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Funny things alternate history novels. They don't really fit in with other broadly sf stuff, yet they don't fit in anywhere else either. The sf genre more or less fits them because it is dealing with worlds other than our own. I understand though why some booksellers want to put them in a category of their own. That section could easily be called the "Turtledove" section because ol' Harry probably writes most of it.
To me there are a couple of main reasons for going down the alt-history path. The serious literary one is to use the different world to hold up a mirror to our own world. The contrast between what "could have been" and what "is" is where the heart of such a work lies. Conversely you can just use the strange setting to tell a story and run some characters across a landscape. The latter is the usual Turtledove method and when he is on form, it is good diverting fun but you wouldn't mistake it for deep.
Along the way in an alt-history story you can have a bit of fun. Drop in the odd moment of quirky difference between the alternative world and our own. It can be a bit of spice for the story and it gives the pretentious amongst us (including me) a chance to show off our second rate knowledge of history and feel clever when we understand the references to "real" history. Of course it would be crass to actually draw attention in the story to our world - planting an alternate world inside the alternate world is just silly. Not only does The Two Georges by Harry Turtledove and Richard Dreyfuss have a bit of entirely inappropriate alternate-alternate in it but it is just stuffed full to overflowing with those little spice moments. Its all about "spot the allusion". Oh there is a story, but it so clearly isn't the point.
Perhaps its just me. I think I've reached a saturation point. I gave up the big inflated Turtledove novel series a while back. I think its time to give up the one-offs as well. Time to go back to works where "spot the allusion" is about film or music references. I still feel clever when I spot those.
To me there are a couple of main reasons for going down the alt-history path. The serious literary one is to use the different world to hold up a mirror to our own world. The contrast between what "could have been" and what "is" is where the heart of such a work lies. Conversely you can just use the strange setting to tell a story and run some characters across a landscape. The latter is the usual Turtledove method and when he is on form, it is good diverting fun but you wouldn't mistake it for deep.
Along the way in an alt-history story you can have a bit of fun. Drop in the odd moment of quirky difference between the alternative world and our own. It can be a bit of spice for the story and it gives the pretentious amongst us (including me) a chance to show off our second rate knowledge of history and feel clever when we understand the references to "real" history. Of course it would be crass to actually draw attention in the story to our world - planting an alternate world inside the alternate world is just silly. Not only does The Two Georges by Harry Turtledove and Richard Dreyfuss have a bit of entirely inappropriate alternate-alternate in it but it is just stuffed full to overflowing with those little spice moments. Its all about "spot the allusion". Oh there is a story, but it so clearly isn't the point.
Perhaps its just me. I think I've reached a saturation point. I gave up the big inflated Turtledove novel series a while back. I think its time to give up the one-offs as well. Time to go back to works where "spot the allusion" is about film or music references. I still feel clever when I spot those.