What do you most think about when reading an alternate history?

[M.D.]

For me it is the lessons learned (or not learned) when you compare and contrast our world with a fictional world that is better/worse because its history was different from ours.

This is the premise behind my debut novel The Alternative History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. It is my examination of what we could have achieved if the Roman Empire had not fallen, as well as a proposal of what can be done to prevent the decline and fall of the American Empire today.
It does not only consider the consequences of history but also the parallels between the past and the present.



What about you? What are some of your favorite takeaways from history, real or alternate?

[Rob]

Suggest Roma Eterna by Robert Silverburg (2003).

[Kevin]

It's not so much plausibility (i.e. look at Harry Turtledove's series in which the alien invasion hits in the middle of WWII) but rather how the author presents the premise. Not too many writers could have pulled off a well-done alternative history - with aliens. If there is a literary version of fusion cooking, this would be it. I also enjoy a mix of actual historical figures, not all well-known. N. Mastoon Thomas makes a brief appearance in One of Turtledove's novels as an emissary from President Eugene Debs forcing General Custer into retirement. The US Navy lands a resistance leader on to a beach in Confederate Cuba along with an arms shipment. The reception is led by a young man named Fidel. The there is fun stuff, like when the "Engels Brothers" of comedy movie fame finally hits you.