good Alternate History novels?

[Heretic Apostate]

Alternate history: A Choice of Destinies, in which Alexander the Great, while preparing for the conquest of India, is forced by treaty obligations to turn against a nascent Roman Republic. What would the world be like if Greek, Roman, and Persian ideals were merged on an equal basis? Of course, the story depicts Alexander in the rosy "Man of Culture" persona, rather than the more likely "Ruthless, Merciless Conqueror" persona... Still, a good story.

For paratemporal: Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen and its companion (but not by the same author) Great Kings' War.

Just plain weird: The Architect of Sleep, wherein the apes in Africa never evolved into humans. Instead, the dominant species is an evolved racoon. Very cool, I just wish the author would finish editing the sequel (it's sitting in a box, right next to his bloody desk!!!). Not likely to ever see print, however.

Didn't Turtledove do a series of short stories based on an Earth where other hominids didn't die out in North America, and what would be history if we found non-H.S.-hominids in North America instead of Native Americans? A Different Flesh, I believe it's called...

Not really alternate history: The General pentad by David Drake, which models itself on Belisarius' conquest of North Africa and Italy. Also, the Swords of the Legion (?) quad, wherein the remnants of a Roman legion are transported into a pseudo-Byzantine vs. Nomadic invaders world.

 

[Steve Jung]

There's also Alternate Presidents and Alternate Generals, which are collections of short stories edited by Turtledove, IIRC. Presidents asks what would happen if the other candidate had been elected. Generals puts historical figures in the place of contemporary military leaders.

Another book that uses alternate history as a backdrop is The Two Georges by Richard Dreyfuss, the actor, and Turtledove. It's more of a mystery set in the 1960s after the US lost the American Revolution.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

There's book whose author's name escapes me. If I remember correctly, its titled 1632. It's about an Appalachian town from the current era suddenly being transported to the Holy Roman Empire. Unable to return, they carve out a American democracy in the middle of Europe. Not your typical alternate history though.

Anything by Turtledove though.

1632 is written by Eric Flint. There is now a sequel titled 1633, written by Flint and David Weber, with more in the works.

S. M. Stirling also has a rather similar series called Island in the Sea of Time.

Lord Darcy iby Randall Garret is a fantasy alternate history, and has recently come back into print.

Mark Sumner's Devil's Tower and Devil's Engine are other good fantasy A.H. novels, in this case magic comes back during the Civil War, great stuff for Deadlands...

The Spirit Ring by Lois McMaster Bujold is another one, and so is The Dragon in Waiting by John M. Ford.

Turtledove, as mentioned above, is a great writer of alternate histories.

The Auld Grump

 

[Amos_Sten]

Ash by Mary Gentle. Set in the province of Burgandy during the reign of Charles the Bold it tells a history that has since been edited to remove such things as automatons.

Things Unborn - Can't remember the auther. Set in early 21st century London recovering from the Atom War of the 60's. As a twist the dead started to come back to life following the war, not the traditional zombie thing but fully functional human beings appearing where the died cured of whatever it was that killed them. All in all a good story of people trying to adapt, the racial and religious bigotry throughout history and political machinations.

 

[Silver Moon]

I enjoyed the "What If" anthology. I would also recomend either of the "Time Patrol" books by Poul Andersen. They were the basis for both the Timecop movie and series as well as the Time Master role playing game.

 

[takyris]

And there's one that got reviewed really well but which I never read, and consequently both name AND title escape me -- England was absolutely trounced by the Spanish Armada, which didn't get hit by a hurricane beforehand, and now it's part of the Spanish Empire. And a young writer named William Shakespeare is hired to write a subversive pro-England play by the underground movement. Anybody else know about this one, or is it one that's already been suggested and that I just didn't recognize?

 

[Storminator]

Seventh Son by Orson Scott Card is based in the Ohio territory early 1800s. And everyone has some kind of magic talent. Kind of cool, but I'm not sure he ever finished the series.

SS-GB by Len Deighton, where the Nazis conquered England and the US stayed out of the war.

PS

 

[Umbran]

Seventh Son by Orson Scott Card is based in the Ohio territory early 1800s. And everyone has some kind of magic talent. Kind of cool, but I'm not sure he ever finished the series.

The series is called "The Tales of Alvin Maker", and the sixth book is due out sometime in November.

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

The series is called "The Tales of Alvin Maker", and the sixth book is due out sometime in November.

The first two novels are great (Seventh Son and Red Prophet). However, I liked each subsequent one less and less (Prentice Alvin, Alvin Journeyman, and Heartfire)--but even they have some fun stuff in them.

I will definitely read the last two in the series, just to see how it all turns out. The Crystal City comes out in November, and then a seventh and final book will come out some time in the future (obviously!). You can read the first part of The Crystal City at Orson Scott Card's website, Hatrack River.

 

[Steve Jung]

And there's one that got reviewed really well but which I never read, and consequently both name AND title escape me -- England was absolutely trounced by the Spanish Armada, which didn't get hit by a hurricane beforehand, and now it's part of the Spanish Empire. And a young writer named William Shakespeare is hired to write a subversive pro-England play by the underground movement. Anybody else know about this one, or is it one that's already been suggested and that I just didn't recognize?

It's Ruled Britannia by Harry Turtledove, naturally.