The Usenet Alternate History List
Version 20a - 15 December 1994
Maintained by
R.B. Schmunk
(altworld@panix.com)
"...there are no correct alternate histories; there are only plausible
alternate histories."
--Will Shetterly, in
"The Captain's Story"
This is an annotated list of novels, stories and essays involving alternate
histories (a.k.a. what-ifs, allohistories, uchronias or counterfactuals),
writings in which a past event is altered and its effect on later history
somehow described.
Alternate histories (henceforth abbrev. "AH") are a
distinct subset of parallel worlds/alternate universe stories in which some
emphasis has been put on an historical element.
The criteria used to distinguish them were best defined by:
Chamberlain, Gordon B.,
"Allohistory in Science Fiction", in
Alternative Histories
(eds. Charles G. Waugh & Martin H. Greenberg)
(Garland 1986, 0824086597).
This list is copyright 1993, 1994 by R.B. Schmunk, except for appendix A,
which is copyright 1993, 1994 by R.B. Schmunk and Evelyn C. Leeper.
License is hereby granted to republish via electronic or other media for
which no fee is charged (except for the media used) provided that this
copyright notice is attached intact to any and all republished portion
or portions.
It may not be sold for profit or incorporated in commercial documents
without the written permission of the copyright holder.
The list is posted quarterly (Jan, Apr, Jul, Oct) to the Usenet newsgroups
rec.arts.sf.written, alt.history.what-if, rec.answers, alt.answers and
news.answers.
Follow-ups are directed to rec.arts.sf.written.
The most recent text version of the list is available through the net from:
1. ftp://gandalf.rutgers.edu/pub/sfl/alternate-histories.txt
2. ftp://ftp.lysator.liu.se/pub/sf-texts/lists/Alternate_History_v#
3. http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/sf/alt_history/top.html
(Note: The # in site 2 is a version number; use the highest number you see
to get the latest version.)
The HTML version is available from:
4. http://www.steampunk.com/sfch/bibliographies/
Most of the information in this list was contributed by netters and
other AH fans (see below), but much was also extracted from:
Hacker, Barton C., & Gordon B. Chamberlain,
"Pasts that Might Have Been, II: A
Revised Bibliography of Alternative History", in
Alternative Histories
(eds. Charles G. Waugh & Martin H. Greenberg)
(Garland 1986, 0824086597);
Contento, William,
Index to Science Fiction Anthologies and Collections
(George Prior/G.K. Hall 1978, 081618092X);
Contento, William,
Index to Science Fiction Anthologies and Collections 1977-1983
(G.K. Hall 1984, 0816185549).
Submissions for new entries are always appreciated, as are corrections to
existing entries.
Please e-mail your comments to
altworld@panix.com.
Entries are separated into three categories:
Anthologies--collections of genre short stories and/or essays;
Alternate Histories--stories, essays and novels; and
Reference Materials--discussions about the genre and/or specific stories.
There are also two appendices: A) the
Divergence Chronology, and B) the
Oldest Alternate Histories.
In the entries, note that:
If an author's name is replaced by dashes, the entry is a sequel to or
in the same series as the preceding entry.
If replaced by dashes within parentheses, it is part of a series collected
within the previous book entry.
Double parentheses indicate inclusion in a book collected within an
omnibus volume.
If you can't find a particular short story, check other entries by the
author to see if it was retitled or included in a larger work.
References to anthologies containing a short story include an editor's
name only if different from the author of the story.
The ten-digit numbers which appear in publication data are dashless ISBNs.
Due to the merger-mania which spread through the publishing industry in
the late 1980s and early 1990s, it has become increasingly difficult to tell
if what was once an independent publisher is still a publisher or just an
imprint in a larger company.
Thus, some of the publishers listed below may not be quite correct.
Abbrevs. frequently used in publication listings (see the Anthologies
and Collections section below for more info) are:
AH = Alternative Histories
(eds. Waugh & Greenberg)
(Garland 1986)
AK = Alternate Kennedys
(ed. M. Resnick)
(Tor 1992)
Alt = Alternatives
(eds. Adams & Adams)
(Baen 1989)
AO = Alternate Outlaws
(ed. M. Resnick)
(Tor 1994)
AP = Alternate Presidents
(ed. M. Resnick)
(Tor 1992)
AT = Alternate Tyrants
(ed. M. Resnick)
(Tor 1995, not yet published)
AW = Alternate Warriors
(ed. M. Resnick)
(Tor 1993)
AWC = Alternate WorldCons
(ed M. Resnick)
(Axolotl 1994)
BAOF = By Any Other Fame
(eds. M. Resnick & Greenberg)
(DAW 1994)
BAW = Robert Adams' Book of Alternate
Worlds
(eds. Adams et al)
(Signet 1987)
BT = Beyond Time
(ed. Ley)
(Pocket 1976)
f&sf = The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
HSL = Hiroshima Soll Leben!
(ed. Armer)
(Heyne 1990)
HV = Hitler Victorious
(eds. Benford & Greenberg)
(Garland 86; Berkley 87)
IAsfm = Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine
IIHHO = If It Had Happened
Otherwise
(ed. Squire)
(Longmans, Green 1931;
exp Sidgwick & Jackson 1972; St. Martin's 1974;
rev vt If: or, History Rewritten, Viking 1931; Kennikat 1964)
IIHB = If I Had Been...
(ed. Snowman)
(Rowman & Littlefield 1979)
IoH = The Ifs of History
(Chamberlin)
(Henry Altemus 1907; Atheneum 1908)
SAH = Speculations on American
History
(Borden & Graham)
(Heath 77)
SVW = Schone verkehrte Welt:
Phantastische geschichten zur geschichte
(ed. Oth)
(Luchterhand 1988)
WIESSF = What If? Explorations in
Social-Science Fiction
(ed. Polsby)
(Lewis 1982)
WMHB# = What Might Have Been? Volume #
(eds. Benford & Greenberg)
(Bantam 1989-92);
WMHB1 and
WMHB2 incl. in
What Might Have Been, Volumes I and II (SFBC 1990);
and
WMHB3 and
WMHB4 incl. in
What Might Have Been, Volumes III and IV (SFBC 1992)
WoM = Worlds of Maybe
(ed. Silverberg)
(Thomas Nelson 1970; Dell 1974)
This list would not have been possible without the generous and continuing
help of Evelyn C. Leeper.
Significant contributions were also made by Thomas Cron, Will Linden and
Duncan MacGregor.
Many thanks to them and all the others who have made submissions, including:
Joseph Admire,
Vincent Archer,
A.M. Barbanson,
Stephen Baxter,
Alan Beale,
Chris Blakeley,
Fernando Bonsembiante,
Paul Boyer,
Stan Brown,
Bui Chin,
Glen E. Cox,
Daniel Danehy-Oakes,
Meredith Dixon,
Calle Dybedahl,
Richard K. Fox,
Beth Friedman,
Dorian Gray,
Guy Harris,
Jörg Helbig,
Arne Herløv Petersen,
Kenneth Hite,
Todd Howard,
Tom Hyer,
Bill Johnston,
P.C. Jørgensen,
Mark Krenitsky,
Janet Lafler,
Gerson Lodi-Ribeiro,
Jim Love,
Andreas Morlok,
Michael J. Morton,
Susan K. O'Fearna,
Michael A. Patton,
Jean-Yves Peterschmitt,
Mike Resnick,
Louise Rowder,
Andy Sawyer,
Dave Schaumann,
Stu Shiffman,
Brian Stableford,
Harry Turtledove,
William Watson,
Al B. Wesolowsky,
John Whitmore,
Marek Wiechula,
Matthew Wiener, and
Erwin Wodarczak.
And now... the list:
Anthologies and Collections
Adams, Robert, & Pamela Crippen Adams (eds.),
Alternatives
(Baen 1989, 0671698184)
Adams, Robert, Martin H. Greenberg & Pamela Crippen Adams (eds.),
Robert Adams' Book of Alternate Worlds
(NAL/Signet 1987, 0451148940)
Armer, Karl Michael (ed.),
Hiroshima Soll Leben!
(Heyne 1990, 3453043081)
Benford, Gregory, & Martin H. Greenberg (eds.),
Hitler Victorious: Eleven Stories of the German
Victory in World War II
(Garland 1986, 0824086589; Berkley 1987, 0425101371)
Comments:
Reprints and new stories by
Bailey,
Bear,
Benford,
Brin,
Budrys,
Finch,
Goldsmith,
Kornbluth,
Linaweaver,
K. Roberts, and
Shippey.
Benford, Gregory, & Martin H. Greenberg (eds.),
What Might Have Been? Volume 1: Alternate
Empires
(Bantam 1989, 0553278452);
included in
What Might Have Been, Volumes I and II
(SFBC 1990)
Comments:
New stories by
P. Anderson,
Benford,
Effinger,
Fowler,
Malzberg,
Morrow,
Niven,
Pohl,
K.S. Robinson,
Silverberg, and
Turtledove.
