Anybody ever read Harry Turtledove?

He is an author who writes alternate history stories. He has been writing this long saga of books based in a timeline where the south won the civil war in 1862 and animosity built up ever since. He has put out a book of that saga every year since 1997. He is even coming out with one this year. I actually started reading the series last summer/fall and started with another book recently after having not been reading them for 4 months. So anybody know who he is?

I like the idea of alternative history...a kind of what if?

Isn't that him? The Ugly Chickens? Great story.

I don't do series, when I saw that he was doing one, I'm afraid I just assumed he needed cash, and that's fine, we all get older, but I'm somewhat a follower of the school of, "If it can't be said in 300 pages, it isn't worth saying."

But when you are covering an alternative history, you could do a lot with it. He actually does quite a bit. Each book is close to 600 pages.

I know he's hugely popular, though that short story book is the only one I have read so far, and that was a few years ago. Great writer, it's just that alternative history isn't quite my bag, butI mean him no disparagement at all.

I'd love to read more just because I think he is a great writer, except that he works in, as I pointed out, a genre is that isn't my bag. baby.

Very Good!

...but if you want your alt-history in one volume, I'd reccommend "Guns of the South" or "The Two Georges" (written with Richard Dreyfuss.

What is it about? Was it written by the same Richard Dreyfuss who is an actor?

It's about a painting that was stolen, in the 1990's. The painting in question was of George Washington, kneeling in fealty to King George the Third of Great Britian. See, the American Revolution did not take place, and the North American Union took the United States and Canada's place in history, so to speak. Other Changes too, but I won't spoil it too much for you.

Ripping yarn. It was clever of him to write from the viewpoint of someone living in the 1860's, eg. their bewilderment at the computers.

I think the definitive classic Southern Civil War victory alternative-history is Ward Moore's Bring the Jubilee, but Harry Turtledove is a hell of a writer too.

and could barely finish the first volume. Harry has some great ideas, but as a writer, IMO, he is less than great. I've been meaning to give the Civil War series a try, because alternate history is my favorite genre of SF. I have, however, read some very good alt-hist short stories by him.

I echo the call to read Ward Moore's "Bring the Jubilee," it's a classic. As is "The Man in the High Castle, " a tale set in 1960's San Francisco occupied by the conquering Japanese.

The best alternate history novel I've read recently was Kim Stanley Robinson's "The Years of Rice and Salt," which posits the demise of the West in the 13th century because of the black plague, leaving the world primarily to the Chinese and Islamic powers to settle, and who eventually fight a protracted 20th century war with each other. It's a fantastic novel, very thoughtful.

There's a lot of great alternate history out there, much of it better than Harry Turtledove. Try googling "alternate history," you'll find lots of good resources on-line.

Dirk

Eric Flint, I would call his books more sci-fiction/alt-history at the same time.

I would suggest "1632": basic premise is a West Virginia Mining Town from the year 2000 is transported back to the year 1632, Germany (Thuringia province) in the middle of one of the worse wars in history. Very good and the beginning of a series: 1633, and 1634:The Galileo Affair are both out in print now. Love that series, and I agree with Robinson's book too, very good, you read the Mars Trilogy too?

and they look very interesting. I don't know Flint as an author, but I hope to get to "1632" one of these days. And no, I have not read Robinson's Mars series--that's another one I've been meaning to read for a long time (too many books and not enough time!).

Another excellent alt-hist series is "The Age of Unreason" by J. Gregory Keyes--I highly recommend this. "Newton's Cannon" is the first in the series, and I think it's up to four novels by now, each of which stands alone quite well. The twist here is that Isaac Newton managed to discover actual principles of alchemy, which lead to a whole set of practical applications involving what amounts to magic, but is really more akin to a sort of demonology. The 'technology' involved causes other-dimensional beings to come into frequent contact with our material world. This becomes commonplace in 18th century Europe and America, leading to disastrous results that radically transform the political landscape. Excellent series, and very well-written; carefully researched.

Excellent series! for some of his straight science fisction try "A World of Difference".

"The Victorious Opposition"