south winning civil war, Nazis winning WWII, Napoleon winning at Waterloo, etc.... then Bradley Denton said "Then there's the really serious turning point-do you realize that if Carl Perkins hadn't been in a car accident, we wouldn't know who Elvis Presley was?" He explained that Carl P's version of Blue Suede Shoes and Elvis's came out around the same time during the period when to get a record played you had to go to radio stations and do promotions. Elvis could promote his-Carl P couldn't so Elvis's became the version played.

[Lindalee]

There is also a series of anthologies of alternative history edited by Mike Resnick who was the coeditory of the book at the start of this thread. Some titles are alternate presidents, alternate warriors, alternate outlaws, alternate tyrants, and a book with one of my favorite covers ever: Alternate Kennedys.
It has a record album titled The Kennedys on it-instead of going into politics, the Kennedys became a boy band in one of the stories(I'm not giving away anything as the cover gives this away).

[Katie]

Lindalee wrote: "Alternate Kennedys.
It has a record album titled The Kennedys on it-instead of going into politics, the Kennedys became a boy band in one of the stories(I'm not giving away anything as the cover gives this away)."

That's awesome. I want to read it right now. Must go find copy...

[Tara]

I found World War Z An Oral History of the Zombie War on an Alternate history site. Would this work for the challenge?

[Carrie]

Would V for Vendetta by Alan Moore work for this category? This would give me a good reason to actually read the story, as I have heard there are definite differences between movie and graphic novel. And the public library has a copy of it (free = good).

(I did see it on a few folks alt-history shelves)

[Greyweather]

Kari ♪ wrote: "Would V for Vendetta by Alan Moore work for this category? This would give me a good reason to actually read the story, as I have heard there are definite differences betw..."

It was not intended by the authors to be alternative history, as when it was published it was set 9 years into the future. It just so happens that what was 9 years in the future then is 12 years in the past now. So the same logic that excludes 1984 excludes V for Vendetta. Moore's Watchmen on the other hand is explicitly alt-history.

[Carrie]

Greyweather wrote: "Kari ♪ wrote: "Would V for Vendetta by Alan Moore work for this category? This would give me a good reason to actually read the story, as I have heard there are definite d..."

Thanks for clearing that up. Is Watchmen the one that the recent movie was based on? (haven't seen the movie yet). And was Watchmen given the okay?

[Greyweather]

Kari ♪ wrote: "Thanks for clearing that up. Is Watchmen the one that the recent movie was based on? (haven't seen the movie yet). And was Watchmen given the okay?"

Yes and yes.

Tara wrote: "I found World War Z An Oral History of the Zombie War on an Alternate history site. Would this work for the challenge?
"

I've read WWZ and that book is set in the future. I notice however that you have Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell on your to-read list. That one qualifies for this task.

You should be able to use WWZ for task 25.10 if you still want to read it.

[Tara]

Thanks for getting back to me, I was not sure why it was on the list, but since I would not need to buy the book (husband's) then I wanted to check.

I have it on my to read list, but I am think I may look for Blonde Roots instead, I have seen that on some other peoples lists and it looks more like my kind of thing.

[Lisa]

Would an alternate universe story work for the alternate history with a compare/contrast analysis of the two worlds? I was thinking of the book, Coraline by Neil Gaiman. It's on my group read for another book group and I was looking for a place to squeeze it in here.

[Greyweather]

Lisa wrote: "Would an alternate universe story work for the alternate history with a compare/contrast analysis of the two worlds? I was thinking of the book, Coraline"

The two genres are very different. However, Coraline would work for tasks 20.2, 25.4, 25.7, or 25.8

[Teresa]

Sam wrote: "I received an email from a rep at the NoveList database that said she will be adding the "alternative history" tag to all of the Thursday Next novels, so all the sequels should be okay for the task..."

so eyre affair and lost in a good book would both work for this task

[Lisa]

Greyweather wrote: "Lisa wrote: "Would an alternate universe story work for the alternate history with a compare/contrast analysis of the two worlds? I was thinking of the book, Coraline"

The two genres..."

Thanks for the advice, but I found a fit for it in Task 10.10. Some editions of the book have a cat on the cover, and I didn't have anything in this category I had to read.

[Stephanie]

Is this book acceptable?

Lies My Teacher Told Me Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong

[El]

Stephanie wrote: "Is this book acceptable?

[book:Lies My Teacher Told Me Everything Your American History Textbook G..."

Stephanie, that would be considered non-fiction. Alternative fiction is, well, fiction. This book (please correct me if I'm wrong as I have not read it) shows history the way it really happened instead of imagining a society and a history that could have happened if things turned out differently.

[Stephanie]

Oops. I misread the task. Thanks for letting me know!