----------------------------------------------,
What Might Have Been? Volume 2: Alternate
Heroes
(Bantam 1990, 0553282794);
included in
What Might Have Been, Volumes I and II
(SFBC 1990)
Comments:
New stories exploring the Great Man hypothesis by
Cassutt,
Finch,
Harrison & Shippey,
Laidlaw,
Malzberg,
Morrow,
Rucker & Di Filippo,
Shwartz,
Silverberg,
Tarr,
Turtledove,
W.J. Williams, and
Zebrowski.
----------------------------------------------,
What Might Have Been? Volume 3: Alternate
Wars
(Bantam 1991, 0553290088);
included in
What Might Have Been, Volumes III and IV
(SFBC 1992)
Comments:
New stories and a reprint exploring results of battles/wars by
P. Anderson,
Benford,
Busby,
Churchill,
Kress,
Malzberg,
McDevitt,
Morrow,
M. Resnick,
Steele,
Turtledove, and
Zebrowski.
----------------------------------------------,
What Might Have Been? Volume 4: Alternate
Americas
(Bantam 1992, 055329007X);
included in
What Might Have Been, Volumes III and IV
(SFBC 1992)
Comments:
Semi-new stories to mark the quincentennial of Columbus's first voyage by
Attanasio,
de Camp,
Eklund,
Finch,
Friesner,
Malzberg,
Oltion,
Sargent,
Silverberg,
Turtledove, and
Zebrowski.
Borden, Morton, & Otis L. Graham, Jr.,
Speculations on American History
(Heath 1977, 06690048X)
Chamberlin, Joseph Edgar,
The Ifs of History
(Henry Altemus 1907; Atheneum 1908)
Comments:
22 essays on possible turning points in
history, with speculation on possible results.
Hearnshaw, F.J.C.,
The "Ifs" of History
(George Newnes 1929)
Comments:
20 essays on possible turning points in history, with much background but no
development.
(No separate entries for the essays are listed below.)
Levine, Herbert M. (ed.),
What If the American Political System Were
Different?
(M.E. Sharpe 1992, 1563240092, 1563240106)
Comments:
10 essays on different US political structures, but only entries by
Ferrell and
Pitney are AH.
Ley, Sandra (ed.),
Beyond Time
(Pocket 1976, 0671807382)
Comments:
New stories by
Chilson,
Cooper,
Cores,
J. Coulson,
R. Coulson,
Davidson,
Eklund,
A.D. Foster,
Gat,
Gotschalk,
Lafferty,
O. Ley,
Ward Moore,
Orgill,
Percy,
D. Thompson, and
Zebrowski.
Oth, Rene (ed.)
Schone verkehrte Welt: Phantastische
geschichten zur geschichte
(Luchterhand 1988, 3630617980)
Polsby, Nelson W. (ed.)
What If? Explorations in Social-Science
Fiction
(Lewis 1982, 0866160183)
Comments:
Stories and essays by
Averneri,
Dexter,
Fried,
C.O. Jones,
R.A. Kagan,
N.E. Long,
Masters,
Minogue,
Murphy,
Polsby,
Riker,
Salisbury,
Seabury,
Wildavsky, and
P.M. Williams.
Resnick, Mike (ed.),
Alternate Kennedys
(Tor 1992, 0812519558)
Comments:
New stories, with AH entries by
Aronson,
Cadigan,
Effinger,
Friesner,
Gerrold,
Katze,
Kube-McDowell,
Malzberg,
L. Resnick,
M. Resnick,
Rusch,
Soukup,
Tarr, and
Von Rospach.
-------------------,
Alternate Outlaws
(Tor 1994, 0812533445)
Comments:
New stories, with AH entries by
Delaplace,
DiChario,
Effinger,
Gerrold,
King,
Koja & Malzberg,
McHugh,
Meacham,
Nimersheim,
L. Resnick,
F.M. Robinson,
Rusch,
Sheckley,
Simner,
D.W. Smith,
Soukup,
Steele,
Tarr,
Thomsen, and
W.J. Williams.
-------------------,
Alternate Presidents
(Tor 1992, 0812511921)
Comments:
New stories involving American elections by
Cadigan,
J. Carr,
Chalker,
G. Cox,
Delaplace,
Easton,
Fawcett,
Gerrold,
Gilliland,
Gunn,
J. Kagan,
King,
Kube-McDowell,
Malzberg (1),
Malzberg (2),
Moffett,
Nimersheim,
Nye,
Person,
L. Resnick,
M. Resnick,
R. Roberts,
Rusch,
Sheckley,
Shwartz,
Soukup,
Thomsen, and
Watt-Evans.
-------------------,
Alternate Tyrants
(Tor 1995, not yet published)
Comments:
New stories by
Bourne,
DiChario,
Feeley,
Gormley,
R.J. Green,
J.C. Haldeman & Delaplace,
Koja & Malzberg,
K. Long,
Lupoff,
McHugh,
Nichols,
Nimersheim,
L. Resnick,
F.M. Robinson,
Rowder,
Rusch,
Sagara,
Schimel,
Thomsen, and
van Belkom.
-------------------,
Alternate Warriors
(Tor 1993, 0812523466)
Comments:
New stories by
Delaplace,
DiChario,
Fawcett
Friesner,
Gerrold,
J.C. Haldeman,
Hernandez,
King,
Kube-McDowell,
Lackey,
A.R. Lewis,
Linaweaver,
Malzberg,
McHugh,
Meacham,
L. Resnick,
M. Resnick,
Rusch,
Sagara,
Schimel,
J. Sherman,
Tarr,
Thomsen, and
M. White.
Resnick, Mike (ed.),
Alternate WorldCons
(Axolotl 1994, 1561464481)
Comments:
New stories by
Aronson,
DeWeese & R. Coulson,
Gilliam,
Glyer,
J.C. Haldeman,
Katze,
A.R. Lewis (1),
A.R. Lewis (2),
McGarry,
M. Resnick,
F.M. Robinson,
Rowder,
Rusch,
Spelman,
Thomsen.
(Note: the maintainer of this bibliography suspects that several of these
stories are not AH, but having not yet seen them, lists them for
completeness.)
-------------------,
Illegitimate Stepdaughter of Alternate WorldCons
(Axolotl 1996, not yet published)
Resnick, Mike, & Martin H. Greenberg (eds.),
By Any Other Fame
(DAW 1994, 0886775949)
Comments:
New stories by
Daniel,
Delaplace,
DiChario,
Effinger,
J.C. Haldeman,
J. Kagan,
Kress,
Lackey & Dixon,
Malzberg (1),
Malzberg (2),
Meacham,
Nimersheim,
L. Resnick,
Rusch,
Simner,
D.W. Smith,
Tarr, and
Thomsen.
Resnick, Mike & Patrick Nielsen Hayden (eds.),
Alternate Skiffy
(Wildside 1995, not yet published)
Silverberg, Robert (ed.),
Worlds of Maybe: Seven Stories of Science Fiction
(Thomas Nelson 1970; Dell 1974);
Snowman, Daniel (ed.),
If I Had Been..., Ten Historical Fantasies
(Rowman & Littlefield 1979, 0847661369)
Squire, J.C. (ed.),
If It Had Happened Otherwise: Lapses Into
Imaginary History
(Longmans, Green 1931;
exp Sidgwick & Jackson 1972; St. Martin's 1974;
rev vt If: or, History Rewritten, Viking 1931; Kennikat 1964)
Waugh, Charles G., & Martin H. Greenberg (eds.),
Alternative Histories: Eleven Stories of the
World as It Might Have Been
(Garland 1986, 0824086597)
Comments:
Reprints and new stories by
P. Anderson,
Benét,
I.E. Cox,
de Camp,
Elgin,
Hale,
Lafferty,
Piper,
K. Roberts,
K.S. Robinson, and
Utley & Waldrop.
Reference mat'l by
Chamberlain and
Hacker & Chamberlain.
Stories and Novels
Adams, Robert,
Castaways in Time
(Donning 1979, 0915442965; Signet 1982, 0451114744)
What if:
Nestorians won at the Council of Ephesus, 451.
Story:
Tourists trapped in a remote villa are transported to a 17th-century in
which the Moorish pope has declared a Crusade against England.
-------------,
The Seven Magical Jewels of Ireland
(Signet 1985, 0451133404)
Story:
The battlefield between Pope Abdul and Arthur III Tudor shifts to the high
seas and to Ireland.
-------------,
Of Quests and Kings
(NAL/Signet 1986, 0451145747)
Story:
Abdul II may be dead, but the fight in Ireland continues.
-------------,
Of Chiefs and Champions
(Signet 1987, 0451151100)
Story:
More intrigue in Ireland and England, and new fighting in N America.
-------------,
Of Myths and Monsters
(Signet 1988, 0451157222)
-------------,
Of Beginnings and Endings
(Signet 1989)
Aiken, Joan,
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase
(Cape 1962; Doubleday 1963; Hutchinson 1975; Dell 1981, 1987)
What if:
The Stuarts won the Jacobite wars.
Story:
Two English girls face wolves and an evil governess.
Comments:
Except for wolves besetting England c. 1830, this volume is not AH.
-----------,
Black Hearts in Battersea
(Doubleday 1964; Cape 1965; Dell 1969, 1981;Dell/Yearling 1987, 0440496039)
Story:
Hanoverians plot against James III.
-----------,
Nightbirds on Nantucket
(Doubleday 1966; Dell 1969)
Story:
A mad scientist in New England develops a transatlantic zap-gun aimed at St.
James's Palace.
-----------,
The Stolen Lake
(Cape 1981; Delacorte 1981, 0440083176)
Story:
A kingdom founded by Celtic refugees from the battle of Camlann is discovered
in the Andes.
-----------,
The Whispering Mountain
(Doubleday 1969)
Story:
The Prince of Wales (later Richard IV) has a Welsh adventure.
-----------,
The Cuckoo Tree
(Cape 1971, 0224005146; Doubleday 1971; Doubleday 1988, 0440400465)
Story:
Hanoverian plotters return to disrupt the coronation of Richard IV.
-----------,
Dido and Pa
(Delacorte 1986, 0385294808)
Story:
Another Hanoverian plot against Richard IV.
-----------,
Is
(Jonathan Cape 1992, 0224032968;
vt Is Underground,
Delacorte 1993, 0385308981)
Story:
The royal heir is among numerous English children stolen away as slave labor.
-----------,
Midnight is a Place
(Cape 1974, 0224009680; Viking 1974, 0670474835; Scholastic 1993, 059045496X)
Aksyonov, Vassily,
Ostrov Krym
(Ardis 1981, 0882337440, 0882337459)
Trans.:
English tr. by Michael Henry Heim,
The Island of Crimea
(Random House 1983, 0394524314; Vintage 1984, 0394727657)
What if:
The Crimea was an island and White Russians successfully held it against
the Bolsheviks and established a provisionary democratic gov't.
Story:
In the early 1980s, a Crimean newspaper editor spearheads the Common Fate
re-unification movement, playing into Soviet hands.
Aldiss, Brian W.,
The Malacia Tapestry
(Cape 1976, 022401269X)
What if:
Humans evolved from dinosaurs rather than hominids.
Story:
...
Aldiss, Brian W.,
"Matrix" (vt "Danger: Religion!"), in
Science Fantasy Oct 1962;
The Saliva Tree and Other Strange Growths
(Faber 1966; Gregg 1981, 0839825668);
The Inner Landscape
(ed. Michael Moorcock)
(Allison & Busby 1969, 0850310059);
Neanderthal Planet
(Avon 1969; Avon ..., 0380541971);
and
The Unfriendly Future
(ed. ... Boardman)
(publ. unknown)
Trans.:
German tr. by Barbara Heidkamp,
"Vorsicht! Religion", in
HSL
Story:
In 2042, a theocratic timeline crosstime abducts people for advice on dealing
with a slave revolt, but they develop other plans.
Aldiss, Brian W.,
"M.E.R.O's Sinai Project, 1957-1970" (vt "What You Get for Your Dollar"), in
The Shape of Further Things: Speculations on Change
(Faber 1970, 0571094724; Doubleday 1971);
and
The New Improved Sun: An Anthology of Utopian SF
(ed. Thomas M. Disch)
(Harper & Row 1975, 006011052X; Hutchinson 1976, 0091242002)
What if:
The UN took strong action following the Anglo-French attack on Egypt in 1956,
including an internat'l reclamation project in the Sinai.
Story:
A man from a world beset by an energy crisis visits the utopian Sinai of
another and describes its history.
Aldiss, Brian W.,
"A Tupolev Too Far", in
Other Edens III
(eds. Christopher Evans & Robert Holdstock)
(Unwin 1989);
and
A Tupolev Too Far
(HarperCollins UK 1993, 0002240335; St. Martin's 1994, 0312105657)
What if:
A massive explosion which flattened Berlin in July 1914 led to an internat'l
relief effort and averted WW1.
Story:
A British publisher traveling to Nicholas III's glorious imperial Russia
somehow ends up in our Brezhnev's gray Moscow.
Aldiss, Brian W.,
The Year Before Yesterday
(Franklin Watts 1987, 0531150402; St. Martin's 1988, 0312911122)
What if:
Churchill was killed during a visit to Finland in 1935.
Later, Germany gobbled up W Europe but left the Zinoviev-led Soviet Union alone.
Story:
A Finnish composer finds the body of a girl alongside the road, and inside
her backpack is an SF thriller about a different WW2.
Allen, Louis,
"If I had been... Hideki Tojo in 1941", in
IIHB
What if:
The prime minister of Japan pursued a path which would maximize Japan's gains
without forcing a war with the United States.
Story:
Japan's takeover of Java and Siberia provokes a worried America to elect
MacArthur in '44 and to ally with Germany.
The falling Japan uses nukes.
Allikas, David,
"A Switch in Time!", in
Time Warp #4 (Apr/May 1980, DC Comics)
What if:
AmerInds had nuclear capability.
Story:
Time-travellers trying to prevent a nuclear war kidnap Albert Einstein and
drop him off in 1782 N America.
Amery, Carl,
An den Feuern der Leyermark: roman
(Nymphenburger 1979, 3485003697; Heyne 1981, 1983; Heyne 1994, 3453072499)
What if:
Former Confederate soldiers were hired as mercenaries by Bavaria and used to
subjugate Bismarck's Prussia.
Story:
Bavaria replaces Prussia as the dominant German power and important European
player.
Amery, Carl,
Das Königsprojekt
(Piper 1974, 3492020747; Deutscher Taschenbuchverlag 1978; Heyne 1984)
Story:
The Vatican tries to use Leonardo da Vinci's time machine to support a
Bavarian-Stuart reversal of the Reformation.
Ambrose, David,
The Man Who Turned Into Himself
(Jonathan Cape 1993, 0224035193; St. Martin's 1994, 0312104979)
What if:
John and Robert Kennedy were not assassinated and Lloyd Bentsen was president
in 1990.
Story:
The sight of his wife's death in an auto accident shocks a man sideways into
another version of himself.
Ambrose, Stephen,
Pegasus Bridge: June 6, 1944
(Simon & Schuster 1985)
What if:
British troops did not take and hold on to Pegasus Bridge during the D-Day
invasion.
Comments:
Epilog speculates that if Germans had retained control, reinforcements might
have eventually rolled up the Allied invasion force.
Amis, Kingsley,
The Alteration
(Cape 1976, 022401305X; Viking 1976, 0670115223; Panther 1978)
Trans.:
German tr. by Walter Brumm,
Die verwandlung
(Heyne 1986)
What if:
Catherine of Aragon and Arthur of Wales had a son who became king of England
upon the death of Henry VII.
Later, Martin Luther became pope.
Story:
A boy soprano in 1976 Catholic England tries to flee becoming a papal
castrato.
Comments:
Winner: 1977 John W. Campbell Memorial Award
Anderson, Kevin J.,
"Music Played on the Strings of Time", in
Analog Jan 1993
What if:
Various famous rock stars did not die tragic deaths.
Story:
A man visiting alternate Earths to obtain "new" music by "dead" rockers
comes across an album with his name on it.
------------------,
"Tide Pools", in
Analog Dec 1993
Story:
A woman searches the timelines for a cure to an "orphan" disease afflicting
her husband.
Anderson, Kevin J., & Doug Beason,
The Trinity Paradox
(Bantam 1991, 0553292463)
What if:
US nuclear weapons research was slowed down, while the Nazis accelerated
theirs.
Story:
An accident propels an anti-nuclear activist back to 1943 Los Alamos and
she sets out to prevent the Trinity test.
Anderson, Poul,
"Delenda Est", in
f&sf Dec 1955;
Guardians of Time
(Ballantine 1960, 0345018907; exp Pinnacle 1981);
WoM;
Annals of the Time Patrol
(Doubleday ...);
AH;
Time Wars
(eds. Charles G. Waugh & Martin H. Greenberg)
(Tor 1986, 0812530489, 0812530497);
The Great SF Stories: 17
(eds. Isaac Asimov & Martin H. Greenberg)
(DAW 1988, 0886772567);
The Eternal City
(ed. David Drake);
and
The Time Patrol
(Tor 1991, 0312852312; Tor 1994)
What if:
The Scipios were killed at Ticinus, and Hannibal later captured and destroyed
Rome.
Story:
Celts are driving steamcars in 1955 "New York"; it's up to Time Patrolman
Manse Everard to go back to the 2nd Punic War and set things right.
--------------,
The Shield of Time
(Tor 1990, 0312850883; Tor 1991, 0812510003)
Story:
Everard and Wanda Tamberley patch history up at Bactra (209 BC) and Rignano
(1137).
Comments:
Non-AH entries in series are "Time Patrol", "Brave to be a King", "The Only
Game in Town", "Gibraltar Falls", "Ivory, and Apes, and Peacocks", "The
Sorrow of Odin the Goth", "Star of the Sea" and "The Year of the Ransom".
All may be found in the The Time Patrol (Tor 1991, 0312852312) and elsewhere.
Anderson, Poul,
"Eutopia", in
Dangerous Visions
(ed. Harlan Ellison)
(Doubleday 1967; NAL 1975);
Past, Present, and Future Perfect: A Text Anthology of Speculative & Science
Fiction
(eds. Jack C. Wolf & Gregory Fitz Gerald)
(Fawcett 1973);
and
The Dark Between the Stars
(Berkley 1981)
What if:
Alexander lived longer or Christianity fell before Norse, Arab and Magyar
attacks.
Story:
A crosstime explorer from an advanced Alexandrine timeline violates a taboo
while visiting a Norse-Magyar N America
Anderson, Poul,
"House Rule", in
Homebrew
(ed. anon.)
(NESFA 1976);
f&sf May 1979; and
Fantasy
(Pinnacle 1981)
Story:
The Heloise and Abelard of two different worlds meet at a tavern outside
time.
---------------,
"Loser's Night", in
Short Story Paperbacks, #1 (Pulphouse 1991)
Anderson, Poul,
"In the House of Sorrows", in
WMHB1
What if:
Assyrians captured Jerusalem and the Diasporah occurred before Christianity
could get started.
Story:
Adventures of a courier from North Markland (America) in an alternate
Israel/Palestine.
Anderson, Poul,
A Midsummer Tempest
(Doubleday 1974, 0385055056; Ballantine 1975,
0345274520; Orbit/Futura 1975, 0860078574)
What if:
Shakespeare's plays were real history and the Industrial Revolution arrived
two centuries early.
Also, magic works.
Story:
In order to keep Charles I on England's throne, a Cavalier prince searches
for Prospero's isle.
Comments:
Nominee: 1975 Nebula for best novel.
Anderson, Poul,
Operation Chaos
(Doubleday 1971, 0385005881; Lancer ...; Berkley 1978; Baen 1992, 067172102X);
fixup of
"Operation Afreet", in
f&sf Sep 1956;
"Operation Salamander", in
f&sf Jan 1957;
"Operation Incubus", in
f&sf Oct 1959; and
"Operation Changeling", serial in
f&sf May & Jun 1969
What if:
Men learned to remove antimagical properties of iron and magical technology
ensued.
Story:
A werewolf and witch are involved in repeated struggles against the
machinations of Hell during WW2, as the Saracens invade America.
Anderson, Poul,
Three Hearts and Three Lions
(Doubleday 1961; Avon ..., 0380004120; Berkley
1978; Ace 1984, 0441808212; Baen 1993, 0671721860)
Story:
A Dane from our Earth must save a magical alternate Europe from the forces
of Chaos, but why are the people there expecting him?
Anderson, Poul,
"When Free Men Shall Stand", in
WMHB3
What if:
Lucien Bonaparte convinced Napoleon to consolidate the French hold on Europe
rather than invade Egypt.
Later, the French won at Trafalgar.
Story:
In 1849, Sam Houston talks history with a French diplomat during the battle
for New Orleans in the 2nd French-American War.
Andrevon, Jean-Pierre,
"L'Anniversaire du Reich de mille ans", in
C'est arrivé mais on n'en a rien su
(Denoël 1984)
What if:
...
Story:
Nazi power lasts exactly 1000 years.
Andrevon, Jean-Pierre,
"Qu'est-ce qu'il faisait, le jeune docteur Frankenstein, en mai 81? et en
mai 68?", in
C'est arrivé mais on n'en a rien su
(Denoël 1984)
What if:
Camus, Philipe and Vian did not die in the early 1960s.
Story:
A descendant of Dr. Frankenstein extends the lives of Camus, Philipe and
Vian to see how they would have affected later French history.
Andrews, Keith William,
Freedom's Rangers
(Berkley 1989)
----------------------,
Raiders of the Revolution
(Berkley 1989)
----------------------,
Search and Destroy
(Berkley 1990)
----------------------,
Treason in Time
(Berkley 1990)
----------------------,
Sink the Armada!
(Berkley 1990)
----------------------,
Snow Kill
(Berkley 1991)
Story:
Time war action in which American and Soviets try to delete each other from
history.
anon.,
The Occupation
(... 1960)
What if:
Germany won WW2.
Story:
...
anon.,
"Scene and Not Herd: Failure of a Revolution", in
Harper's Bazaar Nov 1967
What if:
The 1917 Russian Revolution was bloodily suppressed.
Story:
Post-1917 imperial governance is no better than the Communist's.
Anvil, Christopher,
"Apron Chains", in
Analog Dec 1970
What if:
The scientific revolution started in the 15th century, the result of a man's
being saved from drowning.
Story:
Discovery of the Americas is stalled, then stifled, by too-rigid adherence to
the scientific method.
Anvil, Christopher,
"Bugs", in
Analog Jun 1986
What if:
Henry Ford never existed to standardize the auto industry.
Story:
A computer salesman from our world dreams of a world in which the auto
industry suffers from incompatible hardware and formats.
Arnoux, Alexandre,
Faut-il brûler Jeanne? mystere en trois journées
(Gallimard 1954)
What if:
Joan of Arc was rescued.
Story:
God allows Joan to be rescued, much to her disillusionment.
Armor, John C.,
"Bureaucrats and Quiche-Eaters on the Chisholm Trail", in
Journal of Irreproducible Results Apr/May 1985
Armstrong, Anthony, & Bruce Graeme,
When the Bells Rang
(Harrap 1943)
What if:
Nazi Germany invaded England in 1940.
Story:
How the invasion was defeated.
Armstrong, Michael,
"Everything That Rises, Must Converge", in
Asimov's Science Fiction Feb 1993
What if:
Flannery O'Connor became an SF writer.
Story:
In 1962, O'Connor wins yet another Hugo while trying to get a mainstream
novel published so she can earn literary immortality before dying of lupus.
Aron, Robert,
Victoire à Waterloo
(Andre Sabatier 1937; Plon 1964, 1968; Rombaldi 1976, 2231001918)
What if:
Napoleon won at Waterloo.
Story:
Despite victory, Napoleon suffers an identity crisis and abdicates.
Aronson, Mark,
"Gemutlichkon I", in
AWC
Aronson, Mark,
"President-Elect", in
AK
What if:
Robert Kennedy survived Sirhan Sirhan's assassination attempt, and as a
result adopted a hard anti-crime stance.
Story:
Facing Democratic rejection, RFK becomes the Republican presidential nominee
as brother Teddy leads the Democrats.
Nixon still becomes president.
Asimov, Isaac,
The End of Eternity
(J. Curley 1981, 0893403385);
revision of
"The End of Eternity", in
The Alternate Asimovs
(Doubleday 1986, 0385197845; ROC ...)
What if:
Enrico Fermi did not participate in atomic research and the atomic bomb was
never dropped on Hiroshima.
Story:
An organization called Eternity strives to optimize human history
to bring happiness to the largest number of people.
Our hero, a time-change engineer, falls in love with a woman of a
further future who tries to convince him that tampering with time
will make the human race lose the race to the stars.
Comments:
Marginally AH.
Divergence is 1932 but all results shown are in far future.
Asimov, Isaac,
"Fair Exchange?", in
Asimov's SF Adventure Magazine Fall 1978;
3 by Asimov: Three Science Fiction Tales
(Targ 1981);
The Winds of Change and Other Stories
(Doubleday 1983, 0385180993)
What if:
Gilbert & Sullivan's operetta Thespis was not lost.
Story:
A mental time traveler attempting to learn the score of Thespis causes it
to go into print, with personally damaging consequences.
Asimov, Isaac,
"Living Space", in
Earth is Room Enough: Science Fiction Tales of Our Own Planet
(Doubleday 1957; Abelard-Schuman 1976, 0200723782);
Out of This World 3
(eds. ... Williams-Ellis & ... Owen)
(Blackie & Son 1961);
WoM;
Valence and Vision: A Reader in Psychology
(eds. Bob Jones & Richard L. Roe)
(Rinehart 1974, 0030084164);
The Far Ends of Time and Earth
(Doubleday 1979, 0385132697);
and
Isaac Asimov: The Complete Stories, Volume I
(Doubleday 1990, 0385416067, 038541627X)
Story:
Using parallel Earths to solve overpopulation in 4000 AD, humans encounter
similar colonists from a world in which Germany won WW2.
Attanasio, A.A.,
In Other Worlds
(Morrow 1984, 0688039901; Bantam 1985)
What if:
WW1 led to a world gov't.
Story:
...
Attanasio, A.A.,
"Ink from the New Moon", in
IAsfm Nov 1992; and
WMHB4
What if:
N America was discovered and settled by Chinese Buddhists.
Story:
A scribe describes the Unified Sandalwood Autocracies, and an encounter on
its eastern shores with a European explorer named Christ-bearer.
Averneri, Shlomo,
"What If Sadat had Come to Jerusalem Under a
Labor Government? (1977)", in
WIESSF
What if:
Itzhak Rabin accepted Rumania's Jan 1977 invitation for a state visit and
while there was advised of Anwar Sadat's peace plans.
Story:
Peace talks between Sadat and Rabin include King Hussein of Jordan, leading
to an agreement that includes the West Bank, but not the PLO.
Bailey, Hilary,
"The Fall of Frenchy Steiner", in
New Worlds Jun 1964;
The Best of New Worlds
(ed. Michael Moorcock)
(Compact 1965);
SF12
(ed. Judith Merrill)
(Delacorte 1968);
The Best SF Stories from New Worlds
(ed. Michael Moorcock)
(Panther 1974);
and
HV
Trans.:
German tr. by Yvonne Krampen,
"Die verlorene Unschuld der Frenchy Steiner", in
Welten der wahrscheinlichkeiten
(ed. Ronald M. Hahn)
(Ullstein 1983)
What if:
Hitler did not invade Russia.
Story:
Life in occupied London, 1954.
Ball, Margaret,
The Shadow Gate
(Tor 1991)
Story:
A New Age woman from our Austin TX is drawn into a magical alternate where
an immortal elven queen rules in France.
Balthasar,
As-tu vu Montezuma?
(Le Monde 1980);
orig. serial in
Le Monde Jun-Sep 1980
Bank, Aaron: see
Nathanson, E.M., & Aaron Bank
Barbet, Pierre,
Carthage sera détruite: Setni enquêter temporel, 2
(Fleuve Noir 1984)
What if:
Hannibal captured Rome.
Story:
A renegade time agent helps out Hannibal, and tries to found a Carthaginian
colony in Quebec.
Barbet, Pierre,
Cosmic Crusaders: Two Complete Novels
(DAW 1980, 0879975833)
(------------),
L'Empire du Baphomet
(Fleuve Noir 1972)
Trans.:
English tr. by Bernard Kay,
Baphomet's Meteor
(DAW 1972)
Trans.:
Portuguese tr. by Eurico Fonseca,
Os Cruzadors do Espaço
(Livros Brasil 1980)
What if:
A demon-like alien was shipwrecked on Earth in 1118.
Story:
The alien aids the Knights Templar as they set out in 1275 to save the Holy
Land and conquer the Mongols.
(------------),
Croisade stellaire
(Fleuve Noir 1974)
Trans.:
English tr. by C.J. Cherryh,
Stellar Crusade
(no separate publ.)
Story:
Outer-space sequel to the above.
Barbier, J.-B.,
Si Napoléon avait pris Londres
(Librairie Francais 1970)
Baring, Maurice,
"The Alternative", in
London Mercury Nov 1922;
Travelers in Time
(ed. Philip Van Doren Stern)
(Doubleday 1947);
Half a Minute's Silence
(Heinemann 1925; Doubleday 1925; Books for Libraries 1970, 0836933761);
and
Maurice Baring Restored
(Heinemann 1970, 0434347906; Farrar, Straus & Giroux 1970, 0374204489)
What if:
Napoleon's father decided that his son would get the best education possible
if enlisted in the British navy.
Story:
A sketch of historical and literary consequences from 1800 to 1850.
Barnett, Lisa A.: see
Scott, Melissa, & Lisa A. Barnett
Baron, Nick,
Robert Silverberg's Time Tours #2: Glory's End
(Harper 1990, 0610601305)
Story:
...
Comments:
A follow-up to Silverberg's
Up the Line.
Barrett, Neal, Jr.,
The Leaves of Time
(Lancer 1971, 0447747215)
Story:
During an alien attack on one Earth, a human soldier is thrown into another
where N America was settled by Vikings.
An alien pursues him.
Barton, S.W.: see
Kurland, Michael, & S.W. Barton
Basil, Otto,
Wenn das der Führer wüsste
(Molden 1966)
Trans.:
English tr., abr. Thomas Weyr, Twilight Man
(Meredith 1968)
What if:
Germany won WW2 after dropping a nuclear bomb on London.
Story:
Hitler's death 20 years later leads to a power struggle.
Baxter, Stephen,
Anti-Ice
(HarperCollins UK 1993, 0246138351; HarperCollins UK 1994, 0586212965;
HarperPrism 1994, 0061054216)
What if:
An anti-ice comet struck the Antarctic in 1720, and 135 years later,
a fragment was used by
Britain in a super-bomb which ended the Siege of Sevastopol.
Story:
In 1870, as the Franco-Prussian war begins, an act of sabotage against an
anti-ice-powered land leviathan results in five men traveling to the moon.
Baxter, Stephen,
"Mittelwelt", in
Interzone #82 (Apr 1994)
What if:
Petain was not replaced as commander of French troops in 1918, and Germany
quickly scored a western victory then turned eastward.
Story:
In 1940, an AMerican engineer is privileged to participate in Imperial Germany's
firts manned rocket test flight, and finds himself caught in the Kaiser's
first strike against Japan.
Baxter, Stephen,
"No Longer Touch the Earth", in
Interzone #72 (Jun 1993)
What if:
The universe really is a set of crystal spheres.
Story:
Hermann Göring attempts to become the first man to fly to the Axis at the
South Pole, but Eddie Rickenbacker gets there at the same time.
Bayley, Barrington J.,
"Tommy Atkins", in
Interzone #27 (Jan/Feb 1989)
Story:
The use of nerve-grafting results in soldiers being given body parts to
replace those lost in combat, and WW2 drags on for 25 years.
Bayley, Barrington J.,
"The Way into the Wendy House", in
Interzone #71 (May 1993)
Story:
Barely AH tale of an encyclopedia of science fiction writers, found in a pub
in another timeline, which includes no familiar names, except one.
Bear, Greg,
Eon
(Bluejay 1985, 0312941447; Tor 1994)
What if:
Alexander the Great established a lasting empire.
Story:
An asteroid approaching our Earth turns out to contain artifacts from the
future, but its presence inflames existing world tensions.
Comments:
AH content appears only in epilog.
----------,
Eternity
(Warner 1988, 0446514020)
Bear, Greg,
"Scattershot", in
Universe 8
(ed. Terry Carr)
(Doubleday 1978, 0385124751; Popular Library 1979);
The 1979 Annual World's Best SF
(eds. Donald A. Wollheim & Arthur W. Saha)
(DAW 1979);
and
The Wind from a Burning Woman
(Arkham House 1983, 0870540947; Warner/Popular Library 1990, 0445208465)
Story:
A woman aboard a spacecraft hit by a "disruptor" beam finds that it has
reassembled with parts (and crew) of ships from alternate universes.
Bear, Greg,
"Through Road No Whither", in
HV; and
There Will Be War 8: Armageddon
(eds. Jerry Pournelle & John F. Carr)
(publ. unknown)
Story:
Nazi officers in a world where Germany won WW2 insult a gypsy woman when
asking for directions, and she arranges for Germany's retroactive defeat.
Beason, Doug: see
Anderson, Kevin J., & Doug Beason
Beck, James M.,
"It Might Have Been", in
North American Review Jan 1920
What if:
Clemenceau and Lloyd George questioned Woodrow Wilson's ability to get the US
Senate to accept the League of Nations.
Story:
Conversations in which they realize the problem and address it to Wilson.
Beerbohm, Max,
"A Panacea", in
Saturday Review 23 Jul 1904; and
Around Theaters
(Knopf 1930)
What if:
Edward VII closed down all British theaters for ten years on 1 Apr 04.
Story:
How it was the best thing could have happened to British drama.
Belloc, Hilaire,
"If Drouet's Cart had Stuck", in
IIHHO (all eds.)
What if:
Louis XVI escaped Paris and was not executed.
Story:
Following Lafayette's defeat of Republican forces, France sinks into
mediocrity and Britain must contend with the mighty Austrian empire.
Benét, Stephen Vincent,
"The Curfew Tolls", in
Saturday Evening Post 5 October 1935;
Moonlight Traveler
(ed. ... Stern)
(Doubleday 1942;
vt Great Tales of Fantasy and Imagination,
Pocket 1954);
Selected Works, II: Prose
(Farrar & Rinehart 1942);
25 Short Stories
(Sun Dial 1943);
The Stephen Vincent Benét Pocket Book
(Pocket 1946);
Thirteen O'Clock: Stories of Several Worlds
(Farrar & Rinehart 1971; Books for Libraries 1971, 0836937937;
Franklin Library 1982);
and
AH
What if:
Napoleon were born much earlier, say in 1737.
Story:
An Englishman residing on the Mediterranean coast of France meets a
retired, frustrated French artillery major.
Benford, Gregory,
"Manassas, Again", in
IAsfm Oct 1991; and
WMHB3
What if:
Rome developed a steam-driven machine gun.
Story:
Rome's former American colonies fight a civil war in the 19th century.
Benford, Gregory,
Timescape
(Simon & Schuster 1980, 0671253271; Pocket 1981, 0671506323;
Bantam 1992);
revision of
"3:02 P.M., Oxford", in
If Sep 1970; and
"Cambridge, 1:58 A.M.", in
Epoch
(eds. Robert Silverberg & Roger Elwood)
(Berkley/Putnam's 1975, 0399114602; Berkley 1977, 0425033155)
What if:
JFK was not assassinated.
Story:
A UC prof in 1962 worries about tachyon interference in an experiment as he
tries to gain tenure.
Comments:
Explicit AH content is brief, appearing only at the end.
Comments:
Winner: 1980 Nebula for best novel, 1981 BSFA Award for best novel, 1981 John
W. Campbell Memorial Award
Benford, Gregory,
"Valhalla", in
HV
Story:
A man from a timeline where WW2 lasted til 1947, allowing completion of the
Final Solution, travels back and sideways to take revenge on Hitler.
Benford, Gregory,
"We Could Do Worse", in
WMHB1
What if:
Nixon threw the California delegation's support to Robert Taft at the 1952
GOP convention, with the stipulation that Joe McCarthy become Veep.
Story:
After Taft's sudden death, McCarthy begins to institute a police state, and
4 years later a congressman is kidnaped.
Bensen, D.R.,
And Having Writ...
(Bobbs-Merrill 1978, 0672520788; Ace 1979)
Trans.:
German tr. by Irene Holicki,
Zwischenhalt
(Heyne 1984)
What if:
Four aliens were stranded on Earth in 1908 when they barely avoided an
explosive impact at Tunguska and splash-landed near San Francisco.
Story:
To get their ship repaired, they set about accelerating technological
development, but President Edison doesn't want to share with Europe.
Bernau, George,
Promises to Keep
(Warner 1988, 0446514535)
What if:
The US presidential assassination attempt on 22 Nov 1963 failed.
Story:
Hunting the conspirators, plus the elections of 1964 and 68.
Comments:
Borderline AH, as all names are changed.
Bernau's Candle in the Wind similarly treats the survival of a Marilyn
Monroe-like actress with false names but seems even less AH.
Berry, Stephen Ames,
The Battle for Terra Two
(Ace 1986, 0812531914, 0812531922)
Comments:
Non-AH 1st volume of series is The Biofab War.
What if:
The US never developed the bomb, Nazi Germany did and Hitler was assassinated
in Jul 44.
Story:
A war against insectoids shifts from our Earth to another, with a look at
fascist Boston.
-------------------,
The A.I. War
(publ. unknown)
-------------------,
[The] Final Assault
(Tor 1988, 0812531892, 0812531906)
Bertin, Eddy C.,
"Tijdstorm", in
De achtjaarlijkse god
(Bruno & Zoon 1971)
Trans.:
English tr. by Eddy Bertin,
"Timestorm", in
The 1972 Annual World's Best SF
(eds. Donald A. Wollheim & Arthur W. Saha)
(DAW 1972)
Story:
Barely AH story of a man, caught in a timestorm, who discovers humanoid
aliens tinkering with the human past, encouraging the spread of war.
Bester, Alfred,
"The Men Who Murdered Mohammed", in
f&sf Oct 1958;
Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction: 8
(ed. Anthony Boucher)
(Doubleday 1959);
The Dark Side of the Earth
(Signet 1964);
The Vintage Anthology of Science Fantasy
(ed. Christopher Cerf)
(Vintage 1966);
Voyagers in Time: Twelve Stories of Science Fiction
(ed. Robert Silverberg)
(Meredith 1967);
As Tomorrow Becomes Today
(ed. Charles W. Sullivan)
(Prentice-Hall 1974, 0130500399, 0130500216);
Cosmic Laughter: Science Fiction for the Fun of It
(ed. Joe Haldeman)
(Holt, Rinehart & Winston 1974, 0030069319);
Starlight
(Doubleday 1976);
The Arbor House Treasury of Science Fiction Masterpieces
(eds. Robert Silverberg & Martin H. Greenberg)
(Arbor House 1983, 0877954453);
and
The World Treasury of Science Fiction
(ed. David G. Hartwell)
(Little, Brown 1989, 0316349410)
Trans.:
German tr. by Alfred Joseph,
"Die Morder Mohammeds", in
Die fussangeln der zeit
(eds. Karl Michael Armer & Wolfgang Jeschke)
(Heyne 1984)
Story:
Due to his wife's infidelity, a Mad Scientist repeatedly goes back in time to
prevent her existence but can only affect his "personal" timeline.
Comments:
Nominee: 1959 Hugo for best short story.
Bester, Alfred,
"Out of This World", in
The Dark Side of the Earth
(Signet 1964)
Story:
A freak telephone line allows communication with a world in which Japan
defeated the US in WW2.
Betancourt, John Gregory: see
Kingston, Jeremy
Bier, Jesse,
"Father and Son", in
A Hole in the Lead Apron
(Harcourt 1964)
What if:
As punishment for participating in or ignoring the Holocaust, the Allies
ordered that 6 million random Germans be executed.
Story:
An exchange of letters between father and son, respectively a member of the
provisional postwar gov't and a former SS officer.
Bishop, Michael,
"And the Marlin Spoke", in
f&sf Oct 1983
What if:
N American colonization followed a slightly different path.
Story:
A farmer from a different Oklahoma makes a pilgrimage to the Gulf Coast of
New Castile, where a cult of sea worship has sprung up.
Bishop, Michael,
"For Thus Do I Remember Carthage", in
The Universe
(publ. unknown);
and
The Year's Best Science Fiction, Fifth Annual Collection
(ed. Gardner Dozois)
(St. Martin's 1988, 0312018541)
What if:
Science and technology advanced faster in portions of the world.
Story:
[St.] Augustine of Hippo receives a visitor from Cathay who speaks of
collapsing stars and other arcane heavenly topics.
Bishop, Michael,
The Secret Ascension; or, Philip K. Dick is Dead, Alas
(St. Martin's/Tor 1987, 0312930313; Tor 1989, 0812531574, 0812531582;
vt Philip K. Dick is Dead, Alas,
Tor/Orb 1994, 0312890028)
What if:
In a skewed world, "Richard Milrose Nixon" was elected to four terms as US
president and SF author Philip K. Dick attained more fame.
Story:
Shortly after his death in 1982, Phil Dick visits a small town in Georgia and
the moon in order to correct history.
Bisson, Terry,
Fire on the Mountain
(Arbor House 1988, 1557100144)
What if:
With the aid of Harriet Tubman, John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry (three
months early) was successful, and provoked a mass black rebellion.
Story:
100 years later, as Pan Africa is about to land on Mars, a woman delivers to
a museum papers describing the roots of the Nova African nation.
Bixby, Jerome,
"One Way Street", in
Amazing Stories Jan 1954;
Best Science Fiction Stories and Novels: 1955
(ed. T.E. Dikty)
(Fredrick Fell 1955);
Space by the Tail
(Ballantine 1964);
and
BAW
What if:
Numerous small things were changed; eg., Shakespeare didn't write Hamlet,
the Korean War only lasted two months, etc.
Story:
A physics experiment knocks a passerby into a similar timeline, and he must
be returned to save the universe.
Blakemore, Harold,
"If I had been... Salvador Allende in 1972-3", in
IIHB
What if:
Allende moderated Socialist policy and took decisive action against civil
disorder.
Story:
A description of Chilean troubles and how Allende avoided chaos and a
right-wing takeover.
Blanqui, Louis-Auguste,
L'Éternité par les astres: hypothèse astronomique
(G. Baillière 1872);
included in
Instructions pour une prise d'armes, l'éternité par les astres, hypothèse
astronomique, et autre textes
(eds. Miguel Abensour & Valentin Pelosse)
(Societe encyclopedique francaise 1973)
Bloch, Robert,
"Founding Fathers", in
Fantasic Universe Jul 1956
Story:
Bookies use the time-machine of a professor in their debt to travel back to
1776 to hijack a gold shipment.
Bloch, Robert,
"The World-Timer", in
Fantastic Aug 1960
Blumenberg, Hans C.,
"Und wenn er nicht gestorben ist...", in
Tempo Jun 1992
What if:
Film director Rainer Werner Fassbinder didn't die in 1982.
Story:
He later receives two Oscars, one for Berlin Alexanderplatz starring
Robert DeNiro.
Boeheim, Carl von,
Die Kaisersaga: Utopia Austriaca
(A. Kraft 1960)
What if:
Emperor Franz Josef had a 2nd son, named Franz Stefan.
Story:
Franz Stefan preserves the Hapsburg Empire by revolution from above.
Böhme, Gernot, Wolfgang van den Daele & Wolfgang Krohn,
"Alternativen in der Wissenschaft", in
Zeitschrift für Soziologie vol. 1 (1972), pp. 302-316
Trans.:
English tr. by E.G.H. Joffe,
"Alternatives in Science", in
Internat'l Journal for Sociology vol. 8 (1978), pp. 70-94
Comments:
Includes discussion of a chemical rather than mechanical worldview at the
beginning of the scientific revolution.
Boireau, Jacques,
"Les enfants d'Ibn Khaldoun", in
Univers 07
(ed. Jacques Sadoul)
(J'ai Lu 1976)
What if:
The Arabs won at Tours.
Story:
Progressive Muslim southern France later suffers emigration from the north.
Boireau, Jacques,
"L'été", in
Fiction
(Opta 1984)
Bomba, Ty,
"Outgoing Mail", in
Strategy & Tactics Jun/Jul 89
What if:
Exploiting a border dispute, Mexico's improved army invaded Texas in 1846 and
made for New Orleans, where a vicious siege occurred.
Story:
Provoked by the attack, the US gov't revises the Monroe Doctrine to mean US
control of all N America, resulting in an Imperial Republic.
Bon, Frédéric, & Michel-Antoine Burnier,
Si mai avait gagné: facétie politique
(Pauvert 1968)
What if:
The May 1968 riots produced a socialist revolution rather than a
conservative backlash.
Story:
...
Bonanate, Ugo,
Ascolta, Israele
(Lindau 1991, 8871800214)
What if:
Early Christian communities were wiped out, and Judaism became the dominant
Western religion.
Story:
Modern scholars are stunned when archaelogists unearth copies of the Gospels.
Bopp, Léon,
Liaisons du monde: roman
(vol 1, Gallimard 1938;
vol 2-4, Éditions du Dialogue 1941-44; complete Gallimard 1949)
What if:
The Popular Front gov't of 1936 France led to a leftist revolution.
Story:
A detailed history text.
Borden, Morton,
"1759: What If Canada Had Remained French?", in
SAH
What if:
Montcalm defeated Wolfe, leading to French victory in the French and Indian
War.
Story:
The 13 colonies would still rebel against English authority, but future
relations between Americans and Canadians could have followed several paths.
Borden, Morton,
"1784: What If Slavery Had Been Geographically Confined?", in
SAH
What if:
NJ delegate John Beatty was not ill when Congress debated prohibiting slavery
west of the Appalachians, and his vote enabled the bill to pass.
Story:
Analysis of possible effects on Southern economy and society, noting the
sterner life blacks would have experienced, and probably no Civil War.
Borden, Morton,
"1789: Could the Articles of Confederation Have Worked?", in
SAH
What if:
The Constitution was rejected.
Story:
A less vilified, stronger Congress would have resulted, and the War of 1812
would never have happened.
Borden, Morton,
"1801: Would Aaron Burr Have Been a Great President?", in
SAH
What if:
Burr did not remain aloof while the House of Representatives was breaking the
Electoral College tie, and Federalists were persuaded to vote for him.
Story:
Burr would have become a Federalist, providing the party a charismatic
leader, and Louisiana would have been conquered rather than purchased.
Borden, Morton,
"1832: What If the Second Bank Had Been Rechartered?", in
SAH
What if:
Nicholas Biddle renewed the charter of the 2nd Bank of the United States
at a more opportune time.
Story:
...
Borden, Morton,
"1850: What If the Compromise of 1850 Had Been Defeated?", in
SAH
What if:
Zachary Taylor did not die in July 1850, and blocked Clay's great compromise.
Story:
The Civil War would have started 10 years early with Texas's invasion of New
Mexico and ended in a quick southern defeat, but slavery would have
continued.
Bourne, Mark,
"Boss", in
AT
Bova, Ben,
Triumph
(Tor 1993, 0312853599; Tor 1994, 0812520637)
What if:
FDR quit smoking in 1943, and two years later, Churchill ordered the
assassination of Stalin in order to avert a Communist E Europe.
Story:
When Stalin rather than FDR dies on 12 Apr 1945, the US decides to drive for
Berlin, sending the 101st Airborne and Patton's Third Army after Hitler.
Bowen, John,
No Retreat
(Sinclair-Stevenson 1994, 1856193985)
What if:
Germany won WW2.
Story:
Fifty years later, Germany, Japan, and the US go to war over Iraq's
invasion of Kuwait, and British exiles see their chance to liberate the
homeland.
Bowes, Richard,
Warchild
(Warner 1986, 0445201770)
What if:
Nazi Germany used nuclear weapons in 1944 to stop Allied advances on both
fronts, beginning a cold war.
Story:
A boy from that world is enmeshed into crosstime telepathic slavery and
warfare.
--------------,
Goblin Market
(Warner 1988)
Boyd, John,
The Last Starship from Earth
(Weybright & Talley 1968; Berkley 1969; Penguin 1978, 0140048758)
Trans.:
German tr. by Heinz Plehn,
Der uberlaufer
(Droemer Knaur 1978)
What if:
Judas Iscariot never existed and Jesus lived to age 70.
Story:
2000 years later, a Mathematician is tried for miscegenation for sleeping
with a Poet.
Boyett, Steven R.,
The Architext of Sleep
(Ace 1986, 0441029051)
What if:
Intelligent life evolved from racoons rather than primates.
Story:
A human spelunker exits a Florida cave to find himself in a world run by
oversized racoons.
Bradbury, Ray,
"A Sound of Thunder", in
Golden Apples of the Sun
(Doubleday 1953);
Aspects of Science Fiction
(ed. Geoffrey Donald Doherty)
(Billings 1959; J. Murray 1963; Billings 1970, 0719522153);
R is for Rocket
(Doubleday 1962; Bantam 1965, 055307988?);
Science Fiction for People Who Hate Science Fiction
(ed. Terry Carr)
(Doubleday 1966);
Science Fiction Through the Ages 2
(ed. I.O. Evans)
(Panther 1966);
The Stars and Under
(ed. ... Crispin)
(Faber 1968);
Eco-Fiction
(ed. John Stadler)
(Washington Square 1971, 0671478451);
Science Fiction
(eds. Sylvia Z. Brodkin & Elizabeth J. Pearson)
(McDougal, Littell 1973; Lothrop, Lee 1975, 068841723X);
Transformation
(ed. ... Roselle)
(Fawcett 1973);
Science Fact/Fiction
(eds. ... Farrell, et al)
(Scott, Foresman 1974);
Ray Bradbury
(ed. Anthony Adams)
(Harrap 1975, 024552746X);
Masterpieces of Science Fiction
(eds. Thomas Durwood & Armand Eisen)
(Ariel/Ballantine 1978, 0354276205);
Tales Out of Time
(ed. Barbara Ireson)
(Faber 1979; Philomel 1981, 0399207864);
The Stories of Ray Bradbury
(Knopf 1980, 0394513355);
Wide-Angle Lens: Stories of Time and Space
(ed. Phyllis R. Fenner)
(Morrow 1980, 0688222412, 0688322417);
Behold the Mighty Dinosaur
(ed. David Jablonski)
(Elsevier/Nelson 1981, 0525667040);
Caught in the Organ Draft: Biology in Science Fiction
(eds. Isaac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg & Charles G. Waugh)
(Farrar, Straus & Giroux 1983, 0374312281);
The Great SF Stories: 14
(eds. Isaac Asimov & Martin H. Greenberg)
(DAW 1986, 0886771064);
and
Classic Stories 1: The Golden Apples of the Sun / R is for Rocket
(Bantam 1990)
Trans.:
Portuguese tr. by Edgar Costa Moreira,
"O Reboar do Trovão", in
Ficçao Científica para Quem Não Gosta de Ficçao Científica
(ed. Terry Carr)
(O Cruzeiro 1969)
Story:
Accidentally stepping on a butterfly while on a T. rex hunt has its
repercussions.
Comments:
A classic about the effect of a minor change on history, but not really AH
since only the effect shown is presumably in our future.
Comments:
Sequels are Stephen Leigh's
Dinosaur World,
Dinosaur Planet,
Dinosaur Samurai,
Dinosaur Warriors, and.
Dinosaur Empire.
Brenner, Barbara,
Saving the President
(Julian Messner 1987)
Story:
A sculptress prevents the assassination of Lincoln.
Brennert, Alan,
"Nostalgia Tripping", in
Infinity Five
(ed. Robert Hoskins)
(Lancer 1973)
Story:
Crosstime adventures, including worlds where Woodrow Wilson was assassinated
and John Lennon cut a record in 1949.
Brennert, Alan, & Norm Breyfogle,
Batman: Holy Terror
(DC Comics 1991, 1563890186)
What if:
Oliver Cromwell lived another 10 years and consolidated the Puritan hold on
Britain and its colonies.
Story:
A young priest named Bruce Wayne becomes a costumed vigilante fighting the
repressive theocracy running the American Commonwealth.
Breyfogle, Norm: see
Brennert, Alan, & Norm Breyfogle
Brin, David,
"Thor Meets Captain America", in
f&sf Jul 1986;
HV; and
The River of Time
(Bantam 1987, 0553262815)
What if:
Nazi rituals resurrected the Norse pantheon, but Loki went over to the
Allies.
Story:
A captured American officer about to be sacrificed comes face-to-face with
the god of battle.
Comments:
Nominee: 1987 Hugo for best novelette.
Brown, Frederic,
What Mad Universe
(Dutton 1949; Bantam 1950);
orig. in
Startling Stories Sep 1948
Story:
A pulp editor finds himself in a parallel universe which matches the
stories his magazine has been publishing.
Brown, Walt,
The People v. Lee Harvey Oswald
(Carroll & Graf/Gallen 1992, 0881848697)
What if:
Jack Ruby only wounded Oswald.
Story:
In novel form, a study of whether Oswald could have been convicted in a
Texas court of the murder of JFK based on the evidence against him.
Brunet, James,
"As Time Goes By", in
Pulphouse: The Hardback Magazine #6
(ed. Kristine Kathryn Rusch)
(Pulphouse 1990)
Story:
A man's repeated viewing of Casablanca alters the movie and Earth history
a little each time he watches.
Brunner, John,
"At the Sign of the Rose", in
Beyond the Gate of Worlds
(Tor 1991, 0812554442)
Comments:
In same timeline as Silverberg's
The Gate of Worlds.
Story:
The Tsar of Russia dies under suspicious circumstances; six travelers tell
their tales at a Krakow inn.
Brunner, John,
Times Without Number
(Ace Double #... (Ace 1962);
exp Ace 1969, 0441812708;
Ballantine 1983, 0345306791);
fixup of
"Spoil of Yesterday", in
Science Fiction Adventures Mar 1962;
"The Word Not Written", in
Science Fiction Adventures Jun 1962; and
"The Fullness of Time", in
Science Fiction Adventures Jul 1962
What if:
The Spanish Armada conquered England.
Story:
400 years later, a plot is afoot to destroy the Spanish empire via
time-travel.
Budrys, Algis,
"Never Meet Again", in
HV
Story:
A scientist dissatisfied with Hitler's victory tries a change of universe,
but that doesn't solve his problems.
Burnier, Michel-Antoine: see
Bon, Frédéric, & Michel-Antoine Burnier
Burroughs, William S.,
Cities of the Red Night
(Holt, Rinehart & Winston 1981, 0030539765, 0030589983)
What if:
Capt. Mission's 18th-century pirate commune on Madagascar was not wiped out
by natives.
Story:
...
Busby, F.M.,
"Play It Again, Sam", in
Clarion III
(ed. ... Wilson)
(Signet 1973)
Story:
Two friends discuss how the world could be made a better place, working
their way back from event to event.
-----------,
"Balancing Act", in
IAsfm 16 Feb 1981
-----------,
"Wrong Number", in
IAsfm 21 Dec 1981
Busby, F.M.,
"Tundra Moss", in
WMHB3
What if:
Victim of a minor stroke in late 1941, FDR was unable to resist
congressional and public pressure for a Japan First war policy.
Story:
Japanese saboteurs land on Amchitka just as orders for a crucial American
offensive are being transmitted down the Aleutians via secure cable.
Butler, Ewan,
Without Apology
(Cassell 1968, 0304931993)
What if:
Nazi Germany successfully invaded England.
Story:
Tale of Englishman caught between restoring order from chaos and accusations
of being a Quisling.
Includes timelime to 1967.
Butler, Ron,
"What Number are You Calling?", in
Fantastic Oct 1955
Story:
Crosstime adventure in New Amsterdam.
Bylinski, Gene,
Life in Darwin's Universe: Evolution and the Cosmos
(Doubleday 1981,
0385170491)
Comments:
Amongst discussion of evolution in general, comments on possibilities of
insects, byrds, bats or koalas as the dominant intelligent species on Earth.
Byrne, Eugene: see
Newman, Kim, & Eugene Byrne
Byrne, Robert,
The Tunnel
(HBJ 1977, 0151913854; Dell 1977, 0440186099)
What if:
The 1973 agreement to dig the English Channel tunnel was not canceled.
Story:
An American engineer embarks on the biggest project of his career, as an
Irish terrorist plans to destroy it.
Cadigan, Pat,
"Dispatches from the Revolution", in
IAsfm Jul 1991;
AP;
The Year's Best Science Fiction, Ninth Annual Collection
(ed. Gardner Dozois)
(St. Martin's 1992, 0312078919, 0312078897, 0312078900);
and
Dirty Work
(Mark V. Ziesing 1993, 0929480279)
What if:
1960s social protests met with harsh government reaction, LBJ stayed in the
1968 presidential race and Sirhan Sirhan didn't kill Robert Kennedy.
Story:
The cycle of violence gets bigger and bigger until it all blows up at the
68 Democratic Nat'l Convention in Chicago.
Comments:
Nominee: 1992 Hugo for best novelette.
Cadigan, Pat,
"No Prisoners", in
AK; and
Dirty Work
(Mark V. Ziesing 1993, 0929480279)
What if:
Robert Kennedy decided to become a priest and sister Eunice entered politics.
Story:
In 1968, former Attorney General and now Senator Eunice Kennedy is faced
with the final outcome of Father Robert Kennedy's antiwar activism.
Caillois, Roger,
Ponce Pilate: récit
(Gallimard 1961)
Trans.:
English tr. by Charles Lam Markmann,
Pontius Pilate
(Macmillan 1963)
What if:
Pilate found Jesus innocent and released him.
Story:
Christianity is aborted.
Calvert, Peter,
"If I had been... Benito Juarez in 1867", in
IIHB
What if:
Juarez granted clemency to Mexican Emperor Maximilian, about to be executed.
Story:
How it might have happened, but without much further development.
Capek, Karel,
"Pseudo-Lot cili o vlastenectvi", in
Kniha apokryfu
(Borovy 1945)
Trans.:
English tr. by Dora Round,
"Pseudo-Lot, or Concerning Patriotism", in
Apocryphal Stories
(Allen & Unwin 1949; MacMillan 1949; Penguin 1975, 0040038604)
Trans.:
Esperanto tr. by Josef Vondrousek,
"Pseudo-Lot au pri patriotismo", in
Libro de apokrifoj
(Ceha Esperanto-Asocio 1970)
Story:
Lot rejects the warning of the angels to flee Sodom.
Card, Orson Scott,
Hatrack River
(SFBC 1989)
(---------------),
Seventh Son
(Tor 1987, 0312930194);
expansion of
"Hatrack River", in
IAsfm Aug 1986;
Terry Carr's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year
(ed. Terry Carr)
(Tor 1987, 0312930259);
and
The Year's Best Science Fiction, Fourth Annual Collection
(ed. Gardner Dozois)
(St. Martin's 1987)
What if:
Natural magic works.
Also, the Puritan revolution succeeded, altering English history and the course
of American colonization.
Story:
Born in 1800, the seventh son of a seventh son growing up on the American
frontier meets an itinerant storyteller named William Blake.
Comments:
Seventh Son nominee: 1988 Hugo for best novel, 1988 World Fantasy Award for
best novel;
"Hatrack River" nominee: 1986 Nebula for best novelette, 1987 Hugo for best
novelette.
(---------------),
Red Prophet
(Tor 1988, 0312930437)
Story:
Captured by Red men, young Alvin Maker and his brother become involved with
Tecumseh, the Prophet and a different massacre at Tippecanoe.
Comments:
Nominee: 1988 Nebula for best novel, 1989 Hugo for best novel.
(---------------),
Prentice Alvin
(Tor 1989, 0312931417; Tor 1989, 0812502124, 0812502132);
revision of
"Prentice Alvin and the No-Good Plow", in
Sunstone Aug 1989; and
Maps in a Mirror: The Short Fiction of Orson Scott Card
(Tor 1990, 0312850476)
Story:
Alvin's years as an apprentice blacksmith and the story of a Black-White
"mix-up boy" removed from slavery in Appalachee.
Comments:
Nominee: 1989 Nebula for best novel, 1990 Hugo for best novel.
-----------------,
Journeyman Alvin
(not yet published)
-----------------,
Master Alvin
(projected, not yet written)
Caron, Carlos Maria,
"La Victoria de Napoleon", in
Los Argentinos en la luna
(ed. Eduardo Goligorsky)
(Flor 1968)
Story:
Future astronauts use a super telescope to look into Earth's history, but
they see Napoleon's conquest of England, a Chinese invasion of Europe, etc.
Carr, Jayge,
"The War of '07", in
AP
What if:
When Congress broke the Electoral College tie of 1800, they made Aaron Burr
president rather than Thomas Jefferson.
Story:
Militant Burr begins the move to manifest destiny 40 years early, but he also
shows no signs of leaving the White House.
Carr, John F., & Roland J. Green,
"Kalvan Kingmaker", in
Alt
Comments:
2nd sequel to Piper's
Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen.
Story:
Styphon's House drives barbarians from the N American plains east into
Kalvan's territory in order to destroy him, but he turns the tables on them.
Carr, John F.: see also
Green, Roland J., & John F. Carr
Carter, Paul A.,
"The Constitutional Origins of Westly v. Simmons", in
Analog Oct 1985
What if:
There was no Manhattan project, and Stevenson won the election of '52.
Story:
How to change history so that Asimov's "Trends" (Astounding Jul 1939) came
true.
Carter, Paul A.,
"The Mystery of the Duplicate Diamonds", in
Stellar #7 Science-Fiction Stories
(ed. Judy-Lynn Del Rey)
(Ballantine
1981, 0345294734)
What if:
Robert Kennedy was elected president in 1968 or Watergate was never
discovered.
Story:
Two people from different timelines meet at a jewelry store in a third
trying to exchange different versions of the same ring.
Carter, Samuel, III,
"If the North Had Won the Civil War", in
Yankee Magazine Apr 1985
Cassutt, Michael,
"Mules in Horses' Harness", in
WMHB2
What if:
Lincoln was assassinated while visiting a Union hospital on 4 Jul 1863.
Wasn't he?
Story:
1980 Confederate differential engineers trying to model history explore the
Great Man hypothesis.
Cate, Curtis,
"Preface" to
The War of the Two Emperors: The Duel Between Napoleon and Alexander:
Russia, 1812
(Random House 1985, 0394536703)
What if:
Napoleon did not invade Russia.
Comments:
With no anti-Napoleonic coalition, Wellington would have been forced out of
Spain, and Alexander might have freed the serfs 40 years early.
Go to next section.
Robert B. Schmunk
(altworld@panix.com)